BASIC COURSE OF GLACIOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE OF LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK, SANTA CRUZ PROVINCE

Abstract

These training courses arise from a requirement that, in 2014, the Conociendo Nuestra CasaFoundation of Puerto Deseado (Province of Santa Cruz), proposed to the Research Group Synthetic Aperture Radarof the National Technological University, Haedo Regional Faculty. It consisted in a basic course on glaciology for 4th Grade students of Puerto Deseado schools and other coastal cities, in order to raise environmental awareness among the inhabitants of these populations. This course was modified in the following years due to the interest shown by some secondary schools in Buenos Aires, to be taught during the school year. This is how, since 2017, the members of the research group offer free classes on glaciology and its relationship with climate change, for young students in secondary schools. Initially, the objective was to generate teaching material simple enough to be understood by 10-year-old children, which included both satellite images of the ice field area and historical and current photographs of the different glaciers. This was subsequently modified and adapted to teenage students, who also showed special interest in climate change issues. Thus, students were able to acquire basic knowledge about not only the main characteristics of the glaciers, but also the retreat of their fronts due to variations of the prevailing climatic conditions in the area and in the world, besides remote sensing learning. Geo-technologies were used in order to track the glaciers and to complement the theory regarding to theirdefinition, structure, morphology, evolution, location and associated environmental and historical aspects, so that the pupils can acquaint themselves with remote sensing. Optical Landsat 3/5/7/8 and Sentinel-2A images were used. Compositions in true and false-colour were obtained for the period 1981-2017 and a multitemporal analysis was realized to highlight the Upsala Glacier’s retreat from the year 1986 up to the actuality. The course also includes maps, historical photos, explanatory schemes and imagestaken by the authors in fieldworks. Specific material from Argentine satellite missions such SAOCOM 1A launch was added to the teaching material, as well as definitions related to natural environment and the factors that modify it. The course was developed in a flexible way, so as to be updatable and dispensed to schools countrywide. Its main goal is to aware students about the enormous significance of glaciers as national water resources and as indicator of global climate change with the subsequent alteration of local ecosystems.