Ice Sheets Found only in Antarctica and Greenland, ice sheets are enormous masses of glacial ice and snow that cover over 50,000 square kilometers. The ice sheet on Antarctica is over 4200 meters thick in some areas, covering nearly all of the land features except the Transantarctic Mountains that poke up above the ice. Ice Shelves Ice shelves occur when ice sheets extend over the sea, floating on the water. In thickness they range from a few hundred meters to over 1000 meters.
Ice shelves surround the entire continent of Antarctica.
The largest shelf is the Ross Ice Shelf , covering over 500,000 square kilometers. Ice Caps Ice caps are miniature ice sheets, covering less than 50,000 square kilometers. They form primarily in polar and sub-polar regions, occupying high and relatively flat regions. These glaciers develop in high mountainous regions, often flowing out of icefields that span several peaks or even a mountain range. The largest mountain glaciers are found in Arctic Canada, Alaska, the Andes in South America, the Himalayas in Asia, and on Antarctica.