Density of Glacier Ice

• Main Author: Shumskii,P. A.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1971
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; (*ICE; DENSITY); (*GLACIERS; GROWTH(PHYSIOLOGY)); THICKNESS; MELTING; PRESSURE; SURFACE PROPERTIES; VOLUME; COMPRESSIVE PROPERTIES; STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES; GEOLOGIC AGE DETERMINATION; USSR; TRANSLATIONS; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0720057; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0720057

Glaciers are moving masses of ice of atmospheric origin, containing a considerable amount of enclosed air. As new layers accumulate in regions of glacier nourishment, glacier ice is buried to very great depths from the surface (sometimes to 3-1 km), while in regions where the glacier is diminishing, the ice melts out towards the surface. As the ice is buried, it is compressed and densified under pressure of overlying layers, but as it returns to the surface, it partially expands again and becomes less dense. The pressure at depth in the glacier depends both on the depth below the surface and on the density of the ice, and the latter changes also under the influence of temperature differences between different parts of the glacier. At a given rate of accumulation or melting of the ice on the surface, the rate of submergence or rise of the ice at depth is related to its densification or expansion. Accordingly, the age of the ice also differs at this or that depth. (Author) Trans. from Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Doklady, v126 n4 1959.