Variations in Velocity of Athabasca Glacier with Time

Abstract

The physical setting of the Athabasca Glacier is described. Ablation of ice from the glacier contributes roughly 40 per cent of the annual outflow from the lake at the terminus. Variations of ice velocity, measured over periods ranging from a week to four months, are discussed. Few if any of these variations can be explained by changes of ice thickness. Variations in the amount of water at the glacier bed provide a plausible explanation however, and the data lend some support to Weertman’s ideas on this subject. Variations in annual velocity of the glacier are not correlated with stream flow, but passage of a kinematic wave provides an explanation of these variations. The wave is attributed to a climatic change which began about 1938.