VARIATIONS OF GLACIERS. XIX^ 



HARRY FIELDING REID 



Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 



The following is a summary of the Eighteenth Annual Report 

 of the International Committee on Glaciers.^ 



THE REPORT OF GLACIERS FOR 1912 



Swiss Alps. — The tendency of the Swiss glaciers to advance, 

 which began in 1910, and which disappeared in 191 1, following the 

 wonderfully clear summer of that year, again became evident in 

 191 2 (and more definitely than in 19 10), probably on account of the 

 very cold and wet summer of 191 2. Although the number of 

 glaciers retreating is still larger than the number of those advancing 

 the former number is diminishing and the latter increasing. 



Eastern Alps. — The heavy snowfall, the low summer tempera- 

 ture, and the hazy condition of the atmosphere reduced the melting 

 during the summer to such an extent that even in August the 

 glaciers were still covered with snow to their ends. One would 

 expect, as a consequence, a marked advance of the glaciers, but 

 this was by no means the case ; of the thirty-four glaciers observed, 

 fully twenty-eight were clearly in retreat, three were stationary 

 and only three (and they were small) were advancing. Whether 

 the advance of these three was due to the conditions holding during 

 this one summer, or whether it is the forerunner of a general advance 

 must be determined by the future. We can summarize by saying 

 that the retreat of the glaciers of the Eastern Alps continues, but 

 to a less marked degree than last year. 



Italian Alps. — Observations were made in the Piedmont, the 

 Lombard, and the Venetian Alps; they were greatly interfered 

 with by the heavy snowfall, but the glaciers still continue to retreat. 



French Alps and Pyrenees. — The tendency of the glaciers to 

 advance, shown in 191 1, has not been maintained in 191 2. Some 



' Earlier reports appeared in the Journal of Geology, III-XXI. 

 ^ Zeitschrift fiir Gletscherktmde, YIll (igis), 42-62. 



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