Surge front
The zone of intense compression between surging ice and non-surging ice. This is commonly marked by a bulge and a transition from heavily crevassed to crevasse-free ice. The surge front rapidly moves through the glacier, and if it reaches the snout, the glacier advances.
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Heavily fractured surge front of the glacier Fridtjofbreen, Bellsund, Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The glacier advanced approximately a kilometre during the surge, overriding a marine embayment and the adjacent land area. Photo M. J. Hambrey, 1996. |