CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Did you know?

Did you know about Antarctic snow megadunes?

May 19, 2023
Maps showing areas on East Antarctica that have megadunes made of snow and ice.
Location map of megadune area adapted from (Traversa et al. 2023)

When we think of dunes our thoughts automatically go to deserts and sand. But on Earth, as well as on other celestial bodies of the solar system, dunes exist also in a completely different environment. I am talking about gigantic dunes consisting of snow. On Earth they are called megadunes and you can find them only in East Antarctica, where they extend for thousands of km. If you want to know mor ...[Read More]

Did you know the mystery of the ice-cold rose?

April 21, 2023
Did you know the mystery of the ice-cold rose?
Figure 1: Frost flowers on a glacial spring in Svalbard. [Credit: Stefan Thiele]

Darkness. Freezing cold. Thin layers of ice cover the wide Arctic Ocean. It is the time of the last dusk. You can almost see Fenris wolf chasing the sun to devour it, almost hear his howling as darkness falls. Fimbulwinter has arrived. But what is this? A flower? Out here on the Arctic Ocean? This is strange, so let us take a closer look at the mystery of the ice-cold rose. Where the Wild Roses Gr ...[Read More]

Did you know that cracks play a large role in the Arctic sea ice production?

April 7, 2023
Did you know that cracks play a large role in the Arctic sea ice production?
Figure 1. New sea ice forming in an opening in the Arctic sea ice cover (what we call a lead), as seen during the MOSAIC expedition. This type of newly formed ice is generally called “frost flowers”. Credit: [Alfred-Wegener-Institut/Michael Gutsche (CC-BY 4.0)]

What do you need to form sea ice? Well, you can start with some sea water, an ocean will do, and cold air above it. Once a layer of ice starts forming, break it to make some cracks. You would have not thought of that? Yet, our recent study suggests cracks in the ice contribute significantly to Arctic winter sea ice production. A relationship between sea ice formation and breakup? We have known for ...[Read More]

Did you know about the dark secrets of Arctic sea ice?

March 17, 2023
A map that shows the Thermal infrared tsurface temperature of the ice floe of the MOSAiC expedition in blue where its cold and red where it is warmer (leads).

Have you ever wondered what dark secrets the Arctic sea ice holds during the harsh winter months? Imagine total darkness in the central Arctic, making it almost impossible to gather scientific information. At this time of the year, usually only satellite observations are available. This changed in September 2019 when a team of scientists collected in situ and airborne data in the central Arctic as ...[Read More]

Did you know that thawing permafrost is impacting Arctic livelihoods already today?

January 13, 2023
Did you know that thawing permafrost is impacting Arctic livelihoods already today?
Figure 1: View from the helicopter on three houses outside Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, June 2022. The town can be seen in the background in the upper right corner. [Credit: Lina Madaj]

Would you like to join me on a little trip up North today? We will be visiting a small community in the Canadian high Arctic – a community built on permafrost ground. This sounds pretty cool in the first place, but brings along quite a few challenges that most of us probably do not have to think about. Let me introduce you to Tuktoyaktuk, the community that is endangered to fall into the sea ...[Read More]

Did you know the differences between Arctic and Antarctic sea ice?

October 14, 2022
Did you know the differences between Arctic and Antarctic sea ice?
Figure 1: Satellite observations of (top) Arctic and (bottom) Antarctic sea-ice concentration in (left) March 2020 and (right) September 2020. [Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, https://nsidc.org/home].

If you look at the maps in Figure 1, you will quickly see that sea ice is present in both polar regions (Arctic at the top, Antarctic at the bottom). Despite this apparent similarity, some differences exist between Arctic (in the Northern Hemisphere) and Antarctic (in the Southern Hemisphere) sea ice. We provide a brief explanation of two key differences in this post. Geography The first main diff ...[Read More]

Did you know that snow is hot?

September 9, 2022
Did you know that snow is hot?
Figure 1: MicroCT images of fresh snow on melting sea ice during the late summer phase of the MOSAiC expedition a) and snow at the same location six hours later (b). The large structures at the bottom of a) show the melting sea ice surface, also known as the surface scattering layer. [Credit: Ruzica Dadic]

When I was a student, Martin told me matter-of-factly that snow is hot. I probably looked as baffled as I felt (and you are probably doing the same). Were we talking about the same thing? Continue reading to discover why snow is hot! Discovering that snow is hot So why is snow hot? Most snow under Earth’s environmental conditions has a homologous temperature Th close to 1. The homologous temperatu ...[Read More]

What are Snow Mechanics and why should we care?

June 10, 2022
What are Snow Mechanics and why should we care?
Airbus A319 aircraft on Australian Antarctic Division's Wilkins ice runway. Photo credit: Australian Antarctic Division (@AusAntarctic #AusAntarctic).

Every time we walk, ski, drive or build upon snow, we’re relying upon the theory of Snow Mechanics; but what is that and why should we care?  Mechanics is the engineering terminology used to describe “the branch of applied mathematics dealing with motion and forces producing motion” (Oxford Languages) or more simply, the study of motion, in our case the motion of snow. What causes snow to move? Ge ...[Read More]

Did you know… that glaciers can sing?

June 3, 2022
Did you know… that glaciers can sing?
Figure 1: F. Gimbert and U. Nanni install seismic stations in the Alps before the winter to monitor the dynamics of the Argentiere Glacier in the framework of the SAUSSURE project (https://saussure.osug.fr/). Credits: Nathan Maier.

Have you ever wondered what the voice of a glacier sounds like? Well, listen here! And if you want to know how the glacier makes these sounds, then let’s take a walk on the ice side… Close your eyes and think of the time you were in the middle of the mountains. On a snow plain, a glacier or a frozen lake; just you. You hear your footsteps in the snow, crunching ice. The wind blows through your hoo ...[Read More]

Did you know… Arctic lightning strikes are on the rise?

February 4, 2022

When we think of lightning, it is often accompanied by warm summer nights, tropical storms and a sticky feeling when we try to sleep. However, lightning also happens in the cold Arctic, and is even increasing in frequency. But how and why? And why does that matter? What is lightning? Lightning is caused by a difference in electrical charge between the cloud and the air, nearby clouds, or the groun ...[Read More]