This study examines the effect of subglacial abrasion on the basal sliding term of the gravitational energy balance of the dynamic, temperate Nisqually Glacier on Mount Rainier, Washington, U.S.A. Subglacial water flux is estimated as 3 × 107 m3 a–1 and suspended sediment flux as 3 × 107 kg a–1. Suspended-sediment flux is assumed to represent, within an order of magnitude, the annual mass eroded by subglacial abrasion.

Subglacial abrasion involves both brittle fracture and plastic deformation. Field observations of bas-relief and grooved depression striations appear to have exact counterparts in rock mechanics experiments approximating subglacial velocities and normal stresses. Boulton's ([Cl974]) abrasion model and a new attritivity model proposed herein are shown to predict subglacial abrasion-rates within the limits of natural variability and the error range of measurements. The first crude gravitational energy balance for lower Nisqually Glacier (1.96 km2) is attempted and probably has only order-of-magnitude accuracy. The importance of subglacial abrasion in dissipating basal sliding energy at Nisqually Glacier is confirmed.

The assumptions involved in the use of chemically based mixing models for analysis of flow routing of meltwaters in glacierized basins are critically evaluated. The assumption that glacial drainage systems consist of only two primary flow components is arbitrary and must be supported by independent evidence. Recent studies of the processes by which meltwaters acquire solute indicate that the assumption that flow components have unique and constant chemical compositions is unlikely to be correct. Source-water composition and weathering potential will vary over the course of a melt season, and the extent of subglacial weathering is strongly dependent upon such factors as meltwater residence time and the availability of reactive sediment, both of which are known to vary on diurnal to seasonal time-scales. Mixing of flow components does not appear to be confined to the terminal regions of glaciers and is therefore unlikely to be conservative as assumed. A multi-parameter mixing model is applied to the analysis of data on the chemistry of waters sampled from boreholes drilled through Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland, to demonstrate the range of dissolved species for which the assumption of conservative mixing is violated. The consequences of this violation for quantitative hydrograph separation are shown to be highly significant. The utility of mixing models as a tool for the investigation of glacier hydrological systems is questionable and the results of previous studies are unreliable.

Boudinage structures have only rarely been reported in glacier ice, yet they seem to be widespread in Swiss glaciers. They form in debris-free, strongly foliated ice by the stretching, necking and rupture of layers or groups of layers, when the principal compressive strain axis lies at a high angle to the layering. Two main types of boudinage are distinguished. The first results from the difference in competence between fine-grained and coarse-grained ice, and indicates that the former is more resistant to flow than the latter. The second occurs in more equigranular ice which shows a strong planar anisotropy; associated with the necking of such ice is the development of shear planes, along which the layers are displaced. As in deformed rocks, it is not possible to determine the directions of the finite principal strain axes from the boudinage structures alone. Although the boudins described here all occur in longitudinal foliation, it is suggested that they are likely to form in other situations also.

Repeat airborne laser altimetry measurements show widespread thinning (surface lowering) of glaciers in Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands since 1995. Thinning rates averaged for 50 m elevation bins, were more than three times higher during the period 2005/06 to 2012/14 pentad than during the previous two pentads. Strongly negative thickness change (dh/dt) anomalies from 2005/06 to 2012/14, relative to the 1995–2012/14 mean, suggest that most of the measured thinning occurred during the most recent 5–6 year period when mean summer land surface temperatures (LSTs) were anomalously high and the mean summer black-sky shortwave broadband albedos (BSA) were anomalously low, relative to the 2000/01–15/16 period, and upper-air (700 hPa) and near surface (2 m) air temperatures were between 0.8°C and 1.5°C higher than 1995–2012 mean. Comparisons of dh/dt with mean summer LST and BSA measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and with surface longitudinal strain rates computed from surface velocity fields derived from RADARSAT 1/2 and Landat-7 ETM + data suggest that surface elevation changes were driven mainly by changes in climate. An exception to this occurs along many fast-flowing outlet glaciers where ice dynamics appear also to have played an important role in surface elevation changes.

Controlled field and laboratory tests were performed to investigate the relationship between ice strength and the maximum ice pressures on vertical piers. The apparatus used in the field tests consisted of a flat indentor (75 cm wide) which was pushed through the ice by hydraulic rams. 27 tests were conducted on lake ice up to one metre thick. Ice pressures in the range 2.5 to 5.0 MPa were obtained for ice in good initial contact with the indentor. The ice pressures exhibited little sensitivity to variations in temperature, ice thickness and strain-rate for the range 7.5 × 10-7 to 4.4 × 10-3 s-1.

