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.
Join PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) for a special live event celebrating Earth Science Week 2009, “How We Know What We Know: Looking at Climate Change Through Polar Science.” Polar researchers Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette and Dr. Ross Powell and PolarTREC teacher Tim Martin will discuss climate research conducted in the Arctic and Antarctica through sediment coring.
The live online event will take place Friday, October 16, at 9 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time (7 a.m. HST, 10 a.m. PDT, 11 p.m. MDT, 12 p.m. CDT, 1 p.m. EDT).
NASA will be looking for changes in Antarctic ice using a DC-8 equipped with instruments that are capable of “seeing” through the ice and collecting information about its thickness and the presence of water.
Researchers are monitoring the speed of Greenland’s Helheim Glacier and other glaciers using GPS receivers. They don’t move at a steady rate of speed but instead accelerate abruptly and slow down. These dynamics of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have not been entered into sea level rise calculations.
A Google map with a pushpin marking the location of the highest point on each continent. Do you know the name of the mountain that has the highest elevation in Europe? Zoom in for a satellite view.
In addition to melting, some glaciers are losing ice because they are accelerating. Summer meltwater can fall into the glacier through cracks in its surface and that water then lubricates sliding at the base of the ice.
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) applications from teachers for the 2010 (Arctic) and 2010-2011 (Antarctic) field seasons are due on October 5, 2009. PolarTREC pairs K-12 teachers with researchers for polar research experiences. Teachers spend two to six weeks in the Arctic or Antarctic, working as part of the science team. All major expenses associated with teacher participation in PolarTREC field experiences are covered by the program, including transportation, food, lodging, and substitute teacher costs.
In this video, Penn State professor Richard Alley, one of the world’s leading climate researchers, explores some of the basic research behind climate change and explains how climate change might impact our future. He is interviewed by Patty Satalia, host of the Penn State “Conversations” interview series.
“We have observed the ozone hole again in 2009, and it appears to be pretty average so far,” said ozone researcher Paul Newman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “However, we won’t know for another four weeks how this year’s ozone hole will fully develop.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory press release.
The best place on Earth to locate an observatory so that it will have the best possible view of the stars might be on Ridge A Antarctica. The remote, cold, dry and calm environment there provide great conditions for observations.
The examination of sediment cores reveal that Arctic sea ice may have formed before Antarctic sea ice. This is an interesting find, as glaciation is thought to have occurred in the opposite order.
A study by French scientists reveals Cook Glacier on Kerguelen Island in the southern Indian Ocean has lost 20 percent of its volume in the last 40 years.
Paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo report on research that indicates…. “Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat.”
NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of the world. They report that it is the most complete topographic map of Earth ever made, covering high latitude areas omitted on other maps and using a data point spacing of 30 meters.
New estimates suggest that sea level rise from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse might not be as severe as predicted. However, the United States could be affected more than the rest of the world. Some cities where risk may have been previously underestimated: New York City, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California.
USGS, in cooperation with the British Antarctic Survey, the Scott Polar Research Institute, and the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie have released:
“Coastal-Change and Glaciological Map of the Larsen Ice Shelf Area, Antarctica: 1940–2005″.
Ice loss in west Antarctica has been in the news recently with the break-up of the Wilkins ice shelf. In contrast, researchers with the Australian Antarctic Division and the British Antarctic Survey report ice gains in east Antarctica.
Earth Observatory has a satellite image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf from April 12, 2009. This low-angle image shows a bulge in the surface of the ice slab caused by differential pressure within the slab.
Scientists have discovered a pocket of iron-breathing bacteria beneath the Taylor Glacier of Antarctica. The colony of organisms are thought to have been trapped beneath the glacier for 1.5 million years.
Earth Observatory has satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Bridge area of Antarctica acquired on April 6, 2009 and March 31, 2009. “A narrow ice bridge connecting Charcot Island and Latady Island—the last remnant of the northern part of Antarctica’s Wilkins Ice Shelf—broke apart in early April 2009. These photo-like images, from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, show the break-up of the ice bridge.” Quoted from Earth Observatory.
This video from CNN shows the Wilkins Ice Shelf in satellite images and low-altitude aerial video. It also includes image pairs for comparison and interviews with researchers.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is still rifting from the Antarctic Peninsula. European Space Agency images show new and expanding cracks where it connects to Charcot Island.
Researchers are finding dust in Antarctic ice that was swept by wind off of South American glaciers thousands of years ago. This dust is providing information about shifts in Earth’s climate over the past 70,000 years.
Researchers have created images of a mountain range several kilometers beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. The mountains, called the Gamburtsevs, could possibly have caused the formation and/or growth of East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
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