Regular Features

Geosciences Column: Scientists pinpoint where seawater could be leaking into Antarctic ice shelves

Olivia Trani February 21, 2019

Calving front of an ice shelf in West Antarctica, taken during the 2012 Antarctic campaign of NASA's Operation IceBridge. (Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jefferson Beck via flickr)

Over the last few decades, Antarctic ice shelves have been disintegrating at a rapid rate, likely due to warming atmospheric and ocean temperatures, according to scientists. New research reveals that one type of threat to ice shelf stability might be more widespread that previously thought. A study recently published in EGU’s open access journal The Cryosphere identified several regions in Antarct ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The changing landscape of Patagonia

Olivia Trani February 18, 2019

The Changing Landscape of Patagonia. Credit: Shauna-kay Rainford (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Pictured here is a snapshot of an environment in transition. Today’s featured photo was taken at the foot of Monte Fitz Roy, a jagged Patagonia mountain located in Los Glaciares National Park on the border between Argentina and Chile. The Patagonia region in South America is the second biggest source of glaciers in the southern hemisphere, behind Antarctica, but the region is losing ice at a rapid ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: A slice of fossil life

Bernardo Cesare February 11, 2019

Dinosaur Bone in Yellow. Credit: Bernardo Cesare (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

I am a petrographer at the University of Padova, Italy, studying the metamorphic rocks that form the deep Earth’s crust beneath our feet, and what happens when they get so hot to start to melt. I’ve spent (enjoyed I should say) more than 30 years looking at rocks with an optical microscope. This simple, cheap tool, and more importantly, its skilled use, remain key ingredients for good research in ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: An iceberg-sized issue

Natalie Robinson February 4, 2019

Dwarfed by a grounded iceberg. Credit: Natalie Robinson (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This was taken during a study, undertaken by me and my colleagues, on the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. We designed the project to document how supercooled water carrying suspended ice crystals flows along its pathway towards the open ocean. Ultimately, this work aims to assess the Ross Ice Shelf’s contribution of local melt to the long-term trend of increased sea ice cover around Antarcti ...[Read More]