Antarctica

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: 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]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Crowned elephant seals do citizen science

Olivia Trani January 7, 2019

Crowned Elephant Seal. Credit: Etienne Pauthenet (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

In the Southern Ocean and North Pacific lives a peculiar type of elephant seal. This group acts like any other marine mammal; they dive deep into the ocean, chow down on fish, and sunbathe on the beach. However, they do all this with scientific instruments attached to their heads. While the seals carry out their usual activities, the devices collect important oceanographic data that help scientist ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Antarctic winds make honeycomb ice

Olivia Trani August 27, 2018

Honeycomb Ice, Antarctica. Credit: Helen Millman (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These delicate ice structures may look like frozen honeycombs from another world, but the crystalline patterns can be found 80 degrees south, in Antarctica, where they are shaped by the white continent’s windy conditions. In Western Antarctica is a 9-kilometre line of rocky ridges, called Patriot Hills. Often cold wind furiously descends from the hills across Horseshoe Valley glacier, sculpting do ...[Read More]