Identifying active glaciers in Mt. Tateyama and Mt. Tsurugi in the northern Japanese Alps, central Japan.

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Japanese glaciologists and geographers believed that there are no active glaciers in Japan. I studied the surface flow velocity and ice thickness of the Gozenzawa perennial snow patch in Mt. Tateyama, and the Sannomado perennial snow patch and the Komado perennial snow patch in Mt. Tsurugi in the northern Japanese Alps, central Japan, since 2009. The Sannomado and the Komado perennial snow patches have large ice masses (>30 m in thickness and about 1000 m in long). They measured the surface flow velocity and found that both the ice masses had flowed over 30 cm month-1 in the autumn of 2011. Hence, I regard both the snow patches as active glaciers. The Gozenzawa perennial snow patch too has a large ice mass (27 m in thickness and 400 m in long). They measured the surface flow velocity and found that the ice mass had flowed slightly (<10 cm month-1) in the autumns of 2010 and 2011. Hence, I regard this snow patch also as an active glacier.