Astronomy from the Polar Plateau The polar plateaus provide the best sites on the Earth's surface to conduct a wide range of astronomical observations, due to the extremely cold, dry and stable air found there. This project aims to quantify these conditions at Dome A on the Antarctic plateau, and begin the process of turning the site into a front line observatory. An automated observatory,which can gather data over the winter, will be delivered to Dome A through a Chinese-led traverse in early 2008. More information. Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) This major IPY project will determine species biodiversity, abundan...

Submitted by Cristina Millan on October 20, at 2am: I already said this year's location was beautiful but at night... there are no words to describe it. All photos below are from different days and different times throughout the night. Pretty soon we will not have this colors anymore, but for now... we have this! And there are no camera tricks! I took this photo of Mt Discovery (one of the many volcanoes nearby) a few nights ago, around 2 in the morning. It was bitterly cold but we all bundle up and went out for the show: Mt Erebus at 4:00 am two days ago. Early dawn: ...

Mark Speight and Simon Webbe honour young artistic talent in charity pavement art competition Monday 22 October 2007 -For Immediate Release- On Friday 19 October at The Royal Society in London, young people across the UK were honoured for their exceptional artistic talent and creative achievements in the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Young Pavement Artists Competition 2007. TV presenter and competition president, Mark Speight was joined by R & B singer, Simon Webbe, at the special awards ceremony. Arthur Morris wit...

By Dr. Frank-Oliver Nitsche, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University The Amundsen Sea continental shelf is one of the remotest areas of coastal Antarctica, and was relatively unexplored until the late 1980s. Over the last two decades, increased oceanographic and geological interest has led to several cruises that resulted in sufficient bathymetric data to compile a fairly detailed regional map of the Amundsen continental shelf. We have combined available multibeam and singlebeam bathymetry data from various sources and created a new regional bathymetry of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf and margin. Deep trough systems that dominate the inner shelf are aligned with present glaciers and separated by shallower ridges. Shaped by paleo-ice streams, these featur...

On October 22, science students from around Chile congregated in Punta Arenas for the start of the the IV Feria Antártica Escolar (Antarctic Students' Fair), which this year focuses on the effects of climate change on the wildlife of Antarctica. FAE was inaugurated by Dr. Juan Carlos Castilla, who spoke about "Climate Change in Chile: how can we adapt and help mitigate its impact". Castilla is professor at the Catholic University of Chile, a specialist in experimental marine ecology and marine conservation. Castilla is a member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences (US). In this FAE, six experimental works and 18 bibliographical ones will be presented by students, with topics covering places like Eastern Island and Puert...

By Louise Huffman, ANDRILL Coordinator of Education “Little” ANDRILL is about to leave us—probably as early as Monday, October 22, 2007, depending on weather. ANDRILL (ANtarctic geologic DRILLing) this year has two projects on the Ice, and they both have teachers involved in research immersion experiences. “Little” ANDRILL is actually the Mackay Sea Valley Seismic Survey (MSV) and “Big” ANDRILL is the Southern McMurdo Sound drilling project (SMS). Eight ARISE (ANDRILL Research Immersion for Science Educators) participants have become close friends as we have traveled and worked together over the past few weeks. ...

Submitted by Cristina Millan on October 14, 2007. For a few hours early on our second night [of drilling at ANDRILL] we went to the ice edge, just 8 km from the drill site. It was really special! Not only because of the views and the beautiful dusk colors, but also because of the penguins that hang out there. We approached the edge carefully, watching for signs of thinned ice, and saw a few Emperor penguins lounging around in the distance. As soon as we got off the skidoos a group of 10-12 penguins ran towards us to check us out. We stood still and got our cameras ready. I thought they would move away once they got close, but instead they came even closer…I could almost touch them. ...

By Cristina Millan, sublitted October 13, 2007: Many projects in Antarctica are 24/7 operations, and ANDRILL is no exception. We take advantage of the 24 hours of continuous daylight at this time of the year. (Well, there is a short 'night' period between midnight and 3 or 4 in the morning, when the sun goes down a bit but never really goes under and so it looks like dusk. This is getting shorter every day and soon the sun will be all the way up and move in a tight circle above.) It makes for an exhausting working season but it also is much more efficient. Night view of Mt. Erebus as seen from the drill s...

Cristina Millan writes: What’s different this year? A new drill hole and a new location (at the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound (MSM) drill site), new drill and science teams (some returns, though), new expectations, new worries, new results… and a new job for me. This year we are about 30 km from McMurdo station, so those of us working at the drill site live at a camp specially set up for this operation AND within 5 minutes walking distance of the drill rig (which is nice change form last year’s hour-long commute to the site!!) The camp is great! Quite a set-up, overall, when I think of how most people do research here, and what a logistical nightmare living and working in Antarctica is. I will have some photos and stories about my ‘home...

Antarctic Ecological Genomics PhD Opportunities 1) Ecological genomics of the invertebrate response to ocean acidification 2) Ecological genomics of the vertebrate/invertebrate response to shifts in food supply We invite applications from highly-motivated molecular biology and/or biochemistry postgraduate candidates to contribute to a project investigating stress effects on the Antarctic marine ecosystem utilizing genomics-based approaches. Two PhD projects are on offer, each contributing to an objective of this FRST-funded International Polar Year Project. The Antarctic marine ecosystem is under threat as a result of global climate change combined with other anthropogenic influences (e.g. fishing, tourism). We need to understand ecosystem...