Dry and wet air-extraction systems and precise analysis systems of the CO2 and CH4 concentrations for a polar ice core were developed to reconstruct their ancient levels. A dry-extraction system was capable of crushing an ice sample of 1000 g into fine powder within 2 min, and its air-extraction efficiency was found to be 98%. The CO2 and CH4 concentrations of extracted air were determined using gas chromatography with a flame-ionized detector. The overall precision of our measurements, including air extraction, was estimated to be better than ± 1 ppmv for CO2 and + 10 ppbv for CH4. Preliminary analysis of the ice core drilled at Mizuho Station, Antarctica, showed that the CO2 and CH4 concentrations at 3340–3700 year BP were about 280 ppmv and 700ppbv, respectively. The Yamato core drilled at the terminus of the glacial flow near the Yamato Mountains, Antarctica, yielded concentrations of 230–240 ppmv for CO2 and 520–550 ppbv for CH4, suggesting that the core had formed during the glacial period.

Patterns of strain rate and slope on the ice streams are unusual. They cannot be accounted for in the usual way as due to standing waves in ice flow over a basal obstruction to flow (such as a sticky spot). The features are studied using the force-budget technique. The conventional flow law is used, together with measurements of surface strain rate and shape of the glacier, to compute basal drag. The results for Ice Stream C are as expected, in that the drag varies from site to site but is directed inland, restraining the flow. The calculated drag at the base of Ice Stream B, on the other hand, is in places such that it acts to propel the glacier forward. This result is untenable. Either the conventional flow law is not applicable to Ice Stream Β or there are large spatial variations in ice stiffness, perhaps associated with foliation, or both.

The basal shear stress of an ice stream may be supported disproportionately on localized regions or “sticky spots”. The drag induced by large bedrock bumps sticking into the base of an ice stream is the most likely cause of sticky spots. Discontinuity of lubricating till can cause sticky spots, but they will collect lubricating water and therefore are unlikely to support a shear stress of more than a few tenths of a bar unless they contain abundant large bumps. Raised regions on the ice-air surface can also cause moderate increases in the shear stress supported on the bed beneath. Surveys of large-scale bed roughness would identify sticky spots caused by bedrock bumps, water-pressure measurements in regions of thin or zero till might reveal whether they were sticky spots, and strain grids across the margins of ice-surface highs would show whether the highs were causing sticky spots. Sticky spots probably are not dominant in controlling Ice Stream Β near the Upstream Β camp, West Antarctica.

Perturbation analysis is applied to the heat balance at the EGIG line (West Greenland) with respect to climatic changes. The shift of the equilibrium-line altitude is obtained for perturbations of temperature, absolute humidity, cloudiness and annual accumulation. The total net ice ablation at the EGIG line increases by 45% with a perturbation of + 1 K. Applying this figure to the entire ice sheet, the total ablation equals the total accumulation at a warming of + 2 K, if refreezing of melt water is neglected.

A mass-balance approach using hourly discharge and electrical conductivity values measured over a 10 d period during the ablation season was used to separate englacial and subglacial components of the total meltwater discharge from a small alpine glacier in the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S.A. Symmetrical diurnal hydrographs indicate that little delay occurred as water was tranferred through the drainage system. Electrical conductivity (which varied inversely with proglacial discharge) increased abruptly at each daily conductivity maximum, and cross-correlation analysis indicated that subglacial discharge peaked on the rising limb of the englacial hydrograph (about 2 h prior to the englacial peak). This suggests that a translatory flow process operates in which increased water pressure in the englacial system on the rising limb of the diurnal-discharge cycle forced subglacial water from beneath the glacier in advance of short residence-time meltwater. Net radiation dominated the energy balance at the glacier surface, explaining 86% of the variance in proglacial discharge, which was dominated by the englacial flow component.

