ice streamn.
/ˈʌɪs striːm/, U.S. /ˈaɪs ˌstrim/ 1. A stream of floating sea ice driven by a current or the wind in a particular course; esp. that moving with the Labrador Current.
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1819 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 1 162 (table) 77° 34′ [N.] 8° 0′ E. Blue-sea. Among ice-streams.
1878 G. S. Nares Narr. Voy. Polar Sea I. 8 I found that we had run deeper into the ice-stream than I had intended.
1946 Geogr. Jrnl. 108 16 The movement of the various ice streams is of course dependent upon the dual influences of wind and current, which at times act in concert, at others in contradiction.
2000 P. Wadhams Ice in Ocean i. 22 The Davis Strait ice edge leads smoothly down until it joins the ice stream of the Labrador Current, carrying ice southward towards Newfoundland.
2. A gradual flow of ice on land, as in a glacier (cf. ice river n. at ice n. Compounds 8); spec. (in recent use) a flow of faster-moving ice within an ice sheet, esp. in Antarctica.
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the world > the earth > water > ice > body of ice > glacier > [noun] > valley glacier
ice stream1842
1842 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 59 As a general rule, wherever a tributary ice-stream joins the main glacier..it brings also its tributary moraines.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xviii. 138 Contributions from the ice-streams of several minor valleys.
1871 L. Stephen Playground of Europe ii. 70 In the whole Alps there is no ice-stream to be compared to the noble Aletsch glacier.
1911 J. Muir My First Summer in Sierra 322 The stress of oversweeping, past-sweeping, down-grinding ice-streams.
1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. vi. 50 Because ice-streams are so wide and thick, they can override irregularities in their beds behind which rivers would be impounded.
1989 New Scientist 4 Nov. 63/2 Ninety per cent of the outflow of the WAIS [= West Antarctic Ice Sheet] is channelled through glaciers and ice streams at speeds up to a few kilometres per year.
2008 W. S. Broecker & R. Kunzig Fixing Climate iii. 35 A huge ice stream flowing out of the Vispertal..overwhelmed the Rhône Glacier from the south.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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