15 February 2023 “For a few days we will be a family, but an international family!” said the two tour guides with whom I am about to travel the 160 kilometres by dog sled to Sisimiut, where I will spend the next two weeks. The day before, I arrived in […]
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Impressions, anecdotes and experiences from the field. Authors are beneficiaries of SPI funding. The posts present the authors’ reflections of their field experiences.
Nonlinear thoughts / Kyzylsu, Tajikistan, September 2022 – Céline Ducret
The surroundings are painted with shades of brown and orange, as if the land was dipped in a warm, earthy palette. The air is thick with dust, possibly from a mix of sand and soil. The mountains in the distance appear simultaneously immense and small, playing tricks on our sense […]
Read MoreDendrochronological fieldwork in the Eastern Himalayas to understand changes to water resources and natural hazards in the context of climate change – Nazimul Islam
In the Himalayas, glacier-fed rivers are an important source of freshwater for millions of people downstream. The cryosphere being very sensitive to rising temperatures, climate-change induced seasonal snow and glacier melt may have tremendous impact on streamflow in such basins. Its impact may be combined with anthropogenic interventions (e.g. hydropower) […]
Read MoreHistorical Archives to monitor long-Term evolution of HImalayan debris-covered glaciers (HATHI) – Marin Kneib
14.09.2022 – The protagonists 1936 – Arnold Heim and August Gansser 1939 – André Roch, Ernst Huber, Fritz Steuri, David Zogg Six Swiss mountaineers, geologists, topographers. Pioneers who explored the hidden valleys of the Garhwal range of the Indian Himalaya more than eight decades ago. They made impressive first ascents, […]
Read MoreMeasuring sublimation on Cerro Tapado – Michael McCarthy
Uf! It is 3 pm on 8 December, and we have finally finished setting up a weather station at 5366 metres above sea level on Cerro Tapado, in the dry Andes of northern Chile, after a kilometre-plus climb from the valley, and many weeks preparing sensors and logistics. I feel […]
Read MoreAnalysing morphological evolution of ice cliff and supraglacial channels using a drone and a laser scan on Satopanth Glacier, Indian Himalaya – Boris Ouvry
44% of Earth’s glaciers in high-relief mountains are covered by rock debris that insulate the ice from atmospheric forcing, reducing ice melt. However, as the debris cover is not homogeneous, space remains that produce differential melting under variable debris thicknesses, creating a surface morphology in the form of strongly incised […]
Read MoreTOPtoTOP – Fabian Fopp
In summer 2021, the field work in the Arctic was once more dominated by the weather and sea conditions. The team still tried their best to bring the scientists to all planned sampling sides in order to get a better insight into the Arctic marine fauna and their exposure to […]
Read MoreInvestigating past Icelandic volcanism using cryptotephra and the Greenland ice cores – Imogen Gabriel
Volcanoes can have major impacts on the climate system, resulting in short-term cooling of earth’s surface following an eruption. Amongst the most active regions in the world is Iceland, the activity of which is reflected in its extremely diverse and largely desolate landscape. However, despite the high-activity of these volcanic […]
Read MoreRockglacier Dynamics on Disko Island – Isabelle Gärtner-Roer
Arctic permafrost is currently undergoing rapid changes. While regions like Alaska, the Russian Arctic or Svalbard have several long-term monitoring sites, the knowledge on permafrost distribution, thickness and change in general, and on rockglacier dynamics in particular, is very limited for Greenland. Finally, in summer 2021, we travelled to Disko […]
Read MoreTracing past interglacial South Greenland Ice Sheet extent using meltwater sediment samples – Anne Sofie Søndergaard
Ice mass loss from Greenland has accelerated over the last few decades and it has recently been predicted that Greenland could become ice free in the next millennium. During past interglacial periods, when global mean temperatures reached values larger than today, the Greenland Ice Sheet was most likely smaller than […]
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