Cryospheric Sciences

Back to the Front – Larsen C Ice Shelf in the Aftermath of Iceberg A68!

Adam Booth November 8, 2017

Figure 1: A68 sets sail from Larsen C.
Sentinel 1 SAR image [Credit: Adrian Luckman, Swansea University].

Much of the Antarctic continent is fringed by ice shelves. An ice shelf is the floating extension of a terrestrial ice mass and, as such, is an important ‘middleman’ that regulates the delivery of ice from land into the ocean: for much of Antarctica, ice that passes from land into the sea does so via ice shelves. I’ve been conducting geophysical experiments on ice for over a decade, using mostly s ...[Read More]

Mapping the bottom of the world — an Interview with Brad Herried, Antarctic Cartographer

Brad Herried October 11, 2017

Brad Herried, Antarctic cartographer at South Pole. [Credit: Brad Herried].

Mapping Earth’s most remote continent presents a number of unique challenges. Antarctic cartographers and scientists are using some of the most advanced mapping technologies available to get a clearer picture of the continent. We asked Brad Herried, a Cartographer and Web Developer at the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota, a few questions about what it’s like to do this unique ...[Read More]

Image of the week – Micro-organisms on Ice!

Tommaso Santagata August 11, 2017

Figure 1: Investigating micro-organisms on Perito Moreno. Left – Sampling on the glacier surface inside a cryoconite hole. Right – Scientists from the University Bicocca of Milan at work performing analysis in the temporary laboratory set up in Buscaini Refugee (shelter) [Credit: Alessio Romeo – La Venta Esplorazioni Geografiche]

The cold icy surface of a glacier doesn’t seem like an environment where life should exist, but if you look closely you may be surprised! Glaciers are not only locations studied by glaciologists and physical scientists, but are also of great interest to microbiologists and ecologists. In fact, understanding the interaction between ice and microbiology is essential to fully understand the gla ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Hidden lakes in East Antarctica !

Sophie Berger March 10, 2017

Underwater picture of englacial lake 4m below the surface [Credit: S. Lhermitte].

Who would have guessed that such a beautiful picture could get you interviewed for the national news?! Certainly not me! And yet, the photo of this englacial lake (a lake trapped within the ice in Antarctica), or rather science behind it, managed to capture the media attention and brought me, one of the happy co-author of this study, on the Belgian television… But what do we see on the pic ...[Read More]

Quantarctica: Mapping Antarctica has never been so easy!

George Roth March 8, 2017

One of the most time-consuming and stressful parts of any Antarctic research project is simply making a map. Whether it’s plotting your own data points, lines, or images; making the perfect “Figure 1” for your next paper, or replying to a collaborator who says “Just show me a map!,” it seems that quick and effective map-making is a skill that we take for granted. However, finding good map data and ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Apocalypse snow? … No, it’s sea ice!

Jean-Louis Tison February 10, 2017

Sea-ice brine sampling is sometimes challenging [Credit: Stefan Hendricks]

Sea ice brine sampling is always great fun, but sometimes somewhat challenging ! As sea water freezes to form sea ice, salts in the water are rejected from the ice and concentrate in pockets of very salty water, which are entrapped within the sea ice. These pockets are known as “brines”. Scientists sample these brines to measure the physical and bio-geochemical properties, such as: tem ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – On the tip of Petermann’s (ice) tongue

Céline Heuzé January 27, 2017

Petermann's ice tongue. [Credit: C. Heuzé]

5th August 2015, 10:30 in the morning. The meeting had to be interrupted to take this picture. We were aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden, and were now closer than anyone before to the terminus of Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland. But we had not travelled that far just for pictures… Petermann’s ice tongue Petermann is one of Greenland’s largest “marine terminating glaciers”. As the name ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Looking back at 2016

Sophie Berger January 6, 2017

I cannot believe that a full year has passed since this very cute pink unicorn wished you a Happy New Year. Yet, over the past 12 months our blog has attracted more than 16,200 visits. And the blog analytics show that you, our dear readers, are based not only in Europe but literally all over the world! With 67 new posts published in only 52 weeks, it’s more than likely that you missed a few inte ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Listening to the Snow

Nanna B. Karlsson October 21, 2016

E. Bagshaw (University of Cardiff, UK) listening for the bleep from a wireless sensor buried in the snow a few hundred metres away. [Credit N. B. Karlsson].

When working in the middle of an ice sheet, you rarely get to experience the amazing wildlife of the polar regions. So what are we doing hundreds of kilometres from the coast with an animal tracker device? We are listening to the snow of course! It is not crazy; It is what Image of the Week today is all about! Going Wireless In June 2016, Liz Bagshaw and I travelled to the EGRIP (East Greenland Ic ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Where do people stay in the “coolest” place on earth?

Sophie Berger August 19, 2016

The 82 research stations in the Antarctic. The world map below shows which countries are operating a station in Antarctica. Source: COMNAP Antarctic Facilities (Updated February 2014) - [Credit: Sophie Berger]. Click here here to enlarge the image.

What word would you use to characterise the Antarctic ? White? Windy? Remote? Empty? Inhospitable? Wild? Preserved? While all of these are true it may surprise you to find out that the Antarctic is occupied by humans all year round with almost half of its 82 research stations operating 365.25 days a year! Just a few hours before the launch of the biennial Antarctic meeting held by the Science Comm ...[Read More]