Begin to see the World’s Only Lab inside a Glacier

In Arctic Norway, world’s first laboratory inside a glacier. Above the Arctic Circle, and below 700 feet of ice, scientists are working in the world’s only laboratory that is situated underneath a glacier.

Above the Arctic Circle, and below 700 feet of ice, scientists are working in the world’s only laboratory that is situated underneath a glacier, at the Svartisen glacier in northern Norway. These researchers are gathering some of the best glacial data that has ever been compiled, Discovery News reports. The lab is run by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, and researchers are carrying out experiments on glacier movement and drainage, as well as how the melt water impacts rising sea levels. While the first tunnel was initially created for a hydropower company, researchers were able to convince them to dig another small tunnel for research. They have since created additional tunnels for the lab, too. The tunnels are created in a unique way: Instead of drilling a borehole through the ice to access the base of the glacier, researchers melt 30 – 40 foot long tunnels using hot water. It’s a process that is far easier to coordinate, and researchers aren’t hindered by the cracks in the ice drilling causes.

Video advice: From glacier to laboratory: the tale of a mummified chamois

A chance discovery of a 400 year-old chamois mummy paves the way for scientific research. Encountered by Hermann Oberlechner whilst hiking in Val Aurina, the animal remains will provide scientists with an ideal simulant for the study of safeguarding ancient DNA as well as preservation techniques that can be applied to ice mummies such as Ötzi worldwide.

Beneath A Glacier’s White, Researchers See Green

Underneath a receding glacier in the Canadian Arctic, researchers found something surprising: a kind of plant related to moss that was not only still green, but also growing.

In the news business, an evergreen is a story that doesn’t have to run on a particular day, but can stay fresh for a long time. This is an evergreen story about an evergreen. In particular, a group of plants called bryophytes. Turns out they may be evergreen quite a bit longer than most people thought. The most famous bryophyte of them all is moss. “After a hundred years, a moss may look perfectly natural and even retain its green color,” says Jonathan Shaw, a scientist at the bryology lab at Duke University. But a hundred years is nothing compared with the bryophytes Catherine La Farge and her colleagues found on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. The Teardrop Glacier on Ellesmere Island has been receding rather rapidly recently. “We were aware that there was vegetation coming out from underneath the glacier,” La Farge says. “But we had no idea that there was such a diversity of bryophytes that were coming out from underneath the glacier.

Meet the ice worm, which lives in glaciers—a scientific ‘paradox’

Glacier ice worms thrive at freezing temperatures and exhibit other mysterious traits that make them an urgent subject of research—since their habitat is disappearing.

AnimalsNewsGlacier ice worms thrive at freezing temperatures and exhibit other mysterious traits that make them an urgent subject of research—since their habitat is disappearing. At first glance, a glacier looks like a rather lifeless thing—a barren chunk of ice. But there’s much more than meets the eye: Glaciers are home to a host of tiny organisms that make up a flourishing frigid ecosystem. Most prominent among these in western North America are ice worms. Measuring about a half-inch in length and thin as threads of dental floss, ice worms (Mesenchytraeus solifugus) dot glaciers throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska. Vast numbers of the tiny black worms emerge on summer afternoons and evenings to feed on algae, microbes, and other detritus on the surface. Then they burrow back into the ice at dawn—and during the winter, disappear into the frozen depths. These distant relatives of earthworms survive in layers of ice-cold water within the snow and ice, thriving at water’s freezing point.

Science in Ice: Lab Operates Inside a Glacier

Inside the world’s only lab inside a glacier, researchers delve deep into the mysteries of ice and how melting glaciers could impact sea level rise.

Video advice: How Do Glaciers Move? TIMELAPSE!

A timelapse allows us to see glaciers move and understand how their movement works.

Nearly 700 feet (more than 200 meters) under the Svartisen glacier in northern Norway, researchers are huddled together underground. In the world’s only lab located inside one of these giant hunks of ice, they are carrying out some of the best experiments on the movement and composition of glaciers ever done. The lab, operated by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, is located above the Arctic Circle. It started out as a tunnel for hydropower, but then researchers persuaded the hydropower company to dig out one small extra tunnel just for them and created a valuable in-site lab. Normally to get access to the base of a glacier, it is necessary to drill a borehole through the ice. Doing so involves a huge logistics operation and also means that researchers can work only where the surface ice isn’t too badly cracked. Using the new lab, researchers can visit exactly the same location at the glacier bed each time — and it’s much easier for them to get access to the base. But the in-site lab comes with its own set of challenges.

