| Term: | Advance |
| Definition: |
Increase of the length of a flowline, measured from a fixed point. In practice, when the advance is of a land-terminating glacier terminus, the fixed point is usually downglacier from the glacier margin, that is, on the glacier forefield. The quantity reported is most often the amount of advance rather than the length itself. Retreat is the opposite of advance, that is, retreat of the terminus. IHPGlacierMassBalance
An increase in the length of a glacier compared to a previous point in time. As ice in a glacier is always moving forward, a glacier's terminus advances when less ice is lost due to melting and/or calving than the amount of yearly advance. GCW |