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.
glaciers & ice sheets
Posted inNews
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.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Increased Release Rates of Radium Isotopes on Arctic Shelves
A longer ice-free season on Arctic shelves causes an increase in sediment-water interaction.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
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.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scraping Bottom: Iceberg Scours Reveal North Atlantic Currents
A 3-D seismic analysis of Pleistocene iceberg gouges indicates that surface currents in the Norwegian Sea flowed northward and remained consistent during numerous glacial cycles.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Glacial Meltwater Plumes Support Greenland Phytoplankton Blooms
Field measurements from the Bowdoin Glacier show that entrainment of deep water into upwelling glacial discharge delivers crucial nutrients to the surface of the surrounding fjord.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Icy Interactions
Complex interactions between ice sheets and other components of the Earth system determine how ice sheets contribute to sea level rise.
Posted inNews
Tiny Algae May Have Prompted a Mass Extinction
Dead algae sinking to the ocean floor may have sequestered carbon 445 million years ago, triggering the glaciation that accompanied the Late Ordovician mass extinction.
Posted inScience Updates
Can We Crack the Climate Code of the Southern Polar Region?
The #GreatAntarcticClimateHack; La Jolla, California, 9–12 October 2017
Posted inNews
Rare Glacial River Drains Potentially Harmful Lakes
Antarctic lakes have contributed to ice shelf breakup in the past, but a glacier in Greenland appears safe from a similar fate, thanks to a river that drains away water.