Nick Golledge, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Climate scientist predict that the combined effect of ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica will be more extreme weather, with impacts on agriculture, infrastructure and human life itself.
Sea ice responds to changes in winds and ocean currents, sometimes with origins thousands of kilometres away.
NASA/Nathan Kurtz
Antarctic sea ice cover fell to an all-time low recently and hasn’t yet recovered. Why? The initial answers could lie in an unlikely place – the tropics.
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current keeps Antarctica cold.
Shutterstock
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current provides a barrier to heat that keeps warm subtropical waters away from Antarctica. Yet, there are a few places where the heat gets through.
Few work environments offer greater isolation than Antarctica.
Shutterstock
More than two-thirds of Earth’s remaining wilderness is in the hands of just five countries, according to a new global map. A concerted conservation effort is needed to save our last wild places.
In Antarctica, many countries want a piece of the action.
Flickr/Christopher Michel
Sidney Jeffryes achieved a world first by establishing wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. But his mental illness meant he gradually vanished from history - until now.
Lush moss beds in East Antarctica’s Windmill Islands.
Sharon Robinson
Mosses are the only plants that can withstand life in East Antarctica’s frozen landscape. But a new study shows that life is getting even harder, as ozone loss and climate change make conditions even drier.
Most people will never visit Antarctica but music can evoke the continent in myriad ways.
Photo: Meredith Nash
Scientific research into the effects of climate change in Antarctica - and its history of intrepid exploration - is inspiring contemporary Australian composers.
In contrast to common perceptions, Antarctic seafloor communities are highly diverse. This image shows a deep East Antarctic reef with plenty of corals, sponges and brittlestars. Can you spot the octopus?
Australian Antarctic Division
Life on the Antarctic seafloor is surprisingly diverse – and half of the species live nowhere else on Earth. Now scientists can accurately map this unique biodiversity.
PM-3A McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
US Army Engineer Research and Development Labs - United States Antarctic Program, Antarctic Photo Library
A chance discovery of some kelp that floated for 20,000km before washing up on an Antarctic beach has opened up a new chapter in our understanding of the currents that swirl around the Southern Ocean.
Scientists have found that the bedrock underneath the West Antarctica Ice Sheet has the potential to rebound in response to melting faster than thought, which could act to stabilize the ice.
As the world prevaricates over climate action, Antarctica’s future is shrouded in uncertainty.
Hamish Pritchard/British Antarctic Survey
What will Antarctica look like in 2070? Will the icy wilderness we know today survive, or will it succumb to climate change and human pressure? Our choices over the coming decade will seal its fate.
Without floating sea ice, climate-weakened ice shelves are wide open to attack by waves.
AAP Image/Caroline Berdon
Since 1995, several ice shelves off the Antarctic Peninsula have abruptly disintegrated. A new analysis suggests that these events are triggered when ice shelves lose their buffer of floating ice.
The northeast edge of the Venable Ice Shelf, near Antarctica’s Allison Peninsula.
NASA/John Sonntag
Last summer one of Antarctica’s floating ice shelves calved an iceberg the size of Delaware – but scientists say other less dramatic changes reveal more about how and why Antarctica is changing.
Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong