Antarctica New Zealand is confident the US shutdown won't affect its vital air link between NZ and Antarctica when operations are reduced.

Kiwis at Scott Base are offering support to neighbouring McMurdo base as it runs out of money because of the US government shutdown.

The US federal government shutdown is reaching all the way down to the South Pole.

An Air Force plane carrying 117 passengers, including Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, had to circle for two and a half hours before landing at Antarctica in bad weather tonight.

As key indicators of climate change, penguins serve a crucial role for scientists examining what fluctuations in the white continent mean for the rest of the world.

Prince Harry has spent the night in a giant freezer to simulate the conditions he will face when he treks to the South Pole in November.

The ozone hole over New Zealand is closing, but it may warm up Antarctica which could then affect the West Coast and Canterbury Plains, a university researcher says.

A New Zealand-led plan to create the largest marine reserve in the world in Antarctica has stalled after two countries questioned the legal basis of the proposal.

New Zealand officials are tempering expectations ahead of make-or-break talks to establish the world's largest marine reserve in Antarctica this week.

For one of the harshest places on the planet, Antarctica in the winter does have its delights.

If you think it's going to be cold where you are this week - just remember it could be worse.

The closest most of us will get to Antarctica is nature documentaries like Frozen Planet - but the white continent's relevance to us and our future is far greater than we think.

Three Canadian men who were in a plane that crashed into the upper slopes of one of Antarctica's highest mountains have officially been pronounced dead by a New Zealand coroner.

Three Canadian men who were in a plane that crashed into one of Antarctica's highest mountains have officially been pronounced dead by a NZ coroner.

A Kiwi film-maker's efforts to highlight threats to "the last ocean" have been winning international laurels as pressure mounts on nations to protect the Ross Sea.

Penguins can move underwater with the speed of a swallow or swift, but cannot fly even as far as a chicken. How did a bird that in some cases shuffles 65km to its breeding grounds on unsuitable flippers lose its ability to fly there quickly?

Sir Edmund Hillary's diaries from his ascent of Mt Everest will be released on a daily blog in the lead-up to the 60th anniversary of the climb.

A Chinese factory fishing ship caught fire today just off the coast of Antarctica and 97 crew members were rescued by a nearby Norwegian vessel as Chile's military mobilised to prevent any environmental damage.

Wanted: Hard-working Kiwi for brrr-illiant, chilled-out job. Expect a cool time, unusually long days ... and penguins.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and New Zealand ambassador to the US Mike Moore will speak in Washington next week about protecting the Antarctic's Ross Sea.

European scientists believe they have captured the birth of a Jupiter-sized planet emerging in a thick disc of gas and dust for the first time.

Scientists in Antarctica have discovered an 18kg meteorite embedded in the East Antarctic ice sheet, the largest found in the region since 1988.

Japanese whalers have temporarily suspended their annual hunt in the Southern Ocean because protesters are making refuelling too dangerous.