Latest news with #glacier
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-vatnajokull-iceland-ICEMAZEICLND0625-c2f025a2eac04f569619418ea7ee155a.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Travel + Leisure
13 hours ago
- Travel + Leisure
This Tour Takes You Into Part of Europe's Largest Glacier That Most Visitors Don't Get to See
In the southeast corner of Iceland, black volcanic sand gives way to the gleaming expanse of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe. Each year, throngs of visitors strap on crampons to experience the icy wilderness firsthand, and the well-trodden paths can sometimes feel more crowded than remote—but that may soon change. On June 15, Iceland's largest tour operator Arctic Adventures unveiled a new route through Vatnajökull's frozen interior—a path known only to its local guides. Sited far from the familiar trails, the tour, dubbed 'Crevasse Labyrinth: A Glacier Maze in Skaftafell,' leads small groups through a maze of narrow crevasses, towering ice walls, and glowing blue ice passages. It is an untouched and rarely seen world that's been shaped by centuries of shifting ice. The four-hour excursion ventures deep into parts of Vatnajökull that most visitors only get to see from afar. On this newly scouted route, travelers step directly into the glacier's frozen architecture, hiking along a serpentine path carved by time and through crevasses that rise like icy canyons. Open year-round, including during the depths of Icelandic winter, the Crevasse Labyrinth runs twice daily from Skaftafell, a nature reserve on the south side of the glacier that serves as a gateway to Vatnajökull National Park. Led by an English-speaking guide, the small-group tour includes access to all the necessary glacier gear (helmets, crampons, and ice axes) you'll need. The tour also has a strict 12-to-1 guest-to-guide ratio to ensure an intimate, immersive experience. Arctic Adventures limits departures to just two per day, one at 9:20 a.m. and another at 1:40 p.m., to eliminate the chance of overlapping groups. Despite the dramatic and sometimes dangerous terrain, the hike is classified as easy and beginner-friendly, and is open to travelers aged 8 and up. In a May 2025 press release shared with Travel + Leisure , Arctic Adventures described the new route as 'a safe and accessible way to step into a frozen world that feels almost otherworldly. It also said that while Vatnajökull's trails are well known, this icy labyrinth is a 'hidden gem.' Skaftafell is just over four hours by car from Reykjavík, and the tour departs from Arctic Adventures' local base there. Tickets are typically priced at $137 per person, though travelers who book before June 30 can get 15 percent off with the code Icebreaker 15. Book a reservation on Arctic Adventure's website.
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Fisherman is baffled after stumbling across a huge BLACK iceberg off the coast of Canada
In the chilly waters of the North Atlantic, it's not uncommon to see icebergs floating by. During the spring and summer, bright white glacial giants of every shape and size drift past the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. But floating serenely amid the pale ice chunks was one iceberg that left a fisherman completely baffled. While its size was impressive there was one other thing that particularly made it stand out – the fact that it was completely black. Hallur Antoniussen, originally from the Faroe Islands, was aboard a fishing trawler when he spotted the strange sight last month. 'I have seen icebergs that are rolled, what they say have rolled in the beach with some rocks in it,' he told CBC Radio. 'This one here is completely different. It's not only that he is all black. He is almost…in a diamond shape.' Mr Antoniussen, 64, said it was hard to estimate the size of the iceberg since it was roughly six kilometres away when he took a photograph of it. However, he believes it was at least three times the size of a regular bungalow. Icebergs traditionally appear white because they are filled with tiny pockets of trapped air that scatter all wavelengths of light. One explanation for the rare black iceberg is that it became mixed with a lot of debris thousands of years ago when it was part of a larger glacier. As glaciers move towards the ocean they grind along the ground, stirring up debris that becomes mixed in with the ice. Glaciologist Dr Lev Tarasov, from Memorial University in Canada, said it would take a long time for this debris to become as uniformly mixed through as it appears in the image. He believes the iceberg may have rolled over at some point, and is now showing its underbelly. 'Over time, as it travels around Baffin Bay and down the coast of Labrador, it's melting away,' he said. 