Alberta's hidden valleys offer both resources and danger
Alberta is crisscrossed with hidden glacial valleys that hold both resource treasures and potential danger. University of Alberta researcher Doug Schmitt discovered a 300 metre deep, valley hidden beneath the surface of the ground near the community of Rainbow Lake in northwestern Alberta. view more (2009-11-13)
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)
Antarctica glacier retreat creates new carbon dioxide store
Large blooms of tiny marine plants called phytoplankton are flourishing in areas of open water left exposed by the recent and rapid melting of ice shelves and glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula. view more (2009-11-10)
Are the Alps growing or shrinking?
The Alps are growing just as quickly in height, as they are shrinking. This paradoxical result could be proven by a group of German and Swiss geoscientists. view more (2009-11-06)
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)
Arctic lake sediments show warming, unique ecological changes in recent decades
An analysis of sediment cores indicates that biological and chemical changes occurring at a remote Arctic lake are unprecedented over the past 200,000 years and likely are the result of human-caused climate change, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. view more (2009-10-20)
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)
Peering under the ice of a collapsing polar coast
Starting this month, a giant NASA DC-8 aircraft loaded with geophysical instruments and scientists will buzz at low level over the coasts of West Antarctica, where ice sheets are collapsing at a pace far beyond what scientists expected a few years ago. view more (2009-10-08)
A Thermometer for the Earth
According to climate change experts, our planet has a fever - melting glaciers are just one stark sign of the radical changes we can expect. view more (2009-10-02)
North meets south? Glaciers move together in far-flung regions
Results of a new study add evidence that climate swings in the northern hemisphere over the past 12,000 years have been tightly linked to changes in the tropics. view more (2009-09-25)
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)
New research provides insight into ice sheet behavior
A new study published this week takes scientists a step further in their quest to understand how Antarctica's vast glaciers will contribute to future sea-level rise. view more (2009-07-21)
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)
Ancient drought and rapid cooling drastically altered climate
Two abrupt and drastic climate events, 700 years apart and more than 45 centuries ago, are teasing scientists who are now trying to use ancient records to predict future world climate. view more (2009-06-19)
New Antarctic seabed sonar images reveal clues to sea-level rise
Motorway-sized troughs and channels carved into Antarctica's continental shelves by glaciers thousands of years ago could help scientists to predict future sea-level rise. view more (2009-05-05)
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)
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)
|
|
