Satellite observation of glaciers | Mapping structural glaciology | Mapping glacier change | Mapping glacier thinning | Mapping glacier velocity | Other glaciological applications | Different satellites with different capabilities | Summary and conclusions | Further reading | References | Comments | Satellite observation of glaciers Ice cover on Earth is changing. We have records […]
Introduction: Observing glacier change from space Read More »
How does mass balance vary over Antarctica? | Surface mass balance in the past | Surface mass balance in the future | References | Comments | How does mass balance vary over Antarctica? Is Antarctica currently losing or gaining mass? Will this massive ice sheet grow or shrink in the future? And what effect will
Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance Read More »
Glacier mass balance | Measuring mass balance | Mass balance gradients | Mass balance through time | Further reading | References | Comments | Glacier mass balance The mass balance of a glacier is a concept critical to all theories of glacier flow and behaviour. It is simple enough, really: mass balance is simply the gain
An introduction to Glacier Mass Balance Read More »
Why should we reconstruct past ice sheets? | The past is the key to the future | How do we reconstruct past ice-sheet change? | How do we relate ice-sheet change to climate? | Further Reading | Comments | Why should we reconstruct past ice sheets? Glacial geologists love to go out into the field,
Palaeo ice sheet reconstruction Read More »
Sea level rise is probably one of the biggest threats imposed on us by climate change. Sea level rise is the reason why we study glacier recession. Our current best estimates suggest that we should expect around 60 cm of sea level rise by 2100 AD. Just a small increase in sea level is enough
Worldwide, glaciers are shrinking and receding. In fact, glacier recession and thermal expansion of the ocean together account for 75% of today’s observed sea level rise. Glaciers are small and have short response times, so they react quickly to changes in air temperature and precipitation. Glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula are shrinking particularly rapidly, and
Global glacier recession Read More »
Ice shelves | Icebergs | Sea ice | Further reading | References | Comments | Ice shelves An ice shelf is a floating extension of land ice. The Antarctic continent is surrounded by ice shelves. They cover >1.561 million km2 (an area the size of Greenland)[1], fringing 75% of Antarctica’s coastline, covering 11% of its
Ice shelves, icebergs and sea ice Read More »
The webpages of AntarcticGlaciers.org hopefully provide a useful information resource for both students and teachers. However, there are also lots of free downloads and interactive resources available on the internet. This webpage has a number of resources suitable for GCSE and A-Level Geography and Geoscience teachers. There are more ideas for student projects on the
Resources for Teachers (post-16 years) Read More »
This website has many resources for Geography and Geoscience students and teachers at the post-16 level (A-Level in the UK). Across the website, pages that are especially useful for A-Level are highlighted with a yellow flash, which will help guide your reading. The pages here will help you find the content you’re looking for. For
Geography for post-16 education Read More »
Glaciers have a huge impact on our landscape. They are one of the most powerful forces shaping our Earth surface. These pages introduce some of the most important erosional and depositional landforms, and highlight the processes by which they form. Glaciers of different types produce different suites of characteristic landforms. We call these glacial landsystems.
