At a depth of about 75 m in the lower part of the accumulation area of the Barnes Ice Cap there is a change from fine-grained ice with a weakly-oriented c-axis fabric to coarser ice with a broad single-maximum fabric. At a depth of about 150 m the single maximum becomes elongate perpendicular to the direction of bubble elongation, and then splits into two distinct maxima making an angle of about 40–45° with respect to one another. At greater depths a third and finally a fourth maximum appear, forming the well known diamond pattern. Mean crystal size does not seem to increase in the transitions from one to two and thence to three maxima, but it may become more uniform. Crystal size does increase in the transition from three to four maxima, however. At the base of the glacier there is a 10–20 m thick layer of unusually-bubbly, fine-grained white ice with a strong single-maximum fabric.

The depths to the transitions increase up-glacier and in place of the single-maximum fabric a small-circle pattern is found. Down-glacier the depths to the transitions decrease, systematically eliminating the higher zones. Thus in the lower part of the ablation area, ice with a four-maximum fabric appears at the surface.

The independent variables governing these fabric transitions appear to be temperature T, stress τ, and cumulative strain ³oc. In a tentative stability diagram showing the fields in which given fabrics are stable in T–τ–³oc space, multiple-maximum fabrics occur at high temperatures (> —10°C) and at moderate to high stresses, weakly-oriented fabrics at low stresses or low cumulative strains, broad single-maximum fabrics at moderate stresses or moderate cumulative strains, and strong single-maximum fabrics at high stresses or large cumulative strains.

Two models based on standard observations of precipitation, temperature, and run-off at low-altitude weather and gaging stations have been devised to calculate annual glacier balances in the North Cascades of Washington. The predicted glacier balances of the Thunder Creek basin glaciers, determined by a run-off–precipitation (RP) model during the 1920–74 period, are compared with balances predicted by a precipitation–temperature (PT) model for the same period. Annual balances determined by the PT model are also compared with balances measured by field techniques at South Cascade Glacier since 1958. In the PT model, winter snow accumulation (winter balance) is determined by winter (October–April) precipitation observed at the Snoqualmie Falls weather station. Summer (May–September) ablation (summer balance) on the glaciers is estimated by a technique which utilizes maximum and minimum air temperatures, also observed at Snoqualmie Falls. Ablation calculations incorporate summer cloud cover as a variable by using a relationship between cloud cover and the range in daily maximum and minimum air temperatures.

Annual mass changes for the 1884–1974 period in both South Cascade Glacier and the Thunder Creek glaciers were reconstructed by utilizing the PT model. The fluctuations in glacier mass during this period generally agree with historical observations and show that a definite change in glacier activity from marked recession to stability or an advancing state occurred about 1945. During the 1900–45 period, South Cascade Glacier lost mass at a rate of 1.4 m per year and the Thunder Creek glaciers (which are at a higher altitude) at 1.1 m per year.

These models suggest that the relationship of glacier mass balance to precipitation and temperature is a very sensitive one. It appears from these studies that a decrease in summer air temperature of just over 0.5 deg or an increase in winter accumulation of slightly more than 10% (350 mm) from the 1920–74 average would cause these glaciers to grow continuously.

A simple method is described for detecting annual stratification of ice cores, and layers of high acidity due to violent volcanic eruptions in the past. The method is based on a relationship between the H3O+ concentration (pH) of melted samples and the electrical current between two brass electrodes moved along the cleaned ice-core surface. The “conductivity” is explained in terms of the initial current in the build-up of space charges. Acidity and current profiles are shown through layers deposited soon after historically well-known volcanic eruptions, such as Katmai, a.d. 1912, Tambora, a.d. 1815, Laki, a.d. 1783, Hekla, a.d. 1104, and Thera (Santorin) c. 1400 b.c. High-acidity layers seem to be the cause for the internal radio-echo layers in polar ice sheets.

