Glaciological Studies on Mount Wrangell, Alaska, 1961

Abstract

Measurements of temperature,density, hardnesss and stratigraphic profiles were made in the upper 10 m of the snow cover in the caldera and an adjacent snow-filled crater. Facies parameters calculated for the summit area, 4000-4300 m at 62 degrees N, compare well with the same parameters near the dry-snow line on the Greenland ice sheet. This comparison is part of the purpose of the Mt Wrangell study within the framework of the "hypothetical North Polar Ice Sheet", based on a concept that the Greenland ice sheet behaves as though it belonged to a much larger ice sheet, which is symmetrical about the North Pole. The mean annual temperature, based on the measurements at 10 m depth in the caldera and inactive craters, is -20C. The mean annual value of accumulation in smooth central areas of the caldera is >100 cm water equivalent. Velocity of surface movement in the caldera averages about 5 cm/day or ~20 m/yr.