The relations between geodetic measurements of the surface level variations Δh and net budget measurements by stakes arc discussed. In 1961, 24 yr. after Finsterwalder’s survey, Tunsbergdalsbreen, the largest and most regular of the 26 outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen, was re-surveyed. The variations in the length, area, ice thickness, and volume of its tongue are shown. The lake Brimkjelen was 99 m. deep in 1937; it disappeared in 1949. From 1900–40 the whole Jostedalsbre lost 0.4 m./yr., about the same amount as the glaciers of the eastern Alps. The ice thickness of the Tunsbergdalsbre tongue diminished by −ΔhA = 0.46+0.0022 (1500−A) m./yr. from 1937–61; for the eastern Alps from 1920–50 −ΔhA ≈ 0.53+0.0021 (2850−A) m./yr. where A is the altitude. The change of Δh with altitude is much the same. The amounts of the retreat of the Alpine glaciers, of Tunsbergdalshreen, and at Werenskioldbreen, Vestspitsbergen, were the greater the higher the latitude. The numerical relations between Δh, net budget, and ice movement are shown. The temporary velocity transverse profile of 1937 served as a prototype for the streaming mode of flow, but in 1961 the glacier partially showed Blockschollen movement, although the velocity had decreased by more than 30 per cent. The article is accompanied by a map showing ice surface contours in 1937 and 1961.

The effect of a basal water layer on the equilibrium dimensions of an ice sheet is examined. A thick water layer can decrease the equilibrium thickness of an ice sheet such as covers Antarctica (which contains no significant ablational areas) by a factor of the order of 2. Similar large changes in the equilibrium dimensions occur for ice-age ice sheets (which have extensive ablation areas). The extent of the ablation area of an ice-age ice sheet which may be covered with morainal debris is also calculated.

A brief description of the resistivity method is given, stressing the points which are of particular importance when working on glaciers. The literature is briefly reviewed.

A general result due to Martin can be used to find upper and lower bounds on velocities in steady-creep problems. This method can be applied to glacier flow if ice can be assumed to satisfy a powerlaw stress–strain-rate relation. Bounds on the mean velocity over the glacier cross-section and on the mean velocity on the surface are determined for a particular example (a uniform parabolic channel, with powerlaw exponent 3) and they are shown to bound quite closely the exact solutions due to Nye. Bounds can be found rapidly by hand calculation. The method can be applied to real glacier cross-sections measured in the field.

A general survey of the preliminary results of a three-year program of measurements on the Amery Ice Shelf by A.N.A.R.E. are presented, together with theoretical considerations of the velocity and stress distributions and the mass and energy regimes of the ice shelf.

In order to explain the observed velocity distribution it has been found necessary to extend Weertman’s theory of ice-shelf creep to an ice shelf bounded at its sides. The resulting theoretical velocity profile applied to the results of the Amery Ice Shelf provides estimates of the average values of the power flow-law parameters for the ice shelf.

The energy and mass budget considerations, together with the recorded change in form of the ice front, suggest that the ice-shelf regime is not in a continual state of balance but may fluctuate as the ice shelf changes in form over a period of about forty years.

D.C. resistivity soundings have been carried out on Unteraargletscher at three places for comparison with earlier seismic reflection results. While in two cases a fair agreement was obtained, the third sounding indicated a strong inhomogeneity of the ice, making a reliable interpretation impossible. Using the seismic depths in the interpretation, more reliable values of ice resistivities were obtained. Additional apparent resistivities were measured on ice and firn on Grosser Aletschgietscher, which are discussed together with similar results from the literature. The resistivity values of temperate glaciers observed so far fall in the range from 25 to 120 MΩ.m. and are thus significantly higher than the experimentally determined ultimate value of 5 MΩ.m. reported for extremely pure ice at 0°C. by Eigen and others (1964). The necessary conditions fur successful resistivity soundings are discussed.

An examination is made of the Lliboutry theory of glacier sliding. It is concluded that this theory is incompletely developed and therefore it is impossible at present to make meaningful predictions of the sliding velocity from it that might be compared with field data.

The principles that underlie the analysis of aerial photographs using the coherent light from a laser are summarized, and then a study of such a filtering technique applied to an aerial photograph of Jakobshavn Isbræ is given as an example.

Two systems of crevasses, respectively parallel and perpendicular to the direction of flow of the southern lobe of the glacier can be detected after filtering. These two crevasse systems were not apparent at first sight on the original photograph as they were obliterated by a network of curved crevasses. It appears that this latter network are not true crevasses, but surface undulations formed by differential ablation of bands of black (or blue) and white ice.

A portable first-arrival seismic refraction instrument was used to measure seismic P-wave velocities in ice, frozen ground, till and shattered rock at various places in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica. It was found that some frozen ground exhibits the same seismic velocity as ice, so that buried ice cannot be idengified by seismic velocity measurements.

The depth of exfoliation of a granite outcrop in Taylor Valley was successfully measured, as was the depth of an ice-free moraine in Wright Valley. From this latter depth, and from reasonable assumptions about the diffusion of water vapour through till, a minimum age of 75,000 yr. has been deduced for the moraine. This age implies that no through-glacier occupied Wright Valley during the last Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

All available 10 m. snow temperatures from the Greenland Ice Sheet have been analyzed using multiple regression techniques to develop equations capable of accurately predicting these temperatures. The analysis was carried out for all Greenland and for various sub-areas. The resulting equations show that 10 m. snow temperatures can be accurately predicted from the parameters latitude and elevation. Longitude was found to be a further significant parameter in south Greenland.

