Search Results for: antarctica
- Climate
Emperor penguins lost thousands of chicks to melting ice last year
In 2022, groups of emperor penguins in western Antarctica lost almost all their chicks to receding sea ice, signaling the threat of climate change.
- Climate
Antarctic sea ice has been hitting record lows for most of this year
Since hitting a record low minimum back in February, the amount of Antarctic sea ice has stayed well below normal all year.
- Life
In one lake deep under Antarctica’s ice, microbes feast on ancient carbon
Microorganisms living in a lake beneath the ice sheet in West Antarctica feed on ocean carbon that was deposited 6,000 years ago.
By Freda Kreier - Planetary Science
How drones are helping scientists find meteorites
Searching for fallen space rocks is labor intensive. A team of researchers in Australia is speeding things up with drones and machine learning.
- Earth
A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life
A subglacial river has carved out the cavern beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, and may be supplying nutrients necessary for life.
By Douglas Fox - Climate
How wildfires deplete the Earth’s ozone layer
Scientists detail the chain of chemical reactions that occur when wildfire smoke enters the stratosphere.
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The many challenges of exploring hidden realms
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the challenges of studying the invisible or inaccessible, from the seafloor to hidden caverns buried underneath solid ice.
By Nancy Shute - Climate
Here’s what happened to the Delaware-sized iceberg that broke off Antarctica
The powerful pull of currents in the Southern Ocean probably pulled apart the largest remnant of a massive iceberg that split off Antarctica in 2017.
- Climate
Rapid melting is eroding vulnerable cracks in Thwaites Glacier’s underbelly
Thwaites is melting slower than thought, but the worst of it is concentrated in underbelly cracks, threatening the Antarctica glacier’s stability.
By Douglas Fox - Climate
Greenland’s frozen hinterlands are bleeding worse than we thought
An inland swath of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream is accelerating and thinning. It could contribute much more to sea level rise than estimated.
By Nikk Ogasa - Earth
Irrigation may be shifting Earth’s rotational axis
Computer simulations suggest that from 1993 to 2010 irrigation alone could have nudged the North Pole by about 78 centimeters.
By Sid Perkins - Climate
Many Antarctic glaciers are hemorrhaging ice. This one is healing its cracks
Scientists have explored the recesses of an Antarctic glacier that is currently stable, helping improve predictions of the continent’s fate.
By Douglas Fox