Duration
10h Th, 10h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in geography, global change, research focus | 2 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
A. The course (10h) is divided in 8 modules:
1) Surface mass balance (SMB)
- What is the (surface) mass balance of a glacier?
- Which components and processes are involved?
- How do glaciers form, flow and retreat?
- Why do glaciers melt at their base?
- How is glacier mass change measured in the field at different spatial scales (local to global)?
- Local: In situ stakes, automatic weather stations (AWS), snow/firn pits, ice cores
- Regional: ground penetrating radar (GPR), airborne altimetry (Operation Ice Bridge)
- Global: satellite altimeters (CryoSat-2, ICESat-2) and gravimeter (GRACE)
- How are glacier surface mass balance and associated processes modelled at different spatial resolutions?
- Positive-Degree-Day (PDD), Surface Energy Budget (SEB) and Firn models, Regional climate models (RCMs), Earth System Models (ESMs), and Statistical Downscaling
- Which processes drive the recent Greenland ice sheet mass change?
- Which processes accelerate the Greenland ice sheet mass change under climate warming by 2300?
- Which processes drive the recent Antarctic ice sheet mass change?
- Which processes accelerate the Antarctic ice sheet mass change under climate warming by 2300?
- manipulate data in netcdf format using Python (or equivalent)
- map data using QGIS (or equivalent)
- interpret the results
- evaluation of modeled glacier surface mass balance (SMB) using observations
- identification of processes leading to mass change
- estimation of mass change contribution to sea-level rise
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Basics in physics, programming and climatology
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Course taught in person
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
Further information:
Teaching is based on the oral lecture and associated slides
Corresponding sets of slides are made available to students before each session
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Brice Noël (bnoel@uliege.be)