International: Antarctic/Arctic
HOT SPOT: Welcome to the fastest-heating place on Earth
3 Jul 2019
In the world’s most-northerly town, temperatures have risen by 4deg, having a devastating effect on homes, wildlife and even the cemetery. Will the rest of the planet heed its warning?
Arctic permafrost melting 70 years ahead of time
17 Jun 2019
Permafrost has begun thawing in the Canadian Arctic more than 70 years early because of climate change, according to new research.
Changing climate has seabirds dying in their thousands
6 Jun 2019
The bodies started washing ashore on St Paul Island, Alaska, in October 2016. One after another, the small carcasses of seabirds - mostly puffins - landed on the beach in extraordinary numbers.
Ross Ice Shelf melting at faster rate
6 May 2019
Part of the Ross Ice Shelf, the world's largest, is melting 10 times faster than the rest, shedding light on how it might respond to climate change.
Permafrost collapse might double warming
3 May 2019
the Arctic is warming fast, and frozen soils are starting to thaw, often for the first time in thousands of years.
Emperor penguins flee unsteady ice
29 Apr 2019
Antarctica's charismatic emperor penguins have abandoned one of their biggest colonies after breeding pairs there failed to raise almost any new chicks in three years.
IT'S NO JOKE: Laughing gas is leaking from Alaska permafrost
24 Apr 2019
US scientists have identified yet another hazard linked to the thawing permafrost - laughing gas.
'Hair dryer' winds pressure Antarctic ice
16 Apr 2019
Warm, dry winds in Antarctica can cause major melt as they sweep across the ice, even during frigid winter months.
Warming pushes Arctic toward ‘unprecedented state'
10 Apr 2019
Global warming is transforming the Arctic, and the changes have rippled so widely that the entire biophysical system is shifting toward an "unprecedented state," scientists say.
Last Antarctic forests send a message on climate change
8 Apr 2019
Scramble across exposed rocks in the middle of Antarctica and it's possible to find the mummified twigs of shrubs that grew on the continent millions of years ago.
‘No doubt’ Arctic temperatures will rise 3.5deg
20 Mar 2019
New research by the UN has found that a temperature rise of up to 3.5deg in the Arctic is now inevitable.
Arctic warming must be urgently tackled, warns UN
14 Mar 2019
Sharp and potentially devastating temperature rises of 3deg to 5deg in the Arctic are now inevitable even if the world succeeds in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement, new research has found.
Massive iceberg set to break with Antarctic
1 Mar 2019
An iceberg of 660 square miles is set to break away from an Antarctic ice shelf as a result of a rapidly spreading rift that is being monitored by Nasa.
Ice voyage will explore ocean hidden for 100,000 years
19 Feb 2019
Scientists are setting out to explore an Antarctic marine realm that was hidden from the Sun for more than 100,000 years.
Why sea-ice cover is so low (it’s not just climate change)
22 Jan 2019
Sea-ice cover in Antarctica shrank rapidly to a record low in late 2016 and has remained well below average. But what’s behind this dramatic melting and low ice cover since?
Greenland ice melt is in overdrive
7 Dec 2018
Melting on Greenland's ice sheet has gone into overdrive, with meltwater runoff increasing 50 per cent since the start of the industrial era and continuing to accelerate, new research shows.
Hunt begins for 'detergent' to clean up the sky
26 Nov 2018
Antarctic ice records pre-industrial levels of a chemical that scrubs the atmosphere of greenhouses gases.
How Antarctic melt could slow temperature rise
21 Nov 2018
Cold meltwater running off Antarctica’s ice sheets and into the ocean could dampen the pace of global temperature rise, a new study suggests.
Crucial Antarctic current is changing
19 Nov 2018
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the strongest ocean current on our planet and is vital for Earth’s health. It is also changing as the climate warms.
Shaw heads south to check out ice-melt threat
13 Nov 2018
Climate minister James Shaw is heading to Antarctica as scientists warn we already might have triggered tipping points leading to irreversible melting of the polar ice sheets.
