Research Briefing |
Featured
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Near-synchronous Northern Hemisphere and Patagonian Ice Sheet variation over the last glacial cycle
Patagonian ice sheet changes largely mirrored those of the Northern Hemisphere over the last glacial cycle owing to displacements of the southern westerly winds, according to beryllium isotope constraints.
- Adam D. Sproson
- , Yusuke Yokoyama
- & Siyao M. Yu
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Article |
Jet activity on Enceladus linked to tidally driven strike-slip motion along tiger stripes
Strike-slip motion along the tiger stripe fracture zones of Enceladus may act to modulate quasi-periodic jet activity, according to finite-element simulations of diurnal tidal deformation on the moon’s icy shell.
- Alexander Berne
- , Mark Simons
- & Ryan S. Park
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Article
| Open Access
Rapid Laurentide Ice Sheet growth preceding the Last Glacial Maximum due to summer snowfall
The size and shape of the North American ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum was set by atmospheric moisture transport feedbacks during summer, not by the geometry of the earlier intermediate-sized ice sheet, according to a coupled climate–ice sheet model.
- Lu Niu
- , Gregor Knorr
- & Gerrit Lohmann
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Article
| Open Access
Rockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming
Climate warming has driven increased rockfall from an unstable mountain slope in the Swiss Alps, according to a record of rockfall activity spanning the past century based on tree damage.
- Markus Stoffel
- , Daniel G. Trappmann
- & Christophe Corona
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Editorial |
Melting ice core archives
Urgent efforts are needed to collect and preserve ice cores from mountain glaciers before these archives are lost.
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Article
| Open Access
Abrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment
The Ronne Ice Shelf of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated rapidly in the early Holocene due to ice sheet dynamic thinning and subsequent ungrounding, according to an ice core record from Skytrain Ice Rise.
- Mackenzie M. Grieman
- , Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles
- & Eric W. Wolff
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Brief Communication
| Open Access
High-altitude glacier archives lost due to climate change-related melting
Information on past environmental conditions stored within high-altitude glaciers is being lost due to accelerated melting associated with climate change, according to ice core analysis from a Swiss glacier.
- C. J. Huber
- , A. Eichler
- & M. Schwikowski
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All Minerals Considered |
Cool ice with hot properties
While it may feel cold to the touch, Sheng Fan and David Prior explain that ice on Earth is relatively hot. Understanding ‘hot’ ice physics during deformation is critical in determining future sea-level rise.
- Sheng Fan
- & David J. Prior
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Article
| Open Access
Antarctic Peninsula glaciation patterns set by landscape evolution and dynamic topography
Spatially distinct ice-sheet growth on the Antarctic Peninsula through the Pleistocene was the result of dynamic topography and pre-glacial landscape evolution, not climate, according to a palaeotopographic reconstruction and ice-sheet modelling.
- Matthew Fox
- , Anna Clinger
- & Frederic Herman
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Article
| Open Access
Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming
High-elevation meteorological observations and reanalysis data indicate local cooling and drying near Himalayan glaciers due to enhanced katabatic winds in response to global warming.
- Franco Salerno
- , Nicolas Guyennon
- & Francesca Pellicciotti
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Perspective |
Collaboration between women helps close the gender gap in ice core science
Authorship statistics from ice core science suggest that collaboration between women is a key factor in closing gender gaps in scientific publishing.
- Bess G. Koffman
- , Matthew B. Osman
- & Sofia Guest
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Article |
Climate variability a key driver of recent Antarctic ice-mass change
The Southern Annular Mode and ENSO are the main drivers of recent decadal variability in Antarctic ice mass, according to analysis of satellite-based gravimetric observations.
- Matt A. King
- , Kewei Lyu
- & Xuebin Zhang
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Article |
Substantial halogenated organic chemicals stored in permafrost soils on the Tibetan Plateau
Chemical analyses show permafrost soils on the Tibetan Plateau contain large amounts of halogenated organic chemicals that could be remobilized in a changing climate.
- Xiaojing Zhu
- , Fan Yang
- & Jan Schwarzbauer
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Research Briefing |
Subglacial landscape in the Antarctic interior consistent with past fast ice flow
Swath radar maps of the subglacial landscape reveal how Antarctica’s geologic history has influenced the evolution of the ice sheet. The findings indicate the role of past interior ice streams in shaping ice-sheet growth and flow from Hercules Dome.
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Article
| Open Access
Scars of tectonism promote ice-sheet nucleation from Hercules Dome into West Antarctica
Alpine valleys and lineated bedforms imaged with swath radar suggest that ice flowed quickly into a fault-bounded basin during the initial nucleation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet near Hercules Dome.
- Andrew O. Hoffman
- , Nicholas Holschuh
- & Knut Christianson
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Article
| Open Access
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice
Oceanographic observations indicate sustained warming and enhanced basal melt since 2016 below the Fimbulisen ice sheet in East Antarctica, associated with increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice.
- Julius Lauber
- , Tore Hattermann
- & Geir Moholdt
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Article
| Open Access
Melting of glacier ice enhanced by bursting air bubbles
Laboratory experiments suggest that bursting bubbles enhance ice melt from tidewater glaciers, and consequently, glacier-ice structure needs to be accounted for in projections of ice loss and sea-level rise.
