What is a snow line on a mountain? Is it at the same elevation everywhere in the world?

Answer 1

The snow line is the point above which, or poleward of which, snow and ice cover the ground throughout the year.

The interplay of altitude and latitude affect the precise placement of the snow line at a particular location. At or near the equator, it is typically situated at approximately 4,500 meters (or about 15,000 feet) above sea level. As one moves towards the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, the parameter at first increases: in the Himalayas the permanent snow line can be as high as 5,700 metres (18,700 feet). Beyond the Tropics the snow line becomes progressively lower as the latitude increases, falling all the way to sea level itself near the poles.

In addition, the relative location of a mountain to the nearest coastline can be a factor in how high the snow line would be; a peak near a coast — especially the west coast — of a continent might have a lower snow line than one of the same height and at the same latitude situated in a landmass interior, because the average summer temperature of the surrounding lowlands would be warmer in the latter spot than in the former, thus making a higher altitude necessary to keep the snow from melting in the summer.

Answer 2

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No, due to differences in the amount of solar energy recieved by different areas of the earth as a result of the way in which earth orbits the sun - the equator receives a lot of solar radiation (and hence heat) at a high angle to the earth's surface, whereas the poles receive much less. So the equator is hotter than the poles! There is a gradient in the elevation of the snowline - from very high elevations near the equator to very low near the poles - hence in the tropics, you don't get snow at elevations which you WOULD in colder regions... and at the poles the snow line is way down - Antarctica is covered in snow and ice all year, so is above the snow line - but it's an ordinary continent, not a mountain or something!

Answer 3

Crikey, it not even the same from season to season.

How could the snow line be the same for Kilimanjaro in Central Africa and for the Transantarctic mountains - one has a snow line higher than most other mountains; the other has snow line down to sea level.

You weren't serious, were you?

Answer 4

What Is A Snow Line