NALT

Preferred term

ice shelf

Topic

A sheet of very thick ice with a level or gently undulating surface. It is attached to the land on one side, but most of it is floating. On the seaward side, it is bounded by a steep cliff (ice front) 2 to 50 m or more above sea level. Ice shelves have formed along polar coasts (e.g., Antarctica and Greenland); they are very wide with some extending several hundreds of kilometers toward the sea from the coastline. They increase in size from annual snow accumulation and seaward extension of land glaciers. They decrease in size from warming, melting, and calving.

glaciers

Field 001 in MARC Authority Format

9813980889900041

Value previous used for Field 001 in MARC Authority Format

94042

Spanish

plataforma de hielo

URI

https://lod.nal.usda.gov/nalt/333583

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Created 9/4/19, last modified 11/25/19