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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
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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

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  • 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
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  • 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
×