Computing The Institute is linked to the University mainframe and thereby the University of Manchester Regional Computer Centre. The Institute maintains its own Calcomp and Integraph digitisers, plotters and computers with extensive software for database management, statistical analysis, graphics etc. Courses on computer applications are available to graduates working in the Institute, with practical workshops introducing a wide range of program packages. Pulse EKKO 100 System 400V Ground penetrating radar with 100 and 200 MHz antennae. A PC - based Seismic Workstation with appropriate software and an AO Plotter is used to interpret 2D and 3D seismic data.
Additional software is used to carry out further manipulation of the data such as section balancing.
There is an extensive library of aerial photography. Powerful Sun-based satellite image processing systems for digital analysis and interpretation of remotely sensed images of large ice masses and for computer modelling of the links between glaciers and climate. Glacier Hydrochemistry Laboratory. A Dionex DX-100 ion chromatograph for analysis of the chemical composition of glacial meltwaters. A hot water ice drill capable of providing access holes to the glacier bed through 400m-thick ice, to allow emplacement of suites of geophysical instrumentation to measure glacier hydrology, stress regime and temperature.