Facebook. Canada's Arctic glaciers headed for unstoppable thaw: study. Scientists say Canada's glaciers are headed for unstoppable thaw. Sean Kilpatrick via Reuters Lowell Glacier rises from waters in Kluane National Park, near Haines Junction in Canada's Yukon Territory. By Alister Doyle, Reuters OSLO, Norway — Canadian glaciers that are the world's third biggest store of ice after Antarctica and Greenland seem headed for an irreversible melt that will push up sea levels, scientists said Thursday. About 20 percent of the ice in glaciers, on islands such as Ellesmere or Devon off northern Canada, could vanish by the end of the 21st century in a melt that would add 1.4 inch (3.5 cm) to global sea levels, they said.
Governments are trying to understand every possible centimeter of sea level rise caused by global warming, to plan how to protect cities from New York to Shanghai or low-lying coasts from Ghana to Bangladesh. A total melt of the glaciers would take several centuries. Canada's glaciers are little-studied and often lumped into the panel's estimates with ice in Alaska, Patagonia, Russia and Svalbard off north Norway.
Majestic icebergs tower above Arctic Circle as 160ft waterfall crashes from melting glacier into frozen sea. Breathtaking images captured by photographer Hans Strand, 57, on journey through Greenland, Iceland and NorwayMr Strand covered more than 1,000 miles of ocean on his daring expeditionThe Swedish tutor says he was once almost killed by a collapsing ice cave in the dangerous North By Emma Reynolds Published: 17:41 GMT, 29 January 2013 | Updated: 23:26 GMT, 29 January 2013 These remarkable pictures show water crashing from a melting glacier 160 feet into the ocean at the Arctic Circle.
Tiny seagulls flitting around the frozen landscape and fishermen's trawlers dwarfed by gigantic icebergs emphasise the awe-inspiring scale of the scene. The images were captured by Swedish photographer Hans Strand, 57, who took his life in his hands by exploring the extreme climate of the inhospitable north on a small ship. Ice sculpture: The frozen water forms unique shapes on the water in Svalbard, as brave photographer Hans Strand sails past on his tiny ship 'I was almost killed once by a collapsing ice. Interactive map of Canada's newest northern scientists. Map instructions Click on the compass icons on the map for a detailed look at some of the exciting research happening now in Canada’s north.
The yellow symbols on the map represent the geographical spread of research conducted by W. Garfield Weston Award recipients over the past five years The W. Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research and W. The W. Source: Courtesy of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Source for data: The W. Suddenly There's A Meadow In The Ocean With 'Flowers' Everywhere : Krulwich Wonders... It was three, maybe four o'clock in the morning when he first saw them. Grad student Jeff Bowman was on the deck of a ship; he and a University of Washington biology team were on their way back from the North Pole. It was cold outside, the temperature had just dropped, and as the dawn broke, he could see a few, then more, then even more of these little flowery things, growing on the frozen sea. "I was absolutely astounded," he says.
They were little protrusions of ice, delicate, like snowflakes. They began growing in the dry, cold air "like a meadow spreading off in all directions. Every available surface was covered with them. " What are they? "Frost flowers," he was told. Courtesy of Matthias Wietz They aren't flowers, of course. Jeff's professor Jody Deming believes that as the poles warm, there will be more and more of these meadows, because there will be more and more open sea that turns to thin ice in winter. ... what you get is about "one to two milliliters of water," Jeff told me.
Glacier Research Projects | Cryosphere Climate Research Group. A long-term observational study is now underway in the southern Alberta foothills, with ca. 400 backcountry weather stations expected to be in place by August 2005. The observational grid covers an area of ca. 200 km by 120 km, extending from the continental divide to the agricultural lands east of Calgary. The first phase of the Foothills Climate Array (FCA) will operate for 10 years in the foothills region. The primary objective is to characterize the spatial-temporal patterns of meteorological variability and to develop physically-based models of the controls of topography and surface environment on surface weather patterns. Insights from the FCA will be used to develop improved climate downscaling strategies, climate change impact assessments, and boundary-layer process parameterizations in mesoscale climate models.
The FCA is funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Alberta Science and Research and Investments Project (ASRIP), and the University of Calgary. Dr. Brian Lanoil. Contact Room: M 458, Biological Sciences Phone: (780) 248-1452 Fax: (780) 492-9234 Email: brian.lanoil@ualberta.ca Thesis Title: Development and Application of Genomic DNA Based Methods for the Identification and Characterization of Marine Bacterioplankton Thesis Advisor: Dr. Stephen Giovannoni, Professor of Microbiology, California Institute of Technology Postdoctoral Scholar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Division of Geology and Planetary Sciences, 1998-2001. Postdoctral Advisor: Dr. Kenneth Nealson, Professor of Geomicrobiology and Director, Center for Life Detechtion Jet Propulsion Laboratory Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, University of California at Riverside Department of Environmental Sciences. 2001-2008.
