GeoLog

Cryospheric Sciences

GeoTalk: Meet glacial hauntologist, Elizabeth Case (you read that right, a glacial hauntologist!)

October 10, 2025
Elizabeth Case
Elizabeth Case

Welcome to GeoTalk, Elizabeth! Could you introduce yourself and your background? I’m a genderfluid glaciologist living between previously glaciated, currently glaciated, and flood-prone landscapes. I am a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. I did my bachelor’s in physics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and my Ph.D. in glacial geophysics at Co ...[Read More]

Raising the (melt)stakes! How robotic innovation reveals new findings on melting glaciers

April 28, 2025
Raising the (melt)stakes! How robotic innovation reveals new findings on melting glaciers
Sea Ice in Arctic Ocean (Credit: Lekhraj Saini, Imaggeo)

In the age of climate change, glaciers across the Arctic are melting, consequently reducing regional freshwater supplies and contributing to the ongoing rise in global sea levels. But how fast do they melt? And is it possible to predict that? A new study on the Xeitl Sit’ (LeConte) glacier in Alaska aims to answer these questions. The research group from Oregon State University, Harvard University ...[Read More]

How can scientists see ice underground? Recent study reveals how!

February 14, 2025
How can scientists see ice underground? Recent study reveals how!
This picture was by Patrick Klenk at an ASSESS-GPR site at the very end of one of their experiments where they monitor hydrologic processes with Ground-Penetrating Radar.

When it comes to peering beneath the Earth’s surface, geophysicists have an arsenal of high-tech tools at their disposal. But what happens when you need to track something as elusive as underground ice forming and melting in real time? Enter borehole Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), the underground detective that helped Peter Jung and his colleagues image frozen subsurface volumes in an experimenta ...[Read More]

A 12-meter sediment core reveals secrets of the Arctic’s past climate

January 24, 2025
A 12-meter sediment core reveals secrets of the Arctic’s past climate
Picture taken by Annie Spratt

Extracted from a depth of 2,500 meters, a giant 12-meter long marine sediment core from the Fram Strait, between Svalbard and Greenland, preserves a climate record spanning up to 400,000 years. Its sediment layers offer crucial insights into the Arctic’s past, helping Dr Jochen Knies and his research team answer two important question: Was the Arctic ever ice-free during past warm periods? W ...[Read More]