Analyzing Glacier National Park

In this lab you will be analyzing data from Glacier National Park, located in northwestern Montana, in order to determine if and when Glacier National Park will no longer have any glaciers.

The will begin with some videos and background information. You will then progress to analyzing glacier coverage using ArcGIS Online. Finally you will use Google Sheets to analyze data graphically and make predictions.

ArcGIS Online & Google Sheets

This lab will using two online resources.

First, ArcGIS Online is a web-based mapping software that allows you to analyze map layers in an interactive setting. ArcGIS Online doesn't seem to work well with the Chrome browser, so please use Firefox, IE, or Edge if possible. The ArcGIS Online maps you will be looking at will be in the form of a StoryMap. A StoryMap is an interactive way to depict maps and other information in a linear way to tell a "story."

Second, you will be using Google Sheets (which is part of Google Apps) to analyze data in a graphical way. Through your bruinmail e-mail address you have access to Google Sheets online. Log in to your bruinmail e-mail, and then click on the Google Apps icon in the upper right corner (grid of squares). You can directly access Google Sheets from this menu, or you may also open your Google Drive and then create a new Google Sheet within your My Drive.

Investigation: When will there no longer be glaciers in Glacier National Park?

Introduction: Glaciers are ephemeral climate-related features that dramatically imprint the shape of the landscape over time. This investigation examines the historical changes to glacier and permanent snowfield coverage in Glacier National Park, Montana.

Click herehttps://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm

Links to an external site. to explore theGlacier National Park website if you are not familiar with the park.

Historical Field Mapping: First measurements of glaciers in Glacier National Park were conducted as part of topographic field mapping in 1800s. Since then numerous scientists working with the National Park Service have re-surveyed the glaciers on a regular basis. Additionally, they have created a photographic archive of glaciers, using a technique called repeat photography, to track glacier change over time.

Watch the following twohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZf3EuZNIms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4I8tYnxP4

exploring how scientists are tracking glaciers in Glacier National Park, and what future projections might be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4I8tYnxP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZf3EuZNIms

1) How is climate impacting glaciers in Glacier National Park?

What are the future projections?

Grinnell Glacier One of the still present glaciers in Glacier National Park is Grinnell Glacier. Below is an aerial photo of the glacier with lines indicating the spatial extent of the glacier at different times in the past. Grinnell Glacier 1850-1993 Aerial View Approx. Scale: 1:16M2 Figure 3 7 Historical photo base and locations of Grinnell Glacier lobe margins, 18501993. We will now be using data from this map to create a data table with glacier extent for numerous glaciers in Glacier National Park from 1966-2015. So we have a place to record this, we will now set up our data table in Google Sheets. Step 7: Log in to your bruinmail account and open a new Google Sheets document (see instructions at the beginning of the lab). [Note: Make sure you keep the StoryMap window OPEN we will come back to this after we create our data table.] Step 8: Title your sheet (in the upper left) with an appropriate title. Step 9: Add column headings in the first row for "Glacier Name", "Harrison", "Blackfoot", and "Jackson". Step 10: Underneath Year, list the four years of data, 1966, 1998, 2005, and 2015. Your final data table should look something like this: GlacierLab EE File Edit View Insert Format Data Tools Add-ons + 100% $ % .0 .00 123 - Arial fx A B C D 1 Year Harrison Blackfoot Jackson 2 1966 3 1998 2005 2015 6 7