Glaciers of the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canada

Peyto Glacier is part of the glacial complex known as the Wapta Icefield, located in Alberta's Banff National Park. It sits on the western side of the Continental Divide, and its runoff waters feed Lake Peyto. Both the lake and the glacier were named for Bill Peyto, a local trapper and guide. Peyto Glacier's size has been monitored carefully since the 1960s, but a photograph from 1896 allows reference to its condition then.

By the end of the 20th century, nearly three-quarters of that original glacier had disappeared.

Answer: Argentina

This is one of the major tourist attractions in Los Glaciares National Park, located in the Patagonian part of Argentina. It is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, located in the Andes, and is one of the few glaciers around the world which has not been shrinking during the start of the 21st century. This is because the snow and ice accumulation at its source is still at the same rate as the loss from melting. Glaciologists are not sure of the reason for this, and the glacier is subject to much investigation.

Where the glacier reaches Lake Argentino, Argentina's largest freshwater lake, it forms an ice dam across a branch of the lake. Periodically the water that backs up behind the dam (reaching a depth of up to 30m above the lake) creates enough pressure to rupture it, sending the stored water out into the main area of the lake. This rupture can be slow and progressive, or it can be a spectacular sudden fracture. Tourists to the area hope to be there to witness the event, but if they are not that lucky the tourist centre will show them filmed footage of previous ruptures.

Answer: New Zealand

The official name (Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe) would probably have been a giveaway as to this glacier's location on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is one of several easily accessed glaciers in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park, and is a very popular tourist destination, planned as such since the early part of the 20th century. Tourists can park their cars close enough to the front face of the glacier to walk up and take photographs, but are not allowed onto the surface there (although some do cross the boundaries, which has resulted in some avoidable tragedies). Helicopter rides to the snowfield are available, which then allow guided treks across the ice.

From the time when Europeans first noted the glacier in the 1850s, it was in more or less continued retreat (getting smaller) up until the 1980s, when it started to advance until 2009, before once again entering a retreat phase.

Answer: Nepal

If you're on your way to climb Mount Everest, chances are you flew to Kathmandu, then on to Lukla before starting the hike to the South Base Camp, located until 2022 on the Khumbu Glacier. In 2022 the glacier was determined to have thinned so much that it was unstable, and an unsafe position, so the Base Camp was moved lower, off the ice.

At the top of Nepal's largest glacier is the Khumbu Icefall, an area with lots of crevasses due to the relatively rapid movement of ice in the area. This is one of the most dangerous stretches of the climb to reach the peak of Mount Everest by way of the South Col.

Answer: Tanzania

This small glacier near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro was named after one of the earliest Europeans to climb the peak. It is all that is left of the icecap that formerly covered the summit - of which over 85% disappeared between 1912 and 2011. The historical evidence shows that this part of the icecap was only permanently established in the middle of the 17th century.

Although it is the largest of the remaining glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro, it is not as big as many of the others we are visiting, being only about 100,000 sq ft at the time of writing this quiz. To give you an idea, that's about the size of two football fields.

While most of the world's glaciers are considered endangered, this one is critically so.

Answer: Switzerland

Welcome to the largest glacier (well, glacier complex made up of four entangled glaciers) in the Alps, despite being 3 km shorter and 300m thinner than it was in the 1870s (the peak at the end of the period known as the Little Ice Age). Several other glaciers in this highly glaciated region used to connect to the Aletsch Glacier, but have retreated so that they no longer connect. If you want to visit, take the railroad from Interlaken to the Jungfraujoch railway station (the highest one in Europe), near the top of the glacier, which you can then cross on your way to climbing the Jungfrau.

Answer: Norway

Jostedal Glacier, in western Norway, is the largest glacier on the continent of Europe, with a total area of over 180 square miles. While the glacier as a whole is maintained by the high snowfall in the mountains in which it originates, many of its lower arms are getting shorter and in danger of breaking away completely. Since these are the parts most accessible to tourists, it has impacted on the opportunity to climb across the ice, which has become increasingly dangerous.

Answer: Iceland

The Icelandic name means Glacier of Lakes, but is often just given in English as Vatna Glacier. This is the largest ice cap in Iceland, and the second-largest in Europe behind the Russian island of Severny. There are around forty outlet glaciers emanating from the icecap, so you can approach it from many directions.

As these outlet glaciers advance and retreat they form the glacial lakes which is the source of the icecap's Icelandic name. There are a lot of volcanoes under the ice, and their eruptions create under-ice lakes, which periodically break through the weakened ice and cause flooding.

Answer: Greenland

Meeting the Arctic Ocean in the Ilulissat Icefjord in western Greenland, this glacier produces around a tenth of all Greenland's icebergs. Because it is extremely fast moving, averaging 150 feet a day, it has been the focus of scientific research into the behavior of glaciers, and how these are changed by human actions. Small increases or decreases in its flow can be more readily detected than in the case of most glaciers, and can be investigated in search of an explanation of the mechanism behind them. Like most glaciers, it is retreating.

Answer: United States of America

This valley glacier found in the state of Alaska is the largest glacier you can reach by car in the United States. It is about 100 miles from Anchorage, and there is a State Park nearby with camping facilities. The gravel road access to the glacier is privately maintained by a group that operates guided tours of the glacier for those who want to walk on the ice.

The glacier got its name from the Matanuska River, into which the water from its terminus flows. The river name comes from a Russian word meaning 'copper river people'; the local name is Ch'atanhtnu, meaning 'tail comes out river', describing the glacial input.