氷床は地形や地域・半球スケールの気候に影響を与えるほか、海面の高さに大きな影響を持ち、地球のシステムに重要な役割を果たしています。地球上の淡水の10%が現在氷床として固定されていますが、気候変動による影響が大きな関心事となっています。氷河や氷床の仕組み、それを理解するための地形学や堆積学、その浸食・堆積過程が地球に耐える影響などについて概観を提示するほか、氷床について今日明らかになっていることから、氷河時代についてどの程度のことが解明・再構築可能かを検討します。
　　

• Introduces glaciers and ice sheets as systems, and discusses the processes that shape them
• Introduces the physics of glaciers, and the geomorphology and sedimentology related to glacier systems
• Describes how we can reconstruct and interpret ancient glacial landscapes
• Discusses the impact of glaciers on our planet in terms of erosional and depositional processes and the effects on glaciers of climate change

 
Vast, majestic, and often stunningly beautiful, glaciers lock up some 10% of the world's freshwater. These great bodies of ice play an important part in the Earth system, carving landscapes and influencing climate on regional and hemispheric scales, as well as having a significant impact on global sea level. Throughout time,
the Earth has experienced various major glaciations in its deep history, long before the ice ages of the Quaternary, and the observed effects of climate change on glaciers have recently brought them to the forefront of public attention

This Very Short Introduction offers an overview of glaciers and ice sheets as systems, considering the role of geomorphology and sedimentology in studying them, and their impacts on our planet in terms of erosional and depositional processes. Looking at our glaciers today, and their ongoing processes, David Evans considers the extent to which we can use this knowledge in reconstructing and interpreting ancient glacial landscapes.