This is the first volume in the Annals of Giaciology series to be published by the International Glaciological Society on behalf of another organization. It follows a tradition established in the Journal of Giaciology, where four volumes of symposium proceedings were published for other organizations. The third International Symposium on Antarctic Giaciology was sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research of the International Council of Scientific Unions and supported by the US National Academy of Sciences acting through its Polar Research Board. The Working Group on Giaciology of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research asked the International Glaciological Society to undertake the publication of the proceeding in the Annals of Giaciology. The Council of the Society agreed to do this on the same conditions as are applied to its own symposia: that the papers are received by a stated deadline and are then subjected to the Society's standard refereeing and editing procedure. In addition, full grant support was requested so that the Society would not suffer any financial loss. Such support was given by the Division of Polar Programs of the US National Science Foundation and by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. We have been able to publish this volume ten months after the date of the symposium thanks to the ready co-operation of authors, referees and editors, and to the hard work of our staff in the Cambridge headquarters office. We are pleased to provide this service to the glaciological community.