A numerical treatment of the heat conduction in ice sheets subject to vertical shrinking, geothermal and frictional heating from below, and surface accumulation or ablation, is outlined and illustrated with results computed for an arbitrary ice thickness profile. The movement of the ice is found to increase its basal temperature when the ice is thick, and to decrease it in the fringe zone where the ice becomes thin. The treatment seems capable of extension to cover both the thermal and dynamic aspects of ice motion.

On the Ross Ice Shelf near Scott Base the annual surface snow accumulation is about 18 g.cm.−2. The increase of firn density with depth is greater than normal, due to horizontal compaction. Where the bottom of the ice shelf has a density less than 0.8 g.cm.−3 the shelf becomes brine-soaked by vertical infiltration. The bottom of the shelf is melting, at about 44 g.cm.−2 yr.−1 where the bottom is impermeable ice and 73 g.cm.−2 yr.−1 where the bottom is permeable firn. Surface velocities at 40 points within 30 km. of Scott Base vary between 4 and 840 m.yr.−1. From the pattern of velocities, ice thicknesses and surface features, a transition zone is delineated, separating the Ross Ice Shelf from the “McMurdo Ice Shelf”.

Massive calving of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, northern Ellesmere Island, occurred between August 1961 and April 1962. An estimated 596 km.2 of ice shelf with a volume of 18 to 24 km.3 became detached to form ice islands, five of which are very large with areas ranging from 70 to 140 km.2. The fracture pattern and the subsequent drift of these ice islands are discussed.

Seismic observations on the Salmon Glacier have shown that the glacier bed has a general V-shape with a depth-to-width ratio of about 1:2. These studies also indicate that the north terminus of the glacier effectively dams Summit Lake. Several reflections were recorded from surfaces transverse to the glacier length that curve from near tangency with the bottom surface of the glacier to a vertical attitude at the upper surface. These reflections are restricted to the part of the glacier near the source area.

A descriptive account of the glaciers of Jan Mayen is given, based on the results of two recent University of London expeditions. The positions of most of the glacier snouts are compared with previous records and a general advance of the ice margin is reported. The discovery of massive tillite deposits low down in the volcanic sequence is thought to confirm the post-Pleistocene origin of the present Beerenberg mountain. An outline of the geological and topographical evolution of the mountain is related to the history of its glaciation. Three major advances of the ice margin are described, the most recent having taken place within the last 350 years. The transient nature of high-altitude rime structures is demonstrated.

A series of glow-curve measurements were made to determine the general nature of the thermoluminescence of natural ice. The curves were made by subjecting the samples to ultraviolet radiation from a quartz-envelope mercury arc lamp while keeping the samples at liquid air temperature. The samples were then heated by passing a stream of air over the sample container. The resultant rise in temperature is non-linear but is nearly uniform from run to run. The light emitted was measured by the microphotometric portion of the standard apparatus for determination of mineral thermoluminescence.

Curves were obtained on samples collected from the ice tunnel in the ice cap at Jungfraujoch and from freshly fallen and old snow at Bern in Switzerland. A systematic variation in glow-curve shape was found. This variation appears to be directly related to the stress history of the ice. Ice which has been subjected to high shearing stress can he readily distinguished from ice which has not.

Previously reported experimental temperature data were used to compute the two components of the heat flux vector in the ice body adjacent to a crevasse in a glacier of the ice sheet of northern Greenland. Graphical differentiation techniques were employed. The computed components were used to synthesize values of the beat flux vector, including magnitude and direction. Improved accuracy was achieved over the previously reported technique of sketching heat flow lines orthogonal to the isotherms.

The Pindari Glacier is situated in the heart of the Kumaon Hills in lat. 30° 17′ N. and long. 80° 0′ E. This glacier was visited by the authors in October 1959 when morphological and other observations were made. On the basis of these observations, it appears that during the last hundred years the rate of retreat of this glacier has been phenomenal, and it may be as much as 132 ft. (40.2 m.)/yr. There is also evidence that in the past the Pindari valley suffered at least two glacial advances.

Coefficients of absorption of visible radiation are determined for sea ice and snow as a function of porosity of the medium and wave-length of energy refracted into it. A comparison is made between the values derived and those obtained by other investigators under similar snow conditions. A difference in results suggests a significant rôle of crystal size and orientation in the absorption properties of sea ice and snow.