Mosses are sensitive to even minor changes in their living conditions, and scientists traditionally tramped through difficult terrain to collect data on them.
Celebrity cows: Southern Girl and Iceberg enjoy a ‘hay cocktail’ at the Commodore Hotel in New York.
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, contact for re-use
What would possess an Antarctic expedition to take dairy cows to the icy continent? Back in 1933, Admiral Byrd did so for reasons of image-making, publicity and territorial ambition.
A warming Earth could see invading species arrive in Antarctica via the floating "taxi service" of the sea. That could be a threat to the southern continent's delicate ecosystem.
Ancient air bubbles preserved in Antarctic ice.
The Ellsworth Mountains Project
If we burned all fossil fuels, the loss of ice in Antarctica would raise sea levels 160 to 200 feet, but even our current trajectory could lead to dramatic sea level rise.
Deception wrong-footed scientists three times in ten years, and remains a mystery.
Wikimedia
Deception is the premier tourist destination in the Antarctic. It's also the volcano that scientists are still not sure why it's there.
Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf photographed in October 2011 from NASA’s DC-8 research aircraft during an Operation IceBridge flight.
Michael Studinger/NASA
Researchers find that ice around Antarctica shrank quickly last decade, raising concerns over this buttress against melting land-based ice and future sea-level rise.
Policing toothfish is not as straightforward as Sea Shepherd would like it to be.
AAP Image/Australian Customs
This morning, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels leave port to pursue a new campaign in the Southern Ocean — but this time, it’s not all about whales. Operation Icefish will target vessels fishing…
These clouds – formed high in the Antarctic atmosphere during spring – provide a place where ozone-destroying chemicals can form.
sandwich/Flickr
Imagine an environmental crisis caused by a colourless, odourless gas, in minute concentrations, building up in the atmosphere. There is no expert consensus, but in the face of considerable uncertainty…
Catch from Japan’s previous whaling program. The new program will kill fewer whales.
EPA/TIM WATTERS / SEA SHEPHERD
This week, Japan announced a research plan for its New Scientific Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean, to replace previous programs. In March this year, Japan’s previous whaling program, JARPA…
Antarctica has actually been protected from sea ice melt by the ozone hole.
Vassil Tzvetanov
Many people think of sunburn and skin cancer when they hear about the ozone hole. But more ultraviolet (UV) radiation isn’t the only problem. The ozone hole has also led to dramatic changes in Southern…
Monitoring penguins by an automated camera set up by the Australian Antarctic Division at Whitney Point near Casey station.
Australian Antarctic Division/Colin Southwell
While Australia’s commitment to a 20-year plan for Antarctica has been welcomed by some it has also raised concerns over the nation’s ability to fulfil a credible research role in the south polar region…
A brighter future for Australia’s Antarctic research.
Flickr/Christopher Michel
The Antarctic is a vast and inhospitable place with a time scale all of its own. For the scientists who travel there to carry out research, a project can sometimes take years to plan and even longer to…
Life is hardier than was thought only a few decades ago. With the help of new exploration technologies and new methods for finding and identifying organisms, our perceptions of what constitute the environmental…
Antarctic Law Researcher, PhD Candidate, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, University of Tasmania
