Jökull - 01.12.1953, Page 13

Fig. 4. Sections through the firn from pits I—VII.
Hjarnsnið uppmœld i gryfjum þeim, er grafnar voru.
be mendoned in this connection, that the Bom-
bardier, which weighs itself ab. 1.3 tons, carried
a load of ab. 1.3 tons, not counting the expedi-
tion members, who together weighed ab. 0.7
tons.
Accumulation on western Vatnajökull,
autumn 1952 — 1 July 1953.
As previously mentioned, one of the main
objects of our expedition was to supplement
our knowledge of the accumulation on western
Vatnajökull, especially within the area which
is drained to the Grímsvötn depression and
within the depression itself. (These areas to-
gether will in the following be named the
Grímsvötn intake area). The accumulation
measurements carried out by the Swedish-Ice-
landic Vatnajökull expedition of 1936—1938
(Ahlmann — Thorarinsson 1939) were limitéd to
the eastern half of the glacier, the westernmost
pit dug being situated ab. 25 km E of Grims-
vötn.
As a member of the French-Icelandic Vatna-
jökull expedition in March—April 1951, S. Rist
measured the accumulation in 11 pits on Vatna-
jökull, whereof one was situated within the
Grímsvötn intake area, about midway between
my pits IV and V (cf. Fig. 1). In that pit the
accumulation from autumn 1950 to 24 April
1951 was 415 cm, water equivalent 1860 mm,
corresponding roughly to an annual precipita-
tion of 2800 mm water. A short distance W of
the Grímsvötn intake area, in 1540 m height
and due E of Hamar, Rist dug another pit.
There the accumulation on 24 April was 1200
mm water, corresponding to an annual precipi-
tation of 1800 mm. The corresponding value
for a pit N of Kverkfjallahryggur and within
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