The purpose and scope of this book on theoretical glaciology is outlined
in the Introduction. Its aim is to study the theoretical aspects of'ice
mechanics' and the 'dynamics of ice masses in a geophysical environment.
For the mature reader, the book can serve as an introduction to
glaciology. How- ever, this is not what I would regard as advisible.
Glaciology is an inter- disciplinary science in which many special
scientific disciplines play their part, from descriptive geography to
fairly abstract mathematics. Advance- ment will evolve from a merger of
two or more branches of scientific specialization. In the last 20 years,
several researchers in different fields of glaciology have written books
emphasizing the aspects of their specialities and I have listed some
which are known to me at the end of the Introduction. When glancing
through these books, one recognizes that the mathematical aspects of
glaciology are generally glossed over and, to date, there seems to be
nothing available which concentrates on these. Therefore, I have written
this book in an effort to close the gap and no apologies are offered for
the mathematical emphasis. Rather, I believe that this neglect has, to a
certain extent, aggra- vated progress in the modelling of glaciology
problems.