Ice and Fire
Listen to climate change in Alaska through place-based narrative.
Ice and Fire is a podcast that uses audio storytelling to share cryosphere change as the global climate warms. The cryosphere is all of Earth's frozen surface water including frozen freshwater lakes, glaciers, permafrost and sea ice -- frozen saltwater.
It only takes a small temperature increase for water to melt or thaw from solid into liquid form, yet a cascade of impacts result when we lose ice to fastly flowing liquid.
Season one emphasizes the significance of glacier melt, and connects listeners to distant glaciers rapidly responding to anthropogenic climate change through dialogue with researchers, traditional knowledge-bearers, and by sharing audio of ice-melt in real time.
Season two, available now, is all about permafrost thaw.
Ice and Fire
layers
In episode two we drill into the soil profile to learn about soil layers in northern landscapes. This shows us how deep permafrost is, and the impacts to people as the soil profile changes and permafrost thaws.
topics and purpose: soil layers in northern regions are impacted by global warming; temperature records and increases, impacts of permafrost thaw on local and global levels
terms defined: soil core & soil profile; active layer, transition zone, permafrost layer
notes: Learn more about the Permafrost Pathways Program, part of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, here. Check out Dr. Romanowicz's website to read more about his research.