Montane ecology

A large glacier in Northwest Greenland is melting far more rapidly than previously thought, which could mean faster global sea level rise. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at NASA and the University of California Irvine explained that the Petermann Glacier’s interactions with increasingly warming ocean tides are causing that glacier to retreat faster thanpreviously observed.Extreme Weather Events in 2022 | Extreme EarthScientists used satellite imagery to observe…

Scientists have spotted a relict glacier on Mars, near the equator—far from the parts of the planet where water ice is known to exist today. While this leftover glacial structure may not contain any water now, the fact that it exists where it does suggests that water ice had a more expansive footprint in the Red Planet more recently than previously believed. Alongstanding quandary about the Red Planet is when (and where) the planet’s water disappeared. Its surface is marked by evidence that water used to flow in rivers…

You may have heard: President Biden approved an enormous fossil fuel development in the Alaskan Arctic on Monday. The Willow Project,a planned $8 billion oil and gas extraction endeavor by ConocoPhillips, is set to move forward in the state’s North Slope—despite fierce pushback from climate and other environmental stakeholders.One nightmarish aspect of the Willow Project you might not have heard about is that ConocoPhillips plans to install “chillers” in the ground alongside its extractive infrastructure to manage…

An image of the Icefin robot under the sea ice near McMurdo Station, captured in 2019.Photo: Rob Robbins, USAP DiverThanks to a skinny, torpedo-shaped robot, scientists have been able to better observe the forces eroding Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier, aka the ‘doomsday glacier’ that could rapidly raise sea levels if it melts. A research team sent the remotely operated Icefin underwater robot underneath the glacier in western Antarctica. They found that the ice was overall melting slower than previously predicted by…

All of the glaciers in Yosemite National Park, Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the continent of Africa, and thousands of other individual ice giants are set to disappear over the next 30 years, according to a new report from the United Nations.01:25Randall Park's Favorite SuperheroesMonday 5:02PMAnd, at this point in climate change, the UN says that we’re powerless to stop that loss. Under each and every climate projection model that the researchers assessed, a full one-third of glaciers located within UNESCO World Heritage…

An Antarctic iceberg at sunset.Photo: Sergio Pitamitz / VWPics (AP)The Thwaites Glacier, one of the most unstable parts of Antarctica’s ice sheet, could be gearing up for even more rapid changes than we previously thought. In a study published this week in Nature Geoscience, a team of researchers have published new images of the ocean’s floor that they say provide valuable information about how the glacier may have retreated during past warm periods. The insights could give a scary warning about the future of sea level…

Photo: David Taylor/Science Photo Library (AP)Antarctica is home to 90% of the world’s freshwater, trapped in the continent’s massive ice sheets—and the stability of much of that ice is seriously at risk from global warming. Two studies published in the journal Nature this week take a look at how climate change is shaking up conditions in ice sheets in Antarctica, spelling out the grim potential future of sea level rise.The first study looks at how Antarctica’s two ice sheets are affected by what’s going on with their ice…

A view of the glacier on Marmolada.Photo: Luca Bruno (AP)At least seven people are dead and five are still missing Tuesday after part of a glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps on Sunday during record-high temperatures.A portion of the Punta Rocca glacier on the mountain of Marmolada, the largest alpine glacier in the Italian Alps, abruptly collapsed on Sunday afternoon, causing an avalanche that caught more than two dozen hikers and mountaineers in a torrent of rocks, ice,and debris that reached a speed of 185 miles per…

Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP (Getty Images)A team of researchers studying satellite images of the Alps made a concerning find: Since 1984, most of the high-elevation parts of European mountain range have seen an increase in vegetation. While that might not sound particularly troublesome, this “greening” is likely due to global warming and may be facilitating a feedback loop that is also reducing snow cover.“When snow and ice recedes, vegetation develops, and that’s what we call greening,” Antoine Guisan, professor of ecology…