Using an active transponder with the ERS-I and ERS-2 radar altimeters, the distance to the satellite was measured at a location close to the GRIP site, Greenland, at an altitude of 3.2 km. The measurement was executed while the transponder was in the “ice-tracking mode”. It includes a bias due to the propagation delay. The location of the transponder was determined using the global positioning system.

The transponder signal was modeled and the distance from the altimeter to the effective reflection point of the transponder was determined. Since the transponder was located within 1 km of the ground tracks, the measurement was corrected for this offset. A correction was also done for the surface slope, resulting in the distance (plus bias) to the closest sub-satellite point on the surface of the (compact) snow.

The transponder signal was then removed from the radar altimeter waveform, enabling the determination of the distance (plus bias from the altimeter to the first reflective surface within the snow. The différence between this distance and that obtained using the transponder was < 2 m. This shows that the surface which gives rise to the first return of the reflection agrees with the surface of the (compact, dry) snow at this high-altitude location. This is an important result to be used when studying ice-cap topography using satellite radar altimetry.

Linear models of the relationships between meteorological observations and the flow of river Tungnaá at the western margin of glacier Vatnajökull were investigated by means of spectral analysis and estimation of the impulse response. Most of the variation of Tungnaá is confined to the lowest frequencies and the diurnal variations. The temperature has most effect on the rapid variations around 1 cycle/day whereas the largest coherences with the precipitation are in the lowest frequencies. The wind explains over 20% of the variations in the frequency range from 0–1 cycle/day, but this is partly due to its coherence with the precipitation. The time lag between changes in the temperature and the river is about 2 h, but the time lag between precipitation and the river is longer. Analysis of longer records of daily observations from Ϸjórsá shows that the coherence of the run-off and temperature increases at frequencies too low to be estimated from these data. At frequencies over 1 cycle/day most of the observed variations of the river cannot be explained by means of a linear relationship with the meteorological series.

A block of ice from Blue Glacier. Washington, was successively sectioned at close intervals as a means of determining exact crystal shape in three dimensions. Two crystals occupying over 20 per cent of the entire sample are used as examples, and their volumes calculated. These crystals were found to be much larger and more complex in shape than expected from thin-section examination alone. The surface-to-volume ratio was calculated using a simple relationship between the length of lines in a grid crossing the crystal and grid-line intercepts with the crystal boundary. From this ratio the surface area of each crystal was calculated.

A measurement of irregularity or jaggedness is introduced in order to compare crystals of different size with one another. This is necessary because surface-to-volume ratio of a body of the same shape decreases as the size increases.

Antarctica's ice shelves stabilize the ice sheet and, therefore, understanding processes affecting the mass budgets of ice shelves is important for estimating grounded ice loss. To study the ice shelf dynamics, we analyzed seismological and GNSS data from the Ekström Ice Shelf in Dronning Maud Land. We extracted probabilistic power spectral densities (PPSD) in the frequency band 3.4–6.8 Hz, typical of icequakes, from seismological data and observed pronounced signals in the PPSD with near 3 and 4 cycles per day (cpd) corresponding to tidal overharmonics, in addition to the main tidal constituents near 1 and 2 cpd. GNSS data reveal the same components in ice flow speed but not in vertical displacements. Generally, tide-induced grounding line migration modulates the flow velocity of an entire ice shelf. We find that this velocity modulation causes the increased icequake activity in the tidal overharmonics with 3 and 4 cpd in an ice shear zone where the flow velocity drops to nearly zero.

Previous work on the relation between glacier volume and area and on accumulation area ratios suggests that balance rates measured at the glacier terminus are not constant or random from glacier to glacier but instead scale with glacier length. Using mass-balance data from a collection of 68 valley and cirque glaciers, we show that the terminus mass-balance rate scales roughly linearly with surface area and scales with length raised to an exponent constrained to fall roughly between 0.5 and 2 with 1.7 preferred if a glacier’s length is dependent on the mass-balance conditions (rather than balance being dependent on length). When these exponents are used to predict valley-glacier volume–area scaling, the results are very close to empirical volume–area observations. Although the data are noisy and the proposed fits could be modified by improved observations, the scaling trend for terminus balance vs length remains clear. Although the exact value of the scaling exponent is not well determined, establishing the existence of this scaling relation will be important for studies of climate change and the impact of glacier recession on sea level.

