Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Jakobshavn, Greenland, is 2,637 miles away from Lawrence, but thanks to Audrey Fusco, it seems a lot closer.
This past summer, Fusco, Wichita graduate research assistant, completed a flight line map of Jakobshavn that is being used to help researchers study the ice sheet in the area. Fusco works at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, CReSIS, and developed the map without traveling to Greenland.
CReSIS measures the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica using radar, which allows researchers to collect data from far away. The data tells researchers the amount of snow accumulation and provides information about the internal layers of the ice sheets over large areas.
“Before CReSIS developed a radar to see these layers, scientists had to rely on snow pits and ice cores to obtain information about the ice sheets,” Fusco said.
Kevin Grunwald, map courtesy of Clim-ATIC.org
Scientists at the University of Kansas' Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets study glaciers in Greenland because changes in glaciers can affect climates around the world.
For her project, Fusco used a geographic information system to build a map for an airplane and to obtain geographical coordinates for the area researchers wanted to study. A pilot programmed the coordinates into a plane so that it could fly over the area. The plane carried a device that uses radar to collect data.
Two students at Haskell Indian Nations University and RJ Rowley, instructor of geography at Haskell, helped with Fusco’s mapping project.
Rowley said Fusco’s map was more efficient than the one that was previously used.
“It wasn’t as organized and straightforward as Audrey’s,” Rowley said.
Jakobshavn is an outlet glacier on the west coast of Greenland. Fusco said Jakobshavn was one of the fastest flowing outlet glaciers in the world.
David Braaten, professor of geography and the CReSIS deputy director, said it was important for CReSIS to measure the change of the glacier to understand its impact on the rest of the world.
Fusco said if the ice sheet on Greenland and the glacier completely melted, the ocean’s water level would rise seven meters, about 23 feet.
Braaten said the current rate of sea level rise could affect many coastal mega-cities and expose millions of people to threats from natural disaster.
Scientists can provide data that will help society to make decisions to prevent disasters, Braaten said.
“What’s happening now is going to continue and accelerate,” Braaten said. “Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to say how fast and how much.”
Fusco studies human geography at the University. She said that she had never built a flight map before starting the project and that the exposure to physical geography was a good experience for her.
“I really enjoyed learning about what is happening regarding climate change,” Fusco said.
— — Edited by Becka Cremer
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