Blue ice (glacial)

Blue ice fields are areas in Antarctica, where the ice is open and not blocked by visible at the surface of a layer of snow. In these areas the snow is quickly removed by wind or sublimation, so that it can not accumulate.

Blue ice fields arise when hiking the glacier blocked by mountains and the ice flow is deflected upward, where the ice is eroded by wind and sublimation. At such points mittransportiertes rock accumulates in the ice. Especially meteorites which have fallen often very long ago on the Antarctic ice sheet are accumulated at such sites.

Blue ice fields are used as a stable start and runways for air traffic in the Antarctic:

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