antarctica

Scientists Melt a Mile-Deep Hole in Antarctica to Study Climate Change

Scientists Melt a Mile-Deep Hole in Antarctica to Study Climate Change

A group of scientists and engineers led by the British Antarctic Survey dug a 1.3-mile deep hole through the ice sheet in West Antarctica—the deepest hole ever made in the region using hot water, according to BBC News. By reaching the base of the Rutford Ice Stream, the researchers hope to understand how the area […]

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    Thom Yorke of Radiohead Releases Song With Greenpeace to Help Antarctica

    Thom Yorke of Radiohead Releases Song With Greenpeace to Help Antarctica

    Greenpeace is on a mission to create the largest protected area on earth in Antarctica, and it just gained a very talented ally to help promote that goal. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released a single Tuesday in support of the campaign called “Hands Off Antarctica,” The Guardian reported. “There are some places on this planet […]

    Scientists Link Southern Ocean’s Rapid Warming to Human Activity

    Scientists Link Southern Ocean’s Rapid Warming to Human Activity

    In the past few decades, the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica has gotten less salty and has warmed at roughly twice the rate of global oceans overall. Now, in a new study, scientists found convincing evidence that these trends are the result of two human influences: climate change from greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of […]

    NASA’s New Space Laser to Measure Earth’s Changing Ice

    NASA’s New Space Laser to Measure Earth’s Changing Ice

    NASA will soon activate the “most advanced laser instrument of its kind” to study Earth’s changing polar ice. The incredibly precise Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) is the main feature of the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) that successfully launched into space from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. […]

    Temperatures Possible This Century Could Melt Parts of East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Raise Sea Levels 10+ Feet

    Temperatures Possible This Century Could Melt Parts of East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Raise Sea Levels 10+ Feet

    A section of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that contains three to four meters (approximately 10 to 13 feet) of potential sea level rise could melt if temperatures rise to just two degrees above pre-industrial levels, a study published in Nature Wednesday found. Researchers at Imperial College London, the University of Queensland, and other institutions […]

    Scientists Warn We May Be on Track for ‘Hothouse Earth’

    Scientists Warn We May Be on Track for ‘Hothouse Earth’

    In two recent studies, scientists have looked into the future and into the past to see what might happen to the global climate if we fail to curb greenhouse gas emissions in time. The results are frightening. A study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined how, once a certain threshold […]

    ‘Powerful Evidence’ of Global Warming’s Effect on Seasons Found in Troposphere

    ‘Powerful Evidence’ of Global Warming’s Effect on Seasons Found in Troposphere

    By Daisy Dunne Scientists studying the troposphere—the lowest level of the atmosphere—have found “powerful evidence” that climate change is altering seasonal temperatures. A study published in Science finds that climate change has caused an increase in the difference between summer and winter temperatures across North America and Eurasia over the past four decades. This could […]

    Fishing Companies Halt Activities in Waters Proposed for Antarctic Sanctuary

    Fishing Companies Halt Activities in Waters Proposed for Antarctic Sanctuary

    The five companies responsible for 85 percent of krill fishing in Antarctica announced Monday that they would put a “voluntarily permanent stop” to fishing in vulnerable areas earmarked by conservationists for the world’s largest ocean sanctuary, the Guardian reported. Krill are an important food source for iconic Antarctic marine life like whales, seals and penguins. […]

    Good News From Antarctica: Rising Bedrock Could Save Vulnerable Ice Sheet

    Good News From Antarctica: Rising Bedrock Could Save Vulnerable Ice Sheet

    After last week’s disturbing news that ice melt in Antarctica has tripled in the last five years, another study published Thursday offers some surprising good news for the South Pole and its vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The study, published in Science by an international research team, found that the bedrock below the WAIS […]