CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Cryoscientist life stories

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]

Cryo-Adventures – The Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) Training School: Personal and Virtual Attendance

October 4, 2019

The 2019 Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) Training School was hosted by Lantmäteriet (the Swedish Mapping, Cadastral, and Land Registration Authority) in Gävle, Sweden from 26 – 30 August. GIA is the response of the solid Earth to past and present-day changes of glaciers and ice sheets. Research interests in GIA span the geosciences: from regional planning applications (reclamation/flooding of l ...[Read More]

Cryo-adventures – Life and science at a central Greenland ice core drilling camp

September 6, 2019

How do you get there? Where will you sleep? What work will you do there?These are just a few of the many questions I got from family and friends when I told them that I would join the EastGRIP ice core project this summer. As a paleo climate and ice sheet modeller, I could only repeat the abstract information given to me, very conscious that I actually had no idea how it would be to live and work ...[Read More]

Surviving in cold environments: from microbes under glaciers to queer scientists in the current social context

July 5, 2019
Surviving in cold environments: from microbes under glaciers to queer scientists in the current social context
A rainbow shines brightly over glaciers in Tarfala Valley, in the Swedish Arctic. The rainbow, a natural and colourful phenomenon, has become a symbol of pride in the LGBTQ+ community [Credit: Mario Toubes-Rodrigo].

On the 5th of July we will celebrate the International Day of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer, and people that do not identify themselves as cis and/or straight) People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM). Many people will ask: “Why is this day important?” Being a queer scientist in particular, and a queer person in general, can sometimes reminds us of how livi ...[Read More]