Ice cap
Encyclopedia : I : IC : ICE : Ice cap
An ice cap is a dome-shaped water ice mass that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area (usually covering a highland area). Masses of ice covering more than 50,000 km² are termed an ice sheet.
Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features (i.e. they will lie over the top of mountains) but their dome is usually centred around the highest point of a massif. Ice flows away from this high point (the ice divide) towards the ice cap's periphery.
Vatnajökull is an example of an ice cap in Iceland.
See also
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