Cryospheric Sciences

What’s up on Thwaites Glacier?

David Docquier March 13, 2020

Figure 1: Map showing the location of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, as well as the main geographic focus of the 8 projects involved in the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). Credit: ITGC website.

With the West Antarctic Ice Sheet currently losing ice at a fast pace, leading to sea-level rise, it is very important to better understand the processes by which this ice melting occurs. In this context, Thwaites Glacier is a very good case study of an accelerating glacier, which contributes substantially to sea-level rise, and for which a huge scientific collaboration effort has recently been se ...[Read More]

Cryo-adventures – Behind the scenes of cryo-fieldwork

Saule Akhmetkaliyeva October 25, 2019

Figure 1: On top of Svínafellsjökull glacier, Iceland 2018 [Credit: Saule Akhmetkaliyeva].

As the Arctic is warming faster than the global average, Arctic glaciers are rapidly melting. My research is about the fate of glacial organic carbon when the ice containing it melts. To investigate these processes, I travelled to several glaciers, an activity full of challenges… and rewards! My research Glacier ice covers about 11% of Earth’s land surface, and contains within it a globally ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Fifty shades of May (Glacier)

Céline Heuzé May 3, 2019

Three satellite images of May Glacier: optical, infrared, and SAR (see text)

With over 198 000 glaciers in the world, you can always find a glacier that fits your mood or a given occasion. So why not for example celebrate the first Image of the Week of May with a picture of the aptly named May Glacier? May Glacier is in fact not named after the month, but after Mr May, an officer onboard the Flying Fish during her expedition to the East Antarctic coast in the 1840s. Apart ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Ice Stupas: a solution for Himalayan water shortage?

Suryanarayanan Balasubramanian November 17, 2017

Ice cones in the high altitude deserts of Ladakh, Himalayas. [Credit: Dadul Lobzang, Ice Stupa Project]

As the world searches for practical innovations that can mitigate the impact of climate change, traditional methods of environmental management can offer inspiration. In Hindu Kush and Karakoram region, local people have been growing, or grafting, glaciers for at least 100 years. Legend has it that artificial glaciers were grown in mountain passes as early as the twelfth century to block the advan ...[Read More]

Image of the week – Micro-organisms on Ice!

Tommaso Santagata August 11, 2017

Figure 1: Investigating micro-organisms on Perito Moreno. Left – Sampling on the glacier surface inside a cryoconite hole. Right – Scientists from the University Bicocca of Milan at work performing analysis in the temporary laboratory set up in Buscaini Refugee (shelter) [Credit: Alessio Romeo – La Venta Esplorazioni Geografiche]

The cold icy surface of a glacier doesn’t seem like an environment where life should exist, but if you look closely you may be surprised! Glaciers are not only locations studied by glaciologists and physical scientists, but are also of great interest to microbiologists and ecologists. In fact, understanding the interaction between ice and microbiology is essential to fully understand the gla ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Drilling into a Himalayan glacier

Katie Miles July 28, 2017

Fig.1: Drilling a borehole on Khumbu Glacier, Nepal Himalaya. In the foreground, the drill stem can be seen hanging off a tripod, attached to a spool of hose. Hot, pressurised water is supplied to these units from a pressure-washer in the background. [Credit: Katie Miles]

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 features of debris-covered glaciers Debris-covered glaciers ca ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Ice on Fire (Part 2)

Emma C. Smith March 24, 2017

A glacier cave on the flank of Mutnovsky volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Sunlight filters through the glacial ice and a stream runs through the cave - fed by volcanic hot springs [Credit: Sergey Krasnoshchokov, National Geographic].

This week’s image looks like something out of a science fiction movie, but sometimes what we find on Earth is even more strange than what we can imagine! Where the heat of volcanoes meets the icy cold of glaciers strange and wonderful landscapes are formed. The Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far East of Russia, has the highest concentration of active volcanoes on Earth. Its climate is cold due ...[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]

Katabatic winds – A load of hot (or cold) air?

Thomas Shaw January 25, 2017

Figure 1: A schematic of the potential wind flow and interplay of local effects on Tsanteleina Glacier in the Italian Alps. The diagram represents wind modelling, measured data and observations from the field. (1) The interactions of down-glacier katabatic winds (blue) and up-valley winds/local heat sources (red); (2) the potential heat emitted from the warm valley surroundings (pink) and; (3) localised surface depressions representing glacier 'cold spots' during calm, high pressure conditions. Arrows correspond to synoptic westerlies (purple), southerly airflow (orange), katabatic winds (blue) and valley winds (red) [Credit: T Shaw, unpublished] - Click here for a larger version.

It might seem obvious that a warming world will lead to a reduction in glacial ice cover, but predicting the response of glaciers to climatic change is no simple task (even within the short term). One way to approach this problem is to come up with relationships which describe how glaciers interact with the world around them, for example, how the ice interacts with the air above it. Our post today ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – Climate Change and the Cryosphere

Sophie Berger November 11, 2016

Schematic summary of the dominant observed variations in the cryosphere. [Credit: fig 4.25 from IPCC (2013) ].

While the first week of COP22 – the climate talks in Marrakech – is coming to an end, the recent election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States casts doubt over the fate of the Paris Agreement and more generally the global fight against climate change. In this new political context, we must not forget about the scientific evidence of climate change! Our figure of the week, tod ...[Read More]