Ice cave research of the United States

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic ice caves are spread out on the North American continent, especially in the United States. Many of these climate archives are already forgotten, no longer contain ice due to climatic changes, or are expected to lose their ice soon. However, sources from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries suggest the former density of ice caves in this nation. A synopsis of the American ice cave research from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century to the present is the focus of this article. A priori, basic terms and problems of ice cave research are addressed and elucidated. Subsequently, climatic conditions that facilitate or counteract the buildup of cave ice over the course of a year are presented. On the basis of an ice cave classification, different ice cave types are outlined and analyzed in their distribution in the United States. The accompanying map illustrating the geographic locations of caves in the mainland United States represents the first version of an American ice cave distribution.