tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/antarctica-research-46115/articles
Antarctica research – The Conversation
2023-10-17T19:08:11Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215529
2023-10-17T19:08:11Z
2023-10-17T19:08:11Z
More than 200 scientists from 19 countries want to tell us the Southern Ocean is in trouble
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554159/original/file-20231017-15-ht1j0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C4%2C3155%2C2110&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pat James, Australian Antarctic Division</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-southern-ocean-absorbs-more-heat-than-any-other-ocean-on-earth-and-the-impacts-will-be-felt-for-generations-189561">warming for decades</a>, the annual extent of winter sea ice seemed relatively stable – compared to the Arctic. In some areas Antarctic sea ice was even increasing. </p>
<p>That was until 2016, when <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00961-9">everything changed</a>. The annual extent of winter sea ice stopped increasing. Now we have had <a href="https://theconversation.com/devastatingly-low-antarctic-sea-ice-may-be-the-new-abnormal-study-warns-212376">two years of record lows</a>.</p>
<p>In 2018 the international scientific community agreed to produce the first marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean. We modelled the assessment process on a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). So the resulting “<a href="https://zenodo.org/records/8359585">summary for policymakers</a>” being released today is like an IPCC report for the Southern Ocean. </p>
<p>This report can now be used to guide decision-making for the protection and conservation of this vital region and the diversity of life it contains. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the number of authors from different regions, illustrating the international nature of the assessment process." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554187/original/file-20231017-2786-gzvb0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Global participation (numbers of authors from different regions) in the assessment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://zenodo.org/records/8359585">Constable, A.J. et al (2023) Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fractured-foundations-how-antarcticas-landfast-ice-is-dwindling-and-why-thats-bad-news-207814">Fractured foundations: how Antarctica's 'landfast' ice is dwindling and why that's bad news</a>
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<h2>Why should we care about sea ice?</h2>
<p>Sea ice is to life in the Southern Ocean as soil is to a forest. It is the foundation for Antarctic marine ecosystems.</p>
<p>Less sea ice is a danger to all wildlife – from krill to emperor penguins and whales.</p>
<p>The sea ice zone provides essential food and safe-keeping to young Antarctic krill and small fish, and seeds the expansive growth of phytoplankton in spring, nourishing the entire food web. It is a platform upon which penguins breed, seals rest, and around which whales feed. </p>
<p>The international bodies that manage Antarctica and the Southern Ocean under the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html">Antarctic Treaty System</a> urgently need better information on marine ecosystems. Our report helps fill this gap by systematically identifying options for managers to maximise the resilience of Southern Ocean ecosystems in a changing world.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/emperor-penguins-face-a-bleak-future-but-some-colonies-will-do-better-than-others-in-diverse-sea-ice-conditions-214625">Emperor penguins face a bleak future – but some colonies will do better than others in diverse sea-ice conditions</a>
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<h2>An open and collaborative process</h2>
<p>We sought input from a wide range of people across the entire Southern Ocean science community. </p>
<p>We sought to answer questions about the state of the whole Southern Ocean system - with an eye on the past, present and future.</p>
<p>Our team comprised 205 authors from 19 countries. They authored <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/10606/marine-ecosystem-assessment-for-the-southern-ocean-meeting-the-challenge-for-conserving-earth-ecosystems-in-the-long-term#overview">24 peer-reviewed papers</a>. We then distilled the findings from these papers into our summmary for policymakers. </p>
<p>We deliberately modelled the multi-disciplinary assessment process on a working group of the IPCC to distill the science into an easy-to-read and concise narrative for politicians and the general public alike. It provides a community assessment of levels of certainty around what we know.</p>
<p>We hope this “sea change” summary sets a new benchmark for translating marine research into policy responses. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graphic illustrating how the system-level assessment of marine ecosystems came together, showing a group of people at a table with concentric circles in the background including observations, drivers of change and ecosystem services" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554169/original/file-20231017-15-6w52ns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Our system-level assessment addressed the multiple drivers of ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://zenodo.org/records/8359585">Constable, A.J. et al (2023) Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>So what’s in the report?</h2>
<p>Southern Ocean habitats, from the ice at the surface to the bottom of the deep sea, are changing. The warming of the ocean, decline in sea ice, melting of glaciers, collapse of ice shelves, changes in acidity, and direct human activities such as fishing, are all impacting different parts of the ocean and their inhabitants.</p>
<p>These organisms, <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ocean-like-no-other-the-southern-oceans-ecological-richness-and-significance-for-global-climate-151084">from microscopic plants to whales</a>, face a changing and challenging future. Important foundation species such as Antarctic krill are likely to decline with consequences for the whole ecosystem.</p>
<p>The assessment stresses climate change is the most significant driver of species and ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctica. It calls for urgent action to curb global heating and ocean acidification.</p>
<p>It reveals an urgent need for international investment in <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-landed-a-camera-on-venus-before-seeing-parts-of-our-own-oceans-its-time-to-ramp-up-observations-closer-to-home-212970">sustained, year-round and ocean-wide</a> scientific assessment and observations of the health of the ocean. </p>
<p>We also need to develop better integrated models of how individual changes in species along with human impacts will translate to system-level change in the different food webs, communities and species.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-heart-of-ice-has-skipped-a-beat-time-to-take-our-medicine-202729">Antarctica's heart of ice has skipped a beat. Time to take our medicine</a>
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<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Our report will be tabled at <a href="https://meetings.ccamlr.org/en">this week’s international meeting</a> of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart.</p>
<p>The commission is the international body responsible for the conservation of marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean, with membership of 26 nations and the European Union.</p>
<p>It is but one of the bodies our new report can assist. Currently assessments of change in habitats, species and food webs in the Southern Ocean are compiled separately for at least ten different international organisations or processes.</p>
<p>The Southern Ocean is a crucial life-support system, not just for Antarctica but for the entire planet. So many other bodies will need the information we produced for decision-making in this critical decade for action on climate, including the IPCC itself.</p>
<p>Beyond the science, the assessment team has delivered important lessons about how coordinated, collaborative and consultative approaches can deliver ecosystem information into policymaking. Our first assessment has taken five years, but this is just the beginning. Now we’re up and running, we can continue to support evidence-based conservation of Southern Ocean ecosystems into the future. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/record-low-antarctic-sea-ice-is-another-alarming-sign-the-oceans-role-as-climate-regulator-is-changing-204680">Record low Antarctic sea ice is another alarming sign the ocean's role as climate regulator is changing</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew J Constable has worked for the Australian Public Service in the Australian Antarctic Division, received funding from Pew Charitable Trusts, and, for the marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean, he received funding from environmental and fisheries non-government organisations (details are identified in the Summary for Policy Makers).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Melbourne-Thomas receives funding from the Climate Systems Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.</span></em></p>
The first comprehensive assessment of trends in Southern Ocean ecosystems reveals an urgent need to address climate change. The summary for policymakers can guide decision-makers.
