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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New Genetic Analysis of Antarctic Minke Whales Challenges “Krill Surplus Hypothesis”
20.01.2010
A new genetic analysis of Antarctic minke whales published this week in the journal Molecular Ecology suggests that these smaller whales have not benefited from excessive hunting of other larger whale species during the beginning and mid 20th century.
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Exxon Valdez Oil Spil Clean-Up Slowed Due to Lack of Oxygen and Nutrients for Biodegrading Organisms
19.01.2010
Results of research on the biodegradation of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska has been published on the website of Nature Geoscience. The results show that the combination of low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the lower layers of the beaches slow down the aerobic biodegradation of remaining…
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High Arctic a Safer Breeding Ground for Tiny Shorebirds
18.01.2010
A new study published in the journal Science shows that Canadian scientists might have figured out why millions of tiny shorebirds migrate from South America to the Arctic to nest. According to Grant Gilchrist, a biologist with Environment Canada and Carleton University in Ottawa,"the Canadian Arctic supports huge numbers of…
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Invading Trees Likely to Cause Increased Warming in the Arctic
13.01.2010
Trees seem to be slowly moving northward as the tundra in the Arctic melts. According to a study from University of California Berkley scientists published in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the northward expansion of the treeline (the northernmost point at…
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Arctic Tern Shown to Be Farthest-Travelling Animal in the World
13.01.2010
A study by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the Arctic tern travels approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometres) during its lifetime.
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Sea-Ice Deprived Polar Bears Looking for New Habitat
11.01.2010
Results from a long-term study published in the December issue of Arctic, the quarterly magazine of the Arctic Institute of North America, show changes in polar bears’ habitat in response to changing sea ice conditions in the southern Beaufort Sea.
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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.
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Melting Sea Ice Awakens Arctic Ocean
08.01.2010
Results of a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters have shown that the Arctic Ocean’s waters are increasingly supporting summer marine life due to warming-related sea ice loss. Until recently considered to be a rather quiet ocean, researchers from the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory in Seattle have…
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New Potential Cures against Tropical Diseases Found in Antarctica
31.12.2009
Chemist Bill Baker and disease expert Dennis Kyle, both from the University of South Florida (USF), have found an interesting compound under a retreating glacier in Antarctica which could hold the cure for tropical diseases.
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Glacial Nutrients Contribute to Oceanic Food Chain
28.12.2009
A study recently published in the journal Nature shows that the disappearance of glacial ice might lead to the disappearance of the production and export of high-quality food from glacial watersheds to marine ecosystems, which could have a significant impact on marine food webs. Researchers from four universities and the…
