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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Wildfires Turning Alaskan Forests into Carbon Source
11.02.2011
A joint Canadian-American study published in the journal Nature reported that wildfires in Alaska – which researchers believe are a consequence of climate change – are turning spruce forests into carbon generators. Wildfires release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which further contributes to climate warming. The extent of the impact…
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Mid-Pliocene Arctic Warmer than Today Due to Ocean Currents
10.02.2011
Research published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology offers a new explanation for why the Arctic was warmer than today during the Mid-Pliocene (about 3 million years ago).
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Antarctic Glacier Stream Provides New Clues on Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter
07.02.2011
Every austral summer, a supraglacial stream forms on Cotton Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a mostly ice-free region on Antarctica. As sediment from the surrounding mountain range builds up on the glacier, its darkened surface absorbs the sun, creating a meltwater river on Cotton Glacier, a unique feature. A…
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Arctic Sea-Ice puts the Brakes on Mercury Release
24.01.2011
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a French-American team has underlined the role Arctic sea-ice plays in the mercury cycle. Sea-ice can influence the breakdown and transfer of toxic forms of mercury into the atmosphere by blocking sunlight. The role of climate in the mercury cycle…
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Old Logbooks Contain Wealth of Information on Arctic Climate Change
14.01.2011
Expanding the traditional methods for tracking climate change, UK historians are examining the 18th and 19th century logbooks of whaling, navy, and Hudson Bay Co. ships to gather new information on past and present changes changes in the Arctic's climate.
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Warming Arctic Could Lead to More Tundra Fires Says New Study
18.11.2010
The Anaktuvuk River Fire, which burned over 1,000 km² of Alaskan tundra in September 2007, has become the subject of a new study recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences. The new analysis of sediment cores retrieved from the burned area revealed that the destructive event was the most…
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Drumlin Field in Iceland Gives New Insight into Glaciation and Climate
18.11.2010
A recently discovered drumlin field near the Múlajökull Glacier in Iceland could lead to new insight in past glaciations and climate on Earth, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Gothenburg and published in the scientific journal Geology.
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NASA’s IceBite Prepares for Mars in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys
16.11.2010
Looking for sites on Mars with the conditions for life, NASA scientists found the shallow subsurface at the Phoenix landing site in the arctic northern plains of Mars an ideal candidate for a follow-up mission to look for signs of life.
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Arctic Bacteria Point to Possible Life on Mars; Potential to Mitigate Climate Change
04.11.2010
The unexpected discovery of bacteria that consume methane by Canadian microbiologists while exploring a salty, subzero spring in the Arctic indicate that there is a possibility for microbial life to exist on Mars.
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India Heads off on First National Expedition to South Pole
04.11.2010
India is heading off to Antarctica the first week of November on its first ever national expedition to the South Pole. The purpose of the 40-day mission will be to analyze environmental changes that have been happening on the continent over the past 1,000 years.
