What temperature is the inside of a glacier?

Canotila

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I haven't been able to find this anywhere. Does anybody know where I can find any articles, links, or do you have personal experience to share?

If anybody here has been inside a glacier and wants to take the time to share what it was like, it would be invaluable to me and you will have my undying gratitude.

Thank you.
 
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cbenoi1

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I would say it's at zero Celcius, within a fraction of a degree. The first few centimeters of ice layers should be closer to the atmospheric temperature because of the air/solid interface which makes it easier for ice to form (the heat generated from the liquid-to-solid process is dissipated into the atmosphere easily).

-cb
 

Ruv Draba

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I haven't been able to find this anywhere. Does anybody know where I can find any articles, links, or do you have personal experience to share?
Try: here or here or here. I got these from googling "glacier temperature".

Bottom line is that at their surface, glaciers tend to be the temperature of the air. Underneath they may be colder, or they can be close to melting-point due to geothermal energy. Melting-point drops a bit due to the pressure of all the ice too... Temperature readings at different depths can vary by a fraction of a degree Celcius. So if you said -1C to 0C (30F-32F) it'd be hard to argue with you.
 

Miguelito

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Temperatures of glaciers vary wildly depending upon where you are in the world.

Polar glaciers tend to have awfully cold ice at the top (think air temperature), but they increase in temperature as you go downwards (thick ice acts like a blanket and traps heat rising from the earth underneath it). Thus, while surface temperatures could be at something like -30 degrees Celcius, the bottom of the glacier could be at 0 degrees Celcius -- also called a warm-based glacier because water flows at the base of it, like a lubricant. Warm-based glaciers move relatively fast. Or the bottom could be cold based, where it's well below freezing in temperature at its base and the glacier is frozen to the ground it's riding over. Cold-based glaciers hardly move at all at their base, although the upper parts flow like plastic.

So, I guess the question should be: what temperature do you need the glacier interior to be? Because there are probably glaciers that fit what you want.
 
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Canotila

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Thank you everyone for your answers and links. It is immensely helpful. I'm going to try and arrange a visit to some ice caves on Mt. Rainier this summer for some hands on experience, but I think they have been closed to the public.

Miguel, it doesn't have to be any particular temperature as long as the glacier is cold enough to remain frozen. I just wasn't sure if it would be cold enough for someone's breath to make beardcicles, etc.