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Sea Ice Extent

Every year the Arctic sea ice grows and shrinks in accordance with the seasons. The...

Article

What is the Sea Ice Minimum? (And Why Do We Care)

Envision the Arctic and an icy, white world comes to mind. Unlike Antarctica, which...

Up Close and Personal With the Fastest Glacier in the World

To really see a glacier move, you first have to speed up the passage of time. What...

Personal Perspectives

Ice-Loving Seals and the Loss of Sea Ice

The threat that climate change poses to polar bears has received a lot of...

Climate Change at the Poles

At the ends of the Earth, life thrives despite extreme conditions. In the Arctic...

The Sant Ocean Hall: Life at the Poles Exhibit

Most of you know that the Earth’s poles are cold. But did you know that there are...

Personal Perspectives

Arctic Sea Ice: A New Low?

At a recent staff meeting a Smithsonian colleague mentioned that one of his...

Article

The Cultural Icescapes of the Arctic

Sea ice is typically viewed as the domain of physical and natural scientists, the...

Personal Perspectives

Comics at Sea: An Antarctic Logbook

For five years, I've had a photograph of Palmer Station, Antarctica, tacked up over...

Article

Why a Tusk? The real-life unicorns of the sea and the tusks that make them famous

In the frigid Arctic Ocean, a mysterious toothed whale—the narwhal— resides...

audio

Bowhead Whale: One Species at a Time

In the episode of One Species at a Time, writer Karen Romano Young takes an...

video

Sea Levels on the Move

Through the use of satellites and land survey tools, scientists are learning about...