GEOFILE 745

Glacier systems: comparative case studies

By Paul Warburton
Synopsis Learning objectives
The world’s ice is melting due to After studying this Geofile you should be able to:
climate change. This is reflected in ● understand the concept of glacial budget
the retreat of most glaciers in recent
● explain how this influences the advance and retreat
decades.
of glaciers and ice sheets.
Glaciers may be thought of as The case studies apply the concept of budget to real
systems in which there is a balance glaciated areas and will help you to understand the
between inputs of snow, and factors that affect glacial advance and retreat.
outputs from melting and
evaporation. This balance Exam Board Link to specification
determines whether glaciers are AQA Unit 1, GEOG1 Physical and Human
advancing, retreating, or are more Geography, The Physical Options, Cold
or less stationary. environments, see page 10
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/
Local climatic conditions can mean specifications/alevel/AQA-2030-W-SP-14.
that some glaciers go against the PDF
general trend, even within a region. Edexcel Unit 4, Geographical Research, Option 2:
Other factors that can produce Cold Environments – Landscape and Change,
unusual behaviour in glaciers are see pages 78–80
also involved. http://www.edexcel.com/
migrationdocuments/GCE%20New%20GCE/
Aside from the immediate impact of UA035234_GCE_Lin_Geog_Issue_4.pdf
glaciers shrinking or disappearing,
OCR AS Unit F761: Management Physical
there are wider impacts on human Environments, Cold Environments, see
behaviour. Glaciers are important page 15
sources of water, and feed a number http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/69036-
of the world’s major rivers. specification.pdf
Retreating glaciers can also point to WJEC Unit G3, Section A, Contemporary Themes
the importance of taking action and Research in Geography, Theme 2(a) –
against climate change. Glacial Landforms and their Management,
see pages 31 and 32
Key terms http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/
publications/6312.pdf
glacier budget, accumulation,
ablation, systems, climate International Geography Diploma Programme, Optional
Baccalaureate Themes, Extreme Environments
change/global warming http://ibgeog2009.wikispaces.com/
Extreme_Environment

© Oxford University Press 2016 GeoFile, Series 34, Issue 2, January 2016 1
GEOFILE ● 745

Glacier systems: comparative case studies

systems terms, a budget is the
Glacier-like conditions on Ben Nevis balance between inputs and
A BBC news report in August 2014 stated that hazards outputs. This is the same with
associated with arctic and alpine areas, but considered glaciers and ice sheets. They
‘extremely unusual’ in the UK during the summer, had are examples of open
been found on Ben Nevis: systems, with inputs and
outputs of:
●● On the mountain’s north face, snowfields remained in
many gullies and upper scree slopes. ●● energy – inputs from the
●● These snowfields included areas of compacted, dense, ice sun and outputs of heat
hard snow – névé. from movement and
●● Névé is the first stage in the formation of glaciers. friction, and
●● matter – inputs of snow
●● There were some sheets of snow weighing hundreds of
tonnes. and rock and outputs when
melting occurs
●● The snowfields also contained tunnels and fissures,
known as bergschrunds. Within the glacial system
there are stores of matter
Figure 1 Surprise! Glaciers forming in Scotland (such as rock and ice) and
Source: Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands- processes occurring (like
islands-28885119 melting and evaporation) that
‘Surprise! Glaciers appearing in glaciers are thought to have change the inputs into
Scotland’ (Figure 1). Such a lost around a quarter of their outputs (Figure 3). This was
headline would indeed be a mass in the last eight years. covered very thoroughly in
surprise. Not only did glaciers an earlier Geofile (September
To understand why glaciers 2010 number 622).
disappear from Scotland at the and ice sheets are retreating
end of the last ice age but we around the world, although All glaciers and ice sheets are
also live at a time when global advancing in a few areas, it is either growing or retreating,
climate change is leading to helpful to understand the depending on the balance
the almost worldwide retreat concept of glacier budget. between accumulation (the
of glaciers and ice sheets gains in mass) and ablation
(Figure 2). Glacier budget (losses of mass).
Mountain glaciers are The word ‘budget’ is usually Accumulation
retreating in many parts of used about money, meaning Glaciers and ice sheets grow
the world. One particular the balance between income through precipitation. If
area scientists are concerned and money that is spent. In inputs of snow are greater
about is Alaska. There, the
Columbia Glacier has 0
–200
Cumulative global glacier mass

retreated by 15km over the

–400
past 25 years. Many of the
balance (mm w.e.)

