
In the last full episode of the season, we travel to the Greenland ice sheet and hear from a researcher who collects data at the face of tidewater glaciers, studying the turbulent zone where freshwater meets and mixes with seawater. This episode emphasizes the transition of solid ice into liquid freshwater, occurring globally, due to increasing temps, and shares why loss of the frozen reservoir matters.topics and purpose: scene-setting in Greenland, transition and movement of water molecules globally as part of the interconnected hydrological cycle, increasing temperatures and glacier melt events due to anthropogenic climate change, research methods on ice and at the glacier-ocean interface, the global significance and utility of glaciers, balance, wrapping up the seasonterms defined: freshwater reservoir, seismology, sonification, geophones, icequakesnotes: Learn more about the Glacioburst/sonification project by Mertl Research
Jul 12, 2023
23 min

In episode five we hear what makes tidewater glacier habitat an acoustic refuge, and why glaciers are important to other species in the ecosystem. We also discuss One Health connections, how Traditional Ecological Knowledge has allowed us to track the rate of melting tidewater glaciers, and close with the cascading ramifications of glacier habitat loss to living organisms.topics and purpose: One Health connections, tidewater glacier habitat, acoustic refuge: marine mammals depend on the tidewater glacier ecosystem, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and habitat change/loss as the climate changesterms defined: One Health, tidewater glacier, iceberg, calving event, harbor seal, site fidelity, acoustic refuge
Jun 16, 2023
19 min

In mini-episode four, we listen to part of the glacier travel story shared in the book Do Glaciers Listen? for a second time. Frank Olive from the University of Alaska Fairbanks shares risk mitigation strategies, like roping up to avoid injury during crevasse falls.topics and purpose: safety, why we rope up for travel on snow-covered glaciersterms defined: crevasse, snow bridge
May 12, 2023
8 min

In episode three we hear from Judy Ramos in Lingít Aaní. She tells us about the history of glacier travel in the region, and about the Spirit of the Glacier.topics and purpose: Indigenous people in Alaska and Canada have been traveling on glaciers for hundreds to thousands of years, oral stories in the region about glaciers, historic glacier advance and retreat impacted communities, Spirit of the Glacier, glaciers respond to peopleterms defined: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Indigenous science
Apr 12, 2023
24 min

In episode two of the Ice and Fire podcast, we are atop the Kennicott Glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park with Dr. Eric Petersen and his field team.topics and purpose: audio capture of glacier melt occurring in real-time, continue place-based themes from the surface of a glacier, connect listeners with field research and techniques, share how glacial retreat is measured and how rapidly retreat is occurringterms defined: ablation, ablation stake, ablation zone; glacial retreat; dead glacier; Heucke drillnotes: Philipp Arndt, PhD student, contributed to this episode with explanations for how to set an ablation stake
Mar 22, 2023
17 min

In this introductory episode of season one of the Ice and Fire podcast, hear from your host, Theresa Soley, as she shares her unexpected interest in glacial ice.topics and purpose: geological history and glacier change, an introduction to characters, scene-setting: Wrangell Mountains Center in McCarthy, Alaska – the end of the road and Wrangell St.-Elias National Park; visualizing the presently glaciated landscape from above during a flyover.terms defined: glacier, icefieldnotes: the Hardware Store in McCarthy is typically referred to as the Old Hardware Store
Mar 1, 2023
24 min
