Serac VIII: Acies
The primary source for this piece in glaciology is the phenomenon of the tidewater terminus.
All ice sheets and glaciers flow plastically, like a river of water in extreme slow motion measured in meters per year instead of meters per second. When a glacier reaches a lower limit on land, where meltback equals advance, the inevitable result is mud, slush, and a silty meltwater stream. However, some glaciers are sited near coastlines and are energetic enough to descend to sea level. In this case, the rise and fall of the tide calves off icebergs and floes leaving a crisply fractured wall of ice rising sometimes to hundreds of feet out of the sea: a tidewater terminus.
More InformationTidewater glaciers exude a very powerful sense of life, with movement and voice, presence and majesty unforgettable to any receptive witness. Since glacier ice can be very ancient the terminus face can be seen as a window through time. Formally, glacier ice exhibits a numbing variety and variability in color and shape, and can be thought of as suggestive of practically anything in the human or natural world.
The tidewater terminus is also very complex in its symbolic potentialities. As a natural force, glaciers are irresistible. Ice remains the sole lord of two continents and is elsewhere a continual inconvenience– even occasional threat– to mankind. However, ice also has its rhythms of advance and retreat, and its vulnerabilities.
‘Acies’ is a Latin word with several meanings. In some contexts it refers to an offensive battle line; in others a rearguard, with clear implications of retreat. Globally, ice is still in advance at some sites and at some times, but the overall trend is clearly one of retreat. Despite this, it remains one of the most powerful forces in the natural world.
‘Acies’ can also refer to ‘keen vision’. The implication can be drawn that knowledge and wisdom can derive from ice. We ignore such a resource at our peril.
It is not to be overlooked that to some ears ‘acies’ and ‘ice’ sound like sister words that belong in association, despite their disparate origins.