Glaciology is the study of glaciers, or more generally the study of ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.

It is an interdisciplinary earth science that integrates geology, climatology, meteorology, hydrology, biology, and ecology. The discipline also forms a part of physical geography. The presence of ice on Mars and Europa brings in an extraterrestrial component to the field.

Areas of study within glaciology include glacial history and the reconstruction of past glaciation patterns, effects of glaciers on climate and vice versa, the dynamics of ice movement, the contributions of glaciers to erosion and geomorphology, lifeforms that live in the ice, and so forth.

Unsurprisingly, glaciology is one of the key areas supported by polar research.

There are two general categories of glaciation which glaciologists distinguish: alpine glaciation, accumulations or "rivers of ice" confined to valleys; and continental glaciation, unrestricted accumulations which once covered much of the northern continents.

The word glacier is derived from the Latin glacies, meaning ice or frost.

External links

• International Glaciological Society
• World Data Centre for Glaciology, Cambridge, UK
• National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado
• Global Land Ice Measurements from Space, USGS
• Centre for Glaciology, University of Wales
• Caltech Glaciology Group
• Glaciology Group, University of Copenhagen
• Institute of Low Temperature Science, Sapporo
• National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo