Dr. Baker Perry and his students travel to the highest peaks of the tropical Andes Mountains in South America to study glaciers. This past week they visited the EcoRaiders to share their adventures in climate science, discuss why this type of research is important, and give students a taste of what its like to camp at such high altitudes. Dr. Perry is a professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at Appalachian State. Every summer he leads research expeditions to the mountains of Peru and Bolivia and takes graduate students like Eric and Jason with him. They instal weather stations at the top of icecaps, at altitudes as high as 16,000 feet. They are particularly interested in tropical glaciers and how their melting due to climate change, is affecting the amount of rainfall in the region. This is detrimental to communities at the foot of the glaciers which depend on the water the glaciers provide. The more the glaciers retreat, the less water these communities have. Glacier volume is one of the climate change indicators that climate scientists study, others include: sea ice area, air temperature, sea surface temperature, sea level, coastal flooding, ocean acidity and snowfall patterns (and more). Dr. Perry also researchers snowfall patterns in the Southern Appalachian mountains that directly affect our own community! Dr. Perry leads the Integrated Climate Research and Education: Central Andes Precipitation Project (ICECAP), which promotes understanding and education of the climate in the tropical Andes Mountains. Other than multidisciplinary international research, it includes citizen science and K12 outreach initiatives (like the awesome K-8 climate science resources developed by local teacher Darcy Grimes who traveled to Peru with Dr. Perry). For more information about their educational initiatives and research, check out the ICECAP website. You can also read the article on Appalachian Magazine about Jason Endries, one of the two graduate students who visited us and his research.
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