Associate Professor, University of Alberta Department of Biological Sciences. 2008-present Current Research Interests In general, my interests fall into the broad area of microbial ecology, focusing primarily on extreme environments. 1. Dr. Subglacial and Polar Microbiology. Related Projects: 1. Arctic metagenomicsThe vast majority of Earth’s biosphere exists in permanently cold environments, including polar regions (14% of surface area) and deep ocean (90% by volume). Microorganisms are often the sole or dominant (both numerically and in terms of biomass) inhabitants of widespread cold environments such as subglacial systems, high arctic tundra soils, ice cores, and sub-ice marine environments. A central question in my research program is: how do microorganisms adapt at the molecular, organism, and community levels to conditions of continuous cold over evolutionarily and geologically relevant time scales?
By examining the gene content in metagenomic libraries, hypotheses regarding metabolic roles can be made; however, metagenomics does not allow the definitive assignment of metabolic function to a contig. Stable isotope probing (SIP) uses a stable-isotope labeling approach to isolate DNA from organisms that utilize specific carbon sources. 2. Russian Geographical Society - Moscow Centre. Laboratorio de Glaciología. GLACIOLOGY GROUP UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.
Glaciology is the study of ice in the environment. Important components are seasonal snow, sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets and frozen ground. Glaciology at the University of Washington includes course curriculum and research related to all of these components of ice in the environment. Glaciological research at the University of Washington is carried out by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, Quaternary Research Center and Applied Physics Laboratory. What is Glaciology? Glaciology is the study of ice in the environment. Important components are seasonal snow, sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets and frozen ground. The extent of these types of ice reflects the present and past climate. Examples are: hemispheric snow cover in winter, thickness of sea ice on the polar oceans, depth of frozen ground, volumes of glaciers and the physical and chemical properties in layers cored from ice sheets.
The ice also affects climate. Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University. GLACIOLOGY. North Cascade Glacier Climate Project. Glaciology Atlas - by Steen Thomsen. Dette atlas er ikke en glaciologisk lærebog, men illustrationerne til een. Her er 117 billeder fra bræer / jøkler / gletchere. Klik på billede for stor størrelse. Indhold: 0. Glaciologisk forside <-- HER 1. Jeg er cand scient med bifag i geologi, og har tilbragt over 4 md på bræer/gletschere/jøkler i Norge, Ísland, Svalbard, Alperne. GLIMS: Global Land Ice Measurements from Space. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) World Data Centre for Glaciology, Cambridge. Glaciers online.
Arctic and Alpine Research Group. Cryospheric Research: Snow, Ice, and Permafrost. International Glaciological Society (IGS) Glaciology. Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Swiss Alps. The moraine is the high bank of debris in the top left hand quarter of the picture. For more explanation, click on the picture. Glaciology (from the Franco-Provençal language: glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit.
"study of ice") is the study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Overview[edit] Areas of study within glaciology include glacial history and the reconstruction of past glaciation. Types[edit] There are two general categories of glaciation which glaciologists distinguish: alpine glaciation, accumulations or "rivers of ice" confined to valleys; and continental glaciation, unrestricted accumulations which once covered much of the northern continents. Alpine - ice flows down the valleys of mountainous areas and forms a tongue of ice moving towards the plains below.
Zones of glaciers[edit] Movement[edit] Ablation Ablation zone. Spectacular ice caves photographed for the first time deep beneath Swiss Gorner Glacier. By Alex Ward Published: 14:36 GMT, 21 November 2012 | Updated: 15:27 GMT, 21 November 2012 These spectacular ice caves deep below a Swiss glacier have been mapped, photographed and surveyed for the first time. A team of eight descended into the moulins – vertical shafts – below the Gorner Glacier near Zermatt in October. Their work inside the remarkable icy caverns will help researchers get a better understanding of glaciers and their rate of melting. Descending the depths: A team of eight climbed down the moulins - vertical shafts - in the Gorner Glacier near Zermatt in Switzerland Photographer Robbie Shone, 32, was part of the team. ‘Ice caves are more impressive “normal” caves. ‘We were the first group to map these moulins and because the glaciers move around 15 metres (50ft) a year - they change every year.
The team had to abseil into the moulins because the entrances were often vertical shafts that were up to 65ft deep. The bright blue: The glaciers move about 50ft a year as they melt.