As a part of Antarctic
Science Curriculum offered by Hokkaido University, the 7th Swiss
Glacier Field Course was organized from 2 to 15 September
2012. Students from Graduate School of Environmental Science and other
schools in Hokkaido University took active roles in the field
activities and class works in Switzerland. A student from Tokyo
University joined us in the program as well.
The course started in Zurich with lectures by Dr. Andreas
Bauder and Prof. Heinz Blatter
from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). We learned Swiss
glaciers, glacier researches in Switerland and basics of glacier
science before we vist glaciers in the Alps in the Bernese Alps. The
first field program was an excursion to Unter Grindelwaldgletscher,
which was followed by visit to Aletschgletscher and High Altitude Research
Station at Jungfraujoch. The highlight of the course was a
four-day field program in Rhonegletsher, where we carried out field
measurements on and off the glacier under wonderful weather
conditions. Then, we travelled further south to Gornergletscher,
before we come back to Zurich for data processing and ohral
presentation programs. The couse was successfully completed by a
lecture offered by Atsumu Ohmura,
Professor Emeritus, ETH.
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 funding provided by Hokkaido University,
MEXT GCOE program, and JASSO scholarship, and for generous support by
VAW, ETH-Zurich and International Foundation High Altitude Research
Stations Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat.
