Machine Learning

Geysers, Geese, and Graph Neural Networks: Impressions from the Glaciology in Machine Learning Summer School (GlaMacLeS)

Leah Sophie Muhle, Bryony Freer and Christina Draeger November 14, 2025

An isolated, idyllic, and inspiring setting in the gorgeous Centennial Valley of Montana, where nothing pulls your attention from the task ahead, a motivated group of PhD students and postdocs in glaciology, and five energetic lecturers: the perfect combination for tackling the ambitious challenge of exploring the interface between glaciology and machine learning. Who wouldn’t learn well here, esp ...[Read More]

Blue ice in Antarctica: small extent, big science

Veronica Tollenaar June 21, 2024

A figure with a map of Antarctica in the middle, and 8 zoomed in sections of it showing blue ice areas.

Figure 1: A new blue ice area map, based on deep learning. Credit: Tollenaar et al., 2024.

Kggk kggk kggk – the sound of crampons accompanies me. A thin layer of snow covers the slippery ice while I pull a sled. As I wipe my hand over the snow, underneath, a blue color glitters in the sun (Figure 2). In the last days it has been snowing in the White Desert (Antarctica). All blue ice we could see before is temporarily covered by a thin blanket, perfect to pull a sled. However, this snow ...[Read More]

Highlighted Paper – Meteorites in Antarctica

Veronica Tollenaar April 8, 2022

Figure 1. Artist impression of the Antarctic meteorite treasure map (not to scale). [photo: field team of the JARE-54/BELARE 2012–2013 expedition to the Nansen blue ice field. Artist impression: Janbert Aarnink]

A Belgian-Dutch team of scientists created the first-ever “treasure map” that shows where in Antarctica meteorites are likely to be found. Meteorites are samples from space that fall as stone-like material on the surface of the Earth. Once recovered, meteorites provide crucial information on the formation and evolution of our Solar System. First meteorite finds in Antarctica December 1969, Yamato ...[Read More]