Summer heat and ice balances on Hodges Glacier, South Georgia, Falkland Islands Dependencies

The heat and ice balances of a temperate sub-Antarctic cirque glacier were measured through the 1973–74 melt season at an altitude midway between the climatic firn limit and the snout. The melt calculated from mean daily measurements at a single level of net radiation, wind-speed, temperature, and humidity agreed with that observed at nearby budget stakes. In the central ablation zone, radiation provided (54 ± 6)% and sensible fluxes (46 ± 6)% of the heat income through the summer, which was exceptionally warm and sunny. Latent-heat fluxes made no significant contribution to the heat balance. The calculation by Smith (1960) that the radiative, sensible, and latent heat fluxes contribute about equally to ablation in this zone has not been substantiated by measurement. The measured partition of the glacier’s heat balance suggested that maritime influences on its regime are mitigated by its position in the lee of a major mountain range.