Glacier dictogloss Group version

Glaciers are huge masses of ice that flow like very slow rivers

Over time glaciers form snow and water.

They are usually divided into two groups, Alpine and Continental ice sheets. Mountain valleys appear V-shaped until a glacier melts over it. Some glaciers appear dusty and rocky. Others have an aquamarine glow. After a while the mountain valley becomes wider and deeper and appears U-shaped. Ten percent of the earth is covered in glacier ice, but in the last ice age glaciers covered one third of the Earth's surface.

 Alaska has more than 100 glaciers, most of them are yet to be named. Seventy five percent of the Earth's water supply relies on glacier ice. Glaciers can be more than 100,000 years old. Scientists examine and extract the ice to try to predict what climate was like back then.

The biggest glacier in the world is Lambert Glacier. It is found in the biggest ice sheet that covers 99% of Greenland and Antarctica. If Lambert Glacier were to melt the water levels would rise up to 65 metres and London would be lost underwater. New Zealand has two glaciers, Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier.