An area of sea ice larger than the state of Rhode Island detached from Antarctica’s Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf this week and broke into many smaller pieces. The long, narrow tongue seen in these satellite images is called fast ice–it’s sea ice held fast to the land. Its breakup is part of the regular cycle of ice formation and disintegration as summer comes to the south. NASA, which captured these very cool images, says that the ice will eventually reattach itself. >>>
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antarctica
The British Antarctic Survey has been trawling the waters of Bellingshausen Sea in West Antarctica, and BAS photographer Pete Bucktrout was there to capture their haul in these gorgeous, watery portraits of polar creatures. The Bellinghausen is one of the fastest warming seas in the world and thus is a prism onto the effects of climate change…
Much like male pattern baldness, the ice sheets of Antarctica have followed a relatively predictable march of deterioration. The western edge of the continental ice shelf has crumbled, while the eastern side has remained stable. Or so we thought. Now, just as a dude with receding hairline suddenly finds a bare spot in the back, NASA has discovered that the “stable” side of Antarctica actually isn’t.
U.S. Urges Crackdown on Antarctic Tourism
Tours to the end of the world before climate change brings about the end of the world have Antarctic tourism booming—it’s grown 10-fold in the last 15 years. But with the sinking of one tourist cruise ship and two others run aground in the last two seasons, the United States says, whoa there, Cap’n Stubing, Antarctica needs tighter regulation.
Pushed by heavy winds, a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship carrying 105 washed up on rocks today near Argentina’s San Martin base in Antarctica. Passengers and crew of the Exxon Valdez, er, Ocean Nova, were uninjured and in no danger, according to the Argentine military.
With a grinding of steel on steel, the eco-warrior ship Steve Irwin smashed into the stern of a Japanese whaler a few days ago, bringing a new level of violence to the annual Southern Ocean “whale wars” between the Japanese government-funded fleet and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society anti-whalers.




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