Six relatives of 257 people killed during an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight to Antarctica 30 years ago returned to the crash site Friday to mark the anniversary. The airline arranged for the relatives to be flown to McMurdo Sound in Antarctica on a US Air Force flight. Helicopters then flew the family members to the crash site on Mt Erebus, although plans to land had to be postponed because of bad weather, Television New Zealand reported. "There are no words for this, it is incredibly... Read Full Story
It is the Austral Summer. It is travel season for those making their ways to Antarctic research stations. There are a number of scientists, students and even an artist or two who have recorded their experiences. Yes, there are bloggers in Antarctica. You think you have a shaky Internet connection? Try blogging from Antarctica.
Making the Journey
Many of the American scientists and researchers travel to the McMurdo Station. Ice Stories, Dispatches from Polar Scientists have a number of... Read Full Story
"We didn't expect to see such warm temperatures, and we don't yet know in detail what caused them. But they indicate that Antarctica's climate may have undergone rapid shifts during past periods of high CO2." Louise Sime of British Antarctic Survey A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. During the last warm period, about 125,000 years ago, sea level was around 5... Read Full Story
A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis of ice core records suggests that Antarctic temperatures may have been up to 6°C warmer than the present day. The findings, recently reported by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Open University and University of Bristol in the journal Nature could help us understand more about rapid... Read Full Story
A giant iceberg twice the length of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Stadium has been spotted floating off Australia and could be headed for New Zealand, scientists said on Thursday. The ice chunk, measuring some 700 metres (2,300 feet) long with an estimated depth of 350 metres, caused a stir when it was sighted by experts based on Australia's remote Macquarie Island. "I've never seen anything like it -- we looked out to the horizon and just saw this huge floating island of ice," said fur seal... Read Full Story
A large iceberg was spotted off an island about halfway between Antarctica and Australia, a rare sight in waters so far north, Australian scientists said Thursday. Australian Antarctic Division researchers working on Macquarie Island, about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) southeast of Tasmania, first saw the iceberg last Thursday about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the northwest coast of the island. The iceberg, about 160 feet (50 meters) high and 1,640 feet (500 meters) long, is probably part of... Read Full Story
An international team of experts have mapped a huge, incredibly old location, mentioned in the notes of a Russian explorer from half a century ago, buried under hundreds of meters of ice. In an amazing break with tradition this process did not result in the unleashing of ancient horrors, a self-destruct sequence, alien invasion or anyone shooting at Indiana Jones. They've examined the entire Gamburtsev mountain range, 700 meters tall and buried under a kilometer of Antarctica.
The team... Read Full Story
An international team of experts have mapped a huge, incredibly old location, mentioned in the notes of a Russian explorer from half a century ago, buried under hundreds of meters of ice. In an amazing break with tradition this process did not result in the unleashing of ancient horrors, a self-destruct sequence, alien invasion or anyone shooting at Indiana Jones. They've examined the entire Gamburtsev mountain range, 700 meters tall and buried under a kilometer of Antarctica.
The team... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To protect penguins on the rapidly warming Antarctic peninsula, regulators need to ensure the survival of shrimp-like krill, the base of the food chain at the bottom of the world, marine experts said on Wednesday. Whales and seals also depend on krill for food, the experts said in a telephone news briefing. The numbers of Chinstrap and Adelie penguins are declining steeply along the Antarctic peninsula, the part of the southern continent that stretches northward toward... Read Full Story
East Antarctica is losing ice for the last three years - does that mean soon water will take over some more land space some where in the world?? The East Antarctic ice sheet has been losi.... Read Full Story
