Glaciers corresponding to the 2% of the hydrosphere occupies the majority of the freshwater. Glaciers are distributed in the cooler climate of high latitudes and highlands that can be left without ice melt. The glacier distribution area is about 10% of land. Approximately 84% of them are developed in Antarctica and 11% of them are developed in Greenland.
Definition of Glacier
Glaciers are thick chunks of ice created over hundreds, thousands of years and it has a flowing property like rivers. Glacier are largely consists of continental glaciers, valley glaciers, pledmont glaciers.
Figure3.Process of glacier formation (Google)
Process of Glacier formation
Until developing glacier ice from snow takes 3000-5000 years. Glaciers begin to form when snow remains in the same area year-round, where enough snow accumulates to transform into ice. Each year, new layers of snow bury and compress the previous layers. This compression forces the snow to re-crystallize, forming grains similar in size and shape to grains of sugar(=granular snow). Gradually the grains grow larger and the air pockets between the grains get smaller, causing the snow to slowly compact and increase in density. After about two winters, the snow turns into firn—an intermediate state between snow and glacier ice. At this point, it is about two-thirds as dense as water. Over time, larger ice crystals become so compressed that any air pockets between them are very tiny. In very old glacier ice, crystals can reach several inches in length. For most glaciers, this process takes more than a hundred years.