Arctic biocrust cyanobacterial communities “In the polar regions cyanobacteria are an important element of plant communities and represent the dominant group of primary producers. They commonly form thick highly diverse biological soil crusts that provide microhabitats for other organisms. Cyanobacteria are also producers of toxic secondary metabolites. The north-west coast of Spitsbergen, are able to […]

This week’s photos feature the Athabasca Glacier in Alberta, Canada with Northern Lights in the background. Photographer Paul Zizka captured ice climber Stuart and Takeshi Tani hanging from the glacier when the Northern Light hits the sky. Paul Zizka is a professional mountain landscape and adventure photographer based in Banff, Alberta. He has a passion […]

For award winning artist Emma Stibbon, connecting with the landscapes she draws is a crucial part of her artistic process. Her travels have taken her to both poles and in between, where she has witnessed the impacts human activity has in some of the most isolated parts of the world. Stibbon, who is Senior Lecturer […]

Temperatures in Spitbergen, Norway may be below freezing, but the water around the Glacier Front isn’t frozen, researchers Eugene Morozov from Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Aleksey Marchenko from the University Center in Svalbard, and Yu. D. Fomin from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, found, This process of supercooling, also known as undercooling, happens when the temperature of […]

Listening to the unique creaks and cracks of an arctic fjord, six researchers affiliated with the Polish Academy of Sciences recorded the sounds glaciers make as they break off into water. The recordings are being used in an important effort to better understand this process of breaking off, called calving. Glacial calving is “poorly understood” […]

Evolution of Socio-hydrological Interactions in the Karakoram  “Based on three case studies, this paper describes and analyzes the structure and dynamics of irrigation systems in Upper Hunza, located in the western Karakoram, Pakistan. In these deeply incised and arid valleys, glacier and snow melt-water are the primary water sources for agricultural production. The study shows […]

On April 25, 2015, a catastrophic earthquake rattled Nepal killing over 8000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Areas of Nepal continue to remain unstable as a result of continuous landslides. According to the International Centre of Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, five out of six critical landslides that blocked rivers since the […]

In the early 1970s, Carol Diereck invited the Powell family over for dinner. The invitation wasn’t purely a friendly meal. Carol had uncovered something in the attic of the house she was inhabiting in Yakutat, a town in southeast Alaska. Carol led her friends to the attic, where a shattered scene awaited them. Glass plates littered the floor, […]

Climate change is making the work of glaciologists complicated. Scientists that study paleoclimatology of the Earth have come to the realization that melting ice and receding glaciers are getting in the way of their fieldwork. “Time no longer starts at the surface,” said Lonnie Thompson, a paleoclimatologist at the Byrd Polar Research Center at the […]

Icelandic glaciers and volcanic landscapes have long been considered important ecotourism and educational locales. As these landscapes change dramatically with the melting of glaciers, seeing what is left of the glaciers becomes increasingly urgent. I experienced a super jeep adventure in South Iceland during a spring break study program in March 2014. This activity was […]

Glacier Change: Dynamic Projections “Mountain glaciers around the world are in decay. According to a modelling study that — unusually — includes full ice flow physics, those in Western Canada will largely be restricted to the coastal region by the year 2100.” See more about this article here.   Supercooled Water near the Glacier Front  […]

Even though mountain peaks near the equator have supported glaciers for thousands of years, they have retreated significantly in the last century because of climate change. Many tropical glaciers have lost more than half of their volume with the rapid development of global industry. Puncak Jaya, the earth’s highest island peak in Indonesia, holds the […]