What they have in common is the formation in a homogeneous ice environment which can vary as to some properties of the ice, like its crystallographic lattice, density, thermal conductivity, cracking, and rock detritus content.
Supraglacial streams are usually devoid of sedimentary material and clastic bank material.
Their development is not controlled by any vegetation. These features of supraglacial streams make them excellent objects for the study of channel hydraulics on the one hand, and the relief of the glacier surface in the context of ablation processes on the other. The aim of the present work is to elucidate selected mechanisms of glacier ablation as reflected in the morphological and hydraulic conditions of a supraglacial stream.