Antarctica – News Stories About Antarctica - Page 3

Penguins' First Home
Isn't What We Thought

NEW STUDY

Aug 18, 2020 10:55 AM CDT

Penguins' First Home Isn't What We Thought

Researchers trace origin to Australia, New Zealand, not Antarctica, some 22M years ago

(Newser) - Penguins have had quite the journey, from Australia some 22 million years ago to modern-day Antarctica, according to a new study. With help from institutions around the world, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed blood and tissue samples from 18 species of penguins, finding that the animals originated...

Emperor Penguin Poop
Reveals Hidden Colonies

Aug 5, 2020 9:30 AM CDT

Emperor Penguin Poop Reveals Hidden Colonies

On the downside, all are in fragile areas

(Newser) - Good news following a massive breeding failure of emperor penguins: There are 20% more colonies in Antarctica than previously known. They were discovered thanks to patches of penguin poop so large they could be seen from space. The red-brown guano left behind on ice, captured in high-resolution images from a...

Antarctica's Green Snow Mapped From Space

Antarctica Is
Seeing Green Snow

May 20, 2020 6:55 PM CDT

Antarctica Is Seeing Green Snow

Algae is thriving as the continent heats up

(Newser) - Antarctica is getting slushier and the snow is getting greener, according to scientists using satellite data to map blooms of algae. The BBC reports that a study of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands found about 1,700 large algae blooms covering a total of nearly 1 square mile—though...

In Antarctica, 'We Are
Isolated Within Isolation'

May 14, 2020 7:41 AM CDT

In Antarctica, 'We Are Isolated Within Isolation'

Researchers are trying to keep continent virus-free

(Newser) - Antarctica is the only continent without confirmed coronavirus cases—and the hundreds of people spending the winter at research stations there want to keep it that way. Some 29 countries have a total of around 80 bases in Antarctica, but all intra-base visits have been called off amid fears the...

A Supercontinent Split.
The Frogs Ended Up Here

NEW STUDY

May 6, 2020 10:00 AM CDT

A Supercontinent Split. The Frogs Ended Up Here

Fossils in Antarctica are evidence of the breakup of Gondwana

(Newser) - "Frogs, nowadays, are known on all six other continents. Now we know they were also present on the seventh." That's according to Swedish scientist Thomas Mors, whose discovery of 40-million-year-old ancient horned frog fossils in Antarctica suggests frogs were transported around the globe by the breakup of...

Microplastics Found in Antarctic Ice for First Time

Microplastics Found in One
of World's Remotest Places

Apr 22, 2020 6:44 PM CDT

Microplastics Found in One of World's Remotest Places

96 particles found in sample of Antarctic sea ice

(Newser) - Grim news from one of the remotest places on Earth: Microplastics have been found for the first time in a sample of Antarctic sea ice. Researchers say they found 96 tiny plastic particles in an ice-core sample that had been stored in Tasmania since it was taken in 2009, the...

Antarctica Once
Had a Rainforest

NEW STUDY

Apr 2, 2020 12:25 PM CDT

Antarctica Once Had a Rainforest

Researchers find evidence of a much warmer era

(Newser) - Little else but ice, snow, and penguins likely pops into your head when you can spare a thought for Antarctic. But there's much more to the continent than meets the eye, as scientists describe in Nature . Analyzing a sediment core taken from the seafloor of West Antarctica's Amundsen...

Almost 70 in Antarctica?
Scientists Report a Milestone

Feb 14, 2020 10:03 AM CST

Almost 70 in Antarctica? Scientists Report a Milestone

Researchers record a temperature of nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit

(Newser) - Earlier this month, researchers in Antarctica recorded a temperature of 64.9 degrees Fahrenheit, which would be a record if confirmed. Now, however, different Antarctic researchers already may have surpassed it. Brazilian scientists on Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula recorded a temperature of 69.3 degrees on February 9,...

Antarctica Reaches
65 Degrees for First Time

Feb 7, 2020 4:05 PM CST

Antarctica Reaches 65 Degrees for First Time

Station's reading beats 5-year-old record

(Newser) - Antarctica's peninsula is warming faster than nearly anyplace else on the planet, and a researcher said it's sometimes pleasant enough to go outside in a T-shirt. That's the case now. A research station at Esperanza, on the peninsula's northern edge, has recorded a temperature of 18....

6 Men Cross World's Most
Perilous Passage in Rowboat

Dec 30, 2019 12:51 AM CST

6 Men Cross World's Most Perilous Passage in Rowboat

They made it across Drake Passage in 13 days

(Newser) - As freezing water thrashed their rowboat in some of the most treacherous waters in the world, six men fought for 13 days to make history, becoming the first people to traverse the infamous Drake Passage with nothing other than sheer manpower. They dodged icebergs, held their breaths as giant whales...

