Geography of Glaciers
Geography of Glaciers — the study and description of where glaciers are found around the world, including the regions, climates, and physical factors that allow ice to accumulate and persist.
Main article: Glacier
Glaciers stretch across nearly every continent, inhabiting around fifty countries, though some — like Australia and South Africa — only host them on remote subantarctic islands. The grandest glaciers reside in Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Pakistan, Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland. Mountain glaciers ripple through ranges such as the Andes, the Himalayas, the Rockies, the Caucasus, Scandinavia, and the Alps. Europe’s southernmost glacier, Snezhnika in Bulgaria’s Pirin Mountains (41°46′09″ N), clings to high elevations, while Australia presently hosts no permanent ice, though Mount Kosciuszko bore a small glacier during the last ice age.
Even remote peaks like Puncak Jaya in New Guinea or Africa’s Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and the Rwenzori Mountains still harbor diminishing glaciers. Oceanic islands — Iceland, Svalbard, Jan Mayen, New Zealand, and subantarctic islands such as Marion, Heard, Kerguelen, and Bouvet — also cradle these frozen flows. During Quaternary glacial periods, glaciers extended even further, covering Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Taiwan, Tenerife, and the Faroe and Crozet Islands.
Glacier formation depends on more than latitude; slope, snowfall, and prevailing winds play crucial roles. Around the equator, between 20° and 27° north and south, low precipitation keeps snowlines impossibly high, preventing ice from accumulating. Yet in areas with sufficient elevation, mountains above 5,000 m (16,400 ft) can host permanent ice even near the tropics.
Even in high latitudes, glacial presence is not guaranteed. Polar deserts like Banks Island in the Arctic or the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are too dry for ice formation. Cold air, unlike warm, carries little moisture, so even frigid regions may remain free of glaciers. Similarly, high but hyperarid peaks in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, though cold, cannot accumulate enough snow to sustain ice.
