Avalanche tarns are a particular morphological form of avalanche impact and sixteen of these features are described from the Fiordland region of New Zealand. Average area of the tarns is 11000 m2. Profiles are given for eight of the avalanche paths where such tarns occur. All are found at the base of very steep avalanche tracks (slopes 38–59°), where there are no fans, so that there is an abrupt change of slope with the valley floor. The plunging avalanches which cause the tarns may have a mass of up to 300000 tonnes and impact pressures of more than 600 kN/m2, although no direct measurements are available.

The natural modes of oscillation of an infinitely long, ice covered channel are considered, using the hydrostatic approximation, and assuming the ice to behave elastically. The dispersion relation, mode shape, and associated force on the channel wall are found for the lowest three modes. Special attention is paid to the limitations associated with the hydrostatic and elastic approximations.

A simple equation is derived relating the net mass-balance and hypsometric curves of a steady-state valley glacier. It is used to examine how valley shape is linked to disparate extents and responses of glaciers subjected to similar climatic conditions. Examples are given which show that area-based indices (e.g. AAR) for estimating the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) may be subject to a substantial built-in variance because they implicitly rely upon similarity of glacier shape and regimen over a region. If accurate topographic maps are available, the equation may be used to infer the regimen of modern glaciers in the form of a dimensionless ratio of net mass-balance gradients. Alternatively, if similar information is available concerning regional glacier regimen, disparate extents and responses may be collectively utilized to estimate values of ELA or to infer climatic influence, taking glacier hypsometry into account.

In recent years extensive measurements of pollutant concentrations within the environment have been made over Western Europe following reports of unusually high pollution levels within rivers and lakes, especially after the start of the spring melting period. A simple model is presented to describe theoretically the pollutant efflux within the first fractions of melt water released from a snow-pack at the start of the melting season. The dominant features included are the appearance of a wave-front as heading the unsaturated flow of melt water and the pollutant dispersion arising from the interaction of the flow with the porous structure of the snow-pack and molecular diffusion. Computed results are shown describing the evolution of pollutant concentration profiles in the first run-off stage from a snow-pack subjected to an applied uniform surface heating.

Field tests have been developed to measure the shear and tensile strengths of large volumes of snow. Basal shear strengths were measured across and down some slabs of snow, giving highly variable strengths. These measurements support the idea that the basal region of an avalanche may contain zones where the basal shear strength exceeded the gravitational shear stress (i.e. pinning areas) with weak zones between (deficit areas) where the shear strength was less than the gravitational shear stress. The slab tensile stresses induced by these deficit areas would become high if either the deficit length (down-slope) was large, or the deficit itself was large. Measurements of tensile strengths of slabs above weak layers, together with the down-slope gravitational stress of a snow slab, suggest that deficit lengths of only several metres are often sufficient to cause a local tensile failure. In some cases, this local failure may propagate across the remainder of the slope (depending on the pinning distribution) and cause an avalanche. We propose that the maximum local deficit, rather than the mean slope deficit of basal shear stress, and the maximum length of the local deficit, are the first important parameters to consider when evaluating slope stability in the field, since the magnitude of these factors determine the probability of a local tensile failure.

Climatic change occurs over a wide range of time scales. Each glacier responds in a unique fashion to this spectrum of climatic forcings. The response of the extent of the Lewis Glacier terminus to sinusoidal fluctuation in the net balance is calculated. The net balance versus elevation profile is separately translated along the orthogonal balance and elevation axes. Net balance amplitudes of 0.1 to 0.5 m a−1 of ice and 10 to 50 m elevation, respectively, and periods ranging from 20 to 1000 years are covered. The time lag between forcing and terminus response is dependent on applied period, reaching a maximum of about 30 years at 1000 years period, but is independent of applied amplitude. For the shorter applied periods the response amplitude increases rapidly with period but asymptotically approaches a maximum at periods above approximately 200 years; it is linearly dependent on applied amplitude. Consideration of the Lewis Glacier response taken in perspective with similar results for other alpine glaciers identifies general characteristics of the terminus response.

