Firn in the context of "Nivation"

A glacier stream is a channelized area that is formed by a glacier in which liquid water accumulates and flows. Glacial streams are also commonly referred to as "glacier stream" or/and "glacial meltwater stream". The movement of the water is influenced and directed by gravity and the melting of ice. The melting of ice forms different types of glacial streams such as supraglacial, englacial, subglacial and proglacial streams. Water enters supraglacial streams that sit at the top of the glacier via filtering through snow in the accumulation zone and forming slush pools at the firn zone. The water accumulates on top of the glacier in supraglacial lakes and into supraglacial stream channels. The meltwater then flows through various different streams either entering inside the glacier into englacial channels or under the glacier into subglacial channels. Finally, the water leaves the glacier through proglacial streams or lakes. Proglacial streams do not only act as the terminus point but can also receive meltwater. Glacial streams can play a significant role in energy exchange and in the transport of meltwater and sediment.

On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation zone annually. The accumulation zone is also defined as that part of a glacier's surface, usually at higher elevations, on which there is net accumulation of snow, which subsequently turns into firn and then glacier ice. Part of the glacier where snow builds up and turns to ice moves outward from there.

Snezhnika (Bulgarian: Снежника 'the snow patch') is a glacieret in the Pirin Mountains of Bulgaria, a remnant of the former Vihren Glacier. The glacieret lies at an elevation between 2,425 m (7,956 ft) and 2,480 m (8,140 ft) in the deep Golemiya Kazan cirque at the steep northern foot of Vihren (2,914 m (9,560 ft)), Pirin's highest summit. Due to the relatively easy access and its location along a popular hiking trail, Snezhnika is Bulgaria's most famous glacieret. Snezhnika has an average area of 0.01 km (0.0039 sq mi) and in 2006 it had a volume of 30,000 m (1,100,000 cu ft).

Snezhnika's size varies in length from 70 to 100 metres (west to east) and in width from 40 to 90 metres (north to south). Its firn is 8–11 m thick at the base and its snow cover, which is mostly fed by avalanche snow, can be as deep as 20 metres in March and April. Snezhnika's latitude of 41°46′09″ N makes it the southernmost glacial mass in Europe; the nearby Banski Suhodol Glacier below Koncheto, although larger, is slightly to the north.

The Glärnisch is a mountain massif of the Schwyz Alps, overlooking the valley of the Linth in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It consists of several summits, of which the highest, the Bächistock, is 2,915 metres (9,564 ft) above sea level. Until 2013, the highest point was considered to be an unnamed point with a summit cross at 2,914 m (9,560 ft) (until 2013: 2,915 metres). The other main summits are the Vrenelisgärtli (lit. 'Little Verena's Little Garden' at 2,904 m [9,528 ft]) and the Ruchen (2,901 m [9,518 ft]).

The massif of the Glärnisch consists of two ridges of either side of the firn named Glärnischfirn, culminating at the Ruchen to the west, rising more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above the Klöntalersee, and at the Bächistock to the southwest. The Vrenelisgärtli is the closest peak to Schwanden. East of the Glärnisch is located the lower Vorder Glärnisch.

Ablation zone or ablation area refers to the low-altitude area of a glacier or ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice mass. This loss can result from melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving, aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche, and any other ablation. The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) or snow line separates the ablation zone from the higher-altitude accumulation zone. The ablation zone often contains meltwater features such as supraglacial lakes, englacial streams, and subglacial lakes. Sediments dropped in the ablation zone forming small mounds or hillocks are called kames. Kame and kettle hole topography is useful in identifying an ablation zone of a glacier. The seasonally melting glacier deposits much sediment at its fringes in the ablation area. Ablation constitutes a key part of the glacier mass balance.

The amount of snow and ice gained in the accumulation zone and the amount of snow and ice lost in the ablation zone determine glacier mass balance. Often mass balance measurements are made in the ablation zone using snow stakes.

Névé /neɪˈveɪ/ is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow can contribute to glacier formation through the process of nivation. Névé that survives a full season of ablation turns into firn, which is both older and slightly denser. Firn eventually becomes glacial ice – the long-lived, compacted ice that glaciers are composed of. Glacier formation can take years to hundreds of years, depending on freeze-thaw factors and snow-compaction rates. Névé is annually observed in skiing slopes, and is generally disliked as an icy falling zone.

Névé has a minimum density of 500 kg/m, which is roughly half of the density of liquid water at 1 atm.

A glacieret is a very small glacier, with a surface area less than 0.1 km (25 acres). The term is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a large, persistent snow patch of firn or névé.

The southernmost persistent glacial masses in Europe are mainly small glaciers, glacierets, and perennial firn fields and patches, located in the highest mountains of the three big southern European peninsulas - the Balkan, the Apennine, and the Iberian, the southernmost ranges of the Alps and the glaciers on the european northwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains in Russia. There are summer lasting snow patches in Sierra Nevada (Corral de la Veleta glacier at 37°03′24″ disappeared completely for a first time in 1913), in Mount Olympus (40°05′08″) (Kazania cirque), in Mount Korab (41°47′28″), in Rila Mountain (the cirque of the Seven Rila Lakes, Musala and Malyovitsa (42°10′25″) ridges), in Picos de Europa (43°11′51″) in the Cantabrian Mountains, in Mount Maglić (43°16′52″) and others. However, none of them have both persistency and indications of dynamic motion. In southern direction, some 4000 km away, are the glaciers in Africa in Rwenzori Mountains (00°23′09″N), Mount Kenya (00°09′03″S) and Mount Kilimanjaro (03°04′33″S).

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