SciencePoles news

Recent Polar Science and Climate Change news are featured here. Our news RSS feed will inform you when news are published on this website.

Climate Changing at a Rapid Pace: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Preview

03.10.2005

According to the calculations of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPIM) in Hamburg, over the next century the climate will change more quickly than it has at any stage in the earth's recent history. The global temperature could rise by up to four degrees by the end…
Ocean Acidification Threatens Coldwater Ecosystems and Biodiversity

03.10.2005

According to a new study by an international team of oceanographers, rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is threatening to make oceans too corrosive for marine organisms to grow protective shells. Organisms in the polar regions will be the first affected.
Sea Ice Decline Intensifies

28.09.2005

For the fourth consecutive year, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists using satellite data have tracked a stunning reduction in arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer. The persistence of near-record low extents leads the group to conclude…
Polar Explorer Collected Data for Cryosat Calibration and Validation Programme

27.09.2005

In March 2005, Marc Cornelissen led the Pole Track 2005 expedition on a 300km ski trek across the Arctic ice. Along the way, he collected valuable snow depth measurements and deployed mobile weather stations. These measurements hold the key to producing accurate maps of change over time in ice thickness…
Arctic Shrubs Could Contribute to Global Warming

26.09.2005

A new study, carried out by US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and at Colorado State University, indicates that warming in the Arctic is stimulating the growth of vegetation, which could in turn affect the local climate, causing an additional climate warming of several degrees over the next…
Human Influence on Atmosphere Is an Old Story

23.09.2005

Human activity has been influencing greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere for at least 2,000 years and probably longer, according to a surprising new study of methane trapped in Antarctic ice cores conducted by an international research team of US, Australiand and New Zealand institutes.
Hurricanes May Be Getting Stronger

19.09.2005

According to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years. The increase in powerful hurricanes coincides with a rise approaching 1 degree Fahrenheit…
Ozone Hole May Shrink This Year

19.09.2005

The hole in the ozone layer in 2005 will probably be only slightly smaller than the all-time largest measurement in 2003 said a U.N. agency.
Global Warming Causing Soils to Release Carbon

09.09.2005

A study of the National Soil Resources Institute published in the journal Nature monitored the carbon content of soil in England and Wales from 1978 to 2003. The study concluded that British soils are losing 13 million tons of carbon per year. Since the carbon is released regardless of how…
Cryosat: The European Space Agency’s Ice Mission

06.09.2005

European Space Agency's CryoSat mission is dedicated to monitoring precise changes in the thickness of polar ice sheets and floating sea ice over a 3-year period.