Antarctica
AntarcticaBritish Services team ready for two-month Antarctica expedition to honour Captain Scott
The Service personnel who will take part in the British Services Antarctic Expedition 2012 have recently completed their final mission rehearsal exercise (MRX) in the Ecrins National Park region of the French Alps.
Antarctica partial eclipse with the moon covering 80% of the sun at South Pole
On Friday, 25 November 2011, a solar eclipse will sweep across the southern part of the world, with the Moon covering about 80% of the Sun at the South Pole, reports the International Astronomical Union, IAU.
Ninety years later epic polar explorers set to rest side by side in South Georgia
“He is my other self. I love him like a brother”. Thus Ernest Shackleton spoke of Frank Wild, his friend and fellow explorer, whose ashes are soon to be laid to rest alongside Shackleton’s at the Whaler’s Graveyard in Grytviken, South Georgia, 90 years after their last great polar venture.
Prepare for a huge iceberg, 880 sq kilometres anticipated NASA
A massive crack is growing wider in the Antarctic ice sheet and could break apart in the coming months, forming an iceberg the size of the island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain), NASA scientists warned Thursday.
UN publishes blueprint for ocean and coastal sustainability
Four United Nations organizations presented a project to preserve oceans and coastal areas threatened with environmental degradation. The document, released during the XXXVI UNESCO General Conference, warns of the danger faced by large aquifers, which play the role of climate regulators and are food sources and support for the economy of millions of people.
International coalition promotes network of Antarctica marine protected areas
A new international coalition is working to set up a network of designated marine protected areas (MPA) and no-take marine reserves in the oceans surrounding Antarctica.
Centennial of Amundsen and Scott’s South Pole feat next 14 December
British and Norwegian teams are in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, preparing for a repeat of the South Pole feat on 14 December 1911 first accomplished by explorer Roald Amundsen and a month later by Sir Robert Scott.
South Georgia expects 51 cruise calls and 5.000 visitors for the 2011/12 season
Fifty one cruise visits have been booked for the current 2011/12 season in South Georgia, extreme South Atlantic, with a potential number of 6.350 visitors (were they all to be full), but with the actual figure likely to be nearer to 5.000. Two cruises “L'Austral” and “Island Sky” will be making their first ever visit to South Georgia.
Ozone hole over Antarctica reached its ninth largest on record in September
The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on September 12, stretching 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest on record and equivalent to three times the area of Brazil: 3.3m.
Mercosur and EU will be ready to exchange trade proposals ‘in June 2012’
Mercosur and the European Union are committed to presenting their proposals with list of products for a free trade agreement in June 2012, announced on Friday Uruguay’s Foreign Affaire minister Luis Almagro.
