| List of glaciers | |
|---|---|
 Conness Glacier on Mount Conness |
Aglacier (US:/ˈɡleɪʃər/GLAY-shər) or (UK:/ˈɡlæsiə/) is a persistent body of denseice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation ofsnow exceeds itsablation (melting andsublimation) over many years, oftencenturies. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creatingcrevasses,seracs, and other distinguishing features. Because glacial mass is affected by long-termclimate changes, e.g.,precipitation,mean temperature, andcloud cover,glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators ofclimate change. There are about 198,000 to 200,000 glaciers in the world.[1]
Catalogs of glaciers include:
Africa, specificallyEast Africa, has containedglacial regions, possibly as far back as thelast glacier maximum 10 to 15 thousand years ago. Seasonal snow does exist on the highest peaks of East Africa[2][3] as well as in theDrakensberg Range of South Africa, theStormberg Mountains, and theAtlas Mountains in Morocco. Currently, the only remaining glaciers on the continent exist onMount Kilimanjaro,Mount Kenya, and theRwenzori.[4]
There are many glaciers in the Antarctic. This set of lists does not includeice sheets,ice caps orice fields, such as theAntarctic ice sheet, but includesglacial features that are defined by their flow, rather than general bodies of ice. The lists includeoutlet glaciers,valley glaciers,cirque glaciers,tidewater glaciers andice streams. Ice streams are a type of glacier[5] and many of them have "glacier" in their name, e.g.Pine Island Glacier.Ice shelves are listed separately in theList of Antarctic ice shelves. For the purposes of these lists, theAntarctic is defined as anylatitude further south than 60° (the continental limit according to theAntarctic Treaty System).[6]
There are also glaciers in the subantarctic. This includes onesnow field (Murray Snowfield). Snow fields are not glaciers in the strict sense of the word, but they are commonly found at theaccumulation zone or head of a glacier.[7] For the purposes of this list, Antarctica is defined as any latitude further south than 60° (the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty).[8]
The majority of Europe's glaciers are found in theAlps,Caucasus and theScandinavian Mountains (mostly Norway) as well as in Iceland. Iceland has the largest glacier in Europe,Vatnajökull Glacier, that covers between 8,100 and 8,300 km2 in area and 3,100 km3 in volume. Norway alone has more than 2500 glaciers (including very small ones) covering an estimated 1% of mainland Norway's surface area. Several of mainland Europe's biggest glaciers are found here including;Jostedalsbreen (the largest in mainland Europe at 487 km2),Vestre Svartisen (221 km2),Søndre Folgefonna (168 km2) andØstre Svartisen (148 km2). The two Svartisen glaciers used to be one connected entity during the Little Ice Age but has since separated.[9][10]
There are a number of glaciers existing in North America, currently or in recent centuries. In the United States, theseglaciers are located in nine states, all in theRocky Mountains or further west. The southernmost named glacier among them is theLilliput Glacier inTulare County, east of theCentral Valley of California.
Mexico has about two dozen glaciers, all of which are located onPico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl),Popocatépetl andIztaccíhuatl, the three tallest mountains in the country.[11]
No glaciers remain on theAustralia mainland orTasmania. A few, like theHeard Island glaciers are located in the territory ofHeard Island and McDonald Islands in the southernIndian Ocean.
New Guinea has thePuncak Jaya glacier.
New Zealand contains manyglaciers, mostly located near the Main Divide of theSouthern Alps in theSouth Island. They are classed as mid-latitude mountain glaciers. There are eighteen small glaciers in theNorth Island onMount Ruapehu.[13]
An inventory of South Island glaciers compiled in the 1980s indicated there were about 3,155 glaciers with an area of at least one hectare (2.5 acres).[14] Approximately one sixth of these glaciers covered more than 10 hectares. These include:
Glaciers in South America develop exclusively on theAndes and are subject of the Andes various climatic regimes namely theTropical Andes,Dry Andes and theWet Andes. Apart from this there is a wide range of latitudes on which glaciers develop from 5000 m in theAltiplanomountains andvolcanoes to reaching sealevel as tidewater glaciers fromSan Rafael Lagoon (45° S) and southwards. South America hosts two largeice fields, theNorthern andSouthern Patagonian Ice Fields, of which the latter is the second largest contiguous body of glaciers in extrapolar regions.
Theglaciers of Venezuela are located in the mountains of theSierra Nevada de Mérida. In 1910, maps made by the explorerAlfredo Jahn showed the Sierra Nevada glaciers covering about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres). Anice trade at that time saw ice men or hieleros transporting glacier ice by mule or on foot toMérida for sale, a six hour journey.[15]
Venezuela's glacier coverage shrank to about 280 hectares (700 acres) in 1952, and 80 hectares (200 acres) in 1985.
The last remaining glacier, located onPico Humboldt, was estimated to cover 10 hectares (25 acres) in 2011.[15]
The following is the list of longest glaciers in the non-polar regions, generally regarded as between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south latitude, though some definitions[16] expand it slightly.