Jun
27
2018
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IceBridge Flies High
In late 2017, a specially modified airplane contracted by NASA crisscrossed Antarctica, mapping the ice below and filling in a data gap left by a now-defunct NASA satellite called ICESat, which measured the elevation of the ice surface using a laser. Operation IceBridge flights are bridging the gap between ICESat and its successor, ICESat-2.
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Jun
13
2018
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A Chemical Detective Story: Why is Don Juan Pond So Salty?
During winter, nearly everything in Antarctica freezes solid. Except Don Juan Pond. Though only about twice the area of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and barely a foot deep, Don Juan Pond is famous for being the saltiest body of water on the entire planet. It is saltier even than the Dead Sea.
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May
31
2018
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A World-Class Classroom At The Bottom Of The World
For early-career scientists, learning the ropes in Antarctica can mean donning actual safety lines and harnesses. This past austral summer, 20 students traveled to the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station to conduct a range of experiments and learn first-hand what it's like to do research at the bottom of the world.
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May
15
2018
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Ultraviolet Radiation Gives Microbes Mixed Messages
Ultraviolet rays from the sun may be disrupting the natural ecology of the waters of Antarctica's Southern Ocean. A research team, led by a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, is taking a close look at the effects that excess UV radiation at the cellular level to see what it means for marine ecosystems and the regional food web.
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May
03
2018
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Paleo Gondwanaland Was Full Of Lystrosaurs
An expedition studying the aftermath of one of Earth's greatest global extinctions collected hundreds of prehistoric animal fossils from the mountains of Antarctica this past season. Ten researchers spent nearly six weeks camped in the Transantarctic Mountains, collecting fossils that formed following the great extinction at the end of the Permian era.
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Apr
24
2018
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Climate Change In The McMurdo Dry Valleys
The McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystems are changing because of climate change. In a paper published in the journal Ecology in January researchers said they've tracked the decline of the microorganism living in the Dry Valleys' barren soils. More frequent extreme weather events are driving down the population of the nematode Scottnema lindsayae, a microscopic roundworm, which makes up about 90 percent of the species that live in the Dry Valleys.
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Apr
10
2018
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Why Antarctic Fish Don't Freeze Their Tails Off
An innovative project to understand how fish survive in the frigid Antarctic waters is opening up new avenues for researchers monitoring what goes on under the sea ice in McMurdo Sound. Evolutionary biologist Paul Cziko from the University of Oregon is studying how Antarctic fish donât, themselves, freeze into a solid block while spending their lives in subzero waters.
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Mar
06
2018
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Sea Drifters
The menagerie of drifting ocean creatures that lives off the coast of Palmer Station was under the microscope more than ever this past austral summer. A team of scientists spent five months at the station studying the tiny creatures that drift along the ocean currents. It's the first time the research team studying these zooplankton spent an entire field season at Palmer Station analyzing changes over time in the abundance of different species.
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Feb
14
2018
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Circumnavigating the Pole Hole
In January, researchers went for a more than 750-kilometer drive around the South Pole. The team followed the arc of the 88th parallel for a quarter of its distance ringing the South Pole. Their cargo was a sensitive GPS unit to record the exact elevation of the ice sheet they drove over. The effort is in support of NASA's ICESat-2 satellite, a mission devoted to measuring ice levels around the world, particularly in the polar regions.
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Jan
08
2018
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Quantifying Snowfall
Snow in some form or another blankets almost all Antarctica, but measuring exactly how much snow falls from the sky is tricky. A team of researchers recently set up four newly-developed precipitation observatories near McMurdo Station to better measure how much snow falls in the region.
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Dec
20
2017
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The South Pole Telescope's New Eyes
The telescope at the bottom of the planet spent winter calibrating and collecting data after its vision enhancement last summer. Researchers installed a new camera system in the South Pole Telescope, a major upgrade that allows researchers to collect more data than ever before.
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Oct
31
2017
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Life In A Cryoconite Hole
Diverse ecosystems that teem with life thrive just below the surface of many Antarctic glaciers. Small, frozen holes full of liquid water and microorganisms entombed by ice dot the surfaces of glaciers. Researchers in Antarctica are studying them to glean new insights into how these habitats form, and learn what they might be able to reveal about ecosystems around the world.
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Oct
17
2017
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Talking Science with the General Public
Scientists spent a long weekend in August learning how not to talk like a scientist. Educators from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and the University of Colorado, Boulder trained a class of 32 early career polar scientists on techniques to share their science with the general public.
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Buried Treasure
Neutrinos Point The Way To Cosmic Rays