The average unconfined compressive strengths obtained in the laboratory were about 20% higher than the average field ice pressures. In addition, the laboratory strengths were found to be sensitive to temperature, and to strain-rate in the range 1 × 10-7 to 1 × 10-3 s-1. The confined compressive strength was two to three times the unconfined strength.

The failure modes observed in the indentation tests were similar to those predicted (before the tests) by an upper-bound plasticity model. The ability of the model to relate small-scale ice strength to field ice pressures is discussed.

The structure of silty ice bands and the formation of their resulting shear moraines are investigated in the light of new evidence provided by two ice tunnels and additional surface investigation in the general Thule area. Previous investigations are examined and discussed; a new interpretation of the phenomena is presented.

Supraglacial debris cover regulates the melt rates of many glaciers in mountainous regions around the world, thereby modifying the availability and quality of downstream water resources. However, the influence of supraglacial debris is often poorly represented within glaciological models, due to the absence of a technique to provide high-precision, spatially continuous measurements of debris thickness. Here, we use high-resolution UAV-derived thermal imagery, in conjunction with local meteorological data, visible UAV imagery and vertically profiled debris temperature time series, to model the spatially distributed debris thickness across a portion of Llaca Glacier in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. Based on our results, we simulate daily sub-debris melt rates over a 3-month period during 2019. We demonstrate that, by effectively calibrating the radiometric thermal imagery and accounting for temporal and spatial variations in meteorological variables during UAV surveys, thermal UAV data can be used to more precisely represent the highly heterogeneous patterns of debris thickness and sub-debris melt on debris-covered glaciers. Additionally, our results indicate a mean sub-debris melt rate nearly three times greater than the mean melt rate simulated from satellite-derived debris thicknesses, emphasising the importance of acquiring further high-precision debris thickness data for the purposes of investigating glacier-scale melt processes, calibrating regional melt models and improving the accuracy of runoff predictions.

Observations at Athabasca Glacier and elsewhere suggest that basal sliding can account for a very significant part of total glacier motion, and that sliding rates vary significantly across a glacier section. The ability to model such spatial variations in basal velocities is important in understanding flow in valley glaciers, as well as in predicting spatial patterns of glacial erosion that drive land-form development models. With a sliding law in which the basal velocity is dependent on the basal shear stress and inversely dependent on the effective pressure at the bed, it is possible to predict an overall flow pattern that is consistent with the empirical data, if it is assumed that friction increases close to the margin of a glacier.

Greenland's future contribution to sea-level rise is strongly dependent on the extent to which dynamic perturbations, originating at the margin, can drive increased ice flow within the ice-sheet interior. However, reported observations of ice dynamical change at distances >~50 km from the margin have a very low spatial and temporal resolution. Consequently, the likely response of the ice-sheet's interior to future oceanic and atmospheric warming is poorly constrained. Through combining GPS and satellite-image-derived ice velocity measurements, we measure multi-decadal (1993–1997 to 2014–2018) velocity change at 45 inland sites, encompassing all regions of the ice sheet. We observe an almost ubiquitous acceleration inland of tidewater glaciers in west Greenland, consistent with acceleration and retreat at glacier termini, suggesting that terminus perturbations have propagated considerable distances (>100 km) inland. In contrast, outside of Kangerlussuaq, we observe no acceleration inland of tidewater glaciers in east Greenland despite terminus retreat and near-terminus acceleration, and suggest propagation may be limited by the influence of basal topography and ice geometry. This pattern of inland dynamical change indicates that Greenland's future contribution to sea-level will be spatially complex and will depend on the capacity for dynamic changes at individual outlet glacier termini to propagate inland.

Run-off data for two basins in south Greenland, one of which contains glaciers, are compared with precipitation at a nearby weather station and with ablation measured in the glacier basin. Seasonal variations of run-off for the two basins are broadly similar while run-off from the glacier basin has smaller year-to-year variations. A simple statistical model shows that this is the result of a negative correlation between ablation and precipitation, which has the effect of reducing run-off variations in basins with a moderate amount of glacier cover although run-off variations may become large again for highly glacierized basins. The model also predicts an increasing run-off with ablation correlation and a decreasing run-off with precipitation correlation as the amount of glacier cover increases. Although there are still too few data sets from other parts of Greenland for final conclusions, there are indications that the present findings may be applicable to other Greenland basins.

