Climate

Imaggeo on Mondays: Digging out a glacier’s story

Monika Mendelova July 30, 2018

Digging out the story of a glacier. Credit: Monika Mendelova (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This photograph shows landforms on Coraholmen Island in Ekmanfjorden, one of the fjords found in the Norwegian archipelago, Svalbard. These geomorphic features were formed by Sefströmbreen, a tidewater glacier, when it surged in the 1880s. Although all glaciers flow, some glaciers undergo cyclic changes in their flow. This is called surging, and glaciers that surge are called surging glaciers. Dur ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The best spots to hunt for ancient ice cores

Olivia Trani July 13, 2018

The shore of Livingston Island from the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. Photo: Antarctic public transport. Credit: Carsten W. Mueller (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Where in the world can you find some of Earth’s oldest ice? That is the question a team of French and US scientists aimed to answer. They recently identified spots in East Antarctica that likely have the right conditions to harbor ice that formed 1.5 million years ago. Scientists hope that obtaining and analysing an undisturbed sample of ice this old will give them clues about Earth’s ancient clim ...[Read More]

June GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Olivia Trani July 5, 2018

An iceberg floating in Antarctica's McMurdo Sound. New research finds that Antarctica is melting faster than ever. (Credit: NASA)

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major story While May’s headlines may have been dominated by the Kilauea Volcano’s recent eruption in Hawaii, the science news world directed its attention to another volcanic ev ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Arctic cottongrass in Svalbard

Olivia Trani July 2, 2018

Eriophorum scheuchzeri spp. arcticum. Credit: Gunnar Mallon (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In the High Arctic, where vegetation is limited in height, cottongrass stands out as some of the tallest plant species around. This photo shows a wispy white patch of Arctic cottongrass growing amongst other tundra vegetation in the Advent river floodplain of Adventdalen, a valley on the Norwegian archipelago island Svalbard. Svalbard is of particular scientific interest as it is a relatively warm ...[Read More]