Types
of Glaciers
There are many different types of glaciers, with corresponding unique behavior. One set of characterizations depends on the temperatures certain glaciers face. Temperate glaciers exist most of the year above melting point. Polar glaciers spend most of the year at or below freezing. Glaciers form in places where snowfall exceeds snow loss. (Fountain)
Alpine Glaciers
Other characterizations of glaciers rely on the physical aspects and topography that make up a glacier. A valley glacier usually exists in a valley, but is also characterized by being long, narrow, and flowing in one direction. One example of this is the Matanuska Glacier near Anchorage, Alaska. This glacier feeds into the Matanuska River, flowing along a valley. (Hooke)
Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that interact with the sea along a coast, such as the Columbia Glacier near Valdez, AK. Tidewater glaciers go through a process called calving where part of the end of the glacier drops off into the ocean and becomes an iceberg. (Hooke)
Columbia Glacier near Valdez Alaska (Hinsdale)
Short valley glaciers that flow less distance are called cirque glaciers, and usually only occupy small depressions or basins on a mountain. These are all examples of alpine glaciers. (Hooke) One other example of a unique alpine glacier is the piedmont glacier, occurring when steep valley glaciers flow into a flat area and spread out. The largest piedmont glacier in the world is the Malaspina Glacier on the Seward Ice Field. (“Glacier…”)
Photo of a small cirque glacier in the mountains of Hatcher's Pass, Alaska.
Ice Caps/Sheets
Ice caps and ice sheets spread out in all directions from a central dome, such as the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, which often form over the ocean. Sometimes valley glaciers may flow out and continue as an ice cap or sheet, which classifies as an outlet glacier. An ice cap is basically a miniature formation of an ice sheet. (Hooke)