antarctica

National Geographic Recognizes Unique Southern Ocean as Earth’s Fifth Ocean

National Geographic Recognizes Unique Southern Ocean as Earth’s Fifth Ocean

Yesterday was World Oceans Day, and this year National Geographic made the celebration extra special — by recognizing a whole new ocean. Since National Geographic began making maps in 1915, it has officially acknowledged four oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. Now, it is adding the Southern Ocean, the body of water that surrounds […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Giant ‘Toothed’ Birds Flew Over Antarctica 40 Million Years Ago

    Giant ‘Toothed’ Birds Flew Over Antarctica 40 Million Years Ago

    By Peter A. Kloess Picture Antarctica today and what comes to mind? Large ice floes bobbing in the Southern Ocean? Maybe a remote outpost populated with scientists from around the world? Or perhaps colonies of penguins puttering amid vast open tracts of snow? Fossils from Seymour Island, just off the Antarctic Peninsula, are painting a […]

    Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Is One of the Biggest in 15 Years

    Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Is One of the Biggest in 15 Years

    The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is one of the largest and deepest in the past 15 years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday. The ozone hole over Antarctica usually starts to grow in August and reaches its peak in October, The Associated Press explained. This year, it peaked at 24 million […]

    Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Starting to Crack

    Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Starting to Crack

    Antarctica‘s Thwaites Glacier has been called the “Doomsday Glacier.” Thwaites and its neighbor, the Pine Island Glacier, are among those in West Antarctica most influenced by the climate crisis. If they melted, they could destabilize the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which has the potential to contribute about 10 feet to global sea level rise. […]

    Greenland and Antarctica Already Melting at ‘Worst-Case-Scenario’ Rates

    Greenland and Antarctica Already Melting at ‘Worst-Case-Scenario’ Rates

    Antarctica and Greenland‘s ice sheets are currently melting at a pace consistent with worst-case-scenario predictions for sea level rise, with serious consequences for coastal communities and the reliability of climate models. A paper published in Nature Climate Change Monday compared the latest satellite observations of polar ice melt with the predictions outlined in the Intergovernmental […]

    Satellite Imagery Shows New Penguin Colonies in Antarctica

    Satellite Imagery Shows New Penguin Colonies in Antarctica

    New satellite images have revealed 11 new throngs of emperor penguin colonies, lifting the number of known emperor penguin colonies by 20 percent and their total population by 5 to 10 percent, according to The Guardian. “The [new colonies] are an exciting discovery,” said Peter Fretwell, at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who led the […]