team of researchers says they have discovered a massive ancient landscape beneath Antarctic ice, where it has remained preserved for eons.
Formed close to 34 million years ago, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) has seen significant change over the course of the last several geological epochs, with its ancient ice retreating and advancing like the ebb and flow of ocean tides, resulting in variations in ice coverage that have altered the Antarctic landscape. READ MORE...
A British Army officer has broken the world record for the longest solo and unsupported polar expedition by a woman. Preet Chandi (ABOVE), known as Polar Preet, first made history trekking to the South Pole in 2021.
The 33-year-old has so far travelled 868 miles (1,397 km) across Antarctica in temperatures as cold as -50C (-58F). The previous female record was 858 miles (1,381 km), skied by Anja Blacha in 2020.
However, Capt Chandi, from Sinfin in Derby, did not complete her original aim of becoming the first woman to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported.
She set off from Hercules Inlet in November and hoped to reach Reedy Glacier within 75 days. An online blog, which she has kept along the way, was last updated on Thursday.
She reported being about 30 nautical miles away from her pick-up point. READ MORE...
Scientists have been keeping a close eye on the 'megaberg' designated as A68a since it split off from Antarctica back in July 2017 – and new research highlights just how much freshwater it's released into the ocean during its late melting process.
Satellite monitoring systems indicate that for three months at the end of its lifetime, up to March 2021, the iceberg released an astonishing 152 billion tons of freshwater around the remote island of South Georgia – that's the equivalent of 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
There are worries about how this sudden injection of freshwater and the nutrients flowing off the iceberg could affect marine habitats around the island in terms of both ocean circulation and the biological food chain.
"This is a huge amount of meltwater, and the next thing we want to learn is whether it had a positive or negative impact on the ecosystem around South Georgia," says Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, a glaciologist from the University of Leeds in the UK and the study's lead author.
A total of five satellites were employed to keep tabs on the position, area, thickness, and volume change of A68a. At its peak, the iceberg was melting at a rate of 7 meters ror 23 feet per month. READ MORE...
