Antarctica

• Tuesday, December 12th 2023 - 10:10 UTC

  Change of skipper for the Royal Navy Ice Patrol

  

  After 20 months and 54,500nm, Captain Maryla Ingham RN has handed over Command of the Ice Patrol HMS Protector to Captain Tom Weaver OBE RN in the Falkland Islands.

• Sunday, December 10th 2023 - 11:31 UTC

  Bird flu expanding in Antarctica, high mortality among elephant seals

  

  Mass elephant seal deaths have been reported in the Antarctic region after a high level of mortality has been detected among elephant seal pups at three sites around South Georgia. Animals have shown symptoms that are consistent with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), and the outbreak affects particularly the southern elephant seal species (Mirounga leonine).

• Tuesday, December 5th 2023 - 10:40 UTC

  RRS Sir David Attenborough meets mega iceberg A23a drifting towards South Georgia

  

  Scientists aboard the Falklands flagged RRS Sir David Attenborough collected samples of seawater around the A23a mega iceberg, the largest iceberg in the world. New video footage shows the enormous iceberg, some 3,900km2 and 400m tall, twice the size of Greater London stretching out into the distance beyond the research vessel.

• Friday, December 1st 2023 - 09:46 UTC

  Uruguayan scientific, military team flies to Antarctica

  

  A group of over 40 Uruguayan military and scientific personnel were flown to Antarctica aboard an Ururuguayan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in a move to promote 14 projects in the areas of geosciences, life sciences, social and human sciences, as well as environmental monitoring, it was reported Thursday in Montevideo.

• Wednesday, November 29th 2023 - 14:12 UTC

  Using a new AI tool to track the life cycle of icebergs in Antarctica

  

  Researchers are using a new AI tool to detect icebergs in the Southern Ocean. This is the first step towards scientists being able to track the complete life cycle of most icebergs across Antarctica from satellite data. The study published in the journal Remote Sensing of the Environment points out a report from the British Antarctic Survey.

• Tuesday, November 28th 2023 - 20:30 UTC

  South Georgia Marine Protected Area review and workshop in December

  

  The South Georgia South Sandwich Islands, SGSSI, Marine Protected Area is currently undergoing its second 5-year review. Following on from the highly successful science symposium held in June 2023 and an internal Protected Area Management Evaluation (PAME), GSGSSI will be hosting a review workshop in December.

• Saturday, November 25th 2023 - 10:49 UTC

  International scientific team to research Antarctic ecosystems on RRS Sir David Attenborough

  

  A team of international researchers set sail on the Falklands flagged RRS Sir David Attenborough last Monday, 20 November to answer some of the big questions about how Antarctic ecosystems and sea ice drive global ocean cycles of carbon and nutrients.

• Thursday, November 23rd 2023 - 09:12 UTC

  Chile's new ambassador to Buenos Aires chosen

  

  Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Wednesday chose José Antonio Viera-Gallo to fill the vacancy as Ambassador to Argentina, which would mean the appointee's return to a position he held between 2015 and 2018, Undersecretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve announced.

• Wednesday, November 22nd 2023 - 23:27 UTC

  Concern over the ozone layer hole evolution in austral mid spring, NZ report

  

  The hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has been getting deeper in austral mid-spring over the last two decades, according to New Zealand researchers working with scientists from Otago University and published in a new study in the journal Nature Communications.

• Wednesday, November 22nd 2023 - 08:14 UTC

  Avian Influenza outbreak in South Georgia expanding, GSGSSI and BAS survey

  

  Last month, October 2023, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was confirmed on Bird Island, South Georgia in the brown skua populations. Since then, a number of other cases of symptomatic birds and above baseline mortality have been reported to the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI).