Some time in the past 200 years, Antarctica’s giant Thwaites Glacier saw a period of retreat much faster than even that observed in recent years. It could be a warning of rapid sea-level rise in the near future.

Biological oceanographer Hugh Ducklow describes decades of work in far-flung places to understand the evolving ecology of the oceans. The picture is not always clear.

For the first time, scientists have mapped in detail water locked in a deep basin far under the Antarctic ice. The discovery could have implications for how the continent reacts to, or even contributes to, climate change.

In much of the world ocean, there is evidence that iron-rich dust blowing from land has fertilized algae during cold period, increasing uptake of carbon from the air, and keeping things frigid. Not here, says a new study.

Sea ice in the Southern Ocean retreats each year much faster than it develops. This has puzzled scientists, but the explanation turns out to be simple.

Since 2011, a mass of sea ice from the Larsen B ice shelf helped stabilize the landward glaciers, but the stopgap rapidly disintegrated in January 2022.

High-resolution satellite images allowed researchers to do a more comprehensive head count than ever before, and revealed patterns in the seals’ distribution.

Although his parents wanted him to become an electrical engineer, Tedesco felt drawn to a life of research. Then he fell in love with snow. Now he is among the most well-respected and quoted polar experts in the world.

Thwaites Glacier, dubbed Antarctica’s ‘doomsday glacier,’ has been predicted to undergo dramatic changes, with its ice shelf likely to break apart in as little as five years.

The continent’s western ice sheet turns out to once have been much bigger than previously thought. This implies that the now smaller version could waste quickly.