Should Glaciers Be Considered Permafrost?

• Published in: Geosciences
• Main Author: Maciej Dąbski
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2019
• Subjects: glacial permafrost; permafrost; glacier–permafrost interactions; polythermal glacier; Ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9120517

This commentary critically evaluates concepts of extending the term permafrost to any parts of an active glacier. The whole mass of any glacier is at zero centigrade or below (cryotic), except for non-ice inclusions at the glacier surface. Therefore, if glacial ice is considered a monomineral rock, then any glacier constitutes a perennially cryotic ground (i.e., permafrost), according to the purely thermal definition. However, extending the term permafrost to active glaciers introduces misconceptions, rather than a clarification of important geological terms.