Recent discoveries about Antarctica

Global Warming Not Responsible for the Collapse of Larsen B

Welsh Scientists have discovered that the sudden collapse of the ice self Larson B (the event which triggered the current International Polare Year) was not due to global warming. The demise of long fringing shelf, based in the north west of the Weddell Sea, was presumed to be the latest of a long line of events because of the Antarctic summer heat waves linked to Global warming.

In truth, a number of factors led to the collapse, including oceanic, atmospheric and glaciological. Apparently the ice shelf had been in distress for decades.

For more information go to the International Glaciological Society web page, http://www.igsoc.org. The New Zealand Branch of the Society is called the Snow and Ice Research Group http://www.sirg.org.nz/. It also has an association with the NZ Antarctic Research Centre http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic.

The Antarctica Continent is Not Actually Melting!

In spite of the recent measured rate of ice loss at 75 percent, 14 years of radar mapping of the continent in a new study by a University of California at Irvine has established that the continent is not melting. In fact, warmer ocean temperatures around Antarctica, likely aided by shifting currents, are causing ice to flow more quickly to the ocean from the continent's interior.

The study also reveals the complicated effects of global warming.

"When the ice enters into contact with the ocean around the periphery of Antarctica, there's a lot of melt from underneath the ocean," glaciologist Eric Rignot said.

The whole continent is not actually warming – some areas, including the centre are still very cold. However, according to Rignot, the Antarctic Peninsula is warming up at four to five times the global average.

The findings show that even within a single continent, the simple picture of climate change - hotter temperatures equal more glacial melting - one must yield to a more nuanced understanding as to why some places warm up, some cool down, and the connection to planetary warming.

The study, published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, relied upon data from several satellites, which used radar with a high degree of precision to measure ice movement.

First Evidence Of Under-ice Volcanic Eruption In Antarctica discovered

According to a report on the January 2 2008 Science Daily, The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica's most rapidly changing ice sheet has been reported. The volcano, located on part of the Hudson Mountains beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet erupted 2000 years ago (325BC) and remains active. With today’s scientific techniques, including airborne ice sounding radar it has been possible to date and measure the power of the eruption. Apparently it was the biggest eruption in Antarctic in the last 10,000 years. It blew a huge hole in the sheet and spurted gas and ash 12 kilometers into the air. Scientists believe that this discovery will help determine the future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Along with the study of other extinct and live volcanoes, including Mt Erebus, a better understanding the interaction between the volcanoes and ice will come about.

From the February online edition of Nature Geoscience.

New Species Discovered in the Southern Ocean

Dinner plate sized sea spiders, and squid with 6 meter long tentacles have been among the many spectacular new creatures discovered in the Southern Ocean by a fleet of 3 ships, organised by Ceamark.

Part of the International Census of Antarctic Marine Life project organised by the Australian Antarctic Division, this recent expedition is one of up to 16 planned research voyages to Antarctica as part of the International Polar Year. The census will survey all aspects of biodiversity in Antarctica, and establish a baseline dataset from which future changes can be observed.

Robotic Observatory Opens on Antarctic Plateau
By Bill Christensen

posted: 07 February 2008
04:40 pm ET
A robotic observatory — PLATO short for PLATeau Observatory) — has been completed on one of Earth's most remote locations —on Dome Argus on the Antarctic Plateau and the highest point of Antarctica. With temperatures that drop to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit, at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the automated facility is an 18-day journey from existing research stations.
The Antarctic Plateau is considered one of Earth's prime viewing locations. The air is extremely dry; it also features relatively low wind speeds and less atmospheric turbulence.
The purpose of PLATO is to continuously observe an area of the sky over the pole as the Earth rotates. The automated observatory is powered by solar panels and by small diesel engines during the lightless winter.
PLATO has a total of seven telescopes and equipment from China, the U.S. and the U.K. It was assembled by a team at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The expedition was led by the Polar Research Institute of China and the observatory will begin sending data back by satellite in a few weeks, when darkness returns to Antarctica.
From www.space.com, and http://mcba11.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/plato/.

Potato Chips to become Extinct?

A tiny Marine Snail, the Pteropod, is likely to become extinct if our southern oceans become warmer and more acidic, according to Gretchen Hofmann at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

An essential food item for many fish, seals and penguins, the Pteropods may find it more difficult to make their shells in the future. The demise of these ‘potato chips would have a catastrophic impact on the food chain.

Apparently the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing more of the gas to dissolve in the oceans, resulting in a build up of acidity. Today this process is apparently faster than it ever has been and the impact will last for centuries, according to Doney Scott of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Now people can fly direct from Australia to Antarctica

Thanks to the January, 2008 completion of the Wilkins Runway in West Antarctica, Australian Scientists can fly direct to Antarctica from Australia. Until recently, they had to undertake a 10-day journey by ship from Hobart, Tasmania.
The official opening on January 11, 2008 was celebrated by the arrival and landing of the first ever flight of a corporate airbus jetliner. Named after the adventurer and aviator Sir Hubert Wilkins, who made the first flight in Antarctica 79 years ago the AUD $46 million dollar runway is carved into glacial blue ice, approximately 65 km (40 miles) from the Australian base at Casey Station.

The idea to have a runway on Australian Antarctic Territory was first suggested in the 1950’s but strict political and environmental issues meant that construction of the single runway did not commence until 2004. To keep it at runway standard eight people are required to maintain the level and friction of the runway before each landing.

Unfortunately, for most of us, we will not be able to do the nine-hour return trip from Hobart, as the Antarctic summer flying schedules cater for scientists only.