Interesting science facts about glaciers

Glaciers are the largest reservoirs of freshwater on our planet (they store about three quarters of total freshwater on our planet) so we must do our best to prevent them from further melting caused by climate change problem.

In United States most glaciers are located in Alaska.

In the age in Earth's history famous under the name of "Ice age" not all land area was covered with ice as some think but only about one third of the total earth's land area.

Glaciers cover large areas in polar regions of our planet and are found in mountain ranges of every continent except Australia, even in Africa (Kilimanjaro).

The longest glacier in United States, and also in North America is the Bering Glacier in Alaska, which is 204 kilometers long.

When we look at the iceberg we do not see that only 10% of iceberg is actually above water, while 90% is under water.

The largest glaciers on our planet are ice sheets.

If the Greenland ice sheet would happen to melt, it would cause sea levels to rise six meters (20 ft) all around the world.

You can tell whether glacier is dense or not by looking at its color, if it tends to be blue then this is very dense glacier.

The most glaciers in the world are located in Antarctica. Scientists believe that Antarctic ice sheet has been in existence for over 40 million years.

Glaciers are usually divided into two groups: Alpine glaciers, which originate in mountains, and Continental ice sheets, which cover larger areas.

Antarctica has so much ice that if the Antarctic ice sheet would about to melt, sea levels would rise up to 65 meters (210 ft) causing irreparable damage to planet.

Glaciers that terminate in the sea are called tidewater glaciers. Most tidewater glaciers calve above sea level, which in many cases results in a tremendous splash as the iceberg strikes the water.

Antarctic ice is the thickest in the world, in some areas over 4,200 meters.

Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier moves 20-30 meters per day.

Today little less than 10% of land area is covered with glaciers.

Africa has glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, on Mount Kenya and in the Ruwenzori Range, though many of them are in danger of melting because of higher than average temperatures.

Mars has vast polar ice caps comparable to the ones on Earth.

Some estimates say that if all land ice would about to melt, sea level would rise approximately 70 meters worldwide.

When glacier ice is white, that usually means that there are many tiny air bubbles still in the ice, and that iceberg still isn't very dense.

Glaciers represent raw, untouched nature.