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The Glen flow law for glaciers is a common relationship linking stress to strain. At its simplest,

$\Sigma = k\tau^n$

where $\tau$ is stress, $\Sigma$ is strain, and $n$ is roughly 3.

I understand that $k$ depends on temperature and material properties of the ice, and that it can vary over two or three orders of magnitude.

I have been searching the literature to find some example values of $k$ (also called $B$ and $A$) but so far I've had a surprisingly hard time. Is there somewhere that has a compilation of $k$ values from various studies?

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For glaciology related doubts, the first place to look is The Physics of Glaciers by Kurt M. Cuffey, W. S. B. Paterson. Going through the section 3.4.5 Controls on Creep Parameter A, should give you a good insight on the topic. It also includes example values.

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As well as recommendations for values of A as a function of temperature. enter image description here

This section is included in the preview of the book on Google books.

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  • $\begingroup$ Wonderful, thank you! I was actually looking in the google preview of this book and somehow failed to find these tables. By the way, hope you don't mind me saying -- "doubt" is a synonym for "question" in many languages, but not in english -- it's a common mistake. $\endgroup$
    – foobarbecue
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 15:16

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