Abstract:

The Nelson Ice Cap is a polar-maritime glacier. The development of snow and firn depends on wet metamorphic process under the effect of melting water infiltration-freezing. The velocity of densification process of snow depends on temperature condition, the amount of the melting water and itself physical characteristics. The process of densification appears in the form of homogenization and little change. The differences in climatic condition and amount of melting water cause differences in time, depth and shapes of the ice formation. The depth of the ice formation is about 23 to 25 m, and the time 17 to 19 years. Zones of the ice formation can be distinguished as warm infiltration-recrystallization, infiltration-congelation and ablation zones. The disrtibution of these zones is apparently influenced by climatic variation.