AOSS 605 (004)/AOSS 474
Icesheets,glaciers and climate
Instructor: Dr.Jeremy Bassis (jbassis@umich.edu)
*Time:
Tuesday/Thursday 1:00- ­2:30PM
Location: 2236 SRB *If you would like to attend,but have ascheduling conflict send me
an email.
Overview:
Ice sheets and glaciers form an active component of the Earth's climate and
hydrological cycle that not only respond to external climate change, but also help shape
the Earth's climate system. In this class students will be introduced to techniques used to
observe and understand the dynamics and mass balance of ice sheets and glaciers and
how these spectacular features react to and pace climate change. Course content includes
an introduction to continuum mechanics, the equations describing glacier and ice sheet
deformation, boundary conditions, ice sheet and glacier mass and energy balance (both
theory and observations). In addition, we shall discuss current topics of general interest,
e.g., ice on Mars and icy moons, the role of glaciers in providing clean drinking water to
communities, paleo-ice sheets, etc.

The course is geared towards senior undergraduates and graduate students.   No prior experience or exposure to glaciology is required.  This course was previously offered as a special topics course (AOSS 605), but is poised to receive a more permanent course number shortly (AOSS 474).