Vehicle made from recycled plastic to explore the ice
12 Oct 2018
A vehicle powered by the sun and made out of plastic waste is set to explore Antarctica.
Frozen Arctic moves seawards in hectic melt
8 Oct 2018
Once trapped in a Russian ice cap north of Siberia, the frozen Arctic is moving fast, racing in decades from metres to kilometres a year.
New pact bans fishing across much of Arctic
5 Oct 2018
Commercial fishing will be banned across much of the Arctic under a new agreement just signed in Greenland.
What's causing Antarctica's ocean to warm up?
26 Sep 2018
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is warming at an alarming rate - twice that of the rest of the world's oceans.
Nations scramble for power as warming opens up the Arctic
5 Sep 2018
On Monday, a Danish container ship sailed from South Korea. On September 22, it will dock in Germany. The bit in between could change the world.
Maersk moves in as warming Arctic opens up icy sea route
24 Aug 2018
Maersk, the world's largest container line, is about to test the frigid waters of the Arctic in a trial of shorter shipping lanes that could become viable as warmer temperatures open up the Northern Sea Route.
‘Natural pulses’ figure in Antarctic melting
15 Aug 2018
A 16-year study of ocean conditions in Antarctica suggests that the periodic arrival of warm currents as a result of natural variability is worsening the rate of ice mass loss from key glaciers.
Big Krill backs vast Antarctic ocean sanctuary
11 Jul 2018
The creation of the world’s biggest ocean sanctuary, protecting a huge tract of remote seas around Antarctica, has come a step closer after major fishing companies came out in favour of the plan.
Scientists eye solution to Antarctic ice loss
25 Jun 2018
Scientists hope they might have discovered a mitigating factor that could slow or even prevent the West Antarctic ice sheet’ collapsing into the ocean.
How melting Arctic could cook the tropics
22 Jun 2018
The loss of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean will alter wind patterns and ocean currents, causing changes across the planet.
Antarctic melt just the tip of the iceberg
14 Jun 2018
Antarctica has lost three trillion tonnes of ice over the past 25 years, raising sea levels 7.6mm.
Plastic waste reaches last wilderness
8 Jun 2018
Plastic and traces of hazardous chemicals have been found in one of the world’s last great wildernesses.
Modern mammoths could help stop Arctic ground emissions
17 May 2018
Geneticists from Harvard think that reintroducing mammoth-like creatures to Arctic tundra environments could help to stop the release of greenhouse gases from the ground.
Winter winds melting Antarctica ice shelf
7 May 2018
Parts of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf are melting in the depths of winter, when temperatures typically stay well below freezing, research finds.
Boaty McBoatface to spy on melting Antarctic glacier
2 May 2018
The precarious state of a vast, remote Antarctic glacier will provide an inaugural mission for the British vessel once dubbed Boaty McBoatface and its remotely operated submarine of the same name.
Arctic currents change as did the ancient Pacific
1 May 2018
Changes in Arctic currents today appear to reflect similar changes thousands of years ago – in the North Pacific. Scientists think they may be linked.
Melting of Antarctic ice greater than thought
4 Apr 2018
Hidden underwater melt-off in the Antarctic is doubling every 20 years and could soon overtake Greenland to become the biggest source of sea-level rise.
SOUTHERN SHOCK: Where has all the ice gone?
21 Mar 2018
The absence of sea ice near Antarctica over the past six weeks has astonished scientists aboard the research vessel Tangaroa.
Antarctica needs massive engineering works
19 Mar 2018
.Mammoth engineering projects are planned in Antarctica and Greenland to help slow down the disintegration of the planet’s main glaciers.
Krill fishing poses serious threat to Antarctic
15 Mar 2018
Industrial fishing for krill in the pristine waters around Antarctica is threatening the future of one of the world’s last great wildernesses, says a new report.
Antarctic sea ice shrinks for second straight year
7 Mar 2018
Sea ice cover in Antarctica has dropped to its second-lowest on record, Australian authorities said, adding that it was not yet clear what was driving the reduction after several years of record-highs.
