Latest news

Published on August 29, 2023

The amplification of anthropogenic climate change is disrupting our planet, in particular causing a rapid and worrying melting of glaciers worldwide. Published in the prestigious journal Nature, a recent study by an interdisciplinary team of French and Swiss glaciologists and ecologists (including OSUG laboratories) takes us on an unprecedented journey into the future through modeling and exploration of the evolution of glaciers and deglaciated areas on Earth between 2020 and 2100. In future (…)

Published on July 17, 2023

Scientists from OSUG federation (Institut des géosciences de l’environnement of Grenoble and the Centre d’études de la neige) have studied the interactions between sunlight and snow at the micrometer scale, which determines the snow ‘whiteness’ and consequently has a crucial impact in the Earth’s climate. In an article published the 7 July 2023 in Nature Communications, these scientists have defined and quantified a new concept: the optical shape of snow. The impact of this breakthrough is (…)

Published on March 29, 2023

Claude Lorius passed away on March 21st, 2023 at the age of 91. Claude had a huge contribution to the national and international ice core, polar and climate research communities. He will be deeply missed.
Claude Lorius met the polar regions at the time of the International Geophysical Year. He wintered over in 1957 as meteorologist and snow physicist with two other colleagues at the Antarctic station of Charcot. Then, instead of embracing a professional soccer career opportunity, he (…)

Published on March 22, 2023

To date, despite the huge number of exoplanet discoveries, the formation and properties of giant planets remains a mystery. Giant exoplanets sculpt young exoplanetary systems, and might determine whether smaller Earth-like planets could be capable of harboring life. The observation and characterization of the properties of young exoplanets is crucial (i) to help scientists to understand what giant exoplanets are made of, how they differ from Jupiter and Saturn, and (ii) how they formed. (…)

Published on March 15, 2023

Selenium is a micronutrient that plays an essential role in human health but is toxic at high levels. However, new biomedical research has shown selenium actually has anti-cancer properties when used at high doses. To overcome problems with its inherent toxicity, an international research team, led by Professor Steve Conlan in Swansea University and Professor Laurent Charlet (ISTerre / OSUG) at Université Grenoble Alpes, tested whether selenium nanoparticles could be developed as a potential (…)

Published on October 07, 2022

Mountain ecosystems are complex, dynamic and exceptionally fragile. We are only beginning to understand the functional ecology of mountain ecosystems, but research already suggests that modifying communities of species will be detrimental to the environment, biodiversity and therefore an essential part of the support system for life on Earth. A new study, involving Ignacio Palomo, researcher at the institut des géosciences de l’environnement (IGE-OSUG, CNRS/UGA/IRD/Grenoble-INP-UGA), based (…)

Published on August 25, 2022

An international collaboration of researchers from Europe and the United States have detected a dramatic retreat of a major glacier in North Greenland, long considered stable.

Published on August 23, 2022

Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) has maintained its position in the top 150 of the Shanghai 2022 ranking of the world’s best universities, published on 15 August. It is now in the top 100 of the world’s best universities in 15 disciplines, including five in the top 50 and one in the top 20. It ranks 12th among the world’s top universities in remote sensing (2nd in France) and 24th (3rd in France) in Earth Sciences, two themes covered by the OSUG laboratories.

Published on August 22, 2022

Ice flowing from the interior to the lower elevated edges of Greenland exerts a key control on how much the Ice-Sheet will lose mass as temperatures rise. The faster the ice flows, the faster it reaches the edges where it can be discharged in the ocean or melt. Predicting ice flow, however, is a challenging task. In Greenland, ice flow is mainly controlled by the sliding of ice over its underlying bedrock and the modulation of it by surface melt water supplied to the base through vertical (…)

Published on June 07, 2022

For the first time ever recorded, in the late summer of 2021, rain fell on the high central region of the Greenland ice sheet. This extraordinary event was followed by the surface snow and ice melting rapidly. Researchers now understand exactly what went on in those fateful summer days and what we can learn from it.