And so the time has come to farewell our curator for the past week, Dr. Santiago de la Peña of the Byrd Polar Research Center in Columbus, Ohio. Over the last week, Santiago has taken us to Greenland and Iceland and given us a handy crash course in glaciers, dynamic thinning, melt (and the alarming rate at which it is increasing), as well as the not insignificant changes to sea ice volumes and cover over the years as a result of climate change. As Santiago points out, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal”.
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia
— realscientists (@realscientists) May 9, 2014
As the atmosphere and oceans become warmer, the amounts of snow and ice in these diminish, leading to a rise in sea levels.
Very sobering thoughts indeed, and while these are all important and interesting topics to be sure, did you know that unlike beer, single malt whisky will not, in fact, freeze on a glacier?
Guys, this is a very useful thing to know.
Beer freezes on a glacier … but single-malt? that can withstand -40C. Here is the proof. @juliemoses pic.twitter.com/RfLHVpSD8I
— realscientists (@realscientists) May 5, 2014
And it seems our followers agree!
You guys have no shame! The most popular tweet so far turns out to be the one about whisky. #NotSurprised
— realscientists (@realscientists) May 5, 2014
We also discovered that while the glaciologist’s life is not all glamour and glitz (digging snow pits and cursing at computers, anyone?), there are still some perks to be enjoyed. Namely, this view:
Breiðamerkurjökull is an excellent place to constrain effects of tides, salinity, and water temperature in glacier pic.twitter.com/eeBbJmpCfZ — realscientists (@realscientists) May 11, 2014
And maybe this one, too:
View of the Ilulissat Icefjord. pic.twitter.com/MYT4zbwjsV — realscientists (@realscientists) May 9, 2014
How about this one?
Breiðamerkurjökull terminus forms a lake connected through a mouth to the Ocean. The results are breathtaking. pic.twitter.com/E53o4boSwC
— realscientists (@realscientists) May 11, 2014
You can see more photos – and catch up on Santiago’s tweets – via Storify. Thank you for participating, Santiago! And folks, be sure to follow him on Twitter at @ice_santiago.
