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Why can glacier caves be explored safely only when their surfaces are frozen?
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Stalactites and stalagmites in the Queen's Chamber, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, southeastern New Mexico.
Glacier caves are formed by meltwater that drains from the surface of a glacier through crevasses, eventually carving tunnels between the glacial ice and the underlying bedrock.1
These caves can be explored safely only when their surfaces are frozen because, at other times, the tunnels are typically filled with water. When temperatures are above the melting point of ice, the meltwater continues to flow through these conduits, making them inaccessible and hazardous to enter.1