Spectral analysis of time series of a c. 17 ± 0.3 year core, calibrated for total ß activity recovered from Sentik Glacier (4908m) Ladakh, Himalaya, yields several recognizable periodicities including subannual, annual, and multi-annual. The time-series, include both chemical data (chloride, sodium, reactive iron, reactive silicate, reactive phosphate, ammonium, δD, δ(18O) and pH) and physical data (density, debris and ice-band locations, and microparticles in size grades 0.50 to 12.70 μm). Source areas for chemical species investigated and general air-mass circulation defined from chemical and physical time-series are discussed to demonstrate the potential of such studies in the development of paleometeorological data sets from remote high-alpine glacierized sites such as the Himalaya.

Two air-permeability devices were developed and measurements were made to study the relationship between air permeability and structure of different snow types. Permeabilities varied both with position and direction in the snow-pack, and changed with time as metamorphic changes occurred. A marked increase of air permeability was noted as faceted crystals grew due to radiation recrystallization. In other observations, as a snow-pack densified and crystals became more rounded (destructive metamorphism) the air permeability decreased. Measurements were made of air permeability of snows that had been subjected to a creeping tensile strain, and initial tests indicated that the changes in air permeability due to strain, even to rupture, were significant, but small compared with the intrinsic variability of snow.

Wave action causes ablation in a narrow zone around an iceberg’s waterline, at up to 0.3 m per day, in water of −1°C with waves up to 0.4 m high. Subsequent subaerial calving of ice from iceberg sides takes place up to a similar rate. Submarine melting is an order of magnitude slower than wave action but acts over the largest part of an iceberg. Ablation rates derived theoretically or statistically elsewhere for comparable environmental conditions, are in reasonable agreement with those measured here. Drifting icebergs trail a plume of mixed, slightly cooled and diluted sea-water in their wake.

The cutting force components and the cutting moment on the cutting tool were measured during the orthogonal machining of ice with cutting tools inclined at negative rake angles. The variables included the cutting depth (< 1 mm), the cutting speed (0.01 ms−1 to 1 ms−1), and the rake angles (–15° to –60°). Results of the experiments showed that the cutting force components were approximately independent of cutting speed. The resultant cutting force on the tool was in a direction approximately normal to the cutting face of the tool. The magnitude of the resultant force increased with the negative rake angle. Photographs of ice-chip formation revealed continuous and segmented chips at different cutting depths.

A model for glacier flow is developed which incorporates longitudinal deviatoric stress contributions to the field equations. The underlying assumptions may be applied to develop models for various situations. Here, they are developed for steady-state and non-steady-state sliding glaciers in plane flow. The models reduce to a proper generalization of plane-flow pseudo-hydrostatic theory if longitudinal deviatoric stresses are neglected in comparison to basal shear stresses. Solution of this simpler reduced model allows an estimate to be made of the magnitude of the longitudinal deviatoric stress to test if it is negligible or, more generally, investigate under what conditions it can be neglected. The steady-state model predicts that longitudinal deviatoric stresses are negligible for very arbitrary non-uniform sliding-law distributions provided that the following conditions exist: the region must be distant from an ice divide or terminus and subject to normal (not extreme) accumulation or ablation. On the other hand, examples are produced where, under non-steady conditions, longitudinal deviatoric stresses are important and even dominant.

Moraine ridges have formed annually at Skálafellsjökull, south-east Iceland since about A.D. 1912. These ridges are asymmetrical with a steeper distal slope, and their surface morphology reflects their internal structure. Most ridges are formed at the glacier margin, and they form a series of concentric arcs about it. Their plan form reflects small details of the ice-front morphology. Some ridges are composed of boulders released from the ice by ablation and swept together by glacier re-advances, but most have a core of deformed till. Those which were ice-cored have a surface veneer of resedimented debris consisting of ice-slope colluvium and sediment-flow deposits. Lodgement tills at Skálafellsjökull have a two-layer structure, with a weak upper horizon apparently formed by dilation during subglacial shearing of the till. Ridges are composed of this sheared material and overlie undisturbed lodgement till at depth. Subglacial shearing results in a discharge of till towards the glacier margin and its accumulation there when glacier retreat ceases in winter. Till may also be extruded from beneath ice at the margin as a result of loading by the ice, and subsequently bulldozed into a ridge by a winter readvance of the glacier.

Model-generated ice-thickness fields for the period 1961–80 are examined in the context of summertime sea-ice predictability in the Beaufort Sea. The correspondence between the modeled and observed fluctuations of ice-covered area is found to be quite good. Lag correlation coefficients based on departures from 20 year “normals” of the ice thicknesses show that the ice anomalies are persistent throughout the August–May period. However, because the thickness anomalies undergo large fluctuations during July and August, only a small amount of summertime predictability can be derived from the thickness data. The findings are consistent with the observational results of Rogers (1978), who found that summertime temperatures and wind directions accounted for much of the variability of Beaufort Sea ice during August and September.

