Category Archives: glaciology

The science of naturally-occurring ice

Snow on snow: vanishing glacial ice

Winter’s white blanket of snow is becoming rarer. We must learn to appreciate it. There could be no better description of how our planet begins its descent into an ice age than Christina Rossetti’s haunting 1872 Christmas carol: “Snow on … Continue reading

Posted in Antarctic, carbon emissions and targets, changes to climate, climate sensitivity, glaciology, marine sciences, modelling, palaeoclimatology, science, sea level | Comments Off on Snow on snow: vanishing glacial ice

The awesome challenge of coastal inundation

A significant increase in Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level rise raises the prospect of a 1 metre to 1.8 metre sea level rise within a human lifetime. That should be raising alarm bells among authorities and planners. A giant is stirring to … Continue reading

Posted in Antarctic, carbon emissions and targets, changes to climate, climate politics, climate system, coastal management, economic threat from climate, glaciology, governance, ice, local government, marine sciences, modelling, oceanography, planning, science, sea level, Tasmanian politics, temperature | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The awesome challenge of coastal inundation

Ice melt studies say we underestimate sea level rise

If a couple of new ice studies are only partly right, we face massive disruption from sea level rise within decades. Are melting polar ice sheets as stable as we think, or have we missed something? Could we be facing … Continue reading

Posted in Antarctic, Arctic, atmospheric science, carbon, carbon emissions and targets, changes to climate, climate sensitivity, CSIRO, disruption, economic threat from climate, extreme events, future climate, glaciology, governance, ice, inertia, marine sciences, modelling, oceanography, palaeoclimatology, sea level, temperature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ice melt studies say we underestimate sea level rise