alpine glacier
High-altitude ice river
An alpine glacier is a mass of ice that forms in mountainous terrain and flows slowly downhill through valleys, shaped by the surrounding peaks.
Unlike continental ice sheets that cover vast flat areas, alpine glaciers are confined by mountain topography: The alpine glacier carved a U-shaped valley over millennia.
Also called a mountain glacier or valley glacier.
- icefallSteep, crevassed glacier section
- névéGranular, compacted alpine snow
- crevasseDeep glacial fissure
- mountaineeringSport of climbing peaks
- moraineGlacier-deposited debris pile
horn · firn · serac · blue ice · cirque · calving · arête · high altitude · tarn · sublimation · ice melting · sea-level rise · Ötzi · ice climbing · accumulation zone · climate change research · habitat disruption · Swiss Alps
- frozen landstundra, iceberg, ice sheet, ice cap, ice field
- glacierscrevasse, moraine, iceberg, firn, ice shelves
- Ice Age Featuresice sheet, permafrost, moraine, ice cap, drumlin
- Ice formationsice sheet, ice cap, ice shelf, pack ice, sea ice
- Ice Agesice age, ice sheet, Pleistocene, ice cores, Little Ice Age
- polar iceiceberg, ice sheet, ice cap, ice floe, Greenland ice sheet
alpine glacierdesert
To leave behind completely
hot spring · volcanic vent · lava flow · Death Valley · Sahara
alpine, glacier, glacial, glacially, glaciate, glaciated, glaciation, glaciology, glaciologist