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“Temperate ice permeability, stability of water veins and percolation of internal meltwater” by L. Lliboutry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Nye
John Nye*
Affiliation:
H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TL, England
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Information

Type
Correspondence
Information
Journal of Glaciology , Volume 43 , Issue 144 , 1997, pp. 372
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1997 

Sir,

This paper begins by saying: “According to Nye (1976), the outburst of glacier-dammed lakes, in particular the well-known Icelandic jökulhlaups, should proceed from irreversible broadening of the capillary veins”. The paper quoted, in fact, says exactly the opposite. Indeed, it has a complete section (section 6) explaining why vein flow should notlead to jökulhlaups. It is hard to see how such a fundamental misunderstanding could arise but I am glad to have this opportunity of correcting it.

A few lines further on there is a second point. Professor Lliboutry says “Nye’s (1976) theory… contradicts Nye and Mae (1972)” but does not elaborate further. No contradiction was intended. If he could say what kind of contradiction he has in mind here, I could try to resolve it.

24 February 1997

References

Lliboutry, L. 1996. Temperate ice permeability, stability of water veins and percolation of internal meltwater. J. Glaciol., 42(141) 201–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nye, J. F. 1976. Water flow in glaciers jökulhlaups. tunnels and veins. J.Glaciol., 17(76) 181–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nye, J. F.and Mae, S. 1972. The effcet of non-hydrostatic stress on inter-granular water grains and lenses in ice. J. Glaciol., 11(61), 81–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar