Ice unquestionably exists on Mars. Annual polar-region frost blankets are principally solid CO2, and perennial residual ice caps near each pole are probably water ice, except for a part of the north polar cap which may consist of a 1 km thick mass of solid CO2. Minor amounts of carbon-dioxide clathrate (CO2 · ≈ 6H2O) presumably accompany the solid CO2. The annual frost blankets may have a concentric banding with an outermost very thin layer of water frost, an intermediate narrow zone of clathrate, and a major central core of solid CO2.

Layered deposits and underlying homogeneous materials mantle large areas within both polar regions. These blankets are probably composed of dust, volcanic ash, or both, and possibly contain frozen volatiles. They may comprise the largest reservoir of water substance on the Martian surface.

Ground ice formed by the freezing of ascending de-gassed water substance may underlie the surface of Mars. Localized collapse of small areas may be due to ground-ice deterioration, and recession of steep slopes may have been caused by ground-ice sapping.

If liquid water ever existed in significant quantities on the Martian surface, intense frost shattering, widespread creep, and prolific development of patterned structures should have occurred because the thermal regimen of the surface is highly favorable to the freeze–thaw process. It is ineffective at present owing to the lack of liquid water.

No evidence suggests that the residual ice caps have ever acted like terrestrial glaciers in terms of erosion and deposition. Currently, they are too thin, too cold, and presumably frozen to their substrates. Their most important function is to buffer the atmosphere in terms of its H2O and CO2 content, thereby exerting a modifying influence on the surface environment of the entire planet.

The future of tidewater glaciers in response to climate warming is one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to global sea-level rise. In this study, we investigate the ability of an ice-sheet model to reproduce the past evolution of the velocity and surface elevation of a tidewater glacier, Upernavik Isstrøm, by prescribing front positions. To achieve this, we run two ensembles of simulations with a Weertman and a regularised-Coulomb friction law. We show that the ice-flow model has to include a reduction in friction in the first 15 km upstream of the ice front in fast-flowing regions to capture the trends observed during the 1985–2019 period. Without this process, the ensemble model overestimates the ice flow before the retreat of the front in 2005 and does not fully reproduce its acceleration during the retreat. This results in an overestimation of the total mass loss between 1985 and 2019 of 50% (300 vs 200 Gt). Using a variance-based sensitivity analysis, we show that uncertainties in the friction law and the ice-flow law have a greater impact on the model results than surface mass balance and initial surface elevation.

Basal ice stratigraphy in coastal ice cliffs at the Law Dome margin has revealed the basal accretion of clean and debris-bearing ice, marine congelation ice and granular marine ice inland of the margin. Co-isotopic analysis of δ18O and δD isotopes together with solute chemistry were applied to determine the modes of accretion and debris entrainment. The marine congelation ice and the granular marine ice were formed from the basal freezing of desalinated sea water and the episodic mixture of basal meltwater and sea water, respectively. Two different debris-entrainment mechanisms were identified. Debris-band ice with debris concentrations of 6.3–33% (by volume) was formed from proglacial raised beach and shallow marine sediment incorporated by an over-riding advance of the margin. Two other debris-bearing ice types, dispersed debris-poor ice with debris concentrations <0.3% (by volume) and laminated debris ice with debris concentrations 0.9–1.9% (by volume) were accreted further inland from the margin by basal regelation processes associated with the Robin (1976) heat-pump effect.

Accumulation on the Meighen Ice Cap appears to be about normal for the region, but ablation seems abnormally low. Statistical analyses of several years’ data reveal the following trends: accumulation increases towards the north; ablation decreases with increase of elevation, decreases towards the north and west, and is greater on south-facing slopes than elsewhere. Because ice movement is very small, these trends explain the surface topography of the ice cap quite well. Other topics discussed are the significance of changes in the margins of a stagnant ice cap, and the rate at which net mass balance changes with elevation.

