What happens when Glaciers really move?

...lets go to Alaska, USA to find out!

Before you begin

read background article on the web for this lesson from http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/tableofcontents

For more background information

other related web sites on glaciers

more background information on how glaciers work can be found here

Introduction

The map shows the area of study

Look for the yellow square corners to know where to zoom in on these images.

Notice the water is blue, land is green.

Can you find the airport?

What other features do you see here?

Observe the next two pictures carefully

 

These pictures are before and after the movement 1985 ( above ) and 1986 (below ) after movement - look carefully, can you see the change?

.

 

Questions ...

what color is the land area, the snow, the water ?

how do you think these images are taken?

look carefully, can you see the changes? describe what you see.

Looking more closely...

 

Questions.....

Now, look at the images below,

how has the scale changed?

How do you know?

hubbard glacier 1985

hubbard glacier 1986

Instructions

Now lets do a bit of measurement in more detail ...

  1. Open up NIH image or ImageJ on your computer
  2. Navigate to the files where these images are stored.
  3. Open hubbardin1985.jpg, hubbardin1986.jpg and hubbardinmap.gif
  4. Look around the images and compare them.
  5. Set scale
  6. Measure the area of the glacier, record
  7. Open hubbardin1985.jpg, hubbardin1986.jpg
  8. Measure the area of the lake that has formed in the images

Questions to answer from your measurements.

  1. How much did the lake grow in percent?
  2. What do you think will happen over the next few months, years?
  3. What do you think the impact of the lake growth was on
    • the sea life in the lake?
    • the sea floor features?
    • the delta?
    • the glacier itself?

To go Further...

Other web pages of related lessons on the Arctic by Mrs. Youngman

More Links to other web pages on the Arctic by other authors.

Earthshots web site

Where can you get NIH image and ImageJ for your computer?

thanks to the USGS for the images for this lesson
for more details and images look here ---http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/tableofcontents