Latest Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Stories
Brett Smith for Redorbit.com A joint team of UK and Australian researchers has found that two separate groups of Antarctic octopuses, from the Ross and Weddell seas on different sides of the continent, are almost genetically identical. This suggests that the two seas, which are now separated by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, were once joined together, possibly a result of the partial collapse of the continental ice sheet. Researchers analyzed the genes of 450 Turquet's octopuses...
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...
A huge iceberg was identified near an island between Antarctica and Australia, an usual display in northern waters, Australian scientists announced on Thursday. Australian Antarctic Division researchers employed at Macquarie Island caught a glimpse of the iceberg last Thursday 5 miles away from the coast.The iceberg, which is 160 feet tall and 1,640 feet wide, is most likely a chunk that split from a bigger iceberg. The origin of the iceberg is guessed to be from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf,...
U.S. scientists say they've created a computer program to help predict when icebergs will calve from ice sheets. The models we have do not currently have any way to figure out where the big ice sheets end and where the ice calves off to form icebergs, said Penn State Professor Richard Alley. The problem, he said, is the great variability involved in iceberg calving. One important variable -- the one that accounts for the largest portion of when the iceberg breaks -- is the rate at which ice...
Under the former Larsen ice shelf east of the Antarctic Peninsula, deep-sea sea cucumbers and stalked feather stars were ubiquitously found in shallow waters. These animals usually inhabit far greater water depths.The main aim of the current Polarstern expedition to Antarctica is the investigation of marine ecosystems under the former Larsen ice shelf. This "white spot" with regard to biodiversity research gave rise to the following questions: What kind of life actually existed...
