Three spontaneous avalanches were observed in Lia, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, each occurring naturally under similar temperature conditions. Automatic measurements of temperature inside the snowpack led to examination of the triggering of avalanches in cold conditions following a rapid drop in temperature. The mechanical properties of ice depend on the slab temperature and I ask: could a rapid temperature change affect the mechanical properties differently considering a slab consisting of (1) rounded grains or (2) faceted grains? Snow is considered as a foam of ice crystals, and triaxial deformation tests are performed at constant strain rate to examine the influence of temperature and grain type on the mechanical properties. Although the snow densities in the two sample sets were almost identical, some differences due to grain type were observed. In particular, the set with faceted grain snow started to flow at higher stresses than the set with rounded grains.

Uniaxial compression tests were conducted on polycrystalline-ice samples with random c-axis orientation and steady-state creep rates were determined. Experiments were conducted on both inclusion-bearing and inclusion-free ice and were run at constant stress and constant temperature. During freezing, the presence of inclusions in low concentrations inhibits crystal growth; variations in the volume-fraction of inclusions thus result in variations in ice-crystal size. The creep rate of polycrystalline ice at high temperatures and moderate stresses is extremely sensitive to variations in ice-crystal size. Due to an apparent inversion between dislocation-controlled creep and diffusion-controlled creep, the optimum grain size for creep resistance is about 1.0 mm. Increasing or decreasing the average crystal size from this critical value results in an increase in secondary-creep rate.

A new device for measuring air content in polar ice has been designed, built and tested with 22 samples of Antarctic ice. The new technique is based on the barometric method which implies: (1) air extraction under vacuum by melting refreezing of the ice sample placed in a calibrated cell, and (2) accurate air-pressure and temperature measurements. The new apparatus simplifies the experimental procedure, decreases the duration of measurement and can eventually be used in the field. It provides results with an accuracy equivalent to or better than other methods previously used.

A small ice-dammed lake near Søndre Strømfjord, West Greenland, drained suddenly during the night of 15–16 July 1988. This drainage was observed from within the lake basin near the tunnel mouth. The drainage had four main effects: the collapse of adjacent moraine ridges; the shearing of ice around the tunnel mouth; rapid incision of the lake bed; and the transport of sediment from the lake basin into the glacier. All of the above were confined to a period of 15–30 min following the exposure of a circular tunnel c. 6 m in diameter.

Marine-terminating glaciers cover more than one-fourth of the total glacierized area in the Northern Hemisphere outside the Greenland ice sheet. It is therefore crucial to ensure an adequate representation of these glaciers when projecting large-scale glacier mass changes. We investigate how the introduction of marine frontal processes in the modeling chain influences the results of mass change projections, compared to projections neglecting such processes. We find that including frontal processes reduces the projected glacier mass loss, since incorporating frontal ablation in the model's mass-balance calibration results in a decrease in marine-terminating glaciers’ sensitivity to atmospheric temperatures. We also find that retrograde bed slopes lead to increased frontal ablation as the atmosphere warms, while frontal ablation decreases if bed slopes are prograde. These opposing effects have the potential to partly cancel each other when considering large glacier ensembles. Although we do not account for potential future changes in oceanic climate yet, any effect of these would be moderated by around half of today's marine-terminating glaciers becoming land-terminating in the course of the 21st century. While we find a significant influence of ice flow parameters on our results, boundary conditions remain the largest source of uncertainty in our projections.

The waste containers should be retrievable for a few centuries until further research has solved all problems and 90Sr and 137Cs have decayed to less than 0.1%. Safe and fairly cheap retrievability can be guaranteed without container mooring. The paper presents an example: The high-level waste of the whole world for the next 30 years could be put in to 3 × 107 spherical containers with 0.2 m radius and disposed of in an area with 15 km radius and a depth range of 20–100 m under the surface of either the Antarctic or the Green land ice sheet. The deposit does not affect the stability of the sheet. Even the most upsetting natural ice-sheet instabilities and/or climatic changes could not cause radioactive contamination.

Direct measurements of spatially distributed vertical strain within ice masses are scientifically valuable but challenging to acquire. We use manual marker tracking and automatic cross correlation between two repeat optical televiewer (OPTV) images of an ~100 m-long borehole at Derwael Ice Rise (DIR), Antarctica, to reconstruct discretised, vertical strain rate and velocity at millimetre resolution. The resulting profiles decay with depth, from −0.07 a−1 at the surface to ~−0.002 a−1 towards the base in strain and from −1.3 m a−1 at the surface to ~−0.5 m a−1 towards the base in velocity. Both profiles also show substantial local variability. Three coffee-can markers installed at different depths into adjacent boreholes record consistent strain rates and velocities, although averaged over longer depth ranges and subject to greater uncertainty. Measured strain-rate profiles generally compare closely with output from a 2-D ice-flow model, while the former additionally reveal substantial high-resolution variability. We conclude that repeat OPTV borehole logging represents an effective means of measuring distributed vertical strain at millimetre scale, revealing high-resolution variability along the uppermost ~100 m of DIR, Antarctica.

