The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica

Latest Articles

The Antarctic Treaty's Diamond Anniversary
Features / Back in the Day
Monday December 02, 2019
Sixty years ago, on December 1, 12 nations signed an unprecedented international agreement that set aside their often-contentious territorial claims on the frozen continent and established Antarctica as a place for peaceful...

SALSA Part II: Drilling Deep
Science / The Biological World
Monday November 18, 2019
Researchers with the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access project, or SALSA, in part are trying to better understand how the West Antarctic ice sheet behaves, and what its future may be in...

SALSA Part I: Scratching the Surface
Science / Ice and Snow
Tuesday November 05, 2019
A team of researchers and drilling engineers recently spent six weeks in West Antarctica carefully drilling through nearly a mile of ice to study Mercer Subglacial Lake. This body of water is...

50 Years Of Women In Antarctica
Features / Perspectives
Wednesday October 23, 2019
Fifty years ago, four female researchers traveled to the McMurdo Dry Valleys, opening the door for women to work on the frozen continent. Last week, The Byrd Polar Research and Climate Center...

When Women Reached the Ice
Features / Back in the Day
Monday October 14, 2019
In 1969, Lois M. Jones and her science team made history as the first all-female research team to work for the US Antarctic Program. They were studying the erosion of rocks in...

Podcast: Fuels
Features / Operations
Wednesday September 18, 2019
In Antarctica, scientists conduct cutting edge research on a harsh and barren continent. It's no easy task, but to help make it happen the U.S. Antarctic Program employs small army of support...

With Mount Discovery in the background, Alex Chartier's ionosonde sits atop a scaffolding to better understand the giant clouds of charged gas in the ionosphere.

Plasma Patch Atlas
Science / Space and Atmospheric Physics
Wednesday September 04, 2019
High above the surface of the Earth, flow giant, invisible clouds of charged gas that can degrade radio transmissions, disrupt GPS Signals and play havoc with other communications and navigation systems. But they're not always showing up when scientists predicted. This year geophysicist Alex Chartier traveled across Antarctica to figure out what's going on in Earth's upper atmosphere.

At the far end of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Jen Lamp performs some final checks before leaving her experiment out for the austral winter.

The Flight of X-Calibur
Science / Space and Atmospheric Physics
Tuesday July 23, 2019
Antarctica can be a double-edged sword for astronomers: conditions there are some of the best in the world for observing the heavens, but the harshness of the place can be hard on equipment. In December 2018, astronomers who launched the x-ray telescope "X-Calibur" to study neutron stars and black holes got a taste of that contrast.

Listening to Rock Music
Science / Earth
Monday July 08, 2019
Rocks are cracking up all over Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys. Though it may take hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years, the slow but inevitable processes of weathering eventually reduce all rocks into sand or even clay.

Quick Find

Archives

2019	2018	2017	2016
2015	2014	2013	2012
2011	2010	2009	2008
2007
Print Issues: 1996-2006

Around the Continent

News and updates from USAP stations and vessels.

Research Station Updates
Calling on the Vessels
Cold Hard Facts
Comics by Matt Davidson

For USAP Participants

For The Public

For Researchers and Educators

Contact Us

More Articles

Quick Find

Around the Continent

Contact USAP

Quick Links

Help

Office of Polar Programs Social Media