Gradients of 10 m. snow temperatures versus elevation for north Greenland are close to the dry adiabatic lapse rate indicating adiabatic warming of katabatic winds as the controlling mechanism in their altitudinal distribution. In both south Greenland and the Thule peninsula, gradients of 10 m. snow temperatures versus elevation are markedly greater than the dry adiabatic lapse rate and are highly dependent upon elevation, indicating downward transfer of latent heat in the snow, largely as a result of percolating melt water.

An isotherm map, showing the distribution of 10 m. snow temperatures on the Greenland Ice Sheet calculated from the prediction equations, was prepared. The map is based upon a revised contour map of the ice sheet made from a compilation of all known elevations.

The electrical resistivity of firn and ice of ice sheets is a function of the “base” resistivity, the contact resistance between the grains, and the temperature. At greater depths temperature is the predominant influence, and observed resistivity curves can be explained by temperature variations which agree partly with the theories of heat conduction in ice sheets.

The firn stratification in the accumulation area of an alpine glacier was studied in a 20 m. deep, vertical pit dug in the summer of 1963 on the Kesselwandferner (3,240 m. above sea-level in the Ötztal Alps). The firn is traversed by ice layers up to 25 cm. in thickness which have been formed by the damming up and freezing of melt water. Firn density increases with depth. At a depth of 13 m. (8 yr. old firn) the density reaches 0.80 g./cm.3 as a mean value of one annual net accumulation. Excluding the ice layers, the firn reaches a density of 0.82 g./cm.3 in a 10 yr. old layer at a depth of 16 m. The firn stratification in relation to seasons was studied by analyses of the pollen content in the lower part of the pit, beginning with the horizon “late summer 1954”. The late summer horizons obtained from the firn stratification were confirmed by the pollen analyses.

Stratigraphic studies of the annual snow layer in the Beartooth Mountains of south-western Montana and on Mount Logan in the St. Elias Range have disclosed a similiar distribution of at least one physical property of the snow pack in the two areas. The average density of the pack, obtained by integrating a series of measurements taken at 5–10 cm. vertical intervals over the total thickness of the annual layer, reaches a maximum value near a mid-point of the total elevation covered by each traverse and decreases linearly toward the elevation extremes. A preliminary hypothesis, relating the distribution of average snow-density values along slopes to a semi-stable zonation of near-surface air temperatures, is presented.

All available mean annual accumulation data on the Greenland ice sheet (excluding the Thule peninsula) have been collected and analyzed using multiple regression techniques to develop equations capable of predicting mean annual accumulation. The analysis was carried out for north Greenland, south Greenland, and for the transition zone between the two major regions. The resulting equations show that mean annual accumulation can be predicted from the independent parameters latitude, longitude and elevation. The patterns of accumulation are shown in a series of isohyetal (contours of accumulation in terms of water) maps. The major feature shown is a well defined asymmetry in accumulation; a pronounced east-slope maximum in south Greenland and an equally pronounced west-slope maximum in north Greenland. Poleward of lat. 69° N., isohyets decrease in elevation to the north. Mean annual accumulation ranges from >90 g./cm.2 in south-east Greenland to <15 g./cm.2 in north-east Greenland. A brief discussion of mass balance estimates of the Greenland ice sheet and of the relevance of this study to them is included.

In order to determine longitudinal profiles of movement on glacier surfaces from photogrammetric surveys, it is necessary to know the direction of movement. The present method requires at least two base lines with overlapping ranges of photographs. The establishment of a base-line system for a given glacier form depends on the demands of accuracy. The method is applied to the movement of the glacier Kongsvegen (Vestspitsbergen) and the accuracy obtained is discussed. The movement direction of the points on the medial moraine of Kongsvegen does not coincide with the moraine direction.

Observations in and around natural caves beneath the glacier Østerdalsisen in 1961 and 1962 indicated that, within the marginal zone, basal sliding played a major part in the movement measured at the upper surface. Sliding rates apparently were influenced by the availability of water at the glacier. The contribution of differential movement within the ice, which was unimportant within the outermost part (about 10 m.) of the glacier, increased with distance from the edge. Movement at the bottom was free from macroscopic irregularities, except where local conditions at the bed influenced the mode of flow. Air temperatures within the innermost parts of subglacial caves were almost constant, below 0°C. Studies indicated that large gaps are unlikely to exist between the glacier and its bed when the ice is more than 50 m. thick.

Ice-surface and isopachous maps, and rock-elevation maps, were prepared for the area between the South Pole and the Horlick Mountains from seismic and gravimetric measurements. Basal shear-stress was calculated from these data and surface-slope measurements at 25 sites. The mean is 0.8 bar with an areal standard deviation of 0.5 bar. Forty-five values of average basal shear stress were computed from consecutive 30 km. segments along flow lines. The mean is 0.4 bar with an areal standard deviation of 0.1 bar. These variations are too large for accurate estimates of ice-thickness variations to be made from surface-slope data alone, following Nye’s suggestion that basal shear-stress be treated as constant. From theoretical considerations Nye demonstrated that surface features of wave-length less than 40 km. should disappear within a few months unless related to bed topography. Ice and rock profiles along a 220 km. line do not show an expected theoretical relationship. Surface-elevation measurements, repeated after a 2 yr. interval. showed the surface features with wave-lengths between 5 and 40 km. to be essentially unchanged in amplitude and position. Hence these features are not adequately explained by existing theory.