Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T10:51:08.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Ice sheets

from Part I - The terrestrial cryosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2022

Roger G. Barry
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Boulder
Thian Yew Gan
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Get access

Summary

While ice sheets were extensive in the Northern Hemisphere during the Pleistocene glaciations, covering much of North America and Scandinavia, the two remaining continental ice sheets are in Greenland and in Antarctica. Greenland is essentially a single dome reaching above 3 km, while the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has a more complex form that rises above 4 km and is bordered by two major ice shelves and numerous smaller ones. These ice sheets have existed for millions (tens of millions in the case of Antarctica) of years. Arbitrarily, an ice sheet is defined as glacier ice extending over 50,000 km2 in area.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Global Cryosphere
Past, Present, and Future
, pp. 168 - 206
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Ice sheets
  • Roger G. Barry, University of Colorado Boulder, Thian Yew Gan, University of Alberta
  • Book: The Global Cryosphere
  • Online publication: 15 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767262.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Ice sheets
  • Roger G. Barry, University of Colorado Boulder, Thian Yew Gan, University of Alberta
  • Book: The Global Cryosphere
  • Online publication: 15 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767262.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Ice sheets
  • Roger G. Barry, University of Colorado Boulder, Thian Yew Gan, University of Alberta
  • Book: The Global Cryosphere
  • Online publication: 15 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767262.006
Available formats
×