Conference Agenda

The large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain so much ice that they would rise global sea level by about 65 m, if completely melted. A relatively modest 10% mass loss would mean that large parts of the Netherlands and other deltas worldwide would be permanently flooded. Just several decades ago, not much was known about the mass household of these big ice sheets, and only rough estimates existed of how much snow falls in their interior, and how much meltwater and ice flows into the surrounding oceans. In their first assessment report published in 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that these ice masses were not expected to contribute significantly to future sea level rise. But 15 years later the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a pair of satellites that continuously monitor the gravity field of the earth, discovered that these giant ice sheets are losing mass, and are contributing significantly to ongoing sea level rise. A few years later it became clear that the mass loss from both ice sheets was accelerating, even further increasing the scientific research into their potential instability. In this lecture we discuss the recent progress that has been made in our knowledge of the big ice, what the greatest remaining uncertainties are and what this means for the future of low-lying regions around the world.

OutcropWizard is a smartphone application that grants access to a database with points of geological interest. The aim is to make this data available to expert and laymen alike. The approach is crowdsourced. Hence, we focus especially on involving geoscience students to fill in relevant information. However, OutcropWizard has multiple target groups. In university education the app is a link between theoretical classroom-based knowledge transfer and practical fieldwork. The students are able to go on self-directed fieldtrips, find relevant outcrops and access site-specific content. The second target group is the general public. OutcropWizard is a tool that is used for public outreach, especially in geoparks where the use of geological heritage in a sustainable way is promoted. In geoparks, scientific information for the public is already available and can easily be integrated into the app. The advantage is in line with the visions and missions of the geoparks, since smartphone-based knowledge transfer is a possibility to extend the target group. Evidently, smartphones are the primary access to information for the younger generation. OutcropWizard is, therefore, an important tool in environmental education both on a national as well as international level.

Until now (June 2020) over 3000 sites can be reached using the route planner for streets and hiking trails, with site-specific content being texts, pictures, videos, 3D models and a ranking system. Information is exportable as PDF, a function especially interesting to students compiling field reports. Teachers and field instructors can upload site-relevant data like literature and work sheets directly.

In contrast to books and information boards, the database can be easily updated, is even multilingual and interdisciplinary, and is not prone to vandalism.

We signed a memorandum of understanding with the UNESCO ´Nature and Geopark Vulkaneifel´ and are recognised by the German Geological Association. In 2019, the app received the ´Digital Innovation Award´ by the University of Bonn and the ´Exploratory Teaching Space Award´ by the RWTH Aachen University. Further financial support was granted by the Klaus-Tschira Foundation and the ABC/J Geonetwork.