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.

Arctic Sea Ice Reaches 2012 Winter Maximum

31.03.2012

Sea ice in the Arctic reached its maximum extent for the winter of 2011-2012 on 18 March, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Total extent reached 15.24 million km2, the ninth lowest maximum sea ice extent on record.
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…
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…
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…
NASA’s Operation IceBridge 2012 Arctic Season Underway

20.03.2012

NASA’s Operation IceBridge to measure sea and land ice at the Poles began its mission for the 2012 Arctic season on 13 March. From now until May, a modified P-3 aircraft will fly daily missions out of Thule and Kangerlussaq in Greenland and will also make a trip to Fairbanks,…
Study Indicates Greenland Ice Sheet Could Melt Completely with 1.6°C of Warming

12.03.2012

Researchers from the Potsdam Institute of for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid suggest that the Greenland Ice Sheet might be more vulnerable to climate warming that previously believed.
Sea Ice Extent Low in Barents Sea and High in Bering Sea, according to NSIDC

12.03.2012

Continuing the trend from January 2012, Arctic sea ice extent was low on the Atlantic side of the Arctic and high on the Pacific side during February 2012, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado. Temperatures in the Barents, Laptev and Kara Seas in…
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.
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…
Multi-Year Sea Ice Loss in Arctic Leading to Increase in Mercury Pollution

05.03.2012

A recent NASA-led study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres has shown that declining multi-year sea ice cover in the Arctic over the past few decades has been intensifying a chemical reaction that ultimately results in greater deposits of toxic mercury in the Arctic.