A healthy glacier will have a greater or equal amount of accumulation compared to amount of ablation. Every continent has its representation of glacier cover. Introduction Glaciers are both beautiful and facinating bodies of ice, air, water and rock debris. They are complex systems that are delicately attuned to their environment. Glaciers are important in the fact that they play a vital role in influencing climatic conditions, both local and global, for their control on sea level and for their ability to shape and reshape the earth's surface.
Glaciers are present in a variety of locations around the world today.
They can exist mainly, as either, vast ice sheets or smaller valley glaciers found on mountain sides in high altitudes. In order for a glacier to form temperatures have to be cold enough to receive and conserve precipitation, mainly in the form of snow. The snow then begins to go through a series of stages that transforms it into glacial ice. The glacier will maintain a mass balance through the processes of accumulation and ablation. As a result the glacier may expand or shrink, advance or retreat accordingly.