An account is given of how, when accurate topographic maps of a glacier are available, not only the regimen but also the probable response to a change in the firn limit can be calculated from the area distribution. The derivation of the formula used is explained and an account given of its application in suitable areas of Alaska, where recent climatic changes are discussed.

Near the edge of Langjökull ice cap there are many soil polygons. A cross-section showed them to be only surface features consisting of rocks in polygonal form embedded in silt. The area revealed much evidence that silt and small rocks often behaved like a liquid upon which heavier rocks would float. If the floating heavier rocks were pushed down into the “liquid,” mud would, in certain circumstances, ooze up a metre or so away. If a number of rocks were depressed the mud would ooze at points roughly equidistant from a few of the rocks, and spread to leave a polygon pattern. Conditions favourable for the sinking of heavy stones in this manner probably occur each spring.

The problem of the creep deformation of floating ice shelves is considered. The problem is solved using Glen’s creep law for ice and Nye’s relation of steady-state creep (the analogue of the Lévy-Miles relation in plasticity theory). Good agreement is obtained between an observed creep rate at Maudheim in the Antarctic and that predicted from the results of creep tests made by Glen.

A. N. Lewis’s scheme of Tasmania’s Pleistocene glacial history in terms of three full glaciations —Malanna (ice cap), Yolande (valley glacier) and Margaret (cirque glacier)—is criticized on a number of specific and general grounds. The area reliably known to be glaciated is thought to be much smaller than Lewis claimed. Future work on Tasmanian glaciations should not be grafted on to Lewis’s scheme and should aim especially to provide more reliable evidence for distinguishing and evaluating the glacial phases.

The volume of ice that flows annually from the Skelton Glacier on the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf between the Worcester and Royal Society Ranges was determined during 1958–59 traverse operations to be approximately 791 × 106 m.3 or 712 × 106 m.3 water equivalent. Annual accumulation on the Skelton névé field and small cirque glaciers is estimated to be 1,018 × 106 m.3 water equivalent, but this figure can be reduced to 712 × 106 m.3 by assuming that 30 per cent of the expected accumulation in the lower slopes of the glacier is lost to adjacent areas of the Ross Ice Shelf by katabatic winds. It is evident that little or no contribution to the nourishment of the Skelton Glacier comes from the high plateau area of East Antarctica. It is suggested that this condition exists generally in the western Ross Sea and Ross Shelf area, and is responsible for the existence of the present “dry” valleys in the McMurdo Sound area.

Some estimates of local ice regime are made at two sites on the glacier where ice thickness and strain rates are known.

During the summer of 1955 certain positions on the Greenland Ice Sheet that had been established by the French in 1951 were redetermined by observations of the sun in order to measure the motion of the surface of the ice sheet. A motion of 774 meters in four years in a southerly direction was noted at the Central Station. A motion of 611 meters in a westerly direction was noted at the French Mile 100. The uncertainty of the measures is large when the time scale is as short as four years, and expeditions to this area are urged to remeasure these positions and extend the markers for future use.

This paper is derived from notes on ice conditions made during a study of Captain James Cook’s voyage around Antarctica in 1772–75. The original notes comprised a detailed examination of the day-to-day remarks on ice in Cook’s Journal, together with comments in the light of present-day knowledge.

Measurements have been made on Austerdalsbreen, Norway, to test the theory that wave ogives at the foot of an ice fall are formed by pressure. The pattern of deformation over the first three waves from the Odinsbre ice fall was studied by measuring the absolute and relative motions of 35 stakes during August 1956. There are large variations of longitudinal compression through the wave pattern, but no simple correlation exists between the compression and the crests; nor are the crests consistently rising with respect to the average surface. We conclude that the waves are not forming by pressure in this area. A detailed quantitative explanation of the observed pattern of deformation is found by improving the existing theory of glacier flow. The deformations taking place are explained as essentially independent of the presence of the waves; they are primarily due (a) to the compression that must occur in the ice as its slope decreases and it becomes thicker, and (b) to the bending and unbending to which the ice is subjected as it passes over a bed of changing curvature. Additional contributions to the deformation arise from the widening of the glacier channel, which is important at the immediate foot of the ice fall, and from the annual ablation.

