Antarctic

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense Fund.A huge Antarctic ice berg - seven times the size of Manhattan - is close to breaking off, supported only by a thin strip of ice hanging between two islands.Part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, the berg was captured in satellite and video images by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which said, "It is another

clipped from edition.cnn.com WASHINGTON (AP) -- A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday. Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years. This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is breaking up and data suggests that Antarctic warming is causing the disintegration of what was once permanent floating ice. From the National Snow and Ice Data Center:The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a broad plate of permanent floating ice on the southwest Antarctic Peninsula, about 1,000 miles south of South America. In the past 50 years, the western Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the biggest temperature increase on Earth, rising by 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 degree Fahrenheit) per decade. NSIDC Lead Scientist Ted Scambos, who first spotted the disintegration in March, said, "We believe the Wilkins has been in place for at least a few hundred years. But warm air and exposure to ocean waves are causing a break-up."Satellite images indicate that the Wilkins began its col

By Will DunhamMarch 26, News.com.auSATELLITE images show that a large hunk of Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf has started to collapse in a fast-warming region of the continent.The area of collapse measured about 160 square miles (415 square km) of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, according to satellite imagery from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Centre. That's a larger area than Australia's Gold Coast, which is 383 sq km.The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a broad sheet of permanent floating ice that spans about 5000 square miles (13,000 square km) and is located on the southwest Antarctic Peninsula about 1000 miles (1600km) south of South America.Crumbling"Block after block of ice is just tumbling and crumbling into the ocean," Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice D

Giant Marine Life Found in Antarctica Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish. A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as

Life is busy. Chicks have to be fed, guarded and kept warm even in these short summer months. Nests have to be maintained. Suitable stones and rocks are in short supply and there has been a lot of thieving going on this year. It is difficult with so many of us living in such a confined space.And we have our human guests to keep entertained as well. They look so silly with their bright orange and yellow heavy plastic outfits and unwieldly gum boots. They slither and slide on the slippery rocks and ice. Yet, nearly every day another ship disgorges a small army of them ferrying them to shore in the rubber zodiacs.What is that sound? Is that him? Oh, the unbridled joy. I am starving and I badly need a wash and finally my husband has returned. I’m so happy to see him. He looks very contented

I was recently alerted by a friend of mine about the existence of bacteria in ice, not any old ice but ice from frozen lakes in Antarctica. Browsing the net I found several articles which shed some light on this new-found phenomenon, quite interesting to me since I’m not much of a bacteria sort [...]

Many of the Irish really do hate the English, and this video is living proof. The pilot is Irish and the journalist is English, from the BBC. The language is a little raw, so you have been warned. More Irish Humor More video humor ***** Reading about how cold it gets in Antarctica does not do justice to the way conditions really are way down south. So, here is an up-close look at Antarctic

The Greenpeace ship Esperanza, running low on fuel, has departed the Anatarctic where it has led nonviolent direct action against Japan's whaling fleet and successfuly halted whaling operations for more than two weeks.Greenpeace said the Esperanza had been on a 4,300 nautical mile chase of the fleet's factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, since spotting the vessel in the early hours of January 12."Without the factory ship, the remaining hunter vessels have been unable to operate -- bringing the entire whaling programme to a halt," it said."It is estimated that the fleet needed to catch approximately nine minke whales each day and an endangered fin whale every other day in order to reach their self-imposed quota of nearly 1,000 whales. However, the Japanese government said they would not whale wh

n an article published Sunday on the Web site of the journal Nature Geoscience, Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey report the identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within an ice sheet in western Antarctica. This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet in Antarctica, Vaughan said. Volcanic heat could still be melting ice to water and contributing to thinning and speeding up of the Pine Island glacier, which passes nearby, but Vaughan said he doubted that it could be affecting other glaciers in western Antarctica, which have also thinned in recent years. Most glaciologists, including Vaughan, say that warmer ocean water is the primary cause of thinning.Antarctic volcanoes identi

