William Colgan
Science hustler into ice-sheet and sea-level research. Canadian living in Denmark and working in Greenland. 'The Color of Ice' documentary is now streaming open-access on WaterBear Network!
www.williamcolgan.net
- More science, same message: The Greenland ice sheet is likely more sensitive to climate change than we previously understood. If the ice sheet’s northernmost sector didn’t survive the Holocene Thermal Maximum, it’s tough to see how is will survive anticipated future warming.
- While the world burns with noise and conflict, the Arctic is changing, whether we’re paying attention or not. 👇
- Plugged with the world’s oldest and thickest sea ice, the fjords of the Queen Elizabeth Islands have long been impenetrable to icebreaker ships. But even here, in a place where climate models predict ice will persist the longest, global warming is taking its toll. scim.ag/4qNgPxW
- The IPCC will, of course, hum along without U.S. participation, but folks will be hoping for their swift return. Until then, give hugs to your climate-conscious U.S. friends, and encourage them to keep fighting for a livable future. It’s always darkest before dawn. 🌍👊 eos.org/research-and...
- Statement from the IPCC regarding U.S. withdrawal. 🇺🇳⤵️ www.ipcc.ch/2026/01/08/s...
- 🚨 If you're a Canadian-curious researcher currently based outside of Canada, you need to check out the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs programme! 🚨 Competitive single-PI grants for up to 1M CAD/yr for eight years (8M CAD!) to attract folks to Canada! 🤩 #ElbowsUp 🫠
- It’s a two-step process with two intakes. First deadlines in March. Check out: www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
- Hey again ice-sheet modellers! 👋 Reminder that registration for the ISMIP7-Copenhagen workshop closes next week (Jan 15). 👇
- Hey ice-sheet modellers! 👋 The next Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP) workshop will be hosted in Copenhagen (at GEUS) 23-25 March 2026. Details to follow! Learn more about ISMIP at: www.ismip.org
- All my American friends right now. 👇
- I suspect the entire Kingdom of Denmark is celebrating ‘Festivus’ this year, which begins with the quirky tradition of ‘airing of grievances’ 👇 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
- Reposted by William Colgan
There are 211,500 glaciers on this planet and we'll lose most of them this century because of human emissions! 🧊🔥 The peak of glacier extinction will occur 2040 to 2055! 📈 But each fraction of degree matters! 🌡️ Some of them can be saved! 🙏 @landervt.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... - Agreed. 👇
- As scientists 🧪 who regularly attend UN #climate summits, we've noticed efforts to downplay, confuse and dilute the latest scientific findings, especially from the cryosphere ❄️. This is alarming. More details in @theconversation.com theconversation.com/earths-froze... @geogdurham.bsky.social
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- The NSF has a short post on how it plans to take apart NCAR. (No, that is not a sentence I ever foresaw typing.) www.nsf.gov/news/intent-...
- I’ve enjoyed many years of @agu.org Annual Meeting — it’s a fantastic gathering of our diverse research community! — but it seems I’m not alone in sitting out this year. 👀 Wishing a delightful #AGU25 to all who participate!
- Attendance at US-based science conferences is bouncing around this year but generally down. #AGU25 has ~10k fewer this year! I explored these trends for @nature.com — including solutions to keep conferences local & productive: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
- The folks at @ncar-ucar.bsky.social are among the world’s best minds on global climate— exceptional individually and extraordinary together! I have fond memories of the long cycle up to the Mesa Laboratory during my PhD at Boulder. Thoughts and prayers for them tonight. 🥺
- Yes! @icymatters.bsky.social and I are seeking a project coordinator for using highly specialized vehicles on the Greenland ice sheet! It's a four-year position across two projects: 'Seis-Sustain' funded by the @novo-nordisk.bsky.social and 'FirnMelt' funded by @erc.europa.eu.
