Questions tagged [glaciology]
The [glaciology] tag concerns all forms of snow and ice on Earth and in space. And the marks left by ancient glaciers.
124
questions
3
votes
1
answer
34
views
Difference between downwasting and dynamic glacier response to climate change
The acceleration
of glacier shrinkage after 1985 indicates a transition toward rapid down- wasting rather than a
dynamic glacier response to a changed climate
I am unable to distinguish between ...
- 517
9
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Is PhD the only way to study glaciers?
I am wondering if there are alternative ways to study glaciers apart from obtaining a PhD. I would be glad to build a career around glaciology, however, with the issues in regards to my PhD, a new Ph....
- 517
1
vote
0
answers
13
views
What determines and confirms sensitivity of glaciers to climate change/ climate forcing?
Consider two groups of glaciers, say Group A and Group B. For simplicity, let's consider the group to fall in one size class (say 1-5 sq km), both located in the same kind of climate. We DO NOT know ...
- 517
2
votes
1
answer
49
views
Understanding Temperature's Effect on Glen's Flow Rate Factor A = A(T) and Why we Take A = Constant
I'm trying to better understand why I see so many people pick a fixed value of $A$ in Glen's Flow law when doing glacier modeling. I found that using a simple Arrhenius relationship we get the formula
...
- 213
3
votes
1
answer
75
views
Why would glaciers change its size? How to differenciate change in glacier size as a response to climate and its natural dynamics?
Glaciers flow as they deform under its own weight. But they also advance or retreat accordingly to the various climate factors.
How would I differentiate a glacier that is in motion flowing down the ...
- 517
4
votes
0
answers
35
views
How saline were the earth's oceans during the Last Glacial Maximum?
According to Wikipedia sea water is 34.7 parts per thousand salt.
Between evaporation and precipitation it seems like this amount is kept largely in equilibrium but, during the last glacial maximum, a ...
- 523
1
vote
0
answers
9
views
More about hypsometry for large glaciers
I am currently reading a paper which says
The elevation ranges between 1700 and 2200 m show smaller
relative surface changes than the elevation ranges between 2200
and 3300 m. This has to be related ...
- 517
2
votes
0
answers
24
views
Would it make sense to compare glacier fluctuations in New Zealand with Alps or Canadian rockies?
If I want to draw parallels between the glacier fluctuations between different glaciers, (considering similar size class, here, small) at
a) New Zealand
b) European Alps
c) Canadian Rocky Mountains
...
- 517
6
votes
1
answer
79
views
How to judge a good journal for glaciology?
I am trying to find articles/papers related to glacier fluctuations since LIA, how do i quickly analyze if the journal is good? Is impact factor sufficient to judge the journal quickly, if so, what ...
- 517
2
votes
1
answer
63
views
How to calculate main aspect of a glacier?
Aspect is based upon the direction of flowline axis of the glacier. is flowline axis same as ice flow direction?
What is aspect of a mountain (say in the tropics).
Would a glacier have aspect ...
- 517
1
vote
1
answer
109
views
What is 0 degree isotherm and how to calculate it?
I want to look at different areas of alpine glaciers and understand the position of 0 degree isotherm to do a comparative climate analysis. Given the mean annual air temperature and altitude, how do i ...
- 517
4
votes
1
answer
199
views
How can sublimation of glacial ice cause positive mass balance?
I am trying to understand how the sublimation process can cause a positive mass balance in general, intuitively as highlighted in the text taken from W. S. B. Paterson,The Physics of Glaciers: 3rd ...
- 517
1
vote
0
answers
20
views
Is This Portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide a Good Representation of Parallel Sided Slab on Slope Glacier
I'm trying to find data that I can use to compare to the graph in Figure 6.2 on page 88 of this source which shows temperature (found from solving the parallel sided slab on slope problem) vs height ...
- 213
2
votes
1
answer
47
views
Understanding Graphs for Velocity and Temperature Solutions for Parallel Sided Slab on Slope Problem
I'm trying to recreate the graphs in Figure 6.2 from this source (page 88). They get these plots by using the following solutions for velocity and temperature (both obtained from solving the basic ...
- 213
6
votes
1
answer
78
views
Is There Data Describing the Velocity of Different Heights of a Glacier?
I'm looking for glacier data that provides the velocity at different heights within a glacier. So, ideally I would like data that includes not only velocity at the surface, but also velocity at at ...
- 213
3
votes
1
answer
66
views
Obtaining ELA from AAR method
I am trying to understand how to obtain ELA using Accumulation area ratio method. My understanding is:
Accumulation area/ ablation area is assumed to be constant.
