Glacier Size Lab

Introduction and Guiding Question

Glaciers are made up of fallen snow that, after many years, compresses into large, thick
masses of ice. They form when this snow remains in one place for a long enough time to
transform into ice. Glaciers flow slowly across land and hold most of Earths freshwater.
Furthermore, glaciers can be classified as either valley glaciers or continental glaciers. In
addition, Global warming is the warming of Earths climate and has been proven many times to
exist. Scientists are only unsure whats causing it. Many people believe that if the global
warming trends continue, coastal cities will be flooded and sea levels will increase. Our groups
guiding question was -- can different climate conditions affect the size of a glacier. Executing
this investigation will help us to understand how global warmings effects on climate could affect
glaciers and their impact. The goal of this experiment was to study how various factors influence
a glacier.

Method
In order to complete this investigation, we had to collect data from an online simulation.
This simulation allowed you to change the amount of snowfall and the average temperature. It
also displayed the height and the distance of a glacier according to the various conditions that
were keyed in. Our group collected our data by manipulating both snowfall and temperature, but
only one variable at a time. This way we will be able to interpret which variable is causing the
glacier to change in height and length. For example, while we kept the snowfall at 3 ft., we
changed the temperature between 56 degrees Fahrenheit and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. To analyze
the data, we observed, within our data set, how the dependent variable changed as a result of
changing the independent variable. We then graphed out the data to show the observed pattern,
and it clearly displayed either a correlation between the manipulated variable and the responding
variable.

Argument
As temperature decreases and snowfall increases, the glacier will grow in height and
length. Our group came to this conclusion when we noticed how the first pair of data compared
with the last set of data and what the correlation between the data sets were.
The first relationship that we noticed was in table 1 and graph 1. In data table 1, the
average height of the glacier, when the snowfall was set at 1 ft., was about 283ft. When the
snowfall increased to 4.5ft, the average height also increased to about 650 ft. In addition, as the
snowfall increased by 3.5 ft., the length increased by about 77,493 ft. This increase in size occurs

because as there is more snowfall, more snow will accumulate and become a part of the glacier
thus, increasing the glaciers size.
Furthermore, we noticed a correlation between temperature and the size of the glacier in graph
2. In data table 2, when the temperature was set to 56 degrees Fahrenheit, the average height of
the glacier was 649 ft. and the length was 95,341 ft. On the other hand, when the temperature
increased to 66 degrees Fahrenheit, the average height decreased to about 491ft. and the length to
21,555. This relationship develops because as the temperature increases, snow melts before it can
transform into ice and become part of the glacier. Contrastingly, as the temperature decreases, the
snow is allowed to compile and is more likely to increase the glaciers height and length.
This evidence is important because it supports the idea that glaciers will not form in
warmer climates that have little precipitation. These climate conditions may occur as a result of
global warming or the warming of Earths atmosphere. Many scientists agree that global
warming is occurring but they are unsure of what is causing it. Our data suggests that the
warming of Earths atmosphere will result in glaciers decreasing in size due to the warming
climate. If glaciers melt and become smaller, it is likely that more water will flow into other
bodies of water causing coastal cities to flood and the sea level to rise. Many other catastrophic
natural events may also occur due to the increase in sea level as well.

360
739
849
649
95341

359
720
840
639
90175

382
730
853
655
85171

348
704
825
625
75427

336
680
796
604
60499

369Table

294
579
601
491
21555

0
0
0
0
0

731

Snowfall (ft.)

.5

(ft.)
Height at
5151
Height at
13615
Height at
18570
Average
Height

1.5

851 2.5
650

3.5

302

320

343

95341
345

356

363

367

549

671

691

712

720

723

728

783

816

827

841

844

849

283

484

502

628

639

643

648

17848

54528

67520

77001

84055

86615

92552

4.5

Temperature (Degrees Fahrenheit)

(ft.)

Table 2

56
Height at
5151
Height at
13615
Height at
18570
Average
Height
Distance after
100 Years

68

58

60

62

64

66

68

Graph 1
Snowfall vs Glacier Length
120000
100000

Length (ft)

80000
Snowfall vs Glacier Length
60000
40000
20000
0
0.5

1.5

2.5 3.5 3.5

4.5

Snowfall (ft)

Graph 2
Temperature vs Glacier Size
120000
100000
80000

Temperature vs Glacier
Size

60000
40000
20000
0
56

58

60

62

64

66

68

Length (ft)

Temperature (Degrease Fahrenheit)