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.
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Russians Reach Subglacial Lake Vostok
09.02.2012
On Sunday 5 February 2012, a Russian drilling team was able to penetrate the surface of Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica (250 km long and 30 km wide), which began to be covered by ice between 15 and 34 million years ago. Having not had contact with…
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Moving Teardrop-Shaped Lakes Discovered on George VI Ice Shelf
03.02.2012
Researhcers from the University of Chicago have been keeping an eye on teardrop-shaped lakes on top of the George VI Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula, which travel as much as 1.5 metres a day – but in a very unusual manner.
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Russian Drill Team Close to Penetrating Lake Vostok
31.01.2012
A Russian drilling team is close to penetrating subglacial Lake Vostok, located more than three and a half kilometers deep in the Antarctic Ice Sheet, not far from the Russian Vostok Station at the Magnetic South Pole. After two decades of drilling through several kilometres of ice, the team is…
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Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Found off Antarctic Coast
31.01.2012
According to a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology that was conducted by Jorge Hernández, Björn Olsen and their colleagues from Uppsala University in Sweden, bacteria that are resistant to nearly all kinds of antibiotics are present in seawater off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The fact that…
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Engineering Team for Lake Ellsworth Drilling Project Completes Deep-Field Expedition
17.01.2012
Four engineers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have returned to the UK after completing a journey to one of the harshest parts of Antarctica to put in place equipment and supplies for the Lake Ellsworth Subglacial Lake drilling project, which will explore an ancient lake buried 3 km deep…
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Strong Earthquakes Hit Antarctica
17.01.2012
A strong earthquake and two strong aftershocks struck the South Orkney Islands in Antarctica northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula on Sunday 15 January, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
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Rare Albino-Like Penguin Spotted in Antarctica
17.01.2012
Tourists on a National Geographic Journey to Antarctica cruise discovered a rare chinstrap penguin with white and light-brown colouration while passing through the South Shetland Islands.
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CHINARE 28 Completes Kunlun Station’s First Antarctic Survey Telescope
16.01.2012
The 28th Chinese Antarctic Expedition (CHINARE 28) has recently completed the primary mirror on Kunlun Station’s first self-developed Chinese Antarctic Survey Telescope (AST3). The team has also started the commissioning phase for the optical, mechanical and electrical control system.
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Antarctic Marine Environment Found to Have High Levels of Mercury
09.01.2012
Seabirds in the Southern Ocean have mercury levels four times that of seabirds found elsewhere on the planet, according to research conducted by a team of French and Australian oceanographers led by Daniel Cossa from the French Institute of Recherche for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER).
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Unique New Species Discovered around Antarctic Hydrothermal Vents
04.01.2012
Several species new to science have been discovered inhabiting areas around deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor along the East Scotia Ridge between the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. While hydrothermal vents have been studied in other parts of the world’s oceans, this is the…
