Névé-Capped Snow Pillars Resulting from Ablation on Teton Glacier, Wyoming

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Fryxell, Roald
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1965
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Pillar; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018724; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000018724

Abstract Névé -capped snow pillars found on Teton Glacier in August 1956 were formed in the same manner as the ice cones of glacier tables, the névé acting in this instance as the protective cover usually provided by slabs of rock. Measurements of the largest pillar indicate a minimum ablation of 6.5 ft. (1.98 m.) of snow on the surface of Teton Glacier for that summer up to 7 August, and suggest an average rate of snow wastage of 1.5 in. (3.8 cm.) per day during this time. The pillars appear to have been produced by ablation through melting due primarily to direct radiation but supplemented by indirect radiation and conduction-convection influenced by air currents moving across the surface of the glacier.