The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica

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The Edge Of Life
Science / The Biological World
Tuesday September 19, 2017
Researchers working in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys found evidence, in ancient dried microbial mats, of microorganisms that may have been alive for thousands of years. The discovery could have implications for biology...

Charles Bentley 1929-2017
Features / People Profiles
Tuesday August 29, 2017
Charles Bentley, the pioneering glaciologist who was among the very first wave of scientists to travel to Antarctica, passed away on August 19 at his home in Oakland, Calif. at the age...

Podcast: McMurdo Station On The Move
Features / Operations
Wednesday August 02, 2017
Mass transit may not be one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about operations on the icy continent, but without it McMurdo Station wouldn't function. The Antarctic Sun...

James Stewart
Features / People Profiles
Thursday July 13, 2017
James "Jim" Stewart--the chief diving officer emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the so-called "father" of the U.S. Antarctic Program's diving program--died in Irvine, California on June 7 at the...

The Prehistoric Forests of the Frozen Continent
Science / Earth
Friday June 30, 2017
Paleontologists uncovered the fossil remnants of the oldest forest yet discovered in Antarctica. At about 270 million years old, the fossils come from an extinct species of tree known as Glossopteris. The...

Dating The East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Science / Ice and Snow
Wednesday June 14, 2017
The history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is written in stones along the Transantarctic Mountains. Over the past two years, researchers ventured to remote areas along the mountain range to decipher...

Sarah Seabrook climbs out of the water after diving to collect samples of the methane-eating microbes growing below.

Methane Munching Microbes
Science / Oceans and Atmosphere
Wednesday May 24, 2017
VIDEO: Five years ago, a plume of natural methane started seeping out of the seafloor near McMurdo Station, providing researchers an unprecedented chance to study the formation and development of colonies of microorganisms that rely on methane for nourishment.

Adelie penguin populations, like this one at Cape Crozier, is the focus of ornithologist David Ainley and his team's research.

Tag! You're it!
Science / Earth
Wednesday May 17, 2017
A number of Adelie penguins around the Ross Sea are sporting sophisticated new leg bands this year. Ornithologist David Ainley and his team attached new electronic tags to about 150 penguins to record where each penguin goes and how deeply it dives under water. The tagging project ties in with a broader effort that he's been spearheading for 20 years, monitoring Adelie penguin populations and demographics around Ross Island.

A fumarole on the slopes of Mount Erebus is the tell-tale sign that there is gas seeping from underground.

Caves Of Gas
Science / Earth
Wednesday April 26, 2017
Planet Earth is gassy. All over the world, plumes of gasses that formed deep under the planet's surface, pour out of active volcanoes and mix with the atmosphere. Tobias Fischer, a volcanologist at the University of New Mexico, spent two seasons exploring the frozen face of Antarctica's Mount Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano, to better understand these fumes escaping from the depths of the Earth.

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