'So I think a lot of that ice is melted away. Maybe the part that's clean is underneath? As glaciers move towards the ocean they grind along the ground, stirring up debris that becomes mixed in with the ice. Pictured: A hanging glacier in Dickson Fjord, Northeast Greenland National Park 'Again, 90 per cent of the ice is underneath the water. So we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg on top.' He added that it's possible the dirt on the iceberg may not have seen the light of day 'for hundreds of thousands of years'. Another possibility for the dark colouration is that the ice became mixed with soot from a huge volcanic eruption, or even debris from a historic meteor strike. Dr Tarasov said he observed smaller versions of the black iceberg during his fieldwork on the Kangerlussuaq Fjord in Greenland last summer — but not as impressive. HOW CAN AN ICEBERG PROVIDE WATER FOR DROUGHT-STRICKEN AREAS? There have been several attempts at moving icebergs to end droughts. In 2017, the UAE was experiencing severe water shortages and a project was set up to tow an iceberg to the region. These plans involved harvesting icebergs from Heard Island, around 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) off the coast of mainland Antarctica. The only details provided at the time, was that towing would be the most likely method. South Africa in 2018 is experiencing its worst drought for a century. A renowned marine salvage master from the country also believes towing an iceberg could be the answer. Cape Town-based Nick Sloane, director of Resolve Marine, wants to tow a rogue iceberg 1,200 miles form the Antarctic ocean to Cape Town. He intends to do this by using a material skirt, made of a specialist geotextile, which would fit around the underside of the huge chunk of ice. In order for this to be successful, the iceberg must be of specific size and shape, with steep sides. Huge tankers would guide and pull the iceberg through the water and the skirt would help reduce evaporation. A milling machine would then then cut into the ice, producing a slurry and forming a saucer structure that will speed up the natural process, he said. The removal of the salt from the water would require huge desalination plants, and a large injection of cash to build plants capable of processing several thousand tonnes.
Bloomberg
09-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Fitch Warns of Rising Mortgage-Bond Risk Due to Extreme Weather
For analysts at Fitch Ratings, the recent demolition of a Swiss village by a glacier is fresh proof that climate change is altering the laws of mortgage risk. The world looked on in shock last month as 3 million cubic meters of rock and mud buried the Swiss village of Blatten. The Alps are already about 2C hotter than they were at the time of the industrial revolution, meaning glaciers are continuing to thaw at a dangerous pace. And with global warming currently on track to be roughly double the critical threshold of 1.5, scientists warn that the risk of property damage caused by floods, mudslides, fires and storms is growing by the day.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Aerial footage shows the aftermath of the Blatten glacier collapse in Switzerland
Aerial footage showed flooded homes and debris scattered around a Swiss village after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a mountainside in the southern Lötschental valley. The landslide on Wednesday sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Like touching climate change': glaciers reveal records of the way the world was
Howling wind relentlessly shakes the white tent, pitched among mounds of snow at a height of 4,100m (13,450ft) on the Corbassière, an Alpine glacier situated on the northern slopes of Switzerland's Grand Combin massif. Inside are scientists from Venice's Ca' Foscari University and the institute of polar science at Italy's national research council (CNR). They are camping here for 12 days, braving harsh conditions in freezing temperatures as low as -20C (-4F) as they work day and night to operate machinery that is drilling deep into the rapidly melting glacier. Their mission is to salvage the Corbassière's remaining ice and unlock the precious trove of knowledge it holds about past climates before global heating completely wipes the glacier out. The scientists do this by drilling a borehole and extracting long, cylinder-shaped ice cores. These are essentially centuries-old libraries containing records of preindustrial greenhouse gases, pollutants, pollen and bacteria that provide information about historic temperatures and the impact humans have had on the changing environment. The deeper they manage to drill, the greater the potential for older ice and its rich archive to emerge. An expedition on the Grenz glacier on Monte Rosa in 2021 yielded ice cores containing climate information dating back over the last 10,000 years, including pollutants from the Roman era. 