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I know what the Mer de Glace is and how it is changing.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2023), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Key learning points

The Mer de Glace is the largest glacier in France.
The Mer de Glace is a tourist attraction.
Climate change has had an impact on the Mer de Glace.

Common misconception

Tourism at the Mer de Glace only has negative impacts.

Tourism at the Mer de Glace has both positive and negative impacts. Positive impacts include boosts to the local economy and an awareness of climate change.

Keywords

Glacier - a huge accumulation of ice and snow that moves slowly over land
Tourist attraction - a place of interest for visitors
Climate change - long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns

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Hello, my name is Mrs. Grey, and I'm so excited that you've decided to learn geography with me today.

Today's lesson is in our unit of Ice and glaciers: how are cold places affected by a warming planet? And today's lesson is all about the Mer de Glace.

By the end of the lesson, you will know what the Mer de Glace is and how it is changing.

There are some key words that will come across in today's lesson.

They are glacier, tourist attraction, and climate change.

A glacier is a huge accumulation of ice and snow that moves slowly over land.

A tourist attraction is a place of interest for visitors, and climate change is long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns.

Today's lesson on the Mer de Glace is split into two learning cycles.

The first, what is special about the Mer de Glace? And the second, how is the Mer de Glace changing? So let's take a look at that first learning cycle, what is special about the Mer de Glace? So the Mer de Glace is the largest glacier in France, and there's that keyword, glacier, a big accumulation of snow and ice that's formed over a long period of time.

The Mer de Glace is located in the French Alps near Mont Blanc, and you can see an image there on the right of the Mer de Glace.

And then you can see an arrow pointing to where abouts it is in France, in the French Alps.

And here you can see another image of the Mer de Glace.

The Mer de Glace is one of Europe's largest glaciers, at approximately 7.

5 kilometres.

And you can see on the map there that it's being measured, it's around 7.

5 kilometres, so very, very, very big.

You can see in the image there just how big it is.

So we've come to our first check of the lesson then, where is the Mer de Glace located? Is it a, the Pyrenees? Is it b, the French Alps? Or is it c, the Dolomites? So have a think, pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you're going.

Okay, how did you get on? Where is the Mer de Glace located? Is it the Pyrenees, the French Alps, or the Dolomites? And the answer is b, the French Alps.

Did you get that? Well done.

So the Mer de Glace glacier has numerous key features that attract tourists, so people wanting to go to the Mer de Glace to look at some features that they want to see.

Some of these features are ice caves, crevasses, and moraines.

Now, the Mer de Glace has lots and lots of features, and these are just some of the features that attract tourists.

And we're gonna look at each one of these in turn now.

We're gonna look at ice caves, crevasses, and moraines.

So the Mer de Glace has ice caves, and these are natural ice caves that have been carved by melting water.

So, caves made out of ice that are in the glacier, that have been carved because of some of the water melting, and that's then carved these caves that are inside the glacier.

Now, the Mer de Glace's Grotte de Glace is an artificial ice cave, which is what the image is there.

So that's not a natural ice cave made by melting water.

This one's an artificial ice cave.

And this has been made to give tourists the experience while ensuring their safety.

If lots and lots of people are wanting to go and visit, it's really important that people are kept safe, and so they've made an artificial ice cave.

So that's not being made naturally; it's being made by people so that tourists can go and have a look and see what an ice cave looks like, but it's safe.

And so, then, the tourists are kept safe while they're going to see that.

The Mer de Glace also has some features called crevasses.

Here's an image there of a crevasse.

The crevasse is a deep crack in the ice, formed as the glacier moves.

So a glacier, a huge amount of ice and snow compacted together, moving, sometimes parts of that can crack.

And those cracks, really, really deep cracks, are called crevasses.

And you can see the scale of the crevasse there by looking at that image.

You can see a person on that image, and then you can see just how big that crevasse is.

Here's another image of some crevasse.

You can see in it, the person there walking, so you can see just how big these crevasses are.

Very, very big features.

Also, very, very attractive scenery, and so they're gonna attract a lot of tourists to see them.

The Mer de Glace also has a feature called moraine.

So this is a zoomed-in image of the Mer de Glace here.

Now, moraines are ridges of debris that have been left by the glacier's movement.

So the glacier picks up material as it moves, transports this material, and then when that parts of that glacier melt, it can leave mounds of debris and ridges of debris called moraines.

And you can see some moraine here, a moraine on the edge there of the Mer de Glace.

So another check then, which of the following key features does the Mer de Glace have? a, ice caves, b, crevasses, c, moraines.

So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Which of the following key features does the Mer de Glace have? Ice caves, crevasses, moraines.

And the answer is all of them.

Did you get them all? Well done.

Now, the Mer de Glace, as we've been talking about, is a very popular tourist attraction.

It's got lots of features that attract tourists, features such as ice caves, hiking trails, and very scenic views.

If you look at all of those images, you can see how attractive that area is, and that's gonna attract lots of different types of people, going to look at lots of different things.

I've got another check then, true or false? Tourism at the Mer de Glace only has negative impacts.

Do you think is that true or false? Pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Tourism at the Mer de Glace only has negative impacts.

What do you think? The answer is false.

But why is it false? Tourism at the Mer de Glace has both positive and negative impacts.

Positive impacts includes things like boosts to the local economy and an awareness of climate change.

Did you get that? Well done.

Okay, so now we're onto to our first task of the lesson.

So question 1, locate the Mer de Glace on the map below.

So you can see the map there, you need to locate where the Mer de Glace is.

Question 2, fill in the gaps below.

So we've got a little paragraph here with some gaps, and you need to fill those gaps in.

