Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather forecast - What's the difference between glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice? What do they have to do with climate change?

What's the difference between glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice? What do they have to do with climate change?

Glaciers are mainly located in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. They are solid ice bodies, which are made up of a lot of ice cubes. The water formed after melting contains many minerals and a few elements inside the glacier, which is called fresh water. In fact, glaciers can also be carved into ice sculptures. Glaciers with different shapes and depths have different classifications, including mountain glaciers, continental ice sheets and polar glaciers. No matter what type of glacier it is, it has high research value. At present, the existing glaciers in the world are mainly located in Iceland.

The formation of glaciers requires high altitude and cold climate conditions. In the world, glaciers cover one tenth of the total area of the earth. In other words, most of the land area of the earth is covered by glaciers. Glacier area in China accounts for about 10% of the total land area, including Himalayas, Kunlun Mountain, Altai Mountain and Kunlun Mountain. These hilltops are covered with glaciers.

Ice sheet belongs to a kind of snow. Unlike a glacier, its ice body is thicker and there is no melted fresh water flowing out. Its area is smaller than that of glaciers, and it mainly exists near Greenland and Antarctica. Because of its small area and the cold local education, the weight of ice sheet is higher than that of glacier. The main reason for its formation is also related to climate change. Only when the weather is cold can a thicker ice sheet be formed.

Sea ice is a common salty ice block in coastal areas, which only exists in colder areas such as Iceland. It is salty because it is ice formed by seawater. Different from glaciers and ice sheets, it is formed by seawater under the action of climate, mainly in winter, which is conducive to the coordination of global climate. In a word, glacier ice sheet and sea ice belong to a kind of relatively thick ice, which is formed and exists in polar cold regions. As the climate changes, so does their thickness. With the continuous advancement of industrialization, global warming is serious, glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice are also melting, and climate coordination has changed.