Ongoing Coverage of Earth’s Polar Regions
By Climate Central
Earth’s polar regions — the Arctic and the Antarctic — are far from where most of us live. What’s happening there now as a result of climate change, however, will end up affecting us in very direct ways. Melting glaciers and ice caps are raising sea level worldwide, and new research released in 2012 shows that the melting, especially in Antarctica, could speed up in coming years. Summer melt-back of ice covering the Arctic Ocean, which hit a record in 2012. doesn’t raise sea level, but it does trap extra heat in the underlying water. That has warmed the entire region, causing permafrost to melt, and possibly altering weather patterns further south. Those changes have been fingered as possible culprits in Hurricane Sandy’s unusual track, which sent it slamming into the Northeastern U.S.
As climate scientists say with increasing frequency and worry: “What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.”
Here's an archive for our coverage of Arctic and Antarctic ice, which we'll continue to update:
2013:
April 28: Warmer Seas May Impact Antarctic Clams’ Reproduction
April 12: Study: Arctic Summers Warmest in 600 Years
April 9: Charting the Arctic’s Future With Logbooks from the Past
April 6: Antarctic Sea Ice Grows as Result of Warming
April 3: Clouds Helped Enhance Greenland’s Record Melting
March 26: Arctic Ice Hits Annual Max and it’s 6th Lowest on Record
March 25: It’s ‘Survival of the Fattest’ for Canada’s Polar Bears
March 23: China Pours Cash into Melting Arctic to Win Influence
March 22: Study Shows Canada’s Far North Glaciers Are Melting Fast
March 17: Greening Tundra Shows Impacts of Spreading Warmth
March 15: Shell Barred From Arctic Drilling Without Overhaul
March 13: Large Fractures Spotted in Vulnerable Arctic Sea Ice
March 5: Warmer Arctic with Less Ice Increases Storm Surge
March 4: Study Shows A Future In Trans-Arctic Shipping
March 2: Shell to Suspend Arctic Offshore Drilling Program
Feb. 28: Ice Bubbles May Solve Carbon-Temperature Paradox
Feb. 27: NOAA to Map Alaska’s Increasingly Ice-Free Arctic Waters
Feb. 22: Ice Melt Means Uneven Sea Level Rise Around the World
Feb. 5: Exhibition Turns Climate Data into Artistic Experience
Feb.1: Major Storm Accelerated Arctic Sea Ice Loss, Study Finds
Jan. 31: Ozone Hole’s Shifting Winds May Sap Major Carbon Sink
Jan. 23: Greenland’s Ice Sheet More Stable Than Once Believed
2012:
Dec. 27: Great Arctic Cyclone in Summer ‘Unprecedented’: Study
Dec. 23: Soaring Temps in West Antarctica May Fuel Sea Level Rise
Dec. 18: Arctic Storms: A Climate Danger Nobody’s Talking About
Dec. 7: Arctic Wildfires Speed Melting of Greenland Ice: Study
Dec. 5: Accelerated Warming Driving Arctic Into New Volatile State
Dec. 4: Rogue ‘Ice Islands’ Pose New Threat in the Arctic
Nov. 29: Study Gives New Benchmark for How Much Ice is Melting
Nov. 19: As Sea Ice Declines, Winter Shifts in Northern Alaska
Nov. 15: Winds Seen As Key Driver Of Antarctica’s Growing Sea Ice
Oct. 10: CO2 May Fragment Glaciers, Driving Ice Into the Sea Faster
Oct. 8: Scientists Close in on the Cause of Arctic Methane Leaks
Oct. 5: Melting Permafrost Will Boost Temps, But Not Quickly
Oct. 3: In Wake of Sea Ice Loss, Focus on New Models, Melt Ponds
Sept. 30: Arctic Warming is Altering Weather Patterns, Study Shows
Sept. 30: Forget the Melting Arctic, Sea Ice in Antarctica is Growing!
