Fundamentals of Glacier Dynamics

Glaciers form when snow melts and refreezes, or is compressed, to form ice. Spreading under their own weight, they flow seaward, channeled along preferred routes by the shape or composition of the underlying bedrock. Though we don't know why, some ice streams flow rapidly within slower‐moving ice in Greenland and Antarctica. Glaciers exist on all continents except Australia, and at high enough elevations, they can be found even at the equator. Many are melting as global temperatures rise, but about 99% of glacier ice is in Greenland and Antarctica, where it is partly protected from global warming by low temperatures. Nevertheless, the coastal ice sheet in Greenland has thinned recently for unknown reasons, and we still don't know whether the far larger Antarctic ice sheet is growing or shrinking.