Australia to detect HPAI-H5 on Heard Island
Camille Lin, 08/15/2025

Australia to detect HPAI-H5 on Heard Island

From September to December, a research team from Australian Antarctic Programs will be deployed on the sub-Antarctic island at 53 degrees south to assess the health of animal populations.King penguins on Heard Island. Image: Stephen Brown / Australian Antarctic Program Australia is bracing itself fo

Launch of New South Georgia Entry Permit System Halted
Dr. Michael Wenger, 08/12/2025

Launch of New South Georgia Entry Permit System Halted

The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands had planned to implement a new ETA system for visitors but had to delay these plans now. The Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) has announced a last-minute postponement of its new Electronic Entry Permit sy

Do Marine Protected Areas in Polar Oceans Actually Work?
Dr. Michael Wenger, 07/31/2025

Do Marine Protected Areas in Polar Oceans Actually Work?

New research shows that the success of Marine Protected Areas hinges on strict enforcement, a principle facing major geopolitical and ecological challenges in the planned sanctuaries of the Arctic and Antarctic. Two major studies arrive at seemingly opposite conclusions about the effectiveness of Ma

So Robert Falcon Scott wasn’t lying?
Camille Lin, 07/29/2025

So Robert Falcon Scott wasn’t lying?

Mila Zinkova, an independent atmospheric scientist, has just published a study in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research that pays tribute to the Terra Nova expedition. She suggests that the captain and his crew, returning from the South Pole, may well have been caught in a nine-day snow

Wordie – Chronicle of a disappearance
Camille Lin, 07/22/2025

Wordie – Chronicle of a disappearance

We’ve almost forgotten it, but Wordie wasn’t always a bay: it was once an ice shelf, and its slow disappearance is a textbook example of the powerful phenomenon of glacier collapse at work in Antarctica.The calving front of Fleming Glacier, which once fed the Wordie Ice Shelf before it collapsed. Im

How early life could have survived the “Snowball Earth” phases
Julia Hager, 07/18/2025

How early life could have survived the “Snowball Earth” phases

While the Earth endured icy millions of years, early life may have survived near the equator, according to a new study of microorganisms in Antarctic meltwater ponds.Meltwater ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. Photo: Ian Hawes, University of Waikato The Antarctic is once again provi

Thwaites: countdown to disintegration
Camille Lin, 07/15/2025

Thwaites: countdown to disintegration

The Thwaites Glacier is living out its last years of stability: the disintegration of its floating shelf has begun. As spectators of a predicted collapse, we witness the countdown of a colossus whose melting could raise the oceans by 65 centimetres. The icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer at the edge of

Beyond the “Greening”: Antarctica, Scientific Debate and the Media Narrative
Dr. Michael Wenger, 07/11/2025

Beyond the “Greening”: Antarctica, Scientific Debate and the Media Narrative

A 2024 study claimed Antarctica's peninsula is rapidly "greening." However, two new papers challenge this and open a debate of how dramatically Antarctic science should be communicated. A striking headline emerged from a 2024 study in Nature Geoscience: the Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing a widesp

A bird that’s an emperor in name only
Camille Lin, 07/08/2025

A bird that’s an emperor in name only

No sooner has the emperor penguin begun to reveal its secrets than it’s already disappearing. Beacon of a climate in crisis, this emblematic Antarctic bird could disappear before we even get to know it. The emperor penguin(Aptenodytes forsteri) lives exclusively around Antarctica and is distinguishe

Antarctic research is in decline, and the timing couldn’t be worse
Gastautor, 07/04/2025

Antarctic research is in decline, and the timing couldn’t be worse

Melting glaciers, tipping points, sea ice in distress. The Antarctic continent is not doing well in the face of climate change. Yet, the scientific research, as crucial it is to undersand the different implied phenomenons, is declining in number. Photo: Julia HagerDespite accelerating climate impact

Do Antarctic anchorages have an impact?
Camille Lin, 07/01/2025

Do Antarctic anchorages have an impact?

Never-before-seen images filmed in Antarctica show traces of anchoring on a deep, untouched seabed. Without concluding that there is a definite impact, a study invites us to consider the potential effects of human activities on these fragile ecosystems. Giant sponge and anemones 230 m beneath the ic

Whalers’ Memory Bank: When Former Whalers Tell Their Story
Mirjana Binggeli, 06/27/2025

Whalers’ Memory Bank: When Former Whalers Tell Their Story

A new project launching this week in Dundee brings together long-lost stories, photos and personal artefacts from Scottish whaling communities, not to glorify the industry, but to preserve its human history.Everyday objects, family photos, logbooks, and personal mementos come together in the Whalers

UNOC 2025 : Remember the Polar Oceans !
Gastautor, 06/24/2025

UNOC 2025 : Remember the Polar Oceans !

Anne Choquet, from the University Occidental in Brest, explains why UNOC 25 has forgotten the polar oceans, and why they should be treated equally. Nearly 25 times larger than France in the Arctic and 27 times larger in the Antarctic, the polar oceans are largely overlooked by UNOC. Yet the challeng