Ice Melt

West Antarctica’s History of rapid Melting Foretells sudden Shifts in Continent’s ‘catastrophic’ Geology

Much of the discussion about the melting of massive ice sheets during a time of climate change addresses its effects on people

Antarctica

“We cannot Negotiate with the Melting Point of Ice:” World’s Ice Sheets shed 640 bn. Tons in 12 Months

The Conversation

Chris Stokes, Durham University; Florence Colleoni, National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), and James Kirkham, British Antarctic Survey “We cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice.” That’s the message from more than 50 leading scientists who study the Earth’s frozen regions, published in the latest annual State of the Cryosphere report. In […]

Antarctica

Three Things that might Trigger massive Ice Sheet Collapse

The Conversation

By Inès Otosaka, Northumbria University, Newcastle (The Conversation) – The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are highly vulnerable to global warming and scientists are being increasingly worried about the possibility of large parts of the ice sheets collapsing, if global temperatures keep on rising. Scientists have identified three elements that could be triggered, putting the […]

Arctic

Warming Temperatures affect Glaciers’ ability to store Meltwater, contributing to rising Sea Levels

The Conversation

(The Conversation) – Danielle Halle, University of Waterloo and Wesley Van Wychen, University of Waterloo In higher elevations, firn, frozen water that is something between snow and ice, covers the top of glaciers. Firn plays a critical role in regulating glacial meltwater and sea level rise. It does this by absorbing meltwater, the water released […]

Antarctica

We’ll all Feel the Abrupt Changes Striking Antarctica Sea Ice and Ocean Currents

The Conversation

By Nerilie Abram, Australian National University; Ariaan Purich, Monash University; Felicity McCormack, Monash University; Jan Strugnell, James Cook University, and Matthew England, UNSW Sydney (The Conversation) – Antarctica has long been seen as a remote, unchanging environment. Not any more. The ice-covered continent and the surrounding Southern Ocean are undergoing abrupt and alarming changes. Sea […]

Antarctica

Melting Antarctic Ice will slow the World’s strongest Ocean Current – and the global Consequences are Profound

The Conversation

By Taimoor Sohail, The University of Melbourne and Bishakhdatta Gayen, The University of Melbourne Flowing clockwise around Antarctica, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the strongest ocean current on the planet. It’s five times stronger than the Gulf Stream and more than 100 times stronger than the Amazon River. It forms part of the global ocean […]

Antarctica

1/4 to 1/2 of Glaciers will Melt by 2100, raising Sea Level, As our burning of Fossil Fuels Heats Earth

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new multi-author study in Nature finds that the world’s 200,000 glaciers are melting at an increasingly alarming rate. If all of them melted, it would raise sea level by over a foot, a disaster for coastal communities around the world. And it isn’t just a matter of coasts — […]

Arctic

The Greenland Ice Sheet is falling Apart – New Study

The Conversation

By Tom Chudley, Durham University Observing Greenland from a helicopter, the main problem is one of comprehending scale. I have thought we were skimming low over the waves of a fjord, before noticing the tiny shadow of a seabird far below and realising what I suspected were floating shards of ice were in fact icebergs […]

Arctic

The Alarming Findings of AI Model that analysed Millions of Images of retreating Glaciers

The Conversation

By Tian Li, University of Bristol; Jonathan Bamber, University of Bristol, and Konrad Heidler, Technical University of Munich (The Conversation) – The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average since 1979. Svalbard, an archipelago near the northeast coast of Greenland, is at the frontline of this climate change, warming up to […]