The Editor,
The Journal of Glaciology
Sir,
Supplementing Dr. Robert P. Sharp’s letter in the Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 1, No. 10, p. 583, there is certainly melting at 12,000 ft.Footnote † and higher, but one half or more of the snow is lost by evaporation. This is what Francois Matthes meant in his “Ablation of snow-fields at high altitudes by radiant solar heat,” Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 1934 p. 380–85. I am glad to defend him and in support of this I quote below from a letter from myself to Oliver Kehrlein, Chairman of the Glacier Committee of the Sierra Club and the Glacier Sub-committee of the American Geophysical Union.
I also append extracts from other letters showing that final pronouncement is not easy.