Interactive glacier models
Get the students playing with one of these simple, browser-based interactive glacier models, and understanding concepts such as ablation, accumulation, glacier advance and recession and glacier mass balance.
You can also explore the OGGM-edu (see separate page on this).
NASA JPL Virtual Earth System Laboratory
The folks at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a suite of simulations of glaciers, ice sheets and sea level that you can explore at the Virtual Earth System Laboratory. These simulations use real model physics to calculate changes in the ice mass over time.
Things to think about: How does changing the surface mass balance (SMB) affect glacier thickness and length? How long does it take to reach a new equilibrium (i.e. what’s the response time?). How does changing the SMB affect melting across the glacier?
IceFlows game
The new IceFlows game (Exeter University) allows students to experiment with ice flow of an ice shelf in Antarctica, and learn about the Antarctic ice sheet.
Sea level rise
There are a number of interactive student resources on sea level rise.
- Explore global sea level rise with this interactive map.
- Check out this even better cool interactive sea level rise map via Climate Central (across the USA).
- The Ice2Sea EU website has lots of useful information about the causes and impacts of sea level rise. Their Synthesis Report has lots of excellent examples and case studies.
- There are a number of teacher resources on the Durham University Sea Level Change research group outreach webpage.