Cryospheric Sciences

Atmospheric Rivers: A blanket for Antarctic winter sea ice

Diana Francis January 22, 2021

Figure 1: The Weddell Polynya in the Weddell Sea as seen from space on 25 September 2017, a few days after the initial opening on 14 September 2017. Figure credits: NASA.

The mysterious appearance and disappearance of the Weddell Polynya, a giant hole in the sea ice cover, has long puzzled scientists. Recent work reveals that the polynya is initiated and maintained by gigantic and formidable atmospheric currents: atmospheric rivers! Read on to find out more… Each year, approximately 15 million square kilometers of ice forms in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica d ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – The birth of a sea-ice dragon!

Kevin Bulthuis June 30, 2017

Fig. 1: Dragon-skin ice observation in Terra Nova Bay by the Nathan B Palmer research team in April 2017. [Credit: IMAS ].

Dragon-skin ice may sound like the name of an episode of the Game of Thrones fantasy franchise. However, this fantasy name hides a rare and bizarre type of ice formation that you can see in our Image of the Week. It has been recently observed by the “Polynyas, ice production and seasonal evolution in the Ross Sea” (PIPERS) research team in Antarctica. This bizarre phenomenon caused by ...[Read More]

Image of the Week – What an ice hole!

Céline Heuzé November 25, 2016

A schematic representation of what causes polynyas to open [Credit: Céline Heuzé]

Over the summer, I got excited… the Weddell Polynya was seemingly re-opening! ”The what?” asked my new colleagues. So today, after brief mentions in past posts, it is time to explain what a polynya is. Put it simply, a polynya, from the Russian word for “ice hole”, is a hole in the sea-ice cover. That means that in the middle of winter, the sea ice locally and naturally opens and reveals the ocean ...[Read More]