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Highlights from USGS for 2011
February 9, 2012 | USGS

The U.S. Geological Survey had a very busy 2011. This article shows a few of their top stories for the year.

Melting Land Ice and Sea Level Rise
February 8, 2012 | NASA

“In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

Fountain Stream and a Retreating Glacier
January 25, 2012 | Ground Truth Trekking

“Fountain Stream is one of the largest rivers draining Malaspina Glacier. The changes in this river over the past 120 years provides an example of how glacial retreat can starve rivers of sediment and lead to erosion downstream, and an example of the complex changes that can result from climate change.”

Global Warming and Coastal Erosion – Alaska Case Study
January 23, 2012 | Ground Truth Trekking

” The storm we watched eroded 10 feet of forest floor. Beneath the tree roots, we could see the remains of beaches formed only a few decades ago, when a surplus of sand was still flowing from the glacier.” Quoted from the case study.

After a storm, the signs of rapid coastal erosion are especially obvious. Here, spruce roots trail uselessly down to the beach, where the dirt has been washed away beneath them. Coastal Erosion Slideshow

Bacterial Living Under Glaciers
January 22, 2012 | Penn State Live

“The bottom of a glacier is not the most hospitable place on Earth, but at least two types of bacteria happily live there.” Quoted from the Penn State press release.

Climate Clues from Glacial Cores
January 11, 2012 | Ohio State University

“Researchers are beginning their analysis of what are probably the first successful ice cores drilled to bedrock from a glacier in the eastern European Alps.” Quoted from the Ohio State University press release.

Image by Ground Truth Trekking
Photo Gallery: Alaska’s Glacial Ice
December 14, 2011 | Ground Truth Trecking

Ground Truth Trecking has a new gallery featuring some surprising and spectacular photos of Alaska’s glacial ice. Check it out. Also some great photos from their trek to Malaspina Glacier, including oil seeps, supercooled springs, the most tectonically active mountain in North America, and forested ice-calving faces.

Greenland’s 2011 Melt Season
December 11, 2011 | NASA Earth Observatory

Depending on the data analysis approach, 2011 was either the third most extensive or the sixth most extensive melting year since satellite records began in 1979.

* Data for 2011 is available before the end of the calendar year because the melt season is over.

Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains of Antarctica
November 17, 2011 | National Science Foundation

NSF-funded researches are figuring out the ancient tectonic events that form the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains hidden beneath the Antarctic ice cover.

Iceberg: 300 Square Miles in Size
November 4, 2011 | NASA

NASA researchers have noticed a large crack across the Pine Island Glacer in Antarctica. They believe that it has the potential to produce an iceberg with a surface area of over 300 square miles.

Runaway Melting on the Greenland Ice Sheet
October 25, 2011 | City College of New York

Researchers at City College of New York have discovered that the Greenland ice sheet can experience cycles of extreme melting even when temperatures are not hitting record highs.

Glaciers on Mauna Kea Volcano, Hawaii?
October 16, 2011 | Oregon State University

“Boulders deposited by an ancient glacier that once covered the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii have provided more evidence of the extraordinary power and reach of global change.”

Glacial Lakes in the Himalayas: High Altitude Disasters?
October 11, 2011 | The Guardian

Climate change has glacial lakes in the Himalayas growing to extreme capacity. Tipping-point lakes at high altitude on extremely steep slopes could be disasters waiting to happen.

Columbia Glacier, Alaska: Time Lapse Video
October 2, 2011 | Extreme Ice Survey

This interesting time lapse video of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska clearly shows how the glacier is a conveyor of ice and has retreated year after year.

The Enormous Ilulissat Glacier, Greenland
September 28, 2011 | Extreme Ice Survey

The Ilulissat Glacier in West Greenland is enormous. It is thought to deposit more ice into the ocean than any other glacier in the Northern Hemisphere.

GL-05 Ilulissat Narrated from Extreme Ice Survey on Vimeo.

Proof of Extreme Ice Loss
September 19, 2011 | TED.com

James Balog, professional ice photographer gives a TED.com talk titled: “Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss”.

Petermann Glacier Before-After-Photos 2010-2011
September 2, 2011 | Byrd Polar Research Center

The Byrd Polar Research Center has a collection of low altitude aerial photos of the Petermann Glacier before-and-after the 2010 ice calving.

79% of Himalayan Glaciers are in Retreat
August 24, 2011 | Government of India Ministry of Environment and Forests

In a study of 2767 Himalayan Glaciers the Geological Survey of India found that “2184 are retreating, 435 are advancing, and 148 glaciers show no change.”

The First Ice Velocity Map of Antarctica
August 19, 2011 | NASA

First complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica, derived from radar interferometric data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s ALOS PALSAR, the European Space Agency’s Envisat ASAR and ERS-1/2, and the Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT-2 spacecraft. The color-coded satellite data are overlaid on a mosaic of Antarctica created with data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. Quoted from the NSAS press release.

More Sea Level Rise from Antarctica and Less from Greenland
August 5, 2011 | University of Wisconsin-Madison

“During the last prolonged warm spell on Earth, the oceans were at least four meters — and possibly as much as 6.5 meters, or about 20 feet — higher than they are now. [...] Mainly from melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, and many scientists, including UW-Madison geoscience assistant professor Anders Carlson, have expected that Greenland was the main culprit.” Quoted from the University of Wisconsin-Madison news release.

Related: Sea Level Rise Map

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