Ice “Memory” to be Protected in Antarctica
The Ice Memory Foundation is preparing for the upcoming transport of ice cores from mountain glaciers to the Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica.The announcement was made as part of the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034) during the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice on June 8.Preserved in the Ice Memory Sanctuary at Concordia Station, the cores will be available for study by future generations of scientists.The first Ice Memory alpine ice cores – extracted between 2016 and 2023 – will leave the laboratory cold rooms of the CNR-ISP in Italy in October.
MBARI Research Supports Cryospheric Science
;s robotic floats to the classroom.The flow of water from the seafloor to the ocean at the land-sea interface—known as submarine groundwater discharge—plays an important role in ocean biogeochemistry, marine ecology, and seafloor geology. This process has been challenging to study in Antarctica, where climate change is likely causing fresh to brackish water to leak from the seafloor.MBARI researchers are working to quantify submarine groundwater discharge along the Antarctic Peninsula and understand its environmental impacts. Preliminary findings suggest submarine groundwater discharge
John Siddorn, CEO, National Oceanography Center
industry and society in the blue economy.NOC: A Leader in Ocean StudyThe NOC we know it today dates back to precursor institutions, each with long histories. As a national institution, it was formed in 1949 as the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO). NIO grew from the work of scientists working at Antarctic whaling stations and the complimentary voyages of Captain Scott’s Discovery and a small group of young scientists brought together during the war, to study how the movements of the waves affected amphibious landings.NOC’s operations based in Liverpool stem from the Liverpool Observatory
RSV Nuyina Completes Dedicated Marine Science Voyage for the Australian Antarctic Program
The RSV Nuyina, operated by Serco, has returned safely to Hobart after a 9-week dedicated marine science voyage to the Denman Glacier, carrying 85 Australian Antarctic Program expeditioners and 45 crew. In achieving its third 2024/25 season voyage, the Nuyina successfully facilitated research and navigated through harsh environmental conditions, including winds at times reaching 63 knots (116 km/hour), thick ice and frequent periods of very low visibility.The Australian Antarctic Program had previously been unable to access Antarctica’s Denman Glacier—which is of prime scientific interest
Britlift Spreader Proves Value on Royal Research Ship
A modular spreader beam from Britlift is proving a success on the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Sir David Attenborough, one of the most advanced polar research vessels in the world.Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), this multidisciplinary research platform operates year-round, spending the northern summer in Arctic. During the southern hemisphere summer it is based in Antarctica where its duties include bringing people, equipment and supplies to BAS research stations. The 129m long vessel has a 50-tonne crane for loading and unloading good and equipment, which can include vehicles and plant
Arctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low Maximum Extent for the Year
; said NSIDC senior research scientist Walt Meier. “But even more importantly than the record low is that this year adds yet another data point to the continuing long-term loss of Arctic sea ice in all seasons.”The record low Arctic maximum extent follows a near-record-low minimum extent for Antarctic sea ice, which was set on March 1, 2025, at 1.98 million square kilometers (764,000 square miles), and tied for the second lowest annual minimum in the satellite record.(NSIDC scientists stress that the Arctic sea ice extent number is preliminary—weather conditions could change the annual
Grander Canyons
slope, and they are an important source of ocean biodiversity, they transport sediment and pollution and they can create hydrocarbon reservoirs.Despite their size and importance, they are still a frontier for scientific research - a new 6,890-foot (2,100 meter) canyon was discovered last year off Antarctica by acousticians on board the icebreaker RSV Nuyina.Earlier this year, scientists at MBARI developed a new investigative technology, Geo-Sense, a new portable instrument that uses distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology for long-term, high-resolution monitoring of geological processes in
A Graveyard for Glaciers
Organization released its State of the Global Climate report. It comes before World Glaciers Day on March 21, World Water Day on March 22 and World Meteorological Day on March 23. It states:• The 18 lowest Arctic sea-ice extents on record were all in the past 18 years.• The three lowest Antarctic ice extents were in the past three years.• The largest three-year loss of glacier mass on record occurred in the past three years.• In 2024, global mean sea level reached a record high in the satellite record (from 1993 to present).There are over 200,000 glaciers worldwide covering around
Study of Newly Exposed Sea Floor Reveals Flourishing Ecosystems
research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice, revealing flourishing ecosystems at depths as great as 1300 meters.On January 13, 2025, an iceberg the size of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet. The team reached the newly exposed seafloor on January 25 and became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.The expedition was the first detailed, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary study of the geology, physical oceanography, and
February 2025
