FLUCTUATIONS of GLACIERS 1975-1980 with Addenda from Earlier Years This Volume Continues the Earlier Works Published Under the Titles
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FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 1975-1980 with addenda from earlier years This volume continues the earlier works published under the titles FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 1959-1965 Paris, IAHS - UNESCO, 1967 FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 1965-1970 Paris, IAHS - UNESCO, 1973 FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 1970-1975 Paris, IAHS - UNESCO, 1977 FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 1975-1980 (Vol. IV) A contribution to the International Hydrological Programme Compiled for the Permanent Service on the Fluctuations of Glaciers of the IUGG-FAGS/ICSU by Wilfried Haeberli Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich International Commission on Snow and Ice of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences and UNESCO, Paris 1985 Published jointly by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences 19 rue Eugène-Carrière, 75018 Paris and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris . Printed by Vontobel-Druck AG, Feldmeilen, Switzerland The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the publishers . concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or of its authorities, or concerning the frontiers of any country or territory. (C) IAHS/UNESCO 1985 Printed in Switzerland IAHS UNESCO: ISBN 92-3-102367-5 PREFACE In many mountainous regions of the world, observations on glaciers have been undertaken for centuries for scientific as well as practical pur- poses. The main international purpose of these observations has focused on a better understanding of the evolution of climate, while at the local level the prediction and reduction of glacier catastrophes have become fields of primary concern. During this century, the task of assessing the influence of perennial ice masses on the water cycle has gained considerable interest. Regular glacier observations, which were originally limited to the more densely'populated mountain regions, have now become regular international undertakings. Snow and ice studies, for instance, have played an important role in the activities of the International Hydrological Decade (IHD, 1965-1974) and of the Inter- national Hydrological Programme (IHP) which followed the Decade. Evidence is now accumulating that man's energy consumption could have strong impacts on the global climate in the near future. Changes of climate would seriously affect all forms of ice on earth and could lead to considerable problems related with, for example, water management in semi-arid regions irrigated by glacier meltwater. For this reason, it has become evident that land ice can be considered a sensitive indicator of ongoing changes in the energy balance at the earth's surface. It is in this context that Unesco and UNEP support the activities of the international services which collect and publish standardized glacier data: the Permanent Service on the Fluctuations of Glaciers and the Temporary Technical Secretariat for the World Glacier Inventory, both located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich. To guarantee the continuity of the observations and to further improve the use of the resulting information, steps are presently being taken to merge the two services. The present report, Volume IV of "Fluctuations of Glaciers" is published by IAHS with the support of Unesco. The opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations. UNESCO, D~vision of Water Sciences, Paris, 1985. FOREWORD The International Commission on Snow 'and Ice (ICSI) is a direct descen- dent of the former International Commission on Glaciers (1894-1927), which was created to monitor the fluctuations of gla~iers all around the world in order to understand their relations to climatic changes . .Although it was recognized early that glaciers respond sensitively to variations in climate, the time ·scale òf this response is too long for significant results to be obtained by a single generation of scientists, and an institutional, permanent service appear~d to be necessary. Thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of a legion of volunteers in many countries, this service has survived two World Wars, economic vicissitudes and taken part in the dramatic changes in ac í.ence during the past century. This volume is the latest in a distinguished series, in which each addition adds to the value of those previously published, at the same time reflecting the changes in the priorities and methods of scientific investigation. The general pattern observed in the dev~lopment of each geoscience can be r ecognised in the study o f q Lac iers. At the beginning, on ly geographic observations and descriptions were made. Next, the em~hasis was on investigation of regularities of structure and motion by precise surveys and quantitative measurements; at this stage some "l.aws" to predict and. explain the behaviour of glaciers in terms of climate, g rad ien t e tc . wer e s u_gg e st e d b Y Pe n c k a nd B r ü ck n e r, Ah l m a n n , R ich a rd Finsterwalder, and others, and tested against field observations. This approach has been followed by the development of physical and mathemat- ical models to reduce the complexities of.glacier behaviour to a problem in mechanics and calo~ics. Although the first such models were devised by Sebastian Finsterwalder in 1903 and Weinberg in 1906, we may date the start of modern glacier modelling from the ICSI symposium held in Chamonix in 1958. It may be noted that mathematical modelling t echn.ì que s were applied to glacier problems somewhat earlier than to problems in most other geosciences. MeaDwhile, and in the ~ollowing years, many new observational techniques such as VHF sounding, ·ice core drilling, or satellite imagery and alti- metry have appeared, which, together with a tremendous development in logistics, have provided a wealth of reliable and detailed information II about glacier characteristics and behaviour that wa~ not possible before. The,study of glaciers, an important brancn of geoscience in its own right, and closely related to climatic studies and hydrology, has also become important to petrology, ~aterials science, cosmology, regional pollution, northern navigation and other areas of science and human affairs. Con.sequently, leSI has considerably broadened its scope, and its initial major activity of monitoring fluctuations of glaciers has become a Permanent Service of the Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Services (FAGS) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), under the tutorship of ICSI. These developments do not mean that the monitoring of glacier fluctua- tions has become less important or obsolete. Today more than ever before, glaciologists need reliable and representative data on glacier behaviour to tune their models or to test their theories. A heàlthy dialectic has started between the Service which gathers the field data and the users of these data who ask for more data or for improvements in the way they are collected. Each piece of information obtained by systematic on-the-ground measurement is more laborious to acquire and more expensive to the data user than any piece of information obtained from an orbiting satellite; but data obtained by remote sensing will not replace direct field observations, although it can enhance their value. Satellite imagery is of va¡ue to glacier studies in its own right; it can be used to give generalized information when field data are missing, and can further enhance the significance of ground measur~- ments by providing comparative observations of nearby glaciers or recor- ding the timing of events between field observations. Teams of volun- teers for field observations and efficient people to gather the data according to established procedures are more useful than ever to the modern study of glaciers. It is the work of these teams that is presen- ted in this volume. In any discussion about glacier fluctuations, it is usual to stress the .ì mp ort ance of monitoring these fluctuation,s in order to allow better management of water resources, or to detect world-wide climatic changes at an early stage. The recent broadening of glacier studies to be relevant to a wide range of sciences and important human problems has been noted above. Without minimizing in the least these important and obvious goals and developments, we should like to draw attention to a more idealistic bu~ nonetheless vital role. III The hoble ~~jective of,UNESCO, UNEP and other agenqies forming part of the United Nations system is to foster international cooperation in the advancement of science and exchange of information, for the sake of peace, for the development of less favoured countries, and for the bene f it o f mankind. At its m odest. rank, the PSFG contributes to this objective. ,Glaciers are found in many parts of the world, from the tropics to the poles, and their presence and their value to world science bears no relation to political systems or the economic develop- ment of the countries in which they are located. Through its requests for data from all glacierized regions, ,the PSFG brings isolated agen- cies and geosciences from many lands into the world-wide scientific community. Being involved ina continuing study backed by an inter- national agency helps the institutions and their staffs.to obtain facil- i~ies for fi~ld studies, to produce scientific publications and to travel. They contribute important information to a world-wide scien- t ì f ì ce nt erpr ì se , and exchange scientific data directly with leading glacier scientists in other countries. In its small way, the PSFG helps scientists in many countries realize, perhaps, that it is not necessary to have a large budget in every branch of science or a,NASA or a CERN on their doorstep in order to be able to contribute significantly to that most important undertaking of mankind: the advancement of the scientific understanding of our shared environment.