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.

Related Topics:
Water - Ice - Ice sheet

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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.

Related Topics:
Topographical - Massif - Ice divide

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Vatnajökull is an example of an ice cap in Iceland.

Related Topics:
Vatnajökull - Iceland

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