🏥 Surgical removal 🧊 Melting away

ablation

1 9.5

Loss of ice from a glacier surface by melting or evaporation

noun
/əˈbleɪʃən/

: ablación

With the 2001 and 2002 Leonid storms ahead of us, we have an opportunity to further develop the models of comet dust trails, meteor ablation, persistent trains, and the influence of meteoric matter and meteors on Earth's atmosphere.
laser ablation

Examples

The important components of ablation in Taylor Valley are evaporation, sublimation, and melting.

Academic text (1999)
Ablation: the loss of matter from the meteoroid as it passes through the atmosphere.

Academic text (2001)
The lower, western edge of Drukso Gangri is a gentle glacier slope that is in complete ablation.

Blog text (29)
The approach that we adopted was to first understand the microscopic properties, such as visual damage, structural damage, and the ablation characteristics of single laser pulses.

Academic text (2018)
The scientists measured the rate of ablation on the glacier to understand how climate change affects its size.
During the summer months, significant ablation occurs as the glacier melts due to rising temperatures and sunlight.
Researchers studied the ablation process in the Antarctic to predict future ice levels and their impact on sea rise.

Antonyms

growth

∞ 1.6

An increase in size, number, or importance of something

accumulation

30 3.4

A group of things gathered in one place over time

Compounds

ablation moraine

9.9

A layer of rocks left on glacier ice when the ice melts

Surface Forms

ablation singular

ablations plural

Morphology

ablation = ablate (transparent) = ablate + ion

Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ion' to the verb 'ablate'; the meaning 'process of removing or wearing away' is directly derived.

Etymology

Ablation comes from Latin parts ab- 'away' and a part meaning 'to take', like in abduct. So ablation is a 'taking away', which helps you remember it as the melting or loss of a glacier's surface.