Ice cap

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Vatnajökull, Iceland
Vatnajökull, Iceland

An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area (usually covering a highland area). Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet.[1][2]

Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features (i.e., they will lie over the top of mountains) but their dome is usually centred around the highest point of a massif. Ice flows away from this high point (the ice divide) towards the ice cap's periphery.[1]

Vatnajökull is an example of an ice cap in Iceland.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Benn, Douglas; David Evans (1998). Glaciers and Glaciation (in English). London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-58431-9. 
  2. ^ Bennett, Matthew; Neil Glasser (1996). Glacial Geology: Ice Sheets and Landforms (in English). Chichester, England: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.. ISBN 0-471-96345-3. 
  3. ^ Flowers, Gwenn E.; Shawn J. Marshall, Helgi Bjŏrnsson and Garry K. C. Clarke (2005). "Sensitivity of Vatnajŏkull ice cap hydrology and dynamics to climate warming over the next 2 centuries". Journal of Geophysical Research 110: F02011. doi:10.1029/2004JF000200. 

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Greenhouse and Icehouse Earth
Greenhouse Earth

(global climate where tropical temperatures may reach the poles)

 Icehouse Earth

(global climate where ice ages are possible)

 Snowball Earth

(ice covers whole planet in global ice age)
Climate similar to Interstadials Ice Age/Glacial (expansion of ice caps) Interstadial (brief warm period during ice age, weaker than interglacial) Interglacial (longer warm period during ice age, such as today) stadial (brief cooler period during interglacial, such as Older Dryas, Younger Dryas, Little Ice Age) global ice age
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