Recent observations on the surging Otto Glacier, Ellesmere Island

Abstract

Air photographs show that the Otto Glacier in northwestern Ellesmere Island started to surge sometime between 1950 and 1959, with the result that the terminus advanced about 3 km as a floating ice tongue. Maps prepared from the 1959 photographs and from additional photographs taken in 1964 show a further advance of 2-3 km. Information from a subglacial relief map of the terminal part of the glacier, constructed from the results of radio-depth sounding over the glacier in 1966, may have a bearing on the mechanism of glacier surges. Other glaciers in northern Ellesmere Island show features indicative of past surges.