Latest Antarctica Stories
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Warm ocean currents attacking the underside of ice shelves are the dominant cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica, a new study using measurements from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) revealed. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) An international team of scientists used a combination of satellite measurements and models to differentiate between the two known causes of melting...
SEATTLE, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Guests looking for vibrant ports of call, historical adventures and an extreme range of climates can chart a southerly course to South America aboard three Holland America Line ships come fall 2012. ms Veendam, ms Maasdam and ms Prinsendam head to South America on a series of cruise expeditions featuring exceptional scenic cruising around the continent. The popular itineraries range from 13 to 68 days and include a new 49-day extended,...
Journal demonstrates novel procedure in Antarcitca Lake Bonney in Antarctica is perennially covered in ice. It is exposed to severe environmental stresses, including minimal nutrients, low temperatures, extreme shade, and, during the winter, 24-hour darkness. But, for the single-celled organisms that live there, the lake is home. To study them, Dr. Rachel Morgan-Kiss from the University of Miami, Ohio, and her team went to Antarctica to sample the ice-covered lake. The article describing...
Thanks to new technology, a study reveals there to be twice as many emperor penguins in Antarctica than had previously been estimated. The study will be used as a benchmark to understand the effects climate change is having on these flightless birds. Published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, an international team of scientists reports how they used a Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images to estimate the size of the emperor penguin communities. In order to distinguish the birds...
Scientists working on an ongoing study investigating the impact of climate change on various ecosystems have revealed that habitants dependent upon areas that typically experience ice and snow during the winter months are the most threatened by increasing global temperatures. The finding comes after more than three decades worth of study as part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, a National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative that features more than 1800 scientists and...
As ESA’s Envisat satellite marks ten years in orbit, it continues to observe the rapid retreat of one of Antarctica’s ice shelves due to climate warming. One of the satellite’s first observations following its launch on 1 March 2002 was of break-up of a main section of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica – when 3200 sq km of ice disintegrated within a few days due to mechanical instabilities of the ice masses triggered by climate warming. Now, with ten years of observations...
New information obtained by scientists using a 10-meter telescope located in Antarctica has strengthened the most widely accepted explanation for the mysterious force that is behind the increasingly rapid expansion of the universe, according to a pair of press releases published this week. According to a statement from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the most recent South Pole Telescope (SPT) data "strongly" supports Albert Einstein's cosmological constant, said to be the leading...
According to a press release from Europe’s Space administration (ESA) part of Antarctica’s ice sheet has increased in height. These findings come from the ESA’s ice-measuring satellite, CryoSat. According to the ESA, these findings not only provide good news from the ice sheets, but also show the effectiveness of their CryoSat missions. According to their website, ESA.int, CryoSat is Europe’s first mission to address the thickness of land and sea ice and how this thickness is...
[ Watch the Video ] A new study examining nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, potentially amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea. The most extensive record yet of the evolution of the floating ice shelves in the eastern Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica shows that their margins, where they grip onto rocky bay walls or...
NSF partners with international team to gather new information on hidden environments and past climate conditions in Antarctica National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded researchers have successfully tested equipment to map the hidden distribution of groundwater and ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region for the first time in Antarctica. The mapping technique, an airborne electrical resistivity instrument, will enable researchers to study microbial ecosystems in sub-glacial environments....
Latest Antarctica Reference Libraries
Antarctica is the Earths southernmost continent; it contains the geographic South Pole. It’s situated in the Antarctic area of the Southern Hemisphere, almost completely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is bordered by the Southern Ocean. It’s the fifth-largest continent at 5.4 million sq miles. On average, it is the driest, coldest, and windiest continent as well as having the highest average elevation of all the continents. Considered a desert, the annual precipitation is only 8...
The Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is a true seal in the Phocidae family, and can only be found on pack ice in Antarctica. This species was formally described by James Clark Ross in 1841, during his British Antarctic Expedition. It is very uncommon to see in its range and rarely leaves the pack ice, with stray individuals occurring off southeast Australia or sub-Antarctic islands. The Ross seal can reach an average length between 5.5 and 6.9 feet, although some females can reach up to 8.2...
The Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) is a large true seal in the Lobodontini tribe. It is native to Antarctica, with its range consisting of a large “ring” that surrounds Antarctica. This seal will spend most of its time in the water instead of on land. The Weddell seal appears on the IUCN Red List with a conservation status of “Least Concern”. It is estimated this seal numbers over 800,000 individuals in the wild. First discovered in 1820s by a British sealing captain...
The Antarctic Silverfish, (Pleuragramma antarcticum), is a member of the Notothenioidei family of fish. It is widely distributed around the Antarctic, but has largely disappeared from the western side of the northern Antarctic Peninsula based on 2010 research funded by the National Science Foundation. It is also found throughout the Southern Ocean. It grows to an average size of 6 inches, but has been known to reach lengths of up to 10 inches. It is usually pink with a silver tint, and...
Cryolophosaurus, meaning "cold crest lizard", is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period (Pliensbachian Age). It is known from the Hanson Formation (previously known as the Upper Falla Formation). It was discovered by paleontologist Dr. William Hammer in 1991. It was the first carnivorous dinosaur to be discovered in Antarctica. It was also the first dinosaur from Antarctica to be officially named. Dr. William Hammer and his team unearthed the dinosaur during the...
