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.

Ice Loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Slower than Previously Estimated

21.10.2009

Results of improved ground measurements in West Antarctics were recently published in the online journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems of the American Geophysical Union and the American Geochemical Society. The measurements, made in the framework of theWest Antarctic GPS Network (WAGN) project, showed that the rate of ice loss of the…
First Flight Completed for Operation Ice Bridge

20.10.2009

The first in a long series of flights under Operation Ice Bridge took off on October 16th from Punta Arenas, Chile. A research program by NASA in cooperation with university researchers to image what's happening both on and under the ice in West Antarctica, the purpose of Operation Ice Bridge…
New Clues on Formation of Krill Swarms

15.10.2009

Krill swarm formation, a subject previously unstudied by science, hasbeen investigated recently by a team of scientists from the BritishAntarctic Survey. The report, which was published in the journal DeepSea Research I, shows the team discovered two types of swarm.
Polar and Tropical Temperatures Nearly the Same 50 to 60 Million Years Ago

12.10.2009

Some 50 to 60 million years ago the temperature difference between thesea waters near the equator and at the poles was very small: This is theconclusion reached by a team of scientists from Utrecht University, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the Universityof California at Santa Cruz…
Albatross Camera Sheds Light on Feeding Interaction with Killer Whale

07.10.2009

A study led by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Japanese National Institute of Polar Reasearch in Tokyo and Hokkaido University in January 2009 has yielded its first results. As part of a UK-Japan International Polar Year (IPY) project, four Black-browed albatrosses from the Bird Island colony in…
Antarctic Expedition Looking to Learn More about Weddell Seals’ Survival Strategies

06.10.2009

Eight years after her last visit to Antarctica to study the habits of the Weddell Seal, Biologist Terrie Williams from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) has returned to Antarctica to find out how the Weddell seal can survive the cold temperatures underneath the sea ice at McMurdo…
Robot Submarine to Explore Melting underneath West Antarctic Ice Sheet

02.10.2009

Geologists from Northern Illinois University in partnership with researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Montana State University and several others will be undertaking a five-year investigation of melting at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Dubbed WISSARD, (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling), the multi-million dollar project…
Evidence Antarctic Used to Be a Lot Warmer Found in Ice Core

01.10.2009

Algae and pollen were found in the latest ice core samples taken by theAntarctic Geologic Drilling Program (ANDRILL). Theirpresence provides hard evidence that it was once a lot warmer duringAntarctica's history. The breakthrough findings were made by Dr. Sophie Warny, Louisiana State University assistant professor of geology and geophysics andcurator…
Lasers Reveal Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets Thinning

24.09.2009

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Bristol have analyzed millions of measurements of the ice sheet thickness in Greenland and Antarctica from NASA's high-resolution Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). The results of the analysis, published this week in Nature, show with unprecedented accuracy that…
Microbes Used to Clean Fuel Spills in Antarctica

22.09.2009

One of the most remote and sensitive places on Earth has been subjectedto numerous fuel spills over the past several decades. Approximately10,000 litres used to run research stations and equipment has beenspilled over the last 20 to 30 years, according to Dr. Ian Snape fromthe Australian Antarctic Division.