For several years now climatologists have puzzled over an apparent conundrum: why is Antarctic sea ice continuing to expand, albeit at the relatively slow rate of about one to two percent per decade, while…
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Articles on Antarctica
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Imagine an environmental crisis caused by a colourless, odourless gas, in minute concentrations, building up in the atmosphere. There is no expert consensus, but in the face of considerable uncertainty…
This week, Japan announced a research plan for its New Scientific Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean, to replace previous programs. In March this year, Japan’s previous whaling program, JARPA…
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and possibly the most inhospitable place on Earth. It is also the only continent designated entirely as a natural reserve, used purely for peaceful and scientific purposes…
Many people think of sunburn and skin cancer when they hear about the ozone hole. But more ultraviolet (UV) radiation isn’t the only problem. The ozone hole has also led to dramatic changes in Southern…
While Australia’s commitment to a 20-year plan for Antarctica has been welcomed by some it has also raised concerns over the nation’s ability to fulfil a credible research role in the south polar region…
The Antarctic is a vast and inhospitable place with a time scale all of its own. For the scientists who travel there to carry out research, a project can sometimes take years to plan and even longer to…
Over 2012 and 2013, parts of New Zealand experienced their worst drought in nearly 70 years. Drought is the costliest climate extreme in New Zealand; the 2012-2013 event depressed the country’s GDP by…
Ice sheets respond slowly to changes in climate, because they are so massive that they themselves dominate the climate conditions over and around them. But once they start flowing faster towards the shore…
Antarctic winter sea ice has once again broken the record for maximum extent. On September 12, the coverage measured 19.619 million square kilometres, the highest since satellite records began. The ice…
Japan is reportedly set to release plans to resume killing whales in the Southern Ocean in the 2015-16 season. It seems like a defiant move, coming just six months after the International Court of Justice…
Life is hardier than was thought only a few decades ago. With the help of new exploration technologies and new methods for finding and identifying organisms, our perceptions of what constitute the environmental…
The Australian government’s blueprint for the Antarctic is due out soon. Given the recent cuts in public funding for science, what hope is there for any extra monies for the polar region. And what should…
We know elements of the story. It was 1911, as Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen raced to the South Pole. Temperatures were below -50˚C. Scott was British; Amundsen a Norwegian. Sled dogs were dying, and…
Lead pollution from Australia reached Antarctica in 1889 – long before the frozen continent’s golden age of exploration – and has remained there ever since, new research shows. In our study, published…
The amount of the earth’s ocean surface covered by sea ice has been continually observed by satellites and its extent estimated since 1978. The trend has been for shrinking sea ice in the Arctic and, more…
The concept of a “tipping point” – a threshold beyond which a system shifts to a new state – is becoming a familiar one in discussions of the climate. Examples of tipping points are everywhere: a glass…
An international study of ice cores has helped researchers pave the way for a better understanding of how Antarctica’s volcanoes have affected the global climate over the past 2,000 years. The research…
Antarctica is a continent less suited to human habitation than any other. Temperatures rise above freezing only briefly on the northern Antarctic peninsula. At the coast mean temperatures range between…
Antarctica is a continent less suited to human habitation than any other. Temperatures rise above freezing only briefly on the northern Antarctic peninsula. At the coast mean temperatures range between…
Top contributors
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Adjunct Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania
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Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Astrophysics, UNSW Sydney
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
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Professor in Climate Change and Paleoclimatology, Australian National University
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Professor of Antarctic Studies, School of Humanities, College of Arts, Law and Education, University of Tasmania
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Scientia Professor and Deputy Director of the ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS), UNSW Sydney
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Assistant Professor of History, Texas Tech University
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Professor in Ocean Physics, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
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Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong
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Antarctic Law Researcher, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, University of Tasmania
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Director of the ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, University of Tasmania
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Senior lecturer, University of Tasmania
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Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Wollongong
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Principal Research Scientist, Australian Antarctic Division and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
