Cryospheric Sciences

Cryo Adventures – Discovering the beauty of polar winter

Mirjam Paasch September 12, 2025

Fig. 1: Digging snow pits, taking ice cores, and watching out for polar bears – a cold day in February on a glacier in Svalbard. [Credit: Wenceslas Marie-Sainte]

Only one month after starting my PhD, I found myself in a tiny plane flying over one of the most beautiful and breathtaking landscapes I’ve ever seen. I was on the way to the northernmost settlement in the world – the research village Ny-Ålesund. What I expected from the trip: cold temperatures, darkness, and lots of snow. What I found instead: stunning views, magical colors, friendly people, and ...[Read More]

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 3

Mack Baysinger May 4, 2025

Figure 1: Izabella and Ramesh on the day they submitted their PhD thesis in Golm, Germany [Credit: Izabella Baisheva]

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and mem ...[Read More]

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 2

Mack Baysinger March 21, 2025

A group of people standing around a person holding a decorated hat in their hand.

Figure 1. Tina and her colleagues investigating the PhD Hat, on the day of her PhD defense [Credit: Tommi Odenthal]

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and mem ...[Read More]

Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 1

Mack Baysinger February 21, 2025

Figure 1: Torben at the moment he received his PhD hat from his peers, at his defense in 2024 at the University of Potsdam. [Credit: Mack Baysinger]

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the peers of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and memora ...[Read More]

Crossing borders – Glacier fieldwork at Sulitjelma/Salajekna

Silje Waaler November 22, 2024

Postdoc Sarah Tingey filtering samples from the portal of Sulitjelma all wrapped up to avoid the chilling katabatic winds from the glacier. [Credit: Silje Waaler]

The time I first set foot at the university, I didn’t expect that two weeks later I would be looking at a backpack more than half my size, turning my back to the shelter of our rental car and walking almost 100 km in the Norwegian Arctic. Howling winds, heavy backpacks, daunting bridges, and endless beauty – that’s how I would describe my first experience with glacier fieldwork. I, Silje Waa ...[Read More]

World Mental Health Day 2024 with a focus on workplace

Lina Madaj October 16, 2024

Maintaining mental wellness in academia is not always easy and steered by many external factors. Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

Friday the 10 October, was World Mental Health Day, a day that was founded by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) in 1992. This year’s official theme focuses specifically on mental health in the work environment. So let’s take a look at what this means for the field of academia and the cryosphere specifically. With this post, we aim to not only raise awareness of the mental health crisis ...[Read More]