The analysis of steady-state flow over bedrock perturbations of Budd(1970[a]) is extended to evaluate the stress variations associated with the flow. In particular the four separate terms of the fundamental one-dimensional (longitudinal) stress equation (Budd,1968) are examined to show explicitly how the longitudinal stress gradient G, the base stress τ, the surface slope stress s, and the integrated second derivative of the shear stress T all vary over-a given wave.

The result shows an error of a factor of 2 in some earlier studies relating longitudinal stress variations to the slope. This error resulted from the erroneous assumption that remains constant at its regional value. In fact the basal stress varies over the undulations in a similar way to the longitudinal stress gradient, and this is the same as the surface slope stress for long waves, but for short waves or less) requires the addition of the fourth term T, which then becomes dominant.

The thickness of a supraglacial layer is critical to the magnitude and time frame of glacier melt. Field-based, short pulse, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has successfully measured debris thickness during a glacier's melt season, when there is a strong return from the ice–debris interface, but profiling with GPR in the absence of a highly reflective ice interface has not been explored. We investigated the performance of 960 MHz signals over 2 km of transects on Changri Nup Glacier, Nepal, during the post-monsoon. We also performed laboratory experiments to interpret the field data and investigate electromagnetic wave propagation into dry rocky debris. Laboratory tests confirmed wave penetration into the glacier ice and suggest that the ice–debris interface return was missing in field data because of a weak dielectric contrast between solid ice and porous dry debris. We developed a new method to estimate debris thicknesses by applying a statistical approach to volumetric backscatter, and our backscatter-based calculated thickness retrievals gave reasonable agreement with debris depths measured manually in the field (10–40 cm). We conclude that, when melt season profiling is not an option, a remote system near 1 GHz could allow dry debris thickness to be estimated based on volumetric backscatter.

When snow is pushed very fast by a moving body a plastic wave is generated at the head of the body. If the velocity of the moving body becomes close to that of the plastic wave, the snow may exert a great resistive force against the body as predicted by Yosida. It is, therefore, very important to study the dynamic behaviour of snow at a high rate of deformation, such as takes place when a snow plough is used on the highway, a train runs on a railroad covered with snow, or an avalanche occurs. Hence, this study is concerned with the safety and maintenance of winter traffic and transportation, and also with the generation and propagation of an avalanche. In order to clarify the detailed processes of the deformation of snow at high rates, laboratory experiments were made by compressing snow at high speed. The propagation of a plastic wave through snow was observed by using a high-speed camera and a pressure-detecting device. Analyses of the data obtained gave the velocity of the plastic wave for various kinds of snow whose density ranged from 0.17 to 0.46 Mg m-3 and free-water content from o to 17%, whereby studies were made into the dependences on the density and free-water content of the velocity of the plastic wave. When the impact velocity was 4.3 ± 0.2 m s-1, the wave velocity ranged from 5 m s-1 for a new snow to 12 m s-1 for a fine-grained, well-settled snow. The plastic-wave velocity in wet snow was, in general, smaller than that in dry snow of the same density. Changes in density and structure of snow associated with the passage of a plastic wave were studied and discussed. The pressure at the wave front was measured; values of 0.1-0.3 bar were obtained, these are of the same order as the value estimated from theoretical formulae. The plastic-wave velocity was also observed for a confined snow, which showed a larger velocity and plastic strain than an unconfined snow.

Drift-ice abrasion marks are common along present-day rocky shorelines in cold regions. They include polished surfaces, scratches, striations, small grooves, and minor friction cracks. Most are found on relatively soft rocks like shale, sandstone, limestone, dolomite, and basalt, and occasionally on harder rocks like granite and gneiss. They were made by rock fragments frozen at the base of ice cover or by ice floes pushed onshore by wind or dragged along the bottom by waves, tides, and currents. They are found both in the modern and Pleistocene marine, lacustrine, and fluvial environments. Along the Hudson Bay eastern shoreline, these abrasion marks are superimposed on glacially polished and striated surfaces. Along the St. Lawrence Estuary, they are more common on boulders in the tidal zone. Characteristics of drift-ice abrasion marks are described and their significance is pointed out.

Geophysical evidence indicates that the delta area of the Mackenzie River, Northwest Territories, is affected by tectonic subsidence. Pingos are of sparse occurrence in the Arctic as a whole but they occur in hundreds in the Mackenzie River delta.

In a region of subsidence, as recent sediments pass through the base of permafrost, compaction becomes possible. The resulting water expulsion produces an artesian head responsible for building pingos.

Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia.

