Dye tracer tests of water movement at the glacier Austre Okstindbreen, Norway

Theakstone, W. H. & Knudsen, N. T. 1981. Dye tracer tests of water movement at the glacier Austre Okstindbreen, Norway. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 35, 21–28. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. Dye tracer tests of water movement through the glacier Austre Okstindbreen in three successive summers have shown that, whilst some water passes rapidly through the glacier from points of entry at the surface, considerable delays characterise throughflow from many points. The tests, together with other hydrological studies at the glacier, indicate that discrete but changeable drainage systems exist within Austre Okstindbreen during the summer. Observations suggest that the systems are well represented by the model derived by Stenborg (1969, 1973) for two Swedish glaciers. Relatively low ice permeability is indicated by the results of a test in which tracer injected into water entering a crevasse re-emerged in water overflowing from another crevase, and in which one water-filled crevasse remained tracer-free although the water in another crevasse only a metre away became strongly coloured by the dye.