The measurement of side-slip at Austerdalsbreen, 1959

Abstract

This is a summary of a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 3, No. 30, in 1961. It concerns observations of wall slip on the Austerdalsbreen glacier, originally described in 1956. The movement was measured in 1958-1959. This movement constituted a very significant fraction of the movement along the glacier's centerline and, in the authors' opinion, probably implies a high rate of slip along the bottom, which was largely confirmed by the vertical velocity profile. In 1959, the authors measured lateral slip in the Austerdal valley, which gave a constant rate of movement, varying with location, from 2 to 4 cm/day, in the plane of the glacier's movement.