Glaciers 2nd Edition

About this book

Glaciers are among the most beautiful natural wonders on Earth as well as the least known and understood for most of us. Michael Hambrey describes how glaciers grow and decay move and influence human civilization. Currently covering a tenth of the Earths surface glacier ice has shaped the landscape over millions of years by scouring away rocks and transporting and depositing debris far from its source. Glacier meltwater drives turbines and irrigates deserts and yields mineral-rich soils as well as a wealth of valuable sand and gravel. However glaciers also threaten human property and life. Our future is indirectly connected with the fate of glaciers and their influence on global climate and sea level. Including over 200 stunning photographs the book takes the reader from the High-Arctic through North America Europe Asia Africa New Zealand and South America to the Antarctic. Michael Hambrey is Director of the Centre for Glaciology at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. A past recipient of the Polar Medal he was also given the Earth Science Editors Outstanding Publication Award for the first edition of Glaciers (Cambridge 1995). Hambrey is also the author of Glacial Environments (British Columbia 1994). Jrg Alean is Professor of Geography at the Kantonsschule Zrcher Unterland in Blach Switzerland.