The Antarctic Sun: Current Science Headlines

Science—Recent Headlines

Twin Otter flies over the ice of Antarctica during a previous field season. A similar aircraft outfitted with unique radars will fly Ian Joughin and members of his team over West Antarctica later this year.

Balancing Act

Ian Joughin and his team have a tough job ahead of them: Determine how much ice from a vast swath of West Antarctica is being lost into the Amundsen Sea compared to the amount of snowfall the area receives. The project will require the scientists to fly across thousands of kilometers of ice later this year.

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Snowball Earth
Stephen Warren has made eight previous trips to Antarctica to study its climate. But on his ninth visit to the frozen continent later this year, the University of Washington professor will use Antarctic ice to learn more about the planet's climate hundreds of millions of years ago during a time of extreme glaciation called Snowball Earth.

The Poop on Penguins
Penguin guano stains, visible from space, have helped British scientists locate emperor penguin breeding colonies in Antarctica. For the survey, the researchers used satellite images downloaded from the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA), a project partly funded by the National Science Foundation.

Antarctic Bird Nest?
The previous discovery of a new bird species related to ducks and geese on an island off the Antarctic Peninsula has encouraged scientists to look more closely at the fossils collected from the region over the last 20 years. They believe modern birds may have originated in Antarctica more than 65 million years ago when dinosaurs still stalked the Earth.

Sea Level Rise Revised
A new study in the journal Science challenges the long-held idea that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level by as much as five or six meters if it were to collapse. Instead, the authors contend the ice would increase sea level by about half of previous estimates.

Balancing Act

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