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by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Moderate global temperature rises of just two degrees Celsius could still be enough to melt parts of the largest ice sheet on Earth and raise sea levels by several metres, experts warned on Wednesday. As the pace of climate change rapidly outstrips mankind’s attempts to rein it in, scientists delved into the distant past of glaciers in eastern Antarctica to predict what lay in store […]
by Mathilde Bellenger Agence France Presse ANTARTICA (AFP) — A decade ago, a thick layer of ice covered the Collins Glacier on Antarctica’s King George Island. Now, the rocky landscape is visible to the naked eye, in a region that is both a victim of and a laboratory for climate change. “I had the opportunity to come here over a 15-year period, and even within a human’s lifetime, you can already see the changes brought […]
by Sandra FERRER Agence France-Presse BREST, France (AFP) — Fancy a job at the North or South Pole? A French research institute is looking for you. The Paul-Emile Victor Polar Institute in northwest France has launched a public appeal to recruit around 40 French-speaking people for a wide variety of jobs at its six bases in the Arctic and Antarctica. From chemists and carpenters to bakers and pastry chefs, the institute is stepping up its efforts […]
Reuters — Fifty-five runners set out on Friday (November 24) to run two huge laps around the Union Glacier exploration camp in Antarctica – an ice marathon at temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius. Clear and sunny conditions at the camp, about 600 miles (about 965 kilometers) from the South Pole, allowed the runners to cover two laps of 13 miles (about 21 kms) but they were always under observation by the organizers as competitors […]
Reuters — A proposal to expand the world’s largest marine conservation park in Antarctica by linking it with smaller ones failed at a meeting as Russian and Chinese delegates did not endorse it, a conservationist attending the session said on Saturday (October 28). The plan was proposed at a meeting in Hobart, Australia, on Friday (October 27) of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which last year created the Ross Sea […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Human-driven climate change may substantially alter the seabed ecosystem in the already fragile Antarctic, slashing the diversity of some species and allowing other populations to explode, researchers warned Thursday. The findings of a field study designed to mimic real-world conditions in a warming ocean were published in the journal Current Biology. The experiments, undertaken in marine shallows around the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station, showed some species actually doubled when […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A Delaware-sized iceberg, one of the largest ever seen, was set adrift after snapping from a West Antarctic ice shelf that will be closely watched for signs of collapse, scientists said Wednesday. A crack in the Larsen C ice shelf, a drifting extension of the land-based ice sheet, finally broke through after inching its way across the frozen formation for years. It created an […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Antarctic researchers welcomed the winter solstice with an exhilarating plunge into icy waters Wednesday as they look forward to brighter days after weeks of darkness. Expeditioners stationed at Australia’s Davis station marked midwinter’s day by taking a chainsaw to the ice, cutting a small pool and taking a dip in the water with a temperature of -1.8 degrees Celsius (28.76 Fahrenheit). Davis station leader Kirsten le Mar said it was the […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Plant life is growing on Antarctica like never before in modern times, fueled by global warming which is melting ice and transforming the landscape from white to green, researchers said Thursday. Scientists studying moss in an area spanning 400 miles (640 kilometers) have found a sharp increase in growth over the past 50 years, said the report in the journal Current Biology. Plant life exists on only about […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Global warming has caused ice to melt faster than normal in the Antarctic, but a study Tuesday suggested the rate of loss in some areas may be slower than previously thought. Researchers in Britain mapped the change in the speed of ice loss using data from five different satellites, said the report in Geophysical Research Letters, a US scientific journal. After studying changes at more than 30 glaciers since 1992 […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — An underwater robot has captured a rare glimpse beneath the Antarctic sea ice, revealing a colourful world filled with coconut-shaped sponges, dandelion-like worms, pink algae and spidery starfish. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) took footage on a camera attached to a Remotely Operated Vehicle sent down by scientists through a small hole drilled in the ice as they recorded the acidity, oxygen, salinity and temperature of the seawater. “When you think […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)– The world’s largest marine reserve aimed at protecting the pristine wilderness of Antarctica will be created after agreement was finally reached Friday with Russia dropping its long-held opposition. The deal, sealed by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) at an annual meeting in Hobart after years of negotiations, will see a massive US and New Zealand-backed marine protected area established in the Ross Sea. It will cover more than 1.55 […]
