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University of Washington - Greenland & Denmark Program
Education and Career AdvancementIce and Climate-Change Science and Societal Response
The melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet impacts people in Greenland and throughout the world, as the ice melt contributes to rapidly rising global sea levels. Through the Greenland Exploration Seminar students visit Denmark in order to learn how the country is leading efforts to learn about the impacts of the melting ice sheet and working to halt the effects of climate change. The program is hosted by the University of Washington College of the Environment and funded by Scan Design Foundation.
The program is led by UW Professor Michelle Koutnik, a Research Assistant Professor within the Department of Earth and Space Sciences. Michelle Koutnik's research areas focus on glacier and ice sheet dynamics and histories, including their evolution in response to climate changes. Her research uses ice-flow models and fieldwork on mountain glaciers, Antarctica, and Greenland.
Blog: Exploring the Greenland Ice Sheet with the University of Washington
Read this blog about two University of Washington programs in Greenland sponsored by Scan Design Foundation in 2023. SDF Program Officer, Line Larsen, writes about her experiences in Ilulissat with the students.
The 2018 Program:
The UW-Seattle Earth and Space Sciences Early Fall 2018 Program featured travel to Copenhagen, Denmark and Ilulissat, Greenland. The program aim was to help students understand the significance of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
The corresponding UW course for this program:
- ESS 402: Greenland and Denmark: Ice and climate-change science and societal response (5 credits)
Course goals and objectives:
- To obtain real-world knowledge about climate change, and how changes in the Arctic will impact Greenland and extend globally.
- To gain a more sophisticated understanding of how to tackle scientific problems and ask scientific questions.
- To appreciate spatial scales and time scales of changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet, and of scientists' job of deciphering the past, monitoring the present, and predicting the future.
- To encourage critical thinking, discourse, and action regarding global issues.
- To foster connections with scientists, students, and citizens of Denmark and Greenland, and gain respect for these two distinct, yet coupled, cultures.
- To understand energy-saving mechanisms and philosophies in place for the city of Copenhagen and across Denmark.
- To consider shifts in Arctic governance as sea-ice loss and ice-sheet melt bring new access to natural resources and shipping routes.
I participated in the UW Study Abroad Exploration Seminar to Greenland and Denmark during this past summer. There are no words to describe how life changing this experience was for me. I have always been fascinated with high-latitude ecosystems and geopolitics (hence the Arctic Studies minor!), but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to travel there so soon. I was able to speak to the local Greenlandic Inuit about how climate change is impacting their lives, swim in water that was 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and experience the Greenland Ice sheet. These experiences, coupled with the incredible relationships I formed with the other students and professors on this trip, have solidified my desire to pursue a scientific career and expanded my personal and professional network."
State of Arctic change science and societal implications
Fourteen undergraduate students traveled far and learned widely on an Exploration Seminar to Greenland and Denmark.
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