The interaction of Stokes’ edge waves with a developing near-shore ice zone is examined from two points of view. First, the effect of a well-fragmented ice suspension on the classical Stokes’ edge wave is discussed. Secondly, the possibility that ice-cusp formation (and, thereafter, ice mounds or volcanoes) can be initiated by edge waves is examined. Results indicate a negligible effect of a well-fragmented floating ice field on the Stokes’ dispersion equation for typical wave periods, but do indicate that the presence of a standing Stokes’ edge wave may lead to the initiation of ice-field cusps as ice formation occurs in the near-shore zone.

Investigations have been made of the geomorphology, internal structure, and till fabric of small drumlins in a drumlin field exposed in front of the retreating northern part of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland. The drumlins either comprise irregular drumlin complexes or they show clearly the shape of typical drumlins with their highest points at the up-glacier ends of streamlined hills.

The core of each drumlin consists either of undisturbed glacio-fluvial deposits or glacio-dynamically deformed drift. The distribution of the first type often has a characteristic en échelon arrangement, similar to the interstream areas in the upper reaches of outwash fans. The second type forms a pattern with a predominant trend conforming to the glacier margin; this type is superimposed on overridden ice-margin push-moraine ridges. It is shown that the material in the drumlin cores is only slightly eroded by the glacier that formed the drumlins. The core is mantled by subglacial lodgement till about 0.1–1.5 m in thickness.

Seventeen fabric analyses of 25 clasts each were performed on material from within the till mantle. These analyses show a preferred long-axis orientation but indicate a considerable between-site variability ranging up to 45° even between samples taken a few metres apart. The preferred clast orientation for samples taken along the drumlin crests only deviates 0–10° from the regional ice-flow direction indicated by fluted moraines, whereas the deviation for samples from the flanks and the stoss-sides is up to 35°. However, the fabrics show a characteristic pattern relative to the shape of the drumlin; on their tops, the clast fabric parallels the ice-flow direction, whereas it tends to follow the contour direction on the flanks and stoss-sides.

It is concluded that the cores of the drumlins consist of pre-existing deposits, whereas the mantles are composed of subglacial till. Regarding the processes involved, the material contained in the core is mainly eroded by pro-glacial melt-water streams and not by ice. During the subsequent flow of ice across the area, the most prominent terrain elements have acted as subglacial obstacles, leading to localized till deposition and drumlin formation. Thus, the drumlins were formed mainly by subglacial deposition of till but the obstacles acted as an essential factor favouring their initiation.

Nye’s theory of glacier sliding, when modified to incorporate Gilpin’s model of the liquid layer adjacent to foreign solids in ice, predicts non-zero sliding speeds at subfreezing temperatures. Although the predicted speeds are too small to affect glacier motion or even to be observed readily, the total distance of sliding of large glaciers should be adequate to produce bedrock striations. Dissolved solutes in the liquid layer increase the sliding speeds slightly. At temperatures below about – 1° C, 90% of the drag comes from the part of the bed-roughness spectrum at wavelengths between 0.2 and 20 mm regardless of solute concentration. If no more basal ice melts than refreezes (as in a cold glacier), the average liquid-layer thickness and, concomitantly, the sliding speed for given drag and roughness are governed by the ambient temperature. With net melting (as in a temperate glacier), on the other hand, they are governed by the rate of escape of the excess water and no conflict arises between the thickness requirement for run-off water flow and that for regelation water flow. Thus, the proper distinction is not between temperate and cold, but between net melting and no net melting. The theory applies to both cases.

The effect of ice content and normal load on the shear strength characteristics of a frozen coarse granular debris was investigated. 31 shear tests were carried out in a modified shearbox allowing a sample temperature of (–1.0 ± 0.2)° C and a load rate of 9.63 × 10−4 cm/min. The tests showed that as the ice content of the frozen debris was increased from 0% (under-saturated) to 25% (saturated), sample shear strength was markedly increased. In contrast, sample shear strength was reduced as ice content was increased from 25% (saturated) to 100% (supersaturated). The changes in shear strength with increasing ice content were attributed directly to changes in internal friction and the cohesive effects of the pore ice. The shear tests also indicate that shear strength increases with increasing normal load up to a critical limit. Above this limit, dilatancy is suppressed causing the shear strength to decrease or remain relatively constant with increased normal load.

