ISSN 0019–1043 Ice News Bulletin of the International Glaciological Society Number 156 2nd Issue 2011 Contents 2 From the Editor 22 Annals of Glaciology 53(60) 4 Recent work 22 Staff changes 4 Norway 23 Annual General Meeting 2011 4 Ice cores, glaciochemistry, black carbon 28 From the President 5 Calving 29 Meetings of other societies 6 Glacial hydrology 29 UKPN Cryospheric and Remote Sensing 6 Mass balance Workshop and Summer School 9 Sea ice 31 News 11 River ice 31 A new glossary of mass balance and 12 Antarctica related terms 13 Snow, avalanches, hazards 33 Second Circular: International 15 Remote sensing Symposium on Seasonal Snow and Ice, 17 Global climate change, carbon cycle Lahti, Finland, May–June 2012 17 Miscellaneous 41 Second Circular: International 18 Abbreviations Symposium on Glaciers and Ice Sheets 20 International Glaciological Society in a Warming Climate, Fairbanks, 20 Journal of Glaciology Alaska, June 2012 21 Books received 49 Glaciological diary 22 Annals of Glaciology 52(59) 52 New members Cover picture: Crevasse field, Asgard Range, McMurdo Dry Valleys. Photo: Joel Barker. Scanning electron micrograph of the ice crystal used in headings by kind permission of William P. Wergin, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture EXCLUSION CLAUSE. While care is taken to provide accurate accounts and information in this Newsletter, neither the editor nor the International Glaciological Society undertakes any liability for omissions or errors. 1 From the Editor Dear IGS member When this second issue of ICE arrives made a formal decision on ‘online only’ through your letterbox, online renewal for membership. As expected, it was approved 2012 membership will have been available and hence we offer such a membership for some weeks. You have responded for 2012. It is about 12% cheaper than a positively and in the first 24 hours we had ‘combined’ membership and hopefully you over 80 members renewing. We need as will appreciate this additional service from many of you as possible to renew before the IGS. Council also decided to keep the we send out the first issue of 2012 at membership rates unchanged from 2011 the beginning of next year. We are well as a gesture of goodwill in light of the advanced with that issue at the time of worldwide economic situation. Normally writing this editorial. As I have mentioned we follow the ‘Retail Price Index’ here before, it is costing the IGS £10000–£15000 in Britain, which is running at 5% at the to send out the Journal to those that renew moment. This means that our costs will late. So please renew promptly. be going up by 5% over the next year. To Another item of great importance help us offset this we would like to ask which I discussed in the last ICE editorial you again, please renew your membership is ‘online only’ membership. When we promptly; as I explained earlier, it will first investigated the possibility of such a save us a considerable amount of money membership our accountants informed us not having to send out individual copies that the government considers ‘online’ to of the Journal to members who renew late. be a service and as such membership would In addition to saving the IGS some money, be subject to sales tax, or VAT as it is known you will avoid the inconvenience of losing in the UK. That information prevented the access to all of our online publications. You IGS Council from making any decisions on are given three months ‘grace’ but once the the issue at its meeting in La Jolla last June. three months are up, your online access Instead Council agreed to ask a VAT expert will be automatically cut off. to investigate this further, as an increase Another issue I would like to discuss is of 20% on the regular membership for an that I have received complaints about the ‘online only’ would mean that opting out of pricing of our symposia. In defence of our receiving a hard copy of the Journal would pricing policy I would like to point out what cost more than receiving one – it simply participants receive with their registration did not make sense. So we commissioned fee. But first I would like to point out that last the VAT experts at our accountants to do a April I went to the EGU in Vienna. It cost me thorough review of the VAT rules. Luckily €380 as an EGU member. And I did not even the verdict was that an online access to IGS receive a single cup of coffee in that price! publications was a ‘benefit’ of membership, Compare that to what you get at an IGS similar to receiving a discount to an IGS symposium. You get an icebreaker, a ban- symposium, and as such it was ‘outside the