One of the largest contributors to uncertainty in predictions of sea-level rise from ice-sheet models is a lack of knowledge about the bed topography beneath ice sheets. Bed topography maps are normally made by interpolating between linear radar surveys using methods that include kriging, mass conservation and flowline diffusion, all of which may miss influential mesoscale (2–30 km) bedforms. Previous works have explored an Ice-Flow Perturbation Analysis (IFPA) approach for estimating bed topography using the surface expression of these mesoscale bedforms. Using regions of Pine Island Glacier that have been intensively surveyed by ice-penetrating radar as test sites, and a refined IFPA methodology, we find that IFPA detects bedforms capable of influencing ice flow which are not represented in Bedmachine Antarctica and other interpolated bed products. We further explore the ability of IFPA to estimate relative bed slipperiness, finding higher slipperiness in the main trunk and tributaries. Alongside other methods which estimate ice thickness, bed topography maps from IFPA have the potential to constrain projections of future sea-level rise, especially where radar data are sparse.

The Arctic is a hotspot for climate warming, making it crucial to quantify the sea level rise contribution from its ice masses. Novaya Zemlya's ice caps are the largest glacier complex in Europe and are a major contributor to contemporary sea level rise. Here we show that Novaya Zemlya outlet glaciers on the Barents Sea coast respond rapidly and consistently to oceanic forcing at annual timescales, likely due to their exposure to Atlantic Water variability. Glaciers on the Kara Sea show more variable response, likely reflecting their reduced exposure to Atlantic Water. Data demonstrate that the pause in glacier retreat previously observed on Novaya Zemlya between 2013 and 2015 has not persisted and that these changes correspond to ocean temperature variability on the Barents Sea coast. We document a marked shift to warmer air and ocean temperatures, and reduced sea ice concentrations from 2005 onwards. Although we identify ocean warming as the primary trigger for glacier retreat, we suggest that multi-year thinning, driven by the shift towards warmer air temperatures since 2005, pre-conditioned Novaya Zemlya's glaciers to retreat. Despite commonality in the timing of outlet glacier retreat, the magnitude is highly variable during rapid retreat phases, which we attribute to glacier-specific factors.

This study involves examination of glaciological mass-balance time series, glacier and climatic descriptors, the application of machine learning methods for glaciological clustering, and computation of mass-balance time series based upon the clustering and statistical analyses relative to gridded air temperature datasets. Our analysis revealed an increasingly coherent mass-balance trend but a latitudinal bias of monitoring programs. The glacier classification scheme delivered three clusters, suggesting these correspond to climate-based first-order regimes, as glacier morphometric characteristics weighed little in our multivariate analysis. We combined all available surface mass-balance data from in situ monitoring programs to study temperature sensitivity for each cluster. These aggregated mass-balance time series delivered spatially different statistical relationships to temperature. Results also showed that surface mass balance tends to have a temporal self-correlation of ~20 years. Using this temporal window to analyze sensitivity since ~ 1950, we found that in all cases temperature sensitivity, while generally negative, tended to fluctuate through time, with the largest absolute magnitudes occurring in the 1980s and becoming less negative in recent years, revealing that glacier sensitivity is non-stationary. These findings point to a scenario of a coherent signal of change no matter the glacier regime. This work provides new insights into glacier–climate relationships that can guide observational and analytical strategies.

The north-west margin of the main ice cap in south-western Ellesmere Island is fringed by ice-cored moraines. The formation of these moraines seems to be more complex than simple upwarping of the foliation bands at the margin of the ice cap. At one locality, where outer and inner zones can be distinguished on the basis of lithological composition, debris in the outer zone is composed of material from farther back under the ice cap than debris in the inner zone. In another locality, localized ridges cross each other independently of the trend of the main ridge.

The time required to obtain the quantity of debris forming the moraine at the ice surface is estimated to be between 65 and 300 years.