A detailed investigation has been carried out on the dynamics of an Alpine valley glacier of relatively simple shape and the results are considered in relation to the development of secondary structures. Ice velocity reaches a maximum near the top of a small ice fall (40 m a−1) which also coincides approximately with the equilibrium line. Flow lines converge in the accumulation area but are roughly parallel in the ablation area. The “regional” strain-rate pattern is rather complex. Approximate longitudinal extension is evident in the accumulation area and strain-rates reach high values at the south margin and in the ice fall (up to 0.12 a−1). In the ablation area, strain-rates are comparatively small and in general indicate longitudinal compression. “Local” deformation rates obtained in the area beneath the ice fall and along a flow line near one of the margins reveal complex patterns of deformation within small areas.

There is no clear relationship between foliation and strain-rates (and by analogy stresses), except in the case of longitudinal foliation in marginal areas which, if actively developing, lies approximately parallel to a direction of maximum shear strain-rate. It is more important to consider the relationship of this structure to strain history. Results from this study indicate that, regardless of the initial orientation of the foliation in relation to the strain ellipse, it attains approximate parallelism with the long axis of the ellipse as deformation progresses.

It is also shown that many foliations originate from pre-existing layered structures such as stratification or crevasse traces. This problem is discussed particularly with reference to an arcuate foliation which originates in the ice fall and is believed to represent tensional veins, subsequently subjected to compressive strain within and below the ice fall.

A high-resolution radio echo-sounder operating at a frequency of 840 MHz has been developed for airborne sounding of small and medium-sized polar glaciers and ice caps. The sounder uses a compact,, high-gain antenna which suppresses valley-wall echoes and simplifies operation from light aircraft, Successful field trials were carried out on Rusty, Trapridge, and Hazard Glaciers, Yukon Territory, Canada. Results compare well with ice depths obtained from earlier ground-based soundings on Rusty and Trapridge Glaciers. The maximum ice thickness encountered was 200 m on Hazard Glacier.

Owing to the high operating frequency, random scattering from inhomogeneities within the ice is a major cause of signal degradation. For this reason the sounder cannot penetrate great thicknesses of temperate or debris-rich ice. Spatial averaging, an immediate result of operating from a moving platform, reduces the effects of back-scattered “clutter”.

An empirical model of firn densification from the surface to the zone of pore close-off has been constructed. Fundamental rate equations have been derived for the first two stages of densification. In the first stage, for densities less than 0.55 Mg m−3, the densification rate is proportional to the mean annual accumulation times the term (ρi − ρ), where ρ is the density of the snow and ρi is the density of pure ice. The densification rate in the second stage, where 0.55 Mg m −3 < ρ < 0.8 Mg m−3, is proportional to the square root of the accumulation rate and to (ρi− ρ). Depth–density and depth–age calculations from this model are compared with observation. Model accumulation rates are within about 20% of values obtained by other techniques. It is suggested that depth intervals of constant density in some Antarctic cores may represent a synchronous event in the 1880 ’s when ten times the normal accumulation fell within a year or two.

Sediment-laden icebergs are rarely sighted in Antarctic waters. However, during the recent Deep Freeze 79-USCGC Glacier expedition to the George V Coast and the south-western Ross Sea, nine sediment-laden icebergs and several pieces of pack ice with surficial sediment layers were observed. These observations include basal debris zones, debris slumped on to glaciers and floating ice, and englacial debris believed to have been incorporated along shear zones.

Sediment samples collected from icebergs were texturally and mineralogically variable. Some were unsorted mixtures consisting of a wide variety of angular minerals and rock fragments; others consisted primarily of slate clasts, quartz sand, and rock flour.