- Meagan E. Wengrove
- , Erin C. Pettit
- & Eric D. Skyllingstad
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News & Views |
Blowing hot and cold
Measurements from a yearlong drift in sea ice across the Central Arctic show that large amounts of fine sea salt particles are produced during blowing snow events, affecting cloud properties and warming the surface.
- Lyatt Jaeglé
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Article
| Open Access
Arctic warming by abundant fine sea salt aerosols from blowing snow
Fine sea salt aerosols produced by blowing snow in the Arctic impact cloud properties and warm the surface, according to observations from the MOSAiC expedition.
- Xianda Gong
- , Jiaoshi Zhang
- & Jian Wang
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Correspondence |
Melting glaciers threaten ice core science on the Tibetan Plateau
- Yulan Zhang
- & Shichang Kang
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Article
| Open Access
Groundwater springs formed during glacial retreat are a large source of methane in the high Arctic
Groundwater springs formed during the retreat of a melting glacier are likely hotspots of methane emissions in the high Arctic according to measurements of methane concentrations in springs recently formed in central Svalbard.
- Gabrielle E. Kleber
- , Andrew J. Hodson
- & Alexandra V. Turchyn
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Research Briefing |
Icequakes used to measure friction and slip at a glacier bed
Icequake observations were combined with an analytical friction model to measure friction and slip at the bed of an Antarctic ice stream. Friction and slip are found to be highly variable in space and time, controlled by higher-than-expected normal stresses at the ice–bed interface.
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Article |
Widespread partial-depth hydrofractures in ice sheets driven by supraglacial streams
Surface fractures that intersect glacial streams can propagate deeply in ice sheets and can increase their dynamic instability as melting intensifies, according to a new observationally-constrained modelling study of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
- David M. Chandler
- & Alun Hubbard
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Article
| Open Access
Highly variable friction and slip observed at Antarctic ice stream bed
Passive seismic observations from the Rutford Ice Stream in Antarctica reveal a highly complex bed and substantial variability in friction and slip rates at the ice–bed interface.
- T. S. Hudson
- , S. K. Kufner
- & T. Murray
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Research Briefing |
Fossil greenhouse-gas emission from microbial use of rock-derived organic carbon
Rock organic carbon from glacial runoff, once assumed to be non-bioavailable, is identified as a substrate used by marine sedimentary microbes. This challenges the traditional view that rock organic carbon bypasses the active carbon cycle and indicates an additional source of fossil greenhouse-gas emissions on geological, or possibly even shorter, timescales.
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Article
| Open Access
Fossil organic carbon utilization in marine Arctic fjord sediments by subsurface micro-organisms
Ancient, rock-derived organic matter is consumed by micro-organisms in Arctic fjord sediments despite its presumed limited bioavailability, representing a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of lipids from living bacteria.
- Manuel Ruben
- , Jens Hefter
- & Gesine Mollenhauer
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Article |
Late Miocene onset of hyper-aridity in East Antarctica indicated by meteoric beryllium-10 in permafrost
The hyper-arid climate of modern East Antarctica only arose in the late Miocene, millions of years after the interval of rapid ice-sheet expansion, according to meteoric beryllium-10 concentrations within the permafrost.
- Marjolaine Verret
- , Cassandra Trinh-Le
- & Tim Naish
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Article |
Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate
Mercury deposition onto the Greenland Ice Sheet increased from the Last Glacial Termination to early Holocene as the North Atlantic warmed and sea ice retreated, according to an ice-core mercury record and atmospheric chemistry modelling.
- Delia Segato
- , Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
- & Andrea Spolaor
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Research Briefing |
Quantifying ice mass loss caused by the replacement of glacial ice with lake water
Subaqueous glacier mass losses are not accounted for by traditional geodetic mass balance calculations. Estimates based on proglacial lake volume changes revealed that the mass loss of glaciers terminating into lakes in the greater Himalaya during 2000−2020 was previously underestimated by approximately 6.5%, with the largest underestimation in the central Himalaya.
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Article |
Underestimated mass loss from lake-terminating glaciers in the greater Himalaya
Accounting for subaqueous melting from lake-terminating glaciers increases estimated glacier mass loss across the Himalaya by 7% over the past 20 years, according to analysis of satellite observations and bathymetric measurements.
- Guoqing Zhang
- , Tobias Bolch
- & Weicai Wang
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Research Briefing |
Robotic exploration of sub-ice shelf melting and freezing processes
A remotely-operated underwater vehicle was used to map the ice, ocean, and seafloor conditions near the point where the floating Ross Ice Shelf meets the seafloor, also known as the grounding line. The study identified refreezing crevasses and geomorphological signatures of past grounding line retreat.
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Article
| Open Access
Crevasse refreezing and signatures of retreat observed at Kamb Ice Stream grounding zone
Observations from a remotely operated underwater vehicle reveal crevasse refreezing and the fine-scale variability in ice and ocean structure at the Kamb Ice Stream grounding line in West Antarctica.
