“Two massive icebergs drifted along the coast of East Antarctica in early March 2010. In mid-February 2010, the Rhode Island-sized Iceberg B-09B collided with the protruding Mertz Glacier Tongue along the George V Coast. The Mertz Glacier was already in the process of calving an iceberg when the arrival of the B-09B accelerated the process, leaving two icebergs the size of small states off this part of Antarctica’s coast.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
Part of the Mertz Glacier and the B9B iceberg are now floating in the Antarctic, after the iceberg collided with the glacier in February and separated a chunk of it from the continent. How will these ice masses affect ocean circulation? National Geographic has before and after images of the iceberg collision, along with an illustration of ocean currents.
“A massive iceberg, measuring 78 kilometres long and 39 kilometres wide, has calved from the Mertz Glacier in the Australian Antarctic Territory.” Quoted from the Australian Antarctic Division website.
Doctoral student Andrew McDonnell went to the Palmer U.S. Research Station in 2009 to analyze marine snow and the polar carbon cycle. In this article, he shares some thoughts about his memorable trip to Antarctica.
Chemosynthetic organisms, including Osedax (aka “zombie”) worms, have been found thriving in a volcanic crater on the East Scotia Ridge of the Southern Ocean. The worms are living in a microenvironment produced by a dead whale.
Ice shelves are retreating along the Antarctic Peninsula due to climate change. This could result in glacier retreat and sea-level rise if warming continues. In this podcast, USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno discusses the USGS project that is for the first time studying the entire Antarctic coastline in detail.
“Within a 24-hour space, an area of sea ice larger than the state of Rhode Island broke away from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf and shattered into many smaller pieces. ” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
Five crates of whiskey and two crates of brandy left behind by polar explorer Ernest Shackleton during his 1909 expedition to Antarctica have been found.
The Gamburtsev Mountains in Antarctica existed for millions of years before they disappeared beneath layers of ice, never to be seen again – until the 21st century, with the help of radar technology.
Here is a collection of photos taken at one of the first Antarctic shelters, constructed in the early 1900s by British explorers. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the team lived in the wooden hut before the fateful conclusion of their Terra Nova voyage. Preservationists are working to prevent snow from burying the structure and its contents, which range from antique scientific equipment to food items.
The Cryosat-2 Earth Explorer satellite was recently transported to its launch area at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It is being readied for departure, scheduled on February 25, when it will begin its trek to measure fluctuations in polar ice thickness.
The largest remaining piece of the slowly disintegrating B17-B iceberg, which broke off Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf a decade ago, drifted around the Southern Ocean for years before heading northward into the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.
Douglas Mawson had hoped to stage the first manned flight over Antarctica’s polar ice cap back in 1911-1912. The flight never came to fruition, and now, nearly a century later, the remains of the plane have been found.
A global temperature increase of two degrees may ensure a future sea level rise of 6 to 9 meters. The polar ice sheets are susceptible to significant melting even at this level of warming.
A very large iceberg from Antarctica, called B17B, has been heading toward Australia. This unusual event comes less than a month after over 100 icebergs floated near New Zealand.
Isotopes in a mud core from Lough Monreach, Ireland, show that the Younger Dryas may have occurred very abruptly. When glacial Lake Agassiz flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean almost 13,000 years ago, the “Big Freeze” set in at once, possibly chilling the ocean within mere months. Could a rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet in current times could produce a similar effect?
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has an audio slideshow that explains the basics of Antarctic phytoplankton and travels with scientists who explore their role in the Antarctic environment.
Here is a video in which Paul Nicklen, a National Geographic photographer, travels to Antarctica and has an incredible encounter with a 12-foot-long leopard seal.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has an interesting video/slideshow that features research being done to understand phytoplankton of the Antarctic.
A previously unknown volcanic eruption in 1809 kicked off the coldest decade in the past 500 years. This eruption was larger than the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo and was followed in 1815 by the eruption of Tambora. The result was a global lowering of temperature.
“New ground measurements made by the West Antarctic GPS Network project, composed of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, The Ohio State University, and The University of Memphis, suggest the rate of ice loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet has been slightly overestimated.” Quoted from The University of Texas at Austin press release.
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