China to build two more Antarctic research stations by 2015

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China is planning to build two new research stations in Antarctica by 2015 and site inspections are already being conducted by an expedition team, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said Thursday.

A summer station that can be used from December to March will be set up between the existing Zhongshan and Kunlun Stations to provide replenishment and other logistical support, the SOA said.

Huge eruption adds new perspective to past climate

Scientists have found matching traces of a giant prehistoric volcanic eruption in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. The discovery sharpens our understanding of past climate.

Danish climate researchers are currently fixing their gaze on Sumatra in Indonesia. Here lie the remains of the Toba volcano, which 74,000 years ago erupted in what was to become the largest volcanic eruption on Earth in the last two million years.

Last week, Michael Storey of Roskilde University published a study, which dated the eruption with hitherto unseen precision: the volcano erupted 73,880 years ago.

Scott's Last Expedition exhibition opens next month

Canterbury Museum will open a major international touring exhibition telling the epic story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole next month.

Scott's Last Expedition, a partnership between the Natural History Museum, London, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and Canterbury Museum, brings together for the first time rare scientific specimens collected on the expedition and artefacts used by Scott and his team.

Verdict surpriza in cazul probelor din lacul Vostok

In luna februarie 2011, oamenii de stiinta au forat in premiera pana la aproape patru kilometri in lacul Vostok, aflat sub gheata din Antarctica. Cercetatorii au analizat mostrele luate si au constatat ca acestea nu contin niciun fel de forma de viata, in afara bacteriilor provenite de la instalatiile de foraj.

Lacul este acoperit in totalitate de gheata, fiind complet izolat de restul lumii, potrivit Maxi Sciences.

So Far, No Life Found In Buried Antarctic Lake

Earlier this year, a team of Russian scientists completed a technological first – they successfully drilled to the surface of Antarctica’s Lake Vostok. The lake is buried under ice that’s over 2 and a half miles thick – meaning that any life that might still exist in the lake hasn’t been seen on the surface for thousands of years.

In February, when the drill reached the lake’s surface, the pressure differential caused water to shoot up close to 40 meters up the borehole. At that point, the water froze, and the team waited a few months to collect it. Now they have collected it – and the results are so far a disappointment.

Punctul dincolo de care nu mai există întoarcere: astronomii au reuşit să măsoare raza unei găuri negre

În astronomie, „graniţa de la care nu mai există întoarcere” marchează distanţa - faţă de gaura neagră - dincolo de care forţa gravitaţională este atât de puternică, încât nimic nu mai scăpa, nici măcar lumina. Totul este atras - fără posibilitate de întoarcere - către gaura neagră.

Este o premieră în lumea ştiinţifică: o echipă de astronomi de la Haystack Observatory, aparţinând de Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a măsurat raza unei găuri negre din centrul unei galaxii îndepărtate - distanţa până la care materia se poate apropia de gaura neagră fără a fi "înghiţită" de aceasta.

Leaellynasaura, dinozaurul erbivor din Australia

In perioada Cretacicului inferior a erei mezozoice dinozaurii erau raspanditi pe tot Globul, existau sute de specii unele adaptate perfect la mediul inconjurator, altele incercand pe cat posibil sa supravietuiasca in acele vremuri. Un loc plin de pericole pentru multe specii de animale preistorice era reprezentat de padurile salbatice si regiunile polare. In acest peisaj ce reprezenta o adevarata provocare pentru orice vietuitoare traiau dinozaurii Leaellynasaura – mici erbivore zvelte care nu depaseau lungimea de 2 m si greutatea de 70 kg.

Dinozaurul Cryolophosaurus – Soparla cu creasta descoperita in Antarctica

Dinozaurul Cryolophosaurus era un urias carnivor care impresiona prin creasta colorata de deasupra capului, aceasta se intindea de la varful botului pana la frunte. Ramasitele sale fosile au fost descoperite in Antarctica si constau in cateva fragmente care au ingreunat munca cercetatorilor in determinarea genului si speciei de reptila preistorica. In urma studiilor indelungate in anul 1994 paleontologii W. R. Hammer si W. J. Hickerson au clasat specia ca fiind unica, nefiind gasita in alta parte pe Glob si au numit-o Cryolophosaurus ellioti.

Drapel rusesc la Polul Nord, drapel american la Polul Sud

În Antarctica, atât SUA, cât si Rusia şi-au păstrat dreptul de a emite pretenţii teritoriale

Drapelul rusesc scufundat de ruşi în Oceanul Arctic este un gest simbolic, similar celui făcut de americani la Polul Sud. Steagul american este însă arborat la baza Amundsen-Scott, la aproape 3.000 de metri altitudine, potrivit AFP.

Baza americană este construită chiar pe locul Polului Sud geografic al planetei noastre, pe gheaţa Antarcticii, la înălţimea de 2.835 de metri. Numele bazei aminteşte de cei doi celebri exploratori, norvegianul Roald Amundsen şi britanicul Robert Falcon Scott, porniţi la începutul secolului XX să cucerească Polul Sud. Primul la Polul Sud a ajuns Amundsen, la 15 decembrie 1911.

Antarctica

In timp ce unii cercetatori sunt preocupati de studierea altor planete, apropiate de sistemul nostru solar, altii sunt interesati sa afle ce enigme ascunde Antarctica.  Antarctica este regiunea polara din continentul Antarctida si portiunile sudice din oceanele limitrofe, fiind înconjurata de Oceanul Antarctic. Cu o suprafata de 14 milioane kilometri patrati, este considerata al cincilea continent, ca marime, dupa Asia, Africa, America de Nord si America de Sud. Circa 98% din suprafata Antarcticii este acoperita cu gheata a carei grosime, în medie, masoara 1,6 km.

Antediluvian Civilizations

"Antediluvian civilizations" are civilizations believed to have existed before the Great flood of Noah. If the fossil record is indeed the result of the Biblical flood as described in the Bible, then it is somewhat expected for evidence of antediluvian (pre-flood) civilizations to exist. It is assumed by many that humans reached advanced stages of technological development before the flood. Such presuppositions are usually based on the Biblical genealogy, which states that ancient people lived to approximately 10 times our current life span.  

Following the Ice: Is this Global Warming?

From the mess tent, we can hear huge boulders crashing through rapids half a kilometer away. The boulders sometimes sound like approaching footsteps, and as we’re all just a tiny bit nervous about an unlikely polar bear visit, conversations trail off and we listen.

In the four years our camp has existed on this glacial river, more meltwater is spilling out from beneath Leverett Glacier than we’ve ever seen. What’s more, the river has spilled over its banks and is now eroding a glacial moraine near our camp that was likely pushed there in the 1700’s during the Little Ice Age. It’s only June and the river is still rising.