Changes to European Glaciers over Time

Project #3341 on iSENSEProject.org

This project compares the status of 14 different glaciers within Europe and Iceland and shows what changes have occurred in the mass of these glaciers over time.  Glaciers can be measured in a variety of ways, including total water volume equivalent, density, thickness, and extent.  This data shows the changes that have occurred within the glaciers since the time the data began to be recorded, measured in m of water equivalent.  (The measurement "m of water equivalent" measures the snow depth in one square meter measured in kg of snow.  It is a way of factoring volume and density differences in a snowpack using a common measurement, the weight of the water therein.)

The retreat of glaciers and polar ice sheets have been cited as evidence for global climate change.  After interacting with the data, answer the following questions:

1.  Are all of the glaciers shown here declining or retreating?

2.  Which glacier has experienced the greatest changes over its monitoring period?  How did you make that determination?

3. Is this glacier data helpful for promoting an argument that climate change is / is not real?  Why or why not?

To get started, click "Visualize" below, then GROUP the data by "Data Set Name (ID)", and select ALL if you would like to see all 14 of the glaciers displayed at one time. (Please note that I was unsuccessful at getting each of the glaciers to display as separate colors, which would have been nice.)

You may also use the saved visualization, "change in European glacier mass" for an ultra quick-start to accessing the data.

Original data source derived from the European Environmental Agency:  https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/cumulative-specific-net-mass-balance-2#tab-chart_3