Antarctica

Tuesday, June 30th 2020 - 08:01 UTC
Australian icebreaker “Aurora Australia” could end in Argentina

Australian researchers' ambition to keep the Aurora Australis icebreaker under the Aussie flag has been dealt a blow, with reports that the vessel has been sold to Argentina. For three decades the 'Orange Roughy' transported thousands of scientists, crew, and supplies for Australia's Antarctic mission.
Monday, June 29th 2020 - 18:32 UTC
Sea ice in the Weddell Sea has decreased by one million sq kilometers in five years

Scientists have discovered that summer sea ice (*) in the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica has decreased by one million square kilometres – an area twice the size of Spain – in the last five years, with implications for the marine ecosystem. The findings are published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Monday, June 29th 2020 - 06:56 UTC
Funding boost for BAS space weather monitoring

Space weather research at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) received a funding boost of around £2M from the SWIMMR (Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk) program.
Thursday, June 25th 2020 - 05:55 UTC
Micro plastics pollution reaches Antarctica: found in land based food systems

Scientists have found bits of polystyrene in the guts of tiny, soil-dwelling organisms in the Antarctic, raising concern that micro-plastics pollution has already “deeply” entered the world's most remote land-based food systems.
Thursday, June 25th 2020 - 05:28 UTC
New members welcomed into responsible tourism fold at 2020 IAATO online annual meeting

Two Operators, five provisional operators, and five new Associates have been welcomed into the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) at the responsible tourism organization's first online annual meeting.
Monday, June 8th 2020 - 08:18 UTC
Kiwi relief operation for a longliner operating in Falklands/South Georgia zone

A New Zealand fishing boat has set off on what is quite possibly the longest and most expensive ride. It's gone to pick up 15 New Zealanders who've been fishing for toothfish halfway around the world off South Georgia.
Monday, June 8th 2020 - 07:25 UTC
End of Antarctic summer season: BAS staff and construction teams finally make it back to the UK

Almost a month after deciding on the repatriation operation, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research and support teams are returning from Antarctica to UK after a 20-day sea voyage onboard a charter ship and the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Clark Ross. On Saturday the MS Hebridean Sky arrived at Portsmouth International, and this Tuesday RRS James Clark Ross is expected at Harwich Port.
Monday, May 25th 2020 - 07:16 UTC
South Georgia's new £11million wharf facilities completed in 108 days

Surrounded by spectacular scenery, dominated by mountains and glaciers, construction has completed on a new £11million wharf, dolphin, and slipway to serve the King Edward Point Research Station (KEP), in South Georgia Island.
Friday, May 22nd 2020 - 08:47 UTC
Climate change turning Antarctica “green” as algae blooms proliferate

Antarctica conjures images of an unbroken white wilderness but blooms of algae are giving parts of the frozen continent an increasingly green tinge. Warming temperatures due to climate change are helping the formation and spread of “green snow” and it is becoming so prolific in places that it is even visible from space, according to new research.
Friday, May 15th 2020 - 08:54 UTC
Strict measures among essential personnel even in virus free Antarctica bases

As the planet battles the seemingly inexorable spread of the coronavirus, Antarctica remains the only Covid-19-free continent - thanks in the main to strict security and not a little luck. The natural isolation of the frozen and desolate expanse has been taken to new extremes since the WHO declared a pandemic on March 11.