OGGM-Edu Glaciology Lab 3: Simulating glacier flow

We use this activity in an undergraduate course on glaciology, similar to the mixed-level MSc/BSc glaciology courses taught at several universities. Students are mostly majors in geology, geography, Earth science, physics, or mathematics. The viewing of the "glacier goo" video (useful if under time constraints, for asynchronous learning or if the class is too big for such a lab) can be replaced by a real "glacier goo" lab experiment (links provided below).

• Basic calculus and physics (high school level)
• Introductory lecture on the concept of glacier climatic mass balance and glacier flow (lecture notes provided)

We use this activity as the third lab session of the semester, typically after "OGGM-Edu Glaciology Lab 2: Exploring glacier data". Historically this has been in the first third of the semester, so we assume some background knowledge on glaciers but limited experience.

• Fundamentals of glacier flow dynamics
• Simulating glacier flow with an analog and numerical model
• Glacier geometry response to climate change

• Witnessing and deducing how a physical equation (e.g. the driving stress) translates in the real world (e.g. ice velocity)
• Visualizing multi-dimensional variables (drawing several 2D profiles of the 3D velocity field)
• Interpreting graphical information
• Understanding the differences between a simulation (analog or numerical) and the real world

Each student or small group of students (2-3) should have a laptop or access to a computer station. We provide each student with a printed lab sheet (see below), which guides them through an independent and possibly asynchronous activity.

Part 1 (25 minutes): Students watch the glacier goo video. They answer questions related to glacier flow, and compare the glacier goo to real world glaciers. They discover analogies (e.g. realistic velocity changes, basal and lateral drag, etc.) but also limitations of glacier goo (e.g. missing mass-balance, missing sliding). Instructors may choose to have students do the glacier goo experiments themselves in lab; this takes considerably more time and could best be achieved in a separate lab period.

Part 2 A-D (45-70 minutes): Students use the OGGM-Edu Glacier Simulator app to reproduce with a numerical model the results they observed with glacier goo. They relate glacier slope with velocity in Part 2B. We provide two options to expand the experiments: Part 2C explores the effect of climatic regime, and Part 2D explores glacier surge cycles. Part 2A is the essential introduction; instructors may choose among the others to best suit their class needs.

OGGM-Edu Glaciology Lab 3 sheet - Glacier Explorer - Student version (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 278kB Dec21 23)

OGGM-Edu Glaciology Lab 3 sheet - Glacier Explorer - Instructor version -- educator-only file

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Glacier Dynamics lecture slides (Instructor version) -- educator-only file

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Glacier Mass Balance lecture slides (Instructor version) -- educator-only file

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We taught this activity in two different settings. One was in a small class (8 students) with lecture and lab sessions. That class included a "glacier goo" activity in an earlier lab period, and used Part 2A-D of this activity synchronously in a second lab period. The other setting was a large, time-limited lecture course (70 students). In this case the activity was given as homework after the relevant lectures on glacier dynamics and mass balance. We recommend having the students work in groups.

Main areas for confusion arise when students try to understand what the simulator can and cannot simulate. In class and with goo they learn about lateral drag for example, which is not simulated by the web app. The simulator app requires some experience to use properly - you may spend 10 minutes with the class to demonstrate where / how to display velocity (as color shading in the geometry plot, and as graph in the timeseries plot).

A class debriefing following the students returning their answers is important, as this is quite some new material for them to digest. Go back to reality by showing glacial forms and relate to real world examples.

Formative assessment: Discussion of key points and takeaways after each section of the procedure. For example, stop when most students have finished Part 1 and discuss the associated questions in class before allowing students to proceed to Part 2.

Summative assessment: Collect the lab sheets at the end of the period. Evaluate whether students have successfully addressed the questions. Revisit important aspects that weren't answered correctly.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAzdzuPyFnw - Video of glacier goo for Part A. Can be replaced by other similar videos, or own experiments with glacier goo
- https://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/cryosphere/3c.html - Glacier goo example activity posted on SERC
- https://www.polartrec.com/resources/activity/how-is-glacier-goo-similar-to-a-real-glacier - Glacier goo recipe and example activity hosted by PolarTREC
- https://edu.oggm.org/en/latest/simulator.html - Documentation and tutorials for using the Glacier Simulator app
- https://edu.oggm.org/en/latest/glacier_basics.html - Glacier illustrations
- https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacier-processes/glacier-flow-2 - Free online textbook material about glacier flow