Abiding beauty

Antarctica is one of the few places on earth that have never seen war, where the environment is protected and where the priority is scientific …

Mega iceberg released 158 billion tonnes of water into ocean

Over Christmas 2020, the mega iceberg hit the headlines around the world after coming worryingly close to South Georgia, raising concerns it …

Cold and calculating: what the two different types of ice do to sea levels

What matters most for sea levels is how much ice slides off the land and melts in the sea

Growing commercial interest in Southern Ocean’s resources thwarts protection efforts around Antarctica  

Russia no longer engages in krill fisheries but wants to keep its options open. It might have larger plans

Plastic Pollution: Birds on every continent except Antarctica live amid human rubbish

While the blanket term of ‘plastic’ is used to refer to such pollution, many different materials litter the environment, like disposable masks

In the dark, freezing ocean under Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, we discovered a thriving microbial jungle

Everywhere we look, we find microbial communities making use of whatever energy source is available, creating the foundation for all of Earth&…

Enzymes that came in from the cold

The ability of microorganisms found in the Antarctic region to produce enzymes at low temperatures could save energy used for heating in …

Ice caps may grow in higher temperatures

Research shows that a warmer earth may not melt polar ice and cause sea levels to rise, as has been feared so far.

Thin ice

A debate on Earth's last virgin territory heats up as multinationals continue to stampede towards the Antarctic

Icy hot destination

What's a non-scientific visit to Antarctica like? Uncommon privilege, says urmi popat

Antarctica, Greenland ice sheet melting matches worst-case climate change scenarios: Study

Ice sheets lose ice at rates predicted by worst-case scenarios estimated in the last report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

In hot water

While the Antarctic ice cap is relatively stable, the sea level is rising due to a simple law of physics: water expands when heated

Close shave: Giant iceberg grazes Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf 

A chunk bigger than A-74 would have been knocked off the iceshelf had the impact been stronger

Antarctic ice reveals that fossil fuel extraction leaks more methane than thought

Analysis of 12,000-year-old Antarctic ice reveals that methane leaks from fossil fuel extraction play a larger role than previously thought

Australia, source of uranium and lead pollution in Antarctica

Since 1945, rise in Southern Hemisphere uranium levels has been attributed to uranium mining in Australia 

Breaking the ice

The recent breaking away of a massive iceberg from the Antarctic peninsula has generated a heated debate on the bothers of global warming

Nature's laboratory

The ice cover almost 4.8 km thick is perhaps the most valuable feature of Antarctica, with its record of past atmospheres in the trapped air bubbles

On the move: Antarctic iceberg the size of Greater London breaks away

Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf has broken off into an iceberg of 1,550 aquare kilometre size. However, the event was expected and not linked to …

Climate change in news on April 16

Here’s a round-up of today’s news reports and developments around climate change

Spring brings sad tidings on ozone hole

Fresh data on dipping levels of atmospheric ozone add up to a grim scenario that can have serious implications for life on earth.

Hunting clubs on pleasure islands

A nonchalant French government plans to throw open its virgin islands to tourists and game hunters

Heading south - Extended excursions

For Indian researchers, a field trip to the South Pole may no longer be a directionless exercise. The country's scientific institutions that have …

More than 100,000 tourists will head to Antarctica this summer. Should we worry about damage to the ice and its ecosystems?

Visits are concentrated in highly sensitive ecological areas for only a few months per year

No evidence of microplastics in emperor penguins, says study

The future of emperor penguins remains uncertain despite positive findings about its ecology

Terror on the high seas

A giant iceberg, now floating off the coast of Antarctica, is threatening research and commercial ships plying in the busy Drake Passage