Antarctica’s Larsen Ice Shelf has been breaking up for decades, but the 2002 Larsen B collapse was particularly dramatic. After being stable for at least 10,000 years, a large section of the shelf broke apart, with repercussions felt across the planet. The widespread changes in Antarctica have been extensively studied and published, but contextualizing and … Read more
In March 2002, the Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed catastrophically, fragmenting an area about one-sixth the size of Tasmania. In a paper published today in Scientific Reports, we used nearly 1,000 film photographs of Antarctica from the 1960s to reconstruct exactly what five glaciers looked like decades before the collapse of the Larsen B Ice … Read more
By means of Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research July 7, 2024 Rendered image of the landing of the MARUM-MeBo70 on the seabed of the Amundsen Sea. Credit: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen / Martin Künsting New findings indicate that East Antarctica began to ice out … Read more
Rendered image of the landing of the MARUM-MeBo70 on the seabed of the Amundsen Sea. Credit: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen / Martin Künsting In recent years, global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice caps. The “eternal” ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, especially … Read more
Geologists exploring the vast West Antarctic ice sheet have discovered the remains of an ancient river system that once stretched nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). The discovery offers a glimpse into Earth’s history and hints at how extreme climate change could reshape the planet, according to their findings published June 5 in the journal Science … Read more
The Antarctic ice sheet is melting in a new, worrying way that scientific models used to project future sea level rise have not taken into account. This suggests that current projections could significantly underestimate the problem, according to a new study. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey found that warm ocean water seeps under the … Read more
Robert Larter Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica in 2019. New study suggests it’s warm CNN — The Antarctic ice sheet is melting in a new, worrying way that scientific models used to project future sea level rise have not taken into account. This suggests that current projections could significantly underestimate the problem, according to a … Read more
The frozen continent of Antarctica is, paradoxically, a hotbed of volcanic activity. The ice-covered area is home to approximately 138 volcanoes nestled beneath the snow, 91 of which were discovered as recently as 2017. Although most of them are considered dormant or possibly extinct, three have erupted in recent history according to the Smithsonian Institution’s … Read more
When something turns pink in nature, it is usually not a good sign. But strange pink sand washing up on South Australia’s beaches has exposed an ancient Antarctic mountain range thought to be buried under ice. When pink streaks first appeared in the sand of Petrel Cove, a remote beach that flows into the Southern … Read more
Millions of years ago, Antarctica looked very different from the icy landscape we know today. A research expedition led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has uncovered a hidden secret. Geologists discovered evidence of an ancient river system by studying sediment samples from the Amundsen Sea. This suggests that Antarctica supported a temperate climate about 34 … Read more