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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Newly Discovered Methane Source in the Arctic: Ocean Surface Waters
24.04.2012
According to a multi-institutional study published in Nature Geoscience, areas in the Arctic Ocean appear to be emitting the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4). As a greenhouse gas, methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2).
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Scientists Advocate Moratorium on Fishing in Arctic
24.04.2012
In an open letter released by the Pew Environment Group, more that 2,000 scientists from 67 countries are encouraging calling for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic until more research can be done on the regions that were once covered by sea ice throughout the year.
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Satellite Mapping Shows Emperor Penguin Populations Almost Double of Previous Estimates
16.04.2012
Using satellite imagery, an international team of scientists have shown that populations of emperor penguins in Antarctica have been severely underestimated. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, estimates that the population stands at 595,000 penguins –almost double previous estimates of 270,000 – 350,000.
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Increase Seen in Plant Biomass in Arctic Tundra
12.04.2012
According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia and the University of Alaska Fairbanks and published in Environmental Resarch Letters, the aboveground live biomass of Arctic tundra vegetation has increased by 19.8% all throughout the circumpolar North since 1982.
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Mystery Disease Afflicting Polar Bears, Seals and Walruses in the Arctic
12.04.2012
A mystery disease that has been blamed for the deaths of many seals and has infected walruses has now appeared in polar bears as well. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), polar bears were found to have patchy hair loss and oozing sores. These symptoms are similat to what researchers…
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Study Shows Increase in Atmospheric CO2 Helped End Last Ice Age
10.04.2012
Scientists have been able to reconstruct past temperatures using proxy methods such as reading ice cores, tree rings and sediment cores from the bottom of lakes and oceans. They have also been able to reconstruct past levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from air bubbles…
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Thawing Permafrost Attributed to Acute Global Warming in Past
10.04.2012
An international study conducted by researchers from the US, Italy and the UK published in Nature has shown that past thawing of permafrost on Earth and the carbon that was released from it into the atmosphere led to a runaway warming effect.
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NRC Releases Synthesis of Reports on the State of the Polar Regions
04.04.2012
The US National Research Council (NRC) has just released a synthesis of reports from thousands of scientists from 60 countries who participated in research projects during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007- 2008.
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CryoSat Validation Mission Shows Blue Ice Region in Antarctica Rising
31.03.2012
As part of its mission to validate the data ESA’s CryoSat satellite delivers, a team of scientists recently took some field measurements in the blue ice region in the Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica. What the team found is that the elevation of this vast region close to the…
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Surface Lake in Antarctica Offers Clues to Ancient Life on Earth
31.03.2012
Stromatolites in the largest surface lake in Antarctica could help scientists better understand the conditions in which primitive life forms on Earth once thrived. A team of researchers was surprised to find stromatolites (structures that form in shallow water when the biofilms of microorganisms trap and cement grains of sediment and build…
