Grant Macdonald❄️
@geogeordie.bsky.social
Studying the poles - sea ice, ice shelves, and now emperor🐧, using 🛰️ & field work❄️. Postdoc at Durham.
Formerly of UChicago, UTSA, UVic.
Formerly of UChicago, UTSA, UVic.
Me, Taylor Swift, and this old giant petrel - all born in 1989.
As it's breeding time for giant petrels on Bird Island, meet the oldest female giant petrel on the island ⬇️
She hatched there in 1989, making her an impressive 36 years old.
This season, she decided to build her nest next to the path, where the team greet her every day as they go past 🪶
She hatched there in 1989, making her an impressive 36 years old.
This season, she decided to build her nest next to the path, where the team greet her every day as they go past 🪶
November 21, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Me, Taylor Swift, and this old giant petrel - all born in 1989.
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Bad news in from South Georgia - the population of breeding female elephant seals has nearly halved following a bird flu outbreak on the sub-Antarctic island.
Here's what we know so far...
📸 Connor Bamford
Here's what we know so far...
📸 Connor Bamford
November 14, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Bad news in from South Georgia - the population of breeding female elephant seals has nearly halved following a bird flu outbreak on the sub-Antarctic island.
Here's what we know so far...
📸 Connor Bamford
Here's what we know so far...
📸 Connor Bamford
Pleased I could participate remotely in COP30 yesterday to talk about the impact of changing ice conditions on emperor penguins - at the fantastic @iccinet.bsky.social pavilion. The ICCI do great work at COP, highlighting the importance of limiting warming for the cryo: www.youtube.com/@iccinet
International Cryosphere Climate Initiative
International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) is a network of senior policy experts and researchers aiming to spread cryosphere science and preserve the cryosphere's key role in Earth's climate s...
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Pleased I could participate remotely in COP30 yesterday to talk about the impact of changing ice conditions on emperor penguins - at the fantastic @iccinet.bsky.social pavilion. The ICCI do great work at COP, highlighting the importance of limiting warming for the cryo: www.youtube.com/@iccinet
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
We really enjoyed hearing from Grant about his Space Penguins last night! Check out our forthcoming program of Monday Night Talks here: www.nhsn.org.uk/wp-content/u...
October 21, 2025 at 10:12 AM
We really enjoyed hearing from Grant about his Space Penguins last night! Check out our forthcoming program of Monday Night Talks here: www.nhsn.org.uk/wp-content/u...
Really enjoyed giving a talk on our penguin 🐧 work last night at the Natural History Society of Northumbria @nenature.bsky.social - I was the warm-up for this fantastic talk on Great Auks by Tim Birkhead
October 21, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Really enjoyed giving a talk on our penguin 🐧 work last night at the Natural History Society of Northumbria @nenature.bsky.social - I was the warm-up for this fantastic talk on Great Auks by Tim Birkhead
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
I'm leaving my day job soon, but one of the cool things about it has been helping midwife stuff like this excellent blog on the Hancock Museum condor, a bird kidnapped from Chile in the 1880s who spent the rest of her life being gawped at by Geordies and glumly trying to bite children's fingers off
Did you know that Great North Museum: Hancock once had its own live condor? Us neither, until our brilliant volunteer Julia found it in our Society Transactions: www.nhsn.org.uk/that-condor-...
That Condor Moment
NHSN library and archive volunteer Julia Black explores the life and legacy of the Hancock Museum's very own condor While preparing the Summary for one of the recently digitised NHSN Transactions, I w...
www.nhsn.org.uk
October 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
I'm leaving my day job soon, but one of the cool things about it has been helping midwife stuff like this excellent blog on the Hancock Museum condor, a bird kidnapped from Chile in the 1880s who spent the rest of her life being gawped at by Geordies and glumly trying to bite children's fingers off
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
I highly recommend this fellowship! This is what brought me to Boulder over 7 years ago, and I’m still here… ❄️ 🛰️ 🧪
The CIRES prestigious Visiting Fellows Program invites scientists to join the thriving community of researchers at @colorado.edu and @noaa.gov laboratories. Applications opened TODAY, and will be accepted through January 1, 2026. Learn more here: buff.ly/gg7HNXe
October 21, 2025 at 4:08 AM
I highly recommend this fellowship! This is what brought me to Boulder over 7 years ago, and I’m still here… ❄️ 🛰️ 🧪
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
📣 Attention: Early-career researchers from developing countries & countries in transition!