Melting ice reveals first world war relics in Italian Alps

Accelerating retreat of glaciers in Lombardy and Trentino Alto-Aldige reveals preserved history of ‘White War’

The soldiers dug the wooden barracks into a cave on the top of Mount Scorluzzo, a 3,095-metre (10,154ft) peak overlooking the Stelvio pass. For the next three-and-a-half years, the cramped, humid space was home to about 20 men from the Austro-Hungarian army as they fought against Italian troops in what became known as the White War, a battle waged across treacherous and bitterly cold Alpine terrain during the first world war. Fought mainly in the Alps of the Lombardy region of Italy and the Dolomites in Trentino Alto-Adige, the White War was a period of history frozen in time until the 1990s, when global warming started to reveal an assortment of perfectly preserved relics – weapons, sledges, letters, diaries and, as the retreat of glaciers hastened, the bodies of soldiers. The presence of the barracks on Scorluzzo’s summit was known for some time, but it was only in 2015, when the ice that had sealed it off for almost 100 years melted completely, that researchers were able to enter. The shelter had been hastily locked up when the war ended in November 1918, with the soldiers abandoning most of their belongings.

World’s most claustrophobic lab – Two hundred metres below a Norwegian glacier, researchers take samples while the laboratory melts slowly over their heads.

To access the base of the glacier, researchers must use fire hoses with hot water to melt an opening in the ice. Scientists then have a tunnel that is about 2 m high in which to work. However, after the tunnel has been melted out researchers must act quickly because it shrinks to half its size each day.

Welcome to VR Glaciers and Glaciated Landscapes

This website allows you to explore glaciers and glaciated landscapes using virtual field trips. High quality, 360 degree interactive panoramas (panospheres) allow you to look all around and zoom in on features of interest – a bit like Google Streetview ©.

youtu. be/M_r6lh-RZW8? t=14 In September I gave a presentation at the 10th Annual Showcase for the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning project, expertly hosted by the University of Chester. You can watch a recording of my talk above. Perhaps more usefully, the following link takes you to a YouTube playlist where you can watch any or all of the.

• Dr Des McDougall
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• © VR Glaciers and Glaciated Landscapes by Derek McDougall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License.
• Last updated: August 2022

Arolla Valley, Switzerland: Virtual Field Trip

Our virtual field trips allow you to explore the fascinating and often spectacular world of glaciers and glaciated landscapes. Look all around and zoom-in on features of interest – rather like Google Streetview © – and see how the landscape changes from one location to the next. Sure, there is no substitute for real fieldwork, but this is not always possible. Through its virtual fieldwork, VR Glaciers and Glaciated Landscapes supports class- and lab-based teaching. It can also be used by anyone wishing to explore these environments for themselves. This site complements rather than replaces existing resources. So if you want to learn all about glacial processes, landforms and landscapes, start by having a look at some of the excellent websites, textbooks and journal articles out there (see Resources section for some recommendations). Thank-you for visiting, and I hope you find the resources on this website useful. This is a work in progress, and feedback and suggestions for improvements are welcome.

First Look at the Global Glacier Landscape

Provided by a Mashup of Glacier Inventories.

The world’s glaciers are grouped into 19 regions. Researchers have performed many regional studies of glaciers; however, global studies are scarce. Therefore, I am doing a global assessment of glaciers and glacial retreat to further our knowledge of these important natural resources on a worldwide scale.

Contributions to the Global Understanding of Glaciers

It’s important to study glaciers because not only are glaciers a beautiful part of our landscape that are disappearing but in many parts of the world glaciers are a source of freshwater and energy through the use of the melt water. As these glaciers retreat, these nations will be out of water or need to find alternative forms of energy. Studying glaciers helps to inform our knowledge of climate change and helps water and energy resource managers plan for the future.