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Dictionary definition: ablation
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of Geography
- Author:
Copyright© A Dictionary of Geography 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)
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ablation
Loss of snow and ice from a glacier by
sublimation
, melting, and evaporation. Ablation also results from the
calving
of icebergs, and
avalanches
. In temperate and sub‐polar regions melting is the most important process in ablation, whereas in the Antarctic the most important ablation process is calving. The rate of loss varies with the meteorological factors of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and
insolation
, together with
aspect
and the nature of the surface. In snowfields, ablation can ...