A review of available information on six self-dumping glacier-dammed lakes indicates that instantaneous discharge during a jökulhlaup is proportional to some power of the cumulative volume of water released rather than being a direct function of time. Information on these and four other self-dumping lakes, moreover, indicates that the peak discharge at the end of each jökulhlaup is approximately proportional to the two-thirds power of the total volume of water released during the flood.

Acoustic emissions in the audio spectrum are reported from observations of laboratory experiments conducted on snow samples in uniaxial compression. A number of tests show the pattern of acoustic emissions to be a function of the rate of deformation. Over the frequency range 20 to 7 000 Hz acoustic emissions are associated with rates of deformation corresponding to brittle fracture of the snow sample. Though probably present, no acoustic emissions were detected from samples deforming plastically.

In an effort to ascertain the drainage mechanism of ice-dammed self-draining lakes, the author made observations on the behavior of the small Casement Glacier Lake in 1967. On 22 July when the first outburst of the lake occurred the water level dropped 31.92 m, leaving approximately 35 m of water remaining. Then, following a 2 week period of stability, the lake level fell gradually but steadily during the rest of the summer. Whereas a second rapid discharge occurred in 1965, one never did in 1967. The initial discharge was subglacial and resulted from flotation of the dam; the slow late-summer drainage, however, cannot be attributed to that mechanism and thus remains to be explained.

A brief photographic history of a man-induced ice cone is given. This ephemeral feature created around a gas well on Melville Island, N.W.T., Canada, indicates that the present climate is not capable of sustaining a natural ice mass. Disappearance of the ice is projected by 1974 without intervention of man.

Using time-domain pulsed radar, the intrastructure of a typical temperate glacier has been studied. Certain features have exhibited a rapid change in structure, and cannot be explained by density or ice characteristics of a stable nature. It is believed these time-dependent structures are related to the internal water system for glaciers.

For the observation of areal snow-depth distribution over a wide area, such as the Ishikari Plain in Hokkaido, Japan, existing telephone poles were used in place of the snow scales. Telephone pole number plates (telephone poles in Japan have number plates) were photographed by a 35 mm camera with zoom lens ranging from 80 mm to 200 mm through the window of the observation vehicle. The snow depth was calculated by the ratios of the length of the number plates to the distance between the lower edge of the number plates and the snow surface. Since measurements by direct sounding using a rod as compared with the values by the above method showed a good coincidence with an accuracy of ± 10 cm, it was considered satisfactory for snow depth observation over a wide area.