Ways of Ice

In Episode 3 of Ways of Ice, we confront a central contradiction: how can ice be brittle as glass yet flow like honey? The episode explores the hidden mechanics of glacier movement, from basal sliding and regelation, to the historic 1840s rivalry between Louis Agassiz and James David Forbes over whether ice expands or flows. The physical paradox is ultimately solved in the 1950s by John Glen and John Nye. Through simple basement experiments, Glen discovered how ice deforms. This breakthrough established that a glacier's shape is entirely dictated by physics, providing the mathematical foundation for all modern climate and sea-level rise models.

In Episode 2 of Ways of Ice, we explore one of the central paradoxes of glaciology: glaciers can grow and melt at the same time. Through the concepts of accumulation, ablation, and mass balance, this episode explains how glaciers respond to climate and why glacier health cannot be understood through temperature alone. Along the way, we investigate why glaciers exist in places that are often warm, wet, and melting, and how scientists use the equilibrium line to measure whether glaciers are growing or shrinking. By the end, glaciers emerge not as static blocks of ice, but as dynamic systems constantly balancing gain against loss.

In the first episode of Ways of Ice, we begin with one of the great polar expeditions: Fridtjof Nansen’s daring 1888 crossing of Greenland. From that story, we confront a deceptively simple question: how much ice is there on Earth? Exploring glaciers from mountain valleys to continental ice sheets, this episode reveals the astonishing scale of Earth’s ice and why even small changes to it can reshape coastlines, climate, and landscapes worldwide. Along the way, we begin to see glaciers not as isolated curiosities, but as planetary systems that influence the entire Earth.