The glaciological and meteorological observations were carried out on the perennial snow patch, named as “Hamaguri-yuki” at 2750m above ses level, in the cirque at Tsurugizawa of the Tateyama mountain range in the Central Japan (36°36'N and 137°37'E). The obtained results are as follows,
1) The area of the “Hamaguri-yuki” snow patch at the end of ablation season in 1967 was 4778m
2 and its mass was 0.9 × 10
4 tons, that is, 1.3% of the mass at the beginning of ablation season, 67.5 × 10
4 tons.
2) It was found by core drilling that the “Hamaguri-yuki” snow patch in 1967 consisted of three ice layers, the oldest of which was estimated as three years old. It can be said, therefore, that this snow patch once disappeared completely or nearly completely in 1964, after the observations were made on the same snow patch by the Toyama University Science Research Organization in 1963.
3) The “Hamaguri-yuki” snow patch in 1967 could be divided into the accumulation area and ablation ares, the accumulation area ratio (AAR) being 0.54.
4) Size of ice grains of the “Hamaguri-yuki” snow patch in 1967 was less than 1.5mm. It was found by the ice fabric studies that the crystallographic orientation of the principal axis of ice grains at the lowest part of the snow patch showed a tendency to concentrate in a direction parallel to the slope of ground at the base.
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