Russian scientists have successfully drilled through two miles of Antarctic ice to reach Lake Vostok, a freshwater lake that has been isolated from the atmosphere for possibly 30 million years.
“In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
High latitude areas around the Earth are seeing spectacular aurora displays in response to an intense solar storm that occurred last week. These displays are expected to be very frequent over the next two years as the sun goes through a period of frequent activity.
“The bottom of a glacier is not the most hospitable place on Earth, but at least two types of bacteria happily live there.” Quoted from the Penn State press release.
Felicity Aston is about three weeks into her solo trek across Antarctica. She left the Ross Ice Shelf on November 25 and is crossing the South Pole on her way to the opposite side of the continent.
One hundred years ago today, a team led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole while the team led by Robert Falcon Scott was facing unforeseen obstacles trying to get there and even more obstacles preventing their return.
Most maps are drawn with north at the top. The main exception is polar maps where the north pole (or south pole) is near the center of the map. A new article on the About.com Geography site explores why north is at the top of most maps.
Felicity Aston is ready to begin an attempt to cross the Antarctic continent alone using only muscle power. If successful she will be the first person ever to accomplish this feat
NSF-funded researches are figuring out the ancient tectonic events that form the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains hidden beneath the Antarctic ice cover.
Businessweek has an article that traces the history of the icebreaker from the first steam-powered vessel built to clear Philadelphia’s harbor to the new polar-class vessels that will be needed as activity in the Arctic escalates.
NASA researchers have noticed a large crack across the Pine Island Glacer in Antarctica. They believe that it has the potential to produce an iceberg with a surface area of over 300 square miles.
David M. Wilson, a polar historian, has published a collection of images with descriptions from Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1913 Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole. The New York Times has a photo gallery featuring some of the images.
Explore the number of daylight hours at any latitude for any day of the year using the sliders on this interesting interactive. “Shows the hours of daylight received during the year for an observer at a given latitude. This is an important factor contributing to the seasons.”
A team of researchers funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council will use a hot-water drill to melt through the ice to obtain samples of water and sediments from Lake Ellsworth.
Russia and China are very interested in the mineral resources of Antarctica and hope that the current ban on mining will be lifted in 2048. They currently have seafloor exploration projects on ocean ridges that approach the continent.
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