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What is Glacial Retreat?
Glaciers are large accumulations of snow and ice that play a critical role in shaping landscapes as they creep down slopes, carving wide valleys along the way. Glaciers also play an important role in other Earth processes, including providing a protective cover over the surface and oceans by reflecting light from the Sun back into space to keep the planet cool. Geologists and climate scientists study glacial processes to understand various geological processes and the effects of climate change.
Types of Glaciers
While scientists have identified several subtypes of glaciers, the two main categories are ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Ice sheets are large sheets of ice that can cover entire continents, while alpine glaciers function more like frozen rivers sliding down mountains due to their own weight. While there are nearly 200,000 glaciers worldwide, there are currently only two ice sheets in the world; the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Ice sheet glaciers function like large masses of land and account for two-thirds of the world’s fresh water. These glaciers are important for local animal life that live on their surfaces at least part-time, such as penguins, seals, and polar bears. Alpine glaciers are also important for large-scale processes, as they carry sediments containing important nutrients into lakes, rivers…
