Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – It’s all a bit erratic in Yosemite!

Emma C. Smith January 13, 2017

Figure 1: Glacial erratic rocks in Yosemite National Park [Credit: Yuvak Sadeh via Imaggeo]

When you think of California, with its sun-soaked beaches and Hollywood glamour, glaciers may not be the first thing that spring to mind – even for ice nerds like us. However, Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada is famous for its dramatic landscape, which was created by glacial action. With our latest image of the week we show you some of the features that were left behind b ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Looking back at 2016

Sophie Berger January 6, 2017

I cannot believe that a full year has passed since this very cute pink unicorn wished you a Happy New Year. Yet, over the past 12 months our blog has attracted more than 16,200 visits. And the blog analytics show that you, our dear readers, are based not only in Europe but literally all over the world! With 67 new posts published in only 52 weeks, it’s more than likely that you missed a few inte ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – The Sound of an Ice Age

Nanna B. Karlsson December 30, 2016

The blue curves show the δOxygen-18 values for NorthGRIP in Greenland (top) and WAIS in Antarctica (bottom) for the last 20,000 years. The black dots are 1,000 years values, and the far left hand side of the curves are present day values.

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and the last “image of the week” of 2016 will get you in the mood for a party. If your celebration needs a soundtrack with a suitably geeky touch then look no further. Here is the music for climate enthusiasts: The sound of the past 60,000 years of climate. Scientist Aslak Grinsted (Centre for Ice and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Denmark) has transfor ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

Clara Burgard December 23, 2016

Probability of a White Christmas in the USA (based on weather data from 1981-2010). [ Credit : National Climate Data Center, NOAA. Via Wikimedia Commons]

Christmas is coming to town and in the Northern Hemisphere many of us are still dreaming of a white Christmas, “just like the ones we used to know”. But how likely is it that our dreams will come true? What is the definition of a White Christmas ? Usually Christmas can be defined as a “White Christmas” if the ground is covered by snow on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day depending on local tra ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Allez Halley!

Céline Heuzé December 16, 2016

On the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, a never-observed-before migration has just begun. As the pale summer sun allows the slow ballet of the supply vessels to restart, men and machines alike must make the most of the short clement season. It is time. At last, the Halley VI research station is on the move! Halley, sixth of its name Since 1956, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has maintained a resea ...[Read More]

Ice Cores “For Dummies”

Ashleigh Massam December 14, 2016

Ice cores are important tools for investigating past climate as they are effectively a continuous record of snowfall, which preserves historical information about climate conditions and atmospheric gas composition. In this new “For Dummies” post, we discuss the history and importance of ice-core science, and look at the way we can use ice core chemistry to reconstruct past climate. Ice sheets, arc ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Blood Falls!

Emma C. Smith December 9, 2016

Blood Falls, Antarctica. Red coloured water emerges from the front of Taylor Glacier. For scale - the tent at the left of the image is around 4 m long. [Credit: Peter Rejcek , NSF]

If glaciers could speak, you might imagine them saying – “HELP!” The planet continues to warm and this means glaciers continue to shrink. Our new image of the week shows a glacier that appears to be making this point in a rather dramatic and gruesome way – it appears to be bleeding! If you went to the snout of Taylor Glacier in Antarctica’s Dry Valley region (see map ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Sea Ice Floes!

Chris Horvat December 2, 2016

Left: Floes in the Southern Ocean surrounding the Nathaniel Palmer, taken by a multi-rotor drone. The length of the Nathaniel Palmer, about 100 m, is shown for comparison [Credit: EOS]. Right: Floes in the Bering Strait in May, 2000 from the MODIS satellite. Arrow shows the width of the Bering Strait, 85 km, for comparison [Credit: NASA Earth Observatory].

The polar regions are covered by a thin sheet of sea ice – frozen water that forms out of the same ocean water it floats on. Often, portrayals of Earth’s sea ice cover show it as a great, white, sheet. Looking more closely, however reveals the sea ice cover to be a varied and jumbled collection of floating pieces of ice, known as floes. The distribution and size of these floes is vitally imp ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – What an ice hole!

Céline Heuzé November 25, 2016

A schematic representation of what causes polynyas to open [Credit: Céline Heuzé]

Over the summer, I got excited… the Weddell Polynya was seemingly re-opening! ”The what?” asked my new colleagues. So today, after brief mentions in past posts, it is time to explain what a polynya is. Put it simply, a polynya, from the Russian word for “ice hole”, is a hole in the sea-ice cover. That means that in the middle of winter, the sea ice locally and naturally opens and reveals the ocean ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Goodness gracious, great balls of ice!

Emma C. Smith November 18, 2016

Ice balls on Stroomi beach, Estonia. [Credit: Aleksandr Abrosimov, Wikimedia ].

At first glance our image of the week may look like an ordinary stoney beach…but if you look more closely you will see that this beach is not, in fact, covered in stones or pebbles but balls of ice! We have written posts about many different weird and wonderful ice formations and phenomena (e.g. hair ice or ice tsunamis) here at the EGU Cryosphere blog and here is another one to add to the l ...[Read More]