The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica

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Thwaites Glacier - Future
Science / Ice and Snow
Monday May 17, 2021
The massive Thwaites Glacier on the coast of West Antarctica is falling to pieces because of climate change. Shifting ocean currents are bringing warm sea water up under its vulnerable underside, melting...

Thwaites Glacier - Present
Science / Ice and Snow
Monday May 03, 2021
Thwaites Glacier is melting fast because of climate change, causing sea levels to rise the world over. Of all the world's glaciers, it's the one that scientists are most worried that a...

Thwaites Glacier - Past
Science / Ice and Snow
Wednesday April 21, 2021
Antarctica's massive Thwaites Glacier is melting because of climate change, and if it collapses completely, could add about two feet to global sea level. Glaciologists are tracking it with alarm, as Thwaites...

Cruising for Mollusks
Science / The Biological World
Monday March 29, 2021
Scientists are going to the ends of the Earth to discover all they can about an obscure group of sparkly, worm-like mollusks. There's lots of these critters living on the seafloor surrounding...

Charting a Genetic Sea Change
Science / The Biological World
Monday March 15, 2021
Scientists are mapping the coastline of ancient Antarctica using DNA from underwater invertebrates alive today. In October, despite the ongoing COVID pandemic, a team of researchers sailed from California to Antarctica to...

Podcast: The Fire Department
Features / Operations
Monday March 01, 2021
The Antarctic Sun is taking a behind-the-scenes look at the workers and what they do to make science at the bottom of the world possible. This Episode: The Fire Department. Even on...

A giant southern petrel spreads its wings on an island near Palmer Station.

On the Wings of Petrels
Science / The Biological World
Monday February 15, 2021
Ecologist Donna Fraser carefully makes her way across a low rocky ridge towards a mass of gray feathers with a beak. It's the baby chick of a southern giant petrel.

Kaitlin Mcdonald bends over and measures the tail of a seal pup.

Counting on Seals
Science / The Biological World
Monday February 01, 2021
Seal science in Antarctica continues, even as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world. Fewer researchers and support staff traveled to Antarctica in 2020 to reduce the risk of introducing the virus to the continent. One of the few science teams that did go is working on the long-term study of Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound.

A Weddell seal swims under the surface of the frozen ocean in McMurdo Sound. These pinnipeds were recently recorded emitting sounds above the range of human hearing.

Weddell Seals Sing Songs Humans Can't Hear
Science / The Biological World
Monday January 18, 2021
The seals of McMurdo Sound are more vocal than previously thought. A new research paper published in the December edition of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America shows that Weddell seals vocalize underwater at frequencies too high for humans to hear.

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