paintings, writing, and explorations in sound
Looking beyond Dawson again - way beyond - two groups of scientists viewing the sky from Hawaii have discovered a thin layer of ice around asteroid 24 Themis. The separate research teams have measured proof of the ice, and of organic matter, using the NASA Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea. 24 Themis, about 120 miles… Continue reading and hawaii reveals: asteroid ice
"Iceland! you're going buckwild!!!!" (comment on Iceland's Facebook page, Apr 15/10) You might think that an ice-cap and its attendant glaciers would weigh enough to keep a few rocks in place. But no, basalt at 1200C (see below) can do just about anything it wants to when it's forced upwards by volcanic explosion, as the… Continue reading eyjafjallajökull: boiling basalt meets ice, enemies, friends
When I was a kid, I thought aurora borealis were extra special, super-high-in-the-stratosphere ribbons of ice reflecting wild lights from outer space. Now I know better, but no matter how much we learn scientifically about the Northern Lights - no matter how measurable they are, or they may become mappable - when I see the… Continue reading no ice in the aurora, but peter mettler’s near
if you'll excuse my constant return to the north-north (further north than Dawson City) as a subject of conversation, here's another ice image from Tuktoyaktuk ... I'm still dream-thinking about the wonders we saw in December there. this ghost head must have come from the north pole, as there are no topographies in place to… Continue reading ghost head from the north pole
It isn't often that bears and icicles get to hang out together; usually bears are in hibernation mode when icicles like to grow. But a unique set of circumstances in northern Yukon sees grizzlies fishing in warm(ish) water each fall when the air is below zero, creating body icicles like the ones pictured here. You… Continue reading Yukon grizzlies: handsome icicle beards
About 10% of the world's fresh water is stored in the Greeland ice sheet: a cap of freshwater ice that covers more than 50,000 km² of inland Greenland's landmass. If the Greenland ice sheet melts completely, predictions are that the release of that 10% of water will raise our planet's sea level about 7 metres.… Continue reading Greenland ice sheet: sensitive + melting fast
(February 2010 update: Arctica is now set to launch on Friday, February 12, online and in a little studio in Whitehorse too, if you're nearby) Just before I moved to Dawson in April, a writer friend in Vancouver e-introduced me to an editor/writer in Whitehorse who was putting together an editorial team to plan an… Continue reading Arctica: circumpolar online mag seeks subs
The Ice Cubicle is delighted to report that WIRED magazine published a whole set of gorgeous NASA photos of glaciers online this week (Monday Sept. 21). Stunning Views of Glaciers From Space is a visually incredible, helpfully annotated batch of images. Dates ranging from 2001 (a false-color photo of the Erebus Ice Tongue in Antarctica,… Continue reading NASA on glaciers
Much of the Antarctic Ocean carries surface ice all the time, in the form of icebergs, pancake ice and other dynamic sea ice systems. Creatures survive the superchilled temperatures in different ways - fur, feathers and fat come to mind when you think of seals and penguins inhabiting that polar landscape. Another survival adaptation found… Continue reading antifreeze fish + ice stories site
Where there's ice, there's hope of human survival – or so goes the thinking around exploration of our planet's solo moon. The question of moon living was revitalized last week when two satellites recently passed by the Erlanger Crater, at the moon's north pole, to radar-probe for evidence of ice. I wonder what we would… Continue reading Erlanger Crater: ice on the moon?
meg walker 