Melting ice

an advertisement by an oil company in Life magazine, 1962:

"EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER!

"This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies- if converted into heat- could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second! To meet the nation's growing needs for energy, Humble has applied science to nature's resources to become America's Leading Energy Company. Working wonders with oil through research, Humble provides energy in many forms- to help heat our homes, power our transportation, and to furnish industry with a great variety of versatile chemicals. Stop at a Humble station for new Enco Extra gasoline, and see why the "Happy Motoring" sign is the World's First Choice!"

One of speakers at a scientific meeting in Prague (IUGG-2015) mentioned this example for giving a current shocking estimate:

 today humanity melts about 650M tons of ice every single day by emitting greenhouse gases...

Adele

She is so good ...

 

BBC: SpaceX rocket in historic upright landing

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35157782

BBC: Avalanche in Norway's Svalbard archipelago

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35144236

From "Science": Breakthrough of the Year is …

Paris climate deal achieved

Snow and avalanche workshop 2015, Niseko (Japan)

Between 9-12 Dec 2015, I had a pleasure to join a very interesting snow and avalanche workshop in Niseko (Hokkaido; 国際 雪・雪崩シンポジウム in ニセコ), organized by Prof. K. Nishimura (Nagoya University) and his colleagues, Dr. S. Yamaguchi and Dr. Y. Ito, from the Snow and Ice Research center in Nagaoka, NIED. Many interesting and very diverse subjects were presented, not only about snow and avalanches, but also about physics of granular materials and other things. The program can be seen HERE.

 Participants of the workshop. Photo is a courtesy of Prof. K. Nishimura and organizing committee.

 The conference hall is on the right; the volcano in front, is a magnificent Yotei-zan.

By the way, Niseko is a kind of snow powder Mekka for skiers. Several years ago, I also had a chance to enjoy back-country snowboarding from the top of Yotei-zan volcano (including a decent-ride into it's crater). Here is my sketch from those good days.