AbstractFracture-toughness testing of both fresh-water and sea ice has used specimen geometries designed for metals. These designs are too large and difficult to manufacture for testing material cored from a glacier. This paper presents an alternative specimen, a radially cracked ring fractured by internal pressure. Tests using this specimen on the Bersærkerbræ, a valley glacier in the Stauning Alper, north-east Greenland, gave a mean fracture toughness of 58. This is half the value typically

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... tained by other workers in laboratory tests. The results are compared with other data and the reasons for the disagreement discussed.