Andrew J Constable, Adviser, Antarctica and Marine Systems, Science & Policy, University of Tasmania
Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Transdisciplinary Researcher & Knowledge Broker, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211467
2023-09-18T21:55:08Z
2023-09-18T21:55:08Z
Discovering the universe from our own backyards
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542371/original/file-20230809-19-r1poh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C4%2C988%2C661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is there life beyond our world?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was a college student, I worked at the Charlevoix Astronomical Observatory in Québec. </p>
<p>It was a pretty decent summer job, as I got to observe celestial bodies until the dead of night, talk to astronomy buffs about space exploration and watch children be amazed by Saturn’s rings. </p>
<p>Over the dozens of astronomy nights I’ve hosted, one question has consistently come up:</p>
<p>“Does life exist anywhere else?”</p>
<p>Answering this fundamental question, articulated by the first philosophers, which has transcended time and eras and <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-alone-in-the-universe-4-essential-reads-on-potential-contact-with-aliens-210955">still remains at the heart of our rational thinking</a>, was a big assignment for me as a CEGEP student at the time. </p>
<p>I merely offered a simple “most likely,” before adding a surprising “and if that’s the case, the answer lies here, on Earth, in places called ‘planetary analogues.’”</p>
<p>Planetary analogues are locations on Earth that replicate one or more extreme conditions found on another celestial body. For example, temperature, pressure and solar radiation.</p>
<p>Both for technical and financial reasons, carrying out several space missions per year, manned or unmanned, is simply not realistic, especially as these missions take several years to complete.</p>
<p>Yet the Earth, our magnificent blue planet where life thrives, has some extreme, dangerous and cruel places. These places can reproduce certain conditions found in the arid deserts of Mars or the suffocating atmosphere of Venus. </p>
<p>What if these places were, in fact, habitats where life has developed?</p>
<h2>Lakes under ice</h2>
<p>For example, consider Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which, along with Mars, is one of the top contenders in our quest for extraterrestrial life. Its surface is covered in a dense layer of ice about ten kilometres thick, beneath which lies… an ocean. An ocean <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/34857">of… liquid water</a>! </p>
<p>It turns out that in Antarctica, almost 400 lakes exist in similar conditions, that is to say that they lie below a permanent ice blanket, protected from everything that happens on the surface. These are known as “subglacial” lakes.</p>
<p>Such is the case of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/414603a">Lake Vostok</a>, the largest and deepest lake in Antarctica. It was in the 1960s that scientists first suspected the presence of a lake beneath a four-kilometre thick layer of ice. </p>
<p>This icy barrier deprives the lake of gaseous exchanges with the atmosphere or exposure to solar radiation, making it a permanently dark place that is poor in nutrients and subject to enormous pressure — not very hospitable.</p>
<p>However, the water at the surface of the lake is concentrated in oxygen, the key chemical element for living metabolism. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542010/original/file-20230809-24-a15igl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lake Vostok (Antarctica) lies under four kilometres of ice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
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<h2>A love for extreme conditions</h2>
<p>In 2008, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.286.5447.2144">analyses of the ice covering Lake Vostok</a> revealed the presence of micro-organisms! This essentially means that life can indeed adapt to hostile environments that would otherwise be fatal for most organisms. These super-organisms, or “extremophile,” are able to tolerate these extreme conditions. </p>
<p>As a result, the waters of Lake Vostok, isolated from the Earth’s surface for millions of years, could well contain life too — an ideal planetary analogue.</p>
<p>Studying Lake Vostok, and its possible extremophile life forms, is almost like being on Jupiter’s moon Europa. And it’s almost like studying its ocean. Were Lake Vostok able to develop life, why not the ocean on Europa as well?</p>
<p>Subglacial lakes such as Vostok are just one example of the dozens of planetary analogue sites that have been identified. For example, in order to study certain Martian craters, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550413000396">Earth’s deserts are the perfect playgrounds</a>. Scientists are exploring the Mojave (United States), <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36172-1">Atacama (Chile)</a> and Namib (Africa) deserts, which are dry and arid. Their soil also contains extremophiles, the study of which tells us about the development of life in hot environments where water is limited.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mojave desert" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542017/original/file-20230809-17-hzx8dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The soil of the Mojave Desert contains extremophilic organisms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Preparing for space missions on Earth</h2>
<p>As well as providing a better understanding of life and its emergence, investigating planetary analogues has another advantage: preparing and simulating space missions.</p>
<p>Just think — if we’re developing a new technology to sample a rock on Mars, it would be wise to try it out first, wouldn’t it? And not just inside NASA studios, where the parameters are controlled. We must step out and go to remote, uncomfortable regions. </p>
<p>That’s what the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE483">Apollo astronauts of the 50s and 60s</a> did (those who aimed for the moon). They went to meteorite impact craters, volcanoes, deserts, all over the Earth, for months on end. All so they could practice their techniques with a variety of adapted tools, all slowed down by their space suits. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542009/original/file-20230809-27-z4e7sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Astronauts Dave Scott (left) and Jim Irwin (right) sample rocks for a possible mission to the moon in 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Analogs for Planetary Exploration [2011])</span></span>
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<h2>It all begins on Earth</h2>
<p>Space exploration and the understanding of our solar system begin on Earth. At first glance, this idea may seem counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the remote, almost inaccessible and extreme environments our planet contains. </p>
<p>Astrochemistry and astrobiology have emerged in this same way, as multidisciplinary fields that equip us for our research into the evolution of Earth and life.</p>
<p>Now, if I were asked the question — “Does life exist anywhere else?” — I, still naive, but starting my PhD in the chemistry of extreme polar environments, would answer:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ask me again in five years!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Joking aside, analogues have their limitations in that the conditions can never be recreated in their entirety. As a result, scientists need to be cautious in their approach and avoid jumping to hasty conclusions. </p>
<p>Life in Lake Vostok is not synonymous with life on Europa, far from it. But let’s just say that it’s an excellent first step that will guide us considerably in our future missions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211467/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Fillion ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Planetary analogues are sites on Earth that are so extreme that they replicate those of celestial bodies in our solar system.
