Glacier Flow and the Growth of the Glacier Grain

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Seligman, G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1947
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000001155; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000001155

The crystallographic results of the Jungfraujoch Research Party’s investigations were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in August 1939. It has since occurred to me that insufficient attention was drawn to another factor affecting the movement and growth of the glacier grain, namely the possibility of pressure melting, followed by regelation. There are numerous air spaces between glacier grains at all stages until they approach the state of pure ice, and it seems natural that while two neighbouring grains (which are continually moving differentially to one another) arc in contact, pressure melting, will take place, and that when the film of water reaches an air space it will refreeze. The effect will become less as the firn passes into ice owing to the decrease in the amount of air space and the increased interlocking, of the grains, which makes their differential movement more difficult. Naturally, also, pressure melting would not take place at those points in the glacier which were appreciably below freezing point.