MELTWATER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does meltwater mean? 

• MELTWATER (noun)
  The noun MELTWATER has 1 sense:

1. melted snow or ice

  Familiarity information: MELTWATER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MELTWATER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Melted snow or ice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("meltwater" is a kind of...):

H2O; water (binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent)

 Context examples 

The evolution of surface and shallow subsurface meltwater across Antarctic ice shelves has important implications for their stability, said program director Paul Cutler in NSF's Office of Polar Programs.

(Reframing the dangers Antarctica's meltwater ponds pose to ice shelves and sea level, National Science Foundation)

Understanding the sources and future of the meltwater under West Antarctica is important for estimating the rate at which ice may be lost to the ocean in the future.

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)

What is not fully known is the extent to which surface water might destabilise an ice shelf, especially in warmer summers when more meltwater is produced.

(Surface lakes cause Antarctic ice shelves to ‘flex’, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

"But now we recognize a second serious problem — increasingly, large amounts of ice mass are going to leave as meltwater, as rivers that flow into the sea."

(Study: Greenland's Ice Melting Faster than Previously Thought, VOA)

This meltwater is leaking across the grounding line where the ice shelf meets the ocean.

(Previously unsuspected volcanic activity confirmed under West Antarctic Ice Sheet at Pine Island Glacier, National Science Foundation)

Researchers also found that the young ice sheet was much wetter than it is today, with meltwater from the surface flowing into a network of channels beneath the ice.

(Massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet has history of instability, National Science Foundatio)

Scientists need to understand what is regulating the glaciers' flow speeds to project how glacial meltwater will contribute to the region's water resources and to sea level rise.

(NASA Finds Asian Glaciers Slowed by Ice Loss, NASA)

In 2002, however, the Dry Valleys experienced an abnormally warm and sunny summer season, triggering the greatest amount of glacial meltwater since 1969.

(Extreme melt season leads to decade-long ecosystem changes in Antarctica's Dry Valleys, National Science Foundation)

The final death event, which occurred approximately 10,000 years ago — before the emergence of the modern reef, was not clearly linked to any abrupt sea-level rise or post-glacial meltwater pulse.

(Major study reveals Great Barrier Reef’s 30,000-year fight for survival, University of Granada)

These acequias, dug out of the ground, are used by mountain stock farmers and acequieros (the individuals with expert skills in water catchment and allocation) to channel the meltwater so that it seeps down through the high part of the valleys.

(Researchers demonstrate that Sierra Nevada is home to the oldest underground water recharge system in Europe, University of Granada)