- J. D. Lawrence
- , P. M. Washam
- & B. E. Schmidt
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Research Briefing |
Satellite data shows Antarctic Peninsula glaciers flow faster in summer
Satellite observations reveal that glaciers on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula flow 12% faster on average in summer than in winter. These increased flow speeds are attributed to a combination of seasonal atmospheric and oceanographic forcing mechanisms.
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Article |
Widespread seasonal speed-up of west Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to 2021
Glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula flowed on average 12% faster during the summer compared with winter due to a mix of oceanic and atmospheric influences, according to an analysis of remote sensing data from 2014 to 2021.
- Benjamin J. Wallis
- , Anna E. Hogg
- & Michiel R. van den Broeke
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Perspective |
Diminishing lake area across the northern permafrost zone
Lake drainage due to permafrost thaw in the northern permafrost zone is occurring sooner than anticipated.
- Elizabeth E. Webb
- & Anna K. Liljedahl
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Article |
Episodic dynamic change linked to damage on the Thwaites Glacier Ice Tongue
Observations and modelling of the Thwaites Glacier Ice Tongue link episodic changes in ice speed to fracturing between 2015 and 2021 and show these changes to be reversible over one- to two-year timescales.
- Trystan Surawy-Stepney
- , Anna E. Hogg
- & Benjamin J. Davison
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Article |
Early Pleistocene East Antarctic temperature in phase with local insolation
East Antarctic surface temperature co-varied with local insolation in the Early Pleistocene, leading to the cancellation of global orbital ice sheet forcing from precession, according to temperature proxies and insolation-related gas ratios in ice cores.
- Yuzhen Yan
- , Andrei V. Kurbatov
- & John A. Higgins
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Article
| Open Access
Holocene ice-stream shutdown and drainage basin reconfiguration in northeast Greenland
Two ice streams—indicated by buried folds—extending into the interior of the northeastern Greenland ice sheet deactivated in the Holocene as the drainage basin flow regime reorganized southwards, according to an analysis of radio-echo sounding data.
- Steven Franke
- , Paul D. Bons
- & Daniela Jansen
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Article |
West Antarctic ice volume variability paced by obliquity until 400,000 years ago
The advance and retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were primarily paced by 41,000-year-long obliquity cycles, not longer eccentricity cycles, until 400,000 years ago, according to sedimentological and palaeomagnetic records from the Ross Embayment.
- Christian Ohneiser
- , Christina L. Hulbe
- & Rachel A. Worthington
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Research Briefing |
Hidden rivers under Antarctica impact ice flow and stability
Large channels of meltwater snake beneath the ice in the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica. This water affects the speed of ice flow above and the melt rate of the ice when it reaches the ocean, having a direct role in the response of Antarctica to climate change.
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Article |
Antarctic basal environment shaped by high-pressure flow through a subglacial river system
A 400-km-long subglacial dendritic river system in Antarctica transports freshwater at high pressures, potentially enhancing ice flow and ice-shelf melt, according to numerical modelling and geophysical data.
- C. F. Dow
- , N. Ross
- & M. J. Siegert
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Research Briefing |
Air temperature — not just ocean warming — affects submarine melting of Greenland glaciers
Melting of the edges of the Greenland ice sheet by the ocean since 1979 is — counterintuitively — controlled almost as much by air temperature as by ocean temperature.
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Article
| Open Access
Submarine melting of glaciers in Greenland amplified by atmospheric warming
Atmospheric variability can amplify ocean-driven submarine melting of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland, according to an analysis of observations and models from 1979 to 2018.
- D. A. Slater
- & F. Straneo
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Article |
Climatic and tectonic drivers of late Oligocene Antarctic ice volume
Retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the late Oligocene was caused primarily by a tectonically driven marine transgression, according to a compilation of Ross Sea surface temperature estimates throughout the Cenozoic.
- B. Duncan
- , R. McKay
- & J. Bendle
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News & Views |
Thwaites Glacier and the bed beneath
Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is losing mass and has the potential to cause substantial sea level rise. New seabed imagery indicates that the glacier previously retreated at double its current rate, implying that mass loss could accelerate in the near future.
- Andrew Mackintosh
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Article
| Open Access
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era
The Thwaites Glacier grounding zone has experienced sustained pulses of rapid retreat over the past two centuries, according to sea floor observations obtained by an autonomous underwater vehicle.
- Alastair G. C. Graham
- , Anna Wåhlin
- & Robert D. Larter
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Article |
Sedimentary basins reduce stability of Antarctic ice streams through groundwater feedbacks
A machine-learning-based mapping of Antarctic subglacial geology suggests sedimentary basins lie beneath some of the most dynamic ice streams, increasing their vulnerability to rapid ice retreat.
- Lu Li
- , Alan R. A. Aitken
- & Bernd Kulessa
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News & Views |
Thermal bridging by Arctic shrubs
Shrubs act as thermal bridges to conduct heat through the tundra snowpack, fostering heat loss from the ground in winter and heat gain in the spring.
- Michael M. Loranty
Reconstruction of Patagonia’s glacial history informs key global climate drivers
Himalayan glaciers threatened by frequent wildfires