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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Thawing Permafrost Attributed to Acute Global Warming in Past
10.04.2012
An international study conducted by researchers from the US, Italy and the UK published in Nature has shown that past thawing of permafrost on Earth and the carbon that was released from it into the atmosphere led to a runaway warming effect.
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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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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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Strong Earthquakes Hit Antarctica
17.01.2012
A strong earthquake and two strong aftershocks struck the South Orkney Islands in Antarctica northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula on Sunday 15 January, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
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New Zealanders Measuring Movement of Magnetic South Pole
31.12.2011
Two research scientists from New Zealand, Stewart Bennie and Tony Hurst of GNS Science, are currently on an expedition in Antarctica to take measurements of the Magnetic South Pole.
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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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Origins of Gamburtsev Sublacial Mountains Explained
17.11.2011
An international team of scientists from seven nations recently published in Nature their findings regarding the origins of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, located 3 km beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. How the mountains formed is a mystery that has interested scientists since they were first discovered in 1958 as…
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Studying How Microbes in Permafrost Respond to Thawing
07.11.2011
Recent assessments estimate that Arctic permafrost stores as much as 1,672 billion metric tons of carbon – 250 times what the United States emitted in greenhouse gasses in 2009. As temperatures rise, scientists worldwide are concerned about the possible consequences of a massive release of carbon from the soils thawing…
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Greenland Mud Volcanoes Possible Birthplace of Terrestrial Life
31.10.2011
In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of scientists lead by by researchers from the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon identified the mud volcanoes at Isua in southwest Greenland as a possible source of primitive life on Earth. During the…
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Permafrost May Become Major Carbon Source by End of Century
31.08.2011
Soils at high latitudes might turn from a carbon sink into a major carbon source by the end of the 21st century, according to a recently developed model.
