WAVES OF ACCELERATED MOTION IN A GLACIER APPROACHING SURGE: THE MINI-SURGES OF
ABSTRACT. Periods of dramatically accelerated motion, in which the flow velocity increases suddenly from about 55 cm/d to a peak of 100-300 cm/d and then decreases gradually over the course of a day, occurred repeatedly during June and July 1978-81 in Variegated Glacier (Alaska), a surging-type glac...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.429.5422 http://www.igsoc.org/journal/33/113/igs_journal_vol33_issue113_pg27-46.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT. Periods of dramatically accelerated motion, in which the flow velocity increases suddenly from about 55 cm/d to a peak of 100-300 cm/d and then decreases gradually over the course of a day, occurred repeatedly during June and July 1978-81 in Variegated Glacier (Alaska), a surging-type glacier that surged in 1982-83. These "mini-surges " appear to be related mechanistically to the main surge. The flow-velocity peak propagates downglacier as a wave at a speed of about 0.3 km/h, over a reach of about 6 km in length. It is accompanied by a propagating pressure wave in the basal water system of the glacier, in which, after a preliminary drop, the pressure rises rapidly to a level greater than the ice-overburden pressure at the glacier bed, and then drops gradually over a period of 1-2 d, usually reaching a new low for the |
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