ice

Greenland: Base of the ice sheet is melting faster than we thought

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As meltwater trickles down through the Greenland ice sheet, it heats up – which means that some areas at the base of the ice sheet are melting 100 times faster than we thought Environment 21 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins Water flowing down to the bed of Store glacier, Greenland Poul Christoffersen A new source … Read more

Ancient ‘Megafloods’ Tilted The Very Direction of Earth’s Crust, Scientists Find

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Earth’s last major ice age locked up gargantuan amounts of water in vast glaciers. Once they melted, it was a spectacle to behold as tremendous floods gouged channels into the face of the planet.   The remnants of one of the largest of these ancient deluges are still visible in eastern Washington, in an area … Read more

Antarctica’s Hidden Under-Ice Rivers Could Play a Significant Role in Sea-Level Rise

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Underneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheets there’s a network of rivers and lakes. This is possible because of the insulating blanket of ice above, the flow of heat from within the Earth, and the small amount of heat generated as the ice deforms.   Water lubricates the base of the ice sheets, allowing the ice to … Read more

Iceland glaciers: Cold blob in Atlantic may be slowing ice loss from Iceland’s glaciers

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Iceland’s glaciers are melting as a consequence of climate change, but the rate of loss has fallen in the past decade, perhaps because a blob of cold water in the Atlantic is cooling the island Environment 11 February 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Skaftafellsjökull glacier in Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland Guitar photographer/Shutterstock Iceland’s glaciers are … Read more

Mt. Everest’s highest glacier lost 2,000 years worth of ice since the 1990s

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Even the glaciers on Mount Everest are not safe from climate change, new research suggests.  In a record-setting study, a team of scientists scaled the world’s highest peak to monitor the mountain’s highest-altitude glacier — the South Col Glacier, standing nearly 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) above sea level — for signs of climate-related ice loss. … Read more

Mountain Glaciers Have Less Ice than Previously Thought

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Many of the world’s glaciers contain significantly less ice than scientists previously estimated. That means some mountain communities that rely on melting ice may run out of fresh water faster, according to new research. Glaciers in the Andes Mountains of South America, in particular, may contain far less ice than previous studies suggested. That means … Read more

Glaciers: Thin ice suggest Andes faces ‘peak water’ sooner than thought

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By Adam Vaughan Glacier in the Fitz Roy mountain range in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina Maciej Bledowski / Alamy People living in the Andes in South America will reach “peak water” – defined as a declining availability of water – much sooner than expected because the glaciers they rely on have been found to … Read more

‘Treasure Map’ Predicts The Hiding Places of 300,000 Meteorites Across Antarctica

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Although meteorites are known to fall all over the world, the environment and unique processes in Antarctica make them somewhat easier to find on the pristine, snowy landscape. Still, collecting meteorites in Antarctica is physically grueling and hazardous work.   But what if there was a “treasure map” which showed the most probable places to … Read more