Daniel Fillion, Candidat au doctorat en océanographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211520
2023-08-21T20:18:03Z
2023-08-21T20:18:03Z
I’ve spent 40 years studying Antarctica. The frozen continent has never needed our help more
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543611/original/file-20230821-252667-2ea691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C4559%2C2586&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patti Virtue</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After decades immersed in Antarctic science, I’ve learned that physical and biological changes rarely occur smoothly. More often than not, they unfold in sharp steps. Right now, Antarctica’s climate and ecosystems are experiencing disturbing changes.</p>
<p>Much of this winter’s sea ice is <a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctica-is-missing-a-chunk-of-sea-ice-bigger-than-greenland-whats-going-on-210665">missing</a>. A crucial <a href="https://theconversation.com/torrents-of-antarctic-meltwater-are-slowing-the-currents-that-drive-our-vital-ocean-overturning-and-threaten-its-collapse-202108">ocean current</a> is slowing down, and glaciers and ice shelves are <a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctic-tipping-points-the-irreversible-changes-to-come-if-we-fail-to-keep-warming-below-2-207410">disintegrating</a>.</p>
<p>On land, fragile moss ecosystems are <a href="https://theconversation.com/existential-threat-to-our-survival-see-the-19-australian-ecosystems-already-collapsing-154077">collapsing</a>. Majestic emperor penguins may be headed for <a href="https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-emperor-penguins-could-be-extinct-by-2100-and-other-species-may-follow-if-we-dont-act-196563">extinction</a>. And pollution from human activity in Antarctica has left a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/10/pollution-at-australias-largest-antarctic-research-station-exceeded-guidelines-for-almost-20-years">toxic legacy</a>.</p>
<p>It’s almost certain <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/08/drastic-action-needed-to-limit-worsening-extreme-events-in-antarctica-scientists-warn">things will get worse</a>. On Friday, hundreds of international scientists called for an <a href="https://soos.aq/soos-symposium-2023">urgent expansion</a> – not contraction – of Southern Ocean science in response to the emerging climate crisis. This adds to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2023/aug/04/antarctica-heatwaves-sea-ice-levels-melting">scientific chorus</a> claiming we have only a narrow window to save the planet. </p>
<p>I’ve spent 40 years in Antarctic and subantarctic research. Some 22 of those were spent at the federal government’s <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/">Australian Antarctic Division</a>; my final day there was last Thursday. No longer a public servant, I feel compelled, as a private citizen now, to publicly stand up for the icy continent and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sundayextra/antarctica/102746764">the benefit of Antarctic science</a> to society.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctic-alarm-bells-observations-reveal-deep-ocean-currents-are-slowing-earlier-than-predicted-206289">Antarctic alarm bells: observations reveal deep ocean currents are slowing earlier than predicted</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Crucial to life as we know it</h2>
<p>Antarctica matters. What happens there affects global weather patterns and sea levels.</p>
<p>But Antarctica’s climate is changing. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-21/ocean-tempertature-records-2023/102701172">Record-breaking stored heat</a> is melting ice shelves from underneath, setting off a chain reaction. Without the buttressing of the ice shelves, glaciers flow faster to the sea. In West Antarctica, the Thwaites “doomsday glacier” is <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/images-antarcticas-doomsday-glacier-show-melting-below/story?id=97269226">melting faster than predicted</a>. In East Antarctica, lesser-known <a href="https://theconversation.com/conger-ice-shelf-has-collapsed-what-you-need-to-know-according-to-experts-180077">ice shelves have collapsed</a> and glaciers are shrinking, adding to sea-level rise.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-doomsday-glacier-how-its-collapse-could-trigger-global-floods-and-swallow-islands-173940">Antarctica's 'doomsday' glacier: how its collapse could trigger global floods and swallow islands</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Antarctica is governed by <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/antarctictreaty.html">the Antarctic Treaty</a>, negotiated by 12 countries, including Australia, during the Cold War in 1959. Australia’s territory in Antarctica comprises 42% of the continent. </p>
<p>In my view, the treaty is magnificent. It represents a grand vision: a continent set aside for conservation, peace and science.</p>
<p>But Antarctica remains under threat. And the biggest threat of all is climate change. </p>
<p>In June this year, <a href="https://um.fi/current-affairs/-/asset_publisher/gc654PySnjTX/content/helsinki-declaration-on-climate-change-and-the-antarctic">all treaty nations</a>, including Australia, collectively stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>changes in Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments are linked to, and influence, climate impact drivers globally.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They added “further irreversible change is likely” without “accelerated efforts” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>Scientific research is crucial in the face of these threats, to help better understand these changes now and over the longer term, and to feed into policy interventions. </p>
<p>Surprisingly a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-29/australian-antarctic-division-told-to-find-25m-in-budget/102653756">budget shortfall</a> appears to be inadvertently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/01/australian-antarctic-division-research-program-budget-cuts-climate-science-projects">curtailing plans for science this summer</a>, according to the Guardian Australia.</p>
<p>In July, the ABC reported the Antarctic Division told staff <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-29/australian-antarctic-division-told-to-find-25m-in-budget/102653756">A$25 million in budget savings</a> was needed this financial year. This led to a review of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02576-8">plans for field research</a> this summer. Reportedly, two out of three permanent research stations (Mawson and Davis) will not be filled with the normal number of scientists this season. That means some planned and approved <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/01/australian-antarctic-division-research-program-budget-cuts-climate-science-projects">projects will not be going ahead this year</a>, including surveys on sea-ice thickness and landfast sea ice. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fractured-foundations-how-antarcticas-landfast-ice-is-dwindling-and-why-thats-bad-news-207814">Fractured foundations: how Antarctica's 'landfast' ice is dwindling and why that's bad news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Greens claim the $25 million hit to the Antarctic Division represents a <a href="https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/senate-inquiry-aad-mismanagement-established">16% cut to its operating budget</a> for the current financial year.</p>
<p>Seizing an opportunity, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/09/antarctica-climate-science-projects-liberal-greens-deal">Greens and Liberal Party</a> established a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/AntarcticDivision">Senate inquiry</a> into what they refer to as funding cuts, to report by November 30.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, Antarctic activities receive overwhelmingly bipartisan support. For many decades Australia’s record in Antarctic protection has been impressive. For example, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek recently tripled the size of the marine protected area around <a href="https://theconversation.com/penguin-paradise-and-geological-freak-why-macquarie-island-deserves-a-bigger-marine-park-201368">Macquarie Island</a>. </p>
<p>Former Labor environment minister <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/garrett-talks-up-governments-whaling-stance-20100605-xm31.html">Peter Garrett advanced whale conservation</a>. He was instrumental in the campaign against so-called “scientific whaling” in the Antarctic, backed by government scientists, which culminated in Australia’s successful challenge to Japanese whaling in the International Court of Justice in 2014. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"725470293662158849"}"></div></p>
<p>Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull funded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/29/malcolm-turnbull-announces-custom-built-icebreaker-for-antarctic-research">Australia’s new icebreaker</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/10/rats-and-rabbits-invasive-species-macquarie-island-southern-ocean-aoe">feral pest eradication from Macquarie Island</a>. And Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, with treasurer Paul Keating, collaborated with French prime minister Michel Rocard in 1991 to ensure a mining ban and sign the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/protocol.html">Madrid Protocol</a> to protect Antarctic ecosystems. </p>
<p>Support for Antarctic Division activities contributed to curtailing the illegal toothfish fishing in Antarctic waters. A regulated, sustainable industry is now in place. Krill fisheries operate according to science-based decisions. Efforts to reduce albatross bycatch in longline fishing were also led by Antarctic Division scientists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of icy mountains looming over Ross Sea in east Antarctica" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542753/original/file-20230815-29-5xb8yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mount Martin looms over the Ross Sea in east Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dana M Bergstrom</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cleaning up the mess in Antarctica</h2>
<p>The story of Antarctica serves as a compelling reminder humanity must end our reliance on fossil fuels. We must also do a far better job of environmental stewardship – including paying for the scientific research so urgently needed.</p>
<p>Failing to fully support vital Antarctic science in a rapidly unfolding climate emergency, in my view, is unwise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana M Bergstrom has received funding from the Australian Antarctic Program. As well as her university affiliation, her recent past position was a Principal Research Scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division.</span></em></p>
After several decades in research, including 22 years at the Australian Antarctic Division, this scientist is standing up for our icy continent. Here’s why Antarctic research needs ongoing funding.
