Tidewater Glacier

A tidewater glacier is a glacier that flows down to and terminates in the sea, calving icebergs directly into ocean or fjord water at its terminus. Where the terminus is grounded below sea level, calving and submarine melt at the front add large dynamic losses beyond surface ablation, and the calving rate is sensitive to water depth, fjord temperature, and the buoyant subglacial-discharge plume. Tidewater glaciers can undergo cycles of slow advance and rapid, near-irreversible retreat once the terminus pulls back into deeper water, a behavior central to Greenland and Alaskan ice loss. Their retreat contributes directly to sea-level rise.