Green Career Profile: Glaciologist
Updated: Aug 2
I decided to learn more about what sort of jobs there are available for those interested in helping create a cleaner, greener, planet. This is the first post in an ongoing series I'm calling, "Green Career Profiles."
WHAT DOES A GLACIOLOGIST DO?
A glaciologist is someone who "studies the internal dynamics and effects of glaciers." For example, how glaciers move, how the impact global climate, and in this day and age, unfortunately, how quickly they are melting. Glaciers also contain thousands of years of historical climate and atmospheric information. For example, in the Greenlandic ice cap, taking deep samples of the ice allows scientists to determine what the climate was like on our planet hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago. And think of the adventures you would go on as a glaciologist - trekking through Glacier National Park...exploring the Himalayas or Andes Mountains...or snowmobiling over the Greenland or Antarctica ice sheets. Since field work for glaciologists puts them in some of the most extreme weather on earth, a requirement of the job is that you have to like the cold! Or at the very least, not mind it.
Given what we read in the news about rapidly disappearing glaciers, it may seem like this is a career that may soon be obsolete, but according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, there are still over 200,000 glaciers, excluding ice sheets.
I learned about this job watching the documentary series, Arctic Ascent, where Dr. Heidi Sevestre's work was featured. Check out Dr. Sevestre's webpage to learn more about what she does as a glaciologist — https://www.heidisevestre.com/
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