Glaciers, like rivers, have a branching structure which can be characterized by topological trees or networks. Probability distributions of various topological quantities in the networks are shown to satisfy the criterion for self-similarity, a symmetry structure which might be used to simplify future models of glacier dynamics. Two analytical methods of describing river networks, Shreve's random topology model and deterministic self-similar trees, are applied to the six glaciers of south central Alaska studied in this analysis. Self-similar trees capture the topological behavior observed for all of the glaciers, and most of the networks are also reasonably approximated by Shreve's theory.
AGU Index Terms: 1827 Glaciology; 1848 Networks; 1863 Snow and ice; 1869 Stochastic processes
Keywords/Free Terms: networks, topology.
JGR-Solid Earth 96JB02536
Vol. 101
, No. B11
, p. 25,511