CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Regular Author

Cryo-massy Films

December 18, 2020
Cryo-massy Films
It’s time to get festive! So make a hot chocolate, put your twinkly lights on and settle in for a Christmassy-Cryo film. Figure Credit: Kelly Sikkema, unsplash.com.

There are countless Christmas films, and almost all of them feature some form of snow, ice or cold weather. There are the classics such as Home Alone, Elf and Miracle on 34th Street, and there are the newer, shall we say ‘Netflix’ style, which feature Princes, Knights and Vanessa Hudgens. There’s just no way to watch them all over the festive period, so let us recommend you our top 5 Christmas fil ...[Read More]

Lost in transl[ice]tion…

October 9, 2020
Lost in transl[ice]tion…
Further understanding of the Arctic sea-ice evolution is gained through satellite observations and climate models. Figure credit: C. Burgard & T. Finn.

Three years have passed since sea-ice scientists from both climate modeling and remote sensing backgrounds met for an international workshop in Hamburg. The goal was to discuss how to further improve our understanding of sea ice and reduce uncertainties in climate models and observations (see this previous post). One suggestion was to work on observation operators. Let’s see what has happened in t ...[Read More]

What’s up on Thwaites Glacier?

March 13, 2020
What’s up on Thwaites Glacier?
Figure 1: Map showing the location of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, as well as the main geographic focus of the 8 projects involved in the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). Credit: ITGC website.

With the West Antarctic Ice Sheet currently losing ice at a fast pace, leading to sea-level rise, it is very important to better understand the processes by which this ice melting occurs. In this context, Thwaites Glacier is a very good case study of an accelerating glacier, which contributes substantially to sea-level rise, and for which a huge scientific collaboration effort has recently been se ...[Read More]

Cryo Adventures – What’s currently going on in Antarctic science?

December 6, 2019
Cryo Adventures – What’s currently going on in Antarctic science?
Map of the various locations mentioned in the text. Green markers are bases, red markers measurement campaign locations [Credit: Andy Smedley].

As Christmas gets closer, days are getting shorter in the northern hemisphere. A good excuse to get cosy inside on the sofa, drinking tea and eating Christmas biscuits. Meanwhile, a few thousand of scientists are heading “South”, to Antarctica, where the lengthening days provide the perfect conditions to conduct a whole variety of scientific field expeditions… Science in Antarctica Just last ...[Read More]

Did you know…? Antarctica Day 2019 – 60 years of peace

November 29, 2019
Did you know…? Antarctica Day 2019 – 60 years of peace
Figure 1: Scientists fly the flags for the school children who designed them for Antarctica Day [Photo credit: UK Polar Network].

December 1st 2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic treaty. To celebrate the signing of the treaty, ‘Antarctica Day’ now occurs each year on December 1st. But what is the Antarctic Treaty? How do people celebrate? This week’s blog post will tell you everything you need to know, just in time for celebrations! Antarctic Treaty The Antarctic Treaty was originally signed by 12 ...[Read More]

Climate Change & Cryosphere – Why is the Arctic sea-ice cover retreating?

September 13, 2019
Climate Change & Cryosphere – Why is the Arctic sea-ice cover retreating?
Picture of Arctic sea ice with melt ponds [Credit: David Mark on Pixabay].

The Arctic Ocean surface is darkening as its sea-ice cover is shrinking. The exact processes driving the ongoing sea-ice loss are far from being totally understood. In this post, we will investigate the different causes of the recent retreat of the Arctic sea-ice cover, using the most updated literature… Arctic sea ice is disappearing Due to its geographical position centered around the Nort ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Kicking the ice’s butt(ressing)

May 10, 2019

Changes in the ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic continent are responsible for most of its current contribution to sea-level rise. Although they are already afloat and do not contribute to sea level directly, ice shelves play a key role through the buttressing effect. But which ice shelf regions are most important for this? The role of ice-shelf buttressing In architecture, the term “buttress” ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Fifty shades of May (Glacier)

May 3, 2019
Image of the Week – Fifty shades of May (Glacier)
Three satellite images of May Glacier: optical, infrared, and SAR (see text)

With over 198 000 glaciers in the world, you can always find a glacier that fits your mood or a given occasion. So why not for example celebrate the first Image of the Week of May with a picture of the aptly named May Glacier? May Glacier is in fact not named after the month, but after Mr May, an officer onboard the Flying Fish during her expedition to the East Antarctic coast in the 1840s. Apart ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Cavity leads to complexity

April 19, 2019

  A 10km-long, 4-km-wide and 350m-high cavity has recently been discovered under one of the fastest-flowing glaciers in Antarctica using different airborne and satellite techniques (see this press release and this study). This enormous cavity previously contained 14 billion tons of ice and formed between 2011 and 2016. This indicates that the bottom of the big glaciers on Earth can melt faster tha ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Delaying the flood with glacial geoengineering

February 1, 2019

As the climate is currently warming, many countries and cities are preparing to cope with one of its major impacts, namely sea-level rise. Up to now, the mitigation of climate change has mainly focused on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Large-scale geoengineering has also been proposed to remove carbon from the atmosphere or inject aerosols into the stratosphere to limit the rise in tem ...[Read More]