Antarctica

• Tuesday, April 21st 2020 - 15:25 UTC

  Mussels, an invasive species, have been found in South Shetland Islands Antarctic waters

  

  Mussels are the first-ever invasive species to take up residence in Antarctica, as found by a new study published last month in Scientific Report. According to the study, scientists found a colony of mussels, most likely transported accidentally to the frozen continent from Patagonia via ship, some 75 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

• Tuesday, April 21st 2020 - 13:36 UTC

  “Greg Mortimer” crew members and medical chief officer demand repatriation: “we also have a home country”

  

  The last cruise of “Greg Mortimer” when it left Ushuaia on March 15th was an invitation to disaster, and now “we are asking for a humanitarian corridor to take us, as they did with passengers, to our home countries”, said Mauricio Usme, chief medical officer on board the Aurora Expeditions vessel.

• Friday, April 17th 2020 - 09:31 UTC

  Falklands' patrol vessel HMS Forth maiden visit to South Georgia

  

  The Falkland Islands' patrol vessel HMS Forth crossed 850 miles of icy ocean to patrol the waters around the South Atlantic territory’s archipelago of South Georgia. The 2,000-ton ship arrived in the Falklands at the beginning of the year as the islands’ new patrol ship, replacing the smaller HMS Clyde.

• Thursday, April 16th 2020 - 17:13 UTC

  Greg Mortimer: Australian PM thanked Uruguay’s humanitarian action

  

  After the departure from Montevideo of the last medical flight with passengers of the stranded Antarctic cruise Greg Mortimer, the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, sent a letter to Uruguay’s President, Luis Lacalle Pou, acknowledging the action of his government for its collaboration with Australian citizens.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2020 - 13:51 UTC

  Argentina is readying to announce terms of the US$ 83bn debt restructure

  

  Argentina is expected to announce an offer to restructure US$ 83 billion in foreign-currency bonds any moment as it tries to avoid default, despite shutting down the economy to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2020 - 10:55 UTC

  Second humanitarian corridor for Greg Mortimer's passengers will depart this Wednesday

  

  The Uruguayan government announced on Tuesday that it will evacuate the remaining passengers on the Antarctic cruise ship Greg Mortimer through a second humanitarian corridor. There will be about 15 passengers who have remained in the ship anchored in front of the port of Montevideo, where there are people with the COVID-19 disease.

• Saturday, April 11th 2020 - 10:59 UTC

  “Gracias Uruguay”: stranded “Greg Mortimer” Australian cruisers will be back on Easter Sunday

  

  With a large improvised banner reading “Gracias Uruguay” (Thank you Uruguay) on starboard the COVID-19 infected “Greg Mortimer” finally docked in the port of Montevideo on Friday and at 22:00 Uruguay hour started the medical evacuation of over a hundred cruisers from Australia and New Zealand who are to be charter flown to Melbourne, and expected to arrive on Easter Sunday.

• Thursday, April 9th 2020 - 08:58 UTC

  COVID-19 infected “Greg Mortimer” Australians expected to leave for Melbourne on Saturday

  

  The sanitary charter aircraft contracted to repatriate Australians on board the coronavirus infected “Greg Mortimer” cruise, stranded off the Uruguayan coast is expected this Thursday in Montevideo, and will be flying to Melbourne on Saturday according to foreign ministry sources.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2020 - 18:30 UTC

  BAS ends Antarctic season and organizing the return: chartered ship will leave Falklands for UK 3 May

  

  British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has announced exceptional plans to repatriate scientists, support teams and construction workers as they complete their Antarctic summer field season work.

• Thursday, April 2nd 2020 - 07:55 UTC

  Antarctica some 90 million years ago was a temperate, swampy rainforest

  

  Antarctica is now a harsh land of ice and snow but has not always been that way. Earth's southernmost continent long ago was home to temperate, swampy rainforests teeming with life, scientists said on Wednesday based on pristinely preserved forest soil they retrieved by drilling under the seafloor off Antarctica's coast.