Polar News and Notes Current News

The European Space Agency reports new rifts on the Wilkins Ice Sheet, which is connected to two islands by a strip of ice. The rifts could cause the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula to destroy the strip, or bridge, of ice that has been preventing the shelf from breaking away.  
Wilkins Ice Sheet, […]

Researchers led by Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University believe they have a way of predicting how fast “calving events” will occur on an ice shelf. Their model, briefly described in a press release from the university and reported in the November 28 issue of Science, will prove helpful as more “calves,” or icebergs, are […]

Scientists studying the rare yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes), an endangered species found in New Zealand, made a surprising discovery: a new penguin species. The only catch? It’s extinct.
Researchers used genetic analysis as well as morphological evidence from bones and discovered that the oldest specimens were different enough to represent a new species (Megadyptes waitaha). They theorize […]

December 4 will be the seventh International Polar Day and the focus is on modern-day research taking place at both poles. With the theme Above the Polar Regions, background information and activities will feature polar meteorology, atmospheric sciences, astronomy, and polar observations from space.
Teachers and others are invited to use resources from the Above the […]

The World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, meeting in Valencia, Spain, in mid-November, received the fourth report on the Census of Marine Life, which is being compiled by 2,000 scientists from 82 nations. It will be officially released in October 2010.
This report revealed some amazing new findings about life in the ocean depths. In a […]

The dangers of climate change to Arctic mammals, such as polar bears and seals, have been studied and publicized widely. Sea birds seem to have received less attention. For one species, the ivory gull, the reason may be the sheer inaccessibility to its habitat — sea ice and the high cliffs of nunataks (hills or […]

Millions of southern Californians are expected to take part in the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history at 10 a.m. on November 13.
The Great Southern California ShakeOut drill is based on a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault.
Not only is the drill unique in its size but it is also […]

Saying the world is in an “extinction crisis,” the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its 2008 Red List of Threatened Species during a meeting in Barcelona, Spain, October 5-14.
 A new study to assess the world’s mammals shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 wild mammal species, or almost one in four, […]

Stormy weather in the Arctic may have unanticipated effects on global warming, according to a new study by NASA. Researchers were looking to confirm a theory that a warming climate could cause an increase in storminess. They now believe it may be possible that new sinks for carbon dioxide may emerge from the relationship between […]

One of the world’s largest and most prestigious prizes has been awarded to the climate researcher who is credited with coining the term “global warming.” The geochemist from Columbia University, Wallace S. Broecker, receives the $885,000 Balzan Prize for his breakthrough studies in climatology and his early warnings about changes in the climate.
In 1987, Broecker […]