Latest Glaciology Stories
Significant increases in annual temperatures are having a devastating effect on glaciers in the mountainous regions of south-western China, potentially affecting natural habitats, tourism and wider economic development. In a study published today, 25 October 2011, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, scientists examined data from 111 weather stations across south-western China and have shown that temperature patterns were consistent with warming, at a statistically...
Glacial Melt Cycle Could Become Self-Amplifying, Making it Difficult to Halt The Greenland ice sheet can experience extreme melting even when temperatures don’t hit record highs, according to a new analysis by Dr. Marco Tedesco, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The City College of New York. His findings suggest that glaciers could undergo a self-amplifying cycle of melting and warming that would be difficult to halt. “We are finding that...
[ Watch the Video ] ESA’s ice satellite is rolling left and right in orbit to help it continue its precise measurements of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica. Since its launch 18 months ago, CryoSat-2 has been collecting data to improve our understanding of the relationship between ice and climate. Just this year, the first map of Arctic sea-ice thickness was unveiled, and the satellite will continue to monitor the changing ice for years to come. To ensure...
Scientists with NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne research campaign began the mission's third year of surveys this week over the changing ice of Antarctica. Researchers are flying a suite of scientific instruments on two planes from a base of operations in Punta Arenas, Chile: a DC-8 operated by NASA and a Gulfstream V (G-V) operated by the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The G-V will fly through early November. The DC-8, which completed its...
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists with NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne research campaign began the mission's third year of surveys this week over the changing ice of Antarctica. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Researchers are flying a suite of scientific instruments on two planes from a base of operations in Punta Arenas, Chile: a DC-8 operated by NASA and a Gulfstream V (G-V) operated by the National Science Foundation and the...
Global glaciation likely put a chill on life on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, but new research indicates that simple life in the form of photosynthetic algae could have survived in a narrow body of water with characteristics similar to today's Red Sea. "Under those frigid conditions, there are not a lot of places where you would expect liquid water and light to occur in the same area, and you need both of those things for photosynthetic algae to survive," said Adam Campbell, a...
In the central Arctic the proportion of old, thick sea ice has declined significantly. Instead, the ice cover now largely consists of thin, one-year-old floes. This is one of the results that scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association brought back from the 26th Arctic expedition of the research vessel Polarstern. The ship arrived at its home port of Bremerhaven at about 7 o’clock this morning. Prior to that it had covered more...
[ Watch the Video ] Last month the extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean declined to the second-lowest extent on record. Satellite data from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed that the summertime sea ice cover narrowly avoided a new record low. The Arctic ice cap grows each winter as the sun sets for several months and shrinks each summer as the sun rises higher in the northern sky. Each year the...
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last month the extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean declined to the second-lowest extent on record. Satellite data from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed that the summertime sea ice cover narrowly avoided a new record low. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The Arctic ice cap grows each winter as the sun sets for several...
At the end of the last Ice Age, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose rapidly as the planet warmed; scientists have long hypothesized that the source was CO2 released from the deep ocean. But a new study using detailed radiocarbon dating of foraminifera found in a sediment core from the Gorda Ridge off Oregon reveals that the Northeast Pacific was not an important reservoir of carbon during glacial times. The finding may send scientists back to the proverbial drawing board looking for...
Latest Glaciology Reference Libraries
The Columbia Plateau ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, with little areas over the Washington state border in Idaho. This ecoregion stretches across a wide swath of the Columbia River Basin from the Dalles, Oregon to Lewiston, Idaho to Okanogan, Washington near the Canadian border. It incorporates nearly 500 miles of the Columbia River, as well as the lower reaches of major tributaries....
The Arctic Ocean which is located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the shallowest and smallest of the world’s five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although, some oceanographers consider it as the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply, the Arctic Sea, classifying it a Mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be considered as the northernmost...
Meltwater is water that is released from melting snow or ice. This includes meltwater from glacial ice and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often produced during volcanic eruptions, and can cause dangerous lahars (landslides of wet volcanic debris). When meltwater pools on the surface rather than draining or flowing away, it forms pools known as melt ponds. Meltwater will often refreeze as the temperature drops. Meltwater can also collect or melt under the ice's surface. Sub-glacial...
