Ice Stories
Exploratorium Home

Pages and Posts Tagged ‘Climate Change’


The Oldest Ice on Earth?

Scientists suspect that a buried alpine glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica may be over 8 million years old. If true, it's the oldest ice yet discovered on our planet and may contain an archive of climate data stretching back to the time of the earliest hominids. {Read More »}



Monitoring Earth’s Atmosphere

Scientists at NOAA’s Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) at the South Pole are measuring global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from the cleanest air on earth. {Read More »}



A Rare Greenlandic Snow Penguin Sighting

NEEM CAMP, GREENLAND-- The question that I probably get asked most often (besides “did you see any penguins?”) about my trips to the poles is what evidence I’ve seen for climate change... {Read More »}



The Melting Arctic Ice

LARAMIE, WYOMING-- While I am spending the summer back at the University of Wyoming, the Arctic summer is in full swing. Sea ice breakup has accelerated, and Arctic ice extent declined rapidly throughout June... {Read More »}



The Bears of Summer

Summer is a critical time for polar bears and climate change is lengthening Arctic summers. {Read More »}



Pits

RECOVERY LAKES, ANTARCTICA-- The last month has been a blur of flying snow from my shovel and endless white vistas seen from the windscreen of Jack, the finicky TL6 Berco I take turns driving. Even now, as Ole, our traverse doctor, drives Jack, I am typing in the back seat... {Read More »}



Royds Tranquility

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- First time this has happened, but I was sitting today for a spell just to watch the penguins here at Cape Royds and the only sound was that of the blood going through my ears... {Read More »}



Beaufort Chaos

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- We’ve made three trips, by helicopter, to Beaufort Island this season. Usually we can’t do this until the end of the season, because the McMurdo helos don’t fly over open water and a ship is not available until the end. It’s a 40 minute helo ride and a 6 hour boat ride. This year, though, fast ice extends out to Beaufort... {Read More »}



Homeward Bound

OFFSHORE NEW HARBOR CAMP, ANTARCTICA-- November 24th, 2008: my final day at the Offshore New Harbor Camp. After completing nearly 48 kilometers of seismic data collection... {Read More »}



Will the Banded Birds Please Stand Up!

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA– The major trust of our project is to quantify the vital rates of Adélie Penguins in their changing world, as global climate change proceeds. Vital rates means such things as age of first breeding, proportion of years in which they breed... {Read More »}