We study the meteorological drivers of melt at two glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, using 22 years of weather station observations and surface energy fluxes. The glaciers are located only 30 km apart, but have different local climates; Taylor Glacier is generally drier and windier than Commonwealth Glacier, which receives more snowfall due to its proximity to the coast. Commonwealth Glacier shows more inter-annual melt variability, explained by variable albedo due to summer snowfall events. A significant increase in surface melt at Commonwealth Glacier is associated with a decrease in summer minimum albedo. Inter-annual variability in melt at both glaciers is linked to degree-days above freezing during föhn events, occurring more frequently at Taylor Glacier. At Taylor Glacier melt occurs most often with positive air temperatures, but föhn conditions also favour sublimation, which cools the surface and prevents melt for the majority of the positive air temperatures. At Commonwealth Glacier, most of the melt instead occurs with sub-zero air temperatures, driven by strong solar radiative heating. Future melt at Taylor Glacier will likely be more sensitive to changes in föhn events, while Commonwealth Glacier will be impacted more by changes in near coastal weather, where moisture inputs can drive cloud cover, snowfall and change albedo.

The inelastic behaviour of ice Ih single crystals has been investigated by an inverted torsional pendulum in the low-frequency range. Three features are distinguished:

(i) a relaxation peak previously observed by several authors in the higher-frequency range,

(ii) an internal friction increasing with temperature in the high-temperature range (230–273 K),

(iii) within this high-temperature range, internal friction becomes amplitude dependent, and this dependence becomes greater the greater the temperature.

In this case, the internal friction has been interpreted in terms of movements of dislocations. Hence, the experimental results are interpreted with a model of internal friction based on an empirical relation for the velocity of dislocations. This model of internal friction is in fair agreement with experimental data . It is possible then to get an estimate of dislocation density. Hence it is shown that internal friction experiments can be useful in the study of the plastic behaviour of ice single crystals.

Lemon Creek Glacier served as the focus of attention of the Juneau Ice Field Research Project from 1953 through 1958, during which period glaciological and related research was accomplished. This paper provides an historical framework for those studies by (1) considering variations of Lemon Creek Glacier in recent centuries and during millennia since the last ice age, and (2) describing certain relationships which appear to exist between these variations and the climatic record.

It is found that Lemon Creek Glacier has been receding intermittently since a maximum c. 1750 and by 1958 had lost c. 25 per cent of the former area. Most rapid recession occurred during the periods 1891–1902 and 1929–58. Behaviour of the glacier since c. 1750 reveals a parallelism with glaciers in most of the regions where temperature trends have been graphed as well as with other glaciers of the Juneau Ice Field. The advances of the 1950’s observed in the Rocky, Cascade and Olympic Mountains do not, however, show up in the Juneau area. Lemon Creek Glacier has not advanced more than 375 m. beyond the 1750 position, if at all, during the last 10,000 yr.

A frozen mud layer plastered at the base of the Glacier d’Argentière in the Western Alps acts as an ion-exchange membrane for the interstitial water passing through it, causing electrolyte filtration and relative retardation of cations. This interstitial water, which is forced under a pressure gradient of about 3 bar cm−1, refreezes in the form of ice accretions.

A comparison of the chemical composition of these ice accretions and water held at their surface (corresponding to the situation after the forcing) and the water in contact with the mud layer (corresponding to the situation before the forcing) shows a desalinating effect, a monovalent-divalent cation species separation, and a sorting effect between the alkalies as well as between the alkaline-earths. This phenomenon has to be taken into account in the study of the chemical composition of stratified ice containing interbedded mud layers which occurs in the basal part of several glaciers.