–600
mountains in the area now –800
have much less snow. It is –1000

believed the situation is so –1200

–1400
extreme in Alaska that of the
–1600 Glacier volume change (5 year average)
2,000 glaciers observed, 99%
–1800
of them are retreating. 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
Year
In Europe, the situation is
worrying too. Europe’s Figure 2 Global long-term changes in glacier volume

GeoFile Series 34 Issue 2

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GEOFILE Glacier systems: comparative case studies ● 745

than losses through ablation, Accumulation Ablation

zone zone
then a glacier will grow.
Avalanche
●● Snow builds up and is Snowfall
compressed by the weight
Equilibrium Melting and
of fresher snow above. line evaporation
●● This compressed snow Sea
gradually turns into névé, Calving
ice that has been partially
melted and refrozen and
compacted.
●● Névé has quite a lot of air Figure 3 Glacier budget
contained within it, so it is
experiences net accumulation that break off to form icebergs.
granular.
is called the accumulation This
GeoFile Series 34 Issueis2 a process called
●● In time, more air is
calving;
zone (Figure 3). Fig 745_02 Mac/eps/illustrator there are some
15 s/s
squeezed out and after OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

about a year this changes to A glacier is more thanArtist:

just iceRussellimpressive
David Illustration videos showing
and snow, however. Its mass this process.
a more compressed form of
ice called firn. is also made up from: The part of a glacier that
●● Eventually hard ice forms. ●● rock debris that may fall experiences net ablation –
onto it from valley sides as where losses to melting and
For this process to occur there
the result of weathering evaporation exceed
needs to be a certain level of
accumulation – is called the
energy or insolation from the ●● glaciers may also be added
ablation zone.
sun. If insolation is reduced, to by avalanches.
for example due to more We can now look at specific
Ablation
cloud cover, then lower areas of the world and see
Ablation is the other side of a
temperatures will encourage how the idea of glacial budget
glacier’s budget. It refers to the
ice to develop. If there is a can be applied to real glaciers
loss of mass from a glacier or
higher level of energy over a and ice sheets.
ice sheet; this is due to melting
year then more melting and
evaporation will occur, and a
and evaporation. Ablation Why are most ice
tends to be greatest in the sheets and glaciers
glacier will retreat (outputs lower section of a glacier
will exceed inputs). (Figure 3). Temperatures are
retreating?
Most accumulation occurs higher at lower altitudes, so The behaviour of glaciers is
towards the upper end of a more melting and evaporation very complex, and melt rates
glacier, where it is colder at occur. can be influenced strongly by
higher altitudes and ice has a many factors.
Glaciers and ice sheets that
greater chance to develop. flow into a lake or the sea Ice in glaciers and ice sheets
The part of a glacier that often lose large masses of ice can range from a few

Case studies the ice fields on Mont Blanc last 40 years. The retreat of
and the surrounding glaciers in the French Aps
Glacial retreat in the French mountains of the European has not been uniform. The
Alps: the Mer de Glace range covered some 375 sq greatest losses have been in
According to recent research,
km; by the late 2000s, this the southern parts of the
glaciers in the French Alps
area had fallen to about Alps. In the Belledonne
have lost about a quarter of
275 sq km. Massif (Massif is a French
their area since the 1970s. In
This represents an average word for a large area of
the late 1960s/early 1970s,
loss of some 26% over the mountains), for example, the

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GEOFILE Glacier systems: comparative case studies ● 745

●● A report published in 2012

indicated that a third of
the thinning in the lower
section of the glacier was
due to reduced flow from
higher up the glacier, and
the remaining third was
due to ablation of the
glacier snout.
●● A recent study in 2014

suggested that a minimum

retreat of 1200m is likely
by 2040.
Figure 4 Mer de Glace, French Alps You should be able to find
Source: www.heatheronhertravels.com/. some impressive vertical
photographs on the internet
glaciers have almost ●● The lowest 12% of the
showing stages in the retreat
completely disappeared. In glacier has been more or
of this glacier.
the Ecrins Massif, the rate of less stable for several years,
glacier retreat is almost three but the Mer de Glace lost Glaciers in the Himalayas
times greater than in the 70 metres in thickness at Like many other
Mont Blanc area. Broadly, the Montenevers Station mountainous regions in the
the rate of glacier retreat is from 1995 to 2005. world, glaciers are retreating
less significant in the
northern Alps than the N

southern Alps.
K2
●● The southern mountains
AFGHANISTAN TIBET (CHINA)
are at a lower altitude and
so are warmer.
●● There is more precipitation
and cloud cover in the PAKISTAN Mt.
Everest
north. NEPAL
BHUTAN
●● In other words the inputs
of mass are greater in the
BANGLA-
north, and there is also less INDIA
DESH
of the sun’s energy or
insolation reaching the ice,
so retreat is slower. Arabian
Sea
Mer de Glace
●● The Mer de Glace (‘sea of
Bay
ice’) (Figure 4), on the of
northern side of Mt Blanc, Bengal
is the largest glacier in the
Key
western French Alps.
Karakoram
●● This glacier is gradually Kohistan-Ladakh-Arc
SRI
thinning and retreating. Great Himalaya
LANKA 0 500 km

