The Svalbard rock ptarmigan is a master of camouflage in the Arctic, adapting its plumage to blend seamlessly with the snowy landscapes. This resilient bird faces challenges from predation, climate change, and competition for resources, making it a fascinating subject for wildlife enthusiasts. Male
Glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre and explorer Matthieu Tordeur crossed Antarctica by kite-ski, covering nearly 4,000 kilometres while collecting geophysical data with ground-penetrating radars. Their expedition, Under Antarctica, was the first radar transect ever completed by kite-ski, demonstrating
A young walrus seeks shelter amid the massive bodies of older animals. (Photo: Heiner Kubny)The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth. What appears in scientific diagrams as a simple temperature curve represents a profound upheaval for the animals of the North. The fate of the Paci
Arctic premiere of Trade Secret in LongyearbyenLast Friday, on International Polar Bear Day, Trade Secret had its Arctic premiere in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Two screenings drew over 400 viewers, almost 20 % of the town’s adult population, underscoring how closely the community is connected to the fa
Reindeer (caribou). The reindeer is a mammal from the deer family that is perfectly adapted to cold climates. It lives circumpolarly. In summer it roams the tundra; in winter it moves through the taiga of northern Eurasia and North America, as well as Greenland and other Arctic islands. In North Ame
Svalbard Global Seed Vault in FebruaryThe Svalbard Global Seed Vault carried out its first deposit of the year on 25 February 2025.For the first time, seed samples from two new countries, Guatemala and Niger, were deposited. In addition, the Vault received its first-ever deposit of olive seeds. In t
A sense of security in the ice: a polar bear mother with her cubs on the pack ice of Svalbard. (Photo: Heiner Kubny)The five countries in which polar bears are native have agreed on a new international action plan to protect the species. Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark (Greenl
Georgia Grant, Jim Marschalek and Huw Horgan discuss the drill core (Photo: Ana Tovey, SWAIS2C)An international team of researchers has recovered the longest sediment core ever drilled beneath an ice sheet, a scientific breakthrough for climate research. The 228-meter-long sample of mud and rock was
Arrival at New Zealand’s Scott Base in AntarcticaAntarctica often appears on maps as an empty white space. Yet for the people who work there, it is anything but an abstract region. A scientific study shows how strongly the field season shapes the image of the continent and how ice, light and researc
A sleeper shark swims directly into the spotlight of a video camera in Antarctica in January 2025. (Photo: Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center)A spectacular discovery is causing a stir in marine research: for the first time, a large sleeper shark has been filmed in the icy deep sea of Antarctica.
View from Isbjørne Island in clear weather toward key early Paleo-Inuit settlement sites. (Photo: Team Matthew Walls)The earliest inhabitants of Greenland already possessed advanced maritime skills. Archaeological finds on the Kitsissut Islands in the far north of Greenland show that Paleo-Inuit und
Blood Falls were discovered in 1911 by the Australian geologist Griffith Taylor, a participant in the Terra Nova Expedition. He was the first to explore the valley that now bears his name. At the time, he attributed the red color to red algae. It was later proven, however, that the coloration is cau
The search for the fifth recipient of the Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions has begun. The award is presented each year on the birthday of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and aims to highlight the global importance of these sensitive regions. As the Arctic increasingly moves
Ringed seal on the sea ice (Photo: Marcel Schütz)In the Arctic Ocean, survival is determined not only by ice cover, but also by light. A recent study from Greenland shows that ringed seals appear to closely link their diving behaviour to daylight cycles and the movements of their prey. Once again, t
The main research areas of Mirny Station include glaciology, seismology, meteorology, observation of auroras, cosmic radiation, and marine biology. (Photo: AARI / Dmitriy Rezov)On February 13, 1956, the flag of the USSR was raised at the first Soviet Antarctic station, Mirny. This historic date mark
Greenland’s interior is almost completely covered by an ice sheet up to 3,200 m thick, with an average thickness of about 1,800 m. (Graphic: Wikipedia)The rapid loss of ice masses is not only transforming Greenland’s cryosphere; it is increasingly affecting the island’s geodynamics. New analyses sho
Where has the ice gone?A solitary polar bear stands on a melting ice floe near Svalbard – a silent sign of change in the Arctic. (Photo: Heiner Kubny)Climate change is hitting the Arctic particularly hard. Around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, the annually ice-free period in the Barents Sea
Taylor Valley is an ice-free valley about 33 km (21 miles) long that was once covered by the retreating Taylor Glacier. It is the southernmost of the three large McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains and lies west of McMurdo Sound. (Photo: Wikimedia)Antarctica – In the heart of the col
Artificial intelligence identifies individual icebergs in satellite images. The data obtained help climate research analyze melting processes and better understand the input of freshwater into the oceans. (Photo: NASA)As the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) reports, scientists have developed a novel A
Abraham Lake in the Canadian province of Alberta is famous in winter for its milky methane bubbles trapped in the ice. (Photo: iStock)Permafrost—permanently frozen ground in the coldest regions of the Earth—has stored large amounts of organic carbon from dead plants and animals for thousands of year
Meltwater stream in Cumberland Bay on South Georgia (Photo: Berenice Ebner / AWI)Antarctic phytoplankton uses iron from glacial meltwaterIron is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton and a prerequisite for its growth. A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) has, for the first
Longyearbyen in January 2026 – Image: Marcel SchützWhile large parts of Scandinavia, northwestern Russia, and Siberia experienced their coldest January in many years, the High North revealed a very different side. On Svalbard, in Ny-Ålesund, and on the Norwegian volcanic island of Jan Mayen, tempera
The 1.5-meter-long robotic underwater glider is deployed to measure the salinity, temperature, and chlorophyll content of seawater. (Photo: BAS)When massive icebergs break off from glacier fronts in Antarctica, they do not only generate visible waves at the surface. Beneath the water, tsunamis sever
BAS is a world leader in hot water drilling. For more than five decades, BAS researchers and engineers have been developing the technology and expertise to drill through ice more than 2,000 meters thick. (Photo: Peter Davis / BAS)An international research team from the United Kingdom and South Korea
