Christina Riesselman is a geology Ph.D. student from Stanford working on the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) Southern McMurdo Sound project at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This multinational scientific drilling project is bringing up deep cores of sediment from under ice-covered seas at the edge of the Antarctic continent. {Read More »}

For those who think ice is all the same: think again. At the poles, ice takes many forms—from shiny “grease ice” on the sea surface to mile-thick ice sheets that cover entire continents. {Read More »}

Polar bears lurk near fractures in the sea ice. When a seal surfaces to take a breath, that seal will be yanked out of the water for dinner. A seal dozing on the ice can become a meal, too, when a stealthy polar bear inches up on it. {Read More »}

Shrimplike marine invertebrates that grow no bigger than about two and one-half inches (6 cm), krill are nonetheless food for gigantic baleen whales, along with penguins, seals, fish, sea birds, and many other predators. {Read More »}

Climate change is a topic of worldwide concern, but it’s of particular concern at the poles. That’s because the impacts of global warming are felt first and most severely at higher latitudes. {Read More »}