Latest Antarctica Stories

Forty years ago, a pioneering research team from Ohio State made history as the first U.S. women in AntarcticaIn the spring of 1969, Terry Tickhill Terrell was 19 and an undergraduate chemistry major at Ohio State University, bored with her lab work and restless. She had never traveled more than 250 miles from the Barnesville, Ohio, farm where she grew up.One day, after reading an article in the school newspaper about a graduate student who had just returned from Antarctica, Terrell decided...

An expedition to Antarctica has uncovered what they believe to be the remains of the first airplane brought to the continent, according to a recent Reuters report. The aircraft was discovered on an icy shore close to where it had been abandoned nearly a hundred years earlier.The artifact, a single propeller Vickers plane, was brought to Antarctica by explorer Douglas Mawson during an expedition from 1911 to 1914. When the plane proved to be non-functional it was abandoned.The plane was...

The 40,000 'eco-tourists' who visit the South Pole every year cause enormous greenhouse gas emissions. The visitors to the snow-covered landmass are endangering not just the Antarctic region by their actions, but also the rest of the world. Dutch researcher Machiel Lamers has investigated the impacts of increased tourism on Antarctica and how this impact could be curbed.Tourism is a 'boom industry' in Antarctica. Where, a mere 20 years or so ago, just a few hundred tourists would set off...

The giant iceberg, known as B17B, is gradually breaking up into smaller pieces as it drifts northeast from Antarctica towards Australia.The 140 square kilometer block of ice has now reduced its size to 115 square kilometers, making the iceberg approximately 18 kilometers long by 8 kilometers wide.Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist, Dr Neal Young, has been tracking the iceberg's progress using satellite images from NASA and the European Space Agency since it was first seen about 1,700...

Scientists have reported a giant iceberg over twice the size of Sydney Harbor is on a slow but steady collision course with Australia, according to the Telegraph UK.Researchers at the Australian Antarctic Division (ADD) spotted the 12 mile-long and 5-mile wide chunk of ice floating close to the mainland.The iceberg, known as B17B, is currently drifting 1,000 miles from Australia's west coast and is gradually moving north with the ocean current and prevailing wind.Should the iceberg...

Marco Tedesco Says Record Low Resulted From Simultaneous Positive Phases for Two Climate DriversThe 30-year record low in Antarctic snowmelt that occurred during the 2008-09 austral summer was likely due to concurrent strong positive phases for two main climate drivers, ENSO (El Niño - Southern Oscillation) and SAM (Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode), according to Dr. Marco Tedesco, Assistant Professor of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at The City College of New York.  Professor...

The largest known mass extinction in Earth's history, about 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period, may have been caused by global warming. A new fossil species suggests that some land animals may have survived the end-Permian extinction by living in cooler climates in Antarctica. Jörg Fröbisch and Kenneth D. Angielczyk of The Field Museum together with Christian A. Sidor from the University of Washington have identified a distant relative of mammals, Kombuisia...

A major scientific report released on Tuesday showed that rapid ice loss in West Antarctica will likely contribute heavily to a projected sea level rise of up to 4.5 feet by 2100, AFP reported.For years scientists believed that most of Antarctica's continent-sized ice sheet was highly resistant to global warming, and that the more vulnerable West Antarctic ice block would remain intact for thousands of years to come.But according to the review by more than 100 experts on the Scientific...

Powerful westerly winds in the south Pacific have steered a flotilla of icebergs initially headed toward New Zealand to the east, away from the nation, according to an oceanographer at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.A shipping alert was distributed last week while maritime authorities monitored the icebergs as they drifted from Antarctica toward New Zealand's South Island."It looks like they've all disappeared east of New Zealand," oceanographer...

'Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment'The first comprehensive review of the state of Antarctica's climate and its relationship to the global climate system is published this week (Tuesday 1 December) by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The review - Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment "“ presents the latest research from the icy continent, identifies areas for future scientific research, and addresses the urgent questions that policy makers have about...