Latest Antarctica Stories
[Watch Video: Adélie Penguins and Climate Change] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers studying Adélie penguins say that the Antarctic birds are actually coping with climate change, for now. A team set out with a five-year NSF grant to conduct research on how penguin populations cope with climate change, and on how individual birds cope. During the expedition, they wanted to know why some penguins succeed in coping with climate change, while others do not....
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Several bodies of water around the world are known for their salty content. Among the most well-known are the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Dead Sea. But these bodies of water pale in comparison to Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, known as the saltiest body of water on Earth. The pond, situated in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of the harsh, icy continent, keeps from freezing because of its salt-rich composition. But why this landlocked...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A new scientific research facility in Antarctica has now officially opened, helping to bring a modern twist to adventuring to the most southern part of our world. The Antarctic Research Station has opened 100 years after Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctica expeditions, replacing the 20-year-old Halley V facility. The Halley VI Research Station is the sixth to be built on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf, the first station...
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large NASA science balloon has broken two flight duration records while flying over Antarctica carrying an instrument that detected 50 million cosmic rays. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (Super-TIGER) balloon launched at 3:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 8 from the Long Duration Balloon site near McMurdo Station. It spent 55 days, 1 hour, and 34 minutes aloft at...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Three Canadians who were reported missing last Wednesday after an emergency beacon on their plane started transmitting over Queen Alexandra Mountains in Antarctica, have been confirmed dead by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Monday. Officials with the US Antarctic Program (USAP) and Antarctica New Zealand called off their search-and-rescue efforts on Monday, saying the crash wreckage was in a perilous position on a steep...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Update 1 (January 29, 2013): A National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research team has successfully drilled through 2,600 feet of ice in Antarctica on January 28 to reach subglacial Lake Whillans. Just a day later and the team said they have pulled up the first water and sediment samples from the depths of the under-ice lake that have been isolated for thousands of years. The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Three Canadians who were aboard a small plane flying over the Antarctic are presumably missing after an emergency locator started transmitting a signal Wednesday night. Matters were complicated when bad weather forced a search and rescue mission to go on hold. The flight was going from the US-operated McMurdo Station near the South Pole to Zucchelli Station, an Italian research base in Terra Nova Bay. The emergency locator began...
Washington University in St. Louis Before he left for Antarctica in November, W. Robert Binns, principal investigator for Super-TIGER, said that he would be deliriously happy if the balloon carrying the cosmic-ray detector stayed up 30 days. It has now been up 45 days, floating serenely in the polar vortex registering hits by cosmic rays. Over the weekend it shattered the previous record of 42 days set by Cream I, another cosmic ray experiment that flew during the winter of 2004-2005....
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Three bottles of 100-year-old whisky that had been discovered under the floorboards of Ernest Shackleton’s abandoned expedition base in Antarctica were handed over to officials at Scott Base in New Zealand on Saturday, as they continue their journey back to the remote cabin where they were originally found. According to Sky News Australia, the bottles in question contained Scotch donated to Shackleton’s British Antarctic...
ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SeaWorld Orlando kicks off its "Epic Voyage" campaign in New York City to launch Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin, the park's all-new, largest-ever attraction opening this spring. The campaign includes stops in seven cities and a new mobile app, both designed to give families a sneak peek into the new attraction's thrilling and chilling adventure in ways as amazing as the continent itself. (Photo:...
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...