Are you interested in becoming a Chapter Scientist and supporting author teams for #IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report?
Apply by 18 Oct 2025
🔗 www.ipcc.ch/2025/10/07/c...
Are you interested in becoming a Chapter Scientist and supporting author teams for #IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report?
Apply by 18 Oct 2025
🔗 www.ipcc.ch/2025/10/07/c...
October 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
📣 Attention: Early-career researchers from developing countries & countries in transition!
Are you interested in becoming a Chapter Scientist and supporting author teams for #IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report?
Apply by 18 Oct 2025
🔗 www.ipcc.ch/2025/10/07/c...
Are you interested in becoming a Chapter Scientist and supporting author teams for #IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report?
Apply by 18 Oct 2025
🔗 www.ipcc.ch/2025/10/07/c...
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
🚨New paper 🚨@natgeosci.nature.com Greenlandification of Antarctica - comment by me + colleagues @dmidk.bsky.social @eo4cryo.bsky.social + @universityofleeds.bsky.social showing how Antarctica increasingly resembles Greenland- drawing on a mass of work from @esaclimate.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eJiqJ
rdcu.be/eJiqJ
The Greenlandification of Antarctica
Nature Geoscience - Climate and ice sheet processes in Antarctica increasingly reflect those observed earlier in Greenland. Applying process insights from Greenland can improve projections of...
rdcu.be
October 3, 2025 at 12:57 PM
🚨New paper 🚨@natgeosci.nature.com Greenlandification of Antarctica - comment by me + colleagues @dmidk.bsky.social @eo4cryo.bsky.social + @universityofleeds.bsky.social showing how Antarctica increasingly resembles Greenland- drawing on a mass of work from @esaclimate.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eJiqJ
rdcu.be/eJiqJ
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Our Center for Ice Sheet & Sea Level Predictions (cisp.dtu.dk) is looking for a post-doctoral fellow to integrate satellite observations into ice-flow simulations.
efzu.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
(deadline 24/10/2025)
Funded by @novo-nordisk.bsky.social
Based at @dtucryo.bsky.social
efzu.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
(deadline 24/10/2025)
Funded by @novo-nordisk.bsky.social
Based at @dtucryo.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Our Center for Ice Sheet & Sea Level Predictions (cisp.dtu.dk) is looking for a post-doctoral fellow to integrate satellite observations into ice-flow simulations.
efzu.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
(deadline 24/10/2025)
Funded by @novo-nordisk.bsky.social
Based at @dtucryo.bsky.social
efzu.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
(deadline 24/10/2025)
Funded by @novo-nordisk.bsky.social
Based at @dtucryo.bsky.social
Excited for @cryopolitics.com and her (first) book! Privilege to be at the launch tonight - almost exactly 13 years (😱) after meeting as @scottpolar.bsky.social mphil desk neighbours.
October 1, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Excited for @cryopolitics.com and her (first) book! Privilege to be at the launch tonight - almost exactly 13 years (😱) after meeting as @scottpolar.bsky.social mphil desk neighbours.
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
NEW – Antarctic sea ice winter peak in 2025 is third smallest on record | @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org Svetlana Onye w/ comment from @zacklabe.com
Read here: buff.ly/TBQ7aL8
Read here: buff.ly/TBQ7aL8
October 1, 2025 at 3:40 PM
NEW – Antarctic sea ice winter peak in 2025 is third smallest on record | @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org Svetlana Onye w/ comment from @zacklabe.com
Read here: buff.ly/TBQ7aL8
Read here: buff.ly/TBQ7aL8
A great couple of days at this Royal Society event on Antarctica.
-Antarctica keeps surprising us
-We impact Antarctica and Antarctica impacts us
-Some changes are already underway but we still have a lot of agency, every .1 of a degree matters!
