Scientists used a transparent gel and high-speed photography to figure out how cracks form and spread. What they found could help explain earthquakes and fracturing glaciers.
Ice
Posted inNews
Meet IceWorm: NASA’s New Ice-Climbing Robot
A robot that can inch up icy surfaces may help scientists reach new heights in some of Earth’s most dangerous and remote landscapes.
Posted inNews
Huge Blades of Ice May Partially Cover Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Conditions are right for “penitentes” up to 15 meters high to form on the Jovian moon, new research shows. The spires might prevent a lander from exploring Europa’s equatorial region.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tracing the Steps of Hydrothermal Activity in Hrad Vallis, Mars
Conditions that formed Amazonian age valleys may have been hospitable to microbial life.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Consistent Model of Ice Dissociation on Celestial Bodies
A model based on decades of experimental results can now quantify the products of water ice dissociation caused by radiation and predict the products expelled into an icy body’s outer atmosphere.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Long Term Preservation of Subsurface Ice on Mars
Layered-ejecta craters on Mars that are associated with impacts into rock mixed with volatiles have been formed throughout the planet’s history indicating the long-term preservation of subsurface ice.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
On-the-Ground Measurements Overestimate Earth’s Albedo
Weather stations can be used to calibrate and validate albedo measurements from satellites, but they fail to account for variability across landscapes, overestimating how reflective our planet is.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Where Are the Electrical Currents in the Enceladus Plume?
A plume of water ice that escapes Saturn’s moon Enceladus should be coursing with electrical currents, but data are mixed. Now simulations suggest that a sticky dust cloud may shield signals.
Posted inScience Updates
What Instruments Are Available for Polar Studies?
Instrumentation for Polar Glaciology and Geophysics Research Workshop; Baltimore, Maryland, 9–10 October 2014