Royal Canadian Navy Vessel to Visit Antarctica
On January 10, the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Margaret Brooke departed Halifax, Canada, on an historic mission - the first circumnavigation of South America and first visit to Antarctica by a Royal Canadian Navy vessel.As part of Operation PROJECTION – South America, the Harry DeWolf-class Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) will visit ports across South America to strengthen international relationships in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada. While in Antarctica, the ship will support Canadian scientific research, hosting a team of government scientists on board.The Navy says
2024 was Hottest Year on Record
levels for 11 months of the year. Going back further, all months since July 2023, except for July 2024, have exceeded the 1.5°C level.A new record high for daily global average temperature was reached on 22 July 2024, at 17.16°C.2024 was the warmest year for all continental regions, except Antarctica and Australasia, as well as for sizeable parts of the ocean, particularly the North Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean.Each month from January to June 2024 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year on record. Each month from July to December, except
For Those with Saltwater in Their Veins
December 1987 never went to sea again. Such was their passion for the ship.At that time, most of the crew were single, a wild bunch with saltwater in their veins, likely to be found partying together during their time ashore and likely to be telling everyone how Nella Dan was always the first to get to Antarctica at the start of the season despite her newer, more powerful competition.The 75.5-metre Nella Dan made 124 voyages serving as a supply, expedition and research vessel in northeast Greenland and in Antarctica. She made the Arctic-Antarctic roundtrip each season for over 20 years.Built in 1961, Nella
As Antarctic Sea Ice Disappears, Storms Worsen - study
cover provides a winter blanket over the high latitude Southern Ocean, which stops it from cooling through exposure to the atmosphere. With the blanket removed, heat is lost into the atmosphere and surface waters become cooler and denser.Schematic representation of key processes.Sea ice cover around Antarctica hit a record low in 2023, with ice reductions in strong loss regions 50 to 80 % below the 1991 to 2020 winter average. Ocean heat loss to the atmosphere at some locations has more than doubled and an increase in storms has been observed around much of the high latitude Southern Ocean by up to seven
Wind Patterns Help Predict Low Antarctic Sea Ice
Amid all the changes in Earth’s climate, sea ice in the stormy Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica was, for a long time, an odd exception. The maximum winter sea ice cover remained steady or even increased slightly from the late 1970s through 2015, despite rising global temperatures.That began to change in 2016. Several years of decline led to an all-time record low in 2023, more than five standard deviations below the average from the satellite record. The area of sea ice was 2.2 million square kilometers below the average from the satellite record, a loss almost 12 times the size of Washington
HX Launches Education Program for Antarctic Passengers
science with world-leading researchers in a university-developed program that blends immersive learning with real-world experiences – with the online course being able to be accessed anywhere in the world.Participants will experience an enriched journey through the wonders of the polar region of Antarctica and will receive an official University of Tasmania certificate on completion of the course.The University and HX will launch the program to both guests and staff starting in the late 2024 season. The course offers roughly four hours of content. Topics include:• The human history of Antarctica&bull
Rocket Scientists Build Antarctic Robot Probes
Engineers who specialize in building NASA spacecraft to explore distant worlds are designing a fleet of underwater robot probes to measure how rapidly climate change is melting vast ice sheets around Antarctica and what that means for rising sea levels.A prototype of the submersible vehicles, under development by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles, was tested from a U.S. Navy laboratory camp in the Arctic, where it was deployed beneath the frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska in March."These robots are a platform to bring science instruments to the hardest-to-reach locations on
Has Antarctica Reached Point of No Return?
Nearly 1,500 academics, researchers and scientists specializing in Antarctica gathered in southern Chile for the 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference this week to share the most cutting-edge research from the vast white continent.Nearly every aspect of science, from geology to biology and glaciology to arts, was covered but a major undercurrent ran through the conference. Antarctica is changing, faster than expected.Extreme weather events in the ice-covered continent were no longer hypothetical presentations, but first-hand accounts from researchers about heavy rainfall, intense
Scientists Discover Mysterious Patterns on Ice Shelf Bottom
.This mission was carried out as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), a five-year, $50 million joint U.S. and U.K. mission to learn more about Thwaites Glacier, its past, and what the future may hold.The AUV Ran was programmed to dive into the cavity of Dotson ice shelf, West Antarctica and scan the ice above it with an advanced sonar. For 27 days, the uncrewed submersible traveled a total of over 1,000 kilometers back and forth under the glacier, reaching 17 kilometers into the cavity above which the ice shelf floats.The expedition was carried out in regions of drifting ice in
December 2024