All 38 Passengers
on Doomed Plane
Presumed Dead

Dec 12, 2019 1:40 PM CST

All 38 Passengers on Doomed Plane Presumed Dead

Wreckage of the Chilean Air Force plane has been found

(Newser) - The wreckage of the Chilean Air Force plane that went missing en route to a base in Antarctica Monday night has been found, and Chile's government believes all 38 passengers aboard are dead. "I would like to express our condolences, support and the pain we are feeling for...

Search Crews
Comb Antarctic
for Missing Plane

Dec 11, 2019 5:23 AM CST

Search Crews Comb Antarctic for Missing Plane

Chilean plane was carrying 38 people

(Newser) - Search crews are combing the Antarctic for a Chilean military transport plane carrying 38 people that vanished en route to a base on the frozen continent and will tirelessly press ahead as the hunt gains widening international support, officials say. Gen. Eduardo Mosqueira says Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, and the US...

Plane Carrying 38
Disappears on
Way to Antarctica

Dec 10, 2019 12:44 AM CST

Plane Carrying 38 Disappears on Way to Antarctica

Chile lost contact with military aircraft

(Newser) - Chile's air force said it lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to one of the country's bases in Antarctica. It said the military had declared an alert and activated search and rescue teams. The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew...

Catastrophe Drowned
Thousands of Penguin Chicks

Apr 25, 2019 12:10 AM CDT

Catastrophe Drowned Thousands of Penguin Chicks

Emperor colony has suffered total breeding failure

(Newser) - The second-biggest breeding ground for Antarctica's emperor penguins is now almost completely deserted after a 2016 catastrophe, researchers say. Satellite photos show that the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, where around 8% of the world's emperor penguins normally breed, disappeared almost overnight, the BBC reports. Researchers...

Stunned Scientist: 'It's
Like Seeing a Dinosaur'

Mar 9, 2019 5:30 PM CST

Stunned Scientist: 'It's Like Seeing a Dinosaur'

Researchers discover a new kind of killer whale

(Newser) - A killer whale is hard to miss, and yet we did—for decades. Now scientists have discovered what could be a new species of killer whale thriving in a very inhospitable part of the world, Phys.org reports. Dubbed Type D, the whales were first recorded in 1955 when 17...

Antarctic Mission Zeroes In
on Famous Doomed Ship

Jan 28, 2019 7:34 AM CST

Antarctic Mission Zeroes In on Famous Doomed Ship

Researchers hope this week to find Ernest Shackleton's sunken Endurance

(Newser) - A team of Antarctic researchers sets off on Monday to find one of the most famous shipwrecks in history. The only thing that stands in their way is about 75 miles of ice nearly 10 feet thick in places, reports the Guardian . If they can break through, however, the researchers...

American Completes
'Impossible First'
in Antarctica

American Completes 'Impossible First' in Antarctica

Colin O'Brady finished trek in 32-hour push

(Newser) - With a final, 32-hour push, American explorer Colin O'Brady has completed a journey seen as an "impossible first": a solo, unaided, 921-mile trek across Antarctica. "I did it!" the 33-year-old told his family in Portland, Ore., after finishing the journey in 54 days. O'Brady was...

2 Workers Die in
Unexplained Accident
at US Antarctic Station

Dec 13, 2018 3:36 AM CST

2 Workers Die in Unexplained Accident at US Antarctic Station

They were found unconscious in generator building

(Newser) - Tragedy in Antarctica: Two technicians are dead after an unexplained accident at an American research station, the National Science Foundation says. The NSF says the two men had been working on a fire-suppression system for a McMurdo Station building that houses a generator for a radio transmitter, Reuters reports. They...

In Antarctica, 2 Vie to
Finish 'Impossible First'

Nov 12, 2018 6:21 AM CST

In Antarctica, 2 Vie to Finish 'Impossible First'

Louis Rudd, Colin O'Brady are separately trying to become first to cross continent unsupported

(Newser) - Two years ago a man died trying to take on "the new Everest." Now, the New York Times reports that two more men are attempting the feat, and they're racing to not only conquer a frozen continent, but also each other. Both 33-year-old Colin O'Brady and...

Attack in Antarctica Results in
Attempted Murder Charge

Oct 24, 2018 4:58 PM CDT

Attack in Antarctica Results in Attempted Murder Charge

Researcher Sergey Savitsky is on house arrest

(Newser) - A researcher at Russia's remote Bellingshausen station allegedly stabbed a colleague earlier this month, the Guardian reports, citing the Russian-language Interfax news agency. Investigators say that the researcher, identified as Sergey Savitsky, wielded a knife on Oct. 9 and "deliberately struck [his colleague] at least one blow to...