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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Moving Teardrop-Shaped Lakes Discovered on George VI Ice Shelf
03.02.2012
Researhcers from the University of Chicago have been keeping an eye on teardrop-shaped lakes on top of the George VI Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula, which travel as much as 1.5 metres a day – but in a very unusual manner.
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Arctic Summer Sea Ice Extent Affects Winters in Central Europe
03.02.2012
Scientists from the Research Unit Potsdam at the Alfred Wengener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have been able to connect reduced summer sea ice extent in the Arctic with colder and snowier winters in Central Europe in a study published in the journal Tellus A.
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Russian Drill Team Close to Penetrating Lake Vostok
31.01.2012
A Russian drilling team is close to penetrating subglacial Lake Vostok, located more than three and a half kilometers deep in the Antarctic Ice Sheet, not far from the Russian Vostok Station at the Magnetic South Pole. After two decades of drilling through several kilometres of ice, the team is…
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Glacier Retreat in Greenland Not Completely Irreversible, According to Study
31.01.2012
Climate warming and short-term climate variability have pushed a number of massive glaciers in Greenland towards retreat, which has some scientists concerned that the retreat may be irreversible once it has begun. However research published in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that Greenland glaciers’ rapid ice loss may not be an…
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Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Found off Antarctic Coast
31.01.2012
According to a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology that was conducted by Jorge Hernández, Björn Olsen and their colleagues from Uppsala University in Sweden, bacteria that are resistant to nearly all kinds of antibiotics are present in seawater off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The fact that…
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Study Indicates Low Temperatures Encourage Ozone Degradation in the Arctic
24.01.2012
According to research conducted by scientists from the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, unusually low temperatures in the stratosphere above the Arctic during the winter of 2010-2011 caused the largest destruction of the ozone layer above the Arctic ever…
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Gathering Pool of Arctic Freshwater Could Cool Europe
24.01.2012
According to scientists from University College London and Britain’s National Oceanography Centre, a large pool of freshwater in the Arctic Ocean is growing larger, and could eventually cause the mild ocean current coming from the Gulf Stream to slow down, causing the climate in Europe to cool.
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Engineering Team for Lake Ellsworth Drilling Project Completes Deep-Field Expedition
17.01.2012
Four engineers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have returned to the UK after completing a journey to one of the harshest parts of Antarctica to put in place equipment and supplies for the Lake Ellsworth Subglacial Lake drilling project, which will explore an ancient lake buried 3 km deep…
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Strong Earthquakes Hit Antarctica
17.01.2012
A strong earthquake and two strong aftershocks struck the South Orkney Islands in Antarctica northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula on Sunday 15 January, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
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Rare Albino-Like Penguin Spotted in Antarctica
17.01.2012
Tourists on a National Geographic Journey to Antarctica cruise discovered a rare chinstrap penguin with white and light-brown colouration while passing through the South Shetland Islands.
