Cryosphere

Imaggeo on Mondays: Exploring ice in the deep

Renato R. Colucci December 3, 2018

Exploring ice in the deep. Credit: Renato R. Colucci (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The occurrence of sporadic permafrost in the Alps often needs challenging fieldwork in order to be investigated. Here in the high altitude karstic plateau of Mt. Canin-Kanin (2587 m asl) in the Julian Alps (southeastern European Alps) several permanent ice deposits have been recently investigated highlighting how also in such more resilient environments global warming is acting rapidly. Important ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: To understand how ice sheets flow, look at the bedrock below

Olivia Trani August 17, 2018

A glacier in the Sukkertoppen ice cap, southwest Greenland, flows down a rocky canyon like those mapped in Mathieu's recent work (Credit: Michael Studinger/NASA)

Geotalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. In this interview we speak to Mathieu Morlighem, an associate professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine who uses models to better understand ongoing changes in the Cryosphere. At the General Assembly he was the recipient of a 2018 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scient ...[Read More]

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]