Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology

As the name suggests, Glaciology refers to the study of glaciers. Glaciers huge masses office formed by accumulation of snow over a long period of time. Glaciological research encompasses a wide range of topics including mass balance, geometry and dynamics of glaciers geomorphological processes like erosion, sedimentation, stability of the ice masses, and glacier-volcano interactions. Glaciers and ice sheets are the major fresh water repositories and natural reservoirs. They are also an indicator of global climate and in the present-day scenario, global warming has led to melting of these glaciers which in turn has been noted by scientists and contributed towards the ongoing research in climate change. On the other hand, glacial geomorphology entails the study of the impacts that glaciers and ice sheets may have on the development of landscape and landform. With the advent of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), there are more sophisticated and effective methods of analysis and modeling. This may have a significant impact on our knowledge of evolution of landscapes and formation of glacial landforms. In the book, the articles describe various aspects of glacier sciences including geomorphological mapping, glacier profiling, impact of glaciers on global climate, their formation and case studies describing the process, and so on. It also entails articled discussing ice caps studying snow particle size and growth of ice crystals, and avalanche. Himalayan, Antarctic and Greenlandic glaciers are very important in glaciological studies and they have been discussed in the articles included in this book. Book jacket.