| Conversely, an unusually light winter snowfall causes older firn and ice of lower albedo to be exposed earlier in the summer, producing increased melt and runoff. |
| Changes in the Earth's surface albedo are a useful indicator of firn pack loss and glacier retreat. |
| Melt and percolation through the weak firn layer bring most of the freeboard volume to the melting point. |
| In the spring of 2011 a team led by Richard Forster of the University of Utah discovered a huge amount of water in the firn of south-east Greenland. |
| Combine such dense firn with a daily rhythm of freeze and thaw, and spring avalanche danger is easy to predict and avoid. |
| The more glacier ice that is exposed as the snow and firn disappear, the lower the albedo, and the faster the glacier loses mass. |
