An earthquake magnitude 7.1 struck Saturday in the vicinity of Macquarie Island, which lies about halfway between Australia and Antarctica and 2.000 kilometers south from the New Zealand capital Wellington, said the US Geological Survey.
A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man and bigger that the US state of Connecticut has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate.
Emo rock band Fall Out Boy are set to break a world record next week by playing a concert in Antarctica. The US band will travel to Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile and then on March 25th to President Frei base in King George Island.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet officially re-opened on Wednesday the Arturo Prat base in Antarctica which was the first to be established by the Chilean Navy in 1947 but was later closed in 2004.
A Russian first deputy prime minister said this week that Russia has no territorial claims to Antarctica, and will strictly abide by an international convention on the continent, reports Novosti agency.
Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile will co-sponsor the reopening of a base in the Antarctic continent which was inaugurated in 1947 but closed down in 2006, allegedly for budget reasons.
Venezuelan scientists and military officers traveling on a Uruguayan naval research ship reached the Antarctic peninsula over the weekend following a 15-day, 3.700 kilometers voyage. This is the first time a Venezuelan team officially takes part in Antarctic navigation and research.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that small US banks are likely to fail in the months ahead as the housing slump takes its toll. Bernanke also warned that the US is currently facing a more difficult situation than in the aftermath of the dotcom bust in 2001.
More than 30 scientists from all over the world embarked this week from the extreme south of Chile on a research mission to the Southern Ocean. Researchers will battle the elements to study how gases important to climate change move between the atmosphere and the ocean under high winds and seas.
Welsh academics believe they have found a vital key to the climate switch, explaining why Antarctica went into a deep freeze 34 million years ago. The team of scientists from Cardiff University and National Museum Wales has been studying ice sheet formation in the frozen continent, reports ICWales.