The geological process by which granular snow gradually compresses and transforms into denser glacial ice over years or decades.
From 'firn' (from German Firn, meaning year-old snow) + Latin -ficare (to make) + -tion (suffix for abstract nouns). The term emerged in glaciology during the 19th century.
Firn is this weird in-between substance—not quite snow anymore, not yet ice—and watching it densify is like watching geology happen in real-time on glaciers and polar ice sheets.
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