Tinted detail of a photo: Huge block of blue and white ice collapsing from a glacier front, shattering into fragments and throwing up a large white splash where it hits the dark water.
CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Loeka Jongejans

Loeka Jongejans is a science communicator. During her PhD at the Alfred Wegener Institute, she worked on Arctic permafrost sediments and the impact of permafrost thaw on stored carbon. Now, as a Postdoctoral research at the Ruhr-University Bochum, she does science communication and works on geographic topics such as light pollution and aerospace. E-Mail: loeka.jongejans@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Friday the 13th – an unlucky day for sea ice?

Thin, small sea ice floats on the dark waters.

On this September 13th, coinciding to be a “Friday 13th”, we wanted to scan the cryo-history for expeditions started, sunken ships that day, and mountain myths. And we did find that. But as autumn approaches in the Northern hemisphere, the spookiest story of all was this one: the unlucky timing of the Arctic sea ice …[Read More]

Did you know there is light pollution even in the Arctic?

Did you know there is light pollution even in the Arctic?

Light emissions are increasing worldwide and much of the world is light polluted due to excessive and inefficient light use. This has negative consequences for many organisms, such as birds, insects, fish, plants and humans. Even in the high Arctic, which is remote and sparsely populated, and experiences the polar night for a large part …[Read More]

Image of the week – Birds in the Arctic

Image of the week – Birds in the Arctic

I am a hobby ornithologist and love watching birds. It is fun and relaxing to search the trees or fields for feathered friends. One has to be aware of their surroundings, which can make birding even meditative. Here, I will tell you more about Arctic breeding birds, their population declines and I present to you …[Read More]

You left us too early: a eulogy to permafrost

You left us too early: a eulogy to permafrost

Most problems faced in research are complex and require creativity and critical thinking. Thus, we need to be creative in science! Or maybe, science itself is creative and there is no such thing as non-creative science. Anyhow, in today’s world, where TED-talks, science slams and elevator pitches, not to mention tweets, are ubiquitous, it is …[Read More]