The rate of margin migration of an ice stream can be determined using repeat measurements of the surface velocity profile within the marginal shear zone. The method relies on the assumption that the velocity profile is a characteristic feature of the margin, and that this profile is shifted laterally as the margin migrates. Application of the method to Ice Stream B, Antarctica, indicates that the southern margin is moving outward into the inland ice at a rate of at least 9.7 ± 1.1 m a−1.

Southern Ocean sea ice can exhibit widespread flooding and subsequent snow-ice formation, due to relatively thick snow covers compared to the total ice thickness. Considerable subkilometer scale variability in snow and ice thickness causes poorly constrained uncertainties in determining the amount of flooding that occurs. Using datasets of snow depth and ice thickness acquired in the Weddell Sea during austral winter 2013 (AWECS campaign) from three floes, we demonstrate large spatial variability of a factor 10 and 5 for snow and combined snow and ice thickness, respectively. The temporal evolution after the floe visit was recorded by automatic weather station and ice mass balance buoys. Using a physics-based, multi-layer snow/sea ice model in a one-dimensional and distributed mode to simulate the thermodynamic processes, we show that the distributed simulations, modeling flooding across the entire heterogeneous floe, produced vastly different amounts of flooding than one-dimensional single point simulations. Three times the flooding is produced in the one-dimensional simulation for the buoy location than distributed (floe-averaged) simulations. The latter is in close agreement with buoy observations. The results suggest that using point observations or one-dimensional simulations to extrapolate processes on the floe-scale can overestimate the amount of flooding and snow-ice formation.

The surface conductivity of monocrystalline ice was measured as a function of temperature impurity concentration, field-strength, and other variables. At temperature, below about –6°C the surface conductivity was found to follow the Arrhenius equation with an activation energy of 33±2 kcal mol−1 (1.43±0.09 eV). Small amounts of impurities contained within the ice increased the surface conductivity and decreased the actuation energy: for HF-doped ice the activation energy was reduced to 10.0 kcal mol−1 (0.44 eV). Mechanical treatment of the ice surface increased the surface conduction. At temperatures above about —6°C the surface conductivity increased more rapidly with the rise in temperature; this is explained in terms of the appearance and development of a quasi-liquid layer on the ice surface. The electrical behaviour of sublimed ice surfaces was found to vary at a temperature around —9°C. At higher temperature a sharp, instantaneous current increase was observed as evacuation began; this was considered to be caused by the formation of ionic states due to the rapid evaporation of quasi-liquid layers. It was concluded that the temperature above which the ice surface was covered with a quasi-liquid layer lay in the range — 6 to — 9°C.

Spatial and temporal observations of electrical conductivity during the summers of 1978 and 1981 on the pro-glacial stream sytem of glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve, Valais, Switzerland, are described. Three space–time scales of electrical conductivity variations are considered: single-site, hourly monitoring for a two-month period; multiple-site sampling over 12 h periods using a 1 h sampling interval, and multiple-site sampling over monthly periods using a 24 h and 48 h sampling interval. Detailed analysis of the information from the three scales shows that the sampling strategies employed can reliably be used to investigate space–time patterns in the data. The results demonstrate that there are diurnal cycles in both electrical conductivity and discharge which are slightly different in form and which are out of phase with one another at the same site. Simultaneous multiple-site sampling of electrical conductivity shows that the tributary streams draining the glacier snout exhibit complementary shifts in electrical conductivity between ablation seasons, between days, and within days. The significance of these complementary shifts in tributary electrical conductivity are discussed in the light of possible source areas, storage, and routing fluctuations of melt water draining from the glacier.

Airborne surface elevation profiles of the Harding Ice field, south-central Alaska, were made in 1991 and 1996. Thirteen glaciers were profiled, along with the tipper region of the icefield. The profiles were compared to U.S. Geological Survey topographie maps made in the 1950s, to obtain elevation and volume changes. Comparison of the changes for the different glaciers shows no significant correlation between volume change and the type of glacier or characteristics such as location, aspect, size, slope or terminus changes. Estimated total volume change tor this ~43 year period is about -34 km3, which corresponds to an area-average elevation change of-21 m. The estimated error in this elevation change of 5 m is mainly due to errors in the maps at higher elevations. Our measurements provide an accurate baseline against which future determinations of volume change can be made.

Georesistivity soundings have been carried out at four sites in the Antarctic Peninsula. The objective of the work was to investigate the electrical behaviour of ice from an area where substantial melting occurs in summer and from contrasting thermal regimes. Electrical measurements made at three sites along a flow line within George VI Ice Shelf reveal that:

• (a) the resistivity of deep ice is similar to that of other Antarctic ice shelves,

• (b) the resistivity of the ice-shelf surface, which is affected by the percolation and refreezing of melt water, is similar to that of deep ice and hence the ice is polar in character.

