Antarctic

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists at British Antarctic Survey have found that the number of warm weather events in the South Orkney Islands has significantly increased in frequency over the last 75 years. Using newly available historical data, scientists have identified the atmospheric factors behind the warm events in the region, shedding new light on the climate change trends that are affecting sub-Antarctic islands.…

An image showing ice flowing into the ocean and forming an ice shelf in Antarctica. (NB: This image is not of Pine Island Glacier itself, but it is representative of how Pine Island Glacier is behaving). Credit: Professor Hilmar GudmundssonThe Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica has experienced an irreversible retreat, crossing a tipping point in the past 80 years, according to a recent study.The findings, which were published in the influential journal Nature Climate Change, emerged when world leaders gathered in…

A cache of scientific equipment that could fit in the back of an SUV has been lowered into the sea north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and is already streaming open-source data for anyone wanting to monitor the Southern Ocean's health.Scientists say the underwater observatory collects measurements, including temperature, oxygen concentration and chlorophyll levels, and will fill a gap in data to help understand the impact of climate change in the waters around Antarctica.The project is being jointly run by Ocean Networks…

Key organisms in the Southern Ocean and 21st century ocean acidification in Marine Protected Areas. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44438-x The acidity of Antarctica's coastal waters could double by the end of the century, threatening whales, penguins and hundreds of other species that inhabit the Southern Ocean, according to new research from the Univeristy of Colorado Boulder.…

New research from CU Boulder indicates that by 2100, the acidity of Antarctica’s coastal waters may double, severely impacting marine life in the Southern Ocean. This increase in acidity, primarily due to CO2 emissions, threatens the entire ecosystem, including whales and penguins. Credit: SciTechDaily.comAntarctica’s coastal waters may see a 100% increase in acidity by 2100, endangering marine life, according to a new study. Reducing CO2 emissions is crucial to mitigate this threat.The acidity of Antarctica’s coastal…

About 150 kilometers north of the Antarctic Peninsula lie the South Shetland Islands, a cluster of more than a dozen islands that harbor glaciers, volcanoes, and a tundra ecosystem with penguins and seals. On the southwestern side of King George Island, glacial meltwater meets salty seawater in a narrow, little-explored fjord known as Marian Cove. The flow of seawater into and out of fjords like Marian Cove plays a critical role in sustaining…

December 21, 20234min readAs the climate crisis continues, sooner or later the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet will collapse. An unassuming octopus just gave scientists an important clue about how quickly that might happenBy Meghan BartelsTurquet’s octopuses are found all around Antarctica crawling along the seafloor. Scientists who are trying to understand Antarctica’s past face a daunting challenge. Ice doesn’t fossilize, so there’s no direct evidence showing how far the southernmost continent’s glaciers stretched in…

The Current11:34A hand-drawn map with no people, but 1,642 free-roaming animalsRead Transcribed AudioArtist Anton Thomas wanted to draw a "world map of nature" that would showcase the many different species across the globe — but at one point he was a little worried he'd run out of animals."I thought before drawing, 'Oh, surely I would run out of species across the Southern Ocean or the vast South Pacific,'" said Thomas, a New Zealand man now living in Melbourne."But no, there was just always more to choose from," he…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The Southern Ocean is "the engine room" for the world's climate and weather system. Across its large expanses of uninterrupted water, winds pick up speed and waves gather energy. Strong winds and large waves fuel the exchange of heat and gas—including carbon dioxide—between the air and sea. As a…

Pine Island Glacier subjected to different basal melt forcing. a,b, Bedrock elevation with overlain grounding lines (a) and flowline profiles (b) for the initial model setup, control and warm simulations. The flowline position is shown in dashed cyan in a. The location of PIG is shown in the inset map of Antarctica in a, which is displayed using the polar stereographic projection (xps, yps). In both panels, the present-day geometry is shown in dotted…