ablation
ah-BLAY-shun
Ablation is the reduction of a glacier's snow and ice through melting, evaporation, sublimation, and calving. It occurs at every surface, all at once, though at different speeds. The ablation zone is located at the spot where more ice is lost than winter snow accumulation can replace.
Etymology
Latin ablatio, a carrying away, from auferre, to carry off.
Notes
For more reading about snow and ice, see Gretel Ehrlich's The Future of Ice, Robert Sharp's Living Ice, Peter Knight's Glacier, and Richard Alley's The Two-Mile Time Machine.
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