Palaeo-glacial landforms can give insights into bed roughness that currently cannot be captured underneath contemporary-ice streams. A few studies have measured bed roughness of palaeo-ice streams but the bed roughness of specific landform assemblages has not been assessed. If glacial landform assemblages have a characteristic bed-roughness signature, this could potentially be used to constrain where certain landform assemblages exist underneath contemporary-ice sheets. To test this, bed roughness was calculated along 5 m × 5 m resolution transects (NEXTMap DTM, 5 m resolution), which were placed over glacial landform assemblages (e.g. drumlins) in the UK. We find that a combination of total roughness and anisotropy of roughness can be used to define characteristic roughness signatures of glacial landform assemblages. The results show that different window sizes are required to determine the characteristic roughness for a wide range of landform types and to produce bed-roughness signatures of these. Mega scale glacial lineations on average have the lowest bed-roughness values and are the most anisotropic landform assemblage.

This paper considers the contribution made to overall glacier flow by deformation of an unlithified bed. The flow pattern in deforming till beneath a glacier is determined for the case of a uniform ice slab resting on a uniform thick till bed. The results obtained show that, once the till is saturated, very little surplus water is needed to produce high velocities in the till near the ice−till interface, the interface velocity varying as the 5/2 power of the surplus water concentration. This sensitivity to water content suggests that this may be a mechanism inducing glacier surging.

Ice island ARLIS II, which is adrift in the Arctic Ocean, is a 1.3 km. wide and 3.8 km. long fragment of shelf ice 12–25 m. thick, which preserves several structural features heretofore undescribed in ice. The island is composed of an irregular central block of foliated, locally debris-rich, grey glacial ice bordered in part by extensive areas of stratified bluish sea ice. The central block contains a series of narrow, elongate, sub-parallel dike-like septa of massive fresh-water ice and a large tongue-like body of tightly folded, coarse banded ice. Both the septa and the tongue cut across the foliation and debris zones of the grey ice.

The margins of the central block are penetrated by a series of elongate, crudely wedge-shaped re-entrants occupied by salients of bluish sea ice. Two broad, arch-like plunging anticlines deform the stratified sea ice along one margin of the block.

The foliation and debris zones in the glacial ice are relict features inherited from the source glacier. The septa formed as crevasse and basal fracture fills. Salients represent fills formed in the irregular re-entrants along the margins of the glacial ice mass. The tongue of tightly folded, banded ice represents an earlier generation salient deformed by compressive forces as the fill built up. The broad anticlines are apparently the result of warping in response to differential ablation but the small, tight plunging folds on their noses and limbs are probably the result of compressive forces.

The basic features of the statistical models to describe brittle and ductile strength of snow are outlined and discussed. The concept of the "fundamental unit" is introduced. The models are applied to estimate the development of slab stability during heavy snowfalls and to simulate measurements of the tensile strength of snow using the centrifugal method as a function of the load rate. The models developed in this paper are compared with Sommerfeld’s applications of statistical methods to estimate the strength of snow in the starting zone of a slab avalanche.

Pit-wall samples were collected from two sites about 2 km apart on Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and from a site a further 1 km distant, in order to study spatial and seasonal variations in snow chemistry. Two of the pits were dug in wind-scoured zones and one in an unscoured zone. Although a large part of the winter snow is removed from the scoured zones (which do not show very negative δ18O values) the winter/spring anion peaks are still evident; this may be due to the predominance of dry deposition in mid-winter. The Cl− and SO42– ions peak in late winter/early spring, while NO3− peaks both in late winter/early spring and in summer. Vertical concentration profiles of all anions did not significantly alter over a 2 year period, indicating that there are no serious post-depositional changes due to evaporation, snow melting or photochemical reactions. However, comparisons between stake/board snow-accumulation measurements and those derived from the least scoured pit indicate that a single pit will represent annual accumulation rates for a local area only.

