glacieret
{{Short description|Very small glacier}}
File:Snezhnika_Glacieret_July_2012.jpg is a glacieret in Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains.]]
A glacieret is a very small glacier, with a surface area less than {{convert|0.1|km2|acre|abbr=on}}. The term is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a large, persistent snow patch of firn or névé.
Characteristics
Sometimes hardly larger than snowfields and perennial firn patches, glacierets tend to have little ice movement, with accumulation and ablation zones difficult to detect.{{cite web|url=https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacier-processes/glacier-types/types-of-glacier/|title=Glaciers of Antarctica|date=22 June 2010|last=Davies|first=Bethan|website=Antarctic Glaciers|accessdate=3 January 2025}} During the last ice age, glacierets were an intermediate stage between firn patches and fully fledged glaciers, but in the present day, glacierets are usually remnants of larger glaciers that existed. Due to their small size, they are at a higher risk of melting due to climate change than larger glaciers.{{cite journal|last=Grunewald|first=Karsten|author2=Jörg Scheithauer|date=2010|title=Europe's southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change|journal=Journal of Glaciology|publisher=International Glaciological Society|volume=56|issue=195|pages=129–142|issn=0022-1430|doi=10.3189/002214310791190947|bibcode=2010JGlac..56..129G|doi-access=free}}
Examples
- Snezhnika in the Pirin range of Bulgaria was the southernmost known glacier in Europe before the discovery of glaciers on Mount Bazardüzü.{{cite web|title=(the pirin mountains, bulgaria) in the last ten years|url=http://www.igipz.pan.pl/tl_files/igipz/ZGiHGiW/sgcb/sgbc_45/03gaczew.pdf|publisher=igipz.pan.pl|accessdate=5 February 2014}}
- The Banski Suhodol Glacieret, also in the Pirin, is the only other surviving glacial mass in Bulgaria.Emil Gachev, Alexander Gikov, Cvetelina Zlatinova, Bozidar Blagoev [http://geoinfo.amu.edu.pl/sgp/LA/LA11/LA11_05.pdf Present state of Bulgarian glacierets] Landform Analysis, Vol. 11: 16–24 {{ISSN|2081-5980}}
- There are some glacierets in the {{ill|Picos del Infierno|es}} range of the Pyrenees.Zaragoza University: [http://www.glaciares.org Recent glacier evolution in the Spanish Pyrenees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819201157/http://www.glaciares.org/ |date=2008-08-19 }}
- The Red Eagle Glacier in Montana, following a century of retreat, has dropped below the threshold of an active glacier and become a mere glacieret.{{Cite web|title=Retreat of Glaciers in Glacier National Park|publisher=United States Geological Survey| year=2010|url=http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/files/norock/products/GlacierRecession_infosheet2010_SRC_040910.pdf|access-date=2012-09-22}}
- Shepard Glacier in Glacier National Park converted to a glacieret in 2009.{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Matthew|title=Glacier National Park loses two more glaciers|url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2010-04-07-glacier-national-park_N.htm|access-date=2012-09-22|newspaper=USA Today|date=April 7, 2010}}
- There are many glacierets on Mount Kenya, ranging from surface areas of 0.01 to 0.09 km2.{{cite book | last = Hastenrath | first = Stefan | title = The Glaciers of Equatorial East Africa | year = 1984 | publisher = D. Reidel Publishing Company | location = Dordrecht, Holland | isbn = 90-277-1572-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/glaciersofequato0000hast }}
- The last glacier of the Apennines, the Calderone glacier, is a glacieret with a surface area of 0.03 km2 in 2001.{{cite book |last=Visconti |first= Guido |author2=M. Beniston |author3=Emilio D. Iannorelli |author4=Diego Barba |title= Global Change and Protected Areas (Advances in Global Change Research) |publisher= Kluwer Academic Publishers|location=New York |isbn=0-7923-6918-1|pages=425–435|date= 2001-04-30 }}
=Former glacierets that melted=
Glacierets that melt usually remain perennial snow patches and gather back some firn.Berrisford, M.S., 1991. Evidence for enhanced mechanical weathering associated with seasonally late‐lying and perennial snow patches, Jotunheimen, Norway. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 2 (4), pp.331-340.
- The glacieret on the Corral de la Veleta in Spain's Sierra Nevada was the southernmost glacial mass in Europe until it melted in 1913.[http://www.iberianature.com/material/veleta.html Veleta or Pico de Veleta - Iberianature]
- In the Kazania cirque of Mount Olympus, a glacieret existed during the Little Ice Age.