A compilation of published resistivities of deep ice from polar regions shows that the range of resistivities is very narrow (0.4 –2.0) x 105 Ω m between –2 and – 29°C, irrespective of the physical setting and history of the ice. Typically, resistivity is within a factor of two of 80 kΩ m at –20° C with an activation energy of 0.22 eV. In contrast, the resistivity of surface ice at Wormald Ice Piedmont, where the ice is at 0°C throughout, is two orders of magnitude higher and falls at the lower end of the range of resistivities for temperate ice.

An internally consistent data set of geometry and flow variables for the lower part of Columbia Glacier, south-central Alaska, is derived entirely from vertical aerial photography. The principle of mass conservation is imposed on the data in the form of a centered finite-difference approximation of the continuity equation. It is applied on a 120-node section of a square grid covering the 15 km long, high-velocity stretch ending at the grounded, heavily calving terminus of this large glacier.

Photography was obtained 22 times between June 1977 and September 1981. Surface altitudes on the dates of the flights and the displacement vectors between pairs of flights were determined photogrammetrically. Natural features on the glacier surface were sufficiently prominent and enduring to be followed from the date of one flight to the next.

Because both the altitude points and displacement vectors were irregularly positioned spatially, interpolation was necessary to get values on the grid nodes. The points had already been subjected to the method of optimum interpolation to get surface altitudes on the grid nodes. The displacement vectors are subjected here to a constrained–interpolation method to get velocity vectors at the grid nodes that are consistent, through the continuity equation, with the other variables.

The other variables needed to achieve closure of the variable set are bed topography and mass-balance distribution. The latter was taken to be a separate linear function of altitude for each time interval. Values for bed altitudes at 120 nodes and two coefficients of each 21 balance functions were inferred as the 162 model parameters in a non-linear minimization problem having 4305 observed velocity components as its data.

Floating ice shelves that fringe the coast of Antarctica resist the flow of grounded ice into the ocean. One of the key factors governing the amount of flow resistance an ice shelf provides is the rigidity (related to viscosity) of the ice that constitutes it. Ice rigidity is highly heterogeneous and must be calibrated from spatially continuous surface observations assimilated into an ice-flow model. Realistic uncertainties in calibrated rigidity values are needed to quantify uncertainties in ice sheet and sea-level forecasts. Here, we present a physics-informed machine learning framework for inferring the full probability distribution of rigidity values for a given ice shelf, conditioned on ice surface velocity and thickness fields derived from remote-sensing data. We employ variational inference to jointly train neural networks and a variational Gaussian Process to reconstruct surface observations, rigidity values and uncertainties. Applying the framework to synthetic and large ice shelves in Antarctica demonstrates that rigidity is well-constrained where ice deformation is measurable within the noise level of the observations. Further reduction in uncertainties can be achieved by complementing variational inference with conventional inversion methods. Our results demonstrate a path forward for continuously updated calibrations of ice flow parameters from remote-sensing observations.

A theoretical density distribution of the Dumber of bonds per grain as a function of the mean number of bonds per grain is derived from the assumption of randomness and isotropy of grain and grain-bond location and orientation. The knowledge of the theoretical density distribution allows the determination of the effective distribution parameters from section planes or thin sections. The concept of the fundamental unit to describe the strength of snow is introduced. Structural parameters developed on the basis of the fundamental units show improved correlations with the tensile strength.

An experimental study concerning the mass and heat balance of snowpatches was performed during the Finnish Antarctic Research Programme (FINNARP) 2004 and 2010 summer expeditions to Basen nunatak (73°03′ S, 13°25′ W). Data were collected from a snow stake line, snow pits and automated weather and snow recording systems. One 100 m perennial snowpatch and several smaller seasonal patches (<10 m) were monitored. Snow thickness decreased by 4.0–6.3 mm d−1 due to sublimation, compression and, close to lateral boundaries, meltwater runoff. The vertical mass loss was 1–2 mm snow water equivalent (SWE) d−1 and the lateral decay was −10 cm d−1. The net radiation was 20.2 W m−2 and the mean latent heat flux was −15.5 W m−2 .The mean surface energy flux was 4.9 W m −2 and the heat loss to the ground was 1.5 W m−2. Thin snow decayed faster due to surface thermomechanical erosion and melt from the bottom where the soil was heated by the solar radiation. Between the summers of 2004 and 2010, the thickness of the perennial snowpatch decreased by 230 mm.