Empirical data of long term annual ...
- 517
5
votes
0
answers
96
views
Simulating snow melt inundation in urban areas
I am trying to understand how melt water from snow in urban setting gets routed.
I understand that for routing rain water, one can create grid and then determine the flow direction for each cell by ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
69
views
Which depiction of the world map, with focus on dry land vs ocean do you think is more accurate? Scotese's or deeptimemaps?
Special attention paid particularly to the Arctic where the Hudson and Berent's sea are ocean in the above they are ocean, below they are land.
In other places, Scotese's seems more accurate to me but ...
1
vote
1
answer
98
views
How do melting glaciers dry rivers?
How do melting glaciers dry rivers? Unless there's less precipitation during winter, I don't see how it affects the volume of water of the rivers that glaciers feed into. If it's cold, water ...
- 1,007
2
votes
0
answers
60
views
How is sea level rise due to a glacier melting calculated?
There's news going around (e.g. link) that the melting of the Thwaites glacier may cause sea levels to rise by 10 feet. Is that true and not exaggerated? How is the calculation made? They said the ...
- 255
5
votes
1
answer
37
views
I am searching for a word to describe the area of a glacial valley where the sides transition into the floor?
I have been tasked with proof reading before publication a Russian paper that has been translated into basic English and am searching for a word to describe the area of a glacial valley where the ...
- 51
4
votes
1
answer
69
views
Internal rocks in glaciers
I am very new to the study of the cryosphere. I was looking at the GLIMS inventory for glaciers and observed red patches as shown below which the legend mentions the red patches as internal rocks. In ...
- 185
4
votes
1
answer
137
views
Remote sensing of glaciers, season for data collection
I would like to understand to view the health of a glacier using optical or SAR data. What season would be the best for observation? Is the ablation season better or the accumulation season? More ...
- 185
22
votes
6
answers
6k
views
How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Apologies for asking a silly question like this. But I want to offer some points which I could not counter, as follows:
Ice is less dense than water, that is why it floats. For the same unit mass, if ...
- 427
6
votes
3
answers
273
views
What did the water's edge look like on the Pacific coast of the Laurentide Ice Sheet?
I have seen news reports saying that in recent years many more scientists think that humans first arrived in the Americas by boat, along coast of Alaska and Canada (before they were able to come ...
- 61
5
votes
0
answers
66
views
Hypothetically, in the near future, could gas hydrate pingos erupt?
Could gas hydrate pingos erupt? If so, how quickly? And how much CH4 could they release?
I'm sorry if the questions sounds silly. I'm new here and I don't know much about gas hydrates and oceanography....
- 329
2
votes
1
answer
113
views
Is there a mountain-shaped iceberg?
From Iceberg - Wikipedia, the closest mountain-shaped iceberg seem to be dome iceberg:
Different shapes of icebergs. 1: Tabular; 2: Wedge; 3: Dome; 4: Drydock; 5: Pinnacled; 6: Blocky.
However, dome ...
- 255
5
votes
0
answers
87
views
Dynamic of glacier retreat? (here: in Greenland)
During the last years I have taken many pictures of obviously retreating glaciers and empty moraines in Greenland - just like this one. Looks devastating, actually.
In my understanding, the current ...
2
votes
1
answer
129
views
What behaviour does an ice sheet exhibit in crossing a cliff?
I've not come up against clear explanations when trying to think about a situation where an ice sheet is advancing and comes up against a cliff. What happens next? How does the ice sheet cross the ...
- 173
1
vote
0
answers
157
views
How would I simulate the effects of the Antarctic ice sheet being deleted on Earth's climate?
This is a follow-up to my question If its ice sheet were removed under modern atmospheric conditions, what climatic and ice-sheet equilibrium would be re-established over Antarctica?. As it has ...
- 355
1
vote
0
answers
80
views
If its ice sheet were removed under modern atmospheric conditions, what climatic and ice-sheet equilibrium would be re-established over Antarctica?
Note the use of the term removed instead of melted—as in, any excess water is moved to where it can't cause trouble, either through the use of advanced technology (space elevators, et cetera) or for ...
- 355
7
votes
2
answers
892
views
What is the name of this landform?
These are from the movie Insomnia.
Also available in this video from 4 seconds to 8 seconds. What is the name of this landform? Are these just snow on Lapies? or These are some form of glaciated ...
- 345
10
votes
4
answers
257
views
What does "glacier collapse" mean?
