Polar Regions News Roundup W/C 12th February 2024

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Polar Regions News

Your weekly Polar news roundup

Helping you stay informed of the latest developments in climate change, environmental conservation, scientific research, geopolitical dynamics, economic opportunities and indigenous rights in the Polar Regions.

12th February 2024

Ice cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past

EVIDENCE CONTAINED WITHIN AN ICE CORE SHOWS THAT IN ONE LOCATION THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET THINNED BY 450 METRES — THAT’S MORE THAN THE HEIGHT OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING — IN JUST UNDER 200 YEARS.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the end of the Last Ice Age, around eight thousand years ago.

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Scandinavia Is Preparing for War

British soldiers from Anzio Company of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment take part in FIWAF (fighting in woods and forests) training on Oct. 26, 2018, in Haslemoen, Norway. LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES

As NATO expands, Europe’s far north is tangibly shifting to combat footing.

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Royal Navy return to Antarctic Island 40 years on as part of One Tonne Challenge

Royal Navy sailors have helped preserve the natural beauty of Antarctica by removing three tonnes of waste from an island. (Image: LPhot Gareth Smith/Royal Navy/SWNS)

Navy sailors help preserve the natural beauty of Antarctica by removing three tonnes of waste from Brabant island.

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Sub mysteriously goes missing without a trace under ‘Doomsday’ glacier

A seven-metre long submersible is trapped beneath an Antarctic glacier (Picture: PA)

A submersible that was exploring the alien world of Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday’ glacier is missing and presumed ‘dead’ under the ice.

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Polar bear sleeping on tiny iceberg drifting in Arctic sea captured in heartbreaking photo

A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) carves out a bed from a small iceberg before drifting off to sleep in the far north, off Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. (Image credit: © Nima Sarikhani, Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

An image captured off the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard shows a young polar bear drifting to sleep on a small iceberg after carving a bed in the ice.

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Have you read our latest Polar Notes article? See below for the most recent publication on the APPG Polar Regions website.

Polar Note: Getting to the core of environmental change

Amy Gray subsampling lake core in Svalbard

Welcome to the 2024 Polar Notes series: our fortnightly feature looking at a current polar issue or topic of conversation in more depth.  

Our newest article, authored by APPG Research Specialist, Amy Gray, explains why the study of sediments from the bottom of polar lakes can help scientists work out how climate is changing in the Arctic.

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We’d love to hear from you! Contact the APPG for the Polar Regions at info@appgpolarregions.uk