Figure 5 Location of the Karakoram

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
© Oxford University Press 2016 GeoFile, Series 34, Issue 2, January 2016 Artist: David Russell Illustration 4
GEOFILE Glacier systems: comparative case studies ● 745

in the Himalayas as Central and south east most of the extra moisture
temperatures rise and Himalayas associated with global
snowfall decreases. However, In contrast, the central and warming in the winter when
scientists have found that in southeast Himalayan regions westerly winds bring snow to
one region – Karakoram – get most of their moisture the mountains.
the glaciers are stable or from the monsoon in the In Karakoram, snowfall is
advancing. The Karakoram summer. Because summer is decreasing in the summer but
(Figure 5) is a chain of warmer, most of this increasing in the winter.
mountains along the border precipitation falls as rain. Although when initial
between India, Pakistan and Measurements have shown research was carried out the
China. It is part of the larger that the total amount of water researchers didn’t test the
Himalaya mountain chain. that is falling is increasing idea, it has since been
It is very important to during the summer months. concluded that this snow
understand that glacier But since the temperatures presumably feeds
changes are affected by are rising above freezing, they Karakoram’s glaciers, keeping
changes not only in air are not leading to increased them from retreating.
temperature, but also by snowfall but instead to
decreased snowfall in the Thick layers of debris from
precipitation. As global avalanches and rockfalls may
warming continues, central and south east regions.
have an insulating effect on
precipitation is increasing The Karakoram some of the areas of ice in
across the Himalayas. Because of the geography of this region so there is less
the Karakoram region, it gets melting and evaporation.

hundred to several thousands in fact several have ●● While summer melting of

of years old. Ice cores are disappeared entirely. Many ice increases, this can add
very valuable to scientists scientists attribute this glacial to flooding.
trying to study long-term retreat to the Industrial ●● Glacial meltwater provides
changes in climate. Scientists Revolution, which water for agriculture and
can drill into glaciers and ice accelerated in the mid-19th communities in otherwise
sheets and take samples that century, and ongoing climate dry areas of the world like
provide a continuous record change since that time. Pakistan near the Himalayas.
of climate change. The cores The loss of ice changes the
have trapped air bubbles that
Conclusion ●●

earth’s albedo (reflectivity

tell us a number of things Figures from the World
of the surface), with
about the past composition of Glacier Monitoring Service
consequences for local and
the atmosphere: suggest that the earth’s
global weather patterns and
glaciers are melting so fast
●● temperature variations climate. The lower the
that many will disappear by
●● types of vegetation
reflectivity of the surface,
the end of the 21st century.
●● pollution in the atmosphere.
the greater the impact on
The retreat of glaciers and ice
global warming.
Ice cores have also revealed sheets will have many
clues about global warming. ●● Glacier and ice sheet retreat
geographical consequences,
Glaciers are very sensitive to continues to be monitored
many not fully understood.
changes in temperature, so and studied and provides
●● Sea levels will continue to useful evidence of climate
studying them can help us to
rise – saltwater intrusion change. They point to the
understand how the earth’s
will damage many of the need to change the way we
climate is changing. Since the
world’s food-producing live to reduce human impact
early 20th century, most
areas like the Nile Delta. on the earth’s climate.
glaciers have been retreating;

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GEOFILE Glacier systems: comparative case studies ● 745

Focus questions
1 Explain how glaciers operate as a system.
2 How do the following factors influence why glaciers are retreating in some parts of the world yet
advancing in others? Use located examples in your answer.
● Altitude
● Solar energy (insolation)
● Climate change
● Rock debris – ash from a volcanic eruption – on the surface of a glacier.
3 Carry out some research on the human and natural consequences of glaciers and ice sheets
retreating.
Consider:
● Where in the world will the greatest impact of climate change and melting glaciers be felt?
● What is the global threat of glaciers melting?
● Who is most at risk from glaciers melting and sea levels rising?

Learning checkpoint
1 What is meant by the term ‘glacier budget’?

2 Why are most glaciers in the world retreating?

3 List some of the factors that influence the advance and retreat of glaciers.

4 Should we be concerned that glaciers around the world are retreating? Why?

© Oxford University Press 2016 GeoFile, Series 34, Issue 2, January 2016 6