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Physical Process

Glacial Retreat

Glacial and Periglacial Processes

The net loss of a glacier's ice over time as melting and calving at its margin outpace the accumulation of new snow and ice further up its length, causing the glacier's front to migrate back up-valley. Sustained glacial retreat across most of the world's mountain glaciers over the past century is among the clearest visible signals of global warming.

Facts
Partially Attested
Timescale
Decades to centuries (documented retreat since 1850) 1
The source dates the well-documented retreat to the period since 1850 and gives no single characteristic timescale for the process itself.
Timescale (category)
Decades 1
Category derived from this entry's own free-text property; the source property's own status (partially-attested) carries whatever is unresolved, this derived category fact makes no further claim beyond bucketing that same text.
Timescale (category)
Centuries 1
Category derived from this entry's own free-text property; the source property's own status (partially-attested) carries whatever is unresolved, this derived category fact makes no further claim beyond bucketing that same text.
Process Type
Glacial 1
Glacial Retreat
Filter Results1 entry

Glacial Deposition

Glacial Retreat
Connections

Causes

Glacial Deposition, Physical Processes

Shaped

Irish Sea, Bodies of Water
Source Irish Sea (Wikipedia)
Lake Saimaa, Bodies of Water
Source Lake Saimaa (Wikipedia)
Mackenzie River, Bodies of Water
Source Mackenzie River (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Retreat of glaciers since 1850, Wikipedia
  • Causes section, mass balance paragraph
    If the accumulation is less than the ablation, the glacier will retreat.
  • Introduction, opening sentence
    The retreat of glaciers since 1850 is a well-documented effect of climate change.
View the Source
Mackenzie River (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Mackenzie River, Lead and sections
Quote, Shaped: Mackenzie River, Lead and sections
Today's Mackenzie River is very young in geologic terms, its channel formed over a period of no more than several thousand years as the ice sheet retreated.
View the Source
Lake Saimaa (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Saimaa, Formation statement for target 287678
Quote, Shaped: Lake Saimaa, Formation statement for target 287678
The lake was formed by glacial melting at the end of the Ice Age.
View the Source
Irish Sea (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Irish Sea, Formation statement for target 287678
Quote, Shaped: Irish Sea, Formation statement for target 287678
As the ice retreated 10,000 years ago, the lake reconnected to the sea.
View the Source
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