CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Arctic

Image of the Week – Ice Ice Bergy

May 19, 2017
Image of the Week – Ice Ice Bergy
An iceberg travelling by Greenland. [Credit: Credit: Romain Schläppy, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu]

They come in all shapes, sizes and textures. They can be white, deep blue or brownish. Sometimes they even have penguins on them. It is time to (briefly) introduce this element of the cryosphere that has not been given much attention in this blog yet: icebergs! What is an iceberg? Let’s start with the basics. An iceberg, which literally translates as “ice mountain”, is a bit of fresh ice that brok ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – The ups and downs of sea ice!

April 7, 2017
Image of the Week – The ups and downs of sea ice!
Figure 1: Left - Mean sea-ice extent in September 2016 (month of minimum sea-ice extent) compared to the median ice edge between 1981 and 2010 (pink). Right- Mean sea-ice extent in March 2017 (month of maximum sea-ice extent) compared to the median ice edge between 1981 and 2010 (pink). [Credit: Image courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center]

The reduction in Arctic sea-ice cover has been in the news a lot recently (e.g. here) – as record lows have been observed again and again within the last decade. However, it is also a topic which causes a lot of confusion as so many factors come into play. With this Image of the Week we will give you a brief overview of the ups and downs of sea ice! In general, Arctic sea ice is at its minim ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — The ice blue eye of the Arctic

February 24, 2017
Image of the Week — The ice blue eye of the Arctic
Ice floe with a melt pond (light blue patch), observed in Nares Strait , in August 2015 from I/B Oden [Credit: C. Heuzé]

“Positive feedback” is a term that regularly pops up when talking about climate change. It does not mean good news, but rather that climate change causes a phenomenon which it turns exacerbates climate change. The image of this week shows a beautiful melt pond in the Arctic sea ice, which is an example of such positive feedback. What is a melt pond? The Arctic sea ice is typically non-smooth, and ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – For each tonne of CO2 emitted, Arctic sea ice shrinks by 3m² in summer

January 20, 2017
Image of the Week – For each tonne of CO2 emitted, Arctic sea ice shrinks by 3m² in summer
Mean area of Arctic September sea ice lost by CO2 emissions of each citizen for each country of the world in 2013. These results are based on the observed trend of 3 m² sea-ice area loss per tonne of CO2 emitted [Credit: adapted from Notz and Stroeve (2016), Fig.S1]

Declining sea ice in the Arctic is definitely one of the most iconic consequences of climate change. In a study recently published in Science, Dirk Notz and Julienne Stroeve find a linear relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and loss of Arctic sea-ice area in summer. Our image of this week is based on these results and shows the area of September Arctic sea ice lost per inhabitant d ...[Read More]

Polar Exploration: Perseverance and Pea Sausages

January 15, 2017
Polar Exploration: Perseverance and Pea Sausages
"Pølse” it says on the tin i.e. “sausage”. On the other side the word “ærte” (“pea”) is printed, in other words “pea sausage”. This is one of the tins brought to Greenland on the ill-fated Danish expedition 1904-1906 led by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen. Credit: Danish Arctic Institute.

Born on this Day On this day in 1872 – 145 years ago –Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, Danish author and polar explorer, was born. He led two expeditions to Greenland and successfully mapped the then unknown northeastern part of the country. The second expedition was his last. The expedition was surprised by an early onset of spring and could no longer use their dog sledges. The two Danes, Mylius-Eri ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Looking back at 2016

January 6, 2017
Image of the Week — Looking back at 2016

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 – Goodness gracious, great balls of ice!

November 18, 2016
Image of the Week – Goodness gracious, great balls of ice!
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]

Black Carbon: the dark side of warming in the Arctic

November 2, 2016
Black Carbon: the dark side of warming in the Arctic
Greenland in summer: ice is covered by dark particles -- Black Carbon -- which amplify melting. [Credit : NASA ICE distributed via flickr]

When it comes to global warming, greenhouse gases – and more specifically CO2 – are the most often pointed out. Fewer people know however that tiny atmospheric particles called ‘black carbon’ also contribute to the current warming. This post presents a paper my colleague and I recently published in nature communications. Our study sheds more light into the chemical make-up of black car ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Listening to the Snow

October 21, 2016
Image of the Week — Listening to the Snow
E. Bagshaw (University of Cardiff, UK) listening for the bleep from a wireless sensor buried in the snow a few hundred metres away. [Credit N. B. Karlsson].

When working in the middle of an ice sheet, you rarely get to experience the amazing wildlife of the polar regions. So what are we doing hundreds of kilometres from the coast with an animal tracker device? We are listening to the snow of course! It is not crazy; It is what Image of the Week today is all about! Going Wireless In June 2016, Liz Bagshaw and I travelled to the EGRIP (East Greenland Ic ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Satellite Measurements of Arctic Sea Ice

September 16, 2016
Image of the Week – Satellite Measurements of Arctic Sea Ice
The map above shows the region around Fram Strait that separates Greenland and Svalbard (Spreen et al., 2009) . The colours show the amount (volume flux) of sea ice that was moving from the Artic Basin and south in October/November 2006 as measured by satellites. The arrows show the direction of sea ice.

Sea ice is an important part of the Earth’s climate system. When sea ice forms, it releases heat and salt. When sea ice melts, it takes up heat and adds freshwater to the salty ocean water. It is also important for the exchange of energy between the atmosphere and the ocean surface, and for the ocean currents that transport warm and cold water from the equator to the poles and back. The main route ...[Read More]