Category Archives: TIDEx

Today we started re-measuring ice thickness at the locations we have already surveyed. We are looking for changes because of the melting from the bottom of the glacier. While melting sometimes occurs at the surface, floating Antarctic glaciers mostly melt … Continue reading →

Understanding behaviour of the Antarctic Ice Sheet allows us to better estimate the rate of sea level rise. Current global sea level is rising 3-4mm annually and is set to increase by the end of the century. This increases the … Continue reading →

Today we were working up stream of the grounding line. From here we could overlook the Darwin Glacier and enjoy the views of this remote part of our planet. This spectacular scenery reminded us about the privilege of conducting research … Continue reading →

This is our fourth week in Antarctica and we start to miss certain things. Oli dreams about sitting on the green grass under a willow tree and misses a lamp chop (with mint sauce). Dana is looking forward to the … Continue reading →

Within the last two weeks temperatures have been around -10 to -15 decrees Celsius during daytime, although we experience 24 hours of sunlight each day. We even have to wear sun cream at night. By the summer solstice, on the … Continue reading →

While driving around with our skidoos we came across a line of boulders today. The Darwin glacier looked like a giant frozen river from the satellite. Similar to liquid water in rivers, glacier ice is flowing down the slope driven … Continue reading →

Its spring tide on the Darwin glacier and this marks the half of our stay on the ice. Today the difference between low and high tide is 1.2m and the processes that we are interested in are most pronounced. While … Continue reading →

Around our camp area, the surface of the glacier consists of bare ice. Precipitation events are rare and strong glacial winds blow away every single snow flake out onto the Ross Ice Shelf. Within the past week, we have experienced … Continue reading →

PHEW, we just come back after the second 12 hour shift of ice thickness measurements. Why is this marathon really necessary? The tip of an ice berg shows only 10% of its entire thickness. This means that an ice berg … Continue reading →

The first person who gets up in the morning is making breakfast for the group. This means basically you crush ice and snow with a shovel to melt it in a big pot. As the others wake up hot water … Continue reading →