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What causes glaciers?
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Glaciers form when the snow cover from one winter does not melt before
the next winter's snow arrives. This causes a layering of each year's snow on top of all
the previous years' snow. Over many years, this layering can build up to great depths
(about 2 miles deep at the South Pole). The Earth's largest icecaps, the Greenland and
Antarctic icecaps, are glaciers. Some glaciers are very small, covering less than a square mile.
Large glaciers flow slowly downhill, like a giant river of cold molasses.
If they reach the ocean, chunks will occasionally break of ("calve") and fall into the ocean.
These pieces then become "icebergs". Some icebergs from the Antarctic ice cap are huge - as
large as the state of Rhode Island.
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A GLACIER ON THE EQUATOR? As unliky as it might seem, in the
hot tropical African country of Tanzania, there is a glacier at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The air is cold enough at the altitude of this peak (over 19,000 feet) so that precipitation
often falls as snow, and helps maintain the glacier. You can learn more about the
Kilimanjaro glacier here, and why
many people think that it is showing signs of
global warming.
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Dr. Roy W. Spencer:
GLOBAL WARMING: Manmade or Natural?
Now IN-STOCK at Amazon.com:
CLIMATE CONFUSION:
How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science,
Pandering Politicians, and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor
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