The Latest Breaking News from Antarctic

‘This iceberg in Antarctica was so vast, I had to dive down and take 147 photos in sub-zero water, then get a computer to join them up. Ten years on, my toes are still damaged’

UK Antarctic Heritage Trust fills vacancy at world’s most southerly post office, as well as recruiting team to monitor wildlife and carry out building repairs

Analysis of satellite data finds plant cover has increased more than tenfold over the last few decades

The Antarctic ozone hole usually starts forming in early August, but rare warming events and a strangely elongated polar vortex this year may have delayed its arrival.

Whales feed for roughly 100 days out of each year; depending on the species, an adult whale may consume 1 to 6 tons of krill in a day.

Antarctic krill – shrimp-like crustaceans that inhabit the icy waters surrounding Antarctica – may be small (around 5cm) but they have an enormous total biomass, similar to that of the global human population. However, while humans pump ever more carbon into the atmosphere, krill are working in reverse. They are…

Temperature fluctuations above Antarctica in winter show the earliest warming of the stratosphere on record.

The Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica is the world’s largest feeding ground for baleen whales – species like humpbacks that filter tiny organisms from seawater for food. In the 20th century, whalers killed roughly 2 million large whales in the Southern Ocean. Some populations, like the Antarctic blue whale, were reduced…

Last year Antarctica’s sea ice was 1.6m sq km below average – the size of Britain, France, Germany and Spain combined. This week it had even less than that

Antarctica is covered by a miles-thick ice sheet, but was that always the case? And when was the coldest continent ice-free?

At this time of year, as the sun rises over Antarctica, a “hole” opens up in Earth’s ozone layer.