Proposal Draft

Proposal Draft

October 5, 2018

History of Glacial retreat: Proposal Draft

Anna Kuhne

Siena College

Loudonville, NY

Introduction:

Anthropogenic global climate change is typically defined as the changes of earth’s climate over time due to human activities. These variations are from the fluctuating state of the atmosphere dating back to well before humans inhabited earth. This change in climate is a result of the build-up of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gasses, including emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) which contribute to climate change by trapping radiation from the sun. These gases are the result of normal everyday activates including driving a car. Global climate change is associated with various fluctuations in temperatures which have caused many natural phenomena. 

Glaciers form overtime from the remains of snowfall and become covered with various rocky debris. These bodies of ice are over hundreds of years old in some cases. Essentially glaciers are slow moving masses of ice that shape the landscape they move through by scraping rocks and boulders along with them. Different factors affect glacial movement, and these conditions include things such as temperature.  

Glaciers are a really good indicator of global climate change as they respond to environmental changes. Therefore, they have been and are currently responding to the changing environment. Global climate change is causing massive amounts of glacial movement at rapid rates.

Objectives:

The overall objective of this project is to assess the amount of glacial movement, specifically retreat, in comparison to anthropogenic global climate change, specifically due to the concentrations of greenhouse gasses and temperature changes.

·      To use polygons to represent glaciers from the GIS data from the NSIDC

·      To show the movement of glaciers over time based on the GIS data from the GLIMS glacier database

·      To show the concentration of greenhouse gases from the EPA

·      To show temperature changes

·      Make a map displaying the overall findings

Methodology:

First, I will analyze the data regarding glaciers, displayed as polygons, such as elevation and the movement of the icy masses. Then I will analyze the GIS data regarding the concentration of greenhouse gases.

I will then be comparing the data sets together to be able to determine where glacial retreat is happening because of greenhouse gas concentrations. I will use the GIS data to determine the percentage of glacial retreat compared to the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in temperature. I will then asses possible damages that has resulted in glacial retreat in various areas

The final map product will include polygons to represent where the glaciers have retreated from and where they currently are as well as the recordings of greenhouse gas concentrations and temperature for each area of glacial movement. The map will also show the resulting damages from the various glacial movements.

Data Sources:

World Glacier Inventory 1 (August 1999, last updated April 2018) [file downloaded from the Internet]. National Snow & Ice Data Center, University of Colorado https://nsidc.org/data/g01130# : [October 4, 2018].

GLIMS and NSIDC (2005, updated 2018): Global Land Ice Measurements from Space glacier database.  Compiled and made available by the international GLIMS community and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder CO, U.S.A. http://www.glims.org/About/citations.html : [October 4, 2018]

WGMS Fluctuations of Glaciers Browser [file downloaded from the Internet]. Esri Suisse https://wgms.ch/fogbrowser/ : [October 4, 2018]

EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting (May 3, 2011) [esri]. Teamelectricgas, https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d2039f4532ca44eeaa849d4972864e4d : [October 4, 2018]

Work Plan:

·      Week of October 1^st - Continue to find relevant data and revise proposal

·      Week of October 8^th - Download data for glacial movement, temperature, and greenhouse gas concentrations from past years

·      Week of October 15^th – Create shapefiles for the polygons that represent the glaciers

·      Week of October 22^nd - Compare the data and look for any noticeable correlations

·      Week of October 29^th – Create a graph(s) for the percentages in glacial movement, temperature fluctuations and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations

·      Week of November 5^th – Create a graph(s) for the percentages in glacial movement, temperature fluctuations and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations

·      Week of November 12^th – Examine the damages that have occurred from glacial movement

·      Week of November 19^th – Determine which areas have been experiencing severe glacial movement due to temperature and greenhouse gas concentration fluctuations

·      Week of November 26^th - Analyze the data that I have collected and graphed

·      Week of December 3^rd – Create poster with findings

·      Week of December 10^th – Hand in final project

  

      Budget:

   

     No budget will be needed since all work is based on having the experience. 

  

     Deliverables:

   The end product of this project will show how severe the glacial movement around the globe has been based on the fluctultions in greenhouse gas emissions and temperature changes. Based on the movement of glaciers displayed, the impacts and damages of the glacial movement will be shown on the final map. Displaying these findings will be a final poster. 

Works Cited:

“Climate.” Edited by Mark Carey, Climate - Glaciers, Climate, and Society