Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Apocalypse snow? … No, it’s sea ice!

Jean-Louis Tison February 10, 2017

Sea-ice brine sampling is sometimes challenging [Credit: Stefan Hendricks]

Sea ice brine sampling is always great fun, but sometimes somewhat challenging ! As sea water freezes to form sea ice, salts in the water are rejected from the ice and concentrate in pockets of very salty water, which are entrapped within the sea ice. These pockets are known as “brines”. Scientists sample these brines to measure the physical and bio-geochemical properties, such as: tem ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – On the tip of Petermann’s (ice) tongue

Céline Heuzé January 27, 2017

Petermann's ice tongue. [Credit: C. Heuzé]

5th August 2015, 10:30 in the morning. The meeting had to be interrupted to take this picture. We were aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden, and were now closer than anyone before to the terminus of Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland. But we had not travelled that far just for pictures… Petermann’s ice tongue Petermann is one of Greenland’s largest “marine terminating glaciers”. As the name ...[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 — Listening to the Snow

Nanna B. Karlsson October 21, 2016

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 — Where do people stay in the “coolest” place on earth?

Sophie Berger August 19, 2016

The 82 research stations in the Antarctic. The world map below shows which countries are operating a station in Antarctica. Source: COMNAP Antarctic Facilities (Updated February 2014) - [Credit: Sophie Berger]. Click here here to enlarge the image.

What word would you use to characterise the Antarctic ? White? Windy? Remote? Empty? Inhospitable? Wild? Preserved? While all of these are true it may surprise you to find out that the Antarctic is occupied by humans all year round with almost half of its 82 research stations operating 365.25 days a year! Just a few hours before the launch of the biennial Antarctic meeting held by the Science Comm ...[Read More]

Image of the Week — Looking for ice inside a volcano !

Tommaso Santagata July 29, 2016

A phase of the laser scanning survey of the southernmost ice mass in Europe: the Ice Cave, Mount Etna,. [Credit: Alessio Romeo – Inside The Glaciers Project]

Who would think that one of the world’s most active volcano shelters the southernmost persistent ice mass in Europe!? Yes, you can find ice inside Mount Etna! Located at an altitude of about 2,040 m above sea level, the Ice Cave (Grotta del Gelo) is well known among Mt Etna’s volcanic caves due to the presence of columns of ice on its walls and floor which occupy about the 30% of the ...[Read More]

Fieldwork at 5,000 meters in altitude

David Rounce July 28, 2016

Field Site, Imja Lake, in November 2015 [Credit: D. Rounce]

Imja Lake is one of the largest glacial lakes in the Nepal Himalaya and has received a great deal of attention in the last couple decades due to the potential for a glacial lake outburst flood. In response to these concerns, the UNDP has funded a project that is currently lowering the level of the lake by 3 m to reduce the flood hazard. The aim of our research efforts is to understand how quickly ...[Read More]

Ice on fire at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Thorbjörg Águstsdóttir July 6, 2016

In 2010 thick ash poured from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano after an explosive eruption. Find out more about why this happened at the Explosive Earth Exhibit at this weeks Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Photo Credit: Eyjólfur Magnússon

The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition (RSSSE) is a free public event 4-10th July 2016 in London. This is a yearly event that is made up of 22 exhibits, selected in a competitive process, featuring cutting edge science and research undertaken right now across the UK. The scientists will be on their stands ready to share discoveries, show you amazing technologies and with hands-on interactive ...[Read More]

Image of The Week – A Game of Drones (Part 1: A Debris-Covered Glacier)

Matt Westoby July 1, 2016

Figure 1: Down-glacier view of debris-covered Miage Glacier, Italy, taken from a low-altitude lightweight UAV in June 2016 (Credit: M. Westoby). As the summer progresses, the melting of winter snow cover prompts the development of a surface drainage network, characterised as a network of streams and ponds, which are concentrated in intermoraine troughs and drain into open crevasses or moulins. Snowmelt in this area will eventually reveal a glacier surface covered by a continuous mantle of supraglacial debris, comprised predominantly of mica-schist

What are debris-covered glaciers? Many alpine glaciers are covered with a layer of surface debris (rock and sediment), which is sourced primarily from glacier headwalls and valley flanks. So-called ‘debris-covered glaciers’ are found in most glacierized regions, with concentrations in the European Alps, the Caucasus, Hindu-Kush-Himalaya, Karakoram and Tien Shan, the Andes, and Alaska and the weste ...[Read More]

Image of The Week – Ballooning on the Ice

Nanna B. Karlsson June 17, 2016

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]