The terminus of Le Conte Glacier near Petersburg hasn’t moved much since last year. That’s according to the annual survey by Petersburg High School Students and their science teacher Victor Trautman. At the same time, according to Trautman, the massive field of ice is thinning further back into the mountains.
Petersburg High School Glacier Survey Class. Photo courtesy Victor Trautman.
This is the 30th year for the program which was originally started by now-retired teacher Paul Bowen. The class has since taught generations of students about glaciology and survey techniques. The work includes mapping points at the terminus and then plugging that data into complex calculations to come up with the results.
LeConte Glacier 2013. Photo courtesy Victor Trautman
Trautman and some of his students recently spoke with Matt Lichtenstein about the project and their findings:
For mobile-friendly audio, click here.
Along with teacher Vic Trautman, we also heard from students Sam Marifern, Fran Abbott, Krissa Davis, Sierra Strueli, and Eva Kowalski.
You can look back over 30 years of the school’s glacier survey data by following this link.
