GeoLog

sea level rise

A chunk of ice the size of Amsterdam: how the calving of Greenland’s glaciers has changed since the 2010 Petermann Glacier event

August 4, 2023
A chunk of ice the size of Amsterdam: how the calving of Greenland’s glaciers has changed since the 2010 Petermann Glacier event
In this image taken on August 16, 2010, the ice island continues its migration down the fjord. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team and the United States Geological Survey, via NASA Earth Observatory

Thirteen years ago, a roughly 251 km2 chunk of ice (or 97 miles2) broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier. This Amsterdam-sized piece of ice was the largest to calve in the Arctic since 1962. The massive iceberg traversed the Nares Strait, which lies between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Greenland, and into the northern part of Baffin Bay—the northwestern-most arm of the Atlantic Ocean, before eve ...[Read More]

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

August 17, 2018
GeoTalk: To understand how ice sheets flow, look at the bedrock below
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: Ice forming on Chesapeake Bay

October 23, 2017
Imaggeo on Mondays: Ice forming on Chesapeake Bay
Ice forming on Chesapeake Bay. Credit: Melissa Bukovsky (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Sandwiched between the U.S states of Mayland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York State, the District of Columbia and Virginia, lies Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America. It is of huge ecological importance: “the bay, its rivers, wetlands and forests provide homes, food and protection for countless animals and plants”, says the Chesapeake Bay Program. Up to 150 major rivers and stream ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: How El Niño triggered Indonesia corals die-off

March 3, 2017
Geosciences Column: How El Niño triggered Indonesia corals die-off
Coral bleaching in the Maldives captured by The Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview Survey in May 2016. Credit: he Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview Survey / Richard Vevers.

In the glistening waters of Indonesia, shallow corals – the rain forests of the sea – teem with life.  Or at least they did once. Towards the end of 2015 the corals started to die, leaving a bleak landscape behind. An international team of researchers investigated the causes of the die-off. Their findings, published recently in the EGU’s open access journal, Biogeosciences, are rather ...[Read More]