Climate

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]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Science in the Arctic trenches

Vasileios Gkinis June 25, 2018

The ghosts of the science trench. Credit: Vasileios Gkinis (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Pictured here are climate scientists processing ice core samples in the East Greenland Ice-core Project (EastGRIP) science trench 10 m under the surface of the Greenland ice cap. The trenches of this ice core camp require minimum building materials, utilising giant inflatable balloons that are dug in and covered with snow. The snow is left to compact for a few days, thereafter leaving back an arch ...[Read More]