Impressions, anecdotes and experiences from the field. Authors are beneficiaries of SPI funding. The posts present the authors’ reflections of their field experiences.
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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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 […]
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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) […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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