OWU studentsĀ are going back to Alaska in 2018 as part of a travel learning course on Mathematical Models of Climate. We will visit familiar sites in Fairbanks (see previous posts) and do some new things too! This time around we will be joined by Dr. Anderson’s class on Plant Responses to Global Change!
The title says it all!
At the end of Eklutna Lake with Bold Peak in the background.
Near the terminusĀ of Exit Glacier in Seward.
In the ablation zone onĀ Matanuska Glacier.
Below are some GPS tracks from the 2012 Alaska trip.
First is the route we took driving across Alaska. We started in Anchorage, then went south to Whittier, a small coastal town out of which we took a charter to see tidewater glaciers. For this trip in 2014 we went further south to Seward since (1) Seward is a more interesting town than Whittier and (2) there were no charters out of Whittier during the time we were going to be there.
After Whittier we went north towards Glen Allen to spend 3 days at Matanuska glacier. We will be doing this in 2014 as well!
Our last visit in 2012 was to Fairbanks in central Alaska. We spend two full days having a mini-summer school at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We visited several research sites as well.
After Fairbanks we traveled south by the Parks highway back to Anachorage to catch our flight home.
Above: Alaska travel route.
Above: Two solid days of treking across the Matanuska glacier. The furthest point south is where we set up our weather tower (see older posts on this topic).
Above: Our route out of Whittier to see Blackstone and Beloit glaciers.
Students in Mathematical Models of Climate have begun to build the instrumentation we will deploy on Matanuska glacier to measure the interaction of the valley wind and the glacier driven wind regime. More details will be provided in later posts.
Instruments we will be using are R.M. Young Wind Monitors (http://www.youngusa.com/products/7/5.html) and Onset analog thermometers. All signals are voltage based and will be logged with Onset’s new style UX120 4-channel data logger (http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/data-loggers/ux120-006m). We need to configure the loggers and soldier all the wires in the correct places. We also need to build two towers and two logger enclosures to keep the electronics dry.
Math 200.2 (Mathematical Models of Climate) is featured on the webpage of the Math Climate Research Network:
http://www.mathclimate.org/education/owu-travel-learning-course
MCRN isĀ an organization of leading researchers in mathematics and geosciences whose mission is to establish a new area of applied mathematics tailored to the needs of climate research.
Mathematical Models of Climate (or “The Alaska Course” as it is sometimes known) will run again in Spring 2014. It will once again be a travel learning course with the travel component featuring a 2 week trip to Alaska. Some things about the trip will be the same while some other things will be different. Stay tuned for many more blog posts by students and faculty involved in this course.
Instruments not attached. This took us an hour to set up and take down the first time. Now we just have to do it on the glacier! (Thanks to Zeke for the picture.)
Sriharsha solders wires for our anemometers. The tangled mess in the background is finished work!
Welcome to theĀ Mathematical Models of Climate Change blog! We’re excited to be finishing out the semester and looking forward to our departure date. Many more exciting posts with descriptions and and pictures to come. Stay tuned in for more information!! Have a great day š