University of South Florida, USA - Faster in the Past: New seafloor images – the highest resolution of any taken off the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – upend understanding of Thwaites Glacier retreat

Title:

Faster in the Past: New seafloor images – the highest resolution of any taken off the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – upend understanding of Thwaites Glacier retreat

 

Author:

Kristen Kusek

 

Published:

University of South Florida, 5 September 2022

https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/news/2022/faster-in-the-past-new-seafloor-images-the-highest-resolution-of-any-taken-off-the-west-antarctic-ice-sheet.aspx

 

From the news article:

The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica – about the size of Florida – has been an elephant in the room for scientists trying to make global sea level rise predictions. This massive ice stream is already in a phase of fast retreat (a “collapse” when viewed on geological timescales) leading to widespread concern about exactly how much, or how fast, it may give up its ice to the ocean. The potential impact of Thwaites’ retreat is spine-chilling: a total loss of the glacier and surrounding icy basins could raise sea level from three to ten feet.  

 

A new study in Nature Geoscience led by marine geophysicist Alastair Graham at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science (USF CMS), adds cause for concern.

 

University of Bern, Switzerland - The last ice age widened the Aare and Gürbe valleys

Title:

The last ice age widened the Aare and Gürbe valleys 

 

Published:

University of Bern, 2 February 2022

https://www.unibe.ch/news/media_news/media_relations_e/media_releases/2022/media_releases_2022/the_last_ice_age_widened_the_aare_and_guerbe_valleys/index_eng.html

 

From the news article:

A team led by the University of Bern was able to proof that the glaciers of the penultimate ice age ('Riss' glaciation) mainly eroded the bedrock between Thun and Bern, but that during the last glaciation (' Würm'- glaciation) glacial carving resulted in a widening and not in a further deepening of the valleys. The researchers reconstructed the geometry of the bedrock using gravity measurements to reach their conclusions.

 

ALSO SEE

 

Bandou, D., Schlunegger, F., Kissling, E. et al. Three-dimensional gravity modelling of a Quaternary overdeepening fill in the Bern area of Switzerland discloses two stages of glacial carving. Scientific Reports, 12, 1441 (2022). 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04830-x 

Earth science research on Marion Island (1996–2020): a synthesis and new findings [Scholarly Article - South African Geographical Journal, 2020]

Title:

Earth science research on Marion Island (1996–2020): a synthesis and new findings 

 

Authors:

Werner Nel, Jan C. Boelhouwers, Carl-Johan Borg, Julian H. Cotrina, Christel D. Hansen, Natalie S. Haussmann, David W. Hedding,K. Ian Meiklejohn, Abuyiselwe A. Nguna, Elizabeth M. Rudolph, Sibusiso S. Sinuka &Paul D. Sumner

 

Published:

South African Geographical Journal, Volume 103, Issue 1, 27 June 2020

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03736245.2020.1786445

 

Abstract:

Marion Island is a peak of a shield volcano located in the southern Indian Ocean. The island is strategically important for the collection of climatological data and marine and terrestrial research in a vast, oceanic region of the globe. This paper reviews the series of earth science programmes on Marion Island over the last 25 years, provides a synthesis of the research outcomes and demonstrates how field and laboratory methods have developed over time. Marion Island has, globally, one of the most active soil frost environments in a distinctive periglacial setting and understanding this contemporary periglacial environment has been a key objective of the research programmes. Geomorphological processes have important implications for local ecosystem functioning and define the regional and global significance for diurnal soil frost environments and climate change. Keeping abreast with the advancements of appropriate methodologies and technologies and the continued employment of a mix of new and established methods has driven the earth science research in this unique island environment. A series of short vignettes present the most recent advancements on old key questions and indicate that new techniques continuously challenge us to re-evaluate the most basic of assumptions that exist within our research.