So the Mer de Glace is the what glacier in France and one of Europe's largest glaciers at approximately what? The Mer de Glace has ice caves, crevasses, and moraines.

Natural ice caves are carved by what water.

Crevasses are deep what in the ice, formed as the glacier move.

What are ridges of debris left by the glacier's movement.

The Mer de Glace is a very popular what attraction.

Tourists visit for the ice caves, hiking trails, and scenic what, among other things.

So you've got a few gaps there to fill in.

So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? So question 1, locate the Mer de Glace on the map below.

Can you see where it's located there? Did you get that one right? And question 2, fill in the gaps.

So this is what it should say: The Mer de Glace is the largest glacier in France and one of Europe's largest glaciers at approximately 7.

5 kilometres.

The Mer de Glace has ice caves, crevasses, and moraines.

Natural ice caves are carved by melting water.

Crevasses are deep cracks in the ice, formed as the glacier moves.

Moraines are ridges of debris left by the glacier's movement.

The Mer de Glace is a very popular tourist attraction.

Tourists visit for the ice caves, hiking trails, and scenic views, among other things.

Did you get all of those? Well done.

Okay, so we've finished our first learning cycle about what is special about the Mer de Glace.

Now we're gonna go onto our second learning cycle, which is how is the Mer de Glace changing? So the Mer de Glace has significantly shrunk over the last century.

Over the last 100 years, the Mer de Glace has got smaller.

Since 1850, the glacier has lost nearly 2 kilometres in length.

So in 1850, it was 9 kilometres.

In 2020, that had shrunk down to 7 kilometres.

And you can see the difference there with those two lines, how much, what proportion of it has been lost.

So a lot of that glacier is lost.

It's shrunk by quite a lot in that space of time.

So another check then, by how much has the Mer de Glace shrunk over the last century? Is it a, 1 kilometre, b, 2 kilometres, or c, 3 kilometres? Pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? By how much has the Mer de Glace shrunk over the last century? And the answer is b, 2 kilometres.

Well done.

Okay, so the retreat of the Mer de Glace has visible impacts, and retreat, and the glacier is coming back up the valley because it's melting.

And it has visible impacts, impacts that you can see.

There's a reduction in ice thickness and volume, so the amount of ice is getting smaller.

Also, the retreat of the glacier's terminus exposes bare rock, so you can actually see the glacier retreating.

You can see that it's smaller, and you can see that there's bare rock being exposed.

Now, the retreat of the Mer de Glace has numerous consequences, one of them is a reduced water supply for rivers.

Some of the ice is supplying water for the rivers, so it's retreat is having a consequence in that the rivers aren't gonna have as much water.

It's also gonna cause a disruption to local ecosystems. So ecosystems that are living in that local area, that's gonna change as a result of the Mer de Glace changing.

And finally, loss of a natural heritage site.

The Mer de Glace retreating, the Mer de Glace is a natural heritage site.

So if the Mer de Glace is retreating, we're losing that.

So the retreat of it does have lots of consequences.

Now, there are similar patterns of glacier retreat observed in glaciers worldwide.

So glaciers all over the world are retreating.

Now, if we have a little look at this graph here, this is showing the impacts of different degrees of global warming.

So if the globe warms by a certain number of degrees, how many glaciers are going to be lost? So the red rings show the number of glaciers from 2015 to be lost by 2021.

So if temperatures rise by 1.

5 degree, around 49% of the world's glaciers will be lost by 2100.

If temperatures rise by 4 degrees, around 83% of the world's glaciers will be lost by 2100.

For huge proportions of glaciers around the world, of the world's glaciers, are going to be lost as a result of global warming.

So another check then, true or false? The Mer de Glace could disappear within decades.

Is that true or false? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? The Mer de Glace could disappear within decades.

Is that true or false? And the answer is true.

But why is it true? Climate models predict that if emissions continue, the Mer de Glace could disappear within decades.

Well done.

Okay, so we're onto our final task of the lesson then.

The following question has been answered, but there are eight mistakes.

Find and correct the mistakes.

That's your task.

Now the question is, describe and explain the impacts of glacial retreat for the Mer de Glace.

I'm gonna read out the answer, and there are eight mistakes.

You have to find those mistakes and correct them.

The Mer de Glace has increased a lot over the last century, losing nearly 2 centimetres in length since 1850.

This retreat has caused big changes, like thicker ice, less volume, and bare rock being exposed as the glacier shrinks.

These changes lead to problems such as more water flowing into rivers, harm to local plants and animals, and the gain of an important natural landmark.

If climate change continues and emissions stay low, the Mer de Glace could grow in just a few decades.

Similar glacier retreats are happening all over the continent.

So there are eight mistakes there.

You need to find those mistakes and correct them.

So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, let's see how you got on then.

So, the Mer de Glace has shrunk a lot over the last century, losing nearly 2 kilometres in length since 1850.

This retreat has caused big changes, like thinner ice, less volume, and bare rock being exposed as the glacier shrinks.

These changes lead to problems such as less water flowing into rivers, harm to local plants and animals, and the loss of an important natural landmark.

If climate change continues and emissions stay high, the Mer de Glace could disappear in just a few decades.

Similar glacier retreats are happening all over the world.

How did you get on there? Did you identify all eight of those mistakes and were you able to correct them? Well done.

Okay, so we're at the end of our lesson today on the Mer de Glace.

Let's have a look at what we've learned.

The Mer de Glace is the largest glacier in France at around 7.

5 kilometres long.

The Mer de Glace has special features such as ice caves, crevasses, and moraines that attract tourists.

And climate change has had an impact on the Mer de Glace and is causing it to retreat.

I've really enjoyed today's geography lesson, and I hope you have too.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

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