Glaciological mapping and global seasonal snow storage

The areas and volumes (in water equivalent) of seasonal snow cover in 10 sublatitudinal glaciological zones have been calculated from the maps of snow and ice storage in the World Atlas of Snow and Ice Resources. These zones are combined into five glaciological belts, subdivided by sublongitudinal boundaries into 36 glaciological provinces (Figs. 1 and 3). The area of seasonal snow cover on land and on the sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere totals 35 million km2; in the Northern Hemisphere it totals 73 million km2. The area of sea ice and of snow cover on that ice in the two hemispheres is almost equal, viz., 19 million km2 in the Southern Hemisphere and 17 million km2 in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas the areas of land‐based snow cover differ greatly between the two hemispheres, viz., 16 million km2 in the south and 56 million km2 in the north. The entire glaciosphere, including apart from the areas just cited, over 40 million km2 of ocean in which icebergs are widespread, covers 150 million k...