Glaciology

Glaciology from Latin: glacies, "frost, ice", as well as Ancient Greek: λόγος, logos, "subject matter"; literally "study of ice" is a scientific examine of glaciers, or more generally ice as well as natural phenomena that involve ice.

Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, climatology, meteorology, hydrology, biology, and ecology. The affect of glaciers on people includes the fields of human geography and anthropology. The discoveries of water ice on the Moon, Mars, Europa and Pluto put an extraterrestrial element to the field, which is target to as "astroglaciology".

Types

Glaciers can be covered by their geometry and the relationship to the surrounding topography. There are two general categories of glaciation which glaciologists distinguish: alpine glaciation, accumulations or "rivers of ice" confined to valleys; and continental glaciation, unrestricted accumulations which once covered much of the northern continents.