All Articles Tagged As: ice sheets

Sunlight has more powerful influence on ocean circulation and climate than North American ice sheets (11/11/2008)

Study disputes a longstanding picture of how ice sheets influence ocean circulation during glacial periods. ...> Full Article

What is really happening to the Greenland icecap? (11/4/2008)

The Greenland ice cap has been a focal point of recent climate change research because it is much more exposed to immediate global warming than the larger Antarctic ice sheet. Yet while the southern Greenland ice cap has been melting, it is still not clear how much this is contributing to rising sea levels, and much further research is needed. A framework for such research was defined at a recent workshop organized by the ESF. ...> Full Article

An accurate picture of ice loss in Greenland (10/4/2008)

Researchers to develop a method for creating an accurate picture of Greenland's shrinking ice cap ...> Full Article

Small glaciers - not large - account for most of Greenland's recent loss of ice, study shows (9/16/2008)

A new study shows that the dozens of much smaller outflow glaciers dotting Greenland's coast together account for three times more loss from the island's ice sheet than the amount coming from their huge relatives. ...> Full Article

Ice Age lesson predicts a faster rise in sea level (9/4/2008)

Team reports that sea level rise from greenhouse-induced warming of the Greenland ice sheet could be double or triple current estimates over the next century. ...> Full Article

Researchers To Fly Unmanned Planes Over Greenland Ice Sheet To Monitor Melting (7/17/2008)

Researchers are hoping for a unique glimpse into the workings of the massive Greenland ice sheet are undertaking the first unmanned aerial survey of the island's fast-flowing outlet glacier region. ...> Full Article

Wilkins Ice Shelf hanging by its last thread (7/12/2008)

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is experiencing further disintegration that is threatening the collapse of the ice bridge connecting the shelf to Charcot Island. ...> Full Article

Study hopes to crack the code on how ice flows (6/30/2008)

How ice breaks up may be important factor in climate change prediction models ...> Full Article

Even the Antarctic winter cannot protect Wilkins Ice Shelf (6/16/2008)

Wilkins Ice Shelf has experienced further break-up with an area of about 160 km² breaking off from 30 May to 31 May 2008. ESA’s Envisat satellite captured the event â€" the first ever-documented episode to occur in winter. ...> Full Article

Greenland Ice Sheet runoff may more than double by century's end (6/14/2008)

The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting faster than previously calculated ...> Full Article

$32 Million Contract From NASA To Manage Snow And Ice Data System (6/9/2008)

The University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded a five-year, $32 million contract from NASA to manage and operate a sophisticated data system charting global phenomena like sea ice, ice shelves, ice sheets, glaciers and snow cover. ...> Full Article

Data show Antarctic ice stream radiating seismically (6/5/2008)

Seismologists have found seismic signals from a giant river of ice in Antarctica that make California's earthquake problem seem trivial. ...> Full Article

Large methane release could cause abrupt climate change as happened 635 million years ago (5/30/2008)

Research team says methane-triggered global warming ended last 'snowball' ice age; dramatically reorganized Earth system ...> Full Article

Lakes of Meltwater Can Crack Greenland's Ice and Contribute to Faster Ice Sheet Flow (4/21/2008)

Researchers Make First Observations of Surface Meltwater Cutting through the Ice Sheet to Lubricate the Bottom ...> Full Article

While stability far from assured, Greenland perhaps not headed down too slippery a slope (4/20/2008)

Lubricating meltwater that makes its way from the surface down to where a glacier meets bedrock turns out to be only a minor reason why Greenland's outlet glaciers accelerated their race to the sea 50 to 100 percent in the 1990s and early 2000s ...> Full Article

Antarctic Ice Shelf Disintegrating As Result Of Climate Change, Scientists Say (3/27/2008)

Satellite imagery from the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center shows a portion of Antarctica's massive Wilkins Ice Shelf has begun to collapse because of rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of the continent. ...> Full Article

Rock studies help crack questions of glacier thinning in West Antarctica (3/2/2008)

Boulders the size of footballs could help scientists predict the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's (WAIS) contribution to sea-level rise according to new research published this week in the journal Geology. ...> Full Article

Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss At Surface And Beyond (2/23/2008)

A new NASA study confirms that the surface temperature of Greenland's massive ice sheet has been rising, stoked by warming air temperatures, and fueling loss of the island's ice at the surface and throughout the mass beneath. ...> Full Article

New Greenland Ice Sheet Data Will Impact Climate Change Models (2/14/2008)