Ice cores were obtained in January 1990 from the land-fast ice in McMurdo Sound for a study of variations in texture, fabric, sub-structure, composition and development. Two primary ice types were observed, congelation and platelet, with a minor amount of frazil ice. Congelation ice growth precedes platelet-ice accretion. Congelation-ice fabrics show frequent moderate to strong alignments, a phenomenon believed to be due to water-current control of selective ice-crystal growth. Platelet ice originates at the base of the congelation ice, initially as a porous latticework of tabular ice crystals which subsequently consolidate by congelation of the interstitial water. Interstitial congelation-ice fabrics generally have little or no alignment, indicating the reduced effect of currents within the platelet latticework prior to solidification. Platelet-crystal textures range from small, wavy-edged forms to large, blade-like forms. Platelet-crystal fabrics indicate that, in addition to being randomly oriented, the platelet latticeworks commonly include many crystals with their flat (0001) faces oriented both parallel and normal to the base of the overlying ice. Plate-width data suggest that the interstitial congelation ice-growth rates remain similar to those of the overlying congelation ice. This effective increase in growth rates probably happens because the latticework of accumulating platelets ahead of the freezing interface ensures that the water within the platelet layer is at the freezing point and less heat has to be removed from platelet-rich water than from platelet-free water for a given thickness of congelation ice to grow. The negative oceanic heat flux associated with platelet-ice formation in McMurdo Sound explains why McMurdo Sound fast ice is thicker than Ross Sea pack ice, and also why it reaches a greater thickness than Arctic fast ice grown in a similar polar marine climate. Plate widths in the McMurdo Sound congelation ice suggest, however, that it grows no faster than Arctic congelation ice.

Micro-earthquakes have been monitored at two locations on Ice Stream Β and one on Ice Stream C using a seismographic array built specifically for that purpose. Subglacial micro-earthquakes arc 20 times more abundant beneath Ice Stream C than beneath Ice Stream B, despite the 100 times more rapid movement of Ice Stream B. Triangulation shows the foci beneath Ice Stream C, like those beneath Ice Stream B, to be within a few meters of the base of the ice, presumably within the uppermost part of the bed, and fault-plane analysis indicates slips on horizontal planes at about a 30° angle to the presumed direction of formerly active flow. Source parameters, computed from spectra of the arrivals, confirmed that the speed of slip is three orders of magnitude faster beneath Ice Stream C than beneath Ice Stream Β which means that a five orders-of-magnitude greater fraction of the velocity of Ice Stream C is contributed by the faulting, although that fraction is still small. We attribute the difference in activity beneath the two ice streams to the loss of dilatancy in the till beneath Ice Stream C in the process that led to its stagnation.

The pattern of horizontal strain rate in an ice sheet is discussed from a topological point of view. In a circularly symmetric ice sheet, the isotropic point for strain rate at its centre is degenerate and structurally unstable. On perturbation the degenerate point splits into two elementary isotropic points, each of which has the lemon pattern for the trajectories of principal strain rate. Contour maps of principal strain-rate values are presented which show the details of the splitting.

Several holes were drilled to depths of 1500–1630 m along a profile across Jakobshavns Isbræ, 50 km upstream from the calving front. Drilling was by hot water and required approximately 20 h. The holes were rapidly closed by refreezing, but it was possible to instrument them with thermistors and tilt sensors before this occurred.

Near the margins of the ice stream the holes reached the bed and connected with the subglacial drainage system. Water-level changes recorded in these holes are discussed in terms of the basal hydraulic system. The temperature measurements show that the glacier is temperate-based. Moreover, extrapolation of a measured temperature profile and its curvature suggests that a temperate layer of substantial thickness may exist at the bed near the center of the ice stream. There is a striking difference in the shapes of temperature profiles measured at different locations: beneath the center line the temperature minimum is at a considerably smaller relative depth than near the margins, but it is nearly the same in magnitude (−22.1°C). This may indicate a disproportionately large vertical stretching of the basal ice in the center of the ice stream. Since the basal ice is warmer and much less viscous than the ice above, a thickening of that layer would cause a corresponding increase of surface velocity. We presume that this mechanism contributes to the fast flow of Jakobshavns Isbræ.

