By Falk Huettmann and Sue Hazlett The Arctic represents a region of the globe directly affected by climate change, human disturbance and natural variation. In addition to acting as the global weather machine, it is considered one of the last remaining “wilderness” areas. However, the warming of the Arctic, a prospect of an ice-free maritime route across the top of the world, and the International Polar Year (IPY), has piqued an interest in the Arctic not previously seen. Prospects of shipping routes, tourism, oil and gas development, and new commercial fisheries have started a land rush by various nations to claim a piece of the northern oceans. The Arctic is in danger of being given away piecemeal as each nation asserts claims and then rushes to develop or exploit their...

My name is Lucia Simion, I am a science writer and a photographer, specialized in the Antarctic. I love that continent because I always liked snow, it’s a magic element of nature, like wind, fire and ice. All these elements are to be found in Antarctica. But there is another reason too: As a child I used to live close by the home of Commander Jean-Baptiste Charcot, explorer of the Antarctic as well as the Arctic. One year ago, in November 2007, I was deployed to the Ice to cover the ANDRILL SMS international project. ANDRILL stands for Antarctic Geological Drilling and SMS for Southern McMurdo Sound; the project has dr...

Anne Aghion, an Emmy award winning filmmaker fascinated by people who survive extreme circumstances, was recently interviewed by SciencePoles.org about her latest film, ICE PEOPLE, a feature-length documentary that explores the physical, emotional and spiritual adventure of living and conducting science in Antarctica.  In 2006-07, Aghion and her crew spent four months on the ice to film the documentary. This included seven weeks camping in the "deep field" with a small team of geologists searching for fossilized vegetation on Antarctic lakebeds estimated at 14-20 million years old. ICE PEOPLE was made with the support of the National Science Foundation's ...

After two and half months of constant strain and uncertainty, it seemed that the Aurora's fate was finally sealed . . . [Wireless Operator Lionel Hooke] observed that 'The whole crew are like a pack of schoolgirls, our nerves absolutely shattered. The dropping of a book or the slamming of a door brings us all up with a start.' Such was the lamentable scene onboard Aurora, during Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (ITAE). Her odyssey in the Ross Sea is vividly brought to life in Stephen Haddelsey's new book, Ice Captain: The Life of J.R. Stenhouse (The History Press Ltd.; ISBN: 0750943483). After she was blown away from Cape Evans by a fierce gale in May 1915, stranding the shore party, Stenhouse's Aurora drifted helplessly for ...