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Glaciers of Antarctica

Introduction | GLIMS glaciers | References | Comments |

Introduction

Simplified cartoon of a tributary glacier

feeding into an ice shelf, showing the
grounding line (where the glacier begins to
float).

Antarctica has many different types of glacier. They range from enormous ice streams, arteries of
fast flow that discharge the majority of the ice from the centre of the ice sheet to its edges[1], to
slow-moving cold-based glaciers that are largely frozen to their beds[2]. Most of the Antarctic
continent’s coastline is composed of grounded or floating ice and ice shelves (93%)[3]. Of the glaciers
that terminate in the ocean, they can be tidewater glaciers, ice-shelf tributary glaciers, or grounded
outlet glaciers. Most of these drain the three large ice-sheets in Antarctica: the Antarctic Peninsula Ice
Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The West and East Antarctic ice
sheets are divided by the Transantarctic Mountains.

In the video below, you can see a calving event at Jakobshavn, in western Greenland (video from
Jason Amundsen, University of Colorado). The ice wall is 100 m high, with 900 m below water, and this
is a full-thickness calving event of a grounded tidewater glacier.

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GLIMS glaciers

Geological map of James Ross

Island, NE Antarctic Peninsula

The Global Land Ice Measurements from Space programme (GLIMS) defines many types of glaciers[4].
Many examples of these can be seen on James Ross Island or the Antarctic Peninsula (see map for
location).

An Ice Sheet is a large expanse of ice, unconstrained by topography, and is continental size (e.g.
Antarctic Ice Sheet). Ice fields are a large region of ice that does not overwhelm the local topography
(and are smaller than 55,000 km2). Ice caps are dome-shaped ice masses with radial flow. Outlet
Glaciers flow from an ice sheet, ice cap or ice field, and typically follow topographic depressions. A
Valley glacier, instead, has a clearly-defined accumulation area and is limited by topography,
following a pre-existing valley.

Mountain Glacier includes cirque, niche or hanging glacier, and are generally adhering to valley sides.
They can include cirque glaciers, which are located in an armchair-shaped bedrock hollow, and have
no glacier tongue; niche glaciers, developed in small couloirs or depressions; or crater glaciers, in
volcanic craters.

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ASTER images of various

kinds of glacier

Glacieret or snowfield is smaller still, with very small ice masses, virtually no ice movement, and
accumulation and ablation areas not always detectable. Ice shelves are floating masses of ice fed by
tributary glaciers. They are attached to the coast, and are nourished by snow fall, bottom freezing and
influx of glacier ice. Rock glaciers are where the ratio of rock to ice favours more rock than ice. This is
a feature with movement downslope of debris with interstitial ice. Finally, ice streams are part of an
ice sheet where the ice velocity is higher than the surrounding ice mass (for example, Pine Island
Glacier). Photographs of all of these phenomena are provided in the illustrated Glaciers-Online photo
glossary.

Rock glacier, James Ross Island

Ice cap on Vega Island

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Davies Dome on James Ross Island. A small ice cap.

Grounded tidewater glacier on Elephant Island

Whisky Glacier, a floating tidewater glacier in Whisky Bay, James Ross Island

Small land-terminating mountain glacier with prominent ice-cored moraines on James Ross Island

Glaciers can also be characterised by their thermal regime – see Glacial Processes.

Go to top or jump to Glacier Flow.

References

1. Bennett, M.R., 2003. Ice streams as the arteries of an ice sheet: their mechanics, stability
and significance. Earth-Science Reviews, 2003. 61(3-4): p. 309-339.

2. Hambrey, M.J. and Fitzsimons, S.J., 2010. Development of sediment-landform associations

at cold glacier margins, Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Sedimentology, 2010. 57: p. 857-882.

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3. Bindschadler, R., Choi, H., Wichlaez, A., Bingham, R.G., Bohlander, J., Brunt, K.M., Corr, H.,
Drews, R., Fricker, H.A., Hall, M., Hindmarsh, R.C.A., Kohler, J., Padman, L., Rack, W., Rotschky, G.,
Urbini, S., Vornberger, P., and Young, N., 2011. Getting around Antarctica: new high-resolution
mappings of the grounded and freely-floating boundaries of the Antarctic ice sheet created for the
International Polar Year. The Cryosphere, 2011. 5: p. 569-588.

4. Rau, F., Mauz, F., Vogt, S., Khalsa, S.J.S., and Raup, B., 2005. Illustrated GLIMS Glacier
Classification Manual, Version 1.0. 2005, GLIMS Regional Centre, ‘Antarctic Peninsula’: GLIMS (Global
Land Ice Measurement from Space), NSIDC. 36.

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