Numerical models for glacier hydrology rely on sound input data for calibration and validation. In particular when upscaling these models for regional-scale assessments of water availability in glacierised catchments, this is of great importance and includes data on various hydrological components, such as rain, snow, ice and permafrost. Understanding which […]

This little fish is what we came here for. All the way from Switzerland to Greenland. I say little, but she is actually rather large for a stickleback. Most are only about 5 cm long and weigh 1.5 g, so at 8 cm this one is a Leviathan. Gasterosteus aculeatus, […]

Glaciers and ice sheets are observed to rapidly change under the current global climate conditions. This is particularly the case for those in Greenland. For future projections of change, a long-term, multi-millennial perspective on changes of Greenland ice sheet drainage and local glaciers are of key importance. For example, the […]

On-going glacier retreat will change the ways glaciers erode bedrock and subglacial water carries sediment below the glacier. Changes to sediment discharge from glaciers in mountainous or inhabited regions such as Switzerland can impact the delivery of sediment to ecosystems, lead to the infill of hydropower reservoirs, and potentially cause […]

This post will introduce you to my life in the Arctic town of Longyearbyen, a place where you can leave the settlement only with a rifle, where you have to take off your shoes when you enter university due to an old miner’s tradition and where the crop seeds of […]

Changes in climate affect the sliding of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets towards the oceans in several ways. One is that when surface meltwater accesses the bed of a glacier or ice sheet, it changes the speed at which the ice slides over its bed. The coupling between climate […]

For decades, mountain communities have been watching streams run dry as glaciers upstream retreat. Many have been forced to abandon their ancestral land, but some still remain defiant, proactively trying to halt the decline. In a decades-long struggle, local communities have attempted to engineer glaciers – from calving off ice […]

Supported by the SPI, Armin Sigmund joined the Belgian Antarctic Research Expedition organized by the International Polar Foundation (IPF). He spent 19 days at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Station to measure the surface mass balance and associated processes such as snow sublimation (transfer into water vapor) and snow transport by […]

I like being in polar regions to do research, but unfortunately, this time I did not have the opportunity to collect the air samples myself. Instead we relied on the expertise of our Norwegian colleagues, who were dedicated to sampling the apparently-pristine, polar atmosphere for us, so that we could […]