Glaciological Research in Alaska— Field 129 



Research Contract with the Office of Naval Research, air lift 

 provided by the Air Force and the Navy, equipment supplied 

 by the Signal Corps, Quartermaster Corps, and Corps of Engi- 

 neers, and personnel assigned by the Air Weather Service. Local 

 facilities in Juneau were provided by the Forest Service, and 

 substantial help was received from other institutions, among 

 which may be mentioned the Arctic Institute, the Geological 

 Society of America, and the U. S. Geological Survey. 



Current investigations of Alaskan glaciers are along three dis- 

 tinct lines: first, the comprehensive and detailed studies at high 

 level represented by Project Snow Cornice and the Juneau Ice 

 Field Research Project; second, studies at low levels of the 

 terminal portions of the glaciers and the moraine patterns re- 

 sulting from variations in the recent past; and third, desk work 

 in which all existing data gleaned from aerial photographs, 

 maps, and contemporary and historical records may be corre- 

 lated with current studies in the field. It should be emphasized 

 that periodic visits to the glacier termini have not been super- 

 seded by the more specialized studies of regimen, structure, and 

 ice mechanics on the glaciers themselves. Actually, there is a 

 continuing need for both. The spot checking of the behavior 

 of termini indicates the local and regional trends of glacier vari- 

 ations in the past and present, while the more intensive studies, 

 especially at higher levels, provide an opportunity of determin- 

 ing the various causative factors involved in glacier variation, 

 as well as affording a means of carrying out field research on 

 the mechanics of flow and other characteristics of glacier ice 

 and neve. 



As Professor H. W:son Ahlmann has stated: "To serve its 

 aims glaciology must in future be founded in the first place on 

 physics, mechanics, crystallography and meteorology and must 

 belong to the complex of sciences that in certain countries go 

 by the name of geophysics." (1, p. 4). From the study of exist- 

 ing glaciers in Alaska, we may expect to broaden our knowledge 

 of climatic change, both in the present and in the interval since 

 the last Ice Age on this continent; further information may be 

 gained on the delicate balance of meteorological factors which 