CNN's Mont Blanc glacier could collapse at any moment, Italy warns says:
A staggering 250,000 cubic meters (8.8 million cubic feet) of ice could break away from the Planpincieux glacier on the ...
- 7,074
4
votes
1
answer
114
views
Why did "Glaciologist Princess Elsa" have to leave the glacier because it was too warm?
This tweet shows "Glaciologist Princess Elsa" is actually Caltech geophysics PhD student and cryoseismologist Celeste Labedz.
The BBC News article What's a 'Science Princess' doing in an ice field in ...
- 7,074
15
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Why doesn't sea level show seasonality?
North-hemisphere ice-shelf melts on summer and grows on winter. I would expect appreciable changes on sea-level between seasons, but sea-level looks equal on winter than on summer.
Why doesn't sea ...
user12525
1
vote
0
answers
59
views
Should I perform EOF analysis on an unevenly-spaced time series?
I have a dataset of sample concentrations of several ions/elements (Ca 2+, SO4 2-, K +, S, Ca, V, etc.) from an ice core which I am using to detect volcanic eruptions. The raw version of the dataset ...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
28
views
How do you interpret Oxygen Isotope changes?
In a paper I am reading, the authors note "large (5-7%) negative shifts in the oxygen isotopic composition of geologic proxy materials" (Davis 2008, pg. 102) in several regional basins. This is then ...
- 111
1
vote
1
answer
134
views
Is "Chasm One" the really the name of this feature on the Brunt Ice Shelf?
The BBC News article Antarctic: No role for climate in Halley iceberg splitting says:
With no-one on the ice surface, notice of any breakaway will have to come from automated in-situ ...
- 7,074
3
votes
1
answer
59
views
What (if any) "in-situ instrumentation" is on the Brunt Ice Shelf that will detect its splitting and breaking away?
The BBC News article Antarctic: No role for climate in Halley iceberg splitting says:
With no-one on the ice surface, notice of any breakaway will have to come from automated in-situ instrumentation ...
- 7,074
1
vote
0
answers
29
views
Glen's power-law alternatives
For glacier models, there exist alternatives to the Glen's power-law?
I searched on internet, but I have not found other alternatives.
- 205
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why antarctic research stations are built above ground instead of on the ground or underground?
Many online sources stresses how much the antarctic wind is dangerous for the structures and for the personnel, yet most buildings I see are built off the ground.
I suppose that is due to the ...
4
votes
1
answer
101
views
Waterlevel increase calculation
So I tried to calculate the rise of waterlevel myself. But the results I have gotten seem to be pretty low:
Given the earths radius, I clalculated different Events:
1) If all landice melts there is ...
- 43
4
votes
1
answer
105
views
Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica - how was satellite and airborne radar data combined?
This is a follow-up question to Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.
The work is reported in an open access paper in Science: Heterogeneous retreat and ice ...
- 7,074
6
votes
1
answer
167
views
Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica
Avery Thompson writes in Popular Mechanics
In Thwaites’ case, that radar uncovered a gigantic cavern between the glacier itself and the bedrock below it. That cavern is likely filled with air much ...
- 2,369
1
vote
1
answer
287
views
Are we at the beginning of a Heinrich Event?
Does our current weather trend properly reflect a Heinrich Event? It seems like the drastic weather swings are what I would expect but I realize that is not definitive. I don't see the term bandied ...
- 19
6
votes
1
answer
47
views
Do icebergs have any impact on ecology?
Are icebergs neutral actors in the environment, or do they have any impact on the local ecology. Do they have any environmental impacts that might influence any part of the biosphere?
- 334
4
votes
1
answer
122
views
Weather conditions to create significant glacier growth
I am fascinated at the rapid growth of Glacier Bay Glacier from 1600 to 1750, along with its rapid retreat from 1750 to 1900. I am interested in the local weather conditions during these times. What ...
- 41
6
votes
2
answers
129
views
Does snow melt on ice?
I looked up nearly everywhere on the internet, but couldn't find any evidence that snow wouldn't melt because of ice. When I look it up, it instead tells me how salt can melt snow. I'm NOT looking up ...
- 73
7
votes
1
answer
6k
views
If ALL the ice melted, what percentage of the Earth's surface would be water?
At the present time, about 70% of the earth's surface is liquid water (perhaps that includes floating ice around Antarctica, and the Arctic Ice cap).
What percentage of the Earth's surface would be ...
5
votes
2
answers
6k
views
How would Earth map look like if all ice melts?
Is there somewhere a map which indicates which areas and cities become sea?
- 151