Snow-Patch Erosion in Iceland

Abstract

SNOW-PATCH erosion seems to be very important under peri-glacial conditions, and yet, as Bow an J has noted, there has been little mention of it. The subject was dealt with briefly after the Cambridge Iceland Expedi? tion, 1932,2 and in order to amplify the field-work carried out on that occasion a second visit was arranged for the summer of 1937. The site chosen was Snaefell, a Late Glacial volcano 3 with subsidiary cones, a few miles distant from the northern edge of Vatnajokull. We hoped to see much of the summer melting, and although Snaefell was not reached until mid-July, we were fortunate in that the season was a late one. Countless snow-patches lay within easy reach of the base camp; many were permanent, but most melted away during our stay. Snaefell rose 3500 feet above us, so that by climbing we could examine snow-patches in which the cycle of seasonal melting had not proceeded so far as with the lower ones. The snow-patches were rather more frequent on slopes facing north and west, but protection from the sun's rays seemed to be only one of the factors tending to preserve them, the chief factor being their bulk. The processes involved in snow-patch erosion fall into the larger category of phenomena, and the hollow in which the snow lies will here be referred to as the nivation hollow.