This paper presents a feasibility study of in situ field measurements of unsaturated meltwater percolation flux within the vertical profile of a snowpack, using the self-potential (SP) method. On-site snowmelt column tests calibrated the SP measurements. The SP data measured electrical field strength with an electrode spacing of 20 cm, and coincident water saturation (Sw) measurements using time domain reflectometry allowed calculation of SP-modeled vertical percolation flux (qsp), expressed as Darcy velocity. The results reflected transient diurnal snowmelt dynamics, with peak flux lagging arrival of a saturation wetting front. Peak daily qsp was 60 to >300 mm d−1, whereas daily snowmelt was 20–50 mm w.e. Surface refreezing events appeared to cause upward flow, possibly representing water redistribution toward the freezing boundary. Calculated fluxes were comparable to actual fluxes, although average errors ranged from −15 to +46% compared to average of melt expected from surface energy-balance and ablation stake measurements. By advancing method development to measure unsaturated meltwater percolation flux in snowpacks this study creates opportunities to study fundamental snowmelt processes, may improve mathematical modeling and may supplement glacier mass-balance studies and studies of snowmelt interactions with avalanches, groundwater and surface water.

Glacier motion responds dynamically to changing meltwater inputs, but the multi-decadal response of basal sliding to climate remains poorly constrained due to its sensitivity across multiple timescales. Observational records of glacier motion provide critical benchmarks to decode processes influencing glacier dynamics, but multi-decadal records that precede satellite observation and modern warming are rare. Here we present a record of motion in the ablation zone of Saskatchewan Glacier that spans seven decades. We combine in situ and remote-sensing observations to inform a first-order glacier flow model used to estimate the relative contributions of sliding and internal deformation on dynamics. We find a significant increase in basal sliding rates between melt-seasons in the 1950s and those in the 1990s and 2010s and explore three process-based explanations for this anomalous behavior: (i) the glacier surface steepened over seven decades, maintaining flow-driving stresses despite sustained thinning; (ii) the formation of a proglacial lake after 1955 may support elevated basal water pressures; and (iii) subglacial topography may cause dynamic responses specific to Saskatchewan Glacier. Although further constraints are necessary to ascertain which processes are of greatest importance for Saskatchewan Glacier's dynamic evolution, this record provides a benchmark for studies of multi-decadal glacier dynamics.

Studies on cresceatic fractures and crescentic gouges were carried out in the central part of the Alpine piedmont glaciation and the Quaternary Alpine mountain ice sheet. The test sites were situated in the pro-glacial area of the Hornkees south Berliner Hütte (Oberer Zemmgrund, Zillertal, Tyrol, Austria). This is also the area of the former confluence with another glacier which flowed at about 90° to Hornkees during the late-glacial period. It was therefore possible to make a comparison between different older glacier systems, different flow directions, and different ice thicknesses. About 12 000 minor features were measured by close-range photogrammetry; the result was 240 pairs of stereophotographs which were interpreted on first-order equipment. The single forms were registered point by point by coordinates. It was therefore possible to obtain three-dimensionally registered forms. One important result was that the late-glacial and the post-glacial glaciers of the Zemmgrund produced minor features with a large variation in size. A further result was the definition of possible glacier-flow directions by interpretation of the different directions of crescentic fractures and crescentic gouges. By this means it was possible to obtain several working reconstructions of the late- and post-glacial stream lines of the merged glaciers.

To study the dynamics of ice sheets and glaciers, velocities at the bed of a glacier must be measured directly or calculated using data gathered from boreholes and surface surveys. Boreholes to the bed are expensive and time-consuming to drill, so the determination of basal velocity is almost exclusively by numerical inversion of velocities observed at the surface. For non-linearly viscous glaciers, a perturbation analysis demonstrates that inversions for englacial velocities will magnify measurement errors at an exponential rate with depth. The rate at which calculation errors grow is proportional to a Lyapunov exponent, a measure of “information loss” which is shown to be a simple linear function of spatial frequency with a coefficient depending on Glen’s flow-law exponent, n. The coefficient decreases with increasing non-linearity, demonstrating that inversions with non-linearly viscous ice have smaller calculation errors than inversions with linearly viscous ice. In both the linear and nonlinear cases, the Lyapunov exponent (and rate of error growth) increases with decreasing wavelength, which limits velocity calculations at the bed to wavelengths on the order of one ice thickness or greater. This limitation is theoretical and cannot be countered by more accurate survey data or special numerical techniques.