“This is unprecedented,” said one climate scientist. This past weekend, researchers at the National Science Foundation’s Summit Station observed rainfall at the peak of Greenland’s rapidly melting ice sheet for the first time on record—an event driven by warming temperatures. “This was the third time in less than a decade, and the latest date in the year on […]
“There will be substantially enhanced melting in the future—which is quite worrying,” said researchers. Researchers in Germany and Norway said Tuesday that a major portion of Greenland’s ice sheet is “at the brink” of reaching a frightening “tipping point”—the latest sign that global heating is causing irreversible damage to the world’s glaciers and that policymakers […]
The Antarctic ice sheet was even more unstable in the past than previously thought, and at times possibly came close to collapse, new research suggests. The findings raise concerns that, in a warmer climate, exposing the land underneath the ice sheet as it retreats will increase rainfall on Antarctica, and this could trigger processes that […]
Konrad Steffen, 68, died Aug. 8, 2020, when he fell into a meltwater-filled crevasse on the Greenland ice sheet. The glaciologist never worked in Alaska, but Steffen’s work influenced a scientist here, his countryman Martin Truffer. Truffer was born in Switzerland, as was Steffen. Truffer, a professor who studies glaciers at the Geophysical Institute […]