Antarctica

Find out everything there is to know about Antarctica and stay updated on the latest Antarctica news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and Antarctica pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about this fascinating continent as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about Antarctica.

Related Topics: Arctic, Climate Change, Global Warming, Penguins

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A surface phytoplankton bloom in the Ross Sea in Antarctica captured by NASA's Aqua satellite on Jan. 11 2011. New research suggests blooms like this may also exist further beneath the surface in both of Earth's polar regions.

Logic-defying 'bottom blooms' could sustain hidden ecosystems in Arctic and Antarctica

By Harry Baker published

A pair of new studies has revealed 'highly unlikely' phytoplankton blooms appearing near the seafloor and under sea ice at both Earth's poles.

This photo, taken Oct. 31 by NASA's Terra satellite, shows the world's largest iceberg, A-76A, in the Drake Passage near Antarctica.

World’s largest iceberg is getting swept away from Antarctica to its doom, satellite image shows

By Harry Baker published

A new satellite image shows that the world's largest iceberg, A-76A, has entered the Drake Passage, a waterway that contains a fast-moving ocean current that will send the mighty berg on a one-way trip to its watery grave.

A river system discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet drains into the Weddell Sea.

Enormous river discovered beneath Antarctica is nearly 300 miles long

By Stephanie Pappas published

The discovery of a river beneath the Antarctic ice reveals that the bottom of the ice sheet may be more susceptible to melt than previously believed.

Iceberg A68a as it floats past South Georgia Island.

Massive Antarctic iceberg was ripped in two by powerful ocean currents

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

Fractures in an Antarctic iceberg were likely caused by rapid changes in the currents that flow through the Southern Ocean.

Researchers recently unearthed ancient DNA buried beneath the seafloor in the Scotia Sea north of mainland Antarctica.

Scientists discover 1 million-year-old DNA sample lurking beneath Antarctic seafloor

By Harry Baker published

Analysis of DNA samples collected from beneath the seafloor in Antarctica has revealed that some of the ancient genetic material could be around 1 million years old.

The researcher onboard the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer as it sits in front of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica.

'Doomsday Glacier' is teetering even closer to disaster than scientists thought, new seafloor map shows

By Harry Baker published

A new study has revealed that the Thwaites glacier, also known as the "Doomsday Glacier," could melt away much faster than previously believed.

A map of the Southern Ocean showing the tracks of surverying ships that collected the new depth measurements.

'Factorian Deep,' the new deepest point in Antarctica's Southern Ocean, mapped for the first time

By Brandon Specktor last updated

A sprawling new sonar map of Antarctica's Southern Ocean includes the ocean's new deepest point, the 'Factorian Deep,' for the first time.

GIF of amphipods swimming.

Discovery of 'hidden world' under Antarctic ice has scientists 'jumping for joy'

By Harry Baker published

Researchers in Antarctica have discovered a hidden ecosystem more than 1,600 feet below the ice, which is filled with shrimplike creatures.

The Antarctic coast where the East Antarctic Ice sheet comes into contact with the sea.

City-size lake found miles below Antarctica's biggest ice sheet

By Ben Turner published

Drilling into the lake will enable scientists to track the history of climate change.

Author Chloe Gustafson and mountaineer Meghan Seifert installing a magnetotelluric station on the Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica.

'Giant MRI of Antarctica' reveals 'fossil seawater' under ice sheet

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Fossil seawater can be found in the depths of the aquifer.

This Sentinel-1A satellite image shows the C-38 iceberg on March 17, 2022. The iceberg broke off from the Conger Ice Shelf.

Sudden collapse of Antarctic ice shelf could be sign of things to come

By Cameron Duke published

A massive Antarctic ice shelf that covered an area about the size of New York City or Rome just collapsed into the ocean.

Simultaneous heatwaves have hit both polar regions and caused temperatures to rise by at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit in certain areas.

Alarming heat waves hit Arctic and Antarctica at the same time

By Harry Baker published

Simultaneous heat waves have hit the Arctic and Antarctica, raising temperatures by more than 50 degrees in parts of both polar regions.

Antarctic sea ice floats in the water in the Lemaire Channel off of Antarctica.

Antarctic sea ice at record low in February, satellite data reveal

By Patrick Pester published

Antarctic sea-ice extent dropped to a record low in the satellite data in February, but it's likely due to natural variation.

This squat lobster seems to be the star of the Endurance shipwreck.

Shackleton's Endurance shipwreck teeming with extreme creatures

By Tom Metcalfe last updated

The newly-found wreck of the Endurance was found to be inhabited by some equally extraordinary creatures.

One of the Antarctic expeditions ‘Endurance’ pictured trapped and frozen in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea shortly after the return of the sun after the long Antarctic winter

8 famous Antarctic expeditions

By Patrick Pester published

REFERENCE Antarctic expeditions add to the allure of Antarctica, with tales of achievement, tragedy and against-all-odds survival.

The taffrail and ship’s wheel.

Shackleton's lost Endurance ship discovered beneath Antarctic sea

By Tom Metcalfe last updated

Ernest Shackleton's lost ice ship Endurance, which famously sank in 1915, has been rediscovered by searchers under Antarctica's Weddell Sea.

A satellite view of iceberg A68

Antarctica's doomed A68 iceberg dumped 1 trillion tons of water into the ocean over 3 years

By Brandon Specktor last updated

A new study of iceberg A68 (once the world's largest) charts its entire doomed journey, and shows exactly when it started to melt at an alarming rate

Researchers in the Weddell Sea were surprised to find 60 million icefish nests, each guarded by an adult and each holding an average of 1,700 eggs.

Largest fish nursery discovered beneath Weddell Sea in Antarctica

By Cameron Duke last updated

Scientists onboard an icebreaker in Antarctica were blown away when they spied a trove of 60 million icefish nests dotting the floor of the Weddell Sea.

images of bryozoans found deep beneath antarctic ice shelves

Unimaginable diversity of life discovered beneath Antarctic ice shelf

By Cameron Duke published

An artist's cross-section of Lake Vostok

What is Lake Vostok?

By Becky Oskin, Nicoletta Lanese published

Lake Vostok lies buried under miles of ice in East Antarctica.