GeoLog | ice

Imaggeo on Mondays: Wandering the frozen Svalbard shore

Matt Trevers December 17, 2018

Wandering the frozen shore. Credit: Matt Trevers (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These ethereal, twisted ice sculptures litter the frozen shoreline of Tempelfjorden, Svalbard, giving the landscape an otherworldly feel and creating a contrast with the towering ice cliff of the glacier and the mountains behind. They are natural flotsam, the scoured remnants of icebergs calved from the Tunabreen glacier, washed up on the shoreline. These icebergs were calved from the Tunabreen gl ...[Read More]

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]

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]

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]