The Antarctic Sun: Current Science Headlines

Science—Recent Headlines

From left, Audrey Huerta, Stephanie Kay, Meilani Bowman-Kamahao and Ann Blyth take a field safety course in the Sierra Mountains in preparation of their fieldwork this season in the Transantarctic Mountains.

Challenging Orthodoxy

A team of scientists working around Byrd Glacier in Antarctica this season may shake up scientific orthodoxy about the formation of the continent's tallest and longest mountain range. The researchers believe the Transantarctic Mountains are the remnant of an ancient plateau, challenging the commonly held theory that the mountains were uplifted through geologic forces.

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Need For Speed
It won't help the Titanic, but a newly derived, simple law may help scientists improve their climate models and glaciologists predict where icebergs will calve off from their parent ice sheets, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

Keeping Track
Mike Goebel uses high- and low-tech methods to find what Antarctic fur seals had for dinner. The interest in diet isn't simply for curiosity's sake. Goebel and his NOAA colleagues use the information to study the health of the marine ecosystem around Livingston Island.

Going on a Diet
There's an old saying: You are what you eat. But the krill-based diet of penguins breeding and living on King George Island off the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula first tipped scientists off that food could provide an altogether different insight.

Going With the Flow
A team of oceanographers will spend more than three weeks in the infamously rough Drake Passage to learn more about the world's largest ocean current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Challenging Orthodoxy

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