AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

The analysis of glacier wasting is a tripartate study which includes: the measurement of the quantity of wasting, an examination of the causes of wasting, and an investigation of the means of disposal of the waste products. This particular investigation is an attempt to improve upon the accuracy of measurements of wasting so that future investigators will be able to make more meaningful statements regarding cause. In the 1930's the first quantitative studies of the heat exchange at a melting ice surface were made in Scandinavia. By measuring the heat received at the surface from radiation, convection and conduction from the atmosphere, glacial-meteorologists were able, with limited accuracy, to relate the heat received at the surface to the melt measured from the surface lowering of the glacier. This type of study has now been carried out in many varied locations with a concommitant rise in the sophistication of the observational techniques.