Using satellite imagery of grounded icebergs near Greenland, researchers estimate the drafts of these ice masses and therefore water depth, measurements that shed light on future sea level rise.
glaciers & ice sheets
Watch Tiny Cracks Travel in 3-D
Scientists used a transparent gel and high-speed photography to figure out how cracks form and spread. What they found could help explain earthquakes and fracturing glaciers.
How Monsoons in Africa Drove Glacier Growth in Europe
A new study shows that low-latitude weather can affect distant glaciers.
Penguin Poop Keeps a Record of Antarctic Glaciation
Scientists are digging up Adélie penguin guano to study millennia of Antarctica’s history.
New Method to Measure Ice Cap Thickness
Naturally generated seismic waves bouncing up and down through an ice sheet can be used to determine the thickness of the ice and monitor future changes in ice thickness.
Enormous Impact Crater Spotted in Greenland Under Glacial Ice
Ice-penetrating radar revealed a 31-kilometer impact crater—one of the world’s largest—in northwestern Greenland that might have been formed fewer than 20,000 years ago.
Black Carbon Not the Primary Cause of Historic Glacial Retreat
Ice cores and glacial records reveal that European glaciers retreated before the rise of industrialization in the 1870s, suggesting that soot deposition did not primarily drive the shift.
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Captured in Seismic Recordings
A flood that thundered through eastern Nepal in July 2016 left a telltale seismic signature and caused more erosion than local monsoon rains, new research shows.
Increased Release Rates of Radium Isotopes on Arctic Shelves
A longer ice-free season on Arctic shelves causes an increase in sediment-water interaction.
Greenland Basal Melting May Be Considerably Less Than We Think
New observations of surface ice velocity over northern Greenland challenge current assumptions used in ice sheet models to model the deformation mechanisms that govern ice flow.