At its meeting in Oslo in 1948 the International Commission on Snow and Glaciers passed a resolution that “attempts should be made to standardize a system of snow cover measurement.” As a preliminary step a Committee was set up to consider a suitable classification of snow. Its members were Mr. V. J. Schaefer (United States), Mr. G. J. Klein (Canada) and Dr. M. de Quervain (Switzerland).
In the autumn of 1949 the Committee produced a tentative snow classification, the aim of which was “to promote uniformity in the method of describing snow and to simplify the correlation of data obtained by different groups.” Comments and suggestions were invited for improving it, and the tentative form was put into operation for a time in America in order to expose any flaws.
The Committee sent this classification to the British Glaciological Society requesting comments and criticisms. A Meeting of the Society was accordingly arranged and took place in May 1950 attended by many glaciologists and meteorologists. Dr. de Quervain came over from Switzerland for the Meeting. He explained the principles which had guided the Committee and answered numerous questions.
The classification was generally approved, with certain minor reservations and some suggestions for its improvement. These, together with comments from other sources, are now (December 1950) being considered. After all points have been finally settled the full classification will be published in this Journal.