It has been three days now. For three days we are huddled with seven people in the last of two tents we still have up. Two of us sleep on the kitchen table, the rest of either in a chair or on pieces of luggage which we stacked in the corner of what once was our kitchen tent. The other tent is full with our personal gear. All the rest of our equipment is crated and lined up near the helicopter landing site.When the Akademik Fedorov, our Russian pick-up vessel (the largest in the Antarctic by the way!) arrived at the island three days ago, the sky was covered. After they landed their big Mil-8 helicopter near our expedition camp, we loaded it up as much as we could, but the mist came in from above the sea and in minutes. The visibility turned real bad. So bad that the pilot had to fly on radar trying to find the ship back. The evacuation was aborted then. Three days we are now waiting to get off the Antarctic. On the ship, a few miles off shore, hot showers and proper meals are waiting

I kind of wake up. I don’t really want to wake up. I just want to sleep. My body and mind are tired. Tired of days on end working, battling against the snow, wind, cold. Fresh snow slips through the small opening I make in my sleeping bag, trying to take a peek at the inside of the tent. I see the dim light through the tent cover, but that is no indication of time. It is always light this time of the year on the Antarctic. My watch tells me it is 5 o’clock. I have to think a while if that would be 5 AM or 5 PM.. Hmmm, AM it is. Soon my shift will start. I have to get up, but my body refuses. I stare at the side of the tent.The storm started yesterday evening, and is still blowing in full force. It pushes and pulls violently on the sides of our Weatherhaven tents as if it is trying to get rid of it. The thick nylon cargo lashes we pulled over the tents vibrate in the wind as if they were huge strings. The storm howls and roars as if it were nature’s way to say “you guys don’t

I found these photos compelling in a sad way. One of my dreams in life is to one day take a cruise down the Antarctic Peninsula, and view up close the immense glaciers, wildlife (penguins of course,) and magnificent landscapes of the seventh continent. These cruises depart from Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, and navigate the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands before paralleling the Antarctic Peninsula. Unlike regular “cruise” cruises these ships are smaller and you only travel with about 200 other people. Onboard these renovated Russian “Explorer” ships are scientists, wildlife experts, and those experienced in the region providing lectures and first hand information. Plus fine cooks and first class service. Now there’s one less boat. This week the G.A.P. Adventure owned “Explorer” hit an iceberg and sank. Fortunately all 154 people transferred to a nearby vessel as this rusty looking but beautiful ship made it&rsqu

There are a lot of vessels that find themselves in unlikely places and finding themselves in the Antarctic regions is something that will surely be something that any boat would not want to be, even if it is a whaling ship that bullies the natural water creatures. Add bad luck to the equation, having a fire in the ship and losing most of its power to travel back to its point of origin makes it all the more harder. The said fire does not only threaten the ship as a whole, but the Antarctic region as well hence the need for assistance to pull them through. That is if they want the help being extended. Download latest version of Flash to view video! . Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode animals, antarctic region, antarctic regions, bad luck, climate change, global warming, green, Green Tips, Green Tutorials, natural water, point of origin, Socially Unresponsible, Video Clips, water creatures, whales, whaling ship

A South Korean expedition is trekking across the Antarctic when they discover a journal left by a British team that was lost 80 years earlier. As they press onward, they begin to notice strange similarities between the ill-fated British journey and their own. In the unforgiving environment where small mistakes can doom an entire party, the team steadily descends deeper into fatal delusions. Song Kang-ho and Ji-tae Yu both star in this film and they are not to be missed! Release Date: 2005 Director:Pil-Sung Yim Writers:Joon-ho Bong Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller Cast: Kang-ho Song, Ji-tae Yu, Hee-soon Park, Yoon Jae-Moon, Duek-mun Choi , Hye-jeong Kang, Kyeong-ik Kim. Also Known As:Antarctic Journal Namgeuk-ilgi Runtime:115 min Country:South Korea Language:Korean Subtitles: English hardsubbed. IMDb link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462703/ Torrent Download Antarctic Journal.[ENG]hardsubbed. Uploaded by Annallon

