Event

AEG OR Chapter November 20, 2018 Meeting

Glaciers and Water Runoff

PURCHASE OF TICKETS USING BROWN PAPER TICKETS: Ticket sales stops by 5pm on Sunday November 18th.

(At the door payments in Cash or Checks only.)

6:00 Social Hour
6:45 Dinner (Salad and Pizza)
7:30 Presentation

PRESENTATION:

Speaker: Dr. Andrew Fountain

ABSTRACT:

Glaciers can be thought of frozen reservoirs of water that are released during the hottest and driest times of the year, naturally buffering the effects of drought. As the climate warms these reservoirs shrink supplying extra water that would otherwise not be available. This short term benefit occurs at the expense of long term buffering capacity such that, as these un-replenished reservoirs shrink less ice is available to bugger future droughts. Globally, the loss of water stored on the landscape increases sea level. This presentation investigates the interaction of water and glaciers, specifically how water is routed and stored in glaciers, glacier-caused floods, and the relationship between glaciers and water runoff.

SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Andrew Fountain

Dr. Fountain received a PhD from the University of Washington in 1992 while he was employed by the US Geological Survey. Prior to receiving his PhD, he was in the USGS Water Resources Division office in Tacoma, WA. He then transferred to the Denver Federal Center and worked there until 1995 when he came to Portland State University (PSU). Dr. Fountain currently has appointments in the Geology and Geography Departments at PSU. He has been working on glaciers and glacier hydrology his entire career including studies in the Arctic, Antarctic and western US. Dr. Fountain has a glacier in Antarctica named after him, received the Hoffman Award for research at Portland State, and is a Honorary member of the Mazamas for his work on glaciers of the American West. He has also received addition awards from various professional societies.