Iowa State scientist develops lab machine to study glacial sliding related to rising sea levels Neal Iverson opened his laboratory's walk-in freezer and said the one-of-a-kind machine inside could help scientists understand how glaciers slide across their beds. And that could help researchers predict how glaciers will react to climate change and contribute to rising sea levels. view more (2009-11-11)
Glacial melting may release pollutants in the environment Those pristine-looking Alpine glaciers now melting as global warming sets in may explain the mysterious increase in persistent organic pollutants in sediment from certain lakes since the 1990s, despite decreased use of those compounds in pesticides, electric equipment, paints and other products. view more (2009-10-22)
NASA flies to Antarctica for largest airborne polar ice survey NASA begins a series of flights Oct. 15 to study changes to Antarctica's sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. The flights are part of Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year campaign that is the largest airborne survey ever made of ice at Earth's polar regions. view more (2009-10-09)
Egg-shaped legacy of Britain's mobile ice-sheet The ice sheets that sculpted the landscape of northern Britain moved in unexpected ways and left distinctive egg-shaped features according to new research. view more (2009-09-16)
Humans causing erosion comparable to world's largest rivers and glaciers A new study finds that large-scale farming projects can erode the Earth's surface at rates comparable to those of the world's largest rivers and glaciers. view more (2009-09-02)
BYU geologist solves mystery of glaciers that grew while Asia heated up Ice, when heated, is supposed to melt. That's why a collection of glaciers in the Southeast Himalayas stymies those who know what they did 9,000 years ago. While most other Central Asian glaciers retreated under hotter summer temperatures, this group of glaciers advanced from one to six kilometers. view more (2009-08-28)
Antarctic glacier thinning at alarming rate The thinning of a gigantic glacier in Antarctica is accelerating, scientists warned today. The Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, which is around twice the size of Scotland, is losing ice four times as fast as it was a decade years ago. view more (2009-08-14)
Ice Sheets Can Retreat Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat, according to new findings by paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo. view more (2009-06-22)
Study: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes. view more (2009-06-12)
Glacial advances The vast majority of the world's glaciers are retreating as the planet gets warmer. But a few, including glaciers south of the equator in South America and New Zealand, are inching forward. view more (2009-05-04)
Unlikely life thriving at Antarctica's Blood Falls An unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but hidden under an inland Antarctic glacier, appears to support microbial life in a cold, dark, oxygen-poor environment -- a most unexpected setting to be teeming with life. view more (2009-04-20)
Unusual Antarctic microbes live life on a previously unsuspected edge An unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but buried under an inland Antarctic glacier, appears to support unusual microbial life in a place where cold, darkness and lack of oxygen would previously have led scientists to believe nothing could survive, according to newly published research. view more (2009-04-17)
Dust may settle unanswered questions on Antarctica Dust trapped deep in Antarctic ice sheets is helping scientists unravel details of past climate change. view more (2009-03-30)
UK robot sub searches for signs of melting 60 km into an Antarctic ice shelf cavity Autosub, a robot submarine built and developed by the UK's National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, has successfully completed a high-risk campaign of six missions travelling under an Antarctic glacier. view more (2009-03-18)
Cardiac fibrillation of the climate In the current issue of the Scientific Journal Nature Geoscience a group of Norwegian, Swiss and German geoscientists prove that before the set-in of the Holocene very rapid climate changes already existed. view more (2009-02-17)
Global glacier melt continues Glaciers around the globe continue to melt at high rates. Tentative figures for the year 2007, of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, indicate a further loss of average ice thickness of roughly 0.67 meter water equivalent (m w.e.). Some glaciers in the European Alps lost up to 2.5 m w.e. view more (2009-01-29)
Ice beetles impacted by climate change In the summer of 1968, Dave Kavanaugh set off on a hike that would change the course of his life. As a second-year medical student at the University of Colorado, he had joined a climbing club with a few members of the biophysics department, and the group had set their sights on Gray's Peak-the ninth highest mountain in Colorado. view more (2008-12-02)
When it comes to sea level changing glaciers, new NASA technique measures up A NASA-led research team has used satellite data to make the most precise measurements to date of changes in the mass of mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska, a region expected to be a significant contributor to global sea level rise over the next 50-100 years. view more (2008-11-07)
Satellite data reveals extreme summer snowmelt in northern Greenland, CCNY professor says The northern part of the Greenland ice sheet experienced extreme snowmelt during the summer of 2008, with large portions of the area subject to record melting days. view more (2008-10-09)
As Andean glacier retreats, tiny life forms swiftly move in, CU-Boulder study shows A University of Colorado at Boulder team working at 16,400 feet in the Peruvian Andes has discovered how barren soils uncovered by retreating glacier ice can swiftly establish a thriving community of microbes, setting the table for lichens, mosses and alpine plants. view more (2008-09-09)
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