CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Cryoscientist life stories

Cryoscientist life stories: Experiences of an ‘office glaciologist’

August 29, 2024
The view of a glacier from a scientific cruise to the Arctic. Alex has never visited the glaciers he models, but he gets to understand and see them in a different way. Image credit: Bryony Freer
The view of a glacier from a scientific cruise to the Arctic. Alex has never visited the glaciers he models, but he gets to understand and see them in a different way. Image credit: Bryony Freer

Both glaciological research conducted in the field, and in the office, are vital — and ‘count’ as glaciology. Often, however, those of us who remain in our cozy offices can be forgotten, or thought to lead a ‘boring’ job. Alex Bradley, a modeller of glaciers, is here to remind you why the office glaciologist is fundamental to the Cryosphere, and why glaciology from a distance is key to the future. ...[Read More]

Cryoscientist life stories – an interview with our incoming deputy division president, Daniel Farinotti

May 31, 2024
A profile image of a white man with beard, shirt and pullover in front of a glacier landscape.
Credit: Daniel Farinotti & Anita Raimondi (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

We would like to introduce Daniel Farinotti to you, our Cryosphere Division incoming deputy president, who will take over as division president from 2025-2027. For that, our Cryosphere Division outreach officer, Larissa van der Laan, interviewed Daniel at the EGU General Assembly in April 2024, to ask him a few questions about himself and his view of this exciting role within the EGU. Larissa: Hi ...[Read More]

The search for the Antarctic giants!

October 13, 2023
The search for the Antarctic giants!
The Southern Ocean, a place of wonders and giants. At the surface we are amazed by giant icebergs, but it is in the deep that the true mystery persists! [Credits: José Queirós]

The deep Southern Ocean is full of giants! Some of them scared the sailors for centuries, like the colossal squid or, as they called it, The Kraken. They thought it was a huge monster capable of sinking ships! Far from it, these giants ran away from us, and we still know very little about them! They live in depths where the light cannot penetrate, the largest ecosystem on Earth, the Deep-Sea! They ...[Read More]

We are back – with 4 Arctic fieldwork stories!

September 1, 2023
We are back – with 4 Arctic fieldwork stories!
Walking to a glacier in NE Greenland. Photo credit: Maria Scheel

You might have missed our weekly blog posts, but we are back! This week’s post highlights four field work campaigns our cryo community conducted. Join us on a journey to Greenland, Svalbard and Alaska to learn about methane emissions, glacier flows, tundra fires and ice microbes. Chasing methane in Greenland The subglacial environment of the Greenland Ice Sheet is a relatively new discovered ...[Read More]

Meet Carleen Tijm-Reijmer, our fearless CR Division President!

May 27, 2022
Meet Carleen Tijm-Reijmer, our fearless CR Division President!
Carleen’s research is in polar meteorology, which is dependent on using in-situ observations from installed weather stations as well as regional climate models. Photo credit: Olaf Eisen

Every division within the European Geosciences Union is led by a senior and junior representative, who oversee the happenings within their respective divisions. The senior representative of the Cryosphere Division is Carleen Tijm-Reijmer, who we’ve managed to track down here at EGU! We ask Carleen to explain her role within EGU and the CR Division. Please tell us a little bit about yourself!   ...[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]

Introducing TJ Young, our new early-career representative for the cryo-division of the EGU!

April 23, 2021
Introducing TJ Young, our new early-career representative for the cryo-division of the EGU!
This is me, exploring the Greenland Ice Sheet!

Every two years, the Cryospheric Sciences division of the European Geophysical Union (EGU) elects a new representative for its early-career scientists. Starting in April 2021, Tun Jan (TJ) Young will take over the role from Jenny Turton, who is the outgoing representative. TJ shares a bit about himself and how his previous leadership experience aligns with the goals of EGU’s early career scientist ...[Read More]

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

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]

Running a live stream of proglacial processes

November 4, 2020
Running a live stream of proglacial processes
Sampling in the glacier-fed stream near the field camp. Photo: Floreana Miesen

In Switzerland, nothing is really remote, but some places are more so than others. Dense infrastructure networks typically provide convenient access to research sites in the Alps where it is difficult to feel far away from home. However, this is not always the case… For us, our home for the summer is a bit different. We work at 2400 m above sea level in Southern Switzerland, in a narrow vall ...[Read More]

Life of a scientist: When fieldwork doesn’t go to plan…

March 27, 2020

Climate research questions tend to focus on the future. What will global temperature be in 2100? Will extreme weather events become more frequent? When will sea level rise render coastal homes uninhabitable? But our understanding of climate processes first comes from observing the past: palaeoclimatology. To get these records, scientists often go on fieldwork to collect samples. But what happens w ...[Read More]