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.

New Standards Proposed for the Exploration of Antarctica’s Subglacial Lakes

22.05.2007

A new report entitled "Exploration of Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments: Environmental and Scientific Stewardship", by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has developed a set of environmental and scientific protection standards needed to responsibly explore the subglacial lakes under the Antarctic ice sheet.
Climate Change Weakens Southern Ocean Carbon Sink

19.05.2007

A four-year study by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry reveals that an increase in winds over the Southern Ocean, caused by greenhouse gases and ozone depletion, has led to a release of stored CO2 into the atmosphere…
Hundreds of New Species Discovered in Deep Antarctic Waters

18.05.2007

Scientists involved in the Antarctic benthic deep-sea biodiversity (ANDEEP) project, which took place between 2002 and 2005, have found over 700 new species of new marine creatures in the vast, dark deep-sea surrounding Antarctica. These carnivorous sponges, free-swimming worms, crustaceans, and molluscs living in the Weddell Sea provide new insights…
First Satellite Evidence of Significant Melting in West Antarctica

16.05.2007

QuikScat satellite data have provided a team of NASA and university scientists with clear evidence that extensive areas of snow melted in West Antarctica in January 2005 in response to warm temperatures. It's the most significant melt observed using satellites during the past three decades.
Shortcircuit Found in the Overturning Circulation of the Southern Ocean

14.05.2007

Scientists have discovered a 'short-circuit' in the circulation of the world's oceans around Antarctica by tracing the path of helium from underwater volcanoes. This affects the Southern Ocean circulation, which links all the other oceans, and is also relevant to uptake and release of carbon dioxide by the sea -…
CO2 Pulses Released into Atmosphere at End of Last Ice Age

13.05.2007

Analysing sediment cores from the Pacific Ocean seafloor, a research team led by University of Colorado at Boulder tracked the escape of CO2 from the deep sea, through the upper ocean and into the atmosphere during the last 40.000 years. The study shows that the carbon was released in two…
Melting of Greenland Ice Cap Could Have Significant Impact on Climate Change

09.05.2007

According to two new international studies , ">sporadic melting episodes of the relatively small British Ice Sheet during the last ice age were sufficient to cause a significant decrease of the Gulf Stream which throwed the North Atlantic region in a period of glacial cold. With regard to these observations,…
Summary of IPCC’s Mitigation Assessment Report

07.05.2007

On 4 May 2007 the IPCC released Working Group III's contribution to its Fourth Assessment Report. Working Group III's report focuses on mitigation of the effects of climate change, in particular the economic impacts of taking measures in targeted sectors to mitigate climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gasses.
Current Models Underestimate Loss of Arctic Sea Ice

02.05.2007

Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that satellite and other observations show the Arctic ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the eighteen computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…
Clouds and Their Effect on Polar Climate Studied Closely

30.04.2007

A team of researchers recently completed a project to confirm what NASA satellites are telling us about how changes in clouds can affect climate in the coldest regions on Earth.