EAPS 50 Glaciology
This course explores the unique nature and scientific importance of glaciers, ice sheets, snow, and frozen ground in the Earth system, collectively referred to as the Cryosphere. We explore how glaciers work, and how they interact with the climate system. We investigate how ice behaves from the molecular scale to the continental scale and compare and contrast this behavior to that of snowpacks. We derive mathematical equations used to describe and predict the physical behavior of glaciers and ice sheets. The practical skills and techniques used by glaciologists are considered along with transferable skills in advanced quantitative data analysis, with emphasis on practical application to real data.