UTILIZING JUNEAU, ALASKA AREA TEMPERATE GLACIERS TO TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION OF CLIMATE SCIENTISTS AND EDUCATE ALASKAN VISITORS
UAS students work with faculty mentors to ask research questions about nearby Juneau Icefield outlet glaciers. They calibrate, deploy and maintain the tools of glaciology as they steam-drill seasonal ablation wires 12m into the glacier surface, establish ice velocity stations for use with differential GPS, measure supraglacial and proglacial lake levels with transducers, set up ice radar to determine glacier thickness, or capture terminus calving events using time-lapse photography from remote cameras. Students track ice volume change to tie in with changes to glacier watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry. They model glacial lake outburst floods to predict the glacier velocities produced by subglacial meltwater discharge. They use depth sounders with GPS to follow proglacial lake expansion with glacier recession and create time-series bathymetric maps. They maintain remote weather stations powered by the wind and sun to collect glacier lake temperature and chemistry profiles. The local effects of rainfall, subglacial meltwater discharge, and temperature are interlinked triggers for glacier terminus ice-calving events.
UAS student insights are shared with U.S. Forest Service scientists and the public each spring through public forum-style “Fireside Chats” and at annual naturalist training sessions. Each summer, Mendenhall Glacier USFS Naturalists interact with over 400,000 cruise ship visitors and independent travelers from all over the world. Visitors to Alaska are increasingly interested in climate change, and espouse opinions that originate in the energy industry, from online and broadcast media, and through their own experiences with increasing occurrences of extreme weather. The disappearing Mendenhall Glacial provides a vivid backdrop to further their learning about climate change.