iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Thanks to @earthscope.org for making the archiving process easy, and facilitating the reuse of hard-won, tax-payer funded data collection.

020 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Here's a look at the glaciohydraulic tremor amplitude over the course of the melt season, from a paper soon to be (re-)submitted. If you have any interest in glacier seismology, or know someone who does, I hope you'll spread the word! I'd love to have more science come out of this dataset

120 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

I'm very pleased to have publically archived what I think is an exceptional seismic data set. 5 months from 8 stations on the ablation area of the West Greenland ice sheet, NE of Ilulissat. Very good data quality and uptime spanning the entirety of the ablation season. ds.iris.edu/gmap/#networ...

1102 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

At this field area, downstream of McCarthy, Alaska, we can go and touch these overridden sediments and study them with as much detail as we wish. More commonly, these sediments are only accessible as a cm-scale core or via low resolution geophysical surveys.

070 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Then, imagine my surprise when we learned that two complete glacial cycles were preserved in the sediment below! These predate the LGM and extend back probably close to 100 ka

180 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I still find it mind boggling that in one of my favorite places, in Alaska, we can walk along on the bed of an ancient, water-terminating ice stream, just as we might find in Antarctica or Greenland. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

1110 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

cool- thanks! I hadn't seen that one. So perhaps if the present ACC temperatures are a transient warming, which then passes, then they can all recover..? (with the provision that the models all are simulating key physics sufficiently)

100 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Glaciologists- are you aware of any literature in the last couple decades that finds Thwaites to be in a stable setting? Or even that it might not collapse? I'm not sure why we keep writing that "Thwaites Glacier _might_ collapse" Can we just all cut to the chase?

110 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

A local journalist reached out to ask about regional glacier change- one of the first places I checked was maps.theia-land.fr, a really super, interactive resource, hidden within Hugonnet et al., 2021, www.nature.com/articles/s41....

040 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

This is some bullshit “The NSF polar office has awarded 88 percent less money in grants this year.” This would take standard ~10% funding rates down to 1%. No wonder my program officer was forbidden from telling me the funding rate after we were rejected www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

051 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

My wife hears Richard Alley giving kickoff plenary at an IPY meeting, and comes down the hall to ask "Who is _this_? This person is a delight!" Talk about generational talent...

051 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

But I guess, if the main point is that "it's complicated," it's a small wonder that I hadn't yet encountered this essay. Where's the fist shaking?!

010 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Here's the glacier intervention article that I wish everyone would lead with: eos.org/opinions/gla... Neither in thrall to the wonders of Antarctica nor absolutist in opposition, the authors illuminate the middle way and finally get right the fact that there are many many complicated considerations

120 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Although in retrospect, I realize part of the reason this was so popular is that it was a break from otherwise wall-to-wall covid coverage. For more bewildering coverage of the highest impact work I’ll ever do, I tried to track it here: tbartholomaus.org/media/#:~:te....

npr.org

Meet The 'Glacier Mice' : Short Wave

(Encore episode.) In 2006, while hiking around the Root Glacier in Alaska, glaciologist Tim Bartholomaus encountered something strange and unexpected on the ice — dozens of fuzzy, green moss balls. It...

111 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Hearing all the trump news makes me think of a grad student who’s sending me a new draft manuscript every 4 hrs, with the note, “New version! Ignore the last one. Give me feedback on this one ASAP.”

030 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Have you gotten any reviews back recently? Anything out of the ordinary? I remain committed to my work of understanding glacier behavior, in order to empower community responses to catastrophic flooding. But I'm not sure how to proceed in this mix of not enough and too much information

010 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Any other recent experiences NSF experiences out there I can compare with? There were glacier proposals, and according to 2024 best practice and current NSF guidance (www.nsf.gov/funding/lear...), we wrote "The team is dedicated to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in cryospheric science"

nsf.gov

Broader Impacts

100 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

I've just had two resubmitted proposals rejected by NSF's Arctic Natural Sciences. One had only two reviews (E and VG) w/o a panel summary, and one had a short note from a program officer (stating that reviews were attached) but without any kind of peer review whatsoever. Unlucky? Or NSF in 2025?

230 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

The @uidaho.bsky.social Dept of Civil and Enviro Engineering is hiring a Geological Engineer! Open until filled. I highly recommend both the Univ of Idaho, and life in Moscow, ID. Excellent research and teaching support, stellar quality of life. uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/46669

uidaho.peopleadmin.com

Regular Faculty

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Idaho seeks candidates for a full-time tenure track or tenured faculty position in Geological Engineering at the level ...

001 0

Reposted by Tim Bartholomaus

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Ice sheet loss leads to coastal flooding- now and in the future. Unfortunately, ice sheet modelling groups haven't been empowered to reproduce observed ice sheet changes in a way that is necessary to have confidence in projections. See my #AGU24 presentation here: tbartholomaus.org/ice-sheet-mo...

tbartholomaus.org

Ice sheet modeling to inform sea level rise planning - Bartholomaus | Glaciology, Geophysics, Earth Science

At AGU 2024, in Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to illuminate the need for applied ice sheet modeling. Ice sheet modeling started out as a niche, obscure, curiosity. But, in the meandering manne...