Dana M Bergstrom, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206531
2023-06-13T20:06:04Z
2023-06-13T20:06:04Z
Can next week’s special meeting in Chile break the deadlock over East Antarctica’s marine park proposal?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531542/original/file-20230613-21-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C2968%2C1998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/underwater-world-antarctica-1188050665">Ivan Hoermann, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the challenges of climate change, resource extraction and pollution, the survival of species and ecosystems depends on setting aside protected areas. But plans to establish marine protected areas in East Antarctica have stalled. </p>
<p>Next week, the 27-member <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/">Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources</a> will gather at a <a href="https://meetings.ccamlr.org/en/ccamlr-sm-iii">special meeting</a> in Santiago, Chile, to try to break the deadlock. There’s much at stake, given the seemingly implacable opposition from China and Russia. China appears more concerned about fishing for krill than conservation, while Russia’s objections are less clear.</p>
<p>The need for Antarctic marine protected areas was first discussed in response to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/johannesburg2002">2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development</a>. The formal plan was adopted three years later, in 2005. While China had not yet joined the commission at that time, it was a member when the commission reaffirmed this commitment in 2011. </p>
<p>These areas were meant to protect a representative suite of Antarctic marine environments, such as unique seafloor communities, deepwater canyons, and highly productive coastal and oceanic food webs. They were to be developed, assessed and agreed on the basis of the best available science. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-krill-aquarium-climate-research-and-geopolitics-how-australias-800-million-antarctic-funding-will-be-spent-177609">A krill aquarium, climate research, and geopolitics: how Australia's $800 million Antarctic funding will be spent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Slow progress on Antarctica’s marine parks</h2>
<p>So far, two marine protected areas have been agreed by the commission: South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf in 2009; and the Ross Sea Region in 2016. Since then, the commission has been unable to agree on any further proposals, including the <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/law-and-treaty/ccamlr/marine-protected-areas/eampa/">East Antarctic Region marine protected area</a>. This was first proposed by Australia in 2011. It’s the oldest of those proposed but not yet agreed. The commission has also been unable to adopt the research and monitoring plans or the reviews of the existing marine protected areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing the proposed East Antarctica Marine Protected Area zones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531537/original/file-20230613-25-xm2j5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map showing the proposed East Antarctica Marine Protected Area zones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/law-and-treaty/ccamlr/marine-protected-areas/eampa/">Australian Antarctic Division</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This year, the United Nations agreed to a treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas <a href="https://press.un.org/en/highlights/BBNJ">beyond national jurisdiction</a>. This treaty will be up for adoption at a final conference session on June 19-20, 2023. </p>
<p>This treaty sets a global target of 30% of the global oceans to be in marine protected areas by 2030. This will be the likely yardstick against which the Commission’s future performance will be measured. So far, the commission’s marine protected area achievement is just 4.7% of the area of Southern Ocean that it is responsible for.</p>
<p>Of the 27 member countries of the commission, 21 have formally committed their support for the East Antarctic Region marine protected area. Only China and Russia have repeatedly opposed this and other proposals. They are now challenging the commission’s consensus agreement to establish the marine protected area network in Antarctica.</p>
<h2>The shrinking East Antarctic Region Marine Protected Area</h2>
<p>The proposed East Antarctic Region marine protected area initially consisted of seven distinct areas designed to protect the diversity of environments in the region. Since then, Australia and its partners, now numbering 17, have granted many compromises in the quest for consensus. The number of distinct areas has been reduced to three and fishing is allowed unless explicitly excluded. </p>
<p>To specifically accommodate China’s concerns about future krill fishing, Australia sacrificed the unique and special Prydz Bay region. That’s despite the fact China’s krill fishing aspirations could be more than adequately met from the rest of the region. Nonetheless, Russia and China continue to withhold consensus on this proposal. </p>
<p>Increasingly, the rhetoric opposing marine protected areas is centred around an argument that invokes a “balance” between “conservation” (in this case, the establishment of marine protected areas), and “rational use” (in this case the right to fish). On both legal and practical grounds, the conservation versus rational use argument centres on the very core of the international agreement that covers the oceans of the region, the <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/document/publications/text-convention-conservation-antarctic-marine-living-resources">Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources</a>. </p>
<p>The convention was agreed in 1980 to protect all Antarctic species from potential over exploitation. Its objective was – and remains – clearly centred on conservation in the region. Fishing is allowed, as long as the species and ecosystems of the region are conserved. The convention states that its objective “is the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources”. It identifies those resources as “populations of fin fish, molluscs, crustaceans and all other species of living organisms, including birds” and clarifies that “conservation” includes “rational use”, if such rational use can be conducted with minimal impact on the ecosystem. </p>
<p>In recent years, Russia and China have both argued that there is too much emphasis on conservation. They state that there needs to be a <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/no-20-marine-protected-areas-antarctica-has-chinas-hand-been-revealed">re-balancing between fishing and conservation</a>. In constructing this argument, they are engaging in a wilful reinterpretation of the convention – and ignoring the significant time dedicated by the commission to fisheries management. </p>
<h2>A reliance on consensus</h2>
<p>The commission, like the rest of the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html">Antarctic Treaty System</a>, makes decisions on the basis of consensus. This means that some decisions may take quite some time to be agreed, but the strength of consensus is that all parties are then committed to the final result. </p>
<p>Consensus is built on trust and good faith. But consensus will be undermined when agreement is withheld in bad faith, or used as a means to achieve other objectives. The actions of one or a few that withhold consensus, or who negotiate in bad faith, could, if not confronted, undermine all decision-making in the commission, including decisions on sustainable fisheries. </p>
<h2>Now is not the time for endless compromise</h2>
<p>We must not continue compromising for an apparent “quick win”. The East Antarctic Region marine protected area has been evaluated by the commission’s scientific committee, and the commission has repeatedly reached the point where only Russia and China withhold agreement. It is this behaviour that needs to be explicitly challenged, not the marine protected area proposal itself. </p>
<p>These nations need to explain their specific concerns, and in the spirit of consensus, provide workable alternatives that meet their obligations under the conventions and accommodate the aspirations of all members. </p>
<p>Australia has held many discussions with China and Russia over the years to help resolve their issues. With China, these discussions have been thorough and cordial, and it is clear this nation has a deep and comprehensive understanding of the marine protected area proposal. Several bilateral meetings have also been held with Russia; however, it remains unclear what their specific objections are, particularly as they are no longer fishing. </p>
<p>There are no obstacles to China agreeing to the East Antarctic Region marine protected area proposal now. They have agreed to two large Antarctic marine protected areas in the past. The East Antarctic marine protected area poses no substantive obstacle to China’s aspirations in the region, including their stated desire to harvest krill.</p>
<p>There is much at stake at this upcoming special meeting, including the reputation of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The protection of the Antarctic requires that a way forward on marine protected areas be found.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-wants-to-install-military-technology-in-antarctica-heres-why-thats-allowed-122122">Australia wants to install military technology in Antarctica – here's why that's allowed</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Haward receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynda Goldsworthy and Tony Press do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
China and Russia have been blocking international plans to protect marine life in East Antarctica. Will next week’s special meeting in Chile break the deadlock? Australia hopes so.
