Tim Bartholomaus

At this field area, downstream of McCarthy, Alaska, we can go and touch these overridden sediments and study them with as much detail as we wish. More commonly, these sediments are only accessible as a cm-scale core or via low resolution geophysical surveys.

Then, imagine my surprise when we learned that two complete glacial cycles were preserved in the sediment below! These predate the LGM and extend back probably close to 100 ka

I still find it mind boggling that in one of my favorite places, in Alaska, we can walk along on the bed of an ancient, water-terminating ice stream, just as we might find in Antarctica or Greenland. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

cool- thanks! I hadn't seen that one. So perhaps if the present ACC temperatures are a transient warming, which then passes, then they can all recover..?
(with the provision that the models all are simulating key physics sufficiently)

Glaciologists-
are you aware of any literature in the last couple decades that finds Thwaites to be in a stable setting? Or even that it might not collapse?

I'm not sure why we keep writing that "Thwaites Glacier _might_ collapse"

Can we just all cut to the chase?

A local journalist reached out to ask about regional glacier change- one of the first places I checked was maps.theia-land.fr, a really super, interactive resource, hidden within Hugonnet et al., 2021, www.nature.com/articles/s41....

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

This is some bullshit
“The NSF polar office has awarded 88 percent less money in grants this year.”

This would take standard ~10% funding rates down to 1%.
No wonder my program officer was forbidden from telling me the funding rate after we were rejected www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

My wife hears Richard Alley giving kickoff plenary at an IPY meeting, and comes down the hall to ask "Who is _this_? This person is a delight!"

Talk about generational talent...

But I guess, if the main point is that "it's complicated," it's a small wonder that I hadn't yet encountered this essay. Where's the fist shaking?!

Here's the glacier intervention article that I wish everyone would lead with: eos.org/opinions/gla...

Neither in thrall to the wonders of Antarctica nor absolutist in opposition, the authors illuminate the middle way and finally get right the fact that there are many many complicated considerations

Meet The 'Glacier Mice' : Short Wave (Encore episode.) In 2006, while hiking around the Root Glacier in Alaska, glaciologist Tim Bartholomaus encountered something strange and unexpected on the ice — dozens of fuzzy, green moss balls. It...

Although in retrospect, I realize part of the reason this was so popular is that it was a break from otherwise wall-to-wall covid coverage.

For more bewildering coverage of the highest impact work I’ll ever do, I tried to track it here: tbartholomaus.org/media/#:~:te....

Ahhh…. a simpler time…

Hearing all the trump news makes me think of a grad student who’s sending me a new draft manuscript every 4 hrs, with the note, “New version! Ignore the last one. Give me feedback on this one ASAP.”

Have you gotten any reviews back recently? Anything out of the ordinary?

I remain committed to my work of understanding glacier behavior, in order to empower community responses to catastrophic flooding. But I'm not sure how to proceed in this mix of not enough and too much information

Here are the words putting science in the crosshairs of Trump’s orders National Science Foundation staff have been combing through thousands of active science research projects, alongside a list of keywords, to determine if they include activities that violate Trump’s ex...

Did we get sunk by the Trump Administration's mandated dragnet? www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

Or again, maybe we just fell short of an already competitive review environment- certainly neither proposal was perfect!

Broader Impacts

Any other recent experiences NSF experiences out there I can compare with?

There were glacier proposals, and according to 2024 best practice and current NSF guidance (www.nsf.gov/funding/lear...), we wrote "The team is dedicated to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in cryospheric science"

I've just had two resubmitted proposals rejected by NSF's Arctic Natural Sciences. One had only two reviews (E and VG) w/o a panel summary, and one had a short note from a program officer (stating that reviews were attached) but without any kind of peer review whatsoever. Unlucky? Or NSF in 2025?

Congratulations!

Regular Faculty The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Idaho seeks candidates for a full-time tenure track or tenured faculty position in Geological Engineering at the level ...

The @uidaho.bsky.social Dept of Civil and Enviro Engineering is hiring a Geological Engineer! Open until filled.

I highly recommend both the Univ of Idaho, and life in Moscow, ID. Excellent research and teaching support, stellar quality of life.

uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/46669

Ice sheet modeling to inform sea level rise planning - Bartholomaus | Glaciology, Geophysics, Earth Science At AGU 2024, in Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to illuminate the need for applied ice sheet modeling. Ice sheet modeling started out as a niche, obscure, curiosity. But, in the meandering manne...

Ice sheet loss leads to coastal flooding- now and in the future.

Unfortunately, ice sheet modelling groups haven't been empowered to reproduce observed ice sheet changes in a way that is necessary to have confidence in projections.

See my #AGU24 presentation here:
tbartholomaus.org/ice-sheet-mo...

This is cool. I also can't help but watch and try to deconvolve EOFs in my head

Be in touch if you have questions or want to discuss more.

The first step to addressing this problem is identifying and communicating the problem.

This problem stems from the novelty of the research in this area and the legacy view of ice sheet modeling as an academic curiosity. Now that there is a clear applied need for ice sheet modeling to inform coastal planning, there needs to be a funding program to meet this need.

Because the simulations of observed ice sheet change are so flawed, the projections of sea level rise are likely flawed similarly. This means the funding going towards protecting coastal communities is potentially misallocated- it may not provide the level of protection for which its designed.

Ice sheet modeling to inform sea level rise planning - Bartholomaus | Glaciology, Geophysics, Earth Science At AGU 2024, in Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to illuminate the need for applied ice sheet modeling. Ice sheet modeling started out as a niche, obscure, curiosity. But, in the meandering manne...

Ice sheet loss leads to coastal flooding- now and in the future.

Unfortunately, ice sheet modelling groups haven't been empowered to reproduce observed ice sheet changes in a way that is necessary to have confidence in projections.

See my #AGU24 presentation here:
tbartholomaus.org/ice-sheet-mo...

I created a starter pack on "Sea level change and coastal erosion". If you think I should add other people, please let me know. 7/x

@drstrawpants.wobbly.earth
@gaelforget.net
@gomezserrano-ma.bsky.social
@timbartholomaus.bsky.social
@bhamlington.bsky.social

go.bsky.app/B6spBdu

The national labs represent a fantastic model for how actionable, credible projections of sea level rise could be produced.

Our country decided that building a U.S. resilient to climate change is in the nation's best interest, and natl labs could meet the need.

Let's implement for sea level rise.

Brief communication: Sea-level projections, adaptation planning, and actionable science Abstract. As climate scientists seek to deliver actionable science for adaptation planning, there are risks in using novel results to inform decision-making. Premature acceptance can lead to maladapta...

As you write, @jedokaplan.bsky.social, this doesn't replace the creative discovery of basic, PI-driven science, but can effectively get the work done that's necessary for actionable science. (I use "actionable science" in the sense of Lipscomb et al., 2024: egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...)