The tundra is a vegetation zone that extends beyond the tree line in the northern hemisphere from about 55° north in Canada to 80° north in Svalbard. The predominant plant community is inconspicuous at first glance, but surprisingly diverse, ranging from mosses and...
Emperor penguins are particularly vulnerable to climate change. If the fast ice disappears, their breeding sites are also lost. Already, some colonies have had to find new, safer locations. But this is not possible everywhere in Antarctica. Photo: Heiner Kubny The...
PhD students Sanna Piilo and Teemu Juselius, under the supervision of Minna Väliranta, investigated the soil at various sites on Spitsbergen and found an organic layer (dark), consisting mainly of moss remains, above mineral soil (gray layer) at all sampling sites....
The East Antarctic coast shows impressive ice sculptures. Behind it lies the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the largest on Earth. Photo: Shuai Yan/University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences Antarctica still holds many mysteries: What did it look like before it...
The spoon-billed sandpiper is a migratory bird that breeds in Chukotka and Kamchatka. With only about 250 mature birds left, it is critically endangered. Photo: Alexander Lees We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction – scientists agree on this in view of...