The stress-strain curves of the 31 tests indicated that samples with higher ice contents tended to reach peak strength (τP) with less displacement during shear. Moreover, the difference between τp and τr (residual strength) was lowest for pure polycrystalline ice and highest for ice-saturated samples. The Mohr-Coulomb failure envelopes displayed very distinctive parabolic curvilinearity. The degree of curvature is thought to be a function of ice creep at low normal loads and particle fracture and crushing at high normal loads.

During December 1973 the initial smooth ice cover on the Chukchi Sea near Barrow, Alaska, broke away from the shore during a period of strong wind and was replaced by a cover of broken, rafted ice which remained for the rest of the winter. Cores pulled from this cover were examined visually, and the salinity and density of sections of the cores were measured. Temperatures at several depths in the ice were recorded continuously, and these are presented near the date when the temperature gradient changed sign. Despite large deviations probably due to the irregularity of the ice cover, thickness and salinity followed the patterns seen by other observers.

Laboratory pH analyses of glacial melt waters are unrepresentative of in situ values, due primarily to CO2 gas exchange between the sample and the atmosphere, and solute enrichment from chemical reaction with sediment and colloidal particles. A method is presented which enables field pH measurements that are reproducible within ±0.04 pH units to be made in glacial melt waters, using commonly available digital pH meters with combination electrodes.

During initial spring snow melt in May 1981 at Gornergletscher, Switzerland, melt waters in the proglacial stream leaving the glacier terminus were oversaturated with respect to atmospheric p(CO2), and rapidly increased pH during CO2 outgassing at in situ temperature and pressure. Summer ice melt from glaciers which are temperate in the ablation zone are usually undersaturated by about ten times with respect to atmospheric p(CO2), and rapidly lower their pH values to achieve equilibrium upon encountering the atmosphere, as observed at Gornergletscher during July and August 1981. Gornergletscher summer proglacial stream waters, sometimes show pH increases from rock weathering, with the rate limited by the transfer rate of CO2 across the air-water interface to drive the weathering reactions. Throughout the year, any water parcel at equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 is generally at an equilibrium pH value, if filtration prohibits solute enrichment. For these reasons, laboratory pH measurements are unacceptable for quantitative studies of melt-water chemistry and should be discontinued.

Shock-wave studies of ice under uniaxial strain conditions have been conducted at stress levels up to 3.6 GPa. A light-gas gun accelerated the flat-faced projectile used to impact the ice-containing targets. The ice samples were initially at ambient pressure and at temperatures of –10 ± 2° C. Gages were implaced at different distances in the ice along the path of the shock wave to measure particle velocity time histories inside the ice samples. The recorded time histories of particle velocity show a precursor wave with an average wave velocity of 3.7 km/s and an average particle velocity amplitude of 0.06 km/s. This wave is travelling at a wave velocity approximately 10% greater than longitudinal sound speed and is believed to originate because of the onset of melting of ice I.

The particle velocity data from these experiments were converted to stresses and volumes using Lagrangian gage analysis and the assumption of a simple non-steady wave. This conversion provides a complete compression cycle (which includes both loading and unloading paths) for comparison with static measurements. All experiments show the onset of melting at 0.15 to 0.2 GPa. Experiments with maximum stress states between 0.2 and 0.5 GPa yield results which suggest that a mixed phase of ice I and liquid water exists at these conditions. For maximum loading stresses between 0.6 and 1.7 GPa the experimental results suggest that the final state is predominately ice VI. In these experiments the specific volume upon compression is changed from 1.09 m3/Mg to approximately 0.76 m3/Mg, which represents compaction of approximately 30%. The unloading paths determined from these experiments indicate that ice VI remains in a “frozen” or metastable state during most of the unloading process. This hysteresis in the compression cycle gives rise to a large “loss” of shock-wave energy to the transformation process. At stress levels above 2.2 GPa, ice VII should be the stable form for water according to static compression measurements. Experimental data at 2.4 and 3.6 GPa suggest that ice VII may be formed but these results indicate a mixed phase of ice VI and ice VII rather than complete transformation to ice VII.