Cindy Lou Skipper / Earth & Environmental Sciences / Faculty Mentor: Nathan Brown
Large glaciers and ice sheets in North America have melted as the climate warmed since the last ice age, exposing boulders that were once frozen inside the ice. Once exposed to sunlight, a boulder’s surface begins to lose its luminescence signal, a measurable amount of blue light that can be stimulated by shining infrared light onto individual mineral grains. With time this signal empties to greater depths. Thus, using luminescence dating, the date that the rock was exposed, and therefore the date the glacier melted at the boulder location, is revealed. To estimate how long the boulders have been exposed to sunlight, several important assumptions are involved. Previous research has overlooked how varying degrees of snow cover could influence the apparent exposure age of samples. In this study, we develop MATLAB codes to simulate fluctuating levels of snow cover through time to determine the effects on bleaching depth. Using these results, we can more accurately estimate when glaciers retreated from specific regions to better reconstruct past responses of glaciers to climate change. This helps us to better predict future melting of land ice in response to changing climate.
Xiangwei Guo
Great work, Cindy!
Cindy Lou Skipper
Thanks Xiangwei! 🙂