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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Climate Changes Poses Risk to Antarctic Fur Seal Pups
26.03.2012
A study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology has found that changing weather conditions predicted by climate models might affect the metabolic rates and thus the survival rates of fur seal pups. Windier and wetter conditions predicted in the Antarctic in the coming years could force young seals…
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Marine Mammals Face Increased Risk from Arctic Shipping, Say WCS and Alaska Native Groups
23.03.2012
According to conclusions from a workshop involving Alaska Native groups and the Wildlife Conservation Society, a rapid increase in shipping in the Arctic significantly increases risk posed to marine mammals and the local communities that rely on them. The workshop, held in Anchorage, Alaska 12-14 March, looked at potential impacts…
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Vast Antarctic Algal Bloom Can Be Seen from Space
07.03.2012
A massive algal bloom which has appeared off the coast of Mac Robertson Land in Antarctica is so large it is clearly visible to NASA’s Modis satellite.
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Understanding Longevity of Baydjarakh in Arctic Permafrost
06.03.2012
Polygonal peat plateaus known as baydjarakh, which form through the partial degradation of permafrost, have been stable features of the landscape in Arctic coastal areas for as long as hundreds of thousands of years. However understanding the mechanisms behind their continued longevity, especially as the climate warms, has remained a…
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Salty Antarctic Soils Suck Moisture from Atmosphere
29.02.2012
Salty soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica suck moisture out of the atmosphere, according to research led by Oregon State University geologist Joseph Levy.
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Life in Arctic Waters Persists Even in Winter
24.02.2012
According to preliminary results from research funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), life in the icy waters off the Alaskan coast does not stop completely in winter for microscopic organisms at the base of the food chain, despite cold and dark conditions. This research is particularly interesting as…
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Scientists Revive 32,000 Year-Old Flower Buried in Permafrost
24.02.2012
A team of Russian scientists has been able to revive an extinct species of flowering plant using tissue derived from a nearly 32,000 year-old fruit found buried in the permafrost of northeastern Siberia. The regenerated plant is the oldest grown from preserved plant tissue.
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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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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.
