An international team of researchers from twelve institutions across ten European countries has achieved an unprecedented milestone in climate sciences. This group successfully drilled through Antarctic ice to reach the bed beneath the glacier at a depth of 2,800 meters, recovering a continuous climate record spanning at least 1.2 million years. This breakthrough sets a […]
Antarctica
Posted inGeography
The Ancient Transantarctic Mountains That Split Antarctica in Two, A World You’ll Likely Never See Yourself
Hidden beneath the vast ice sheet that characterizes Antarctica, the Transantarctic Mountains rise as one of the longest and oldest mountain ranges on the planet. This range, extending over 3,500 kilometers from Cape Adare in Victoria Land to Coats Land in the Weddell Sea, forms a crucial geographic and geological boundary: the divide between East […]
Posted inScience
For the first time in history, scientists have found amber fragments in Antarctica, at a depth of 946 meters
For the first time in history, scientists have found amber fragments in Antarctica, thus closing one of the few remaining gaps in the world map of amber discoveries. This significant finding was made possible by a scientific expedition led by Dr. Johann P. Klages from the Alfred Wegener Institute (Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine […]
Posted inScience
“Brittle Stars” Help Identify a New Climatic Period in Earth’s History, Lasting from 50 to 450 AD
A group of researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Pisa has identified a new climatic period on our planet, named the Ophiuroid Optimum, which spanned from 50 to 450 A.D. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was conducted in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the […]
Posted inGeography
Marie Byrd Land: The Largest Unclaimed Territory on Earth
Marie Byrd Land is a vast territory that, due to its immense size and location in the most inhospitable continent on the planet, has managed to remain in a curious political limbo: it has not been claimed by any sovereign nation. With an area of 1,610,000 square kilometers (similar in size to Mongolia or Iran), […]
Posted inModern Era
Bothie, the Only and Last Dog to Have Set Foot on Both Poles of the Earth
The 1983 Pet of the Year award in Great Britain went to a dog that entered the Guinness Book of World Records, whose popularity led to the commercialization of stuffed animals, posters, and toys featuring his image, and who became the subject of a story about the great adventure that earned him all those honors: […]
Posted inGeography
Antarctica: The Unknown Frontier Between Utopia and Dystopia
The Antarctic continent, with its vast and icy expanse, has fascinated explorers, scientists, and diplomats for centuries. This interest arises not only from its desolation and inhospitable beauty but also from the geographical and political imaginations it has inspired throughout history. A recent article by Joanne Yao explores how Antarctica, long conceived as the mythical […]
Posted inScience
Melting of Polar Ice is Affecting Earth’s Rotation and Lengthening our Days
If Earth continues to warm, climate change will have a greater impact on the speed of our planet’s rotation in the future than the Moon does now, according to a recent study by ETH Zurich supported by NASA. The melting of ice masses in Greenland and Antarctica is causing water from the polar regions to […]
Posted inGeography
The Coldest Place on Earth, where Temperatures Drop Below -90°C (-130°F) and the Wind Stops
In geology, a ice dome is the dome-shaped structure formed over an ice cap, mainly in Antarctica. They are not mountains, as they are composed of ice, but they can reach considerable altitudes, making them the highest points of the Antarctic Plateau. The Antarctic Plateau is the ice-covered area located in the center of the […]
Posted inGeography
Why are there firefighters in Antarctica? Fire services at the South Pole
In 1948 an accidental fire destroyed the facilities of Station D, the scientific base that Great Britain had built in Hope Bay, the eastern end of the Trinidad Peninsula. The thing seems to be nothing special except for one detail: this place is located in Antarctica and the devastating effect of the fire not only […]
