Editing Cryosphere (section)

=== Glaciers and ice sheets ===
{{Main|Glacier|Ice sheet}}
[[File:1249 Finsteraarhorn.jpg|thumb|Representation of glaciers on a [[National Maps of Switzerland|topographic map]]]]
[[File:Wildspitze_seen_from_Hinterer_Brunnkogel,_with_visible_ascent_track_of_ski_mountaineer.jpg|thumb|The Taschachferner [[glacier]] in the [[Ötztal Alps]] in [[Austria]]. The mountain to the left is the [[Wildspitze]] (3.768 m), second highest in Austria. To the right is an area with open [[crevasse]]s where the glacier flows over a kind of large [[cliff]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Wildspitze,+6458,+%C3%96sterreich/Hinterer+Brochkogel,+6458,+%C3%96sterreich/@46.8693351,10.8649167,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4782d399aa449a3b:0xc81bf75a6575685b!2m2!1d10.8672595!2d46.8854289!1m5!1m1!1s0x4782d388c6e336af:0xa4fff85a8397f10c!2m2!1d10.85!2d46.8833333!3e0 Google Maps: Distance between Wildspitze and Hinterer Brochkogel], cf. image scale at lower edge of screen</ref>]]

[[Ice sheet]]s and [[glacier]]s are flowing ice masses that rest on solid land. They are controlled by snow accumulation, surface and basal melt, calving into surrounding oceans or lakes and internal dynamics. The latter results from gravity-driven creep flow ("[[Ice flow dynamics|glacial flow]]") within the ice body and sliding on the underlying land, which leads to thinning and horizontal spreading.<ref name="GreveBlatter2009">{{cite book |author1=Greve, R. |title=Dynamics of Ice Sheets and Glaciers |author2=Blatter, H. |publisher=Springer |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-642-03414-5 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-03415-2}}</ref> Any imbalance of this dynamic equilibrium between mass gain, loss and transport due to flow results in either growing or shrinking ice bodies.[[File:Greenland-ice_sheet_hg.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of the [[ice sheet]] on [[Greenland]]'s east coast]]Relationships between global climate and changes in ice extent are complex. The mass balance of land-based glaciers and ice sheets is determined by the accumulation of snow, mostly in winter, and warm-season [[ablation]] due primarily to net radiation and turbulent heat fluxes to melting ice and snow from warm-air advection<ref name="paterson">
Paterson, W. S. B., 1993: World sea level and the present mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. In: W.R. Peltier (ed.), Ice in the Climate System, NATO ASI Series, I12, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 131–140.</ref><ref name="vandenbroeke">
Van den Broeke, M. R., 1996: The atmospheric boundary layer over ice sheets and glaciers. Utrecht, Universitiet Utrecht, 178 pp.</ref> Where ice masses terminate in the [[ocean]], iceberg [[Ice calving|calving]] is the major contributor to mass loss. In this situation, the ice margin may extend out into deep water as a floating [[ice shelf]], such as that in the [[Ross Sea]].

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