O. Schimpp has combined the Alpine and the Scandinavian schools of glacier measurement and applied them to the 8 km. long Hintereisferner. The Alpine school consists in the accurate determination of the surface and the rate of movement of glaciers. On the other hand, the Scandinavian school founded by Ahlmann determines the ice regime of glaciers by measuring the accumulation and ablation with the help of stakes. Schimpp measured the spatial ice-velocity, i.e. the horizontal and vertical speeds, in 10 transverse sections. This was done at 5 to 10 points on each transverse section. The measurements were repeated monthly throughout the year. The points of measurement were marked by posts stuck into the ice. At the same time these posts served as stakes and with their help the accumulation and ablation were measured each month at every point.
The vertical velocity components of the ice have shown that: (1) above the snow line in the firn region a firm mass M is submerged yearly; below the snow line an exactly corresponding mass M is brought to the surface by the vertical components of the movement. (2) This mass M corresponds to the amount of ice flowing through every year in the profile of the glacier at the snow line. These observations (1) and (2) apply equally to stationary and non-stationary glaciers (3). The actual firn mass accumulated each year in the firn region and the mass actually melting in the ablation region vary according to the weather conditions in each particular year. The values found by Schimpp in the years 1952/53 and 1953/54 are interesting: The vertical velocity components gave M = 2,180,000 m.3 of ice. In the firn region in 1952/53 he found a deficit of 1,640,000 m.3, in 1953/54 an excess of 750,000 m.3. These figures are quite normal. Conditions were different in the ablation region. Here there was a large deficit in the two years: of 7,210,000 m.3 in 1952/53 and of 6,220,000 m.3 in 1953/54.
Schimpp discusses this large preponderance of ablation. It lies in the extra-long tongue of the Hintereisferner, which is the remains of the glacier Hochstand of 1850. Schimpp calculated the size of the tongue of the Hintereisferner that would correspond to today’s conditions. He used the mass M and the current ablation magnitudes. The tongue would in that case be only 2.1 km., whereas today it is 5.3 km.
Schimpp’s results concerning ice velocities are of great interest. They are not constant during the year. The changes are of the order of 40 to 50 per cent. They are caused by a kinetic wave coming down the glacier from the highest firn region to the end of the tongue within a year. The wave starts when melting in the highest firn region starts in May or June.
In a short reportReference Finsterwalder 1 I have discussed and interpreted the work of Schimpp and made additional comments on the methods and results of the Alpine and Scandinavian schools of glacier research. In this connection Ahlmann’s findings on the 14 July Glacier in Spitsbergen are of interest. There he also found a very large deficit of mass during a year and called it most disastrous for the glaciers. In the case of the Hintereisferner the deficit is of a similar size. By combining the Alpine and Scandinavian research methods it was possible to clear up the origins of the deficit and its relation to the actual real nourishment of the glacier. It is of special importance that in the case of the Hintereisferner the large deficit is not caused by the climatic conditions of today, but by the climate of former times. This result is also of importance for selecting typical glaciers, which react quickly to climatic changes and allow correct conclusions to he reached as to change of climate. Schimpp’s results concerning ice movement and glacier waves seem to be of real importance in connection with Nye’s new theoretical investigations on glacier flow.