-Antarctica keeps surprising us
-We impact Antarctica and Antarctica impacts us
-Some changes are already underway but we still have a lot of agency, every .1 of a degree matters!
October 1, 2025 at 1:32 PM
A great couple of days at this Royal Society event on Antarctica.
-Antarctica keeps surprising us
-We impact Antarctica and Antarctica impacts us
-Some changes are already underway but we still have a lot of agency, every .1 of a degree matters!
-Antarctica keeps surprising us
-We impact Antarctica and Antarctica impacts us
-Some changes are already underway but we still have a lot of agency, every .1 of a degree matters!
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Polar scientists meeting at @royalsociety.org
in London this week are issuing a stark warning: dramatic and extreme changes in Antarctica are happening faster than expected, with consequences that will affect everyone on the planet.
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/a...
in London this week are issuing a stark warning: dramatic and extreme changes in Antarctica are happening faster than expected, with consequences that will affect everyone on the planet.
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/a...
September 29, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Polar scientists meeting at @royalsociety.org
in London this week are issuing a stark warning: dramatic and extreme changes in Antarctica are happening faster than expected, with consequences that will affect everyone on the planet.
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/a...
in London this week are issuing a stark warning: dramatic and extreme changes in Antarctica are happening faster than expected, with consequences that will affect everyone on the planet.
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/a...
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Our book, 'The Penguin book of penguins' will be in all good bookshops as of tomorrow! We have signed some copies for Toppings and Co in Ely, Cambridge.
We are having a book launch at London zoo on Sept 28. Come and find us in the Garden room, anytime between 12 noon and 3.30pm. No need to book!
We are having a book launch at London zoo on Sept 28. Come and find us in the Garden room, anytime between 12 noon and 3.30pm. No need to book!
September 17, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Our book, 'The Penguin book of penguins' will be in all good bookshops as of tomorrow! We have signed some copies for Toppings and Co in Ely, Cambridge.
We are having a book launch at London zoo on Sept 28. Come and find us in the Garden room, anytime between 12 noon and 3.30pm. No need to book!
We are having a book launch at London zoo on Sept 28. Come and find us in the Garden room, anytime between 12 noon and 3.30pm. No need to book!
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Wow I've been off Bluesky for so long I forgot about the emojis
If you're interested in a PhD about tracking Antarctic wildlife, consider joining my group... And, spread the word!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
If you're interested in a PhD about tracking Antarctic wildlife, consider joining my group... And, spread the word!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
Join Mia Wege and me to study niche partitioning among three Antarctic mesopredators!
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email [email protected] if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email [email protected] if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
September 15, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Wow I've been off Bluesky for so long I forgot about the emojis
If you're interested in a PhD about tracking Antarctic wildlife, consider joining my group... And, spread the word!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
If you're interested in a PhD about tracking Antarctic wildlife, consider joining my group... And, spread the word!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Average sea ice thickness across the #Arctic Ocean dropped to a record low for the month of August. Current conditions show higher extent, but very thin ice to end the summer warm season.
More at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i.... Data simulated by PIOMAS.
More at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i.... Data simulated by PIOMAS.
September 11, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Average sea ice thickness across the #Arctic Ocean dropped to a record low for the month of August. Current conditions show higher extent, but very thin ice to end the summer warm season.
More at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i.... Data simulated by PIOMAS.
More at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i.... Data simulated by PIOMAS.
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Guest post: Why the recent slowdown in Arctic sea ice loss is only temporary www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...
Guest post: Why the recent slowdown in Arctic sea ice loss is only temporary - Carbon Brief
Observations reveal that Arctic sea ice extent at the end of summer has halved, since satellite records began in the late 1970s.
www.carbonbrief.org
August 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Guest post: Why the recent slowdown in Arctic sea ice loss is only temporary www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...
When I was being advised by Ali in Chicago, I'd never have imagined we'd both end up both living and working in the north east.
Look forward to you moving to the toon!
Look forward to you moving to the toon!
