Ice fields are made up of a large accumulation of snow that, through years of compression and freezing, turns into ice. Due to the susceptibility of ice to gravity, ice fields generally form in large areas that are basins or on top of plateaus, thus allowing a continuum of ice to form over the landscape uninterrupted by glacial channels. Glaciers often form on the edges of ice fields, serving as gravity-powered drains out of the ice field that is in turn filled by snowfall.
An ice field is an area less than 50,000 km2 (19,000 square miles) of ice often found in the coldest climates and highest altitudes in the world where there is sufficient precipitation. It is a vast area of interconnected valley glaciers from which the highest peaks rise like nunataks.
Ice fields are larger than alpine glaciers, smaller than ice sheets, and similar in area to ice sheets. The topography of the ice fields is determined by the representation of the surrounding landforms, while the ice sheets have their own forms that surpass the underlying forms.
Ice fields of the world
Asia
There are several ice fields in the Himalayas and Altay Mountains (the border between the republics of Central Asia and China). An unexpected ice field is found in Yolyn Am, a mountain valley located at the northern end of the Gobi Desert.
New Zealand
Ice Field Garden of Eden Garden of Allah ice field, Plateau ice Olivine.
Europe
The only major ice fields in continental Europe are in Norway (eg Dovre and Jotunheimen). There are several dozen small ice fields in the Alps and small permanent ice remnants in Sweden, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, and the Balkans.
There are substantial ice fields in Iceland, Svalbard and Franz-Josef Land and smaller surviving ice fields in Jan Mayen and Novaya Zemlya.
North America
One of the most famous ice fields in North America is the Columbia Icefield located in the Rocky Mountains between Jasper and Banff, Alberta. A large number of particularly expansive ice fields are found in the Coast Mountains, the Alaska Range, and the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory.
South America
In South America, there are two main ice fields, the Northern Ice Field and the Southern Ice Field for Chile and Argentina. There is also a small ice field in the western (Chilean) part of Tierra del Fuego proper.
