What is meant by zone of ablation?

Ablation zone—the part of the glacier where summer melting exceeds winter accumulation. This includes not only the total melting of the snow cover of the last winter but also a layer of glacier ice. A deficit of mass appears in that area. The zone lies at lower altitudes of the glacier surface.

What does ablation mean in geography?

(1) combined processes (such as sublimation, fusion or melting, evaporation) which remove snow or ice from the surface of a glacier or from a snow-field; also used to express the quantity lost by these processes (2) reduction of the water equivalent of a snow cover by melting, evaporation, wind and avalanches.

What is the difference between the zone of accumulation and the zone of ablation?

Zone of Accumulation: The region where snowfall adds ice to the glacier. Zone of Ablation: The region where ablation subtracts ice from the glacier through melting or sublimation. Equilibrium Line: A boundary between the zone of accumulation and ablation controlled by elevation and latitude.

What is happening to the glacier in the ablation zone?

Ablation zone Glaciers lose mass through processes of ablation. Surface ablation processes include surface melt, surface meltwater runoff, sublimation, avalanching and windblown snow. Glaciers on steep slopes may also dry calve, dropping large chunks of ice onto unwary tourists below.

What happens in the ablation zone?

Ablation zone or ablation area refers to the low-altitude area of a glacier or ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice mass due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving, aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche, and any other ablation.

What causes glacier ablation?

As ice flows downhill, it either reaches warmer climates, or it reaches the ocean. This causes various processes of melt, or ablation, to occur. The lower part of the glacier generally loses more mass from ablation than it receives from accumulation. This part of the glacier is the ablation zone.

Where is the ablation zone?

Is a Cirque a glacier?

12.6.2.3 Cirque Glaciers Cirque glaciers are partly enclosed by steep headwalls and may remain separated from the main valley glaciers or ice caps (Gregory, 2010). They form in bowl-shaped depressions, also known as bedrock hollows or cirques, located on the side of, or near mountains.

What happens if accumulation exceeds ablation?

The lower area of a glacier where the rate of ablation is higher than the rate of accumulation. Occurs over a time period when accumulation averaged across the whole glacier exceeds ablation averaged across the whole glacier. The glacier becomes larger and extends further. The loss of ice or snow from a glacier.

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