Steady plane flow under gravity of a symmetric ice sheet resting on a horizontal rigid bed, subject to surface accumulation and ablation, basal drainage, and basal sliding according to a shear-traction-velocity power law, is treated. The surface accumulation is taken to depend on height, and the drainage and sliding coefficient also depend on the height of overlying ice. The ice is described as a general non-linearly viscous incompressible fluid, with illustrations presented for Glen’s power law, the polynomial law of Colbeck and Evans, and a Newtonian fluid. Uniform temperature is assumed so that effects of a realistic temperature distribution on the ice response are not taken into account. In dimensionless variables a small paramter ν occurs, but the ν = 0 solution corresponds to an unbounded sheet of uniform depth. To obtain a bounded sheet, a horizontal coordinate scaling by a small factor ε(ν) is required, so that the aspect ratio ε of a steady ice sheet is determined by the ice properties, accumulation magnitude, and the magnitude of the central thickness. A perturbation expansion in ε gives simple leading-order terms for the stress and velocity components, and generates a first order non-linear differential equation for the free-surface slope, which is then integrated to determine the profile. The non-linear differential equation can be solved explicitly for a linear sliding law in the Newtonian case. For the general law it is shown that the leading-order approximation is valid both at the margin and in the central zone provided that the power and coefficient in the sliding law satisfy certain restrictions.

Profile surveys are presented of four ice rises on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. On Butler Island velocity measurements were also made. The ice rises behave as miniature ice caps frozen to flat horizontal bedrock and provide a simple system for the study of laws of ice flow. Deformation is principally by shear through the ice mass. Velocity measurements provide a value of n = 3.13±0.52 for the flow law . Each ice rise is bounded on one side by ice shelf and on the other side by open sea. Towards open sea the profiles are found to agree well with steady-state theoretical profiles and they supply a value of for temperature – 13.5°C and stress range 0.5–1.3 bar. Towards ice shelf the profiles are elongated and they deviate from the theoretical profile. This may be due to compressive stress in the ice shelf causing migration of the grounding line down sloping bedrock. No significantly anomalous behaviour is found in the summit region.

Ice rises form where an ice shelf runs aground on the sea bed. After grounding occurs, basal ice temperatures cool from the sea-water temperature towards an equilibrium temperature appropriate to grounded ice. This cooling can take many thousands of years, and much of the delay is due to the thermal inertia of the bedrock. Here, we calculate transient temperature profiles for an ice rise with a final summit thickness of 520 m that formed by grounding of ice shelf 420 m thick. Seventy-five per cent cooling of the basal ice takes between 7 000 and 11 500 years, depending on the “thermal memory” of the bedrock. This compares with an equivalent time of only 1400 years if we neglect the thermal inertia of the bedrock.

Because the surface slopes of the ice rise are related to the flow properties of the underlying ice, the summit thickness will tend to thicken as the basal ice cools. In principle, it should be possible to estimate the age of a recently-formed ice rise by examining its temperature/depth profile.

Measurements of ice velocity, thickness, and surface topography on the large ice rise known as Roosevelt Island are consistent with Glen’s flow law, , for values of τ between 5 × 104 N m–2 and 1.4 × 105 N m–2, and there is no indication of a reduction in n at low stresses. If n = 3 there must be progressive softening of the ice towards the edge of the ice rise, and this probably represents the combined effects of warming and recrystallization leading to a fabric favoring shear. Assuming that near the centre of the ice rise, where the effects of recrystallization are probably negligible, the ice behaves in the same way as randomly-oriented polycrystalline ice, then the geothermal flux G in this area is approximately 0.06 W m–2. In the absence of measurements of deep-ice temperatures, the distribution of G across the ice rise cannot be determined. However, the simplest interpretation of the movement data requires:

• (1) a linear increase in G from 0.05 W m–2 on the north-east side of Roosevelt Island to 0.07 W m–2 in the south-west, and

• (2) strain-rate enhancement, due to recrystallization, that increases outward from the centre of the ice rise to reach a maximum value of approximately two near the edges.

The calculated values of G are larger than the world average, but this is consistent with the probably granitic core beneath Roosevelt Island. An increase in G of 0.02 W m–2 in a distance of 60 km would require an increase in granite thickness of about 5 km.

