Beyond the Ice

This is your glaciology briefing! The race is on to understand the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, the world's widest glacier which is retreating and changing rapidly. As warming changes this icy place, communities and governments around the world need the best possible answer to the sea level rise question: how much and how fast?
Glaciologists Meghan Sharp and Professor Sridhar Anandakrishnan, and oceanographer Dr Pete Davis talk about their epic field work to study Thwaites Glacier, and explain the key mechanics that are shaping its future.
This podcast was recorded in the middle of the final science conference for the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, when findings were being shared and new models were being hashed out. By the end of the week, the community shared their latest model predictions: that the melting of Thwaites will accelerate through the 21st and 22nd centuries, leading to the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the 23rd century. Crucially, they also shared that emissions levels make an actual difference to the timeline of melting.
---
Ticket to Antarctica!
Want to send your name to Antarctica? Add your name to our time capsule travelling on the RRS Sir David Attenborough from the UK to Rothera Research Station. When you sign up, you'll get a personalised digital ticket, and receive weekly updates from the adventure with stories, videos and interviews.
Sign up at: https://tickettoantarctica.co.uk
---
Beyond the Ice helps you unpack the latest news in climate science with the experts at British Antarctic Survey. Our planet is changing at a rate and scale unlike anything seen in human history - and Earth's frozen places are the front line. After all, what happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica.
Beyond the Ice is also available as a LinkedIn Newsletter. Subscribe here:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/beyond-the-ice-7114973466654560256/
Beyond the Ice is edited and presented by Em Newton.

2023 set new, dramatic temperature records - and Earth’s frozen places are feeling the heat. Picture the problem: it’s August 2023, the depths of Antarctic Winter, and there’s an area of missing Antarctic sea ice bigger than Greenland. Just 8 years ago, the area of Antarctic sea ice was actually growing each year. Then something changed.
Climate scientist Dr Ella Gilbert from British Antarctic Survey is here with your briefing on what we know about the record-breaking sea ice lows and their connection to climate change. How does sea ice moderate global temperatures? And what does this mean for our future climate?
---
Beyond the Ice helps you unpack the latest news in climate science with the experts at British Antarctic Survey. Our planet is changing at a rate and scale unlike anything seen in human history - and Earth's frozen places are the front line. After all, what happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica.
Beyond the Ice is also available as a LinkedIn Newsletter. Subscribe here:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/beyond-the-ice-7114973466654560256/
Beyond the Ice is recorded and edited by Em Newton.

It's summer 2022, and an area of East Antarctica is over 38.5°C warmer than it should be. The mercury has risen to a chilly -10°C... but it should be -50°C. It's the most extreme temperature event ever recorded, and we now know this was caused by global warming.
The increase in extreme weather events is the erratic, sharp end of climate change. But what happens when extreme weather hits the continent of extremes - Antarctica?
Climate scientists Dr Louise Sime and Dr Tom Bracegirdle from British Antarctic Survey are here with your briefing why global warming is causing extreme weather. How do we work out which extreme events are due to climate change? And what does this mean for our future climate?
---
Beyond the Ice helps you unpack the latest news in climate science with the experts at British Antarctic Survey. Our planet is changing at a rate and scale unlike anything seen in human history - and Earth's frozen places are the front line. After all, what happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica.
Beyond the Ice is also available as a LinkedIn Newsletter. Subscribe here:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/beyond-the-ice-7114973466654560256/
Beyond the Ice is edited and presented by Em Newton.