- Position Call (closes 8 Jan 2026): candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI... #Glaciology #Geophysics #Cryosphere #PolarScience #IceSheetScience #ScienceLogistics #PolarLogistics #FleetCoordination #ProjectCoordinator #FieldOperations #Greenland #ArcticJobs #PolarJobs
- Hey Folks! 👋 If you've got a moment -- mere moment! -- drop a like for 'Girls on Ice Austria' in this empowerment fundraiser by FrauTIROLER. They receive 1€ for every like up to 5000 likes! 👍 www.frautiroler.info/girls-on-ice...
- Our first Lead Author Meeting of the #IPCC Seventh Assessment Report was an incredible experience last week! Merci @ipcc.bsky.social! Now, we are writing our way towards zero-order-draft (ZOD). #LAM1 #ClimateScience #ClimateAction #ClimateChange #ClimatePolicy #Adaptation #Mitigation #AR7
- Yes, this week Lead Authors for the @ipcc.bsky.social Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) are meeting in Paris — almost 700 of us across all three working groups! As IPCC Chair Jim Skea shares, there's even some highest-level climate diplomacy happening beyond the plenary sessions. 👇
- 📣 PRESS RELEASE #IPCC authors meet in Paris 🇫🇷 to begin drafting the Seventh Assessment Report More than six hundred experts appointed to the three Working Groups of the IPCC are gathering in Paris this week to draft IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report. 🔗 bit.ly/4ir09cC
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- As Denmark announces the world's most ambitious climate plan, COP30 negotiations are sharpening with a framework for two packages now. Read the latest from Belém: bloom.bg/49mrZEx
- You can learn more about the Climate Vulnerable Forum, and their bid for observer status at the UN General Assembly, at: cvfv20.org
- Denmark at #COP30 quietly showing the way to >80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 (relative to 1990 NDC baseline). 🇩🇰✊
- Regeringen vil have et af verdens mest ambitiøse klimamål for 2035. Klimaminister @larsaagaard.bsky.social har netop præsenteret regeringens forslag på COP30 i Belem. Regeringen foreslår, at der fastsættes et punktmål for 2035 på mellem 82 og 85 procent. Læs mere👇 www.kefm.dk/aktuelt/nyhe...
- Reposted by William ColganWe cannot air condition our way out of the heat crisis. Many cooling methods add planet warming emissions, in-turn increasing cooling demand. But solutions exist to make cooling more sustainable & affordable: www.unep.org/news-and-sto... #COP30
- For Greenlandic folks — an overview of our FirnMelt ERC Synergy ambitions reported in Sermitsiaq. 👇
- Ilisimatuut sermersuarmi ‘milluaasumik’ misissuinissainnut millionilikkaanik aningaasaliiffigineqartut - Sermitsiaq kl.sermitsiaq.ag/inuiaqatigii...
- When it comes to the Amazon, seeing is believing. 👀 #COP30 👊🌎
- When they announced that #COP30 would be in Belém and all the logistical problems that followed, I was convinced it was a bad idea... On 09/11 flying to Belém, the plane was packed with foreigners talking and laughing... as we approached landing, we could see the forest, silence took over...
- When folks ask what I’ve done to reduce my personal carbon footprint, I say ‘I moved from Toronto to Copenhagen’. It may sound glib, but per capita emissions are 3-4 lower. Our carbon footprints are shaped by our legislation. 🇪🇺👊
- ‘Saudi Arabia’s average temperature rose by 2.2C between 1979 and 2019, almost three times faster than the global rate, and even faster in Riyadh and Mecca.’ 👀
- $170,000 a minute: Why Saudi Arabia is the biggest blocker of climate action The desert kingdom depends on oil dollars but its people already face a climate ‘at the verge of livability’. What’s going on? #COP30 #climatecrisis Story by me 1/7 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
- The increasing participation of fossil-fuel lobbyists in recent COP meetings is concerning. Climate solutions should be shaped by those committed to real progress, not by those invested in slowing it down.
- Reposted by William ColganProtest comes as Brazil's leader Lula says COP30 participants should be 'inspired' by Indigenous peoples.
- This overview of the increasing effects of climate change — Inconvenient Truth 3.0! — should be shown in every university classroom. What a different world we could have. 🥹
- Reposted by William ColganJoin us on Monday 17th at 10 am uk time for our live streamed COP30 talk on tipping points in the Cryosphere! We’re talking at the Cryosphere Pavilion, Blue Zone.
- Hey Cryoverse! 👋 If you need any motivation to call for action on the #AmbitionForMeltingIce at #COP30, check out the Glacier Casualty List. It's a global summary of 'critically endangered' & 'disappeared' glaciers and their stories. It's really happening. 🧊💧 ➡️ glaciercasualtylist.rice.edu
- Yes! Time to get excited for #COP30 in Brazil! Let’s up the focus and ambition on melting ice! 👊🌏 ambitionmeltingice.org
- Reposted by William Colgan‘It will never be forgiven’: UN climate chief warns world to act or face disaster - “Not one single nation among you can afford this, as climate disasters rip double digits off GDP" says Simon Stiell #COP30 #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Here we go! 👊🌏 #COP30
- IPCC Chair @jimskeaclimate.bsky.social addressed the opening of Earth Information Day 2025 at COP30 today, stating that “during testing times, and facing complex challenges, IPCC will continue to reach for consensus on a shared and trusted evidence base.” ➡️ Full remarks www.ipcc.ch/2025/11/10/c...
- #COP30 is starting Monday ⤵️
- Reposted by William ColganThe "FirnMelt" project is now funded for the 2026-2032 period through this ERC Synergy program to study the Greenland Ice Sheet’s reaction to increasing surface melt across its vast firn plateau. 👇
- 📣 Meet the new ERC Synergy Grant awardees! Sixty-six research teams have been selected for funding, bringing together 239 scientists. Congratulations to all! ➡️ buff.ly/PSn3bi9 #EUfunded #HorizonEurope #ERCSyG
- Yes, folks! Our six-year “FirnMelt" project will be studying the Greenland Ice Sheet’s reaction to increasing surface melt across its vast firn plateau. Here’s a quick overview.👇 eng.geus.dk/about/news/n...
- Happy Halloween! 🎃 — Otherwise known as '500 days until the IPCC AR7 WG1 literature submission deadline'! 🇺🇳 Our climate community has the observations, the models and the mission — let’s make AR7 legendary! 👊🌏 #IPCC #AR7 #IPCCAR7 #ClimateScience #ScienceForPolicy #PeerReview @ipcc.bsky.social
- Reposted by William Colgan‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
- Hey ice-sheet modellers! 👋 The next Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP) workshop will be hosted in Copenhagen (at GEUS) 23-25 March 2026. Details to follow! Learn more about ISMIP at: www.ismip.org
- Hey ice-sheet modellers! 👋 It’s time to register for the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP) protocol workshop being hosting here in Copenhagen (at GEUS) 23-25 March 2026. Register: www.tilmeld.dk/ismip7worksh... Learn more at how ISMIP supports the IPCC process: www.ismip.org
- Yes! Time to get excited for #COP30 in Brazil! Let’s up the focus and ambition on melting ice! 👊🌏 ambitionmeltingice.org
- Yes, Kat, your ‘Quest for the North Pole’ podcast was a huge highlight for me too! 👊🌏
- My absolute favorite project was The Quest for the North Pole, MF’s podcast with iHeartRadio, which I created, hosted, and wrote most of the episodes for, with excellent script-writing assists from all of the MF staff. I even went to Greenland with @glacierbytes.bsky.social for an episode! 3/n
- It would be super fantastic to see more nations join the ‘Ambition on Melting Ice’ at #COP30 next month! You can learn more about the AMI focus on sea-level rise within the #UNFCCC process at: ambitionmeltingice.org Sweden is in. About time Denmark?
- The first of Earth's ecosystems has passed a 'tipping point', a new report warns just weeks before COP30 in Brazil, with other environmental systems including the Amazon, major ocean currents and ice sheets not far behind. www.dw.com/en/global-he...
- Yes, this is still happening at US science agencies. 👇
