They can drill for ice cores. This process involves drilling a circular tube into the ice, and taking out a long thin rod, or "core" from the glacier. Then the scientists can count the rings (which appear due to different amounts and types of particles in the air in each year) and determine, or at least approximate, the age of the glacier.
After investigation of your question I have come to this answer....Scientist who's main area of study is glaciers are called glaciologist. These scientists use several methods to date a glaciers "birth" or formation. The first method is called cosmogenic-nuclide analyses. Cosmogenic-nuclide analyses is the study of the decay of rare isotopes created when a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the nucleus of an in situ atom( "in situ" - in the place). These isotopes are found in the soil/rocks in the sublimation till that caps the ice. These specimins are studied by scientists that date the possible cosmic occurance back to an astronomical event in Earths history. The second method is numerical ice-flow modeling in which scientists study the movement of a glacier over a period of time by the testing of sediments and other impurities found deep within the glacier. The third method is 40Ar/39Ar analyses of in-situ ash fall from relict polygon troughs at the till surface. Relict, refers to the surviving reminants of a natural phenomenon. Thus meaning they study the glaciers surface to investigate the sedimentation that has occured within the till that layers the glaciers surface. And finally the method of studying modern horizontal ice-flow velocities as determined from synthetic aperture radar interferometry. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar or InSAR, is a radar that maps the structual deformation or elevation of the glacier. The InSAR can detect changes down to a centimetre, over a timespan of days to years, by meausureing the difference in waves returning to the lab.
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They can drill for ice cores. This process involves drilling a circular tube into the ice, and taking out a long thin rod, or "core" from the glacier. Then the scientists can count the rings (which appear due to different amounts and types of particles in the air in each year) and determine, or at least approximate, the age of the glacier.
After investigation of your question I have come to this answer....Scientist who's main area of study is glaciers are called glaciologist. These scientists use several methods to date a glaciers "birth" or formation. The first method is called cosmogenic-nuclide analyses. Cosmogenic-nuclide analyses is the study of the decay of rare isotopes created when a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the nucleus of an in situ atom( "in situ" - in the place). These isotopes are found in the soil/rocks in the sublimation till that caps the ice. These specimins are studied by scientists that date the possible cosmic occurance back to an astronomical event in Earths history. The second method is numerical ice-flow modeling in which scientists study the movement of a glacier over a period of time by the testing of sediments and other impurities found deep within the glacier. The third method is 40Ar/39Ar analyses of in-situ ash fall from relict polygon troughs at the till surface. Relict, refers to the surviving reminants of a natural phenomenon. Thus meaning they study the glaciers surface to investigate the sedimentation that has occured within the till that layers the glaciers surface. And finally the method of studying modern horizontal ice-flow velocities as determined from synthetic aperture radar interferometry. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar or InSAR, is a radar that maps the structual deformation or elevation of the glacier. The InSAR can detect changes down to a centimetre, over a timespan of days to years, by meausureing the difference in waves returning to the lab.
I enjoyed researching your question and I hope that I have answered your question to your approval!
Ice cores.