Nature Geoscience, 8 February 2024 Scientists have uncovered for the first time direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet dramatically thinned during a warm period at the end of the Last Ice Age, revealing how quickly this region could experience widespread ice loss if temperatures continue to rise as a result of today’s fossil […]
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 8 February 2024 This review paper brought together an international team of 29 ice sheet experts to outline a path forward in improving future sea-level rise projections, with a focus on the long-lasting impacts of “short-term” extreme events such as heatwaves and atmospheric rivers. Short-term (i.e. daily to decadal) changes […]
Following up on two companion papers printed in the Journal of Climate last week, this presentation by lead author Dr. Jonathan Wille decodes the record-busting March 2022 East Antarctica heat wave, including its impact on the Antarctic ice sheet. This extreme heat event saw numerous March temperature records broken, with unprecedented coastal rain and melting […]
Journal of Climate, 1 February 2024 A team of five dozen scientists from fourteen countries unraveled the dynamics and impacts of the March 2022 record-shattering heat wave in East Antarctica. This extreme heat event raised temperatures in East Antarctica to an unprecedented +30-40°C above average, breaking not only March records for much of the continent, […]
NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, 4 December 2023 A similar atmospheric river swept intense heat and rainfall across the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2022, setting record-high surface melt compared to the previous four decades. The warm band of subtropical moisture directly hit the northwestern and northern side of the Peninsula. The eastern Peninsula then dramatically […]
This side event features Dr. Jonathan Wille, ETH Zurich, lead author of the two companion papers summarized above. He volunteered at the COP28 Cryosphere Pavilion as part of our Early Career Scientists Program, sharing the latest scientific findings with policy makers. He organized this event with Dr. Martin Siegert, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Cornwall) at the […]
News Briefing: 26 January 2024 Mirroring the “snow drought” that struck western North America, mountains across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) have similarly bare peaks this winter due to extremely low snowfall since October. Farmers throughout the region, especially in snow-fed downstream regions of India and Bangladesh, are raising the alarm that continued low mountain […]
Nature, 10 January 2024 This study contained two major findings: first, human-driven fossil fuel emissions have significantly reduced snowpack across the Northern Hemisphere ever since the 1980s. In addition, it found a critical temperature threshold already at -8°C (18°F), above which snowpack becomes very sensitive to warming, entering into dramatic decline. Below an average -8°C […]
The snow and ice of the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains supply seasonal freshwater to river basins that serve billions of people in Asia, but current emission trends and resulting warming have caused glaciers to shrink rapidly, posing severe threats to the region’s communities. This side event, organized by ICIMOD, examined the impact that cryosphere loss […]
Nature, 17 January 2024 New measurements reveal that the Greenland Ice Sheet lost 20% more ice over the past four decades than previously thought, with serious implications for global weather patterns, ocean circulation, ecosystems and food security. This study offers the most accurate assessment of Greenland ice loss to-date. While previous research focused on tracking […]
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are both losing ice; and have the potential to undergo rapid and self-sustaining retreat that triggers accelerated sea level rise if the climate warms. Especially if temperatures pass 2°C above pre-industrial, triggered ice loss from these regions will cause massive and largely irreversible global sea level rise, potentially within […]
Nature Climate Change, 4 December 2023 The massive Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica underwent a fifty-year period of “marine ice sheet instability” (MISI), a rapid cycle of retreat and ice loss that ended only when it reached a new stable position on bedrock in the 1990s. This glacier began rapidly retreating in the 1940s, […]
Dr. Holly Han volunteered at the COP28 Cryosphere Pavilion as part of our Early Career Scientists Program, moderating side events and explaining the latest science to policy makers. She specializes in ice sheets; her research uses paleoclimate data over past glacial cycles to strengthen models and better predict future sea level rise. Most recently, her […]
Geophysical Research Letters, 1 December 2023 This study finds that the prognosis for glaciers in the European Alps is worse than previously thought, with one-third of present-day glacier ice committed to be lost by 2050, even were global emissions completely halted today. Researchers identify this level of ice loss as the “absolute minimum” – a […]
News Briefing: 4 January 2024 From the Cascades to the Sierra Nevada, mountains along the western U.S. and lower Canadian coast currently have less than half their normal snowpack for this time of the year, raising concerns that the summer will bring major water shortages; with impacts on agriculture, power generation, fisheries and ecosystems. Snow […]