By Isabelle Wicks What is firn? Firn is a material that is halfway between snow and glacier ice. It is defined as snow that has remained on a glacier for at least one year without being melted during the summer. It is not completely solid like ice, but it is also not light and fluffy […]
Firn and firn aquifers Read More »
Glacial lake hazards | Flooding | Case Study 1 | Case Study 2 | Summary Increasing glacial lakes In recent decades glacial lake hazards have increased due to accelerated glacial mass loss and retreat leading to the expansion of existing glacial lakes and formation of new lakes 1,2. As a result, glacial lakes now exist
Glacial lake hazards Read More »
Bethan Davies, Newcastle University The melting of one of North America’s largest icefields has accelerated and could soon reach an irreversible tipping point. That’s the conclusion of new research colleagues and I have published on the Juneau Icefield, which straddles the Alaska-Canada border near the Alaskan capital of Juneau. In the summer of 2022, I
Alaska’s top-heavy glaciers are approaching an irreversible tipping point Read More »
Introduction | Case study 1 | Case study 2 | Summary What is glacial surging? Glacial surging refers to the sudden movement of ice over a relatively short period of time resulting in rapid glacier advance that is different from the usual glacier activity 1. Examples of surging can be found across the world, e.g.
Glacial surging as a hazard Read More »
Introduction | Mass Movements | Rockfall and Avalanches | Ice and snow avalanches | Landslide and debris flow | Case Study What are glacial hazards? Generally, there are two types of hazards found in glacial environments that can impact humans. First, we have direct hazards such as avalanches and rockfalls. Second, we have indirect hazards
Overview of glacial hazards Read More »
Pingos and ice-wedge polygons are large scale landforms found in periglacial regions and are responsible for some of the most striking features in periglacial environments today. Pingos From the Inuit word ‘hill’, pingos are dome-shaped hills found in periglacial environments. Pingos can be up to 500m in diameter and 50m high (see Figure 1 for
Pingos and Ice-wedge polygons Read More »
Introduction to Proglacial Glaciofluvial Landforms | Outwash Plains | Kame and Kettle Topography | Kames | Kettles What are proglacial glaciofluvial landforms? Glaciofluvial landforms are created by glacial meltwater processes, occurring in supraglacial (on top of the glacier), englacial (within the glacier), subglacial (beneath the glacier) and proglacial (in front and beyond glacial margins) environments1.
Proglacial Glaciofluvial Landforms Read More »
Macro erosional landforms | Parabolic Valleys | Hanging Valleys | Fjords | Aretes What are macroscale erosional landforms? Macroscale erosional landforms are larger than 1 km in dimension and often contain smaller landforms (micro- and mesoscale) 1. Macroscale erosional landforms, such as Parabolic Valleys, Arêtes and Pyramidal Peaks (see Figure 1) are without a doubt
Macroscale Erosional Landforms Read More »
As an academic, I’ve marked thousands of undergraduate student essays and reports. Most of my courses involve students doing some kind of empirical data-gathering, and then writing it up as a report. Often, these students make similar errors, so I thought I would compile some advice here. Before you start Firstly, start your report by
Writing up empirical reports Read More »
By Guy Paxman and Bethan Davies The Greenland Ice Sheet is a huge mass of ice on the island of Greenland. In places, the ice is more than 3 km thick, and there are more than two thousand trillion tonnes of ice. If all the ice melted, this would be enough to raise global sea
Ice penetrating radar in Greenland Read More »
