The tenth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics was held. in Rome from 14 to 25 September 1954 under the auspices of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche and under the presidency of Professor S. Chapman.

The Commission on Snow and Ice is one of the Commissions of the Association of Hydrology, itself one of the several component bodies of the Union; full details of the relationship were given in an earlier issue of this Journal.Footnote *

The place of meeting was the handsome building known as E.U.R., Exposition Universelle de Rome. Although this lay some 8 km. from the centre of the city, a half-hourly service of motor coaches made access and departure easy. The great size of the building (which also housed a large exhibition of geophysical instruments) and the many temporarily contrived lecture theatres made it an agreeable and convenient centre.

The first meeting of the Commission took place on Tuesday, 14 September. The original plan had been to hold only five meetings, but later this number was officially increased to seven in view of the large number of papers presented. In addition a joint meeting of the Associations of Seismology and Hydrology heard a paper by Monsieur J. Holtzscherer on “Seismic studies on the Greenland Ice Cap”; a special session was also arranged to consider the Commission’s interest in the International Geophysical Year, and lastly an eighth meeting of the Commission was informally convened to continue some unfinished discussions. This final meeting took place on Tuesday afternoon, 21 September.

In accordance with custom the President of the Commission, Mr. G. Seligman, deputed his chairmanship at several of the meetings; Professors Haefeli (Switzerland), Finsterwalder (Germany), Bossolasco (Italy), Pardé (France) and Thórarinsson (Iceland) were invited to take charge of meetings. Mr. J. M. Wordie presided at the International Geophysical Year session.

The opening meeting of the Association of Hydrology took place in the morning of 14 September and the closing meeting in the afternoon of 23 September.

In addition to the paper read at the joint meeting and the Presidential Address on “Recent trends in glaciological research” fifty-six papers were presented to the Commission, of which thirty-nine were read in full or in part, the remainder, unfortunately, by title only. It would be a good plan for the future if authors who are unable to be present at meetings would instruct deputies to read the papers on their behalf.

Discussion was facilitated by the pre-publication of abstracts of all the papers–a big undertaking for which, and for much other excellent organization, credit is due to Professor L. J. Tison, the Secretary of the Association, and his assistants, Monsieur Gérard Tison and Mlle M. Tison.

It was said by many that these meetings of the Commission had been the most fruitful and successful of any that had been held since the original Commission on Snow had been formed and for this Professor Tison and the Secretary of the Commission, Mr. P. D. Baird, were mainly responsible. One or two authors produced on their own initiative translations into English or French of the abstracts of their papers. This innovation proved very useful in stimulating discussion and could be more widely adopted.

Some papers by their nature lead to valuable discussions, but others, especially those with formulae and graphs, have to be studied in print before much useful comment can be made. For this reason early publication of papers is desirable. But the task of editing so much material is not easy. Publication of the papers read at Brussels in 1951 followed in about six months—a commendable achievement—and it is to be hoped that the 1954 papers will continue to be published from Professor Tison’s office, which is probably the only way in which the whole bulk of the transactions of the Commission can appear in reasonable time.

At the end of the Conference of the I.U.G.G. the question of the International Geophysical Year 1956–57 was discussed by an International Committee upon which Professor G. Manley acted as representative for Great Britain.Footnote *

The next Assembly of the I.U.G.G. will be held in Buenos Aires in 1957. It is to be hoped that it will not be unfortunate for the Commission on Snow and Ice that it is to be held in a country where hitherto there has not been much glaciological study and where distance may be a handicap for many European glaciologists. It may be, however, that the newly formed National Institute of the “Continental Ice” of Patagonia will have results to contribute by then.

In the course of the meetings the President read a message from Dr. P. L. Mercanton suggesting that a tour of the Swiss glaciers for members of the Commission should be arranged in conjunction with the next triennial Assembly. This may now prove less easy in view of its taking place in South America; but it could still be held if the date were early enough not to clash with the main meeting of the Commission. Alternatively it might take place in the previous year. Such a tour would undoubtedly be popular and is very desirable. It might be better for some more corporate body than the Commission, such as this Society, to make the arrangements.

In accordance with the principle decided in 1951 at Brussels no subjects have been set for the papers to be read in 1957. This proved eminently satisfactory at Rome and provided valuable papers in the many widely differing and rapidly developing aspects of glaciology.

For the next triennium Professor R. Haefeli (Zürich) takes the place of the retiring President. The Vice-Presidents are Professor R. Finsterwalder (Munich) and Professor A. Bauer (Strasbourg). The Commission is fortunate to be able to retain as Secretary, Mr. P. D. Baird, who is now resident in Scotland.