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EartherGreenland’s Most Threatened Glaciers Are in Even More Danger Than We Thought
Someday, I would like to write a happy story about ice. Today is not that day. Using historical photos and modern satellites, scientists have taken an unprecedented dive into understanding some of Greenland’s most imperiled glaciers. The findings show the at-risk ice has undergone a major retreat over the the past century-plus, indicating that our … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
EartherMourners Hold a Funeral for a Dead Oregon Glacier
Twelve years ago, I strode by Clark Glacier on the flanks of South Sister, the tallest of a cluster of three volcanoes in Oregon’s Cascades. The mass of ice clung to the slopes, strewn with red and brown streaks left behind by volcanic cinders that tumbled across its face. The glacier was unremarkable compared to … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
EartherPink Snow in the Italian Alps Is a Cute Sign of Environmental Catastrophe
I live for all things pink, and there’s something beautiful about pink glacial ice. However, the dusty pink layer atop the Presena Glacier in the Italian Alps is more sinister than it looks. Algae has dyed the snow a bizarre color. The otherworldly look could end up speeding up the melt of snow and glaciers … Continued
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EartherSay Hello to ‘Glacier Mice,’ a Herd of Mysterious Moving Moss Balls
In some places around the world, you can find bright green balls of moss scattered across glaciers. That picture is incredible all by itself, but what is truly mind-boggling is that this colony of moss balls moves. All at about the same speeds and in the same directions. The glacier moss balls are commonly referred … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
EartherLooming Landslide in Alaska Could Trigger Enormous Tsunami at Any Moment, Scientists Warn
The collapse of an unstable mountain slope in Alaska could trigger a catastrophic tsunami in Harriman Fjord. A retreating glacier is producing this precarious situation, highlighting yet another type of hazard caused by climate change. An open letter signed by 14 experts in landslides, tsunamis, and climate change describes an unstable mountain slope above the … Continued
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Earther‘One of the Toughest Jobs’ on Earth: Studying Melting Ice
Spring is looming in the northern hemisphere. It is habitually a key and busy time for environmental science fieldwork, no more so than for the select community that travel great lengths and endure perilous conditions to study some of the world’s highest glaciers in the mountains of Asia. But the coronavirus-induced lockdown that is keeping … Continued
Greg Norman -
EartherClimate ChangeKingdom of Frost Explores How Frozen Landscapes Shaped Humanity
Growing up in the Norwegian Arctic—one of the coldest places on Earth—journalist Bjørn Vassnes became fascinated with the natural sciences. Today, he pens a science column for one of Norway’s most popular daily newspapers and hosts the television science program Schrödingers katt (Schrödinger’s cat) on the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. But it wasn’t until he began … Continued
Amy Brady -
EartherClimate ChangeScientists Make First-Ever Observation of Warm Water Undercutting Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’
The climate crisis is causing ice in Antarctica to melt faster than at any other time in recorded history. And scientists just found another troubling sign for Antarctic ice. Record warm water is surging under an Antarctica glacier that’s fate is intertwined with the millions of people who live along the coast. Needless to say, … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherClimate ChangeClimate Change Threatens Water Resources for Nearly 2 Billion People
Around the world, billions of people rely on water from snow and glaciers. However, rising temperatures and political turmoil could mean rapidly diminishing water resources for these vulnerable regions—most notably being high mountain Asia according to new findings released at the American Geophysical Union. The study, also published in Nature on Monday, refers to these valuable … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeNine Million Cubic Feet of Ice May Soon Collapse in the Alps
A glacier is on the verge of collapsing in the northwestern Italian Alps. This is yet another reminder of why global leaders need to take action to stop climate change. Now. Scientists monitoring the Planpincieux Glacier on the Grandes Jorasses Mountain sounded the alarm about the glacier Wednesday. Nine million cubic feet of ice is … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeThe Swiss Just Held a Funeral for a Dead Glacier
With the second mourning ceremony for a melted glacier this year, perhaps 2019 will go down as the year of funerals for glaciers murdered by climate change. On Sunday, hundreds held a funeral for the Pizol glacier in Switzerland’s Glarus Alps. This is the first glacier in Switzerland to be removed from GLAMOS, the nation’s … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeIcelanders Mourn Loss of Okjökull Glacier With Ceremony, Plaque
Politicians, scientists, and others gathered in Borgarfjörður, Iceland, northeast of Reykjavik on Sunday to mourn the loss of the Okjökull glacier, laying a plaque warning of the impact of climate change, the BBC reported. Okjökull, along with many other Icelandic glaciers, took serious hits from warming summers over the past two decades. It was officially … Continued
By Tom McKay -
EartherClimate ChangeCold War Spy Satellite Reveals Just How Fast the Himalayas Are Losing Ice
During the Cold War, spy satellites were constantly circling the Earth. But while the intent of those satellites is generally to track human activities, the imagery they captured has also proved to be a trove of scientific data. The latest use of Cold War imagery has revealed a huge acceleration in Himalayan ice loss. The … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
EartherSeven Newly Named Glaciers Honor the Satellites That Helped Discover Them
Glaciers and other icy landscapes are often named after the scientists who first set eyes on them. But it isn’t just human eyes spotting new features in Earth’s frozen wastes; many of these remote landforms are discovered and detailed via satellite. So, shouldn’t the robots get some credit, too? University of Leeds glaciologist Anna Hogg … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate ChangeThe Alps Are on Track to Lose at Least Half Their Glacier Ice This Century
Ice. It’s melting. And new findings focused on the Alps show it’s going to keep disappearing at an alarming rate even if we cut emissions. The research, released in the Cryosphere on Tuesday, show that glaciers in the Alps will shrink to half their current area by midcentury even if carbon pollution magically dropped to … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
EartherEarth ScienceMelting Ice Sheets Could Throw Earth’s Climate Into Disarray, Alarming Models Predict
It’s no secret that Earth’s ice sheets are shrinking as temperatures rise. But this planetary meltdown isn’t just a problem for coastal residents dealing with rising sea levels. New research suggests it could be a problem for all of us as the effects of ice loss ripple through the oceans and atmosphere. Models published Wednesday … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Earther
Scientists Will Once Again Try to Explore Alien Ecosystem Exposed by Giant Antarctic Iceberg
Last year, a team of scientists embarked on a mission to explore the seafloor exposed when a Delaware-sized iceberg popped off the Antarctic Peninsula in 2017. Frustratingly, their ship had to turn around mid-voyage thanks to impenetrable sea ice. This year, amidst near-record low Antarctic sea ice levels, another team of scientists will make an … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
North America’s Glaciers Are Melting Four Times Faster Than They Were a Decade Ago
Across the world’s icy landscapes, climate change is spurring a major meltdown. That includes the western U.S. and Canada where not only is ice vanishing, but it’s doing so at a more rapid pace than it was just a decade ago, according to a new study released this week in Geophysical Research Letters. The faster … Continued
By Brian Kahn
