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.

Ice Quake in Ice Stream Dynamics

17.06.2008

Investigating a massive quake through the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a group of scientists lead by Washington University in St.Louis, Missouri, have discovered that the Whillians Ice Stream moves in an earthquake-like pattern. This finding, although restricted to a single ice stream and counter to previous understanding of ice motion,…
Ozone Hole Recovery May Cause Climate Shift

17.06.2008

Published in the June 13th issue of Science, a study argues that the closing of the ozone hole over Antarctica may significantly affect the Southern Hemisphere's climate.
Melting Sea Ice Could Lead to Faster Thawing of Permafrost

16.06.2008

Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado investigating the dramatic reduction in Arctic sea ice cover during the past few years have reached a rather disturbing conclusion in their latest research, published Friday, June 13th in…
Wilkins Loses More Ice in Recent Breakup Event

16.06.2008

The Wilkins Ice Shelf, which lost nearly 425 km2 of ice during a break-up event back in a February, has recently started to lose more ice, according to a 12 June press release on the website of the University of Münster's Institute for Geophysics.
Fossil Burrows Found in Antarctica

12.06.2008

Fossil burrows dating back to the Early Triassic period, about 245 million years ago, have been found in Antarctica. The lead author of this research paper, published in the June edition of the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, believes these tunnels could have housed tetrapods, land vertebrates having four limbs.
New Study Reconsiders Ancient Inuit Migration Route

04.06.2008

Based on a DNA analysis of a clump of hair from Northern Greenland, a new theory has emerged as to the origins of the first immigrants in Greenland. Not only does this discovery raise new insight as to the early Greenlandic immigration history, it also constitutes the first successful attempt…
Methane Release from Arctic Clathrates Could Threaten Global Climate

04.06.2008

A new study lead by the University of California at Riverside has shed light on the sudden climate warming which occurred about 635 million years ago. This study pinpoints methane release, a greenhouse gas about 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Antarctica Inbev Baillet Latour Fellowship Call for Proposals

27.05.2008

A call for proposals has been launched for the first Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship (ABLEF) Award. The laureate of this award will be allocated a research fund enabling him to carry out his study proposal in, or in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctic research station.
Arctic Ice Shelves Breaking Up

26.05.2008

An expedition conducted by the Canadian military has reported to the BBC vast new fractures in the ice shelves along the Arctic coast. This raises new concerns on the state of the Arctic sea ice this summer and on the effects of climate change.
Unusual Brittlestar City Dominates Macquarie Ridge near Antarctica

19.05.2008

Scientists from the Census of Marine Life seamount programme, CenSeam, have surprisingly discovered millions of brittlestars living along the Macquarie Ridge, south of New Zealand. This unusual finding shows how unique and unexplored seamounts still are throughout the world's oceans.