Lesson 4: Glacial Distribution

Question 1

% of ice covering Earth’s land?

Answer 1

10%

Question 2

% of freshwater ice accounts for?

Answer 2

75%

Question 3

% of current glacial ice in the Antarctic?

Answer 3

85%

Question 4

Which place has the 2nd highest levels of ice accumulation? What % of ice cover?

Answer 4

Greenland
11%

Question 5

How much more was ice cover in Pleistocene period to now?

Answer 5

3x

Question 6

Amount of present ice cover in Antarctica

Answer 6

13.5 x10^6 km2

Question 7

Amount of past ice cover in Antarctica

Answer 7

14.5 x10^6 km2

Question 8

Amount of present ice cover in Greenland

Answer 8

1.8x10^6 km2

Question 9

Amount of past ice cover in Greenland

Answer 9

2.35x10^6 km2

Question 10

Example of polar ice sheet

Answer 10

Greenland

Question 11

Example of high latitude tundra

Answer 11

Yukon, Canada

Question 12

Example of alpine glacier

Answer 12

-Hubbard Glacier, Alaska
-Mer de Glace, Mt. Blanc, Alps

Question 13

What is the 2nd largest non-polar glacier on Earth?
What type of glacier?

Answer 13

Siachen Glacier, India on eastern Karakoram range
Piedmont glacier

Question 14

How does latitude affect ice mass?

Answer 14

-Particularly important for polar ice masses
-In high latitudes the sun’s rays hits the ground at a lower angle, so the solar energy received has to heat a larger area

Question 15

How does altitude affect ice mass?

Answer 15

– Particularly important for alpine glaciers
-High altitudes are impacted by the environmental lapse rate (ELR) whereby temperature declines by 1° for every 100m above sea level