Lynda Goldsworthy, Research Associate, University of Tasmania
Marcus Haward, Professor
Tony Press, Adjunct Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204114
2023-05-30T20:07:35Z
2023-05-30T20:07:35Z
Photos from the field: spying on Antarctic moss using drones, MossCam, smart sensors and AI
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526950/original/file-20230518-15-jkyrps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C4001%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Krystal Randall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Antarctic continent conjures visions of white ice and blue sky. But not far from Australia’s Casey Station, 3,880km due south of Perth, moss beds emerge verdant and green. </p>
<p>Sadly, the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0280-0">health of these moss beds is declining</a> due to changing climate conditions, ozone depletion and heatwaves. Yet our understanding of the problem is limited. Conducting research in Antarctica is difficult. Periods of data collection are short, and there can be years between each research opportunity. Fortunately, new technology offers solutions. </p>
<p>In December 2022, we travelled to Casey Station. We spent two months in the field – combining our skills in biology, flying drones, programming and artificial intelligence – to learn more about the moss and find better ways to remotely monitor biological changes. </p>
<p>We mapped large moss beds and trialled a new sensor system that can deliver continuous, year-round moss data. While this research is ongoing, we’re thrilled to share the early results with you here.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Collecting moss data" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527184/original/file-20230519-17-fjyr76.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The scientists at work near Casey Station. Left to right: Dr Johan Barthélemy and Dr Krystal Randall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johan Barthélemy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-epic-global-study-of-moss-reveals-it-is-far-more-vital-to-earths-ecosystems-than-we-knew-203141">An epic global study of moss reveals it is far more vital to Earth's ecosystems than we knew</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Miniature forests, bustling with life</h2>
<p>Plants need sunlight, warmth and liquid water. Antarctic plants face months of darkness, freezing temperatures and drought from frozen water – but moss has adapted to this hostile environment. </p>
<p>Moss is the dominant plant life in Antarctica. It provides habitat for invertebrates, microbes and fungi, which make up more than 99% of Antarctica’s land biodiversity. The moss beds resemble miniature forests, bustling with life.</p>
<p>Antarctic moss creates its own warm microclimate, using pigments to absorb sunlight. This warmth aids photosynthesis and helps the mosses to melt snow to obtain liquid water. The tiny hills and valleys across moss beds determine the amount of light mosses receive and creates differences in their microclimates and health.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign to protect the moss beds in Antarctica" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526968/original/file-20230518-17-yttmb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mosses are the dominant plant life in Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Krystal Randall</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once we reached the moss, we’d carefully balance on rocks to take samples and place data loggers. These consisted of four sensors that measured canopy temperatures at different positions in the moss bed. We also measured photosynthesis and collected moss samples for pigment analysis, which indicates health and stress levels. </p>
<p>The below photo depicts a moss bed with our equipment attached. You can see the complex micro-topography and a mosaic of healthy and stressed mosses. Healthy moss is green and velvety. Stressed mosses are red and eventually turn grey.</p>
<p>Mosses growing just centimetres apart can experience vastly different microclimates. In the photo below, some mosses had warmed up to 19°C (next to the red marker), while only about 30cm away the moss was at 0.6°C (next to the white marker).</p>
<p>Collecting this data enables us to explore connections between the physical structure of the moss beds, microclimates and indicators of moss health.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-moss-forests-are-drying-and-dying-103751">Antarctica's 'moss forests' are drying and dying</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A moss bed and temperature data logger." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526958/original/file-20230518-15-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mosses growing just centimetres apart can experience vastly different climates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Krystal Randall</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Smart sensors, cameras and transmitters</h2>
<p>While in Antarctica, we also tested the first prototype of an intelligent, autonomous and long-term sensing platform. It offers scientists more information than previous data-collection devices as it can collect and transmit data over an extended period outside regular summer field campaigns, including winter time.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Remote sensing platform" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527166/original/file-20230519-23-9at7da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The remote sensing platform watching a moss bed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johan Barthélemy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The prototype monitored the moss bed near Casey Station for a month and a half. Its sensors captured light intensity, ambient air temperature and humidity, moss canopy temperature and, finally, energy exchanged between soil and air. A webcam, affectionately nicknamed MossCam, captured regular images of the moss bed.</p>
<p>We also installed the first antenna in Antarctica for <a href="https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/article/the-first-lorawan-gateway-running-in-antarctica">the LoRaWAN wireless network</a>. This network is low power, long range and free to use. This allowed us to send data back to Australia in near real-time and <a href="https://uow.to/mosscam">display it on a website dashboard</a> that is visible to Australians only. </p>
<p>After some early bug fixes, the platform performed better than expected. We brought it home at the end of the season for further refinement and deployment next season.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ctiW3TZvF5I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A 24-hour time-lapse captured by MossCam. Johan Barthelemy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Drones and hyperspectral imaging</h2>
<p>We sent drones on 25 flights, collecting data from two <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/protected.html">Antarctic Specially Protected Areas</a> (ASPAs 135 and 136). </p>
<p>Operating drones in the Antarctic presents significant challenges. The proximity to the magnetic pole disturbs the GPS navigation, and strong winds make it difficult to fly. Severe cold reduces battery life – and it’s also tough on the operator’s fingers. We customised drones with RTK (<a href="https://blog.emlid.com/introduction-to-rtk-gps/">real-time kinematics</a>, a technique to eliminate position errors) GPS, multiple redundancies and battery warmers to increase their resilience to harsh conditions. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bDTZ9VveO1o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">We used a compact mini drone as a reconnaissance unit, scouting new areas and providing videography like this. Juan Sandino.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our drones could capture 5,000-10,000 images on each flight. They were also equipped with high-tech sensors. These sensors are programmed to record “spectral signatures”, which is a term we use to describe a kind of optical identity or visual “DNA” that differentiates landscape features like moss, rock and snow within the image. </p>
<p>These images will be stitched together and mapped to their ground coordinates. Using machine learning, we will train a model to identify vegetation, including moss, lichen and cyanobacteria. We will also develop vegetation and hydrology maps, 3D fly-throughs and virtual reality experiences to support decision-making around conservation and management. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527162/original/file-20230519-23-1z26d2.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hyperspectral data showing healthy moss (blue), stressed moss (red) and rock (green).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Juan Sandino</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drones-help-scientists-check-the-health-of-antarctic-mosses-revealing-climate-change-clues-83817">Drones help scientists check the health of Antarctic mosses, revealing climate change clues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>One journey ends, while another is just beginning</h2>
<p>Often while we were working, curious penguins wandered over to see what we were doing. Making friends with these locals was always the highlight of the day.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="758" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wovm6zCZHOM" title="Welcome to our office! Krystal Randall." frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>But after a couple of fantastic months in the field, it was time to pack up and head home. On the 60km journey inland to Wilkins Aerodrome we ventured into the Antarctic Circle. We waited in -20°C to watch our plane land on the blue ice runway before boarding and flying back to Tasmania. There, it felt like we’d just woken up from a dream. </p>
<p>Our Antarctic adventure was over, but we all felt so grateful for the experience. </p>
<p>Now we’re exploring the data, to see what stories it can tell, while further developing our moss sensing platform. We hope to return to Antarctica to deploy it at the end of the year. </p>
<p><em>The authors travelled to Casey Station as part of the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF).</em></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Group photo at the Antarctic Circle sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526955/original/file-20230518-19-8b1c34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The team as they crossed the Antarctic Circle: Dr Johan Barthélemy (left), Dr Krystal Randall (centre), Ashray Doshi (front), Dr Juan Sandino (right) and Prof Barbara Bollard (back right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Krystal Randall</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toughness-has-limits-over-1-100-species-live-in-antarctica-but-theyre-at-risk-from-human-activity-181258">Toughness has limits: over 1,100 species live in Antarctica – but they're at risk from human activity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Johan Barthélemy received funding from Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), an Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative. He currently works at NVIDIA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Bollard receives funding from Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), an Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative (SRI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Sandino is affiliated with the QUT Centre for Robotics (QCR), Australia, and receives funding from Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), an Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative (SRI).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Krystal Randall is affiliated with the Centre for Sustainable Ecosystem Solutions (CSES) in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong (UOW). Krystal has previously received funding from the Antarctic Science Foundation, and currently receives funding from Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), an Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative (SRI).</span></em></p>
It was the trip of a lifetime for an Australian research team studying moss in Antarctica. After two months at Casey Station they returned with great videos and loads of data for further analysis.
