Excited to head into the field tomorrow for the final season of our MAGICaL project investigating Greenlandic ice-marginal lake temperatures. Expecting lots of ice melt based on the terrifying amount of water flowing through Kangerlussuaq at the minute...

Researchers led by @uoyenvironment.bsky.social and @sheffielduni.bsky.social have produced the first Antarctic-wide, high-resolution monthly dataset of surface meltwater using satellite images 🧊 💧

Open access article with data availability links in @natclimate.nature.com
doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🔓 📃

I chatted to the amazing @drgilbz.bsky.social about our new paper (which Ella is also a co-author on!), which suggests that East Antarctica is becoming more prone to surface meltwater ponding. Check out the video below!

Many thanks to @jamesmlea.bsky.social, @drgilbz.bsky.social and all my other co-authors for their continued help with this work, which has been a long time in the making! @uoyenvironment.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @envleeds.bsky.social @livunigeog.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk

Our research raises questions about the future behaviour of East Antarctica, because surface meltwater is predicted to become increasingly important for Antarctic mass-loss as atmospheric temperatures rise. An excellent comment piece by Alexandra Boghosian discussing this can be viewed here:

We also find clear correlations between surface meltwater ponding and large-scale modes of climate variability, including links with the Southern Annular Mode in East Antarctica and the Amundsen Sea Low on the Antarctic Peninsula.

This increase in surface meltwater area in East Antarctica, without a corresponding increase in snow melt, indicates a potential shift in the ice sheet's surface properties, making it more prone to retaining meltwater in surface ponds.

In East Antarctica, we find that there has been a significant increase in the amount of surface meltwater ponding in recent years, with more variability from one year to the next.

We used Google Earth Engine to map surface meltwater at monthly intervals across the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet between 2006 – 2021 (totalling over 130,000 Landsat 8 images).

I’m delighted to share that our new paper is now out in @natclimate.nature.com! Our long-term, monthly Antarctic-wide dataset of surface meltwater shows that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is becoming increasingly prone to surface meltwater ponding.

Ice-marginal lakes across #Greenland- why do they matter?! 🇬🇱🧊 🌊

Our article in Geography introduces the importance of these chilly lakes and their impact on ice sheet change.

Read on for an IML crash-course plus some cool classroom tips ❄️💻✏️

@joemallalieu.bsky.social

shorturl.at/Z4jUh

Thought I'd join the migration over this way... To add a bit of colour to my currently blank profile, here's a couple of pictures from two highly enjoyable and productive field seasons to west Greenland this year, studying ice-marginal lake temperatures and ice dynamic effects.