How Does Climate 101: Glaciers | National Geographic Work?

Glaciers are like giant slow-moving ice slushies that help shape the Earth’s surface and affect our climate.

Imagine you have a big bowl of ice cream in the freezer. If it gets colder outside, more ice cream freezes, and if it gets warmer, some of that ice cream starts to melt. Glaciers work kind of like that giant ice cream bowl. They’re made of ice that builds up over many years from snow falling and not melting completely.

Glaciers don’t just sit still; they move. Think about how your toy car moves on a ramp, it slides down because of gravity. Glaciers do something similar: the heavy ice on top pushes the ice below, making the whole glacier slowly slide downhill or spread outwards.

Glaciers are like Earth’s thermometer. When they grow bigger (more snow and ice), it means it's colder. When they shrink (ice melts), it means it's getting warmer. This helps scientists understand how the planet is changing, kind of like how your mom knows if you’ve been eating too much ice cream by how fast it’s melting!