An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem

On 18 March, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological centre on Earth. According to their instruments, the region that day experienced a rise of 38.5C above its seasonal average: a world record.

This startling leap – in the coldest place on the planet – left polar researchers struggling for words to describe it. “It is simply mind-boggling,” said Prof Michael Meredith, science leader at the British Antarctic Survey. “In sub-zero temperatures such a massive leap is tolerable but if we had a 40C rise in the UK now that would take temperatures for a spring day to over 50C – and that would be deadly for the population.”

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When the research team at Vernadsky base are not defending their homeland, they are on the frontline of the climate crisis

When Ukraine’s Antarctic research and supply vessel Noosfera left Odesa on its maiden voyage on 28 January 2022, it passed Russian warships in the Black Sea. A month later, Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. Noosfera has not been back since.

“A few weeks later, and Noosfera would have been an important symbolic target for Russia,” said Vadym Tkachenko, a biologist who recently completed his second Antarctic winter at Ukraine’s Vernadsky base. The ship now supplies both Ukrainian and Polish Antarctic bases from Chile and South Africa twice a year, at the start and end of the winter.

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Asymptomatic cases may seem reassuring for the penguins, but scientists fear they could act as ‘Trojan horses’ for other species

Adélie penguins in Antarctica are testing positive for bird flu without showing outward signs of disease, according to researchers who travelled around 13 remote breeding sites on an ice-breaking cruise ship.

Since bird flu arrived in the region this year , there have been concerns about the virus reaching the Antarctic’s fragile penguin populations. In November last year, researchers warned in a pre-print research paper that if the virus caused mass mortality in these colonies, “it could signal one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times”.

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Turkey’s 8th National Antarctic Science Expedition is seeking answers to questions about the future of the world with 22 different projects on the continent. Anadolu Agency’s photojournalist Sebnem Coskun is documenting the expedition’s scientific research, climate change impacts and life in the region to share the findings with the world.
The expedition involves uncovering concealed data within the ice, gathered from years of research on crucial topics like sea ice and glacier dynamics.

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Exclusive: The H5N1 virus reached the region late last year and is killing wildlife, with witnesses spotting numerous seal corpses on South Georgia island

The grave of the explorer Ernest Shackleton on South Georgia island has become inaccessible to visitorsdue to bodies of “dead seals blocking the way”, as increasing numbers of animals are killed by bird flu’s spread through the Antarctic .

The H5N1 virus has spread to 10 species of birds and mammals since it arrived in the region last October , with five king penguins and five gentoo penguins the latest to test positive on the sub-Antarctic islands . Those confirmations follow reports of mass die-offs of elephant seals at the end of last year.

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Stalking was making my life at McMurdo Station a misery. In the ice-covered sea, I discovered how much the world still had to give

A sub-zero plunge in the nude was never part of my plan. When a ragtag group of friends gathered me up with their exhilarated shouts, planning to jump into a hole drilled through sea ice in 2011, I had only agreed to come along and watch. I would not partake.

I hadn’t gone to Antarctica to take risks. If anything, I’d flown to the bottom of the world to do the opposite, to play it safe after a pair of sexual assaults in my early 20s. I was the third generation in my family to work at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, and planned to keep my head down, work hard in my role as a janitor, save money and blend in.

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No flush toilets or running water are on offer, but perks include breathtaking landscapes, whales and lots of penguins

For people who never moan about the cold, can take or leave showers and will get used to a relentless thrum of hooting trumpet noises , ideal jobs have come up.

A heritage charity is advertising vacancies at the bottom of the world. Based in Antarctica, just 9,000 miles from the UK, successful applicants will have to adapt to near-constant daylight, always freezing temperatures and no flushing toilet or running water.

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Fears for penguin colonies after the discovery of the highly contagious H5N1 virus in two dead skuas

Bird flu has reached mainland of Antarctica for the first time, officials have confirmed.

The H5N1 virus was found on Friday in two dead scavenging birds called skuas near Primavera Base, the Argentinian scientific research station on the Antarctic peninsula.

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The extent of ice floating around the continent has contracted to below 2m sq km for three years in a row, indicating an ‘abrupt critical transition’

For the third year in a row, sea ice coverage around Antarctica has dropped below 2m sq km – a threshold which before 2022 had not been breached since satellite measurements started in 1979.

The latest data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center confirms the past three years have been the three lowest on record for the amount of sea ice floating around the continent.

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