Antarctica, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 5, 2023

45-mile-long iceberg slams into penguin refuge in Antarctica, almost causing ecological disaster

A massive iceberg around half the size of Rhode Island recently smashed into a penguin refuge in Antarctica, two years after it was birthed from a similar collision. But it seems to have caused minimal damage. The hefty tabular berg, named D-30A, is around 45 miles (72 kilometers) long and...

Oct 24, 2023

'Ghost' of ancient river-carved landscape discovered beneath Antarctica

Beneath East Antarctica's undulating ice sheet lies an ancient, river-carved landscape that provides a perfect snapshot of the region before glaciers covered the continent, a new study finds. Although most of the land buried under the ice sheet was eroded over the eons by moving masses of ice, satellite data...

Oct 24, 2023

Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is 'unavoidable,' study finds

The rate at which the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting will accelerate over the coming decades and is now an unavoidable consequence of climate change, a new study finds. Even if countries manage to cap greenhouse gas emissions and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees...

Nov 28, 2023

World's biggest iceberg 3 times the size of New York City is finally escaping Antarctica after being trapped for almost 40 years

The world's largest iceberg, A23a, is on the move after being trapped in place off Antarctica's coastline for almost 40 years. The gigantic ice island, which is three times the size of New York City, will likely drift into the iceberg graveyard, potentially putting it on a collision course with...

Dec 21, 2023

Zoom through a 'spectacular' chain of ancient underwater volcanoes on Antarctic ocean floor

New high-resolution maps of the seafloor halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica have revealed a chain of underwater volcanoes whose towering peaks may sculpt ocean currents above. The submarine volcanoes, or seamounts, sit 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) below the waves and directly in the path of the strongest ocean current on...

Feb 29, 2024

'2023 just blew everything off the charts': Antarctic sea ice hits troubling low for third consecutive year

The sea ice extent around Antarctica has dropped below 2 million square kilometers (772,000 million square miles) for the third year in a row — a record that experts say is further evidence that the continent is entering a new regime that could cause global ripple effects. Sea ice extent...