As the national repository for geological material from the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility at Florida State University houses the premier collection of Antarctic sediment cores — and a hot new acquisition will offer an international team of scientists meeting there May 1-4 its best look yet at the impact of global warming on oceans worldwide. The remarkable new core was extracted during the recent Antarctic summer from record-setting drilling depths 4,214 feet below the sea floor beneath Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, the Earth’s largest floating ice body. Laced with sediment dating from the present day to about 10 million years ago, the core provides a geologic record of the ice shelf’s history in unprecedented detail. Greenish rock layered throughout the “time capsule” indicates periods of open-water conditions, suggesting that the Ross ice shelf retreated and advanced perhaps as many as 50 times over the last 5 millio

Australia, who claims 42 per cent of the Antarctic landmass covering 5.9 million square kilometres, might have difficulties "protecting" their property from interlopers should the world have a shortage of natural resources in the not so distant future, Herald Sun reported. Although never universally recognised, nobody has ever disputed Australia's claim. But Antarctica possesses vast mineral

Well, you need to be: a citizen of Malaysia, a scientist, it helps to be a woman and you need to be totally devoted to go on an Antarctica vacation, OOPS you need to be totally devoted to go on a polar research mission… Polar Research Malaysia Each year, Malaysia sends an average of 14 scientists to the Arctic and Antarctic. The participants in these Antarctic expeditions are scientists and postgraduate students of which 70% are women. Most of them undertaking this Antarctica travel are young and very determined. (so I do wonder what the ones are doing there who are not determined to visit Antarctica???) So if you are crazy about Antarctica but never think of spending the money for going on an Antarctica vacation, why not divert your Antarctic passion into becoming an Antarctic scientist and being paid to go on Antarctic expeditions? Polar Bears Polar Bears : Suhaila, Sheeba and Leela Our above 3 "polar bears" of Malaysia (from the National Antarctic Research C

Amid 70-mile-an-hour winds and freezing Antarctic conditions, an American-Argentine research team has recovered the well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur (general info) --a marine reptile that swam the waters of the Southern Ocean roughly 70 million years ago. The fossil remains represent one of the most-complete plesiosaur skeletons ever found and is thought to be the best-articulated fossil skeleton ever recovered from Antarctica. The creature would have inhabited Antarctic waters during a period when the Earth and oceans were far warmer than they are today. James E. Martin (homepage), curator of vertebrate paleontology and coordinator of the paleontology program at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's Museum of Geology, announced today the plesiosaur bones will be unveiled at the museum on December 13, 2006. The long-necked, diamond-finned plesiosaurs are probably most familiar as the legendary inhabitants of Scotland's Loch Ness*, although scientifi

More than 300 glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula are flowing faster into the ocean, further adding to sea level rise, according to research published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The researchers, members of the British Antarctic Survey, said warming temperatures, which have already increased summer snow melt and ice shelf retreat on the peninsula, were the most likely cause. "The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced some of the fastest warming on Earth, nearly three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the last half-century," lead study author Hamish Pritchard said in a statement. "Eighty-seven percent of its glaciers have been retreating during this period and now we see these glaciers are also speeding up" as they discarge ice and water into the ocean. Using radar images from satellites, the researchers tracked the flow rate of more than 300 previously unstudied glaciers on the peninsula's west coast and found a 12 percent increase

{mosgoogle right}The aging Antarctic expedition ship Shirase returned to Tokyo Saturday morning after completing its last voyage.Members of the Japanese Antarctic Expedition, who had returned home by air, greeted the vessel with a banner reading, "Thank you for 25 years of service."The Shirase, an icebreaker belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, is Japan's third Antarctic expedition ship, following the Soya and Fuji.Since 1983, the Shirase has carried [...]