The speed of Ice Stream B, Antarctica, was measured twice a day-over a 1 month study period, and found to be steady at about the ±3½% level, the sensitivity of the measurements. The vertical strain was measured at three sites over a 1 year period at 1 h intervals with sensitivities of 2 or 0.2 ppm. The strain rate varied on all time-scales. Events of high strain rate were observed, but never at more than one site at a time. They can probably be understood in terms of local modification of the strain field associated with crevassing. Diurnal variation in strain rate was observed at one and possibly two sites during two summers. The seismicity was measured at all three sites, and diurnal and seasonal variations were prominent at all, the seismicity being much more intense in winter. Several possible causes of the diurnal variations in strain and seismicity are considered: thermal and atmospheric effects, and the effects of tides in the Ross Sea.

In a pilot experiment, airborne particles were shown to exist in snow. In newly deposited snow they could be traced down to 17 cm below the surface. With our particle sensor, the snow was ventilated on the level of expected natural ventilation velocities. We show with a simple deposition model that air/snow exchange of airborne particles must be considered in the interpretation of impurities in snow and glacier ice. However, the relative magnitude of ventilation velocity compared to dry-deposition velocities at the surface is of crucial importance for determining total deposition. In particular, in ice sheets with high ventilation velocities, seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations can be dampened and age distributions of deposited particles need to be considered similarly to the occlusion of gases.

Field data of ice thickness, velocity and accumulation of the ice plain region of Ice Stream B, Antarctica, are organized into a geographic information system (GIS) and used to calculate the spatial pattern of net mass balance. Overall, the ice plain is thickening at a rate of 0.13 ± 0.05 m a−1. Large uncertainties of the high-resolution calculations are reduced by spatial averaging, revealing a number of areas significantly out of balance. Ice in the broad diverging flow field is mostly thinning but a thinner region of the ice plain which includes ice raft “a” is thickening. Thickening is also indicated farther downstream on the ice plain, matching the thickening already calculated to be occurring upstream of Crary Ice Rise. The patterns of net mass balance for the two major tributaries of Ice Stream Β are asymmetric, demonstrating a real difference in the current dynamics of these two tributaries.

A new method for high-resolution (3 mm) dielectric profiling of ice cores is described. The method measures the capacitance and conductance of the ice at a single frequency (chosen to be 50 kHz in this case). The technique requires only a few minutes per metre of core, and no sophisticated data analysis. The system is designed to operate on ice cores that have been cut longitudinally, providing one flat and one curved surface. The 50 kHz conductance is dependent on the acid and neutral-salt concentrations in the ice. The new method was tested successfully on the GRIP core from Summit, Greenland, in 1991. It is useful for detecting seasonal variations in impurities in both acidic Holocene ice and in normally alkaline Wisconsin ice.

A theory of subglacial consolidation is developed which shows how the meltwater flux beneath a glacier leaves a consolidation signature from which many important glacier-dynamic properties can be inferred. Conditions under which water is discharged through channels or in a thin film at the ice—bed interface or by ground-water flow are discussed, and it is concluded that glaciers flowing over aquifers of high transmissibility can induce deep circulation patterns quite different from non-glacial circulation. Examples of glacial pre-consolidation profiles in sediments from The Netherlands and England are used to illustrate how basal melting rates, subglacial ground-water flow patterns, ice overburden, basal shear stress, ice-surface profile and the amount of sediment removed by erosion can be inferred.

Measurements of velocity have been made on and next to Ice Streams Β and C, West Antarctica. The results are more precise than previous work and constitute a 93% increase in the number of values. These velocities are used to describe the confluence of flow into the ice streams and the development of fast ice-stream flow. The onset of fast-streaming flow occurs in many separate tributaries that coalesce down-glacier into the major ice streams. For those inter-stream ridges that have been studied, the flow is consistent with steady state. Along Ice Stream B, gradients in longitudinal stress offer little resistance to the ice flow. The transition from basal-drag control to ice-shelf flow is achieved through reduced drag at the glacier base and increased resistance associated with lateral drag. Velocities in the trunk of Ice Stream C are nearly zero but those at the up-glacial head are similar to those at the head of Ice Stream B.

