Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event in progress over the South Pole

Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event in progress over the South Pole

Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event is in progress over the South Pole, with temperatures rising more than 40 °C (72 °F) above normal. "These events are significant, as the warming and the disruption of the polar vortex eventually makes its way…

Rare lightning strikes detected near the North Pole

Rare lightning strikes detected near the North Pole

Rare lightning strikes were detected within 480 km (300 miles) of the North Pole on Saturday, August 10, 2019. A number of lightning strikes were recorded between 16:00 and 18:00 AKDT on August 10 (02:00 – 04:00 UTC, August 11) within 480 km (300 miles) of the North…

Avalanches, bad weather isolates Arctic community, Norway

Avalanches, bad weather isolates Arctic community, Norway

The municipality of Berlevåg, in Norway's Lapland (Finnmark) has been experiencing problems of food deliveries and transport for six consecutive days. An avalanche and heavy snowing blocked the county road leading to the village on Friday, March 23, 2018….

New Antarctic heat map reveals sub-ice hotspots

New Antarctic heat map reveals sub-ice hotspots

An international team of scientists, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), has produced a new map showing how much heat from the Earth’s interior is reaching the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The map was published Monday, November 13, 2017, in the journal…

Mantle plume, a geothermal heat source under West Antarctic ice sheet

Mantle plume, a geothermal heat source under West Antarctic ice sheet

A new study adds to evidence that a geothermal heat source called a mantle plume lies deep below Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land, explaining some of the melting that forms lakes and rivers under the ice sheet. Although the heat source isn't a new or increasing…

Scientists uncover largest volcanic region on Earth under West Antarctica

Scientists uncover largest volcanic region on Earth under West Antarctica

A remote survey suggested by third-year university student discovered 91 volcanoes in a massive region known as the West Antarctic Rift System. The volcanoes range in height from 100 m to 3 850 m (328 to 12 631 feet). A study conceived by a third-year student at the…

Huge Antarctic iceberg finally breaks free

Huge Antarctic iceberg finally breaks free

After months of ‘hanging by a thread’, a vast iceberg the size of Norfolk has finally broken off Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf. Around 30 m (98 feet) of this 190 m (623 feet) thick block of ice sits above the sea surface. Scientists now have…

Sea ice extent sinks to record lows at both poles

Sea ice extent sinks to record lows at both poles

Arctic sea ice appears to have reached on March 7 a record low wintertime maximum extent. This is the lowest maximum in the 38-year satellite record. On the opposite side of the planet, on March 3 sea ice around Antarctica hit its lowest extent ever recorded by…