Glaciers, the climate sentinels

This second episode looks at the work of scientists at the Grenoble Institute of Geosciences who are studying the climate change effect on glacier behaviour. In mountainous and polar regions, glaciologists such as Fanny Brun measure the melting glaciers and collect ice samples, sometimes under extreme conditions, as evidence of climate change over time. Laboratory analyses are used to understand the climate change effect on glacier behaviour.

Gerhard Krinner, a glaciologist specialising in polar climate, along with 17 other authors contributed to the chapter on oceans and glaciers in the latest IPCC report. This summary of several hundred studies shows the impact of melting ice on sea level rise and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming on glacier loss.