Question

How does climate change affect Continental Glaciers?

Answer 1

Hint: Continental glaciers means the continuous masses of ice that are much larger than alpine glaciers. Small continental glaciers are called ice fields. Big continental glaciers are called ice sheets. Antarctica is almost entirely covered with ice sheets that are up to 3500 m thick.

Complete answer:
When temperatures rise and ice melts, The water flows to the seas from glaciers and ice caps, and ocean water warms and expands in volume. Glaciers ensue their zone of accumulation into an ablation zone where the removal of ice is completed at the terminus.

The position of the glacier terminus or margin, which leaves a definite geological signature, may reflect one amongst three processes:
- internal mechanics like surges, which rapidly and repeatedly extend glacier margins out within broad limits,
- equilibrium accommodation of a long-term global climate change, which needs time scales proportional to the dimensions of the glacier.
(1)- Direct marginal responses preceding equilibrium accommodation. Because the latter adjustments take only some years or decades to be expressed, they form the idea for extracting paleoclimate information. The particular position of the glacier margin reflects a balance between mass influx from flow and ablation.
 (2)- Such data sets extend back just for several decades. Analogs from a climate event called the small glacial epoch provide a bridge from historical observations to the more distant past and justify the utilization of glacial deposits to assist reconstruct older abrupt climate changes.

Note: On the up of land lakes are formed on top of a glacier during the melt season which can become the cause of floods. At the terminus of a glacier then the ice falling from the glacier presents a hazard to hikers below. When ice breaks off over the ocean, an iceberg is created.