The magnitude and azimuth of horizontal ice flow at Camp Century, Greenland have been measured several times since 1963. Here, we provide a further two independent measurements over the 2017–21 period. Our consensus estimate of horizontal ice flow from four independent satellite-positioning solutions is 3.65 ± 0.13 m a−1 at an azimuth of 236 ± 2°. A portion of the small, but significant, differences in ice velocity and azimuth reported between studies likely results from spatial gradients in ice flow. This highlights the importance of restricting inter-study comparisons of ice flow estimates to measurements surveyed within a horizontal distance of one ice thickness from each other. We suggest that ice flow at Camp Century is stable on seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. The airborne and satellite laser altimetry record indicates an ice thickening trend of 1.1 ± 0.3 cm a−1 since 1994. This thickening trend is qualitatively consistent with previously inferred ongoing millennial-scale ice thickening at Camp Century. The ice flow divide immediately north of Camp Century may now be migrating southward, although the reasons for this divide migration are poorly understood. The Camp Century flowlines presently terminate in the vicinity of Innaqqissorsuup Oqquani Sermeq (Gade Gletsjer) on the Melville Bay coast.

This short note describes the equipment and procedures we have developed to mount end caps on ice-core specimens. The system typically achieves end-plane parallelism within 0.5 μm/mm of specimen diameter (i.e. a total indicator run-out of 0.002 in for a 4.0 in diameter specimen). The essential elements of the system are a holder and an alignment fixture. The holder firmly grips the ice core about its circumference by the compression of two series of O–rings. The alignment fixture clamps the holder to align the ice core precisely with the end caps. To bond the ice to the end cap we form a layer of 0°C water on the end cap; the water freezes immediately upon contact with the ice and forms a strong intimate bond. To date, we have used this system to install phenolic end caps on 101.6 mm diameter cores and aluminum end caps on 76.2 mm diameter cores of saline ice. We obtained a somewhat better tolerance with the aluminum caps (0.33 μm/mm of end-cap diameter), due primarily to the geometric stability of that material under the prevailing conditions. These specimens have been successfully tested in uniaxial and triaxial compression, and we expect that with appropriate end caps the system will be suitable for preparing tension specimens as well.

Satellite pictures have revealed the presence of ridges on the summits of ice rises in Antarctica. Because ice does not exhibit a critical stress it is conclugerd that these ridges must be produced by a snow accumulation process rather than by ice gerformation. A sand-mogerl analogue has been used to simulate this behaviour.

The average yearly net ablation rate on permanently ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Victoria Land, Antarctica, is 30 to 40 cm. This figure was calculated by a novel method utilizing a record of ablation which is incorporated in the ice cover of the lake. These values are higher than those measured on Ross Island 80 km. to the east; the difference in ablation rates for the two areas is attributed to the prevalence of katabatic winds in the climate of Taylor Valley. The Lake Fryxell ablation figure is applied to nearby Canada and Commonwealth Glaciers in the calculation of their ice budgets.

Measurements of snow properties across and down snow slopes have been used to calculate a safety margin — the difference between the basal shear strength and the applied static stress. Areas of basal deficit exist when the applied shear stress exceeds the basal shear strength (the safety margin is negative), and basal areas are pinned when the safety margin is positive. As the size of deficit increases, stresses within the overlying slab also increase, and these may be sufficient to cause an avalanche.

Measurements made on five slopes (four of which had avalanched) were characterized by considerable spatial variability, and the safety margin has been treated as a random function which varies over the slope. Statistical models of Vanmarcke (1977[a], 1983) have been applied to determine the most likely size of deficit required for avalanching (95% confidence). In one case, an avalanche occurred when the length of deficit was only 2.9 m, and in the other cases the length was always less than 7 m. This size of deficit is small compared with the total area of many avalanche slopes which suggests that avalanches initiate from small zones of deficit, and makes it difficult to locate a deficit with just a few tests.

The optimum sampling interval and number of tests required to yield an adequate estimate of the statistical parameters of the safety margin are also discussed.

We seek to infer the velocities within a cylindrical valley glacier from measured surface velocities. In the Newtonian viscous case, an explicit finite-difference scheme does not fulfil von Neumann’s condition for numerical stability. How this fact does not contradict the existence of Somigliana’s analytical solution is explained. A procedure is given which delays the onset of instability and allows velocities at shallow depths to be determined.

The light oblong elements like blades of grass and wooden sticks resting on the surface of melting snow change their position and arrangement (direction). They turn under the direct influence of the varying angle of the Sun’s rays due to the movement of the Sun. Turning of the elements gives a circular form of arrangement that has been termed ablation “sun spirals”.