Johan Barthélemy, Developer Relations Manager, NVIDIA and Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong
Barbara Bollard, Professor of Computational Conservation, Auckland University of Technology
Juan Sandino, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queensland University of Technology
Krystal Randall, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187617
2022-07-28T20:03:46Z
2022-07-28T20:03:46Z
People stationed in Antarctica menstruate too – and it’s a struggle. Here’s how we can support them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476442/original/file-20220728-15-wakxb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C634%2C6134%2C3449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women have been doing fieldwork in Antarctica for more than 40 years. Yet they comprise just 25% of expeditioners in the Australian Antarctic Program. Despite decades of progress, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209983">historical issues</a> with sexism and gender bias continue in extreme field environments set up for men. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2066635">Managing menstruation</a>, in particular, is an overlooked challenge for women working in Antarctica and other extreme, male-dominated environments.</p>
<p>If we want to build a diverse and inclusive polar workforce, we need to openly and willingly address the challenges that women, trans and non-binary menstruators face in the field. </p>
<h2>Who gets to work in Antarctica?</h2>
<p>Over the decades, toileting has been a primary way for men to control who has access to extreme environments. For instance, until the late 1970s women were being told they couldn’t work in Antarctica because there were no <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2017.1373915">facilities</a> for them on station. </p>
<p>Women have been similarly excluded from space travel because their hormonal bodies were deemed to be too <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/grggenl19&div=26&g_sent=1&casa_token=72OeEM7szM0AAAAA:tgtCvnSQJPkYNQRiCUBu4SVHPqarTDVPNFS2ZI2sgSY0puKfBMYxBU1OMh-qV56_rU8oclCo&collection=journals">unpredictable</a> by NASA’s male leaders.</p>
<p>Sally Ride’s 1983 mission on the Space Shuttle Challenger heralded a new era of progress for women’s access to Antarctic fieldwork. If women could go to space, they could certainly go to Antarctica! It was around this time the British, United States and Australian National Antarctic Programs began to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2017.1373915">allow women</a> to do fieldwork in Antarctica.</p>
<p>Ride’s mission also uncovered NASA’s inexperience with menstruation. In re-designing the space flight kit for her, NASA engineers famously asked Ride if <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/space/how-do-women-deal-with-having-a-period-in-space">100 tampons</a> would be enough for a one-week mission.</p>
<p>In my latest <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2066635">research</a>, I spoke to dozens of women expeditioners about how they negotiated the hurdles associated with menstruating in Antarctica. They revealed that managing menstruation remains taboo, and has been made even more difficult by a culture of silence. </p>
<p>As one expeditioner told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I haven’t had great conversations with other women because there haven’t been any that I’ve worked with. I’ve been very much by myself with these things.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Life as a woman expeditioner</h2>
<p>So why is menstruating in Antarctica difficult?</p>
<p>Well, for one, you can only toilet in certain places due to environmental protection laws. You must collect all your bodily waste in sealed containers, which are carried back to a station for incineration. </p>
<p>Because expeditioners may have to keep used menstrual products with them for several weeks in the field, they need to consider not only what products they will use, but how they will dispose of them. </p>
<p>Re-usable menstrual cups are often preferred because they produce no waste and can be left in the body longer (4-8 hours) than disposable products. However, cups must be emptied and <a href="https://www.mooncup.co.uk/blog/toxic-shock-syndrome/">cleaned</a> at least three times within 24 hours to minimise the risk of toxic shock syndrome.</p>
<p>As one expeditioner explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cups are amazing but [they are] also a huge learning curve. I started
learning to use them for [an expedition] because I’m like I can’t carry used tampons around in my bag anymore […] The hard thing is cleaning them discreetly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Menstruators must also be prepared to manage their menstruation in small, shared spaces. The women I interviewed described the complexity of doing this in male-dominated teams:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The first time I went to Antarctica I was out on a boat […] It was me and [a group of] men. It’s my period and I’m like, oh, my god, what do I do here?</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Menstrual products line the supermarket shelves" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476443/original/file-20220728-23-xvx9rw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women on the field in Antarctica work in extreme conditions, yet the onus is on them to figure out how to menstruate with limited resources, sanitation and support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All Antarctic expeditioners wear many thick layers to protect themselves from the extreme conditions. However, women need to be able to change menstrual products without exposing their skin to the cold for prolonged periods. The participants in my study came up with creative ways to cope: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I sewed myself underpants that I could Velcro on the side so that I didn’t have to take all the layers off my legs and my feet to change my undies…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To avoid these challenges during long-duration expeditions, menstruators often rely on menstrual suppression <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-can-deal-with-periods-in-space-58294">technologies</a>. These include the combined oral contraceptive pill, or long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) such as an intrauterine device or injection. </p>
<p>These methods prevent a period and pregnancy. And this is critical in extreme environments, where pregnancy is extremely high-risk. </p>
<p>LARC is convenient because it requires no extra supplies and little maintenance following insertion. That said, <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/birth-control/expert-answers/seasonale-side-effects/faq-20058109#">breakthrough bleeding</a> or spotting can be a side effect:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having my period [in Antarctica] was a nightmare. Somebody told me that they had an [Depo Provera] injection before they went […] and I thought, “Well, that wouldn’t be a bad idea, to not have a period for that particular time” […] but I had my period the whole time I was in the field. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How to support menstruators</h2>
<p>Apart from their other already-demanding work, my research shows women must also undertake additional psychological and physical labour to manage menstruation in extreme environments. Whether in Antarctica or on military deployment, women will often:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>change their menstrual products without privacy or adequate sanitation</p></li>
<li><p>carry bloody menstrual products around with them in the field for a long time</p></li>
<li><p>improvise menstrual products when none are available</p></li>
<li><p>keep menstrual products in their bodies for longer than recommended because they aren’t provided with adequate toilet stops </p></li>
<li><p>alter their hormonal balance with medication to make menstruation less inconvenient. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The bottom line is this: menstruation in these settings has largely been treated as an individual problem, and not a site for organisational attention. This needs to change. </p>
<p>Some simple changes can be applied in any field environment where menstruation is difficult for women. Organisations should make it a priority to: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>destigmatise menstruation and acknowledge the unique needs of diverse menstruators, including trans people and non-binary folk</p></li>
<li><p>update field manuals to include relevant information about toileting and menstruation </p></li>
<li><p>provide menstrual health education to all expeditioners – especially cisgender men leading field teams</p></li>
<li><p>make toilet stops standard operating practice</p></li>
<li><p>provide menstruators with free menstrual products, and make period underwear available as part of field gear. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I recently supported the Australian Antarctic Program to revise its field manual and help reconsider how field environments can be sensitised to the needs of menstruators. This is an important first step. But success will only come when inclusive operational measures happen by default.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supporting-menstrual-health-in-australia-means-more-than-just-throwing-pads-at-the-problem-161194">Supporting menstrual health in Australia means more than just throwing pads at the problem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Nash was Senior Advisor - Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at the Australian Antarctic Division from 2020-22.</span></em></p>
We’ve come a long time since women were deemed too “hormonal” to be sent into space. Yet gender bias is an issue women in the field still reckon with every day.
