Polar Exploration

By Peter Rejcek, Antarctic Sun Editor - An independent committee charged with assessing the logistics requirements for the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) to support research into the 21st century has urged the National Science Foundation (NSF) and White House to invest heavily in infrastructure improvements over the next five years.

Scientists have discovered a one mile deep rift valley hidden beneath the ice in West Antarctica, Experts from the University of Aberdeen and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) made the discovery below Ferrigno Ice Stream, a region visited only once previously, over fifty years ago, in 1961, and one that is remote even by Antarctic standards.

A stunning image showing Aurora Australis - the Southern Lights - glowing over Concordia station in the Antarctic, one of the remotest places on Earth, on 18 July 2012. It was taken by ESA-sponsored scientist Alexander Kumar and his colleague Erick Bondoux from about 1 km from the station, located in the Antarctic at 75*S latitude.

So this is what I did over this past winter when I was not making people coffee. It's all time-lapse footage shot in and around Anchorage, Alaska, with the emphasis on the nature around the city rather then on the people and buildings. This is a collection of the nicer stuff I shot of the northern lights, stars, sunset, and the tide. All of this was shot between October 2011 and April 2012. More.

It might not be a giant leap for mankind just yet, but Western-led training in the Canadian Arctic may lead to the first steps for future international missions to the Moon or Mars. In order to prepare for those missions, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen has joined Western planetary geologist Gordon 'Oz' Osinski and his research team in the Canadian Arctic until July 12 to investigate a possible new meteorite impact crater.

Peter Rejcek, Antarctic Sun Editor: U.S. Antarctic Program research stations across Antarctica marked the beginning of the end of winter this week.