The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica - Current Science Headlines

Science—Recent Headlines

The first view of the bottom of subglacial Lake Whillans. Soft lake sediments crumble as the WISSARD underwater camera touches the bottom.

Life Under the Ice

It's life. But is it life as we know it? That question will be answered in the months ahead, but it appears that the first evidence that something lives in a lake covered by nearly a kilometer of ice in West Antarctica emerged at the end of January.

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Making Waves
A pair of studies published this month in the prestigious journal Science link ozone depletion over the Antarctic to powerful changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation. Such changes may have global implications, from altering precipitation patterns to weakening the sequestration of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

Cold Enough for You?
Researchers have spent the last two field seasons tracking and studying Weddell seals on the sea ice near McMurdo Station for a project asking a very fundamental question about the world's southernmost mammal: Do seals get cold?

Water World
In the end, it took a little bit of magic and quite a lot of effort, but U.S. scientists announced this week that they successfully reached a lake buried nearly a kilometer below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. a custom-made, high-powered hotwater drill reached subglacial Lake Whillans on Jan 28.

Poised for the Plunge
The final push by a team of U.S. scientists to explore a lake nearly a kilometer below the ice sheet is about to begin. Their destination: subglacial Lake Whillans, a liquid body of water trapped under about 800 meters of ice. Their mission: To make some of the first explorations of a subglacial ecosystem.

Life Under the Ice

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