ESS431: Principles of Glaciology


(ESS505, The Cryosphere)
University of Washington
Autumn, 2019

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Instructor: Knut Christianson
Email: knut@uw.edu
Office: ATG 218
Office Hours: Tue, Thu 2-3 pm & by appointment

TA: Andrew Hoffman
Email: hoffmaao@uw.edu
Office: ATG 210
Office Hours: By appointment


TA: Alex Huth
Email: ahuth@uw.edu
Office: ATG 210
Office Hours: By appointment

Mon-Wed-Fri 1:30 - 2:50 JHN 127


Blue Glacier, Olympic Peninsula, Washington, in September 1995.
Blue Glacier, Mt Olympus, in September 1995.

In this course you will learn about a broad range of questions involving ice in the environment, and its role in global change. Topics include: formation, deposition and metamorphism of snow; glacier flow; glaciers and landscape; behavior of ice sheets and interpretation of their chemistry and internal structure; growth and decay of sea ice and relation to climate; geomorphology of permafrost terrain; paleoclimate reconstruction from glacial geomorphology. The course is primarily descriptive, but stresses a physical understanding of underlying processes. It is taught by a group of UW faculty, all with expertise in broadly diverse areas in glaciology.
Want to do more interdisciplinary science?
Check out the Program on Climate Change
and the associated Climate Minor