Ice: a phenomenon which from time immemorial has carried an aura of mystery and inspired human fantasy. Even today, the physical properties of ice provoke a sense of amazement.
Throughout history, people’s perception of ice has changed again and again. While glacial ice has restricted and threatened human existence, bringing cold and even death, glacial erosion has resulted in many expanses of superior soil, recognised for its agricultural fertility.
In the nineteenth century, a self-sacrificing urge for discovery placed polar ice in the glittering spotlight of heroism. Accepting the challenge might eventually lead to fame and honour - or perhaps to a lonely death.
The earth's ice, including that of the Arctic and Antarctic, has been viewed at all times as an established fact, harbouring the potential for a new Ice Age and lurking as a quiet threat to the very existence of humans on this planet.
During the last decades, however, scientific research has been turning the millennia-old fear of ice into a fear of ice-absence. The world's glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate, the climate is changing and sea levels are rising; once more, these alterations in climate are directing our interest towards glaciers and ice. Icebergs drifting through the sea have developed into a sign of the precarious climatic balance to which we in the northern hemisphere owe our prosperity.
None of this has decreased our fascination and astonishment over such features of fleeting beauty as they float by.
Throughout history, people’s perception of ice has changed again and again. While glacial ice has restricted and threatened human existence, bringing cold and even death, glacial erosion has resulted in many expanses of superior soil, recognised for its agricultural fertility.
In the nineteenth century, a self-sacrificing urge for discovery placed polar ice in the glittering spotlight of heroism. Accepting the challenge might eventually lead to fame and honour - or perhaps to a lonely death.
The earth's ice, including that of the Arctic and Antarctic, has been viewed at all times as an established fact, harbouring the potential for a new Ice Age and lurking as a quiet threat to the very existence of humans on this planet.
During the last decades, however, scientific research has been turning the millennia-old fear of ice into a fear of ice-absence. The world's glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate, the climate is changing and sea levels are rising; once more, these alterations in climate are directing our interest towards glaciers and ice. Icebergs drifting through the sea have developed into a sign of the precarious climatic balance to which we in the northern hemisphere owe our prosperity.
None of this has decreased our fascination and astonishment over such features of fleeting beauty as they float by.
