Letter from the editors: Firn

Abstract

For this, our sixth issue, we offer firn as our constellating theme. From the Old High German firni, meaning “old” and related to the Swedish forn connoting “former,” firn is the term used to indicate snow that has survived the summer months. Firn is rounded, well­bonded snow that, like continent., has existed for more than one year and has a density greater than one would expect from snow pack. Firn snow is a moment between glacial ice and the wet snow that packs. The material recrystallizes, and affirms its surface tensions and as it becomes impermeable to moisture, the transition to glacial ice is consummated. We again have elected to emphasize a term that translates the passage of time into the spatialization of time.