Survivors of childhood trauma are at increased risk of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). The Recovering from Child Abuse Programme (RCAP) is a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) group promoting adaptive coping strategies which may help overcome CPTSD symptoms in adult survivors of childhood trauma. We sought to explore patient experiences of factors influencing treatment acceptability and potential mechanisms of therapeutic change in a sample of participants in the RCAP programme. As the group was delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating a transition to remote therapy, we further aimed to capture experiences of the transition to telehealth delivery of the programme. A naturalistic sample of 10 women with CPTSD attending a specialist out-patient psychological trauma service participated in the study. Therapy sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and group members completed written feedback forms following each session. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the written feedback and transcripts. The RCAP was acceptable to group members and several themes were identified related to the experience of change in the group. Key themes centred on group solidarity; safety in the psychotherapeutic process; schema changes related to the self, others and future catalysed by the shifting of self-blame; increased emotional regulation to feel safer in the present; and increased future optimism. Therapeutic progress continued following the transition to telehealth, although face-to-face delivery was generally preferred. The programme was acceptable and led to cognitive change, enabling increased emotional regulation in the present and improved self-concept, thereby addressing key symptoms of CPTSD.

A daily time series of ‘clear-sky’ surface temperature has been compiled of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) using 1 km resolution moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) land-surface temperature (LST) maps from 2000 to 2006. We also used mass-concentration data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to study mass change in relationship to surface melt from 2003 to 2006. The mean LST of the GIS increased during the study period by ∼0.27°C a−1. The increase was especially notable in the northern half of the ice sheet during the winter months. Melt-season length and timing were also studied in each of the six major drainage basins. Rapid (<15 days) and sustained mass loss below 2000 m elevation was triggered in 2004 and 2005 as recorded by GRACE when surface melt begins. Initiation of large-scale surface melt was followed rapidly by mass loss. This indicates that surface meltwater is flowing rapidly to the base of the ice sheet, causing acceleration of outlet glaciers, thus highlighting the metastability of parts of the GIS and the vulnerability of the ice sheet to air-temperature increases. If air temperatures continue to rise over Greenland, increased surface melt will play a large role in ice-sheet mass loss.

Fluctuations of glacier termini were studied in two regions in Alaska. In the Wrangell Mountains, 15 glaciers on Mount Wrangell, an active volcano, have been monitored over the past 30 years by surveying, photogrammetry and satellite. Results, which are consistent between different methods of measurement, indicate that the termini of most glaciers were stationary or retreating slightly. However, the termini of the 30 km long Ahtna Glacier and the smaller Center and South MacKeith Glaciers began to advance in the early 1960s and have advanced steadily between 5 and 18 m a−1 since then. These three glaciers flow from the active North Crater, where increased volcanic heating since 1964 has melted over 7 x 107 m3 of ice. We suspect that volcanic meltwater has changed the basal conditions for the three glaciers, resulting in their advance.

The terminus fluctuations of six tide-water and near-tide-water glaciers in College Fjord, Prince William Sound, have been monitored since 1931 by surveying, photogrammetry and, most recently, by satellite imagery. Harvard Glacier, a 40 km long tide-water glacier, has been advancing at an average rate of nearly 20 ma−1 since 1931, while the adjacent Yale Glacier has retreated at approximately 50 ma−1 during the same period though, for short periods, both of these rates have been much higher. The striking contrast between the terminus behavior of Yale and Harvard Glaciers, which parallel each other in the same fiord, and are derived from the same snowfield, supports the hypothesis that their terminus behavior is largely the result of dynamic controls rather than changes in climate.

The different snow and ice types on a glacier may be subdivided according to the glacier-facies concept. The surficial expression of some facies may be detected at the end of the balance year by the use of visible and near-infrared image data from the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) and thematic mapper (TM) sensors. Ice and snow can be distinguished by reflectivity differences in individual or ratioed TM bands on Brúarjökull, an outlet glacier on the northern margin of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland. The Landsat scene shows the upper limit of wet snow on 24 August 1986. Landsat-derived reflectance is lowest for exposed ice and increases markedly at the transient snow line. Above the slush zone is a gradual increase in near-infrared reflectance as a result of decreasing grain-size of the snow, which characterizes drier snow. Landsat data are useful in measuring the areal extent of the ice facies, the slush zone within the wet-snow facies, the snow facies (combined wet-snow, percolation and dry-snow facies), and the respective positions of the transient snow line and the slush limit. In addition, fresh snowfall and/or airborne contaminants, such as soot and tcphra, can limit the utility of Landsat data for delineation of the glacier facies in some cases.

Vatnajökull, Iceland, is the Earth’s most studied ice cap and represents a classical glaciological field site on the basis of S. Pálsson’s seminal glaciological field research in the late 18th century. Since the 19th century, Vatnajökull has been the focus of an array of glaciological studies by scientists from many nations, including many remote-sensing investigations since 1951. Landsat-derived positions of the termini of 11 outlet glaciers of Vatnajökull were compared with frontal positions of six of these 11 outlet glaciers determined by field observations during the period 1973–92. The largest changes during the 19 year period (1973–92) occurred in the large lobate, surge-type outlet glaciers along the southwestern, western, and northern margins of Vatnajökull. Tungnaárjökull receded −1413 ± 112 m (−1380 ± 1 m from ground observations), and Brúarjökull receded −1975 ± 191 m (−2096 ± 5 m from extrapolated ground observations) between 1973 and 1992. Satellite images can be used to delineate glacier margin changes on a time-lapse basis, if the glacier margin can be spectrally discriminated from terminal moraines and sandur deposits and if the advance/recession is larger than maximum image pixel size. “Local knowledge” of glaciers is critically important, however, in the accurate delineation of glacier margins on Landsat images.

The first European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images offer opportunities for studying glacier surface properties and near-surface features. Analysis of back-scatter values from digital SAR data from 18 January, 7 June, 1 September and 25 October 1993 of Brúarjökull, an outlet glacier on the northeastern margin of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, that has a history of episodic surges, reveals several back-scatter boundaries that may relate to glacier facies and, inferentially, to mass balance. For example, a strong back-scatter boundary on the 18 January image of the snow-covered glacier, representing a back-scatter coefficient, σ°, difference of 4.34dB, appears to coincide with the position of the transient snow line at the end of the 1990–91 budget year. The boundary is visible on the 7 September 1991 Landsat thematic mapper (TM) image. The terminus is very difficult to define because of back-wasting from the last surge (1963–64) but is most easily delineated on the 1 September 1993 SAR and the 7 September 1991 TM images, in part due to the presence of ice-margin lakes.