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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Increase Seen in Plant Biomass in Arctic Tundra
12.04.2012
According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia and the University of Alaska Fairbanks and published in Environmental Resarch Letters, the aboveground live biomass of Arctic tundra vegetation has increased by 19.8% all throughout the circumpolar North since 1982.
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Mystery Disease Afflicting Polar Bears, Seals and Walruses in the Arctic
12.04.2012
A mystery disease that has been blamed for the deaths of many seals and has infected walruses has now appeared in polar bears as well. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), polar bears were found to have patchy hair loss and oozing sores. These symptoms are similat to what researchers…
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NRC Releases Synthesis of Reports on the State of the Polar Regions
04.04.2012
The US National Research Council (NRC) has just released a synthesis of reports from thousands of scientists from 60 countries who participated in research projects during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007- 2008.
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Surface Lake in Antarctica Offers Clues to Ancient Life on Earth
31.03.2012
Stromatolites in the largest surface lake in Antarctica could help scientists better understand the conditions in which primitive life forms on Earth once thrived. A team of researchers was surprised to find stromatolites (structures that form in shallow water when the biofilms of microorganisms trap and cement grains of sediment and build…
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Penguin Breeding Cycles and Populations Affected by Warming along Antarctic Peninsula
26.03.2012
Rising temperatures along the western Antarctic Peninsula are affecting three different species of penguin that share the same breeding grounds in the region, according to research conducted by Prof. Heather Lynch and her colleagues at the Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. Warming conditions have led to the…
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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.
