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Articles on Glaciology

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The 10km wide Petermann Fjord in northern Greenland. The author’s icebreaker ship is a small dot in the middle. The cliffs on either side are a kilometre high. In the distance is the ‘ice tongue’ of the glacier flowing into the fjord. Martin Jakobsson

To predict future sea level rise, we need accurate maps of the world’s most remote fjords

Some of the world’s biggest glaciers flow into fjords in Greenland and we need to know what they’ll bump into on the seabed.
Ice core analysis can help us better understand historical ‘black swan’ events like pandemics and droughts. The Washington Post via Getty Images

Video: How ancient ice cores show ‘black swan’ events in history – even pandemics

Ice cores can preserve evidence of ‘black swan’ events like pandemics and droughts, but the glaciers from which they are collected are disappearing.
The crew of scientists prepare to put the drill stem into the Greenland ice sheet to probe water flows about a half of a mile below. Joel Harper

Scientist at work: Tracking melt water under the Greenland ice sheet

A glaciologist develops a lightweight method for probing the depths of Greenland’s ice sheet to answer a crucial question: How fast is it melting?
The Totten Glacier, the largest in East Antarctica, has deep channels running beneath it that may allow relatively warm water into its belly. Tas van Ommen

Melting moments: a look under East Antarctica’s biggest glacier

Researchers in East Antarctica have surveyed an area the size of New South Wales to study the behaviour of the region’s biggest glacier - and the secrets below the ice that could speed up its melting.

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