Glaciology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of snow, ice, and glaciers as physical systems within the cryosphere. It examines the formation, metamorphism, and rheology of ice, the mass balance and dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets, and their interactions with atmosphere, oceans, lithosphere, and climate. Glaciological research employs field observations, remote sensing, geophysical surveying, ice-core analysis, and numerical modeling to quantify processes such as ice flow, basal sliding, calving, and meltwater production. The field is central to understanding sea-level change, paleoclimate reconstruction, freshwater resources, and feedbacks in the global climate system.
Sea ice is not just solid frozen water. It's riddled with tiny pockets and channels of liquid brine. Whether those pockets connect to form pathways determines whether seawater, nutrients and gases can move through the ice, ...
Earth Sciences
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Models of glacial flow and retreat rely on estimates of glacial ice viscosity, the measure of the ice's resistance to flow. Ice viscosity is dependent on the stress applied to the glacier. Most ice sheet models use a standard ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 14, 2026
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Glaciers in High Mountain Asia—a region encompassing the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding mountain ranges—are shrinking rapidly, endangering water resources for millions of people, suggests a new study. Using satellite ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 8, 2026
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Researchers have created the first map of a network of subglacial lakes in the Canadian Arctic showing 33 bodies of water under glaciers. Using a decade of ArcticDEM satellite data of Earth's surface height, a team of researchers ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 2, 2026
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Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are traditionally used for positioning, timing, and mapping information. In an open-access study published Feb. 27 in Geophysical Research Letters, MIT Haystack ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 24, 2026
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Alaska's glaciers respond to climate change by melting for three additional weeks with every 1 degree Celsius increase in the average summer temperature, data from satellite-mounted radars show.
Earth Sciences
Mar 21, 2026
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New analyses of ancient ice from Antarctica and the air contained inside it are extending the history of Earth's climate records and expanding researchers' understanding of how the planet has changed over the last 3 million ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2026
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The findings of a new paper show governance and preparedness rather than hazard magnitude determine whether avalanches become mass-casualty events. With large ice-rock avalanches growing in frequency as steep slopes in the ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 15, 2026
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Every summer, people living near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska, keep a close eye on the water level. When the river level begins to rise rapidly, it's a sign that Suicide Basin, a small glacier-dammed lake 5 miles ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 14, 2026
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Ice cores taken from glaciers reveal the air pollution of the past, using atmospheric particles incorporated in snow that fell on the glacier and became ice. Now, scientists have extracted a record of thousands of years' ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 13, 2026
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