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Cryospheric Sciences

439 search results for "sea ice"

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Cryospheric Sciences

Melting ice shelves in ocean models: an idealised model intercomparison project

June 26, 2026
Melting ice shelves in ocean models: an idealised model intercomparison project

Antarctic ice shelves melt from beneath where they contact the ocean, but how well do ocean models simulate this process? Building on several decades of model development, a recent model intercomparison study compared ice shelf-ocean models from modelling groups around the world with the same, idealised benchmark configuration. From this effort, we can learn how current models perform, and how we ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

The Arctic’s Blind Spot: Why Satellites Struggle Where Ice Meets the Coast

June 12, 2026
The Arctic’s Blind Spot: Why Satellites Struggle Where Ice Meets the Coast

The first time I stood on sea ice, I could not tell which direction the coast was. A community member named Bryan could. That gap in situational awareness, between what a trained remote sensing scientist could read from the landscape and what a local hunter understood instinctively, turned out to mirror almost exactly the gap in our satellite data: ICESat-2 produces reliable freeboard across the c ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

What Lies Beneath an Ice Shelf

, and May 22, 2026
an orange, rugged large tent is in an arctic landscape. researchers in cold-eather gear gather at the mouth of the tent.

Beneath Antarctica’s largest ice shelf lies a hidden ocean—dark, cold, and almost impossible to reach. Scientists drilled through hundreds of metres of ice to access it, revealing a world that plays a crucial role in how ice shelves melt. Years later, we had the chance to explore this unseen environment—not in the field, but through the data that the expedition left behind. Antarctica’s ice shelf ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

From Finland to Switzerland: A Campervan Journey for Snow Research

April 17, 2026
a scientist lays on the grass with a dog in the sun. Its a casual setting with camping equipment scattered around them

Traveling by land within Europe is relatively easy, and for me it’s also a conscious choice to push back against the fast pace of modern travel and the normalization of flying. I chose to drive a van instead of taking the train mainly because of my dog, and because finding pet-friendly accommodation during the high season was challenging. I’m visiting the Snow Hydrology research group in WSL Insti ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

When August Brought Snow: Unseasonal Snowfall Disrupts Life in Ladakh’s High Valley Village

, and November 21, 2025
When August Brought Snow: Unseasonal Snowfall Disrupts Life in Ladakh’s High Valley Village

August in Ladakh is a time of golden fields and harvest songs, not snowstorms. Yet in 2025, this rhythm broke. Panikhar village in Ladakh woke beneath fifteen centimetres of snow, an unseasonal blanket that changed the functioning of the valley and stunned its people. What began as a glaciological field trip turned into a firsthand encounter with climate uncertainty. This blog captures those extra ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 5

October 10, 2025
Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 5

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and mem ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 4

June 27, 2025
Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 4

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and mem ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

Women Of Cryo VIII: Natalie Hewit – Documenting Antarctica’s Frozen Voices

May 16, 2025
a drawing of women doing different scientific activities, with the words 'women of cryo' written

Antarctica is a unique place where history, adventure, and science collide. It’s a continent that has fascinated explorers for centuries, but much of its story has been told through the lens of men who have ventured into its icy expanse. Natalie Hewit, a documentary filmmaker with a love for the polar continent, is changing that. Through her films, she brings Antarctica’s past and present to life, ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 3

May 4, 2025
Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 3

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and mem ...[Read More]

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Cryospheric Sciences

Feeling (un)frozen lands: What we can learn from research on ecological grief

and April 4, 2025
Light shines through the edge of melting ice on a rock.

Retreating glaciers, shrinking sea ice or thawing permafrost – many of you might have witnessed formerly familiar landscapes being transformed by climate change over the last years, maybe even beyond recognition. And perhaps these undeniable changes have left you feeling sad, angry or anxious about the future, fearing what lies ahead. But did you know there is an entire academic field out there re ...[Read More]