10: Glaciers and the Past, Present, and Future Climate

As scientists, policymakers, and other environmentally-concerned individuals search for solutions to the changing climate, glaciers are an important topic. With the ability to both study glaciers in their current states, and use geomorphology and numerical modeling to understand the historical placements of glaciers in the past, they hold clues for interpreting the climate.Dr. Leif Anderson has been studying glaciers since the completion of his undergraduate degree at Montana State University-Bozeman. After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado - Boulder, he studied geomorphology and glacialology through two postdoctoral appointments in Iceland and Germany.Dr. Anderson, an assistant professor at the University of Utah, spends his time researching both the past extent of glaciers and the current conditions of glacial ice and how the changing environment is impacting them. By combining the information he learns with other scientific understandings, his research is helping to understand a future changing climate.