By introducing a coordinate stretching, the governing field equations of the creep flow of a non-Newtonian viscous medium down a uniform slope are solved to determine the differential equation describing the propagation of long surface waves caused by initial disturbances and/or time-dependent accumulation-rate The differential equation for the surface wave depends on the flow law of the non-Newtonian fluid, the boundary condition at the ice-bedrock interface, the bedrock topography and the thickness–wavelength ratio. For moderately long waves and small elevation above the mean thickness the results agree in their essentials with those of the kinematic wave theory and the forward wave equation with a diffusion term is derived, but when improving this by allowing higher elevations the Burger's equation and even more complex equations are obtained. To derive these results Glen’s flow law must be generalized to avoid infinitely fast changes in stress deviators close to zero Strain-rates, The range of applicability of the various equations is discussed.

This paper reviews the results of 10 years study of the only four subglacial sites which are permanently accessible due to activity by hydro-electrical companies. All the sites occur beneath temperate ice. The first part is devoted to the study of the ice-rock interface as a glaciological phenomenon, and emphasizes the dynamic conditions for separation of the ice from the rock bed. This glaciological cavitation phenomenon occurs when tan α > Vi/Hi. Another phenomenon, “regressive cavitation” refers to the existence up-stream of the large permanent cavities, of a series of small cavities which although they are not permanent are fundamentally important because they control the subglacial water drainage allowing the water to penetrate new routes. The second part analyses the sliding movement of the ice on the rock bed. The deformation of the cavities depends mainly on variations in the velocity of the glacier. The sliding velocity measured at the interface accounts for 60 to 80% of the surface movement of the glacier; 80 to 90% of the surface velocity movement is attained a few metres above the glacier-bed interface. The third part describes the characteristics of subglacial drainage which are necessary to understand the nature of the ice-rock interface. The fourth part is devoted to the precise description of the different types of interface as they appeared in the subglacial sites.

A profile of the ice cover in the southern Beaufort Sea was obtained by the submarine U.S.S. Gurnard in April 1976, using a narrow-beam upward-looking sonar. The 1 400 km profile consisted of three legs, of which the long south-north and east-west legs intersected near the Caribou camp of the AIDJEX experiment. A statistical analysis was carried out over contiguous 50 km sections to yield probability-density functions of the drafts of ice and of level ice, the distributions of keel spacings and drafts, and the frequencies and widths of leads. Two distinct types of ice cover were found in the profile. The first, nearest the coast in the south and west of the experimental area, consisted of heavily ridged ice with mean drafts of up to 5.1 m. The rest of the track (1 200 km) consisted of a homogeneous ice cover with a mean draft of 3.7 m. The percentage of thin ice varied greatly from section to section, with a range of 0.4 to 12.3% for ice of 0–1 m draft. Level ice, defined as ice with a local gradient of less than 1 in 40, made up 56% of the homogeneous cover, with a preferred draft of 2.7 to 2.9 m. Keel spacings obeyed a negative exponential distribution, with a deficit at small spacings due to a keel shadowing effect and a surfeit at very large spacings due to the contribution of polynyas. The draft distribution of keels was a negative exponential of form , with B and b as parameters. This differs from the distribution of Hibler and others (1972), probably because the narrow beam records a complex structure for every keel. The homogeneous cover had a lower keel frequency and mean draft than the ice nearest the coast. Maximum keel draft was 31.12 m. The average separation of leads was 212 m, with almost all leads being less than 50 m in width.

The purpose of this paper is to consider an ice-sheet model based on joint solution to the dynamic equations and equations of heat conductivity in which the surface relief is one of the unknown functions. The proposed model is applicable to calculations of the Antarctic ice sheet. Results of a numerical experiment for present values of the temperature of the ice surface and precipitation as well as for their separate and simultaneous increase by 2, 4, or 6 deg and 10, 20, or 30% are given.

