An exceptional polar expedition in an era of daring explorations of the far north and far south is featured in the January 2009 National Geographic magazine, “1,000 Days in the Ice.” The explorer, Fridtjof Nansen of Norway, was a neuroscientist, zoologist, artist, writer, and national hero, following his crossing of Greenland on skis, before he […]
Polar News and Notes
Current News
Multitalented Fridtjof Nansen and His Ship Featured in National Geographic Magazine
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 12:14 pm
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
Polar News and Notes: New Evidence of Warming in Antarctica
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 10:29 am
Written by: Jessica Fries-Gaither
Like the other six continents, Antarctica is warming.
A new study using satellite measurements as well as temperature records from weather stations shows that from 1957 to 2006, temperatures across the continent increased on average 0.2 degrees F per decade. This increase is comparable to warming around the world.
Not all parts of Antarctica are warming at […]
Posted in Topics: Antarctica, Current News, Polar News & Notes
Yellow Submarine Probes Under Ice Shelves
Thursday, January 15th, 2009 11:06 am
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
Even though they must have known they would be asked about the similarity to the title of a Beatles’ song, British researchers nevertheless painted a new robot submarine bright yellow. Denying the connection, an engineer said yellow makes it easy to spot the robot when it surfaces from under ice shelves in Antarctica.
The seven-foot robot […]
Posted in Topics: Antarctica, Current News, Oceans, Polar News & Notes
Pumpkin-Shaped Balloon Will Be Sent to the Brink of Space
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 10:57 am
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
In late December near McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) flight-tested a large, pumpkin-shaped, thin-skinned balloon that will someday carry science experiments to the brink of space.
According to an NSF press release, this 7 million cubic foot balloon is the largest single-cell, super-pressure […]
Posted in Topics: Antarctica, Current News, Polar News & Notes, Science
Poor Countries Likely to Remain Poor Longer While CO2 Emissions Grow
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 11:21 am
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
The “hope” that developing countries would install technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as they became wealthier is not backed up by evidence so far. A study by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado warns that continuing economic and technological disparities will make it more difficult than […]
Posted in Topics: Current News, Polar News & Notes, Science
U.S. Organizations Slow to Respond to Climate Change
Monday, December 29th, 2008 11:09 am
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
The forecasts of continuing climate change have not prompted public or private organizations to adapt to the dangers posed by higher temperatures, says Robert Repetto, author of The Climate Crisis and the Adaptation Myth and formerly a professor in the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
The reasons for failure to adapt can be […]
Posted in Topics: Current News, Polar News & Notes
The International Year of Astronomy Launches on January 15-16
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 2:01 pm
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
On January 15 and 16, the International Year of Astronomy will be launched with an opening ceremony at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris, France.
One of the goals of the year-long program is to “increase scientific awareness among the general public through the communication of scientific results in […]
Posted in Topics: Current News, Earth and Space Science, Polar News & Notes, Science
World’s Largest Neutrino Telescope under Construction in Antarctica
Monday, December 22nd, 2008 1:44 pm
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
The world’s largest neutrino telescope is being constructed on and under Antarctica ice. Known as IceCube, the telescope consists of strings of 60 optical detectors, each string more than half a mile long and frozen in the ice. Atop each string is a pair of 600 gallon tanks filled with clear ice and containing two […]
Posted in Topics: Antarctica, Current News, Earth and Space Science, Polar News & Notes, Science, Scientists in the field
Polar Bears May Prefer Seals for Dinner but Goose Eggs May Have To Do
Friday, December 19th, 2008 1:24 pm
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
Until now, images of polar bears have not brought to mind a bear snacking on goose eggs. That may change with the reporting of Robert Rockwell, a research associate in ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and graduate student Linda Gormezano in the magazine Polar Biology and other researchers’ observations.
While the polar […]
Posted in Topics: Animals, Arctic, Current News, Polar News & Notes
Learning from Prehistoric Climates
Monday, December 8th, 2008 10:35 am
Written by: Carolyn Hamilton
What was the climate like when the earth was warmer than it is today? To find the answer, researchers in a group called Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) are trying to reconstruct a warm period that existed 3 million years ago.
Led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), scientists are examining fossils from the […]
Posted in Topics: Current News, Polar News & Notes, Science
Posted in Topics: Arctic, Current News, Polar News & Notes, Scientists in the field
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