Ice sheets and glaciers

Glacier

Skating in a small ice cave below Byron Glacier, in the Chugach National Forest of Alaska.

Year: 2017

Photographer: Paxson Woelber (edited by Frameworks)


Antarctic icebergs

About 61% of all fresh water on Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet, an equivalent to 70 m of water in the world's oceans.

Year: 2016

Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Pumping water onto ice sheets

One of the potentially most catastrophic effects of contemporary global warming would be the dramatic increase in sea levels as a result of the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Even if all current emissions were immediately stopped, sea level rise could still occur because of locked-in warming (ICCI 2022).

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Glacier in Southern Greenland (1)

The loss of ice in Greenland and the shrinking of glaciers in other parts of the Arctic currently contribute up to 40% of the average 3 mm global sea level rise per year. A number of studies suggest that Greenland could be a major contributor to a potential rise in sea levels of 0,5 to 1 meter by the end of the century.

Year: 2013

Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Ice sheet stabilization by draining water or bed freezing

It has been suggested that ice sheets could be stabilized by reducing the lubrication effect of water below the ice sheet.

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Glacier in Southern Greenland

The loss of ice in Greenland and the shrinking of glaciers in other parts of the Arctic currently contribute up to 40% of the average 3 mm global sea level rise per year. A number of studies suggest that Greenland could be a major contributor to a potential rise in sea levels of 0,5 to 1 meter by the end of the century.

Year: 2013

Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Increasing glacier thickness by local artificial snow production

There is a suggestion to use localized surface technologies to create artificial snow cover on mountain glaciers Oerlemans et al. (2017).

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Glacier mouth, Svalbard

Glaciers cover around 59% of Svalbard, which is made up of four islands, Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edgerøya and Barentsrøya. Many of the glaciers in this area are known to surge, meaning that for 100 years they can remain still and silent, only to suddenly and violently move, advancing from the upper area of the glacier towards the mouth.

Year: 2015

Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Increasing humidity around glaciers and ice sheets

Engineer Paul Klinkman has suggested increasing the water content around glaciers and ice sheets to increase precipitation over them (see Klinkman Solar Design, U2).

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