TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA– Earlier this summer, my friends and I encountered a curious ice feature north of Toolik Lake near the Kuparuk River. Since the ice feature occurs at a familiar site, we knew it was newly exposed ice. So, we set out to learn just what this feature is and how it formed... {Read More »}

ILULISSAT, GREENLAND-- Lisa and I had just flown into the tiny Ilulissat airport and were told we were catching a helicopter ride that afternoon to… {Read More »}

ILULISSAT, GREENLAND-- At first the scientists weren’t sure what was happening: a loud boom followed by reverberating cracks and pops coming from the direction of the ice-top lake. Then the water in the lake started receding and everyone realized that the ice underneath had opened up and was draining millions of gallons of water before their eyes... {Read More »}

ILULISSAT, GREENLAND-- Here’s your bit o’ science jargon for the day: cryoconite. It’s a word I encountered in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica seven years… {Read More »}

SOUTHERN OCEAN-- Sometimes icebergs contain silt and rocks collected in the continent as the ice moves the mountains down towards the sea, scouring the rock… {Read More »}

BARROW, ALASKA-- (By Ronald Aveling) Beneath the breathing tundra, all is not what it seems. On our second attempt, we managed to find our way out to the elusive Ice Cellar, and explored a mysterious subterranean world that exists beneath the surface... {Read More »}

In Greenland, layers of snow have accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years to a depth of two miles. A wealth of information about past climate is contained in the snow itself and in the air bubbles trapped in the spaces between the particles of snow. {Read More »}

In spring 2008, Richard “Chico” Perales will be working with scientists, the local indigenous Iñupiaq people, and other support personnel near Barrow, Alaska. Chico is a project field coordinator with Polar Field Services, a logistical contractor that supports National Science Foundation research projects in the Arctic and Antarctic. {Read More »}

For those who think ice is all the same: think again. At the poles, ice takes many forms—from shiny “grease ice” on the sea surface to mile-thick ice sheets that cover entire continents. {Read More »}

This summer, I'm headed to Summit, Greenland, to study how snow becomes ice. Here's a short introduction to the project. {Read More »}