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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Arctic Permafrost Has Potential to Release More Carbon than Previously Estimated
30.11.2011
A study looking at survey results from 41 international scientists recently published in the journal Nature suggests that the levels of greenhouse gases to be released from thawing permafrost could be significantly higher than previously estimated.
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Climate Change Stunting Growth of 100-Year-Old Moss Shoots in Antarctica
28.11.2011
In a paper to be published in January in the journal Global Change Biology, a team of scientists from the University of Wollongong (UOW) in conjunction with nuclear scientists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) suggests that mosses, the dominant plants in Antarctica, have been affected by current climate change.…
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Treeline in Alaska seeing Faster-Growing Tree Species in a Warming Climate
14.11.2011
A study recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that some white spruce trees in the far north of Alaska have experienced a growth spurt over the course of the past century, particularly since 1950. The study covers 1,000 years of climate history and suggests that ecosystems in…
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Reindeer’s Cooling Strategy Examined
31.10.2011
Reindeer fur keeps the animals well protected from the freezing Arctic temperatures. However what’s puzzled scientists has been how reindeer manage to keep cool during sustained physical activity. A team from the University of Tromsø in Norway determined reindeer’s strategies to keep cool in a study published in The Journal…
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Studying Pacific Walruses as They Cope with Diminishing Arctic Sea Ice
19.08.2011
USGS Alaska Science Center researchers have been attaching satellite radio tags to walruses on the Northwestern Alaska Coast as part of their study into how the species is coping with reduced sea ice conditions.
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Study of Anaktuvuk River Fire Highlights Major Impacts of Tundra Fires on Carbon Storage
31.07.2011
In 2007, the Anaktuvuk River Fire in Alaska – the largest ever recorded tundra fire in the Arctic – burned 1039 km² and released over 2.3 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. A study of the region affected by the fire conducted by resarchers at the University of Alaska…
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Ability to Change Diet Helped Gray Whales Get through Ice Ages
29.07.2011
Pacific gray whales may have been able to survive throughout multiple ice ages over millions of years thanks to a diversified diet, scientists explained in a study published in the online journal PLoS ONE.
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Climate Change a Factor in the Hybridization of Polar and Brown Bears
14.07.2011
New DNA evidence suggests that polar bears and brown bears have been hybridizing during the last 100000 years, according to research published in the journal Current Biology. The research, conducted by Beth Shapiro of Penn State University and Daniel Bradley of Trinity College Dublin, indicates that hybridization seems to take…
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Antarctic Krill’s Key Role in Iron Fertilization in Southern Ocean
07.07.2011
An international team of researchers recently published findings in the journal Limnology and Oceanography showing that Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) – a shrimp-like creature at the core of the Antarctic food web – could play a key role in fertilising the Southern Ocean with iron. Iron is a micronutrient that…
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Pollen Study Helps Scientists Understand Antarctic Climate History
30.06.2011
New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the last traces of vegetation in Antarctica might have existed in a tundra landscape until about 12 million years ago. The study features the most detailed reconstruction of the climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula to…
