RRS James Clark Ross research ship and William Glacier

A team aboard the British Antarctic Survey’s RRS James Clark Ross research ship was taking ocean measurements off the Antarctic Peninsula in January 2020 when the front of the William Glacier disintegrated into a thousand small pieces before their very eyes. It’s no surprise that when a massive lump of ice drops off the edge of a glacier into the sea, the surface waters of the ocean get pretty churned up. However, the team’s recent research has led to the discovery that glacier calving can excite vigorous internal waves  – a process that has been neglected in driving ocean mixing in computer models.

Read full story: Glacier calving and a whole lot of mixing