Articles & Interviews

Sciencepoles articles look at key findings from a range of polar science and research fields. Our articles RSS feed will inform you when new articles are published on this website.

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Princess Elisabeth Antarctica: Changing the Way We Think about Using Energy

29.04.2010

Belgium’s new Antarctic research station, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA), is unique in that is was designed and built to be the world’s first “zero emission” polar research station, running entirely on renewable wind and solar power. Built in the Dronning Maud Land of East Antarctica as Belgium’s main contribution…
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ICED: Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean

02.04.2010

Some of the most evident expressions of global climate change have been found in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Changes to the environment, including modifications in sea ice extent and concentration, have been associated with variations in ecosystems (including changes in seabird and krill abundance in particular areas) and biogeochemical…
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Kazuyuki Shiraishi on Belgo-Japanese Cooperation in the Dronning Maud Land

27.01.2010

Dr. Kazuyuki Shiraishi is Vice Director-General in charge of Antarctic Programs at the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) as well as a professor of geology. He has a particular interest in the evolution of continental crusts, especially the Gondwana Supercontinent, which existed between about 550 million and 165…
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Robert Bindschadler on West Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier

06.01.2010

Robert Bindschadler is a leading expert in the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets. He is Chief Scientist of NASA's Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, a Senior Fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center, a Fellow at the American Geophysical Union, and a past President of the International Glaciological Society.…
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Steven Goderis: Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica with JARE 51

21.12.2009

Antarctica is not only a valuable place to conduct research about the Earth, its climate and its geological history; it's also a good place to learn more about our solar system and its history. The massive ice sheet covering Antarctica and the continent's relative isolation from human development make it…
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Frank Pattyn on Ice Sheet Models and Ice-ocean Interaction

05.11.2009

A glaciologist and ice sheet modeller at the Glaciological Laboratory, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) , Frank Pattyn is a key member of the international ice sheet modelling community and a leading expert on ice sheet dynamics. His most recent interest lies…
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Martin Siegert: Current Understanding and Ongoing Research of Antarctic Subglacial Lakes

25.09.2009

Martin Siegert is the Head of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and leader of a new consortium to study sub-glacial Lake Ellsworth in West Antarctica. As co-Chair of the Antarctic Climate Evolution Programme (ACE) and a member of the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Exploration group (SALE) ,…
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Francesco Frati: What Can the Genetic Makeup of Antarctic Springtails Tell Us?

01.09.2009

For as long as life has existed on Earth, environmental factors have had a significant influence over where a particular organism can live and to what extent it can thrive. Yet the environment can also ultimately influence the genetic structure of a given population of organisms, as Dr. Franceso Frati…
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Karin Lochte on the Work of the Alfred Wegener Institute

20.08.2009

Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) carries out cutting edge research in the Arctic and Antarctic as well as in the high and mid latitude oceans. A biological oceanographer involved in climate change research, Professor Karin Lochte became Director of AWI in 2007. Earlier in her career, she was professor of…
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Hugh Ducklow: Long Term Ecological Research at Palmer Station

31.07.2009

So far most of Antarctica has not been greatly affected by climate change, at least as far as researchers can tell. However there is one place in Antarctica that has witnessed some of the most drastic changes on the planet: the Antarctic Peninsula. Here temperatures have been rising, sea ice…