Glaciers are essentially giant rivers of ice that are formed over eons as fallen snow is compressed into layers of ice. Glaciers are found on about 10 percent of Earth's land area, with most of them found in the Arctic and Antarctica regions, but some occurring high up on mountains, even in tropical areas. Glacial ice makes up the ice sheets that cover Antarctica and Greenland, with glaciers flowing out to sea, where their ends float on the water as ice shelves. Eventually pieces of the ice shelves break off, or calve, to form icebergs. The movement of glaciers scours the underlying rock, and a glacier's movement can be affected by climate change, with worries that global warming could cause substantial glacial melt and impact global sea levels. For the latest news on glacier research and stunning views of these rivers of ice, see below.
Latest about glaciers
Diamond Beach: Iceland's spellbinding black sand beach covered in sparkling ice jewels
Icebergs and other glacial fragments regularly wash up on Iceland's southern Diamond Beach, making the sandy strip look like a field of gemstones.
Ancient viral genomes plucked from glaciers reveal how pathogens have adapted to Earth's shifting climate
Over the past 41,000 years, viral communities have varied significantly between cold and warm climatic periods, scientists found.
'Golden spike' showing the moment Earth turned into a giant snowball discovered in ancient Scottish rocks
Geological evidence of the transition when Earth was plunged into a planetary-wide deep-freeze discovered in ancient Scottish rocks.
Will we have more earthquakes because of climate change?
Changes in sea level and glacial melt could make earthquakes more likely in the coming years.
How much water is in Earth's crust?
Earth is covered with water, but how much is hiding in our planet's crust?
Greenland is losing so much ice it's getting taller
The bedrock of Greenland is expanding upward as the land mass sheds ice.
Mercury may have a 'potentially habitable' region below its surface, salty glaciers suggest
Salty glaciers discovered in craters near Mercury's north pole may have the right conditions for extreme forms of life, new research suggests.
