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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Satellites Give False Estimates of Multiyear Arctic Sea Ice Extent
30.11.2009
In 2008 and 2009, satellites that surveyed the Arctic sea ice extent provided data showing the multiyear sea ice extent recovering. However while sailing an icebreaker research vessel, the NGCC Amundsen, in the southern Beaufort Sea, University of Manitoba researcher Dr. David Barber found thin, "rotten" ice instead of thick…
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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…
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Study Shows East Antarctic Ice Loss Faster and Larger than Originally Thought
26.11.2009
Until now, scientists believed East Antarctica to be moremelt-resistant than West Antarctica and that it was in balance; howevera new study published in Nature Geoscience indicates that this in fact may notbe the case.
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Ancient Ice Core to Provide New Insight into Future Climate Change
25.11.2009
An international team of scientists from Australia, Great Britain, the United States and France is hoping to learn more about the role of carbon dioxide in past climate changes to see how increasing levels of CO2 might influence our climate today. The aim of the ICECAP (Investigating the Cryospheric Evolution…
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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…
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Ozone Hole over Antarctica Slowly Recovering
18.11.2009
In September 2009, the size of the ozone hole over the Earth'ssouthernmost continent reached its springtime peak. It was measured to bethe 10th largest on record, according to researchers from the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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Ancient Penguin DNA to Improve Accuracy of Genetic Dating Techniques
16.11.2009
A new study using penguin bones from Antarctica 250 to 44,000 years old might change the face of genetic aging measurement techniques. The study, which involved researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) and was published in the journal Trends in Genetics, indicates existing genetic age measurement techniques might have been…
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Greenland Ice Sheet Loss Picking up Speed
16.11.2009
Scientists at the University of Bristol have been able to use both observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Mission (GRACE) satellite and the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2/GR) at high resolution to independently confirm an accelerated mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Their research, published in Science, shows…
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Phytoplankton Trapping CO2 in Open Antarctic Waters
11.11.2009
According to a study conducted by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists and published in Global Change Biology, phytoplankton are starting to flourish in new areas of open water and are trapping an estimated 3.5 million tons of carbon (or 12.8 million tones of CO2 equivalent) each year. While this is…
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Disquieting Findings from Analysis of Sediment Core Taken from Northern Antarctic Peninsula
10.11.2009
According to a recent study conducted by researchers from the NationalOceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and the University ofSouthhampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SEOS), not once in the past 14,000 years has there been a period of warmingand ice loss similar to the one we are currently experiencing, which…
