Big Picture Science for April. 06, 2026: Amazing Arctic

Big Picture Science: Amazing Arctic

REPEAT
What’s it like to live on a block of ice, especially when it thaws? An environment writer shares his forty-year experience in the Arctic, including the time a paddling polar bear tracked him on a river. He describes the stunning beauty of America’s last truly wild place and the dramatic changes to the landscape he recently witnessed. Recent research has backed up his eyewitness accounts, as an arctic scientist presents the latest data collected from a part of world warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Guests:

• Jon Waterman – Author of Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
• Twila Moon – Deputy Lead Scientist and Science Communication Liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Originally aired March 17, 2025

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/amazing-arctic

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Jan. 26, 2026: Cold to Hot

Big Picture Science: Cold to Hot

The icy-white crust of Arctic permafrost is melting, and increased plant growth is turning the glacial north green. Metals like iron, once locked inside the ice, are leaching into hundreds of Arctic rivers, giving them an orange hue. Vivid changes may catch our eye, yet invisible shifts are also afoot. Microbes locked in the frozen ground since the age of the mammoths can now be revived when they thaw. We’re exploring the consequences of changes in permafrost, how AI may help us better understand Greenland ice loss, and get reactions from scientists about the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), one of the premier climate and weather researcher centers in the world.

Guests:

• Tristan Caro – Postdoctoral Fellow, Geological and Planetary Sciences Division, California Institute of Technology
• Twila Moon – Glaciologist and deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, within the cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder
• Abagael Pruitt – Biochemist and ecosystem ecologist, postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Davis
• Karina Zikan – Glaciologist and snow hydrologist, PhD candidate at Boise State University
• Roland Pease – Science writer and broadcaster often heard on the BBC World Service, and former presenter and host of its program Science in Action
• Alan Sealls – Retired broadcast meteorologist, adjust professor at the University of South Alabama and president of the American Meteorological Society

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/cold-to-hot

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Mar 17, 2025: Amazing Arctic

Big Picture Science: Amazing Arctic

What’s it like to live on a block of ice, especially when it thaws? An environment writer shares his forty-year experience in the Arctic, including the time a paddling polar bear tracked him on a river. He describes the stunning beauty of America’s last truly wild place and the dramatic changes to the landscape he recently witnessed. Recent research has backed up his eyewitness accounts, as an arctic scientist presents the latest data collected from a part of world warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Guests:

• Jon Waterman – Author of Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
• Twila Moon – Deputy Lead Scientist and Science Communication Liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/amazing-arctic

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Fantastically Colorful Clouds Spotted in Arctic Stratosphere

Source - Space Weather News for Dec. 22, 2014: http://spaceweather.com

STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS: Around the Arctic Circle, sky watchers are seeing fantastic colors--but it's not the aurora borealis. A rare outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds is underway over our planet's north polar region.  These clouds, which are associated with the formation of ozone holes, float much higher than ordinary clouds and produce unforgettable colors during the hours around sunset.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for pictures and updates.

Study: Astronauts face a growing peril from space radiation

Source - Space Weather News for Dec. 6, 2014: http://spaceweather.com

SPACE RADIATION:  According to a new study just published in the research journal Space Weather, astronauts face a growing peril from space radiation.  Rising fluxes of cosmic rays inside the solar system place increasingly strict limits on the amount of time explorers can safely travel through interplanetary space.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information and links to the complete study.

AURORA WATCH:  Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend. Earth is passing through a fast-moving stream of solar wind, and this is causing geomagnetic unrest around the poles. Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Climate Change and the Yin-Yang of Polar Sea Ice

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 4, 2014

Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are both affected by climate change, but the two poles of Earth are behaving in intriguingly different ways.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/28nov_yinyang/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hauoepPqns4&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

2014 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Sixth Lowest on Record

Source - NASA Science News for September 22, 2014

Arctic sea ice coverage hit its annual minimum on Sept. 17, continuing a trend of below-average years. According to the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center, Arctic sea ice coverage in 2014 is the sixth lowest recorded since 1978.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/22sep_seaice/

Arctic Melt Season Lengthens

Source - NASA Science News for April 1, 2014

A new study shows that the length of the melt season for Arctic sea ice is growing by several days each decade. This is allowing the Arctic Ocean to absorb enough additional solar radiation in some places to melt as much as four feet of the Arctic ice cap's thickness.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/01apr_arcticice/

Unprecedented Blooms of Ocean Plant Life

Source - NASA Science News for June 8, 2012

Scientists have made a biological discovery in Arctic Ocean waters as unexpected as finding a rainforest in the middle of a desert.

You can find the complete story here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/08jun_arcticbloom/