Tag Archives: ice sheet

Thwaites Glacier won’t collapse like dominoes as feared, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is stable

The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica has earned the nickname “Doomsday Glacier” because of its potential to inundate coastlines around the world if it collapses. It contributes about 4% of annual sea level rise as it loses ice, and one theory is that the glacier could soon begin to collapse into the ocean like a line… Read More »

Ancient poppy seeds and willow tree offer clues to recent melting of Greenland ice sheet and glimpse of warmer future

When we first focused our microscope on the soil sample, bits of organic matter appeared: a tiny poppy seed, an insect’s compound eye, broken willow twigs, and spike moss spores. Dark spheres produced by soil fungi dominated our field of vision. These were undoubtedly the remains of an arctic tundra ecosystem, and evidence that Greenland’s… Read More »