'A glacier is like a book made up of many pages,' said Jacopo Gabrieli, a glaciologist at CNR. 'The pages are layers of ice, with the first few already unreadable because of the melt. It's like throwing a glass of water on an old manuscript and watching the ink quickly disappear. We know the deepest layers are still readable because it is cold enough. But it is an absolute race against time.' The Corbassière drilling expedition is the first of three planned by Follow the Ice, a scientific and educational project supported by Sea Beyond, an initiative led by the Prada Group. A week into the expedition, the team of 13, which includes mountain guides, a videographer and a nurse who doubles as a cook, welcomed a small group of journalists who were brought to base-camp by helicopter. The team extracted two ice cores from the glacier, although they won't know the secrets they hold until analysis is done. Along with greenhouse gases, previous glacier drills have enabled scientists to study cores for the DNA of ancient viruses that could resurface amid global heating, along with frozen insects and plants that could give insight into the history of forests and their ecosystems. The mission on the Corbassière, backed by the Ice Memory, a nonprofit organisation aimed at preserving and analysing ice cores from the world's most at-risk glaciers, is incredibly daring. For the first few days, the squad had to adapt to the altitude, many struggling to breathe or suffering headaches and nausea. Sleep has been scant, with hours spent clearing snow out of tents and away from pathways. Unexpected changes in weather have stalled progress, as did the sudden breakage of a cable powering the drill. Victor Zagorodnov, a scientist who, at 75, is the oldest on the team, said: 'Constant signs of danger play with your mind, but you have to resist.' Related: Almost 40% of world's glaciers already doomed due to climate crisis – study Zagorodnov has been leading drilling expeditions on glaciers around the world since the 1980s. 'The first time was in Bolivia,' he said. 'The mind is telling you it's dangerous, and to leave. It causes nightmares. But you persevere.' Zagorodnov, who is also a glacier-drilling technology specialist, compared the experience to 'learning to ride a bike'. 'You get used to it,' he said. 'Plus, when I first started the equipment was basic, today it is much more advanced.' Gabrieli is more than used to witnessing the evidence of the climate crisis on glaciers. In 2020, during test drilling on the Corbassière, water was found at a 30m (98ft) depth. 'We put our hands in the water,' he said. 'It was like touching climate change.' Another thing that dismayed him during that visit was rain. 'I didn't think it was possible to have precipitation at this altitude,' he added. 'It was only a small amount of rain but it was really depressing.' The experience made the team realise even more that they needed to act quickly, and so returned to finish the work. This time, the team came equipped with the more advanced electro-thermal drill, a device that penetrates glacier ice through melting. The thermal drill had reached about seven metres deep when a burning stench overwhelmed the scientists. 'We thought something was wrong with the drill but then realised it had hit a plastic bag,' said Carlo Barbante, a professor at Ca' Foscari who co-founded the Ice Memory Foundation. 'It must have been left there by climbers years ago, and really proved the impact of human activity on the climate. Plastic is everywhere, pollution is everywhere. It is very disappointing.' After six days, the drill successfully reached a depth of 55m (180ft). But then the power cable breakage forced the team to revert to using an electromechanical drill. Still, the device helped them to finish the job, and by day nine they were euphoric after making a major breakthrough: the drill hit 'bedrock' – the solid rock lying beneath the glacier – at a depth of 99.5m (326ft). The first of the two ice cores was extracted and transported down the mountain, and the second followed a week later. The ice cores will be dated and the plan is for one to be analysed in Italy, while the other will be shipped to Antarctica, where a cave is being excavated to store ice extracted through glacier drills, providing a library of information for future climate scientists. Apart from Europe, the Ice Memory foundation has so far drilled on glaciers in Bolivia and Russia. The missions are costly and intense, but crucial, said Barbante. 'Glaciers, especially in non-polar regions, are very much at the forefront of global warming,' said Barbante. 'They are water reservoirs for millions of people, so if the ice completely disappears there will be huge problems. We are are witnessing what is happening and it must be documented so we can leave something for future scientists. This is our duty.'
