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.

Global Warming Threatens Infrastructure in Canada’s North

30.11.2009

Roads, buildings and other infrastructure in northern Canada will be increasingly affected by global warming with disastrous consequences as temperatures become increasingly milder in the area, according to a recent report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE).
International Expedition on Arctic Quest to Find Alternative Fuels

26.11.2009

An international team of scientists from the Marine Biogeochemistry and Geology and Geophysics departments of the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) led a team of university and government scientists to the Beaufort Sea to begin looking for methane hydrate (a large amount of methane is trapped within the crystal structure…
New Information on the Optical Properties of the Antarctic System

24.11.2009

The Antarctic system, which consists of the continent of Antarctica and the ocean surrounding it, plays an important role in the Earth's climate. Geophysicist Kai Rasmus from the University of Helsinki took measurements during three austral summers to study the optical properties of the Antarctic system in order to gather…
Interglacial Periods in Antarctica Warmer than Initially Thought

19.11.2009

A new study published in Nature by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Open University, and the University of Bristol shows that temperatures during the warmer periods in between ice ages (inaterglacials) which occur approximately every 100,000 years may have been higher than previously thought. Based on a…
NASA’s Icebite Prepares for Mission to Mars in Antarctica

17.11.2009

Scientists involved in NASA's IceBite project are headed for University Valley in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys to test a series ofice-penetrating drills to determine which one would be suited for a future life-finding mission in the Martian polar north. This region of the Red Planet is of particular interest to…
Addressing Arctic Issues from Space

09.11.2009

From October 20th to 21st, international scientists, researchers, anddecision makers gathered at the Space and the Artic workshop' in Stockholm, Sweden. The event was co-organized by the Swedish National Space Board and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) together with the ESA, EUMETSAT and the European Community.
Last Season for Decade-Long Ice Shelf Project

03.11.2009

This year, Australian researchers will return to the Amery Ice Shelf, the largest ice sheld in East Antarctica, to finish a decade-long project studying the effects of climate change. Known as AMISOR (Amery Ice Shelf Ocean Research), the program for this season will have scientists measuring and sampling through the…
Russian Scientists to Conduct Research to Back Russia’s Arctic Sea Bed Claims

03.11.2009

Moscow is planning extensive scientific research to support its claim on a portion of Arctic Sea bed which it claims to be a prolongation of the Russian continental shelf, which is believed to contain vast oil, natural gas and mineral resources. The Russians commissioned ice-breakers and research vessels with a…
Operation Ice Bridge Almost Half Completed

03.11.2009

Operation Ice Bridge, A research program by NASA in cooperation withuniversity researchers to image what's happening both on and under theice in West Antarctica, has already completed seven of the 17 plannedflights in the research operation, meaning it is almost halway finished and well on its way tofinishing by mid-November.…
CHINARE 26 to Complete First Land Cover Map of Antarctica

29.10.2009

The 26th Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE), which left Shanghai on October 11th, is expected to complete the first land-cover map of Antarctica by the end of this year. The new map will be the most precise map of Antarctica to date, with a precision of about 15 metres, about…