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1 February 2017
Coal mine dust lowers spectral reflectance of Arctic snow by up to 84 percent, new study finds
Dust released by an active coal mine in Svalbard, Norway reduced the spectral reflectance of nearby snow and ice by up to 84 percent, according to new research.
24 January 2017
Arctic melt ponds form when meltwater clogs ice pores
When spring comes to the Arctic, the breakup of the cold winter ice sheets starts at the surface with the formation of melt ponds. These pools of melted snow and ice darken the surface of the ice, increasing the amount of solar energy the ice sheet absorbs and accelerating melt. Now, researchers describe in a new study how these melt ponds form, solving a paradoxical mystery of how a pool of water actually sits atop highly porous ice.
13 January 2017
Changing atmospheric conditions may contribute to stronger ocean wave activity on the Antarctic Peninsula
A new study provides important details on the extent of sea ice, which can protect ice shelves from the impacts of ocean storms, in the Antarctic Peninsula.
14 September 2016
The difficulty of predicting an ice-free Arctic
The Arctic is nearing its seasonal sea ice minimum this month, but predicting exactly when the region will see its first ice-free summer may be more difficult than previously believed, according to new research.
8 June 2016
Antarctic lakes provide glimpse of ancient forest fires, modern human impacts
The perpetually ice-covered lakes in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys preserve the dissolved remnants of black carbon from thousand-year-old wildfires as well as modern day fossil fuel use, according to a new study.
1 March 2016
History on Ice: New insights from reviewing 60 years of crevasse research
The American Geophysical Union invited Colgan and six team members, including CIRES director Waleed Abdalati, to compile and synthesize decades worth of research on glacier crevasses to highlight overarching key concepts and new research directions. Their review paper has been published online in Reviews of Geophysics, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
19 January 2016
Researchers discover surprising waves in the Antarctic atmosphere
Researchers who have spent thousands of hours observing the atmosphere high above Antarctica have discovered a previously unknown class of wave that ripples constantly through the atmosphere, likely affecting high-level winds, climate, and even Earth-based communications systems.
14 January 2016
Study finds high melt rates on Antarctica’s most stable ice shelf
A new study measured a melting rate that is 25 times higher than expected on one part of the Ross Ice Shelf. The study suggests that high, localized melt rates such as this one on Antarctica’s largest and most stable ice shelf are normal and keep Antarctica’s ice sheets in balance.
22 July 2015
Warmer air, less sea ice lead to mercury decline in Arctic Ocean
The amount of mercury in the Arctic Ocean is declining as the region rapidly warms and loses sea ice, according to a new study.
15 July 2015
Greenland’s fjords are far deeper than previously thought, and glaciers will melt faster, researchers find
West Greenland’s fjords are vastly deeper than rudimentary models have shown, allowing intruding ocean water to badly undercut glacier faces, which will raise sea levels around the world much faster than previously estimated. Those are the findings of a University of California-Irvine-led research team that battled rough waters and an onslaught of icebergs for three summers to map the remote channels for the first time.
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.