[The following statement was approved at a Council meeting of the Glaciological Society on 5 May 1966. There will be no objection to the reproduction of this statement in full.]
The demand for glaciologists is now of sufficient magnitude to call for serious reflection on the problems of academic training in glaciology, especially in view of the need created by the International Hydrological Decade.
The definition of glaciology, authoritatively discussed in an editorial note in the Journal of Glaciology (Vol. 3, No. 29, 1961, p. 802), is the “study of snow and ice in all forms”. The Commission of Snow and Ice of the International Association of Scientific Hydrology has four subdivisions: (1) glaciers, (2) seasonal snow cover and avalanches, (3) sea, lake and river ice, and (4) ground ice; each subdivision draws on the knowledge of several scientific disciplines.
At the present time most research workers in glaciology have begun their careers as physicists, geologists, geographers, engineers. Frequently the involvement in snow and ice work was an ancillary interest and the earliest specialization in this topic began after graduation. Only too often such people, after working with enthusiasm on a glaciological project for a few years, return to other interests. Though many valuable contributions to our knowledge were, and still will be, made in this way, there is now a need for professionally trained glaciologists, and such interests should be promoted at the undergraduate level.
The essentially interdisciplinary nature of the science of glaciology demands an academic training which is interdepartmental in scope, while recognizing the individuality of the science itself and therefore accommodating it with specific laboratory and library facilities. A sound basis in mathematics and physics is a prerequisite for glaciological training and to this may be added cognate courses in such other departments as geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, geology, geography, engineering and materials science. Field work must be an integral part of any such programme and accessibility to appropriate areas is a necessary requirement.
