EGU Guest blogger

The new glacial geomorphological map from New Zealand

Levan Tielidze April 2, 2021

Glacial geomorphological mapping comparison in 3D. a - Moraine ridge in the middle section of the Ahuriri River valley with surrounding area. b - Key landscape elements are shown in the accompanying sketch. (Credit: Tielidze et al., 2021).

Geomorphological maps are a fundamental tool to represent landforms and understand how different morphological elements and agents shaped a natural landscape. They are also important as background information for many fields of research including ecology, forestry and of course, glaciology. In this week’s blog, Levan Tielidze tells us about the importance of mapping glacial geomorphology, presenti ...[Read More]

Do meditation and a better science correlate? – Mindfulness in Academia

Maria Scheel March 26, 2021

We often start searching for the term “mental health” online only when mental issues are already arising. It seems to be a trendy word on everyone’s social media. Of course, you don’t have to suffer already in order to learn about, and benefit from, mindfulness – or the ability to notice the present moment and what is going on in your life. In this post, I am sharing how I became a more mindful sc ...[Read More]

Climate Change and Cryosphere – What can we learn from the smallest, most vulnerable glaciers in the Ötztal Alps?

Markus Strudl March 19, 2021

The Alps were the first mountains to be studied from a glaciological point of view in the 19th century and they host some of the most studied glaciers of Earth. Some of them are found in the Central Alps and in particular, the Ötztal Alps. Just to cite the most known and largest glaciers in this Alpine sector, we can mention Hintereisferner or Vernagtferner. But in the Ötztal Alps you can also fin ...[Read More]

Do you know about OGGM-Edu? An open-source educational platform about glaciers and glacier modelling

Zora Schirmeister, Patrick Schmitt & Fabien Maussion March 12, 2021

Are you teaching about glaciers and looking for fun educational activities for your students? Are you planning a workshop about glacier modelling and want to make it interactive, with a low entry level? Are you interested in learning about glaciers and glacier modelling, and looking for a simple way to get started? On top of that, do you want to do all of the above without installing anything on y ...[Read More]

Did you know that glacier mass loss affects water resources?

Larissa van der Laan March 5, 2021

The picture above shows a typical Kyrgyz summer yurt camp, located in the valley of Altyn-Arashan, Kyrgyzstan. The stream you see flowing through comes from the glacier-fed lake of Ala-Kul, the gorgeous turquoise water featured below. The families who live there during summer have done so for generations, and travel up with their herds of horses and cows. The stream provides the water they need fo ...[Read More]

Subglacial Hydrology For Dummies – Water, water everywhere…

Samuel Cook February 19, 2021

Glaciers are mostly made of water. Sometimes, perhaps more than we’d like, some of that water makes a break for it by melting, the inconstant molecule… It might pootle around on the surface of the glacier a bit and get a lot of remote sensers very excited, but it’s what it does once it gets to the base of the glacier that really matters for the behaviour and flow of the ice. So, in 2000 word ...[Read More]

Rain or snow? Answering the question with citizen scientists

Keith Jennings February 12, 2021

As a New Englander interested in weather, I was used to a fairly intuitive air temperature split between rain and snow. Once air temperature got slightly above freezing, I’d commonly see rainfall with snowfall more frequent below freezing. Then something happened when I moved to the Intermountain West of the United States. Instead of seeing rain when it was slightly above freezing, I’d see snow at ...[Read More]

Did you know there’s a place to Find, Discover, & Download Arctic Data? Meet The Arctic Data Center!

Erin McLean February 5, 2021

Getting data from the Arctic is often difficult and expensive – instead, stand on the shoulders of giants and investigate over 6000 datasets preserved for future download and reuse in the Arctic Data Center! Read on for more information about the Arctic Data Center and the data contained therein. The Arctic Data Center is the primary data repository for the Arctic section of the US National ...[Read More]

Did you know … that liquid water can be held within a glacier?

Annika Horlings January 29, 2021

Hidden below the surface of some glaciers, liquid water can be found within what is called the firn layer – the upper layer of a glacier where snow compacts into glacier ice. Liquid water may persist there for up to many years, forming what scientists call “firn aquifers.” While observations of seasonal firn aquifers have existed since the mid to late 1900s in several mountain glaciers, recent stu ...[Read More]

Atmospheric Rivers: A blanket for Antarctic winter sea ice

Diana Francis January 22, 2021

Figure 1: The Weddell Polynya in the Weddell Sea as seen from space on 25 September 2017, a few days after the initial opening on 14 September 2017. Figure credits: NASA.

The mysterious appearance and disappearance of the Weddell Polynya, a giant hole in the sea ice cover, has long puzzled scientists. Recent work reveals that the polynya is initiated and maintained by gigantic and formidable atmospheric currents: atmospheric rivers! Read on to find out more… Each year, approximately 15 million square kilometers of ice forms in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica d ...[Read More]