A method of quantitative climatological analysis is developed by applying the principle of geometric similarity to the convective heat transport, which is assumed to vary with the 1.5 power of temperature difference. The method makes possible the calculation of the change in the mean annual, or seasonal temperature, produced by a variation in insolation, cloudiness, snow cover, etc.

It is shown that the variations in the orbital elements of the earth cannot account for the phenomena of the ice ages; the chronology of the Quaternary, based on these variations, has no real foundation.

Palaeoclimatic variations are most probably due to variations of solar luminosity. These can be traced to periodical re-adjustments in the interior of the sun, produced by an interplay between nuclear reactions and gas diffusion, repeating themselves after some 250 million years. Complications from the outer envelope of the sun lead to additional fluctuations of a shorter period, of the order of 100,000 years to be identified with the periodical advance and retreat of the glaciers during the Quaternary.

Calculations of the variations of luminosity in a star of solar mass substantiate this hypothesis.

The horizontal and vertical motions of eight points on the surface of Highway Glacier, Baffin Island are reported. The average horizontal speed below the lowest tributary glacier is 56 metres/year. The major part of this motion arises from the glacier sliding on its bed. The mean shear stress on the bed is practically constant and equal to about 0.9 bars, but it is much smaller beneath the retreating tongue. A measure of the retreat in the lower part of the glacier is obtained from the difference between the ice discharge and the net ablation.

Thermograph, thermistor, and thermometer readings at a 30 m. deep bergschrund from June 6 to July 22, 1953, showed that there was little direct relationship between air temperatures outside and at the bottom of the Schrund. The air temperature inside ranged from −3.7° C. (253° F.) to +0.5° C. (32.9° F.), but from July 2 onwards it oscillated between –0.5° C. and +0.5° C., with a 3–4 day periodicity. The ice temperature at the bottom of the schrund behaved similarly, though it was about 0.5° C. colder. The oscillations may have been caused by the interplay of flowing melt water (source of heat) and air drainage in quiet weather (source of cold). The granite-gneiss headwall, where not sheathed by refrozen melt water, appeared to be chemically and mechanically unweathered, which supported the conclusions of Battle’s earlier tests in deep bergschrunds and in the laboratory.

Observations of fall freeze-up and spring break-up, important to subarctic hydrology and to local economy, were made at the Yukon River town of Beaver, Alaska, September 1949 to June 1950. On October 15, with river temperature at 0° C., the freezing together of floating ice crystals formed thin ice pans that gradually thickened. Falling river level and increasingly heavy ice concentration choked off all but main channels. On 25 October ice jammed downstream and produced a continuous ice cover and a temporary rise of about 1 m. at Beaver. After 26 October the river resumed its drop in level until April. Freeze-up appears governed by local channel, current and weather conditions and lacks systematic progression either upstream or downstream.

Spring thaw beginning in late April thawed snow cover and weakened river ice. In early May the river began to rise slowly, but at an increasing rate, until 13 May when ice was nearly free from shore. On 14 May, after a rise of about 3 m. in 24 hours, the ice broke and moved downstream as the flood crest passed Beaver. Downstream progression of break-up is delayed by local ice jams, the chief cause of disastrous river floods, and is advanced by early break-up of large tributaries.

Morsárjökull is a small outlet glacier of Vatnajökull, Iceland. Two outlet streams from the ice cap unite at the foot of a precipitous step and carry a well-developed medial moraine; the north-west glacier stream is fed by a steep ice fall, the south-eastern one has been fed only by avalanches since 1938.

The movement of the glacier was measured and showed that the alternate dark and light ogives were one year’s movement apart. Their characteristics are described and tentative suggestions concerning their mode of origin are proposed.

The following items of equipment and glaciological techniques used on the Barnes ice cap are described:

1. Thermo-electric boring in cold ice.

2. Mechanical drilling in (a) cold rock, (b) cold ice.

3. Measurement of temperature in ice and rock.

4. Snow kit and measurement of ice density.

5. Crystal rubbings on cold ice.