Ice sheath

At the Kesselwandjoch below the Brandenburg House , the Kesselwandferner (left) and Gepatschferner (right) form a glacier divide

An ice divide or also a glacier divide is similar to a watershed the place of an ice sheet , an ice cap or a glacier where the ice flows in different directions. Such ice sheets are of particular importance with regard to the research carried out on ice sheets by means of bores , because such bores are usually carried out on the apex of such ice sheets in order to only encounter vertical movements of the ice without disturbances from lateral flow movements.

An example of an ice divide in the Alps can be found at the Kesselwandjoch in the Ötztal Alps , from there the Gepatschferner ice flows to the west and that of the Kesselwandferner to the east.

Glacier currents are also often referred to as ice divides. In contrast to the above meaning, however, this is a branching of a glacier that meets an obstacle.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Norbert W. Roland: Antarctica - Research in the Eternal Ice . Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8274-1875-3 , pp. 240 .
2. ^ Kurt M. Cuffey, WSB Paterson: The Physics of Glaciers . Academic Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-08-091912-6 , pp. 614-616 .
3. ↑ Ice Sheath. In: Spectrum Lexicon of Geosciences. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .