The Cryosphere

Regions on earth
where water is in
solid form (ice and
snow)
Polar regions and
mountains

JUST THE BASICS

77% of freshwater
on Earth is frozen
Most is in Antarctica
(92%) and
Greenland (5%)
(Sea ice is frozen salt
water, mainly at the
north pole)

(though most of the salt is

excreted during freezing process)

Other freshwater
ice is in mountain
ranges (glaciers)
Nearly all of earths
ice is melting
rapidly.
Europes glaciers
have shrunk 50%
since 1850

The Cryosphere is Melting!

(due to global warming)

SEA ICE:
Arctic Ice Cap: Shrank 20% over past 30 years

LAND-BASED ICE:

Greenland: Shrinking rapidly over past 30 years (losing 284

billion pounds of ice annually)
Global mountain glaciers: Majority are shrinking over past 30
years
Antarctic Ice Field: West is shrinking, East is expanding
(increased snowfall)
(Shepherd, A. 1992. A Reconciled Estimate of Ice Sheet Mass Balance, Science 338(6111) 30 Nov. 2012)

 Largest Glacial melt (calving) ever

recorded:
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTg
IPoGU

Sea Level Rise

Sea level is rising about 2.5 mm/yr due to:
1) Global ice melt
2) Thermal expansion of warming ocean
3) Groundwater reclamation

How fast is sea level currently rising?

2.6 feet per century
How much will it rise by 2100?
3 to 7 feet

PERMAFROST is also
MELTING
Permanently frozen
ground in frigid
climates

Some is peat soil,

a precursor to
petroleum
Global warming
melts peat
permafrost &
releases CO2

GLACIERS

What is a
glacier?

A glacier is a large
mass of freshwater
ice on the land. Most
move slowly downhill
to the sea under their
own gravity.

A piece of a
glacier floating in
the ocean is
called an iceberg

Where are glaciers ??

They can exist on
mountains and in
valleys (alpine
glaciers)
Or form an ice
sheet over flat
land (continental
glaciers)
Can be 100 meters
to over 100 km long

Images of Alpine Glaciers

Tidewater glacier

Piedmont Glacier

Piedmont Glacier

Cirque glaciers

Valley Glacier

Continental Glaciers

How do
glaciers
form?

Centuries of snowfall
compress into
large bodies of ice.

they
move?

Gravity drags
glaciers downhill
toward the ocean like
rivers or sheets of ice.

do they
move?
1 inch to 1 mile per
year on average

Glacial Mass Balance

(gaining or losing mass)
How do glaciers grow?

How do glaciers shrink?

Snow falls on the

glaciers highest
sections

Melting
Calving (breaking off
into ocean)
Deflation ice
removed by wind

GLACIAL SPEED
Bottom and sides
move slower
(friction & basal
slip)

GLACIERS CAUSE EROSION

Plucking Melt &
refreeze
incorporates rocks
& boulders
Creates
sandpaper effect
(abrasion &
gouging)

HORN

Glaciers
sharpen
mountains and
gouge valleys as
they move rock
and
earth,creating
FJORDS,
ARETES, and
HORNS.

ARETE

FJORDS

Valleys carved by
glaciers that later fill
with ocean water

Ice fields and

glaciers are
melting

AND MELTING
..
Due to global
climate

END

MORAINES

Long piles of
rock and earth
left by glaciers.
(lateral, medial,
and terminal
moraines)