What happens when ablation exceeds accumulation?
The upper area of a glacier where the rate of accumulation is higher than the rate of ablation. Occurs over a time period when ablation averaged across the whole glacier exceeds accumulation averaged across the whole glacier. The glacier becomes smaller and the end of the glacier goes back.
What happens in the ablation zone of a glacier?
Ablation zone—the part of the glacier where summer melting exceeds winter accumulation. This includes not only the total melting of the snow cover of the last winter but also a layer of glacier ice. A deficit of mass appears in that area. The zone lies at lower altitudes of the glacier surface.
What effects will altitude have on the relationship between accumulation and ablation?
Equilibrium line altitude Most glaciers receive more inputs and accumulation in their upper reaches, and lose more mass by ablation in their lower reaches.
What does accumulation mean with regards to glaciers?
On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation zone annually.
What is the difference between accumulation and ablation?
The zone where there is net accumulation (where there is more mass gained than lost) is the accumulation zone. The part of the glacier that has more ablation than accumulation is the ablation zone. Where ablation is equal to accumulation is the Equilibrium line altitude.
Is Mt Rainier a glacier?
Mount Rainier, Washington, at 14,410 feet (4,393 meters), the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is a dormant volcano whose glacier ice cover exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. Mount Rainier has approximately 26 glaciers.
How far has Kautz glacier retreated?
In 1857, Kautz wrote in his journal that the terminus reached a narrow rock channel located underneath the present Glacier bridge on the road to Paradise. By the time Mason began photographing the glacier, the terminus had retreated up the valley 0.2 miles (0.3 km).
How far is glacier from Mt Rainier?
393 miles
How overdue is Mount Rainier?
Although Mount Rainier has not produced a significant eruption in the past 500 years, it is potentially the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range because of its great height, frequent earthquakes, active hydrothermal system, and extensive glacier mantle.
What is there to see between glacier National Park and Seattle?
Things to see on a road trip from Seattle to Glacier National…
- Mount Rainier – Only just outside Seattle at the start of your route, a slight detour south will take you to one of the best known mountains along the US West Coast.
- Snoqualmie Falls – The 268-foot waterfall is a sight to see.
How do you know if a glacier is advancing?
4 Answers. The easiest way is to look a the glacier margins. If the ice is in contact with vegetation or rock covered in lichens or moss, it means it is most likely advancing. If you see a band of life-less rock in between the ice and the first plants/lichens/moss, it means it is retreating.
What is the zone of ablation in a glacier?
Zone of Ablation: The region where ablation subtracts ice from the glacier through melting or sublimation. Equilibrium Line: A boundary between the zone of accumulation and ablation controlled by elevation and latitude.
Which determines the mass balance of a glacier?
The snowpack’s mass balance is the product of density and depth. Regardless of depth measurement technique the observed depth is multiplied by the snowpack density to determine the accumulation in water equivalent. The length of stake exposed by melting ice is measured at the end of the melt (ablation) season.