CR
Cryospheric Sciences

drilling

What Lies Beneath an Ice Shelf

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 …[Read More]

Life of a scientist: When fieldwork doesn’t go to plan…

Life of a scientist: When fieldwork doesn’t go to plan…

Climate research questions tend to focus on the future. What will global temperature be in 2100? Will extreme weather events become more frequent? When will sea level rise render coastal homes uninhabitable? But our understanding of climate processes first comes from observing the past: palaeoclimatology. To get these records, scientists often go on fieldwork to …[Read More]

Image of the Week — Into Iceberg Alley

Image of the Week — Into Iceberg Alley

Crew in hardhats and red safety gear bustle about, preparing our ship for departure. A whale spouts nearby in the Straits of Magellan, a fluke waving in brief salute, before it submerges again. Our international team of 29 scientists and 2 science communicators, led by co-Chief Scientists Mike Weber and Maureen Raymo, is boarding the …[Read More]

Image of the Week – Drilling into a Himalayan glacier

Image of the Week – Drilling into a Himalayan glacier

How water travels through and beneath the interior of debris-covered glaciers is poorly understood, partly because it can be difficult to access these glaciers at all, never mind explore their interiors. In this Image of the Week, find out how these aspects can be investigated by drilling holes all the way through the ice… Hydrological …[Read More]