Siachen Glacier

The Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram Range in the Himalaya Mountains, just east of the Line of Control between India-Pakistan. It is the longest glacier (70 km long) in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great watershed that separates China from the Indian subcontinent in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram. The glacier lies between the Saltoro Ridge immediately to the west and the main Karakoram Range to the east. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram Range. Indian army check posts are located on the Siachen glacier. The world's highest battlefield is also located on the glacier at a height of 21,000 feet above the sea level.

Image of Siachen Glacier at moon light

Image of Siachen Glacier at day light

Image of Siachen Glacier

Image of Siachen Glacier

Biafo Glacier, Pakistan

The Biafo Glacier is situated in the Karakoram Mountains of the Northern Areas, Pakistan. It is 63 km long glacier which meets the 49 km long Hispar Glacier at an altitude of 5,128 m at Hispar La (Pass) to create the world's longest glacial system outside the polar regions. This highway of ice connects two ancient mountain kingdoms, Nagar (immediately south of Hunza) in the west with Baltistan in the east. The Biafo Glacier is the world's third longest glacier outside of the polar region.

Image of Biafo Glacier

Image of Biafo Glacier

Image of Biafo Glacier

Image of Biafo Glacier

Image of Biafo Glacier

Perito Moreno Glacier

The Perito Moreno Glacier is located 48 miles from the Argentine town of El Calafate in the south west of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia. The 250 km2 ice formation, and 30 km in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water. Three viewing areas allow tourists to get safely up close and personal with the mass of ice. Visitors can witness huge chunks of ice breaking from the glacier and plummeting into Lake Argentino.

Image of Perito Moreno Glacier

Image of Perito Moreno Glacier

Image of Perito Moreno Glacier

Image of Perito Moreno Glacier

Perito Moreno Glacier plummeting into Lake Argentino

Franz Josef Glacier

The Franz Josef is a 12 km long glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier 20 km to the south, it is unique in descending from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level, amidst the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest.

The area surrounding the two glaciers is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site park. The river emerging from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef is known as the Waiho River.

Images of Franz Josef glacier

Portage Glacier

Portage Glacier is a glacier on the Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska and is included within the Chugach National Forest. It is located south of Portage Lake and 6 km (4 mi) west of Whittier.

Portage Glacier was a local name first recorded in 1898 by Thomas Corwin Mendenhall of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, so called because it is on a portage route between Prince William Sound and Turnagain Arm. Hundreds of years ago the glacier filled the entire Portage Valley, a distance of 14 miles (23 km), and was connected to what are now five separate glaciers.

The Begich, Boggs Visitor Center was built by the U.S. Forest Service in 1986. However, the glacier can no longer be viewed from there. A boat ride across the lake is required to view the glacier. Commercial boat tours are available.

Hubbard Glacier

Hubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. From its source in the Yukon, the glacier stretches 122 km to the sea at Yakutat Bay and Disenchantment Bay. Named in 1890 after Gardiner G. Hubbard (regent of the Smithsonian Institution and first president of the National Geographic Society), it is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, with an open calving face over ten kilometers wide.

Images of Hubbard Glacier

Introduction of Glaciers

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice. Originating on land, a glacier flows slowly due to stresses induced by its weight. The crevasses and other distinguishing features of a glacier are due to its flow. Another consequence of glacier flow is the transport of rock and debris abraded from its substrate and resultant landforms like cirques and moraines. A glacier forms in a location where the accumulation of snow and sleet exceeds the amount of snow that melts. Over many years, often decades or centuries, a glacier will eventually form as the snow compacts and turns to ice. A glacier is distinct from sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

The word glacier comes from French. It is derived from the Vulgar Latin *glacia and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice. The processes and features caused by glaciers and related to them are referred to as glacial. The process of glacier establishment, growth and flow is called glaciation. The corresponding area of study is called glaciology. Glaciers are important components of the global cryosphere.

On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges of every continent except Australia. In the tropics, glaciers occur only on high mountains.

Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth. Many glaciers store water during one season and release it later as meltwater, a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human uses when other sources may be scant.