GLACIAL DYNAMICS AND OCEANOGRAPHIC STUDIES IN KONGSFJORD, SVALBARD: ARCTIC GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR U.S. UNDERGRADUATES (SVALBARD REU)

The Svalbard REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program focuses on understanding how high latitude tidewater glaciers, meltwater streams, and sedimentation in fjords respond to changing climate. Since summer of 2005, six under-graduate students have been selected to participate in the summer field program. Students work on individual projects and in close conjunction with faculty advisors and other student researchers. They formulate their own research questions, develop their project, and complete their field research during a five-week program on Svalbard, Norway. Following the summer program, students complete their projects at their home institution during the following academic year as a senior thesis. A spring symposium brings all participants back together again with their final results. Students also have produced peer-reviewed papers from this research program.

The most recent field season was completed in Kongsfjord (79^o N) showing that the contemporary studies of tidewater glacier margins provide an unparalleled opportunity for introducing motivated undergraduate students to the challenges and rewards of polar geoscientific field research. Rates of rapid change in this high-latitude Arctic environment emphasize the complexity of the Earth System at the interface of the ocean, atmosphere and cryosphere. The rigors of studying an actively calving tidewater glacier also builds on their outdoor skills, especially when it is necessary to improvise and become resourceful due to instrumentation failures or weather-related delays. Self-confidence and problem solving skills emerge from both field and laboratory research operations when students draw upon and expand their base of practical knowledge via trial and error. Logistical facilities in Ny Alesund offer an international experience with opportunities for dialog with scientists of a wide variety of disciplines working at research stations representing more than 12 different European and Asian countries. The program is funded by the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs and has close ties and collaboration with the Norwegian University in Svalbard (UNIS) and Norsk Polar Institute scientists. NSF also funds a science teacher as a PolarTREC participant.