To mark 100 years since the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory and the Falkland Islands, have joined together to release a series of stamps celebrating his life and achievements.
A new Research and Monitoring Plan has been launched to help support the management of the South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area, MPA. The announcement was done in the January edition of the Sough Georgia Newsletter.
The latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter refers to seabirds, which are amongst the most globally threatened birds, often as a consequence of incidental mortality (bycatch) in fisheries. At South Georgia, wandering albatrosses have declined since the 1970s, and are listed by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) as one of nine global High-Priority populations for conservation.
By Laura Geggel – Scientists have discovered a previously unknown colony of gentoo penguins in one of the southernmost spots these waddling birds have ever been spotted. The discovery is a cause for concern, according to the researchers, who say that climate change is expanding the range of this temperate, non-ice-loving species of penguin.
Monday, January 17th was South Georgia Possession Day, marking 247 years since the first landing on the island was made by Captain James Cook. The British explorer was on his second world voyage aboard HMS Resolution.
Scientists monitoring the giant A68a iceberg from space reveal that a huge amount of freshwater was released as it melted around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. An estimated 152 billion tons of freshwater – equivalent to 20 x Loch Ness or 61 million Olympic sized swimming pools, entered the seas around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia when A68a melted over three months in 2020/2021, according to a new study published this month by the British Antarctic Survey.
Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world’s largest fish breeding area known to date. A towed camera system photographed and filmed thousands of nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah on the seabed. The density of the nests and the size of the entire breeding area suggest a total number of about 60 million icefish breeding at the time of observation. These findings provide support for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. A team led by Autun Purser from the Alfred Wegener Institute publish their results in the current issue of the scientific journal Current Biology.
Last week the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust announced the resumption of the search for Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance which lies in deep water beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea. A hundred years after his death Shackleton is still big news and media outlets around the world were quick to pick up on the story.
The Royal Navy's only Antarctic research ship has completed her first Antarctic mission of the season – revealing the impact of global warming. HMS Protector is on a five-year mission to support international research into wildlife, the changing climate, and the shifting waters of Antarctica.
A British Army officer who became the first woman of color to complete a solo expedition to the South Pole has been given a hero's welcome on her return to the UK. Captain Preet Chandi was greeted by loved ones and colleagues at Heathrow after finishing the 700-mile trek across the Antarctic.