Tracking Snow: The Cryosphere in an Era of Climate Change

EarthzineAgriculture, Climate, Earth Observation, Ecosystems, Feature, Featured Article, Original, Technology, Water, Weather

A new generation of weather satellites is helping researchers gain insights into the complex relationship between the cryosphere ‰ÛÒ the planet’s cold regions ‰ÛÒ and the climate. With drinking water supplies dwindling around the world, understanding the cryosphere is becoming a front-burner issue.

Measuring the Irreversible Retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

EarthzineClimate, Original

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is in a state of irretrievable decline, warns a study released by NASA and the University of California, Irvine. The results have consequences for the glacial structure of the Antarctic and the height of future sea level rise. In an interview with Earthzine, Dr. Prasad Gogineni describes the technologies used to measure these dramatic changes.

West Antarctic Glacier Collapse ‘Unstoppable’

EarthzineClimate

Originally Published by ENS – IRVINE, California, May 13, 2014 (ENS) – A rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in irreversible decline, with nothing to stop the entire glacial basin from disappearing into the sea, according to researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine.

Network for tracking earthquakes exposes glacier activity: Accidental find offers big potential for research on Alaska's glaciers

Amanda LewanEarth Observation

Originally Published by Science Daily – Alaska’s seismic network records thousands of quakes produced by glaciers, capturing valuable data that scientists could use to better understand their behavior, but instead their seismic signals are set aside as oddities. The current earthquake monitoring system could be ‘tweaked’ to target the dynamic movement of the state’s glaciers.

West Antarctic Glacial Loss Is Rapidly Intensifying, New Study Shows

EarthzineClimate

Originally Published by Yale Environment – Six massive glaciers in West Antarctica are dumping far more ice into the Southern Ocean than they were 40 NASAAn 18-mile crack in the Pine Island Glacier years ago and now account for 10 percent of the world’s sea level rise, according to a new study. Reporting in Geophysical Research Letters, an international team of scientists said that the amount of ice draining from the six glaciers has increased by 77 percent since 1973.