The theory explains quantitatively the rotation and bending of the tunnel excavated in 1955; it was also used to make a prediction, which was successfully verified in a further experiment on the glacier in July and August 1957.

A pressure mechanism of wave formation can be reconciled with the observations if it is supposed that the compression in the lower two-thirds of the ice fall, which was measured photogrammetrically in August 1956, varies significantly with the seasons. However, the positions and amplitudes of the observed waves are fully accounted for by the combined plastic deformation and ablation mechanism recently described in another paper. There is therefore no longer any need for the pressure hypothesis as a primary cause of the waves.

The “old moraines” of Pangnirtung Pass were constructed by trunk glaciers, tributary glaciers, glacial streams, rockfalls, talus-creep and other agents and processes. Rivers have since reworked or removed the deposits lying along the axis of the Pass and have begun to dissect the remainder. The old moraines have ice cores, which have tended to melt, collapse and flow downhill, thus further complicating the drift topography. The freshness of many old-moraine fronts implies a recent warming up of the climate, which is also reflected in the decay of the modern giaciers; but erosional undermining may also cause fresh fronts. Although no accurate date can be assigned to the disappearance of the trunk glaciers, A.D. 500 is given as a tentative estimate. There have since been at least two main advances of the tributary glaciers, of which the first followed close on the disappearance of the trunk glaciers and the second occurred not later than 1850.

The rate of strain tensor at a point on the surface of a glacier may be determined by setting up a number of stakes in a pattern and measuring the rate of change of the distances between them. A suitable pattern consists of four stakes at the corners of a square with one stake at the center. Five such patterns were used on Austerdalsbreen, Norway, in August 1956. The problem is to deduce the best values of the 3 independent components of the strain-rate tensor from the 8 measured quantities, and, for this purpose, a least-squares method, invented by Bond for the analogous problem in crystal physics, is used. The principal strain-rates are found to within about ±0.005 yr.−1 and their directions relative to the stake system to within about ±0.5°. The directions and magnitudes of the principal stresses are then deduced from Glen’s flow law and a suitable general theory. The directions of the principal strain-rates are in good agreement with the directions of the crevasses, but the experiment is inconclusive on the question of the magnitude of the stress needed to form a crevasse.

The compaction and flow within névé can be studied by means of magnetized steel tubes buried in vertical pits. The locations of the tubes, their distances from the surface, down to a depth of 10 m., and their angles with the vertical can be determined from measurements made with a B.M.Z. magnetometer.

Thermal considerations affecting the rate of formation of sea ice are discussed showing the effects of the major variables. The natural solidification process (freezing downward from contact with cold air) is contrasted with freezing of layers cast on the surface of sea ice. Transient heating and cooling of solid ice during and after flooding are analyzed. Procedures for maximizing the rate of ice formation and minimizing base-ice heating are discussed, along with factors affecting brine segregation.

This paper is a summary of the more important results of glaciological investigations carried out in Trinity Peninsula, Graham Land during 1958–60, and which will be published at length in Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Report No. 42. The budgets for Depot Glacier and the ice piedmont between Hope Bay and Trepassey Bay are given and it is concluded that in a normal year they are in a state of near equilibrium. The state of the glaciers of southern Trinity Peninsula is discussed in a consideration of the importance of rime ice formation on the west coast of the peninsula. Movement and accumulation studies in Trinity Peninsula and the islands of the James Ross Island group demonstrate a decrease in glacierization south-eastwards from the central plateau area. The recent glacial history of the area is also briefly reviewed.

The sequence of Pleistocene deposits in East Anglia is tabulated. The following aspects of the Pleistocene are discussed and summarized: boundaries of the Pleistocene, glacial and preglacial, ice advances, interglacials, glaciations, marine horizons, climate and periglacial features. Correlations are given between the Pleistocene deposits of East Anglia and the continent.

Detailed account of the work to be undertaken by the International Glaciological Expedition to Greenland during 1959, together with brief notes on the previous researches which have led up to this work.

An attempt is made to throw some light on the physical processes in the development of penitentes as a result of new observations in Peru and a study of the literature. This paper offers a variety of approaches to the problem rather than any final view or theory, and is therefore mostly suggestive and intended to be a program for further, more detailed research.