Australia drought = Antarctic snow

New Scientist reports that Australia's drought could be caused by the rainfall moving south to Antarctica.

Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan of the Australian Antarctic Division studied snowfall records in ice cores from East Antarctica's Law Dome. They found that in the last few decades, its snowfall rates far exceeded anything in the past 750 years. The timing matches the Australian drought.

Read the full story: Australia's rain may have moved to Antarctica

Photo by istockphoto

Antarctic cruise ship stuck in ice

The Associated Press reports on the tourist ship stuck in ice near Antarctica.

A Russian icebreaker, taking more than 100 tourists, scientists, and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica is trying to free itself from ice in the Weddell Sea.

The Weddell Sea is the place that early antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance became infamously stuck and crushed in during his quest to reach the South Pole in the 1910s.

The Captain Khlebnikov icebreaker was near Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea, German Kuzin of the Fareastern Shipping Company told Russia's Vesti 24 television. He said neither the ship nor the passengers faced any risks.

The ship was trying to move slowly through the ice, but the winds were too light to break up the ice pack, he said. An Argentine official said the ice would delay the ship's return by three to six days.

Read the full story: Ship with 100 tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

Photo by Associated Press

Antarctic tourists bring negatives to the icy continent

Reuters via the Environmental News Network reports on the disturbing fact that visitors to Antarctica including scientists as well as tourists are hosts to things like seeds or insect eggs among other so-called alien species that could be detrimental to the changing continent. With the warming of the planet, these non-native plants and species could disrupt the native species already living there. Human visitors unknowingly carry minute plant spores, or food crumbs, or tiny insect eggs, that with the warming of the planet could survive and change the eco-system. Other larger animals such as rats if they should be carried and escape from boats could be very damaging.

"So far, invaders have bridgeheads on Antarctic islands ringing the continent, which have been getting warmer in recent decades. Among the most damaging were reindeer on South Georgia and rats and cats on Macquarie Island, said Dana Bergstrom of the Australian Antarctic Division, who leads an international research project entitled 'Aliens in Antarctica.'

Elsewhere in Antarctica, grass was found growing under a Japanese research hut. Invasive plants were found near a Russian station and a wide variety of fungi near an Australian station."

Read the full story: Antarctica on alert for alien invaders