A glacier’s equilibrium line separates snowfall gain from melt loss
Every glacier has a budget: above the equilibrium line, more snow accumulates each year than melts; below it, melt and calving remove more ice than snowfall replaces.
That altitude rises in warmer years and falls in cooler ones, so the line is a sensitive climate meter written on ice. Mass balance studies track whether the whole glacier is growing or shrinking.
Ice keeps score. The equilibrium line turns mountain weather into a clear ledger of gain versus loss across the cryosphere.
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