Ruth Mottram
@ruthmottram.bsky.social
14K followers 5.7K following 1.8K posts
Climate scientist at DMI, Greenland, Antarctica, polar regions in general. Dipping a toe in yet another social media site. Mostly on mastodon though @[email protected] Blogging at sternaparadisaea.net
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ruthmottram.bsky.social
In case you were wondering why we're doing glaciology fieldwork in NW Greenland this year, here is (part of) the answer...
It's all to do with an early break up of sea ice.

❄️🧪🥼⚒️⛏️
Animated gif showing series of satellite images from early March to mid-May this year, the sea ice (white) gradually and then abruptly fractures and retreats.
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
ianrosewrites.bsky.social
ARCUS was important. It jumpstarted careers in science. It amplified voices that have too long been left out of research. It did all that and more for very little money, and now it's gone, arguably when we need it most.

My latest for Sierra:
#science #arctic

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/end-e...
The End of an Era for Arctic Research
The loss of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States leaves an uncertain future for science in the Far North
www.sierraclub.org
ruthmottram.bsky.social
Siphonophores were yet another creature I first learnt about watching octonauts with my kids.
Public service broadcasting at its best.
mbarinews.bsky.social
In our newest edition of deep-sea animals that can dance better than you, we present the siphonophore samba by Apolemia rubriversa.💃⁠

Siphonophores (pronounced “sigh-fawn-oh-fours”) are colonial creatures made up of specialized segments that work together as one.
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
mbarinews.bsky.social
In our newest edition of deep-sea animals that can dance better than you, we present the siphonophore samba by Apolemia rubriversa.💃⁠

Siphonophores (pronounced “sigh-fawn-oh-fours”) are colonial creatures made up of specialized segments that work together as one.
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
handansken.bsky.social
Torsdag er "norske-skakbrikker-fra-middelalderen-fundet-i-Skotland"-dag.
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
egu.eu
📰 #Antarctic Sea ice is emerging as a key predictor of accelerated ocean warming.
A groundbreaking #study published in the #EGU journal Earth System Dynamics reveals a critical underestimated link between Antarctic sea ice, cloud cover, and global warming.
🧵Read the full study here: egu.eu/4E9ZU2
Image description: An icy waters and a clear sky. Text reads: 'Press release
Antarctic Sea ice emerges as key predictor of accelerated ocean warming A groundbreaking study published today in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) journal Earth System Dynamics provides a critical and previously underestimated connection between Antarctic sea ice, cloud cover, and global warming
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
metoffice.gov.uk
Our marine observations are vital for weather, climate, and research.

Now, ocean robots like Oshen’s C-Stars can independently sail for months, boosting ocean data alongside satellites and buoys.

See how the Met Office supports this innovation 👇
Are ocean robots the next big thing for climate monitoring?
With climate data more important than ever, is there a way to maximise marine data collection, gathering even more information from all oceans?
www.metoffice.gov.uk
ruthmottram.bsky.social
The @royalsociety.org is indeed looking extremely foolish and out of step with most scientists (not to mention most of the UK population).
cyrilpedia.bsky.social
"Risks"?

'(...) an open letter alleging Musk had breached the society’s code of conduct attracted thousands of signatures — but no action resulted. Two fellows have resigned. The Royal Society risks looking like a bystander as reason & rationality come under sustained global assault from populism'
The Royal Society should be protecting science, not Musk
The esteemed club risks becoming a bystander as reason and rationality come under attack
www.ft.com
ruthmottram.bsky.social
I have incidentally made a start pack of DMI employees on Blue sky, but there aren't many people in it yet, I've almost certainly missed some (also projects we're working on!), so give a shout if you should be added..

go.bsky.app/5yrAXYZ
ruthmottram.bsky.social
Welcome to blue sky to my @dmidk.bsky.social colleague and @precise-project.bsky.social collaborator (and coauthor on this 👇), @nicolajhansen.bsky.social
natgeosci.nature.com
⚒️ Comment: The Greenlandification of Antarctica

