Climate Change and Glaciers

About this course

Glaciers and ice sheets play an important role in the climate system: Their bright surfaces reflect sunlight back to space thus keeping the temperature down, and when they melt or grow, it directly affects the global sea-level. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the past, present, and future behavior of glaciers when addressing the topic of climate change. This course provides you with a basic understanding of glaciers and their role in the climate system. You will learn how glaciers interact with their immediate surroundings and how large ice bodies can act as an archive of past climate change. We will use data from the study tour region as case studies in the classroom as well as on the study tour.

Pre-requisites

One mathematics course at university level.

Recommended

Bring appropriate clothing and footwear to stay warm and dry during the Study Tour in Denmark. Specifically, you need to bring footwear that is suitable for light hiking as well as water proof pants and water proof jacket.

Faculty

Sebastian Fabian Jensen Zastruzny

Faculty

PhD (Geography-Geosciences, University of Copenhagen). Educated in permafrost dynamics at the Centre for Permafrost, IGN. Research on permafrost cores, water samples, climate data series, process based modelling, and effects of future climate change. Conducted fieldwork and taught field courses in Greenland and Denmark multiple times.With DIS since 2023.

Inger Kathrine Seierstad

Faculty

M.Sc. (Geology-Geophysics, University of Copenhagen). Educated within glaciology at the Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute. Research on ice cores, past climate change, volcanic deposits in ice, stable isotopes, and stratigraphic dating of ice cores. Participated in ice-core drillings in Greenland and Antarctica multiple times. With DIS since 2018.