With digital imaging techniques, scientists find new data in old aerial photographs ...> Full Article

Robot Plumbs Wisconsin Lake on Way to Antarctica, Jovian Moon (2/12/2008)

A University of Illinois at Chicago scientist will lead a team testing a robotic probe in a polar-style, under-ice exploration that may have out-of-this world applications. ...> Full Article

Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system (2/6/2008)

A team of climate experts has compiled a shortlist of nine areas in the world that are in danger of passing critical thresholds or 'tipping points' due to climate change ...> Full Article

Natural Gas Formation By Bacteria Linked To Climate Change And Renewable Energy (1/27/2008)

Natural gas reservoirs in Michigan's Antrim Shale are providing new information about global warming and the Earth's climate history, according to a recent study by Steven Petsch, a geoscientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The study is also good news for energy companies hoping to make natural gas a renewable resource. ...> Full Article

First evidence of under-ice volcanic eruption in Antarctica (1/25/2008)

The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica's most rapidly changing ice sheet ...> Full Article

New Antarctic Ice Core to Provide Clearest Climate Record Yet (1/23/2008)

After enduring months on the coldest, driest and windiest continent on Earth, researchers today closed out the inaugural season on an unprecedented, multi-year effort to retrieve the most detailed record of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere over the last 100,000 years. ...> Full Article

Alaska Glacier Speed-up Tied To Internal Plumbing Issues, Says Study (1/19/2008)

A University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates meltwater periodically overwhelms the interior drainpipes of Alaska's Kennicott Glacier and causes it to lurch forward, similar to processes that may help explain the acceleration of glaciers observed recently on the Greenland ice sheet that are contributing to global sea rise. ...> Full Article

Record warm summers cause extreme ice melt in Greenland (1/17/2008)

An international team of scientists, led by Dr Edward Hanna at the University of Sheffield, has demonstrated that recent warm summers have caused the most extreme Greenland ice melting in 50 years. The new research provides further evidence of a key impact of global warming and helps scientists place recent satellite observations of Greenland's shrinking ice mass in a longer-term climatic context. ...> Full Article

Mapping of Greenland may aid understanding of sea-level mystery (1/16/2008)

A University of Alberta Arctic ice researcher is closing in on some real understanding about the process that might be feeding rising sea levels. ...> Full Article

Older Arctic Sea Ice Replaced By Young, Thin Ice (1/13/2008)

A new study indicates older, multi-year sea ice in the Arctic is giving way to younger, thinner ice, making it more susceptible to record summer sea-ice lows like the one that occurred in 2007. ...> Full Article

Evidence of glaciation in 'super greenhouse' world (1/12/2008)

Large ice-sheets existed on Earth about 91 million years ago, during one of the warmest periods since life began, an international team of scientists, including members from Newcastle University, has found. ...> Full Article

Greenland Melt Accelerating (12/17/2007)

The 2007 melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet broke the 2005 summer melt record by 10 percent, making it the largest ever recorded there since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder climate scientist. ...> Full Article

Researcher part of critical team studying glaciers and climate change (12/15/2007)

University of Ottawa geography professor Luke Copland is among researchers from 17 countries studying 19 Arctic tidewater glaciers to better understand how they react to climate change. ...> Full Article

Aurora Borealis breaks new grounds - and old ice (12/6/2007)

It can crush ice sideways and stay precisely on station to an accuracy of a metre. It can drill a hole 1,000 metres deep into the seabed while floating above 5,000 metres of ocean and it can generate 55 megawatts of power. So far, Aurora Borealis is the most unusual ship that has never been built, and it represents a floating laboratory for European science, a breakthrough for polar research and a very big headache for international lawyers. ...> Full Article

New Antarctica research season kicks off (12/3/2007)

The approach of winter in the northern hemisphere means that summer is coming to Antarctica - still bitterly cold, but just warm enough to let scientists make progress on ongoing studies. ...> Full Article

New satellite study shows dramatic melting of Greenland ice during summer of 2007 (12/1/2007)

Newly published research that includes satellite data from three separate sources shows that the seasonal melt on Greenland's ice sheet during the summer of 2007 was a stunning 60 percent more than the previous high, set in 1998. ...> Full Article

Climate Change Could Diminish Drinking Water More Than Expected (11/7/2007)

As sea levels rise, coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their fresh water supplies than previously thought, according to a new study. ...> Full Article

Scientists help map Antarctic ice sheets (11/3/2007)

Newcastle University scientists are joining the race to discover how climate change is affecting Antarctic ice sheets. ...> Full Article