Nearly every year since the late 90s, during the summer, the picturesque Karthaus has hosted 10-day glaciology course. This school is a platform for glaciologists to explore, learn and expand their knowledge base. This helps researchers become multi-faceted: to view glaciology from the perspective of those specializing in other backgrounds such as hydrology, geomorphology, oceanography, etc. which ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – Promoting interdisciplinary science in the Arctic: what is IASC?
IASC, the International Arctic Science Committee, is more than your regular committee. IASC connects Arctic scientists from 23 member countries and countless disciplines in order to promote and support impactful multi- and interdisciplinary Arctic research. IASC aims to foster a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic region and its role in the Earth system [Credit: IASC].
The Arctic is one of the fastest changing regions on the Earth, where climate change impacts are felt both earlier and more strongly than elsewhere in the world. As an integral part of the Earth system, the Arctic is shaped by global processes, and in turn, Arctic processes influence the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people at lower latitudes. No one country or community can underst ...[Read More]
Do clouds affect melting over Antarctic ice shelves?
The Antarctic Peninsula is the ‘canary in the coalmine’ of Antarctic climate change. In the last half-century it has warmed faster than most other places on Earth, and considerable change has consequently been observed in the cryosphere, with several ice shelves collapsing in part or in full. Representing this change in models is difficult because we understand comparatively little abo ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – On thin [Arctic sea] ice
Perhaps the most enduring and important signal of a warming climate has been that the minimum Arctic sea ice extent, occurring each year in September, has declined precipitously. Over the last 40 years, most of the Arctic sea ice has thus been transformed to first-year ice that freezes in the winter and melts in the summer. Concern about sea ice extent and area is valid: since sea ice i ...[Read More]
Image of the Week — Cryo Connect: connecting cryosphere scientists and information seekers
Communicating scientific findings toward non-experts is a vital part of cryosphere science. However, when it comes to climate change and its impact, the gap between scientific knowledge and human action has never been so evident (see for instance, the publication of the latest IPCC special report). Today, our image of the week features an interview with Cryo Connect, a new initiative for more effi ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – Greenland’s fjords: critical zones for mixing
An iceberg melts in Godthåbsfjord, West Greenland [Credit: Thomas-Juul Pedersen].
One of the most challenging research questions to address in the Arctic is how freshwater discharge from Greenland’s largest glaciers affects the biogeochemistry of the ocean. Just getting close to the calving fronts of these large marine-terminating glaciers is difficult. Fjords, hundreds of kilometers long and full of icebergs which shift with the wind and roll as they melt, make the commute a l ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – Oh Sheet!
Fig. 1: Overview of the ISMIP6 framework. Obtain forcing from climate models, project sea-level contributions using ice-sheet models, and explore ice-sheet-climate feedbacks. [Credit : Figure 1 in Nowicki et al., 2016 ]
The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are major players in future sea level rise. Still, there is a lot about these ice sheets we do not understand. Under the umbrella of the World Climate Research Programme, the international scientific community is coming together to improve ice sheet modelling efforts to better grasp the implications of climate change for ice sheet evolution, and consequently, ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – Climbing Everest and highlighting science in the mountains
Fig. 1: The view of Mount Everest and Khumbu Glacier from below Kala Patthar. The coloured tents of Base Camp can be seen stretched out alongside the glacier [Credit: Melanie Windridge].
Dr Melanie Windridge, a physicist and mountaineer, successfully summited Mount Everest earlier this year and has been working on an outreach programme to encourage young people’s interest in science and technology. Read about her summit climb, extreme temperatures, and the science supporting high-altitude mountaineering in our Image of the Week. It’s bigger than it looks! Experiencing the majesty ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – The shape of (frozen sea) water
Polar sea ice exists as isolated units of ice that we describe as floes. These floes do not have a constant shape (see here for instance); they can vary from almost circular to being jagged and rectangular. However, sea ice models currently assume that all floes have the same shape. Much focus has been paid to the size of floes recently, but do we also need to reconsider how floe shape is t ...[Read More]
Image of the Week – Stuck in the ice: could it have been predicted?
Figure 1: The RRS James Clark Ross stuck in the middle of Antarctic sea ice [Credit: British Antarctic Survey].
Expeditions in the Southern Ocean are invaluable opportunities to learn more about this fascinating but remote region of the world. However, sending vessels to navigate the hostile Antarctic waters is an expensive endeavor, not only financially but also from a human perspective. When vessels are forced to turn back due to hazardous conditions or, even worse, become stuck in the ice (as shown in ou ...[Read More]