Geology Faculty on Ice

Faculty and students from the Department of Geological Sciences teamed up in a study of glacier sensitivity to changes in climate in the Swiss Alps. They used a combination of ice core drilling and ice penetrating radar to map changes in the physical and chemical properties of glacier ice across the confluence region of two glaciers: the Grenzgletscher and Zwillingletscher, Valais, Switzerland. Below are two videos of the drilling and radar work.  The project was co-funded by the National Science Foundation (#0913107) and the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (CHIRP GRANT).

Video: Switzerland, Global Warming and the Alps

Video: Drilling_Movie-MPEG-4

Video: Radar2_Movie-MPEG-4

This Field Research Trip was July 4 through July 17, 2011.