Dust particles in an ice core from East Rongbuk Glacier on the northern slope of Qomolangma (Mount Everest; 28°01′ N, 86°58′ E; 6518 m a.s.l.), central Himalaya, have been identified as mica using a combination of scanning electron microscope-based techniques and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to identify the elements present, and electron backscatter diffraction to identify the crystal type. This technique for identifying individual crystalline dust particles in samples of glacial ice could be especially useful in the future for identifying water-soluble crystals in ice, for studying the strain history (glaciotectonics) of basal ice or in studies of ice–mica composites used as analogs of quartz-mica rocks.

Using global Sentinel-1 radar backscatter data, we systematically map the locations of glaciers with surge-type activity during 2017–22. Patterns of pronounced increases or decreases in the strongest backscatter between two winter seasons often indicate large changes in glacier crevassing, which we treat here as a sign of surge-type activity. Validations against velocity time series, terminus advances and crevassing found in optical satellite images confirm the robustness of this approach. We find 115 surge-type events globally between 2017 and 2022, around 100 of which on glaciers already know as surge-type. Our data reveal a pronounced spatial clustering in three regions, (i) Karakoram, Pamirs and Western Kunlun Shan (~50 surges), (ii) Svalbard (~25) and (iii) Yukon/Alaska (~9), with only a few other scattered surges elsewhere. This spatial clustering is significantly more pronounced than the overall global clustering of known surge-type glaciers. The 2017–22 clustering may point to climatic forcing of surge initiation.

Ice streams are warmed by shear strain, both vertical shear near the bed and lateral shear at the margins. Warm ice deforms more easily, establishing a positive feedback loop in an ice stream where fast flow leads to warm ice and then to even faster flow. Here, we use radar attenuation measurements to show that the Siple Coast ice streams are colder than previously thought, which we hypothesize is due to along-flow advection of cold ice from upstream. We interpret the attenuation results within the context of previous ice-temperature measurements from nearby sites where hot-water boreholes were drilled. These in-situ temperatures are notably colder than model predictions, both in the ice streams and in an ice-stream shear margin. We then model ice temperature using a 1.5-dimensional numerical model which includes a parameterization for along-flow advection. Compared to analytical solutions, we find depth-averaged temperatures that are colder by 0.7°C in the Bindschadler Ice Stream, 2.7°C in the Kamb Ice Stream and 6.2–8.2°C in the Dragon Shear Margin of Whillans Ice Stream, closer to the borehole measurements at all locations. Modelled cooling corresponds to shear-margin thermal strengthening by 3–3.5 times compared to the warm-ice case, which must be compensated by some other weakening mechanism such as material damage or ice-crystal fabric anisotropy.

This paper addresses the coupling of flows of ice, till and water, and the issue of whether such coupling provides mechanisms for meso-scale (kilometres to tens of kilometres) variability in ice-sheet flow and texture. The question of whether effective pressures at the ice-bed interface are statically or hydraulically controlled is examined in this paper. The answer is scale dependent, and has a significant effect on the relationship between ice surface and basal topography.

The consequences of these considerations on till flow, coupled ice–till flow and coupled ice, till and water flow are examined. An analysis of till-flow kinematics and shock formation is carried out. The linear stability of coupled long-wavelength ice-till flow is analysed, and regions in parameter space where this flow is unstable, with rather small rate constants are found. Upstream-moving ice surface waves are predicted. The linear stablity of coupled ice–till–water flow is examined, where water flow is modelled using a basal flow system with effective-pressure-dependent properties. Again, regions in parameter space where the system is linearly unstable are found, this time with relatively rapid rate constants. The water pressure exhibits “breather” modes.

These analyses assume that there is a substantial basal traction. A problem with models of ice streams wholly restrained at the side is identified: they seem to predict erosion rates which are unfeasibly large.

There appears to be sufficient variability in the ice–till– water system to potentially explain texture in ice-stream surfaces, variations in ice-stream thickness of tens of metres not directly relatable to topography, and waves moving upstream or downstream. Most importantly, the ice-stream–bed system is shown to exhibit meso-scale variability simply by coupling ice flow according to the shallow-ice approximation, till flow according to the hydrostatic thin-till approximation and water flow according to an effective-pressure-dependent hydraulics.

The conditions under which a floating fragment of ice is either entrained under the upstream edge of a down-stream ice cover or accumulated up-stream are examined by means of dimensional analysis and a simplified analysis of the moments acting on an idealized ice fragment. The significant parameter descriptive of the critical conditions is found to be a Froude number based on block thickness. The influence of the ratio of thickness to flow depth is shown to be due to the effect of the block constricting the flow cross-section, thus amplifying the velocity in accordance with simple continuity. Under-turning instability occurs at a lower critical velocity than required for vertical submergence. Comparison of experimental data with the theoretical results show good agreement and demonstrates the vital dependence on fragment thickness as well as providing a criterion readily applicable to special flow conditions where a Froude number based on flow depth is illogical.