Sept. 21: Visualizing 2012’s Record Arctic Sea Ice Melt
Sept. 19: It’s Official: Arctic Sea Ice Shatters Record Low
Sept. 19: A Closer Look at Arctic Sea Ice Melt and Extreme Weather
Sept. 17: Globe Records Fourth Warmest August as Arctic Ice Melts
Sept. 17: Powerful Video of 2012 Record Arctic Sea Ice Melt
Sept. 13: New Study Shows How Fast Ice Sheets Can Change
Sept. 12: ‘Astonishing’ Ice Melt May Lead to More Extreme Winters
Sept. 12: Arctic Has Lost Enough Ice to Cover Canada and Texas
Sept. 9: Image of the Day: The Tongue of the Malaspina Glacier
Sept. 8: Patagonian Glaciers Are Rapidly Melting, Report Finds
Sept. 7: As Sea Ice Fades, The Arctic Becomes A Nautical Highway
Aug. 30: Image of the Day: Perilous Plight of Adélies Penguins
Aug. 29: Heidi Cullen Joins Lateline to Discuss Record Sea Ice Melt
Aug 29: Antarctic Methane: A New Factor in the Climate Equation
Aug. 27: Arctic Sea Ice Sets Record Low, and it’s Not Over Yet
Aug. 22: Report: Most Antarctic Peninsula Warming Human-Caused
Aug. 21: Arctic Sea Ice Record Now Could Be Set in August
Aug. 15: Greenland Melt Sets Record Weeks Before Summer Ends
Aug 14: Arctic Sea Ice On Pace for a Record Low in September
Aug. 5: The Rare Earth Riches Buried Beneath Greenland’s Vast Ice
July 31: Rapid Arctic Sea Ice Loss On Par with 2007 Record Season
July 25: The Story Behind Record Ice Loss in Greenland
July 24: Greenland Ice Melt Reaches Unprecedented Level
July 18: Greenland Glacier Sheds Two Manhattans’ Worth of Ice
July 13: Record Amount of Arctic Sea Ice Melted in June
July 12: Sea Level Rise: It Could Be Worse than We Think
June 29: Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Nearing Critical ‘Tipping Point’
June 28: Arctic Off-Shore Oil Exploration could be Imminent
June 25: Investors Getting Cold Feet About Arctic Oil Prospecting
June 4: Race to Map Africa’s Forgotten Glaciers Before They Melt
May 23: A River Runs Through It: Scientists Explain Arctic Mercury
May 16: Arctic Death Spiral: More Bad News about Sea Ice
May 16: Tiny Frigid Bubbles Get to the Core of Climate Change
May 16: NASA’s Latest Hit: Ice Show from Space
May 14: Long-Range Ice Forecast: Things Could Get Very Grim
May 9: The Bad News Continues to Flow About Antarctica’s Ice
May 3: Ice is Flowing Slower on Greenland than Many Feared
May 2: Video: Extreme Weather and Rapid Arctic Warming
April 30: Antarctic Ice Shelves Melting from Below, Study Finds
April 21: Bugs in the Ice Sheets: Melting Glaciers Free Old Bacteria
April 15: Lloyd’s of London Warns of Arctic Oil Drilling Risks
April 4: Now You Sea It, Now You Don’t: Watch Arctic Sea Ice Melt
April 2: Chilling out in Alaska, A Scientist’s Dream Come True
March 30: CSI Cold Case: Unlocking the Mystery of Rising Seas
March 8: “Chasing Ice” Catches up to Earth’s Changing Climate
March 7: Antarctic Trek Dramatizes the Dangers of Climate Change
Feb. 27: Warming Arctic Fueling Cold, Snowy Winters, Study Says
Feb. 15: Unusual Weather Pattern Freezes Europe, Shifts Arctic Ice
Feb. 14: What’s Beneath Antarctica’s Ice? No, not Hitler’s Remains
Feb.13: How Much Ice Is Vanishing? You Don’t Want to Know
Feb. 6: To Catch a Glacier Thief, Follow the Ice Cubes
Jan 13: Warming Arctic May Be Causing Cooler Winters in Eastern U.S., Europe
Jan. 4: David Attenborough: Frozen Plant Series Not Alarmist About Climate Change
Climate Central Videos:
| NEEM: Ice Cores Tell of Climate History | Arctic Changes: The Big Picture |
| Greenland: Life on the Greenland Ice Sheet |
Drilling Back to the Future: Climate Clues from Ancient Ice on Greenland |
| Greenland: The Pilots of the 109th Airlift Wing | Greenland: Ice Cores and Climate |
