This considerable work, undertaken on behalf of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command, is divided into 10 Parts which are listed as follows:
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Part 1. Distribution, study, characteristics, classification and terminology of glaciers.
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Part 2a. Glaciers of Alaska and adjoining parts of Canada.
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Part 2b. „ „ Western and Arctic Canada.
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Part 3.„ „ the United States, Mexico, and the Northern Andes.
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Part 4.„ „ the North Atlantic Islands.
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Part 5.„ „ Europe and Africa.
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Part 6.„ „ Western Arctic and Eastern Asia.
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Part 7a and b. Glaciers of the Central Asian mountain system.
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Part 8. Glacial geology; Cartography in the service of glaciology.
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Part 9. Glaciers and human activities, avalanches, etc.
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Part 10. Atlas of glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere.
The data have been compiled from observations made during the two years prior to 1957 by the Department of Exploration and Field Research of the American Geographical Society.
In a letter to the undersigned, Mr. Field writes that this mimeographed report is considered to be only a first draft of a more finished publication. Clearly some of the data obtained, although chiefly compiled from published works, must be considered tentative. To illustrate the immense amount of work which has gone to make up this publication, Part 10 includes no less than 48 separate maps.
Seeing that any subsequent publication on the same lines is not likely to appear for several years, the whole work, which was received in nine jackets, has been bound in 4 volumes for the Society’s library, Vol. 1 consisting of Parts 1 and 2a, Vol. 2 Parts 2b-4, and Vol. 3 Parts 5–10. Vol. 4 is a very comprehensive index.
Distribution has been very limited. In Great Britain, in addition to the Society’s copy of the report, only the Scott Polar Research Institute and the Royal Geographical Society have received copies.
In his letter Mr. Field writes that he will welcome comment and criticism. He wishes “to be notified of any errors or omissions so that errata sheets may be noted and new sources of information kept on file. Such information will be of help to anyone who in future may consult the report or use it as a basis for assembling a more complete and up-to-date account.” In this connexion there is one criticism I have to make. The compilers have obviously been in some difficulty in settling the title of the work. In the introduction its scope is defined as “concerned primarily with the location, distribution, characteristics, behaviour and significance of existing mountain glaciers”. Since the operative word is “existing” the use of the word “glaciation” in the title is thus not desirable.
In 1954 there was an editorial note in this Journal, Vol. 2, No. 16, 1954, p. 378, advocating the use of the words “glacierization”, “ice-cover” or “glacier-cover” for existing glaciers and ice sheets, and urging that the word “glaciation” should be used only in the sense of “land formerly under ice”. Of the eight letters published in the ensuing correspondence (ibid., p. 507–09) only one dissented from this distinction.
It is true that in this work there is brief reference to glacial geology and to one or two subjects not purely glaciological, but these constitute only a very minor part of the work. I suggest that a more suitable title would be “The mountain ice cover of the Northern Hemisphere”.
Finally I want to accord the greatest credit to Mr. Field and his many helpers for bringing together and compiling so many data from such widely separated regions.
