As a program of Antarctic
Science Curriculum, Graduate School of Environmental Science,
Hokkaido University offers a glacier field course in Switzerland. This
course provides opportunities to experience field measurements on
glaciers in the Swiss Alps, to visit world famous research
institutions, and to take lectures by leading scientist from Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).
In 2008, 8 graduate students left Sapporo on 31 August to participate
this field course. The program began in Zurich with lectures by
Prof. Martin Funk and Prof. Atsumu Ohmura. After the lectures, we
traveled to Jungfrau region to visit Untere Grindelwaldgletscher and
High Altitude Research Station at Jungfraujoch. Then, we spent 4 days
at Rhonegletscher to conduct various measurements (e.g. GPS survey,
climate observation, water pressure measurements, ablation stake
installation) on the glacier. The course continued to Valliser Alps to
visit Gornergletscher. After coming back to Zurich, participants
worked with PC to process field data from Rhonegletscher. The
processed data were presented by the students and discussed in
detail. The program was completed by the lecture by Prof. Heinz
Blatter, "Glacier Dynamics with 5 equations".
This course is approved as a program of International Antarctic Institute
(IAI). Students from IAI partner institutions are encouraged to
join us.
We thank for the support provided by VAW, ETH-Zurich and International
Foundation High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch and
Gornergrat.