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
watershedlab.bsky.social
New early view paper "Mapping glacierized regions with quad-pol dual frequency LS-ASAR: insights for the NISAR mission" in IEEE JSTARS journal by Das et al. 🧪⚒️❄️🛰️ ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp....
IEEE Xplore Full-Text PDF:
ieeexplore.ieee.org
ruthmottram.bsky.social
Welcome to blue sky to my @dmidk.bsky.social colleague and @precise-project.bsky.social collaborator (and coauthor on this 👇), @nicolajhansen.bsky.social
natgeosci.nature.com
⚒️ Comment: The Greenlandification of Antarctica

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Antarctica surrounded by time-series comparing the temporal evolution of parameters of Greenland and Antarctica
ruthmottram.bsky.social
Have been on this bus an hour since leaving Manchester airport. It's still in Manchester. It's supposed to be an *express* bus to Leeds. According to the timetable it's faster (and certainly cheaper) than the train.
Beginning to have some serious doubts about public transport in UK.
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
cyrilpedia.bsky.social
'In many ways, Meta and OpenAI’s new platforms (AI-generated content is already rife on TikTok and YouTube) are a fitting endpoint for social media’s warped evolution from a place where people swapped updates with friends and family, to one with less and less human-to-human interaction.'
Have we passed peak social media?
As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away
www.ft.com
ruthmottram.bsky.social
My Great Grandfather was born the year before the Wright Brothers first flight, drive the first tractor in South Lincolnshire and I watched the news of the Challenger shuttle explosion with him in 1986.

There's a reason we call the 20th century the Great Acceleration
raxkingisdead.bsky.social
you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
spavel.bsky.social
Flying cars are the perfect example of a point solution: trying to solve a systemic problem (traffic) with an individual product (fly over the traffic).

But traffic is not a technology problem; it's a social problem. Remote work, congestion fees, and dense transit-connected housing solve it better.
aelkus.bsky.social
which then begs the question of why you want flying cars instead of whatever mass transportation equivalent you imagine
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
ruthmottram.bsky.social
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapour that bring very intense rain or snowfall over a short period. Pineapple express in California is probably best known feature - but they occur everywhere.

Because they can carry so much snow, they offset the loss of ice by other processes
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
copernicusecmwf.bsky.social
👀 Coming soon: CARRA2 with full Arctic coverage with new features!
Reposted by Ruth Mottram
troelschristensen.bsky.social
A high-res image taken from space on 2 October 2025 shows the ice tongue of #Thwaites #glacier and the newly calved ice fragments drifting nearby.

#Antarctica 🇦🇶 #CopernicusClimate

📸 by European Union, @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social Sentinel-1 🛰️ image 🔗 www.copernicus.eu/en/media/ima...
Spanning approximately 120 kilometres in width, Thwaites is one of the widest glaciers both in Antarctica and globally. The glacier flows into the Amundsen Sea and produces smaller calving events and occasional large tabular iceberg detachment from its ice tongue.

Scientists are particularly concerned about Thwaites because it is melting at an accelerating rate due to warming ocean waters beneath it, which weakens the ice from below and leads to iceberg calving processes. Current research shows the glacier loses approximately 50 billion tons of ice annually and contributes about 4% to global sea level rise. If Thwaites were to collapse entirely, it could raise global sea levels by 65 centimetres, with potential for even greater rises if it destabilises surrounding West Antarctic ice.

This Copernicus Sentinel-1 image, acquired on 2 October 2025, reveals the ice tongue of Thwaites Glacier, along with newly calved ice fragments drifting nearby.

The expansion of Copernicus Sentinel-1 with Sentinel-1D will support the mission in continuing to deliver key data for tracking glacier dynamics and calving events in remote areas. Today, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space announced that the Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite will lift off onboard an Ariane 6 launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 4 November 2025.
ruthmottram.bsky.social
It's a good question - and one we try to answer in the paper...
ruthmottram.bsky.social
🚨 New @oceaniceeu.bsky.social preprint🚨 why has Antarctica stopped (net) losing mass, in spite of increased discharge?
Declining sea ice is part of the answer but increasingly heavy and frequent atmospheric rivers are most important factor.

Lots of important subtleties:
arxiv.org/abs/2510.03590
Screenshot of figures from the paper: Above a graph showing wiggly lines depicting the cumulative mass budget of Antarctica: a dark line swoops and wiggles downwards before stabilising at the end, colourful dashed lines (depicting snow fall) wiggle along constantly before sloping upwards at the same tme stabilisation occurs. 
Below 6 maps of Antarctica in blues and red depicting the mass change in different basins.