Articles for tag: ClimateChange, EarthScience, glaciers, Glaciology

landscape covered by snow beside water

Glacier in Fast-Forward: The Surge That Moves Like a Slow Tsunami

Suhail Ahmed

  Some glaciers don’t just melt or creep; they lurch. In a matter of months, a quiet river of ice can accelerate from a snail’s pace to a thundering, valley-filling wave that bulldozes forward like a slow-motion tsunami. Scientists call this behavior a surge, and it shatters our intuition about how ice should behave. The ...

photography of snow covered mountain

Alaska’s Glaciers Are Singing – Here’s What It Means

Suhail Ahmed

  Alaska’s ice is alive with sound – a low, thrumming chorus that rises with summer melt and quiets when winter clamps down. These are seismic “songs,” tiny vibrations from water rushing under ice, walls cracking, and icebergs breaking free. Once dismissed as background noise, they’re now a real-time climate signal scientists can read like ...

The Mysterious "Blood Snow" Phenomenon Appearing on Glaciers

The Mysterious “Blood Snow” Phenomenon Appearing on Glaciers

Jan Otte

You’ve probably seen images of pristine white glaciers in documentaries or travel magazines. What you might not know is that some of these icy landscapes occasionally transform into something far more dramatic and unsettling. Imagine pristine snow suddenly stained with streaks of deep red, looking like something from a horror movie rather than a natural ...

Glaciers Reveal Ancient Microbial Life in Alaska

Glaciers Reveal Ancient Microbial Life in Alaska

Gargi Chakravorty

Deep beneath Alaska’s frozen ground, a remarkable discovery has shaken the scientific world. Microorganisms that have been dormant for tens of thousands of years are now being awakened from their icy slumber, offering unprecedented insights into how our warming planet might unleash ancient forces from the past. These microscopic time travelers, preserved ‘s permafrost like ...

The Metabolic Mysteries of Frozen Life

The Glacier Bacteria of the Yukon: Ancient Life on Ice

Annette Uy

Deep within the frozen wilderness of Canada’s Yukon Territory, where temperatures plummet to bone-chilling extremes and ice has remained untouched for millennia, scientists have discovered something extraordinary. Hidden beneath layers of ancient ice live microscopic organisms that challenge everything we thought we knew about life on Earth. These glacier bacteria aren’t just surviving in one ...

140,000-Year-Old Plant Viruses Coming Back to Life

What’s Still Trapped in the Ice? Strange Discoveries in Melting Glaciers

Annette Uy

The world’s glaciers are like time capsules, holding secrets from Earth’s distant past in their frozen depths. As climate change accelerates the melting of these ancient ice formations, scientists are making remarkable discoveries that were locked away for thousands, sometimes millions of years. From perfectly preserved ancient animals to mysterious microorganisms and forgotten artifacts, melting ...

Grey Glacier, Chile

Chile’s Melting Glaciers and the Race to Preserve the World’s Purest Ice

Annette Uy

The pristine glaciers of Chile, an awe-inspiring testament to nature’s majesty and ecological balance, are rapidly melting away. These frozen giants, nestled amid the dramatic landscapes of the Andes and the sculpted terrains of Patagonia, house the purest ice found on Earth. Their disappearance poses a significant threat, not only altering ecosystems but also imperiling ...

Glacial Dust Storms? What Happens When Ancient Sediment Gets Airborne

Glacial Dust Storms? What Happens When Ancient Sediment Gets Airborne

Annette Uy

Imagine standing in the shadow of a retreating glacier, the air crisp and silent—when suddenly, a gritty wind sweeps across the barren landscape, lifting clouds of fine, ancient dust high into the sky. These aren’t your ordinary dust storms. This is glacial dust, a powdery relic from Earth’s icy past, swirling into the atmosphere and ...

Disappearing Montana glaciers

The Disappearing Glaciers of Montana: How Climate Change is Impacting America’s National Parks

Annette Uy

Deep within Montana’s treasured landscapes lie majestic glaciers that have sculpted the region’s rugged beauty over millennia. However, these ancient ice giants are melting away at an alarming rate due to the intensifying effects of climate change. As temperatures rise and weather patterns shift, the glaciers in Montana’s national parks are receding, threatening not only ...