Ice

Centers, Projects & Initiatives

AGAP: Exploring The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains In Antarctica During The International Polar Year

PI(s): 
Robin E. Bell

Scientists from several nations are working together to launch a flagship program to explore a major mountain range buried by a large continental ice sheet and bounded by numerous subglacial lakes.

Website: 
AGAP: Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province

Antarctic Sea Ice Forecast

PI(s): 
Xiaojun Yuan

Antarctic sea ice seasonal forecasts based on a linear Markov model are in high demand for both observational and climate communities. They are provided by Xiaojun Yuan and Dake Chen.

Website: 
Antarctic Sea Ice Forecast
Location: 
United States
74° 57' 33.8112" S, 22° 51' 5.6268" E
See map: Google Maps

Southern Ocean Circulation And Overturning

PI(s): 
Arnold L. Gordon

The ring of deep water around Antarctica not only links the major ocean [Atlantic/Pacific/Indian] , but also produces dense waters along the continental margins of the frozen continent, which sinks

Website: 
AnSlope: Cross-Slope Exchanges at the Antarctic Slope Front
 
 

News items

  • Viewing Melting Glaciers, Via Microscope and Moving Images
    June 11, 2015

    Climate change has become fertile ground for both scientists and artists, with its potential to reshape landscapes as well as human civilization itself.

    Two women investigating climate change from different perspectives—Christine McCarthy, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and Denise Iris, a multimedia artist from Brooklyn—had a chance to spend several days together recently. In the Rock Mechanics Lab at Lamont, where McCarthy works, and a nearby “cold room” chilled to the climate of an industrial freezer, they exchanged notes on two ways of looking at ice.

  • Melting and Refreezing of Deep Greenland Ice Speeds Flow to Sea, Study Says
    June 12, 2014
    Beneath the barren whiteness of Greenland, a mysterious world has popped into view. Using ice-penetrating radar, researchers have discovered ragged blocks of ice as tall as city skyscrapers and as wide as the island of Manhattan at the very bottom of the ice sheet, apparently formed as water beneath the ice refreezes and warps the surrounding ice upwards.
     
    The newly revealed forms may help scientists understand more about how ice sheets behave and how they will respondto a warming climate. The results are published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.

     

  • Southern Glaciers Grow Out of Step With North
    April 30, 2009

    New Dating Technique Points to Differences Over 7,000 Years

    The vast majority of the world’s glaciers are retreating as the planet gets warmer. But a few, including ones south of the equator, in South America and New Zealand, are inching forward. A new study in the journal Science puts this enigma in perspective.

     

  • Explorers to Probe Hidden Antarctic Mountains
    October 22, 2008

    Under Miles of Ice, Range May Hold Secrets of Geology and Climate

    Scientists from six nations will combine efforts over the next three months to try and penetrate one of earth’s last unexplored places: Antarctica’s vast Gamburtsev Mountains, never seen by humans...

  • Look at Glaciers Past Suggests Greenland Melting Could Rapidly Heighten Sea Level
    September 04, 2008

    North American Ice Sheet Dwindled Fast in Conditions Like Today's

    In the face of warming climate, researchers have yet to agree on how much and how quickly melting of the Greenland ice sheet may contribute to sea level rise.

  • Cosmic Dust in Ice Cores Sheds Light on Earth's Past Climate
    August 07, 2006

    Each year nearly 40,000 tons of cosmic dust fall to Earth from outer space. Now, the first successful chronological study of extraterrestrial dust in Antarctic ice has shown that this amount has remained largely constant over the past 30,000 years, a finding that could help refine efforts to understand the timing and effects of changes in the Earth's past climate.

  • Study Offers Preview of Ice Sheet Melting, Rapid Climate Changes
    March 14, 2006

    The retreat of a massive ice sheet that once covered much of northern Europe has been described for the first time, and researchers believe it may provide a sneak preview of how present-day ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will act in the face of global warming.

  • Two New Lakes Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet
    January 25, 2006

    Lying beneath more than two miles of Antarctic ice, Lake Vostok may be the best-known and largest subglacial lake in the world, but it is not alone down there. Scientists have identified more than 145 other lakes trapped under the ice. Until now, however, none have approached Vostok’s size or depth.

 

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