Antarctica

Crabeater seals feed almost exclusively on Antarctic krill. Credit: Dan Costa The western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing rapid environmental change, with warming air and ocean temperatures and decreasing sea ice. How these changes will affect Antarctic krill is a crucial question, because this abundant crustacean is an important food source…

Technology can be a wonderful thing – and rarely has that been truer than in 2020 when so many of us are hunkered down at home, dreaming of far flung destinations, staring at bucket list trips and wondering if and when we’ll get the chance to tick them off.  The…

When you picture Antarctic wildlife, the first animals that probably come to mind are blubbery winter survivors such as penguins, seals, and whales. But this frigid continent was once covered with a temperate rainforest that was welcoming to warm-weather creatures—including a newly identified fossilized frog that lived in Antarctica some…

A Weddell seal swims in the Southern Ocean. Credit: John B. Weller Current marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean need to be at least doubled to adequately safeguard the biodiversity of the Antarctic, according to a new CU Boulder study published today, Earth Day, in the journal PLOS ONE.…

At the time the Eurasian ice sheet covered much of Scandinavia The melting of the Eurasian ice sheet around 14,000 years ago lifted global sea levels by about eight metres, according to new research published Monday that highlights the risks of today's rapid ice cap melt. Earth's last Glacial Maximum…

Ozone levels above the Arctic reached a record low for March, NASA researchers report. An analysis of satellite observations show that ozone levels reached their lowest point on March 12 at 205 Dobson units. While such low levels are rare, they are not unprecedented. Similar low ozone levels occurred in…

SANTIAGO/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - In the frozen and desolate expanse of Antarctica, Alejandro Valenzuela Pena is used to a feeling of isolation. Now, however, that has taken on a new meaning as the only continent still free from the coronavirus looks to keep the pandemic out. A view of Fildes…

When a strong earthquake triggered Mount St. Helens’s colossal volcanic explosion on May 18, 1980, the blast obliterated every object within a six-mile radius. It remains the United States’s most powerful, and the world’s fifth most destructive, volcanic event in recent history. Here are more facts to mark the 40th…

Sounding observations using UAVs in the Southern Ocean: (a) launch of a UAV mission; (b) example of a typical flight pattern of the UAV. The colors indicate the ground speed of the aircraft given in m s-1. Credit: Qizhen Sun Severe weather conditions such as low air temperatures and strong…

Scientists have had to skip trips to clean and maintain sensors used for the Ocean Observatories Initiative.Credit: Rebecca Travis/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Twice per year, Ed Dever’s group at Oregon State University in Corvallis heads out to sea off the Oregon and Washington coasts to refurbish and clean more than…