CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Cryo Comm

SciComm notes: can Granny understand your science?

March 11, 2024
A conversation between a person and a smiling elder lady.
Did you ever experience frustration when trying to explain your science to friends or family? But why does it matter if your grandma could understand your work? (Photo credit: Brett Sayles from pexels)

As an EGU division blog, we facilitate that the most recent cryoscientific insights reach a wider audience. To do this, we have a team of experienced editors (and former authors), but we also love helping first time authors getting experience with outreach. But if you have ever written an outreach piece, you might know that it can be more difficult than expected to write down your research in simp ...[Read More]

Give your ears a holiday treat: our favourite polar podcasts

December 18, 2023
Give your ears a holiday treat: our favourite polar podcasts
Enjoy the holiday season with some really cool polar podcasts [Image credit: David Satterlee from Pixabay].

December is a busy month, and while we are busy preparing gifts and a mindful attitude for the festive season, finishing up projects for the year, at some point, we close the laptop and take our ride of choice home. So as a little treat for your ears, we found some 8 (+1) polar podcasts for those in need of a little inspiration. The podcasts are tackled from points of natural science, policy, hist ...[Read More]

UndercoverEisAgenten – Permafrost, drones and young explorers investigating Arctic change

November 24, 2023
UndercoverEisAgenten – Permafrost, drones and young explorers investigating Arctic change
Figure 1: Aerial view of Aklavik Northwest Territories Canada: A serene grid-patterned settlement nestled by the Peel channel of the Mackenzie River, surrounded by autumnal wilderness. [Credit: Christian Thiel]

The “UndercoverEisAgenten” project takes us on a drone journey over the ever-changing permafrost landscapes. Initiated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research, the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Institute of Data Science, and the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT), this venture is about more than just capturing images. It̵ ...[Read More]

The Cryosphere meets the Twittersphere

June 24, 2022
The Cryosphere meets the Twittersphere

Twitter is a place that can be full of an overwhelming amount of information, and often it becomes difficult to hear about new information amongst the noise of all the tweeting. To help our fellow cryo-enthusiasts learn more about equality, diversity and accessibility within the cryosphere, we’re highlighting a few twitter accounts that we think everyone should follow! Gender equality: @womeninPol ...[Read More]

You left us too early: a eulogy to permafrost

March 4, 2022
You left us too early: a eulogy to permafrost
Cotton grass grows in wet landscapes in many tundra landscapes. Photo credit: Loeka Jongejans

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 important that scientific expression takes on a form tha ...[Read More]

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

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]

Rain or snow? Answering the question with citizen scientists

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]

Trapped in the sea ice – Educating the future generations of polar scientists

March 6, 2020

In October 2019, the research icebreaker ‘Polarstern’ was moored to an ice floe for its year-long journey through the Arctic Ocean. Come with us on a slightly shorter journey and learn how MOSAiC participants from the supporting cruise educate the future generation of polar scientists! What is the MOSAiC expedition? The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate ...[Read More]

Cryo-Comm – Six reasons why you should communicate your science

November 15, 2019

What inspired you to get into polar or cryospheric research? Perhaps it was a passion for the outdoors, a drive to protect the environment for the people and animals that live there, or a fascination with wild places. For me, it was all three – and the more I learned about Antarctic climate science, the more I realised that the polar regions are vital to the functioning of a healthy planet, and so ...[Read More]

Cryo-Comm – Degrading Terrains

October 11, 2019
Cryo-Comm – Degrading Terrains
Outside the Murtèl-Corvatsch monitoring site used in this study [Credit: Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost ]

  Beneath dusted peaks of mountain dew A dense and rigid backcloth skulks, Worn down and compacted with Fractured decades of aged powder; Trodden into rocky outcrops To lie barrenly against This frozen, ancient soil. Subtle shifts of these forgotten rocks Ripple across subterranean sediments, Dislodging once-stable foundations That now cascade like an ocean; Echoing across the fragile firmame ...[Read More]