Icecap is a mass of ice and snow covering an area of 50,000 square kilometers (19,3000 square miles) or less. It consists of a central ice dome bordered by small glaciers that flow outward. Many icecaps blanket mountainous areas. Such icecaps include Jostedalsbreen in southwestern Norway and Vatnajokull in southeastern Iceland. Other icecaps occur on Arctic islands. Those include the Barnes and Penny icecaps on Baffin Island in Canada.
People sometimes use the term icecap to refer to massive glaciers that cover Earth’s polar regions. However, most scientists call such glaciers ice sheets. Nearly all of Antarctica is covered by two thick ice sheets, one on either side of the Transantarctic Mountains. Those sheets have an average thickness of about 7,100 feet (2,200 meters). An ice sheet also covers most of Greenland.
See also Glacier ; Ice formation .