quet, refreshment throughout the week and scope’ of VAT regulations. So we breathed sometimes lunch as well (like in La Jolla a sigh of relief and now Council has this year). There is usually another social 2 evening, e.g. a BBQ with beer and wine. contribute on an intermittent or regular And quite often we include a Wednesday af- basis please get in touch with us and we ternoon excursion. You also get an extensive will set you up to be a contributor. Proceedings volume on a flashdrive and a I would again like to ask all of you to copy of the Annals of Glaciology. We do not encourage your colleagues and students charge you for submitting an abstract either, to join the IGS. In 2011 our membership and you can submit as many as you like. rose by 50 and was the highest since 2002. And if you submit a paper to the Annals you We do hope that the new ‘online only’ do not have to pay page charges on the first membership will encourage new members four pages. Of course, you only have to pay to join, as we have heard that actually if your paper is accepted. I hope this will receiving hard copies was a reason not to make you appreciate just how much ‘value join because people felt a hard copy was for money’ you get when attending an IGS only taking up space and was never read symposium. Not to mention the social as- anyway. So we listened and have done pect and how enjoyable and intimate our what you asked us to do. Now is your meetings are. opportunity to join, we need to continue Another item I would like to bring the trend of increased membership every to your attention is the fact that the IGS year. Hopefully we can break the record has started a blog. We are anxious to get for the number of members, which was set people blogging, so if you feel you can in 2001. Magnús Már Magnússon Secretary General 3 Recent work Norway ICE CORES, GLaciOCHEMISTRY, BLacK higher values than those at the western side. caRBON Linking the observed atmospheric equivalent black carbon BC concentration at the Zeppelin NSINK: Nitrogen dynamics in the winter station, Ny-Ålesund with air mass trajectories, snowpack shows that generally higher concentrations are Mats Björkman (NPI); Johan Ström (MISU); Tjarda observed when the air comes from the east than Roberts, Rafael Kühnel, Elisabeth Isaksson (NPI) from west. This could be one factor to explain We investigat the role of Svalbard snowpack’s why the measured black carbon content in snow as a reservoir for nitrogen compounds and in east Svalbard presented systematically higher the snowpack’s role for the lower atmospheric values compared to the western side. conditions as well as for biological impacts within Email: [email protected] snow, glacier and downstream ecosystems. Work also involves implications for ice core analysis A new Svalbard ice core from Lomonosovfonna and processes important for ice core signals. E. Isaksson (NPI); M. Schwikowski (PSI & UB); V. Email: [email protected] Pohjola (UU) In March 2009 we drilled two new ice cores NSINK: Atmospheric chemistry and climatology of 149 m and 37 m depth, respectively, at the Rafael Kühnel (NPI); Johan Ström (MISU); Tjarda Lomonosovfonna (1202 m asl, 78°49’24.4’ Roberts, Mats Björkman, Elisabeth Isaksson (NPI) N;17°25’59.2’E). At 149 m the drill got stuck and We investigate climatological data and was released by applying antifreeze. According atmospheric composition during the last 20 years, to the radar measurements at the drill site the ice with focus on nitrogen deposition events and air depth is about 190.0 +/ 5.1 m. The main goal with transport patterns to Svalbard. these core is to reconstruct the development of Email: [email protected] black carbon in this part of the Arctic. Prodex – black carbon Email: [email protected] Carl Egede Bøggild (UNIS); Rune Solberg (NR) Svalbard ice cores and climate variability The objective of the project has been to determine E. Isaksson (NPI); D. Divine (UiT); T. Martma (IG whether the black carbon content of snow and ice TUT); J. Moore (AC); V. Pohjola (UU); R. V de Wal can be retrieved from satellite information and to (IMAU) outline concepts for algorithms for BC retrieval. Over the last 10 years Norwegian scientists Since 2008 detailed field sampling has taken together with colleagues from several other place on selected glaciers on Svalbard where nations have retrieved ice cores, spanning measurement of surface albedo have been made several hundreds of years, from three major together with the quantification of impurities glacier-ice caps in Svalbard; Lomonosovfonna, on the melting glacier surfaces. The preliminary Austfonna and Holtedahlfonna.