CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Regular Editor

Image of The Week – Ballooning on the Ice

June 17, 2016
Image of The Week – Ballooning on the Ice
One man and his balloon. Field leader Prof. J. P. Steffensen (Centre for Ice and Climate, University of Copenhagen) in front of one of the balloons used in camp. Credit: S. Kipfstuhl.

A curious experiment is taking place in Greenland. An experiment involving very large balloons and – of course – a lot of snow. Read on to discover why balloons are an environmentally friendly tool when constructing an ice core drill camp. Last year, a small team traversed 400km from northwest Greenland to the EastGRIP site (read more about the traverse here). This year another strenuous task is w ...[Read More]

Image of the week — The warming effect of the decline of Arctic Sea Ice

June 10, 2016
Image of the week — The warming effect of the decline of Arctic Sea Ice
Decreasing sea ice and its effect on the albedo in the Arctic (credit: I. Eisenman, K. Pistone, V. Ramanathan, and NASA/GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio)

One of the most dramatic signals of Earth’s recent warming has been the precipitous decline of the Arctic sea ice. While the sea-ice decline is in response to warming ocean and atmosphere, it also has an important feed-back on the climate itself. Solar radiation and albedo Earth’s main energy source is solar radiation. This solar radiation is either absorbed in the atmosphere or at the ...[Read More]

An Antarctic Road Trip

June 8, 2016
An Antarctic Road Trip
Arriving at our first drill site with our sledge containing drill equipment, survival box and of course our lunch. Credit: N. B. Karlsson

Working in the Arctic and Antarctic presents its own challenges. It is perhaps easy to imagine how a station situated close to the coast is resupplied: during the summer, one or more ships will arrive bringing fuel, food and equipment, but what about stations inland? Flying in supplies by aircraft is expensive and, in the case of large quantities of fuel, unsustainable. Besides, many stations are ...[Read More]