Cryosphere glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
the total snow and ice on the ground, including both new snow and the previous snow and ice which have not melted.
strong wind with snow.
a wedge-shaped body of soil that is different in structure and texture from the surrounding soil.
the total electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun.
slow downslope flow of saturated unfrozen earth materials.
a fan-like deposit at the base of a slope, produced by solifluction.
geomorphological features of varying scale produced by the process of solifluction.
an isolated, tongue-shaped solifluction feature, up to 25 meters (27 yards) wide and 150 meters (164 yards) or more long; formed by more rapid solifluction on certain sections of a slope showing variations in gradient.
a broad deposit of nonsorted, water-saturated, locally derived materials that is moving or has moved downslope.
a low step, or bench, with a straight or lobate front, the latter reflecting local differences in the rate of solifluction movement.
the point in time when the vertical rays of the sun are striking either the Tropic of Cancer (23 degrees, 30 minutes N, the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere) or the Tropic of Capricorn (23 degrees, 30 minutes S, the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere); represents the longest or shortest day of the year; in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice falls on or about 21 June, and the winter solstice on or about 22 December.
a patterned ground form that is equidimensional in several directions, with a dominantly circular outline, and a sorted appearance commonly due to a border of stones surrounding a central area of finer material.
a type of patterned ground with cells that are equidimensional in several directions, neither dominantly circular nor polygonal, with a sorted appearance commonly due to borders of stones surrounding central areas of finer material.
a patterned ground form that is equidimensional in several directions, with a dominantly polygonal outline, and a sorted appearance commonly due to a border of stones surrounding a central area of finer material.
a patterned ground feature with a step-like form and a downslope border of stones embanking an area of relatively fine-grained bare ground upslope.
patterned ground with a striped and sorted appearance, due to parallel strips of stones and intervening strips of finer material, oriented down the steepest available slope.
90° S latitude; one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface (the other being the north pole, diametrically opposite).
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance by one degree.
the mass of water vapor per unit mass of air, including the water vapor (usually expressed as grams of water vapor per kilogram of air).
a crevasse pattern that forms where ice slowly spreads out sideways; commonly found near a glacier terminus.