A report on Ice sheet

A satellite composite image of Antarctica
Aerial view of the ice sheet on Greenland's east coast
Map of Greenland
Carbon stores and fluxes in present-day ice sheets (2019), and the predicted impact on carbon dioxide (where data exists). Estimated carbon fluxes are measured in Tg C a−1 (megatonnes of carbon per year) and estimated sizes of carbon stores are measured in Pg C (thousands of megatonnes of carbon). DOC = dissolved organic carbon, POC = particulate organic carbon.

Ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km2.

- Ice sheet
A satellite composite image of Antarctica

23 related topics with Alpha

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Europe during the Weichselian and Würm cold periods

Weichselian glaciation

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The last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe.

The last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe.

Europe during the Weichselian and Würm cold periods
Note that the coastlines are modern; coastlines during the Weichselian were different as sea level was lower.
Map of the Littorina Sea around 7000 years BP. Note the reduced area of Finland due to higher sea levels.
Depiction of the Earth at the last glacial maximum. Illustration based on: Ice age terrestrial carbon changes revisited by Thomas J. Crowley (Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 9, 1995, pp. 377–389)

It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) that spread out from the Scandinavian Mountains and extended as far as the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, the March of Brandenburg and Northwest Russia.

Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Swiss Alps. The moraine is the high bank of debris in the top left hand quarter of the image.

Glaciology

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Scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.

Scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.

Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Swiss Alps. The moraine is the high bank of debris in the top left hand quarter of the image.
Glaciologist Erin Pettit in Antarctica, 2016
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A kettle pond in Hossa, Suomussalmi municipality, Finland
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A glacier is an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over a long period of time; glaciers move very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.

The Barnes Ice Cap, containing remnants of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

Laurentide Ice Sheet

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The Barnes Ice Cap, containing remnants of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years ago to the present.

Vatnajökull, Iceland

Ice cap

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Ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than 50,000 km2 of land area .

Ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than 50,000 km2 of land area .

Vatnajökull, Iceland

Larger ice masses covering more than 50,000 km2 are termed ice sheets.

Map showing the extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Strait of Magellan area during the last glacial period. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots. Sea level was much lower than shown here.

Patagonian Ice Sheet

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Map showing the extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Strait of Magellan area during the last glacial period. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots. Sea level was much lower than shown here.
During the last ice age the Patagonian Ice Sheet created the elongated and forested drumlins seen south of Puerto Williams, Chile.

The Patagonian Ice Sheet was a large elongated and narrow ice sheet centered in the southern Andes that existed during the Llanquihue glaciation.

The Amundsen Sea area of Antarctica

Amundsen Sea

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Arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica, lies between Cape Flying Fish to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west.

Arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica, lies between Cape Flying Fish to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west.

The Amundsen Sea area of Antarctica
Antarctic iceberg floating in the Amundsen Sea water, October 2009.
Large B-22 iceberg breaking off from Thwaites Glacier and remnants of the B-21 iceberg from Pine Island Glacier in Pine Island Bay to the right of the image
Amundsen Sea as part of the Southern Ocean

The ice sheet which drains into the Amundsen Sea averages about 3 km in thickness; roughly the size of the state of Texas, this area is known as the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE); it forms one of the three major ice-drainage basins of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Greenland

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Island country that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Island country that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Greenland visible from space
Areas of Independence I and Independence II cultures around Independence Fjord
The Kingittorsuaq Runestone from Kingittorsuaq Island (Middle Ages)
One of the last contemporary written mentions of the Norse Greenlanders records a marriage which took place in 1408 in the church of Hvalsey – today the best-preserved Nordic ruins in Greenland. The married couple then travelled to Iceland, which is why the account has been preserved.
Ingibjørg Tombstone.
Pictures of Greenland, c. 1863
An English map of 1747, based on Hans Egede's descriptions and misconceptions, by Emanuel Bowen
Godthåb in Greenland, c. 1878
1869 photograph of Greenlandic Inuit.
Map of Eirik Raudes Land
The orthography and vocabulary of the Greenlandic language is governed by Oqaasileriffik, the Greenlandic language secretariat, located in the Ilimmarfik University of Greenland, Nuuk.
The United States has operated Thule Air Base since the 1950s.
Sermiligaaq. Greenland has more than 60 settlements.
Map of Greenland
Greenland bedrock, at current elevation above sea level
Aurora Borealis, the northern lights at the sky in Greenland
Muskoxen in Greenland
The Greenland Dog was brought from Siberia 1,000 years ago.
Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, in Disko Bay near Ilulissat
The special territories of the European Union (pre 31 January 2020)
Nuuk is Greenland's capital and the seat of the government.
Municipalities of Greenland
A proportional representation of Greenland exports, 2019
Greenland electricity production by source
Air Greenland operates passenger and cargo freight services by air from, to and across Greenland.
Arctic Umiaq Line operates passenger and freight services by sea across Greenland.
Buses service in Ilulissat
Tunumiit Inuit couple from Kulusuk
A bilingual sign in Nuuk, displaying the Danish and Kalaallisut for "Parking forbidden for all vehicles"
Ilimmarfik university Campus in Nuuk
Most Greenlandic villages, including Nanortalik, have their own church.
Nive Nielsen, Greenlandic singer and songwriter
Panel discussion with Greenlandic movie maker Inuk Silis Høegh at the launch of his movie about groundbreaking Greenlandic band Sumé
Teletaarnet Headquarters in Nuuk Greenland
Arctic television in Ilulissat
Estimated extent of Arctic cultures in Greenland from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Colored areas on each map indicate the extent and migration patterns over time of the Dorset, Thule, and Norse cultures.
Pilersuisoq Supermarket in Kangerlussuaq

The weight of the ice sheet has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m below sea level, while elevations rise suddenly and steeply near the coast.

Map of Antarctica

East Antarctic Ice Sheet

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Map of Antarctica

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is one of two large ice sheets in Antarctica, and the largest on the entire planet.

This marker indicating sea level is situated between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Sea level

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Average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured.

Average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured.

This marker indicating sea level is situated between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
Sea level measurements from 23 long tide gauge records in geologically stable environments show a rise of around 200 mm during the 20th century (2 mm/year).
Sea level sign seen on cliff (circled in red) at Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park
Water cycles between ocean, atmosphere and glaciers
Global sea level during the Last Glacial Period
Melting glaciers are causing a change in sea level

Some land movements occur because of isostatic adjustment of the mantle to the melting of ice sheets at the end of the last ice age.

A photograph of Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972. A processed version became widely known as The Blue Marble.

Earth

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Third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life.

Third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life.

A photograph of Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972. A processed version became widely known as The Blue Marble.
Planetary disk of a star, the inner ring has a radius equal to Earth and the Sun
Artist's impression of earth during the Archean eon, showing falling meteor, erupting volcano, round stromatolites, and barren landscape
Earth topological map, the area is redder if it is raised higher in real-life
Global map of heat flow from Earth's interior to the surface
Earth's major plates, which are: · · · · ·
Satellite picture of Upsala Glacier, showing mountains, icebergs, lakes, and clouds
Schematic of Earth's magnetosphere, with the solar wind flows from left to right
Earth's rotation imaged by Deep Space Climate Observatory, showing axis tilt
Illustration of the Earth, Earth's orbit, the Sun and the four seasons
Earth's axial tilt and its relation to the rotation axis and planes of orbit
Earth-Moon system seen from Mars
A model of Vanguard 1, the oldest human-made object in Earth orbit
Water is transported to various parts of the hydrosphere via the water cycle
Top of Earth's blue-tinted atmosphere, with the Moon at the background
Fungi are one of the kingdoms of life on Earth.
The seven continents of Earth:
Earth's land use for human agriculture
Change in average surface air temperature since the industrial revolution, plus drivers for that change. Human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability.
Earthrise, taken in 1968 by William Anders, an astronaut on board Apollo 8
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Hubble Space Telescope seen in orbit from Space Shuttle Atlantis
Processes leading to movements and phase changes in Earth's water
Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the Cupola module of the International Space Station observing the Earth below

Alpine glaciers form in mountainous areas, whereas vast ice sheets form over land in polar regions.