Meredith Nash, Professor and Associate Dean - Community, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180592
2022-04-06T14:53:24Z
2022-04-06T14:53:24Z
The South African ship that found Antarctica’s Endurance wreck is vital for climate science
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456546/original/file-20220406-14-en9ej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The SA Agulhas amid the ice of Antarctica. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Raquel Flynn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was 1914 when the English explorer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Henry-Shackleton">Sir Ernest Shackleton</a> set sail on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aboard a ship called Endurance. It was an ill-fated journey: the ship got trapped in the ice and eventually crushed by pack ice in 1915. It sank to the bottom of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. (Shackleton and his entire crew <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Henry-Shackleton">survived the ordeal</a> by escaping in smaller boats.)</p>
<p>It was difficult to believe that the Endurance might ever be found. The icy Weddell Sea is inhospitable and the wreck lay in more than 3000 metres of water. But thanks to a South African vessel, the SA Agulhas II, Endurance <a href="https://theconversation.com/finding-shackletons-ship-why-our-fascination-with-antarctica-endures-179354">was found</a> in March 2022. It was the second time the polar icebreaker reached the coordinates that Endurance’s Captain Frank Worsley recorded as the ship went down. The first was in 2019; the ship was not located on that occasion. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/finding-shackletons-ship-why-our-fascination-with-antarctica-endures-179354">Finding Shackleton's ship: why our fascination with Antarctica endures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The tale of the Endurance is fascinating. But so is the story of the SA Agulhas II. Because of this ship, South Africa is becoming a leader in aspects of Antarctic science. For example, it is highly unusual to make in situ measurements of the physics, chemistry, and biology of the open Southern Ocean and its sea ice in winter because of the darkness, inhospitable weather conditions and high concentrations of sea ice.</p>
<p>Yet, since 2012, the SA Agulhas II has undertaken at least five wintertime voyages between Cape Town and the Antarctic sea ice, a journey of nearly 3,000 kilometres. These expeditions have yielded data that are essential to understanding the changing Southern Ocean, and to validate numerical models developed to predict future climate. My research group, comprising mainly postgraduate students, has collected samples on numerous cruises aboard the SA Agulhas II that, following their measurement in the <a href="https://www.uct-mbl.co.za/">Marine Biogeochemistry Lab</a> at the University of Cape Town, are improving our understanding of Southern Ocean nutrient and carbon cycling.</p>
<p>The SA Agulhas II has also served – and continues to serve – as a training ground for hundreds of students, most of them South African, in a range of disciplines: oceanography, marine biology, atmospheric science and more. It annually supports <a href="https://seamester.co.za/?doing_wp_cron=1649058015.8222329616546630859375">SEAmester</a>, a ship-based educational programme dubbed “South Africa’s first class afloat”. During this government-funded capacity-building expedition, approximately 50 postgraduate students from across the country spend 10 days aboard the ship. They are introduced to interdisciplinary, applied, and hands-on marine science. </p>
<p>Shackleton’s so-called “<a href="https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/The_heroic_age_of_Antarctic_exploration.php">Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration</a>” was fundamentally a show of European colonial might. It kicked off decades of Antarctic research that was open near-exclusively to white men. </p>
<p>So it is fitting that one of the world’s most impressive icebreaking research vessels is today owned and operated by the only African signatory of the 1961 <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/the-antarctic-treaty/">Antarctic Treaty</a> – which protects Antarctica and its surrounding ecosystems from exploitation and annexation – and is a platform to train African researchers undertaking globally-relevant research. </p>
<h2>Fully equipped</h2>
<p>The SA Agulhas II is a Polar Class 5 vessel owned by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment and operated by African Marine Solutions. </p>
<p>She was built in the shipyard of STX Finland in Rauma, Finland, and handed over to the South African government in 2012. Cape Town is her home port.</p>
<p>At 134 metres long, with ten decks, a crew of 45 and berth space for 100 scientists, the SA Agulhas II was uniquely designed as both a polar supply ship and scientific research vessel. As part of the ship’s mandate, she annually supplies fuel, food, personnel, and other essential resources to South Africa’s research bases in Antarctica and on the Subantarctic Marion and Gough Islands. </p>
<p>She is also equipped with eight permanent scientific laboratories (with space on the stern for six additional specialised labs in shipping containers). The ship’s infrastructure allows for various instruments and sample collection equipment (and even people) to be deployed over the side or through the centre of the vessel via an opening in the hull known as a “moon pool”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456037/original/file-20220404-15-blavi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1916 image of the Endurance trapped in ice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bettmann collection/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These and other features are critical when exploring a location as remote, vast and inhospitable as the Southern Ocean, which is typically defined as the waters south of 40ºS that connect the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. The westerly winds can exceed 60 km/hr, driving swells of over 10 metres. Sea ice more than a metre thick often extends over 1,000 km north of Antarctica. These factors make the region arguably the most logistically challenging and expensive ocean in which to conduct research. </p>
<p>Such research is critical. The Southern Ocean is <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/28/2/jcli-d-14-00117.1.xml">the most important</a> of all oceanic regions for Earth’s climate. Waters originating near Antarctica transport large quantities of heat and dissolved gases, such as the powerful greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), around the planet and into the deep ocean to be stored for hundreds of years. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ocean-like-no-other-the-southern-oceans-ecological-richness-and-significance-for-global-climate-151084">An ocean like no other: the Southern Ocean's ecological richness and significance for global climate</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, critical to all life on Earth, flow from the Southern Ocean to the tropical and temperate latitudes. There they are believed to support at least two-thirds of global ocean productivity. Without the Southern Ocean, our planet would not be habitable: continued research and monitoring of this marine system is critical. </p>
<p>The SA Agulhas II was able to reach the Endurance wreck site partly because of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/climate-crisis-antarctica-weddell-sea-ice-loss-melt-global-warming-a9571926.html">lighter than normal</a> summertime ice conditions in the Weddell Sea. This is almost certainly a consequence of human-driven warming of the natural world. Significant reductions in Antarctic ice cover due to atmospheric and oceanic warming, along with related changes to the Southern Ocean and its ecosystems, present a very real threat to Earth’s habitability. </p>
<h2>Broader value</h2>
<p>Across the world, and in South Africa, government funding for research is declining; proportionally more science is being <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frma.2020.588331/full">supported by private funders</a>. A significant risk of this model is that a handful of powerful people, rather than a community of scientists reliant on peer-review and subject to checks and balances, get to set the global research agenda. </p>
<p>The SA Agulhas II stands out because she belongs to the people of South Africa. The ship’s success, under the leadership of master mariner <a href="https://www.sanap.ac.za/live-interview-from-the-s-a-agulhas-ii-captain-knowledge-bengu">Captain Knowledge Bengu</a>, in locating the the Endurance is a reminder of her value not only to South African research, but to current and future global science initiatives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Fawcett receives funding from the National Research Foundation (South African National Antarctic Programme) and the University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Future Leaders 2030 Fund. </span></em></p>
The SA Agulhas II is helping South Africa to become a leader in Antarctic science.
