ABSTRACT
How glaciers react to a (sudden) change in surface mass balance is often described by the kinematic wave theory. In 1885, L. de Marchi was the first to suggest the existence of such waves on glaciers (Marchi, 1911), and the theory was further developed by Finsterwalder (1907). Half a century later, Weertman (1958) and Nye (1958) reintroduced kinematic waves to glaciology and showed how this theory applies to glaciers. In a series of papers, Nye (1961; 1963a, b, c; 1965a, b) developed this theory further. The following discussion is based largely on these papers.