I’m excited to share that I’ve accepted a position as Professor of Glaciology @cpom-uk.bsky.social, @northumbriauni.bsky.social in the UK! I’ll be starting part-time next month and increasing my time from summer 2026, while retaining a part-time position at @cires.colorado.edu, @colorado.edu ❄️🛰️🧪
August 12, 2025 at 1:33 PM
When I was being advised by Ali in Chicago, I'd never have imagined we'd both end up both living and working in the north east.
Look forward to you moving to the toon!
Look forward to you moving to the toon!
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Come and join BAS, working with both MAGIC and the Wildlife from Space Team!
We are looking for an expert in ecological remote sensing with experience of spectral analysis to support our Darwin Plus South Georgia Seabird project. 🐦🦤
bas.ciphr-irecruit.com/applicants/v...
We are looking for an expert in ecological remote sensing with experience of spectral analysis to support our Darwin Plus South Georgia Seabird project. 🐦🦤
bas.ciphr-irecruit.com/applicants/v...
July 31, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Come and join BAS, working with both MAGIC and the Wildlife from Space Team!
We are looking for an expert in ecological remote sensing with experience of spectral analysis to support our Darwin Plus South Georgia Seabird project. 🐦🦤
bas.ciphr-irecruit.com/applicants/v...
We are looking for an expert in ecological remote sensing with experience of spectral analysis to support our Darwin Plus South Georgia Seabird project. 🐦🦤
bas.ciphr-irecruit.com/applicants/v...
I was an ICCI early career volunteer at COP28 in Dubai and I highly recommend the experience.
Are you an ECR working in some kind of cryosphere-related field? Are you interested in learning about international climate diplomacy and the COP process? Do you want to go to COP30 in Brazil in November? If yes, apply to volunteer with ICCI: iccinet.org/cop30-cryosp... It's an experience!
August 1, 2025 at 9:42 AM
I was an ICCI early career volunteer at COP28 in Dubai and I highly recommend the experience.
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
My latest: Polar scientists warn that the White House and NSF are planning to terminate the Nathaniel Palmer, the only US research icebreaker capable of handling Antarctic extremes, this October.
So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.
So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.
NSF plans abrupt end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker
Imminent termination of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer shocks polar scientists
www.science.org
July 28, 2025 at 8:23 PM
My latest: Polar scientists warn that the White House and NSF are planning to terminate the Nathaniel Palmer, the only US research icebreaker capable of handling Antarctic extremes, this October.
So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.
So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
July 25, 2025 at 7:50 PM
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
#Antarctic sea ice is:
⚙️ a global climate engine
☂️ a cooling sunshade
🌀 a pumphouse for currents
🧊 a vast verandah for life
♻️ one of the largest seasonal cycles on Earth
🌬️ highly sensitive to climate variability
🌊 What happens when there's less sea ice?
aapp.shorthandstories.com/a-world-with...
⚙️ a global climate engine
☂️ a cooling sunshade
🌀 a pumphouse for currents
🧊 a vast verandah for life
♻️ one of the largest seasonal cycles on Earth
🌬️ highly sensitive to climate variability
🌊 What happens when there's less sea ice?
aapp.shorthandstories.com/a-world-with...
July 22, 2025 at 5:32 AM
#Antarctic sea ice is:
⚙️ a global climate engine
☂️ a cooling sunshade
🌀 a pumphouse for currents
🧊 a vast verandah for life
♻️ one of the largest seasonal cycles on Earth
🌬️ highly sensitive to climate variability
🌊 What happens when there's less sea ice?
aapp.shorthandstories.com/a-world-with...
⚙️ a global climate engine
☂️ a cooling sunshade
🌀 a pumphouse for currents
🧊 a vast verandah for life
♻️ one of the largest seasonal cycles on Earth
🌬️ highly sensitive to climate variability
🌊 What happens when there's less sea ice?
aapp.shorthandstories.com/a-world-with...
Reposted by Grant Macdonald❄️
Extreme Greenland melting event right now: thawing over 80% of the surface. Seen before only once in the record melt summer 2012.
See more at @polarportal.bsky.social!
See more at @polarportal.bsky.social!
July 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Extreme Greenland melting event right now: thawing over 80% of the surface. Seen before only once in the record melt summer 2012.
See more at @polarportal.bsky.social!
See more at @polarportal.bsky.social!