CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Cryo Adventures

Looking for the Window during Fieldwork

September 15, 2023
Looking for the Window during Fieldwork
Qaanaaq fjord in Northern Greenland, 79°N [Credits: Katie Sipes].

Arctic fieldwork is a meticulous dance with the ever-fickle weather, where nature’s temperament can determine the course of scientific endeavors. Rain or fog can swiftly put a halt to even the most well-laid plans. This holds true for Greenland, where proximity to the ice cap doesn’t shield researchers from the capriciousness of the climate. In August 2023, the Deep Purple ERC Project ...[Read More]

Quantifying the experience: Himalayan fieldwork in numbers

May 5, 2023
Quantifying the experience: Himalayan fieldwork in numbers
The Langtang expedition Team. [Credit: Renko Douze/Christian Paulussen]

The Himalayas are Big. But how Big is the fieldwork experience? What is behind all the mountain field data and beautiful mountain pictures? 40 preparation emails, 110 km of hiking, 170 kg of gear and 25 people in the team. We try to put some numbers on the experience we had during the Langtang, Nepal Himalaya expedition in November 2022. Behind the scenes Remote mountain fieldwork can be quite an ...[Read More]

Arctic Frontiers Emerging Leaders

February 24, 2023
Arctic Frontiers Emerging Leaders
Kabelvåg, Lofoten Islands, Arctic Norway [Credit: Jenny Arthur]

Here on the Cryoblog we often talk about the impacts of climate change in the Cryosphere. So now for something completely different: how does this fit into sustainable development in the Arctic? Here, I take you on a journey through the Arctic in a round-up of the recent Arctic Frontiers Emerging Leaders program, a unique early-career and mentoring program bringing together academic, industry, ind ...[Read More]

Fun Cryo Facts – Don’t eat brown snow

December 2, 2022
Fun Cryo Facts – Don’t eat brown snow
What about digging a snow pit on the Arctic sea-ice during a stormy day? Sure, for science this and more! [credit: Stefan Thiele]

Scientist are curious people and we all know that the best discoveries happen by chance, so we always keep our eyes open for the unusual, the new, and the weird things in life. Especially, when we are out in the Arctic doing field work and find unknown brown layers… An unexpected discovery We were out in the Arctic, somewhere Northeast of Svalbard. It was a sunny day and we had just docked t ...[Read More]

Discover the CordillerICE project!

November 18, 2022
Discover the CordillerICE project!
Meet the team! Left to right: Emma, Maud, Gaston, Domitille. Picture taken in an ice cave near the Glacier de la Selle, France. Photo credit: Bastien Levy.

In high-school, I learned in a textbook that glaciers are melting. My teacher said that what was written in that textbook was right, and that was it. There was no proof, no explanation, no scientist’s testimony. All of that, I discovered much later during my studies in the geosciences. Yet as the global temperatures keep rising, and our politicians apply rigorously the “keep calm and carry on” mod ...[Read More]

Cryo Adventures – Installing a weather station on the Greenland Ice Sheet

September 2, 2022
Cryo Adventures – Installing a weather station on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Putting the final touches on the “old” weather station (right) and newly setup GC-Net station (center) at NEEM before leaving them for a year of measurements. Photo credit: Anja Rutishauser.

Soaking up the sun and recharging batteries on a peaceful and quiet summer day, or fighting to stay upright during extreme snow storms in the middle of winter, while continuously recording valuable air temperature, pressure, wind-speed and so much more – such is the life of an automatic weather station on the Greenland ice sheet. Even though they are so remote, sitting by themselves surround ...[Read More]

Cryo Adventures – Droning on glaciers and ice caps in Kyrgyzstan

June 17, 2022
Cryo Adventures – Droning on glaciers and ice caps in Kyrgyzstan
The Grigoriev ice cap, seen from drone perspective at about 1 km distance and at 4800 m a.s.l. [Credit: Lander Van Tricht]

Drones are not only a cool toy to play with. They are also a useful instrument to monitor and study glaciers and ice caps. By taking thousands of images flying above the ice, we can make 3D models of ice masses at centimetre resolution. Using drones, we can now survey small to medium sized glaciers and ice caps in unprecedented detail. In recent years, we have conducted several surveys on glaciers ...[Read More]

Icy fieldwork: real or April Fool’s?

April 1, 2022
Icy fieldwork: real or April Fool’s?
Photo credit: Katja Laute (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Those of us fortunate to participate in cryo-fieldwork are well aware of the unique, hilarious, and sometimes bizarre scenarios that we often find ourselves in. For this year’s April Fool’s Day, the EGU Cryosphere Blog team shares crazy anecdotes, with a catch: one of these stories is fake! Are you able to tell fact from fiction? Fill in the (twitter) poll, and time will tell if you are right…!! W ...[Read More]

CryoAdventures – Three months in Nuuk, the world’s northernmost capital!

December 10, 2021
Dark sky with greenish Aurora Borealis.
Northern lights over Nuuk [credit: Jenny Arthur]

I have just returned from nearly three months in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, where I was doing my PhD placement at Asiaq Greenland Survey. Read on to find out what science I got up to… everything from mapping mountain glacier snowline change to avalanches! How do you map glacier snowline evolution? During my PhD research placement, I was working at Asiaq Greenland Survey in their Hydrolo ...[Read More]

Will the ice break out? – a story from the farthest north ice trails

November 26, 2021
Man on snow machine looks bake to the canoe he is towing across ice.
A family traveling up the coast with a traditional Umiaq skin boat on an ice trail only days before the ice broke out in 2014. Photo: Dyre Dammann

"For over two decades, the sea ice group at the University of Alaska has worked with the community of Utqiaġvik, establishing an integrated observing network. This network includes local observations, a coastal radar system to monitor ice conditions, an in-situ mass balance site monitoring environmental change such as ice growth and snow cover, and the mapping of community sea ice trails." In thi ...[Read More]