Glaciology

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/glaciology

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is Glaciology known for?Melting of land-based ice sheets and glaciers
2. What is the primary drivers of glacial flow?Basal sliding and internal deformation of ice under pressure
3. What is the key paleoclimate archives?Ice cores, providing atmospheric and temperature data over millennia
4. How do glaciers form?Glaciers form when more snow falls each year than melts. The snow becomes firn and then glacial ice.
5. What shapes do glaciers make in the land?Glaciers carve U‑shaped valleys, cirques, fjords, and leave behind moraines, drumlins, and eskers.

Ablation: The loss of ice or snow from a glacier through melting, sublimation, or calving.
Firnification: The process by which snow transforms into denser glacial ice through compaction and recrystallization.
Calving: The process by which icebergs break off from glaciers or ice shelves into the ocean.