A description is given of two tunnels, each 60–70 m. long, one directly above the other, at 4,000 and 4,020 m, a.s.l. excavated through cold firn and ice of the Breithorn in the Alps. The temperature rose from −5.5° C. at the portal to −0.5° C. at the rock interface 70 m, from the portal in the upper tunnel, and from −5.5° C. to 0° C. at a water reservoir 60 m. from the portal in the lower tunnel. In both cases cracks or minute sealed crevasses, cut by the tunnel, operated to cool the ice locally below the temperature to be expected from a smooth curve. Possible. origins of the water reservoir are discussed.

Small amounts of air at a moderate pressure, enclosed in small, sealed cracks and hollows, were punctured between 60 and 70 m. from the portal in the upper tunnel. The pungent odor of the air thus released was identified as ozone (a) by its characteristic odor, (b) by its reaction on rubber, and (c) by potassium iodide starch paper tests. The source of such ozone is suspected to be minute electric sparks resulting from static electric charges built up in cold ice when it is subjected under pressure to cracking or deformation; Photographs taken with exposures of 8 hr. in the upper tunnel at night apparently show such sparks.

A description is given of the appearance of cold ice, frozen to the bedrock, being forcibly tortured into streamers and bands by the movement of the entire ice body at 0.6 m./yr.

The age hardening of artificially and naturally compacted snow has been investigated at the South Pole. Results show that the age-hardening process is greatly retarded at low temperatures. Artificially compacted samples of density 0.55 g./cm.3 attained a compressive strength of less than 3.0 kg./cm.2 after one year’s ageing at −49° C. Exposure to solar radiation accelerated the age hardening. Irradiated samples attained a strength of 6.0 kg./cm.2 after 100 hr., increasing to a virtual maximum of 8.0 kg./cm.2 at the end of 600 hr. Compressive strengths increased with decrease in snow-particle size and with increasing angularity of the particles. Below 3 m. the strength of naturally compacted snow was found to increase rapidly with increase in density. Naturally compacted snow of density 0.55 g./cm.3 possessed considerably greater strength than any of the age-hardened samples of artificially compacted snow of the same density. Thin-section studies show that age hardening can be correlated with the formation and growth of intergranular bonds, and that bond growth falls off rapidly with decreasing temperature. In view of the low strengths found in both naturally compacted snows near the surface and in artificially compacted snow at the South Pole, “cut-and-cover” under-snow camp construction may not prove too practical at the South Pole.

Steensby Gletscher, located between Nyeboes Land and Warming Land, is one of the few Arctic ice streams with a floating tongue. It differs from other floating glaciers of the Arctic in that it discharges into a fjord with open water in the summer, in the presence of crevasses on its floating tongue, and in the way its terminus disintegrates areally into sublobes rather than shedding “Arctic” type icebergs by simple calving.

The glacier’s terminal disintegration is ascribed to a slight northward bend of the fjord stretch which contains the floating tongue. The tongue, moving into the bend along a straight path, runs marginally aground near the shore at the outside of the bend, while the still-floating central part of the tongue continues to move forward. This leads to rotational movement of parts of the tongue which split off from the main ice mass along major crevasses to form sublobes separated from each other by wide gaps, and connected with the main ice mass only at their roots.

It is suggested that the dark and light bands associated with a wave ogive system are the result of preferential adsorption of wind-blown dust by interstitial water held in narrow coarsely crystalline bands, which are more frequent in the dark bands. These narrow bands are presumed to be produced by regelation on the closure of extensive crevasses in the cwm zone above the ice fall and that, although originally uniformly distributed, there is a bunching effect caused by velocity fluctuations in the glacier at the top of the ice fall. These velocity fluctuations, which are attenuated by irregularities in the glacier’s bed, produce waves at these points, multiple irregularities producing multiple wave systems.

During the I.G.Y. seven geophysical stations were occupied on the semi-permanent sea ice of inner McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Three more were occupied on the floating tongue of the Koettlitz Glacier. Seismic refraction, reflection and S-wave propagation studies yielded preliminary data on the configurations of the ice cover and a profile of the bottom of the sound. The bottom slopes smoothly to a depth of 627 m. at the center of the sound. Secondary reflections indicate the presence of an unconsolidated layer on the bottom at some points. The glacier tongue near its seaward edge has a fairly uniform thickness of about 45 m.

An unusual humped formation of floating ice, about 10 m. high, 100 m. wide and 1,200 m. long. was observed on the Ottawa River, Canada. Some characteristics of this formation are described. The cause of the humps was found to be frazil ice deposited in a trench about 90 m. wide, 90 m. deep and 1,200 m. long. The frazil ice was formed in rapids up-stream from the humps.

The glaciological work of six expeditions from Makerere University College to the Ruwenzori between December 1957 and July 1961 is described and some results are given.

The history of glaciological research in the Ruwenzori mountain range is outlined and the present ice distribution is described. A variety of evidence is presented to illustrate the pattern of change over the last 50 years, and all the glaciers examined are shown to have been drastically reduced in size, with an apparent acceleration in melting since the 1940’s. Six glaciers are known to have disappeared completely, whilst several others have split into smaller units.

A detailed survey of the Speke Glacier on Mount Speke was made, and calculations show that if the present trends continue all the ice below 4,573 in. on Mount Speke can he expected to disappear within the next 40 years.

The Elena and Savoia Glaciers on Mount Stanley and the Moore Glacier on Mount Baker are described, and recessional rates for each glacier are calculated. Measurements of the ice movement of the Elena Glacier demonstrate that it is still a fairly active glacier, although the Moore Glacier is thought to be completely stagnant. Other scientific measurements of glaciological significance include subglacial temperatures for the Elena Glacier, melt-water flow rates from the Speke Glacier and solar radiation measurements for several stations near the Ruwenzori ice margins.

The thickness of the Athabaska Glacier has been obtained along eight transverse profiles by an investigation of gravity anomalies. Three-dimensional computations with a low-speed digital computer were made in this study to acquire more precise results than previously obtained. The thickness of the glacier varies front 326 m. on a line below the lower ice fall to 49 m. near the terminus. The accuracy of the results is discussed and compared with independent data from bore holes and a seismic program. The cross-section of the glacier valley was found to approximate a parabola on several lines. From a knowledge of the thickness. shape and surface slope of the glacier, the average shear stress exerted by the bed on the ice was found to be 1.0 bar.

During a visit on 31 August 196 1 to this glaciel', which is situa ted a bout 35 miles (56 km. ) east-north-east of Srinagar, it was noticeable that a considerable recession of the snout had taken place since its position was as shown on the one-inch Survey map of 19 12, and also on the reduced half-inch sheets of 1922 and 1943, all of which a restill in current, but politically restricted, use. There has been retreat in the interval of about half a mile (0·8 km.), i.e. from the lower open valley to the vicinity of the north face of Mt. Kolahoi, where it descends in a nice fall fed chiefly by the upper glacier basin to the west.

A thermal ice drill using a silicon carbide electrical resistance element has been developed. The silicon carbide element is operated bare in water, permitting a very simple and efficient drill design. Maximum operating power density in these elements is limited to 400 W./cm.3 by the tendency of wet silicon carbide to deteriorate rapidly at high current levels. The elements are readily replaceable and have a drilling life of 40 to 70 m. of hole. Normal drilling rates in ice of 5 to 6 m./hr. can be consistently maintained with 220 W. power input to the drill.