Definitions for ice shelf
ice shelf

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. shelf ice, ice shelfnoun

   ice that is attached to land but projects out to sea

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ice shelfnoun

   A thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are found in Antarctica, Greenland, and Canada only.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Ice shelf

   An ice shelf is a large floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Russian Arctic. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the anchor ice (resting on bedrock) that feeds it is the grounding line. The thickness of ice shelves can range from about 100 m (330 ft) to 1,000 m (3,300 ft). In contrast, sea ice is formed on water, is much thinner (typically less than 3 m (9.8 ft)), and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean. It is also found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica. The movement of ice shelves is principally driven by gravity-induced pressure from the grounded ice. That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf. In steady state, about half of Antarctica's ice shelf mass is lost to basal melt and half is lost to calving, but the relative importance of each process varies significantly between ice shelves. In recent decades, Antarctica's ice shelves have been out of balance, as they have lost more mass to basal melt and calving than has been replenished by the influx of new ice and snow.Typically, a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events. Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf. Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf. The density contrast between glacial ice and liquid water means that at least 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface, depending on how much pressurized air is contained in the bubbles within the glacial ice, stemming from compressed snow. The formula for the denominators above is 1 / [ ( ρ seawater − ρ glacial ice ) / ρ seawater ] {\textstyle 1/[(\rho _{\text{seawater}}-\rho _{\text{glacial ice}})/\rho _{\text{seawater}}]} , density of cold seawater is about 1028 kg/m3 and that of glacial ice from about 850 kg/m3 to well below 920 kg/m3, the limit for very cold ice without bubbles. The height of the shelf above the sea can be even larger, if there is much less dense firn and snow above the glacier ice. The world's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake, such as Lake Vostok.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ice shelf

   An ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet advances or flows out over the ocean surface. It is attached to the landmass but extending out and over the sea, and may be several hundred meters thick. The seaward edge of the ice shelf can periodically break off and form icebergs in a process known as calving.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Ice shelf

   An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ice that feeds it is called the grounding line. The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 metres. In contrast, sea ice is formed on water, is much thinner, and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean. It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica. Ice shelves are principally driven by gravity-driven pressure from the grounded ice That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf. The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves was thought to have been iceberg calving, in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf. A study by NASA and university researchers - published in the June 14, 2013 issue of Science - found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent's ice shelf mass loss. Typically, a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events. Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf. Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf.

Matched Categories

1. • Ice

How to pronounce ice shelf?

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How to say ice shelf in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of ice shelf in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of ice shelf in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of ice shelf in a Sentence

1. Peter Davis:

   What's most concerning about the recent results is that it's pointing to a collapse of this ice shelf, this kind of safety band that holds the ice on the land, if we lose this ice shelf, then the glacier will flow into the ocean more quickly, contributing towards sea level rise.

2. David Holland via AP:

   I think the ice shelf will be gone in a matter of years to decades, but the actual inland ice, that’s the really unknown question.

3. Peter Davis:

   From the satellite data, we're seeing these big fractures spreading across the ice shelf surface, essentially weakening the fabric of the ice ; kind of a bit like a windscreen crack, it's slowly spreading across the ice shelf and eventually it's going to fracture into lots of different pieces.

4. Rob Larter:

   I don't think there has been a shelf collapse like this in East Antarctica since we've been able to receive satellite data, conger is a very small ice shelf which has been decreasing in size for many years and this was just the final step which caused it to collapse.

5. Julienne Stroeve:

   I think it's too soon to say it will, however, it's likely that the atmosphere will play an increasing role in ice shelf breakup by weakening them through surface melting.

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=ice shelf
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ice_Shelf
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Shelf
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=ice shelf