Types of glaciers

 There are two main types of glaciers:

1.- CONTINENTAL GLACIERS (ice sheets): They are found in areas of low solar radiation and, unlike alpine glaciers, they always occupy a huge space - thousands of kilometers. These huge masses flow in all directions and hide all the land, except the highest areas.

                            https://discoveringantarctica.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/continental_glacier.jpg

Nowadays there are only two:

·          * Greenland Glacier: It occupies more than 1 million km2, most of Greenland is a glacier. Its       thickness is between 1500-3000 metres.

                                      https://nsidc.org/greenland-today/images/greenland_daily_melt.png

      * Antarctica Glacier: It occupies more than 13 million km2. Its thickness can be greater than      4000 meters. Glacial shelves form in coastal bays, which are flat masses of floating ice that      extend out to sea but remain attached to the shoreline. Due to climate change, many of            these platforms are moving away from the coast.

264px-Antarctica_relief_location_map

 2.- ALPINE GLACIERS: found in high mountains, such as the Alps (hence their name). They are masses of ice (tongues) that move downhill from an accumulation center (glacial cirques) located near its head to lower areas where the ice melts.

They can be long or short, narrow or wide, or even have branching tributaries. They can vary in size from less than 1 kilometer to more than 100 kilometers.

https://media.sciencephoto.com/c0/12/03/52/c0120352-800px-wm.jpg

Oher types of glaciers have been identified apart from the above:

3.- PLATEAU GLACIERS: Glaciers that cover highlands and plateaus. Like cap glaciers, they cover the entire landscape but on a smaller scale. They are located in Iceland and on some islands in the Arctic Ocean.

                               http://www.ecns.cn/2015/11-18/U470P886T1D189156F12DT20151118112237.jpg

4.- OVERFLOW GLACIERS: These are tongues of ice that have broken away from a larger glacier. They are like valley glaciers that go from a larger ice mass (plateau or cap glacier) to the sea. When they reach the sea they can expand and give rise to platforms and icebergs (gigantic ice floes that drift, floating in the sea. Little by little they melt and disappear).

                                                                                        800px-Ferrar_Glacier,_Antarctica_1

5.- PIEDMONT GLACIERS: Located in lowlands at the bases of steep mountains. They originate on a plateau from which several valley glaciers start, reaching a lower area and expanding. They can be miles of km2, as in some areas of Alaska. it is formed on a plateau from which several valley glaciers start.

https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/cropped_image/primary/90D3CD4D-B3D9-58B5-19C0539C35D7679A.jpg?width=1600&quality=90&mode=crop

In the following video we can review the characteristics of the two main types of glaciers: continental and alpine glaciers.