Offered spring. Prereq., M 121. Study of basic physical processes occurring in snow and ice, and how these processes govern the interaction between frozen water and the climate system. The first half of the course focuses in snow, with special attention to snow formation in the atmosphere, snow metamorphism, water flow through snow, and basic avalanche mechanics. The second half of the course focuses on ice and includes glacier and ice sheet flow dynamics, glacier hydrology, and ice age theory. Graduate students will be required to complete additional problem sets requiring higher level math; perform additional reading assignments; perform at a higher level on assignments and exams where students are asked to outline and describe various physical processes; submit a well researched and reference research proposal that is able to synthesize previous research and provide a sophisticated research plan.