science & Technology - Briefs

Atmospheric sciences Earth glows as chorus plays

Kite flies in icy winds

Antarctica’s high winds and freezing conditions might deter most, but some see them as perfect opportunities to fly a kite—in the name of conservation.

News 360° - Briefs

HYBRID SEEDS AND PESTICIDE Haitians shun Monsanto aid As Haiti struggles to recover from the quake that battered it on January 12, biotech giant Monsanto has offered it 475 tonnes of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds, worth US $4 million.

According to report

1.4m sea level rise by 2100: West Antarctica is losing ice sheets faster than thought. This could result in a sea level rise of up to 1.4 metres by 2100, said a report by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Scientists had long held that the polar continents permafrost was resistant to global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did not factor melting ice sheets in its forecast of 28-43 cm sea level rise by 2100. West Antarctica alone would add tens of centimetres to the sea level.

Science & Technology - Briefs

health sciences Mussels in surgery

ACCORDING TO REPORT

Long live the emperor: Emperor penguins, the only penguin variety that breed during the harsh Antarctic winters, are headed towards extinction, said a research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If climate change continues to melt ice at rates published in the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the population of penguins would decline to 600 breeding pairs by 2100 AD, said researchers in the US. Their extinction would affect the food chain balance.

'Set up inland stations'

Scientists in India often blame lack of data from the South Pole for failure to predict erratic monsoons and extreme weather. Antarctica's atmospheric temperature significantly influences global weather. In 1972, junior researcher from the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad Parmjit Singh Sehra observed unusual winter warming in Antarctica.

According to reports

icebergs hit seafloor: Rapid global warming has caused Icebergs along the Antarctic Peninsula to break free and scour away all life forms along the seafloor, says a new study by the British Antarctic Survey. The report establishes for the first time the link between increased scouring and decline in winter sea ice. In the past, these icebergs were locked in place by winter sea ice for longer periods and were free to crash into the seabed only in the summer.

Antarctic ice shelf collapses

The British Antarctic Survey has released images showing a sizable part of the Wilkins ice shelf off the Antarctic peninsula "hanging by a thread". It is holding on to a thin strip of ice attached to the main island and scientists worry it might collapse soon.

Antarctica's volcanic hot seat

the Antarctic ice cap is melting fast. The melt is attributed mainly to global warming. Now there is evidence of a volcano beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists say it would also be contributing to the melt.