This week’s interactive exercise will use EO data to look at glacier retreat.

For this exercise, we will use the WGMS glacier app or NASA Ice Viewer.

Follow the steps below and then join the discussion to compare results and discuss ideas with other learners. Once you feel confident with the tool, you can explore other locations and data sets of your choice.

You may find it helpful to open the exercise in a separate window if you are using the web app.

For Android and iOS:

1. Search for WGMS glacier in the Apple app store or Google Play Store, and Download the WGMS Glacier app by Universitat Zurich. Alternatively follow this link and click either the App Store or Google Play Store buttons depending on your device.

2. Once you have opened the app zoom the map to Greenland which has data for 86 glaciers. Click on the red circle with the number 86 on and this will zoom you in to view individual glaciers, shown by red circles.

3. Click on any of these circles and the name of the glacier will be shown in a blue box, click on this and then you can view the data from the glacier. The area, length, and minimum and/or maximum elevation will be shown at the top, depending on the data available.

4. Look at the graph for ‘Cumulative front variation (m)’ for a glacier. This displays year at the bottom and metres on the horizontal axis. Front variation provides information on advancement or retreat of the glacier tongue. Positive values indicate glacial advance, and negative values indicate glacial retreat. Look at a number of different glaciers on Greenland and discuss your findings in the comments below. Are they retreating or advancing?

5. Repeat the exercise for a number of different glaciers and compare the differences, then discuss what you find below

For web:

1. Visit Nasa’s global ice viewer

2. Click on the Greenland and Iceland topic.

3. Select one of the glaciers located in Greenland indicated by the flashing red dot on the map. Hovering over each of these dots will bring up information on the glacier name and the type of data the video will provide.

4. Once you have decided on a glacier, simply click on the red dot it to bring up a video on the glacier.

5. Compare videos on each glacier. What are the videos showing? How is the ice interacting? Is it retreating? Discuss your findings in the comments below.

6. Feel free to explore as many of the videos as you like and discuss your thoughts below.

Take the test

You can take the end of week test by clicking on the test button located on the top-right.