Antarctica

• Monday, March 21st 2022 - 09:20 UTC

  South Orkney Sunshine glacier shrunk one seventh in 20 years, HMS Protector confirms

  

  The Royal Navy’s polar research ship HMS Protector found an enormous Antarctic glacier vanishing at an alarming rate. The mighty Sunshine Glacier has shrunk by one-seventh in 20 years – an area the size of more than 130 football pitches has melted away.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2022 - 09:41 UTC

  Ushuaia and Punta Arenas consider the 2021/2022 cruise season over

  

  Two companies that were still organizing Antarctic cruises, over the weekend and almost coincidentally announced that the current trips would be the last, in effect putting an end to a short season.

• Saturday, March 12th 2022 - 06:02 UTC

  New research shows that slow growth in Antarctic fish is linked to problems making proteins

  

  Antarctic fish have adapted over millennia to survive in the freezing temperatures of the Southern Ocean but in doing so have lost their ability to grow at rates seen in their warmer water cousins.  Researchers have now discovered the cellular causes of this crucial difference between Antarctic and warm water fish.

• Wednesday, March 9th 2022 - 10:55 UTC

  Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance is Found

  

  The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust confirmed on Wednesday that the Endurance22 Expedition has located the wreck of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship which has not been seen since it was crushed by the ice and sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915.

• Monday, March 7th 2022 - 09:38 UTC

  Founding stone for relocated naval base in Ushuaia with its own wharf

  

  Argentine Minister of Defense Jorge Taiana and the governor of Tierra del Fuego province, Gustavo Melella laid the founding stone of the Ushuaia Integral Naval Base, which will replace the current naval base, and will be built in two phases including 15.000 square meters military wharf.

• Monday, March 7th 2022 - 09:20 UTC

  HMS Protector in solidarity and supplies visit to Ukraine base in Antarctica

  

  Royal Navy sailors showed their support for and solidarity with the people of Ukraine when they called on one of the nation’s most remote outposts. The Navy’s sole icebreaker HMS Protector dropped in on 21 scientists who maintain the polar research station of Vernadsky in Antarctica to check on their welfare.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:39 UTC

  Automation in place at BAS Halley VI Research Station

  

  In late February, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Halley VI Research Station closed for the 2021/22 season. The season saw some major developments at the station, including several significant improvements and additions to its automated systems.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:28 UTC

  Argentina approves funds for a new polar vessel, to be built with Finnish consultants

  

  The Argentine government has approved the funds for the design and construction of a new polar vessel to complement the activities of ice breaker ARA Almirante Irizar in her task of delivering provisions to the Argentine thirteen Antarctic bases. Works and design will be undertaken by the government-owned shipyard Tandanor and Finland's consulting firm Aker Arctic, with the funds allotted totaling 69 million Argentine pesos ( some US$ 6,5 million) and 7 million Euros.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2022 - 09:38 UTC

  IPCC reveals global impact of human induced climate change

  

  A new report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published on Monday 28 February, has outlined the causes, impacts, and solutions to climate change.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2022 - 09:34 UTC

  Chile submits report on the extended continental shelf west of the Antarctic Peninsula

  

  The Chilean foreign minister Carolina Valdivia on Monday submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf the report on the extended continental shelf to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is closely linked to Chile's role in scientific research and conservation issues.