Glaciological results of the continuing investigations of the Quelccaya ice cap located at lat. 13° 56’ S., long. 70° 50’ W., in the Cordillera Oriental of southern Peru are presented. Ice cores to a depth of 15 m have been retrieved from the summit dome (5650 m), middle dome (5543 m), and south dome (5480 m) and sampled in detail for microparticle, oxygen-isotope, and total-β-activity measurements. Results of these core analyses indicate that although the summit of this ice cap is only 300 m above the annual snow line and the firn is temperate, an interpretable stratigraphic record is preserved. The marked seasonal ice stratigraphy is produced by the marked seasonal variation in regional precipitation. High concentrations of microparticles and β- radioactive material occur during the dry season (May-August). Microparticles deposited during the rainy season are larger than those deposited during the dry season. On the Quelccaya ice cap the most negative δ18O values occur during the warmer rainy season (the opposite occurs in polar regions). The near-surface mean δ value of – 21‰ is remarkably low for this tropical site where the measured mean annual air temperature is – 3°C The seasonality of the microparticles, total β activity, and isotope ratios offers the prospect of a climatic ice-core record from this tropical ice cap.

The propagation of plastic shock waves in snow is analyzed in order to evaluate the effect of wave intensity and frequency content on attenuation. The results show that frequency content is not very significant and that large amplitude pressure waves lose their effectiveness very quickly. These results seem to support the present-day contention that air-induced explosions are a more effective means of controlling avalanches than explosives placed in the snow-pack and that explosive speed is not a particularly important factor in determining explosive effectiveness.

The study reported here illustrates the unique value of NOAA thermal infrared (TIR) images for monitoring the North Water area in Smith Sound and northern Baffin Bay during the periods of polar darkness. Wintertime satellite images reveal that, during the months of December through February, open water and thin ice occur in a few leads and polynyas. However, in March, the areas of open water and thin ice decrease to a minimum with a consequent higher concentration of ice. Two ice dams, in northern Kennedy Channel and in northern Smith Sound, regulate the flow of ice into northern Baffin Bay and also determine the areal variations of open water and thin ice in Smith Sound.

Short- and long-wave radiation on variously oriented vertical surfaces, direct solar radiation, global radiation, and long–wave radiation on a horizontal surface were measured on Lewis Glacier, Mount Kenya, at 4800 m. For the orientation of vertical surfaces, the following azimuths were selected: 45°, facing the steep slope of the upper glacier; 135°, facing a rock ridge and some glacier surface in the foreground; 225°, facing down–glacier towards the Teleki valley with open sky occupying much of the view; and 315°, directed towards the steep south-east face of the Nelion peak.

The horizontal components of diffuse short-wave radiation reach a magnitude comparable to those of direct radiation. As a result of contrastingly different albedos of natural surfaces, the horizontal component of diffuse short–wave radiation is particularly large from the direction of the upper glacier, with values around 330–500 W m−2, and smallest from the direction of the rock face of Nelion peak, where values are around 150–330 W m−2. Long–wave radiation seems enhanced from the direction of the Nelion face, and reduced from the azimuth of the upper glacier, thus apparently reflecting differences in emissivity and temperature.

The behaviour of a snow mass under natural loadings (gravity forces, boundary conditions) can be computed by the finite-element method, in so far as a convenient formulation of the stress–strain relationship for snow is available. This paper deals with such a formulation given in incremental form.

Experiments have been performed, which show that deposited snow can be considered as a non-linear visco-elastic material with memory effect. The proposed theoretical formulation takes into account these properties. The elastic part of the deformation is assumed to be isotropic and non-linear; the viscous part is expressed in terms of a creep-rate, which results from a superposition of elementary creep-rates according to Boltzmann’s principle.

The values of parameters can be obtained from isotropic creep experiments. The experimental data and the resulting parameters are reported.

Since the parameters were determined, the formulation of the rheological law was then tested by integration on “stress–strain paths" corresponding to other experiments of a different type, performed on the same snow. The experiments are triaxial tests at constant axial strain-rate, with a preliminary stage of isotropic compression. Experimental data are compared to theoretical curves obtained by integration of the rheological law. The calculated behaviour is consistent with the experimental results.