Abstract
The perennial snow patches, which exist in the mountain ranges in the central and northern parts of Japan, can be considered as follows, (a) one of the processes of metamorphism of snow to ice, (b) a transient state from seasonal snow cover to cirque glacier, (c) a system of water balance, (d) one of the indicators of climate and climatic trends, and (e) one of the objects for climatic control. Therefore, the studies on perennial snow patches will be related to various research fields in earth sciences, namely, physics of snow and ice, glaciology, climatology, paleoclimatology, meteorology, hydrology and geomorphology.
