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.

Sediment from Southern Ocean to Provide Clues on Antarctic Climate History

11.01.2010

Scientists from Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre in Wellington, New Zealand are now headed for Antarctica to drill seabed cores off Wilkes Land on the edge of the East Antarctic Ice Shelf. The scientists will be investigating links between past climate change and the stability of the Antarctic ice sheets.
Rich Marine Life in Changing Bellingshausen Sea

18.12.2009

New photographs revealed this week by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) show ice fish, octopus, sea pigs, giant sea spiders, rare rays and basket stars to be thriving in Antarctica's continental shelf seas. The pictures were taken as part of an international effort onboard the BAS Royal Research Ship James…
B17B Breaking Up As It Drifts Along

14.12.2009

B17B, the giant iceberg that calved off the Ross Ice Shelf 10 years ago and was recently spotted heading towards Australia, has gradually started breaking up as it drifts along. Following the ocean currents, the iceberg's trajectory has shifted and is now flowing in an easterly direction to the south…
Antarctic Iceberg B17B Drifting towards Australia

10.12.2009

Nearly ten years ago, iceberg B17B calved off the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf. One of the largest to have calved off of the ice shelf (measuring 19 km long and 8 km wide), the iceberg is now making its way towards Australia.
Aurora Australis to Undertake Scientific Voyage

07.12.2009

Nearly 40 scientists have embarked on the icebreaker Aurora Australis for a six-week trip covering about 7,000 nautical miles of the Southern Ocean. The science trip, undertaken by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), will mainly focus on two key projects: the assessment of the impacts of bottom fishing and ocean…
New Fossils Show Antarctica May Have Been Refuge during End-Permian Extinction

03.12.2009

Researchers have identified a new fossil species, Kombuisia antarctica, a species they believe survived the massive End-Permian Extinction 252 million years ago (an extinction event that wiped out most living species on the planet and may have been caused by global warming) by living in cooler climates in Antarctica.
SCAR’s Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment Released

02.12.2009

Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment, the first comprehensive review of the state of Antarctica's climate and its relationship to the global climate system, has just been published by theScientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).
GBASE Project to Investigate Subglacial Environments in Antarctica

30.11.2009

A team of researchers representing nine institutions have embarked on a project to drill through the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to gain access to a subglacial lake and cavity below the ice shelf. A part of the WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access…
Study Shows East Antarctic Ice Loss Faster and Larger than Originally Thought

26.11.2009

Until now, scientists believed East Antarctica to be moremelt-resistant than West Antarctica and that it was in balance; howevera new study published in Nature Geoscience indicates that this in fact may notbe the case.
Ancient Ice Core to Provide New Insight into Future Climate Change

25.11.2009

An international team of scientists from Australia, Great Britain, the United States and France is hoping to learn more about the role of carbon dioxide in past climate changes to see how increasing levels of CO2 might influence our climate today. The aim of the ICECAP (Investigating the Cryospheric Evolution…