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Mountain ecosystems under threat : scientists warn of consequences of global warming

Published on October 12, 2022

Mountain ecosystems are complex, dynamic and exceptionally fragile. We are only beginning to understand the functional ecology of mountain ecosystems, but research already suggests that modifying communities of species will be detrimental to the environment, biodiversity and therefore an essential part of the support system for life on Earth. A new study, involving Ignacio Palomo, researcher at the institut des géosciences de l’environnement (IGE-OSUG, CNRS/UGA/IRD/Grenoble-INP-UGA), based on (...)

Passing of Jérémie Mouginot

Published on September 30, 2022

It is with sadness that we learned of the death of Jérémie Mouginot on 28 September. Jérémie joined IGE in 2017. He was a brilliant and enthusiastic colleague, and a great friend to many of us. Committed to his research and the life of the laboratory, his departure leaves a huge gap.
Jérémie defended his PhD in 2008 at the Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble on the processing and analysis of Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding data. He then joined the University of (...)

Substantial contribution of iodine to Arctic ozone destruction

Published on September 20, 2022

Iodine chemistry plays a major role in controlling tropospheric ozone over the Arctic, according to a study published in the journal Nature Geosciences, carried out during the ship-based Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition.

Snow and ice re-emissions control Arctic atmospheric mercury concentrations during summer

Published on September 06, 2022

Mercury is a toxic contaminant that impacts human, ecosystems and wildlife health globally and is a pressing concern in the Arctic due to the high concentrations found there.
However, there are very few mercury sources located in the Arctic and virtually all toxic mercury originates from outside the region. Elemental mercury (Hg0) is relatively inert (chemically inactive) and long lived and is found in air and the ocean that can be transported long distances, which can take days, months or (...)

“Climate Change for kids” article collection

Published on August 31, 2022

A large effort of communication has been conducted around the release of the latest IPCC assessment report. One project, initiated by Chris Jones (lead author of Chapter 4 of Working Group I” about Climate Change.
This journal is aimed at children of two different age categories : 8 to 11 years and 12 to 15 years. The originality is that the articles are “peer-reviewed” by the target audience (children !) to teach them to ask critical questions. This also leads to a very quick reality check (...)

Halving of Swiss glaciers volume since 1931

Published on August 23, 2022

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Université Grenoble Alpes have reconstructed the extent of Switzerland’s 20th century glacier ice loss for the first time. For this purpose, the researchers used historical imagery and conclude that the country’s glaciers lost half their volume between 1931 and 2016.

Major glacier in northern Greenland shows dramatic signs of weakening

Published on August 08, 2022

An international collaboration of researchers from Europe and the United States have detected a dramatic retreat of a major glacier in North Greenland, long considered stable.

A novel view on the key factors controlling the long term response of the Greenland Ice-Sheet flow to surface melt water

Published on August 02, 2022

Ice flowing from the interior to the lower elevated edges of Greenland exerts a key control on how much the Ice-Sheet will lose mass as temperatures rise. The faster the ice flows, the faster it reaches the edges where it can be discharged in the ocean or melt. Predicting ice flow, however, is a challenging task. In Greenland, ice flow is mainly controlled by the sliding of ice over its underlying bedrock and the modulation of it by surface melt water supplied to the base through vertical (...)

3 PhD students present their research with infographics

Published on July 08, 2022

3 PhD students have followed a 10-hours training in scientific communication. Here are their productions.

Historic Greenland ice sheet rainfall unravelled

Published on June 03, 2022

For the first time ever recorded, in the late summer of 2021, rain fell on the high central region of the Greenland ice sheet. This extraordinary event was followed by the surface snow and ice melting rapidly. Researchers now understand exactly what went on in those fateful summer days and what we can learn from it.