Ice and Earth's Climate System
Part of the Climate Change exhibition.
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Part of the Climate Change exhibition.
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are huge concentrations of ice. The Greenland ice sheet is just a little smaller than all of Mexico and is more than 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) thick in places. The Antarctic ice sheet is about 1.5 times the size of the continental United States and averages between 2 and 4 kilometers (roughly 1.2 and 2.4 miles) thick.
Glaciers and ice caps that shrink and expand with the seasons form on many high mountains, including those of the Peruvian Andes. Almost 20 percent of the world's people depend on glacial and snow pack melting for their water supply.