Loss of water stored in glaciers impacts downstream ecosystems, river dynamics, and sea level rise. In a warming world, a glacier will experience more melting at its surface, but it is uncertain how that glacier's speed will change due to feedbacks between meltwater generation and glacier basal lubriaction. The National Science Foundation recently awarded funding to GES faculty member Dr William Armstrong to undertake research at a well-documented glacier in Jasper National Park (Alberta, Canada) to investigate how glacier processes have changed over the last 50 years as the glacier has thinned by 60 m (197 ft) and retreated by half a kilometer (0.3 mi). This work will involve GES undergraduates in field and computer-based research that will improve prediction of future glacier change and understanding of how glaciers shaped landscapes in the past.
Borehole instrumentation to be deployed at Athabasca Glacier in National Science Foundation funded research
Borehole instrumentation to be deployed at Athabasca Glacier in National Science Foundation funded research