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Ice Rivers

£12.99

As one of the world’s leading glaciologists, Professor Jemma Wadham has proved that glaciers, previously thought to be freezing, sterile environments, in fact teem with microbial life – a discovery which demonstrates them to be active processors of carbon and nutrients, just like our forests and oceans, influencing crucial systems and services upon which people depend, from lucrative fisheries to fertile croplands. A riveting tale of icy landscapes on the point of irreversible change, and filled with stories of encounters with polar bears and survival in the wilds under the midnight sun, ‘Ice Rivers’ is a memoir like no other – a passionate love letter, no less, to the glaciers that have been one woman’s lifelong obsession.

In stock

Description

Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize

Shortlisted for the Richard Jeffries Award

The story of one woman’s passion for glaciers

As one of the world’s leading glaciologists, Professor Jemma Wadham has devoted her career to the glaciers that cover one-tenth of the Earth’s land surface. Today, however, these ‘ice rivers’ are in peril. High up in the Alps, Andes and Himalaya, once-indomitable glaciers are retreating; in Antarctica, meanwhile, thinning ice sheets are releasing meltwater to sensitive marine foodwebs, and may be unlocking vast quantities of methane stored deep beneath them. The potential consequences for humanity are almost unfathomable.

Jemma’s first encounter with a glacier, as a student, sparked her love of these icy landscapes. There is nowhere on Earth she feels more alive. Whether abseiling down crevasses, skidooing across frozen fjords, exploring ice caverns, or dodging polar bears – for a glaciologist, it’s all in a day’s work.

Prompted by an illness that took her to the brink of death and back, in Ice Rivers Jemma recalls twenty-five years of expeditions around the globe, revealing why the glaciers mean so much to her – and what they should mean to us. As she guides us from the Alps to the Andes, the importance of the ice to crucial ecosystems and human livelihoods becomes clear – our lives are entwined with these coldest places on the planet. This is a memoir like no other: an eye-witness account by a top scientist at the frontline of the climate crisis, and an impassioned love letter to the glaciers that are her obsession.

Read a sample here

Additional information

Weight 0.203 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 1.4 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

240

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

551.31092 (edition:23)

Readership

College – higher education / Code: F