A two-dimensional model which links the atmosphere, the mixed layer of the ocean, the sea ice, the continents, the ice sheets and their underlying bedrock has been used to test the Milankovitch theory over the last glacial—interglacial cycle. It was found that the orbital variations alone can induce, in such a system, feed-backs sufficient to generate the low-frequency part of the climatic variations over the last 122 kyear. These simulated variations at the astronomical time-scale are broadly in agreement with ice volume and sea-level reconstructions independently obtained from geological data. Imperfections in the simulated climate were the insufficient southward extent of the ice sheets and the too small hemispheric cooling during the last glacial maximum. These deficiencies were partly remedied in a further experiment (Gallée and others, in press) by using the time-dependent CO2 atmospheric concentration given by the Vostok ice core in addition to the astronomical forcing. For this second experiment, the main mechanisms and feedbacks responsible for the glaciation and the deglaciation in the model are discussed here.

A shallow firn core, recovered from the southern Patagonia ice cap (elevation 2680 m a.s.I.), has been analyzed for H stable isotope composition and for major soluble chemical compounds. The temperature measurement at 13.17 m depth (bottom of the core) shows that the ice cap is temperate. The chemical profiles indicate that some soluble impurities have been partly washed out by percolation, but seasonal deuterium content variations are relatively well preserved down to the bottom of the core, which allows the net accumulation rate of the site to be calculated (1.2 m water equivalent). The mean concentrations measured in the most recent year recorded (Cl−:4.85, nssSO42−: 0.65, NO3−:0.32, Na+:4.30, K+:0.64 and NH4+: 0.77, in μeq. 1−1) serve as a reference for the background chemical composition of precipitation at mid-southern latitudes under South Pacific meteorological conditions.

The presence of crevasses on the surface of ice masses indicates that a fracture criterion has been met. Understanding how crevasses form will provide information about the stress and strain-rate fields in the ice. This study derives a relationship between measurements of strain rate and observations of crevassing on the surface of ice masses. A literature search yielded 17 polar and alpine locations where strain rates had been measured and crevassing recorded. By plotting strain rates (converted to stresses using a creep law) using axes representing the surface-parallel principal stresses, failure envelopes were derived by enclosing measurements where surface crevassing was absent. The derived failure envelopes were found to conform well to theoretical ones predicted by the Coulomb and the maximum octahedral shear stress (von Mises) theories of failure. The derived failure envelopes were scaled by the tensile strength, which was found to vary from 90 to 320 kPa. There was no systematic variation of tensile strength with either temperature at 10 m depth or the method used to locate the crevasses. The observed variation in tensile strength could result from variations in ice properties (e.g. crystal size, impurity content or density) or could be related to uncertainty in the constitutive relation. Creep flow and fracture share a very similar temperature dependence, suggesting similar crystal-scale processes are responsible for both. The observed relationship will provide a supplementary tool with which to verify and test models of ice dynamics against remotely sensed imagery. The study also indicates that a temperature rise of a few degrees throughout the ice column will not result directly in any increase in calving rates from the large Antarctic ice shelves such as the Filchner–Ronne or Ross Ice Shelves.

By studying diatoms recovered from sediment taken from beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet (Ice Stream B), Scherer (1991) concluded that this feature must have collapsed at least once during the past 600 kyear and that the two likely candidates for time of collapse were oxygen-isotope stage 11 (362–423 kyear BP) and sub-stage 5e (110–128kyear BP). This conclusion does not stand up to critical examination of the data, however. Specifically, the diatom datum level, the last occurrence of Actinocyclus ingens, used to constrain the 600 kyear date is diachronous into higher latitudes and does not apply in sediments recovered from near Antarctica. Secondly, the additional diatoms used to constrain the time of collapse to the late Quaternary either range before the late Quaternary or have no published geological record. In spite of this, there are data to suggest that one or more late Quaternary interglacial intervals were as warm as, or warmer than, the present. As yet, however, no direct evidence exists to incorporate a West Antarctic ice sheet collapse into these scenarios. It is suggested that this debate is best resolved by study of deep-sea sediments of late Quaternary age recovered from around the Antarctic continent.