Glacier Ice [Paperback]

Austin Post (Author), Edward R. Lachapelle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

The awesome beauty and majesty of glaciers, the world of ice which has shaped and reshaped large parts of the earth's surfaces, are presented here through more than 100 photographs and a closely integrated, informed text. Austin Post's series of aerial photographs of glaciers along the North Pacific Coast of North America and into the interior ranges of Alaska is supplemented with ground-based photographs from the Himalayas, Switzerland, Chile, and other parts of the world. The authors clearly explain the features illustrated. Their discussion of the effects of glaciers on the landscape, formation and mass balance, flow and fluctuations, moraines, ogives, and surface details is fascinating for the general reader as well as the expert. First published in 1971 and long out of print, "Glacier Ice" is reissued in a completely redesigned edition. Austin Post, formerly a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is a noted aerial photographer. Edward R. LaChapelle is professor emeritus of geophysics and atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The photographs are unique, for no-one else has taken so many extensive glacier-survey flights, and very few others possess the feeling for glaciers and alpine terrain expressed in these photographs... Glacier ice is recommended highly for the glaciologist, geologist, mountaineer, or just about anyone fascinated with the beauty of nature." American Scientist " ... Originally published in 1971, this revised edition [of Glacier Ice] is a truly wonderful book for anyone who has an interest in glaciers ... The book is really made by over 100 black and white photographs, many near full-page, which are best described as astounding. The text woven between the photographs is well written and informative and covers the fundamentals of glaciers ... this is a book I will recommend to students of Geography, particularly geomorphology and I would suggest that ... anybody else who comes into close proximity with glaciers should also take a look. I can guarentee it will be worthwhile."--Stephen D. Gurney, University of Reading, The Geographical Journal, March 2002

About the Author

Austin Post, formerly a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is a noted aerial photographer. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 145 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr; Rev Sub edition (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295979100
• ISBN-13: 978-0295979106
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,326,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So You Want To Know More About Glaciers?, March 25, 2001

By 

Dr Lawrence Hauser (NYC, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glacier Ice (Paperback)

Glacier Ice is a comprehensive survey which is both well-written and extensively illustrated. It is easy to read, but mastery of its contents would take considerable time and effort. So it is suited to a broad range of audience. Even a beginner with an interest in the subject would be able to get a good deal out of this book. Because the writing is straightforward and assumes nothing about the reader's expertise. And because Glacier Ice contains many photographs which are specifically presented to illustrate topics being discussed in the text.

For those who have spent time walking glacial surfaces in a state of awe and wonder, this book will answer all the questions that kept arising as you moved about in that supernal world. And it will clarify in detail the terms that you have heard tossed about but which needed further definition in your mind. Like moraine, for example. Which is a deceptively simple concept, but turns out to have tremendous explanatory power when it comes to the geophysics of landscape formation. In this regard, I had once been told that Long Island was a terminal moraine. Reading Glacier Ice rendered that nugget of information viable. I now have a picture in my mind's eye of just how the one-hundred mile-long land mass came into being.

One of the most visually dramatic surface features of glaciers is the multiple median moraines that form like layer cake when several ice flow tributaries converge into an ice field of gigantic proportion. Glacier Ice includes a number of photographs of this phenomena and an explanation for its occurrence. As with other aspects of glacier morphology taken up in this monograph, after a few moments time you can begin to picture vividly the way in which the forces at work between ice and rock would produce the effect you are studying.

One thing I particularly liked about Glacier Ice is that it was written with the mountain climber in mind. Thus descriptions of various glacier features are often accompanied by comments on the type of challenge the feature in question poses to the adventurer attempting to traverse it. This brought a topic of vastness down to human dimensions and I thought it a nice touch in what is essentially a textbook about the intersection of the force of gravity as it meets up with frozen water and rock.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on glaciers for the interested layman, July 14, 2010

By 

cincosauces - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glacier Ice (Paperback)

This is a delightful, awesome and clearly written book by two of the foremost glaciologists of the XXth century. The superb and unique photographs together with the correct yet easy to understand explanations make the book an excellent resource for everyone interested in glaciers.