Climate change is set to expand Antarctica's ice-free area, potentially helping native species to flourish but also paving the way for invasive species to gain a foothold.
Furious winds keep the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Anarctica free of snow and ice. Calcites found in the valleys have revealed the secrets of ancient subglacial volcanoes.
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Melting ice from Antartica could feed vast plankton blooms, trapping carbon in the ocean. To understand this complex mechanism, researchers looked at volcanoes deep under glaciers.
Trips to Antartica are part of the ‘last chance’ tourism to environmentally fragile places.
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After years of stalled negotiations, China has ended its opposition to the world's largest marine park off Antarctica - part of a wider trend towards increased Chinese involvement in global governance.
The Balleny Islands off East Antarctica - one of the many stops along the way.
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Why spend three months completing a lap of Antarctica (and probably getting seasick along the way)? It's the only way to get vital clues about the remote Southern Ocean and its influence on the planet.
The shock decision to close Australia's year-round research station at Macquarie Island will make monitoring Antarctica and the Southern Ocean harder, and will force Tasmania to get creative.
What can life on Antarctica tell us about future colonies on Mars or other planets?
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Speaking with: Juan Francisco Salazar about colonising Antarctica and Mars.
The Conversation, CC BY-NC-SA19.5 MB(download)
Dallas Rogers speaks with Prof Juan Francisco Salazar about studying the research community in Antarctica to learn about what colonising Mars and other planets might look like.
Britain’s industrial pioneers couldn’t have known how they would affect the climate.
Henry Gastineau
The first signs that humans were warming the climate appeared much earlier in the northern hemisphere - way back in the 1830s. But now the trend is emerging all over the globe.
Antarctica’s ice sheets will continue to melt long after this century.
Antarctica image from www.shutterstock.com
Buried beneath kilometres-thick slabs of ice are rivers and huge lakes - some of which are teeming with microbes that thrive in a world without light or oxygen.
The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long sails from Fremantle Harbour on its way home from Antarctica.
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Australia and China both have a keen interest in the frozen continent. And while they don't agree on everything, there is great scope for scientific collaboration.
Australia (whose flag is pictured on the right) is one of several countries with a big stake in the South Pole.
Josh Landis/US NSF/Wikimedia
Professor of Earth Science and Climate Change, Director of PANGEA Research Centre, Director of Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility, and UNSW Director of ARC Centre for Excellence in Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, UNSW