161 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

tbartholomaus.org

Ice sheet modeling to inform sea level rise planning - Bartholomaus | Glaciology, Geophysics, Earth Science

161 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

This is cool. I also can't help but watch and try to deconvolve EOFs in my head

010 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Be in touch if you have questions or want to discuss more. The first step to addressing this problem is identifying and communicating the problem.

000 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

This problem stems from the novelty of the research in this area and the legacy view of ice sheet modeling as an academic curiosity. Now that there is a clear applied need for ice sheet modeling to inform coastal planning, there needs to be a funding program to meet this need.

100 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Because the simulations of observed ice sheet change are so flawed, the projections of sea level rise are likely flawed similarly. This means the funding going towards protecting coastal communities is potentially misallocated- it may not provide the level of protection for which its designed.

100 0

Reposted by Tim Bartholomaus

Denis Gilbert 🌎 @denis-gilbert.ca · 20/12/2024

I created a starter pack on "Sea level change and coastal erosion". If you think I should add other people, please let me know. 7/x @drstrawpants.wobbly.earth @gaelforget.net @gomezserrano-ma.bsky.social @timbartholomaus.bsky.social @bhamlington.bsky.social go.bsky.app/B6spBdu

023 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

The national labs represent a fantastic model for how actionable, credible projections of sea level rise could be produced. Our country decided that building a U.S. resilient to climate change is in the nation's best interest, and natl labs could meet the need. Let's implement for sea level rise.

240 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

As you write, @jedokaplan.bsky.social, this doesn't replace the creative discovery of basic, PI-driven science, but can effectively get the work done that's necessary for actionable science. (I use "actionable science" in the sense of Lipscomb et al., 2024: egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...)

egusphere.copernicus.org

Brief communication: Sea-level projections, adaptation planning, and actionable science

Abstract. As climate scientists seek to deliver actionable science for adaptation planning, there are risks in using novel results to inform decision-making. Premature acceptance can lead to maladapta...

000 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Yes- absolutely. The GCM development you reference is one of the models I have for success. See the slide below from a few years ago, in which I argue it's time to move ice sheet modeling from a passion project based in a "buddy's garage" to a professional endeavor at an NCAR-like facility

110 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

In a way, it's talking about specialization. In academia, everyone does everything. One person writes the papers, does the coding, runs the analyses, writes the grants, gives the talks and does outreach, creates the figures... that's fine and can be fun to do. But it's not efficient.

010 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

And yes, I 100% agree that basic, competitive science must continue- that's where the bleeding edge of discovery is going to keep happening. But when it comes time to actually implementing the discoveries and building actionable insights, a different approach is more efficient.

110 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

But certainly, these hypothetical, mission-focused staff would end up producing a product (the ensemble of simulations) that could drive and motivate many years of basic science associated with ensemble analysis. And that's in addition to informing $1 trillion in adaptation spending by 2100.

020 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

i.e., don't worry about papers, don't worry about the next grant. Just focus on building into the ice sheet models those processes that are holding us back from most realistically simulating and projecting ice sheet change.

250 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Instead, in the conversations I had (close to 10), there was clear agreement that our goal of informing coastal adaptation and projecting sea level rise would benefit from an alternate model. In this model, staff would be hired to focus specifically on model improvement, and attaining the mission.

120 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Consider the production of a large ensemble of ice sheet simulations to project the contribution of the ice sheets to sea level rise. The status quo system would involve grad students and postdocs both running the simulations AND also trying to write their own papers to accrue academic prestige.

120 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

I didn't anticipate this agreement, and just assumed that more people would defend the "need" for everyone to get a piece of the pie, or have their own shot at first-author pubs. But instead, everyone I talked to about this was open to the concept of organizing a different set of incentives.

160 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

While useful for discovery science, work within the traditional academic structure of competition and academic prestige (through eg high-profile publications, grant dollars) significantly slows the solution of collaborative problems like sea level rise I found surprising agreement at #AGU24

2121 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Cool perspectives in the Hot Topics in Climate Policy at #AGU24. Neat to think about how best to affect change and communicate science.

050 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Super great tool now online, shared by Denis Felikson, to make it easy to compare ice sheet model output with observations of ice sheet change. #AGU24 Will be very useful for the validation and increased confidence in the next round of projections of ice sheet change

070 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I've really been enjoying the bike infrastructure in DC, at #AGU24. Lots of nice, protected bike lanes and the bike share systems are very easy to use.

071 0

Reposted by Tim Bartholomaus

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

The financial costs of the #ClimateCrisis “are now starkly apparent to Americans in the form of soaring home insurance premiums – with those in the riskiest areas for floods, storms and wildfires suffering the steepest rises of all.” “A climate crisis is starting to stir an insurance crisis.”

theguardian.com

How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized

‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say

18321164 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Here's the punchline for #AGU24: "A singular, critical mission deserves mission-focused staff" Backup and justification at my talk tomorrow afternoon: 3 pm Tuesday SY23F-05 The massive unmet need for applied ice sheet modeling in Capitol/Congress of Marriott Marquis (below ground Meeting Level 4)

143 0

Tim Bartholomaus @timbartholomaus.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Nice- I just sent you an email w/ my number

010 0