Antarctica, the world’s most remote, harsh and pristine continent, is not free from marine pollution. Where human activity goes, plastic debris inevitably follows. Read more at The Conversation.
Over the past week, more than 450 researchers gathered in Hobart for the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference — the first such event in more than a decade.
Early career researchers have issued a statement, warning urgent action is needed to prevent catastrophic sea level rise around the world. Read more at ABC.
Analysis of air bubbles trapped in ice cores has made it possible to reconstruct these variations in composition over the last 500,000 years. Read more at The Conversation
Australia has described the outcome of a meeting between members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources as a "backwards step". Attendees said Russia and China vetoed all proposed measures, including one to renew existing krill management measures. Read more at ABC News
Last year Antarctica’s sea ice was 1.6m sq km below average – the size of Britain, France, Germany and Spain combined. This week it had even less than that. Read more at The Guardian
The Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica is the world’s largest feeding ground for baleen whales – species like humpbacks that filter tiny organisms from seawater for food. In the 20th century, whalers killed roughly 2 million large whales in the Southern Ocean. Some populations, like the Antarctic blue whale, were reduced by more than 99% and have been struggling to recover, even though most nations ended commercial whaling in the mid-1980s. Read more at The Conversation
Previous estimates of ice shelf loss come from satellite measurements, which captured ice shelves gradually thinning in recent years. We tracked how much extra ice had been lost as icebergs calve away from the retreating edge of the continent. We found Antarctica’s ice shelves have lost twice as much mass as previous studies suggested. Read more on The Conversation
Something extraordinary is happening above Antarctica, and it might bring unusual weather to the southern hemisphere for months to come. Read more at The Conversation.
The southern lights have inspired artists for more then 200 years. Here are some of the best examples from across the decades. Read more at The Conversation
The scientific and broader community must join together to advance Southern Ocean science and protect this vital natural asset. Read more at The Conversation
The temperature above the east Antarctic coastline warmed by about 50 degrees Celsius in a week earlier in July. The event, called a Sudden Stratospheric Warming has the potential to impact Australia's weather through August and possibly well into spring. Read more at ABC
In some of the most remote places on Earth, tags attached to seals collect data at the cutting edge of ocean science. Read more at The Conversation
It is often said AI will take the jobs humans should be doing — but in this case, the human researchers are happy enough to pass on the job of scanning thousands of hours of recordings made deep in the Southern Ocean, freeing them up for the pursuit of scientific breakthroughs. Read more at the ABC
In 1968, an aircraft flew over the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica. More than six decades later, photos taken on that flight have been used to create a 3D model of the region's melting glaciers. Read more at ABC
Australia has a long history of bushfires. The 2019-2020 Black Summer was the worst in recorded history. But was that the worst it could get? Read more at The Conversation
A world-leading oceanographer at the University of Tasmania has been awarded an Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellowship to develop precision tracking of changes in the Earth’s climate system as it responds to emission reductions. Professor Nathan Bindoff is one of 17 Laureate Fellows announced by the Australian Research Council today, winning a grant of $3,443,000 million over the next five years. Read more at UTAS
If you hear the words "climate change" and you begin to drift away, you're not alone.
It's called "climate fatigue", the idea that the challenge is too big, too difficult to comprehend, too scary so you just switch off.
So how do you communicate the urgency of the climate crisis without overwhelming an audience?
That was best selling Icelandic author, environmental campaigner, and former presidential candidate Andri Snaer Magnason's challenge when he set about writing his book, On Time and Water.
The Southern Ocean, a region critical to Earth’s climate, hosts vast blooms of microscopic ocean plants known as phytoplankton. They form the very basis of the Antarctic food web. Read more at The Conversation
Dr Petra Heil of the Australian Antarctic Division, and Dr Alex Fraser of the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the University of Tasmania, are collaborators in the Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE) proposal led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Scripps glaciologist Prof Helen Fricker is the Principal investigator for the EDGE satellite mission and a University of Tasmania alumni. Read more at UTAS
They might be the largest animal on the planet but Antarctic blue whales are remarkably tricky to find. That is why when putting together the most up to date snapshot of blue whale distribution, scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) had to listen, rather than look. Read more at ABC
Thousands of bus-sized humpback whales are currently on their way to Australian waters. They’ve spent the summer feeding in the cold waters of Antarctica before heading north to breed and calve. Read more at The Conversation
One of 88 women from 19 countries, Ms Salmond's 19-day journey aboard an ice-strengthened expedition ship completed a year-long leadership program with the Homeward Bound project. Read more at ABC
The RV Investigator allows scientists to monitor climate change, map the sea floor and discover new marine species. But a $34 million funding shortfall will see its research operations slashed by a third in the coming years. Read more at ABC
Failure to limit average global temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 will likely lead to a ‘regime shift’ in the Weddell Sea, and potentially a tipping point where the 430,000km2 Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf melts rapidly. Read more at COSMO
Scientists are concerned about the impact of a deadly strain of bird flu, which has finally reached mainland Antarctica, leaving Australia as the last continent to be conquered. Read more at the ABC
27 scientists spent the summer in Antarctica to unearth the secrets of the Denman Glacier and better help protect the area vulnerable to climate change. Read more at the ABC
For the third year in a row, sea ice coverage around Antarctica has dropped below 2m sq km – a threshold which before 2022 had not been breached since satellite measurements started in 1979. Read more
If tests are successful, Windracers Ultra UAV will be used for research such as surveying marine ecosystems and studying glaciers. Read more at The Guardian
Emperor penguins are the largest but least prevalent Antarctic penguin species, with scientists estimating a total population of about 600,000. Read more at The Guardian
Exclusive: Prof Matt King says accelerated melting could transform country and affect viability of some agricultural industries. Read more at The Guardian
