Space power China to build ground stations on Antarctica to support satellites

China, only the third country to put a man in space after the Soviet Union and United States, is to build ground stations on Antarctica to back its network of ocean monitoring satellites, state media said on Thursday.

NASA: Global warming now changing how Earth wobbles

Global warming is shifting the way the Earth wobbles on its polar axis, a new NASA study says, highlighting what one expert said is the "large" impact humans have on the planet.

Japan vessels return to port after killing 333 whales

Japanese whaling fleet returned to port on Thursday after killing over 300 minke whales in its first Antarctic hunt since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled its whaling program to be illegal in 2014.

Australian and Chinese scientists to expand Antarctic cooperation with new pact

Antarctic researchers from Australia and China have signed a trans-national pact that will allow the two countries to share data used to forecast sea-ice conditions.

Antarctica gaining more ice than losing – (NASA)

 Antarctica has been accumulating more ice than it’s been losing in recent decades, a new study by NASA has revealed, challenging existing theories on climate change and rises in sea levels.

Collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet unstoppable (U.S. studies)

The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds enough ice to raise global seas by up to 15 feet (about 4.6 meters), is already underway and appears to be "unstoppable," two separate U.S. studies said Monday.

"There's been a lot of speculation about the stability of marine ice sheets, and many scientists suspected that this kind of behavior is under way," Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington, said in a statement about one of the studies. "This study provides a more quantitative idea of the rates at which the collapse could take place."

Evacuation of passengers from ice-trapped ship in Antarctica likely Jan 3...

SYDNEY, January 02, /ITAR-TASS/. Evacuation of passengers from the Russian research ship MV Akademik Shokalsky, which is trapped in thick ice off some 100 km off Antarctica’s Adelie Land, will most probably be done January 3, not January 2, the ship’s captain Igor Kiselyov told Itar-Tass.

The Akademik Shokalsky has 74 people aboard - a 22-strong Russian crew and 52 passengers, some of them researchers from the Australian Antarctic Expedition and others being accompanying travelers.

Icebound Ship Still Awaits Rescue. -2 video

Passengers on board a Russian research ship are still anxiously awaiting rescue, nearly a week after being trapped in Antarctic ice.

The Chinese icebreaker Snow Bird sent to rescue the vessel came within 11 kilometers of the stranded Russian ship on Saturday, but had to stop when thick ice blocked its progress.

Rescue now depends on an Australian icebreaker that should arrive at the site later Sunday.

If the Australian vessel fails to break through the 3-meter-thick ice, a helicopter on the Chinese ship could be used to evacuate the passengers on the trapped vessel.

Nations fail to agree on Antarctic marine reserve.-Countries that have fishing interests in the region continue to reject plans...

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WELLINGTON — The nations that make decisions about Antarctic fishing failed today (Nov 1) for a third time to agree on a plan that would create the world’s largest marine sanctuary.

The United States and New Zealand had proposed creating a reserve in the pristine Ross Sea. At 1.34 million square kilometres, the sanctuary would have been twice the size of Texas.

Britain preparing for new Falklands War?

A series of military options are being considered by UK defense chiefs as tension mounts between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a report by the Sunday Telegraph claims.
Extra troops, warships and Typhoon combat aircraft could be dispatched to the islands if needed, ahead of the March 11 referendum on the island’s future, the newspaper claims, citing sources in Britain’s military.
The Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, north-west London is also reportedly considering a ‘show of force’, including conducting naval exercises in the South Atlantic. These could include the deployment of the Royal Navy’s Response Task Force Group, a flotilla of destroyers, a frigate, a submarine and Royal Marine commandos.
A more costly alternative would be to deploy the British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade, an airborne task force with more than 8,000 soldiers from five infantry battalions, including the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the parachute regiment.

UK will fight to keep the Falklands – PM Cameron

British Prime Minster David Cameron has said he would send troops to the Falkland Islands if Argentina attempts to invade and retake the territory. Aggressive rhetoric has recently flared between London and Buenos Aires.
Speaking on the BBC’s 'Andrew Marr Show,' Cameron emphasized the UK’s “extremely strong” position after Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner renewed her charge that the islands were stolen by Britain.
Kirchner has taken out advertisements in British newspapers saying in an open letter – initially sent to David Cameron – that the islands were taken from Argentina in a “blatant exercise of 19th Century colonialism.”

Argentina reignites Falklands row with newspaper letter

Argentina's president has called on the UK government to hand over the Falkland Islands, in an open letter printed in the Guardian newspaper.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner urges David Cameron to abide by a 1965 UN resolution to "negotiate a solution" over the islands.
The letter says they were forcibly stripped from Argentina in "a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism".
The government said the Falklands' population had chosen to be British.
The Foreign Office said there could be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falklands "unless and until such time as the islanders so wish".
A referendum on the islands' political status is to be held in March.

Argentina protests renaming part of Antarctica in honour of Queen / Ο πρέσβης της Βρετανίας κλήθηκε στην Αργεντινή να απολογηθεί

The Argentine Foreign Ministry has summoned the British Ambassador and handed him a formal note of protest against renaming part of Antarctica in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.


Buenos Aires has totally rejected London’s claims to that part of the sixth continent, which is better known in the UK as the British Antarctic Territory, and insists that it is Argentine territory.

Last week, London renamed the area of more than 430,000 square kilometres in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.