Antarctic sea ice was reported last Feb. 13 to consist of just 737,000 square miles (1.91 million square kilometers). These figures meant a significant drop from the 741,000 square miles (1.92 million square kilometers) recorded on Feb. 25 last year by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
British couple will make history this weekend when they become the first to tie the knot in the British Antarctic Territory. Bride-to-be Julie Baum and her groom Tom Sylvester will take their vows at the icy cold Rothera Research Station, almost 2,000 miles south of the Falkland Islands.
A forty year study on a remote Antarctic island shows that while populations of two penguin species are declining, while a third is increasing. Analysis of census data from Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands reveals that, between 1978 and 2016, the number of chinstrap penguin pairs declined by nearly 70%.
The Journal of Antarctic Affairs is the new academic magazine of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) and Agenda Antarctica. The Journal aims to publish and disseminate the most prominent and influential research in relation to Antarctica by publishing articles, reviews and official documents in both English and Spanish twice a year.
The Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) issued this week its first call for proposals, inviting applications from scientific researchers who can aid in determining the impact of the krill fishing industry on the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Such research will serve to ensure ecosystem protection, while improving the management basis for the fishery.
A massive earthquake that struck Chile in 2010 caused glaciers thousands of miles away in Antarctica to calve, a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience found. Seismic surface waves radiating away from the earthquake’s epicenter traveled some 4,700 kilometers before passing through Antarctica’s ice sheets and causing small tremors, or “icequakes.”
The UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Japan must temporarily halt its whaling program in the Antarctic. It agreed with Australia, which brought the case in May 2010, that the program was not for scientific research as claimed by Tokyo.
The prospect that Antarctica could be rich in diamonds was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, following the discovery by a team of a telltale rock called kimberlite in the Prince Charles Mountains in East Antarctica.
With the Antarctic Summer well underway, British Antarctic Territory Commissioner Peter Hayes has sent his well wishes to British Antarctic Survey staff (BAS) working on the continent over the coming months. In a recent letter to UK Base commanders Dr Hayes commented:
Russia, Ukraine and China are being blamed for a failure of plans to protect almost 3 million square kilometers of ocean in Antarctica. After two weeks of discussions behind closed doors, the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has failed to come to an agreement on new marine reserves.