Additional Resources
This is a good site to visit if you are completely new to the topic of glaciers. It is clearly written and attractively presented, although some of the illustrations look a little small when viewed on today’s high-resolution monitors. In terms of academic level, specifically in relation to school qualifications in England, this is more appropriate to GCSE rather than A-level qualifications. This resource is part of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (see below).
National Snow and Ice Data Center. 2019. All About Glaciers. Available at: https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers. (Accessed 23 February 2019)
This provides introductory content on glaciers and glacial environments, and looks suitable for use in schools (A-level, Scottish Highers etc.). The downloadable PDFs are clearly written and well-illustrated, and also fairly concise – likely a good thing for most people. It looks as though additional resources will be uploaded in due course; for example, there is a section on glacial erosion, but not one for glacial deposition.
Anderson, E. No date. COLDWEB. Available at: http://geomorphology.org.uk/edu-resources/coldweb. (Accessed 23 February 2019).
This is a collection of beautiful photos of glacial environments from around the world. The website authors (J Alean and M Hambrey) are accomplished photographers and researchers, and have published a book together of their photos [Hambrey, M and Alean, J. 2004. Glaciers (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press]. The photos on the website look rather small on the high-resolution monitors and data projectors common today.
Alean, J and Hambrey, M. 2019. Glaciers Online. Available at: https://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/. (Accessed 23 February 2019).
This is a fantastic, information-rich website that is suitable for a wide audience, including those new to glaciers. Although the emphasis is on Antarctica, there is still plenty of interest for those more interested in glaciers in general. Additional content has been added in recent months, making an already excellent website even better.
Davies, B. 2019. Antarctic Glaciers – Explaining the science of Antarctic glaciology. Available at: http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/(Accessed 23 February 2019).
View and download data on glacier length variations in the Swiss Alps. The virtual field trips in Virtual Glaciers and Glaciated Landscapes include links to these data.
GLAMOS. 2019. Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network. Available at: https://www.glamos.ch/en/#/C14%2F10 (Accessed 23 February 2019)
This website focuses on providing data for the cryosphere in general, as well as providing introductory educational resources (including the ‘All About Glaciers’ mini-site). The datasets could provide the basis for more advanced practical activities for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
National Snow and Ice Data Center. 2019. National Snow & Ice Data Center. Available at: https://nsidc.org/. (Accessed 23 February 2019)
“We are an organisation comprising archaeologists, botanists, civil engineers, geographers, geologists, soil scientists, zoologists and others interested in research into the problems of the Quaternary.”
QRA (no date). Quaternary Research Association. Available at: https://www.qra.org.uk/ (Accessed 23 February 2019).
BSG (no date). British Society for Geomorphology. Available at: https://geomorphology.org.uk/ (Accessed 23 February 2019).
TBC
Benn, DI and Evans, DJA. 2010. Glaciers and Glaciation (2nd ed.). Routledge.
This is a comprehensive textbook, covering everything you’re ever likely to want to know about glaciers and ice sheets, and a whole lot more besides. Clearly written and extensively illustrated, this weighty textbook is a worthwhile purchase for more advanced undergraduate studies, as well as postgraduate-level and beyond.
Bennett, MM and Glasser, NF, 2009. Glacial Geology: Ice Sheets and Landforms (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Although not as encyclopaedic in its coverage as Benn and Evans (2010), this is still an excellent textbook. Its more concise approach works well, and the academic level is suitable for advanced undergraduate courses. Note that in-text citations are not provided, although suggested reading is provided at the end of each chapter).
Hambrey, M and Alean, J. 2004. Glaciers (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press
Until now, all the virtual field trips on VR Glaciers have been self-guided. That is, they are provided without interpretation. I have taken this approach because it provides the flexibility for the same virtual field trip to be used in different ways. During the pandemic, for example, I heard how the Arolla virtual field trip
After something of a hiatus due to the pandemic, I’m pleased to announce that there will be two new virtual field trips added to the site soon. One is a guided virtual field trip to Cwm Idwal (Snowdonia National Park, North Wales), which has been produced in collaboration with Dr Lynda Yorke (Bangor). This will
This page, which is a work in progress, is for general content that is relevant to the topic of glaciers and glaciated landscapes. If you have any recommendations for a resource that you feel should be listed here, please get in touch.
In order to support the ongoing development of this site, it would be really helpful if you could let me know why and how you use the resource. I’d also appreciate hearing any ideas you may have for improvements. Thank you!
I'm a Physical Geographer at the University of Worcester (England, UK). Interests include mountain glaciers, mountain geomorphology and Quaternary environmental change. I'm also interested in the use of virtual reality in teaching.
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