Antarctica

Antarctica is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. It is also one of the most unexplored. Many of us think of the continent as a vast, white wasteland, populated by nothing more than penguins and seals. But beneath its icy surface, scientists are beginning to discover vast networks…

Nov. 15, 2022Updated: Nov. 15, 2022 3:34 p.m. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 1of12A general view of the British Antarctic Survey Ship Sir David Attenborough from the helicopter deck on the berth in Harwich, England, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Britain's polar research ship, named after…

CLIMATE SCIENCE Space station carbon mapper faces demise An orbiting fridge-size sensor that uses lasers to map forest structure—key to understanding how much carbon trees sequester—is set to plummet to a fiery destruction in the atmosphere in 2023 unless NASA extends its tenure. Researchers and some U.S. Congress members are…

Home News This photo, taken Oct. 31 by NASA's Terra satellite, shows the world's largest iceberg, A-76A, in the Drake Passage near Antarctica. (Image credit: Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory) (opens in new tab) After slowly drifting around Antarctica for more than a year and barely melting, the world's largest iceberg…

About 47 million light-years from where you're sitting, the center of a black-hole-laden galaxy named NGC 1068 spits out streams of enigmatic particles. They're neutrinos -- otherwise known as the elusive "ghost particles" haunting our universe while leaving little trace of their existence. Immediately after coming into being, bundles of these invisible…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Russia and China have again blocked plans supported by the European Union, the United States and 23 other nations to protect three vast stretches of ocean around Antarctica from most fishing. But conservationists said there were some positives from a two-week international meeting on the…

"The U.S. National Science Foundation’s priority is always the health and safety of our communities while ensuring the overall science mission can be achieved.  Following the confirmation of more than 70 positive cases at McMurdo station, NSF is reviewing the existing protocols implemented at the start of the season in September…

Cosmic neutrinos are tough to track – it has only been done once before – but researchers from the IceCube observatory in Antarctica have tracked 79 of them back to their home galaxy Space 3 November 2022 By Leah Crane The IceCube Lab has traced neutrinos back to their home…

Farm machinery is typically made for broad-acre fields or rolling green hills, but these tractors are destined for gleaming glaciers and sub-zero temperatures. Key points:Three 26-tonne tractors have made it to Tasmania ready to go to AntarcticaThe machines will be used to maintain the runway at Wilkins AerodromeEach tractor has had…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared awestruck Thursday to be standing in the Antarctic hut of explorer Ernest Shackleton. “I think when you’re a kid and you read stories about Shackleton, you’d never imagine you’d have the opportunity to come. So, I feel pretty…