'Crazy' Arctic temperatures alarm scientists
5 Mar 2018
An alarming heatwave in the sunless winter Arctic is causing blizzards in Europe and forcing scientists to reconsider even their most pessimistic forecasts of climate change.
King penguins find their icy southern realm is shrinking
1 Mar 2018
King penguins – one of the most charismatic species of the Southern Ocean – are under threat from climate change.
One tiny creature threatens Antarctic wildlife
16 Feb 2018
The Antarctic, one of the last great wildernesses and home to animals such as whales, penguins and leopard seals, is being threatened by the plight of an animal just a few centimetres long.
Thawing permafrost reveals massive doses of mercury
9 Feb 2018
Rising temperatures are waking a sleeping giant in the North - the permafrost - and scientists have identified a new danger that comes with that: massive stores of mercury.
New look at Antarctic raises fears of higher sea levels
15 Dec 2017
Antarctic ice sheet models double the sea-level rise expected this century if global emissions of heat-trapping pollution remain high, according to a new study.
Why remote Antarctica is so important in a warming world
5 Dec 2017
The Antarctic Treaty was signed 58 years ago this week, protecting the continent for peace and science.
THIN ICE: Antarctic glaciers could flood the planet
24 Nov 2017
In a remote region of Antarctica known as Pine Island Bay, 2500 miles from the tip of South America, two glaciers hold human civilisation hostage.
HOT SPOTS: Ice cameras reveal Antarctica’s warm underbelly
16 Nov 2017
A new map of the warmth coming up from rocks beneath the Antarctic provides key data for scientists to model how the ice sheet could react to climate change.
Ice cracks again close Antarctic research station
2 Nov 2017
A British research station in Antarctica is being shut down for the second winter in a row following concerns over growing cracks in the 150-metre thick ice shelf on which it stands.
Security group warns Australia’s democracy is being threatened by ‘anti-climate-action propaganda’
Wed 25 Mar 2026
Australia’s democracy and sovereignty is being threatened by a propaganda machine aiding climate change deniers, a security group has warned.
California sues Trump energy department over revival of controversial oil pipeline
Wed 25 Mar 2026
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he has sued the US energy department to stop it from using a cold-war-era law to restart the long-disputed Sable Offshore pipeline system linking the Santa Ynez offshore platform to California refineries.
China tells oil refiners to suspend exports
20 Mar 2026
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources, as the war in the Middle East risks an energy supply crunch.
Spain’s Sánchez attacks other EU leaders for exploiting energy prices to gut climate policies
Mon 23 Mar 2026
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said his country was on “the right side of history” when it comes to how it has handled the economic and social costs of previous energy crises.
Heat pumps for all new homes and plug-in solar in England green tech drive
Wed 25 Mar 2026
Developers will be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England as part of updated planning requirements published by the government.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
Signs of jet fuel hoarding emerge in Asia on Iran oil shock
Thu 26 Mar 2026
Signs are growing that Asian countries are hoarding jet fuel after the Iran war sent oil prices surging, reflecting growing strain on the aviation industry.
Pacific Nations fear fuel shortages as Middle East war sends oil prices soaring
20 Mar 2026
Leaders of Samoa and Tonga appealed for help this week as the import-reliant Pacific nations raised fears over possible fuel shortages and escalating costs caused by war in the Middle East.
'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere
16 Mar 2026
Carbon that has been buried in the Congo Basin's peatlands for millennia is seeping into lakes and rivers. Why this is happening remains unclear, but researchers warn that tropical peatlands could be nearing a tipping point.
Beef production drives 40% of agriculture-linked forest destruction, Brazil leads
Thu 26 Mar 2026
Beef production is the leading driver of agriculture-linked deforestation, accounting for 40% of all forest clearing done to open space for food production, according to details of a study released on Tuesday.
Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says
18 Mar 2026
The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is a lesson on the risks of relying on fossil fuels which should drive governments to wean their economies off oil and gas faster, the U.N. climate secretary told Reuters on Monday.
