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Published October 16, 1964 | public
Journal Article

Glacier Geophysics

Kamb, Barclay

Abstract

From physical measurements on glaciers and experimental studies of ice properties a framework of concept and theory is being built which bids fair to place glaciers among the more quantitatively understandable phenomena in the earth sciences. Measurements of flow velocity, deformation and stress, ice thickness and channel configuration, temperature, internal structure of theice, mass and energy balance, and response to meteorological variables all contribute to this understanding, as do still other measurements hardly discussed here, such as electrical properties, radioactive age measurements, and detailed studies of chemical and isotopic composition. The obvious goals of this work—the interpretation of past and present glacier fluctuations in terms of changes in world climate, and the prediction of glacier behavior—remain elusive, even though a good conceptual groundwork has been laid for dealing with the more tractable aspects of these problems. Intriguing recent discoveries have been made about such matters as the way in which glaciers react dynamically to changing conditions, the inter-relations between thermal regime and ice motion, the structural mechanisms of glacier flow, and the changes produced in ice by flow. One can recognize in these developments the possibility that concepts derived from the study of glacier flow may be applicable to phenomena of solid deformation deep in the earth. In this way glacier geophysics may have a useful impact beyond the study of glaciers themselves.

Additional Information

© 1964 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Various aspects of my own work reported here were supported by the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Geological Society of America. Robert P. Sharp commented helpfully on the manuscript, and J . A. Bender kindly furnished the illustration for Fig. 3. This article is contribution No. 1250 of the Division of the Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023