Sarah Fawcett, Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177609
2022-02-23T00:16:37Z
2022-02-23T00:16:37Z
A krill aquarium, climate research, and geopolitics: how Australia’s $800 million Antarctic funding will be spent
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447936/original/file-20220222-23-13fxzz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6858%2C3695&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government’s <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/800-million-strengthen-our-leadership-antarctica">major package of new funding</a> for Australia’s Antarctic program, announced on Tuesday, promises an additional A$804.4 million over the next decade. </p>
<p>The government has also released an update to its <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/site/assets/files/53156/2022_update_20yearstrategy.pdf">2016 Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20-Year Action Plan</a>, which effectively confirmed the existing strategy and outlined specific activities for the next five years.</p>
<p>The funds will allow Australia’s Antarctic scientists to continue undertaking significant, world-class research. They also promise to bring new streams of environmental data into the management of the fragile Antarctic environment.</p>
<p>But the announcement has also immediately been framed as a robust response to supposed Chinese and Russian expansion in Antarctica. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1496263575131799553"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/exploring-antarcticas-hidden-under-ice-rivers-and-their-role-in-future-sea-level-rise-176456">Exploring Antarctica's hidden under-ice rivers and their role in future sea-level rise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How the new funds will be spent</h2>
<p>Australia has a long connection with Antarctica. </p>
<p>It has continuously operated a scientific program on the continent since 1954, when the Australian Antarctic Division established Mawson Station, which is now the oldest continuously operating station south of the Antarctic Circle. </p>
<p>Australia was also an original signatory of the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/antarctictreaty.html">Antarctic Treaty in 1959</a>, an international agreement which continues to govern Antarctica. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/law-and-treaty/australia-and-antarctic-treaty-system/">Antarctic Treaty System</a> promotes scientific research and cooperation, prevents military and nuclear activities, manages environmental impacts and human activities, governs resources such as fisheries, bans mining, and in general aims to maintain regional peace.</p>
<p>Today, Australia operates three year-round scientific stations on the continent and one on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. </p>
<p>The new icebreaker <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/nuyina/">Nuyina</a> is crucial to the Antarctic program. It both supplies the stations and conducts essential marine scientific work in the Southern Ocean.</p>
<p>Scientists also conduct their research at the Antarctic Division’s Hobart headquarters. The krill biologists are being promised a new $17.4 million krill aquarium.</p>
<p>Although the government’s announcement is light on specifics, the $804.4 million is divided into diverse areas.</p>
<p>The biggest ticket items are concerned with transport and observational capacity across East Antarctica. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>$136.6 million for inland traverse capability, charting and mapping, and “mobile stations”</p></li>
<li><p>$60.6 million for “drone fleets and other autonomous vehicles” and a sensor and camera network called the “Antarctic eye”</p></li>
<li><p>$35 million for longer-range helicopters; and </p></li>
<li><p>$14.6 million for air transport within Antarctica. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Other funds will go to the icebreaker <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/nuyina/">Nuyina</a>, removal of old waste from Australia’s stations and more funding for glaciology and ice sheet research.</p>
<p>The funds will therefore continue well-established scientific activities, as well increase the use of newer technologies to advance the Antarctic program.</p>
<h2>Antarctic science isn’t cheap</h2>
<p>Most of the new funds will support science. Australia is a scientific leader in Antarctica. But science down south costs big money. </p>
<p>Antarctica is enormous and the conditions are harsh.</p>
<p>The inland traverse capability will support the <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/science/climate-processes-and-change/antarctic-palaeoclimate/inland-traverse/">million-year ice core</a> project, crucial for reconstructing Earth’s climate history.</p>
<p>Modern studies of the ice sheet are predominantly done through remote sensing, and the drones and autonomous vehicles might be useful for that. </p>
<p>Massive inland traverses of the ice sheet – which Australia <a href="https://researchnow.flinders.edu.au/en/publications/glaciological-bodies-australian-visions-of-the-antarctic-ice-shee">conducted from the 1960s to 1980s</a> — have been less necessary since the advent of <a href="https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and-climate/glacier-recession/observing-glacier-change-space/">sophisticated satellites in the 1990s</a>. But traverses are still necessary for logistics.</p>
<p>Remote monitoring of bird and animal populations might also increase.</p>
<h2>Geopolitics and Antarctica</h2>
<p>The Antarctic Treaty System allows for any signatory to inspect, unannounced, the Antarctic bases and installations of other signatories. </p>
<p>Until now, this has seen teams of people visit bases, but the innovative use of drones could perhaps make inspections more frequent.</p>
<p>In the context of rising tensions between the West, China and Russia, geopolitics is hard to avoid. But such tensions aren’t new, and the Antarctic Treaty System has operated amid such tensions since its enactment.</p>
<p>Australia has claimed much of East Antarctica as the Australian Antarctic Territory since 1933. Almost no other country ever recognised that claim. And the Antarctic Treaty put all territorial claims in Antarctica into legal limbo.</p>
<p>At the height of the Cold War, Australia was worried about the Soviet Union’s bases. Today, Russia, China, India, Romania, France and Italy all have bases in Australia’s area of interest.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-antarctic-treaty-is-turning-60-years-old-in-a-changed-world-is-it-still-fit-for-purpose-162849">The Antarctic Treaty is turning 60 years old. In a changed world, is it still fit for purpose?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-triabunna-tas">implicitly called out China</a> as not being as committed to protecting the Antarctic environment as Australia and its allies. </p>
<p>Treasurer Josh Frydenburg has <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-key-to-protecting-the-future-of-our-planet-governments-800m-antarctic-investment/l88qjo0oq">said</a> some countries (meaning China and Russia) are “increasingly active” in Antarctica. </p>
<p>Are their capacities dramatically increasing? Russia appears to be renewing several of its bases, including Vostok, but there’s no clear evidence they’re dramatically expanding their presence.</p>
<p>China <a href="https://www.comnap.aq/s/China_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue_Aug2017.pdf">has four operational bases</a> (only two are year-round), and a fifth one in the final stages of commissioning. They now have two icebreakers which they deploy at both poles. </p>
<p>But China’s Antarctic capacities are not currently greater than Australia’s or the US. It’s also unclear how much larger the Chinese effort and footprint will get. We need quality, up-to-date information to supplement <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/report/chinas-expanding-interests-antarctica">older</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18366503.2019.1589897">analyses</a>.</p>
<p>More concerning than any apparent military buildup in Antarctica is the increase in potential exploitation of fish, including krill. China and Russia appear to be <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/countries-fail-to-agree-on-antarctic-conservation-measures-for-fifth-straight-year/">investing heavily</a> to exploit krill stocks.</p>
<p>Another frustration is because the Antarctic Treaty System uses consensus decision-making, China and Russia have successfully prevented major environmental protection decisions over the past decade. </p>
<p>Both continue to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/countries-fail-to-agree-on-antarctic-conservation-measures-for-fifth-straight-year/">prevent the creation of large marine protected areas</a> around Antarctica. And recently they’ve been thwarting new fishing regulations and restrictions.</p>
<h2>Domestic politics also plays a role</h2>
<p>There’s also basic domestic politics at play. Federal Antarctic funds are important to Tasmania and the prime minister has <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-triabunna-tas">stressed job creation</a>.</p>
<p>Ever since the Australian Antarctic division moved from Melbourne to Hobart in 1981, the Hobart community and economy has <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353171357_Antarctic_Cities_From_Gateways_to_Custodial_Cities_Report">benefited</a> from Antarctic research.</p>
<p>The multi-government <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/territories-regions-cities/cities/city-deals/hobart">Hobart City Deal</a>, which began in 2019, had already committed at least $450 million to the creating an Antarctic and science precinct at the city’s waterfront.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447942/original/file-20220222-17-1blgz1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will Antarctica be a central arena of competition, or can it remain peripheral, as it has during previous moments of geopolitical heat?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We will have to wait to see what parts of this announcement really turn into. Will surveillance drones be regularly moving through Antarctic skies and seas? What exactly are “mobile stations” and what they will do? Much is unclear. </p>
<p>The funding also continues a go-it-alone approach, without mention of science diplomacy or major international research projects. Recent <a href="https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/department-agriculture-water-and-environment/reporting-year/2020-21-16">government documents suggest</a> Australia’s international Antarctic collaborations and scientific publications are trending downwards.</p>
<p>Sadly, Australian-Chinese scientific cooperation, including in the Southern Ocean, is <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/opinion/csiro-and-china-we-cant-just-go-floe-antarctica">being axed</a> because of “national security concerns”.</p>
<p>Strategic tensions with Russia and China are obviously hardening globally and Antarctica won’t be immune from them. </p>
<p>The question is: will Antarctica be a central arena of competition, or can it remain peripheral, as it has during previous moments of geopolitical heat?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-species-are-threatening-antarcticas-fragile-ecosystems-as-human-activity-grows-and-the-world-warms-172058">Invasive species are threatening Antarctica's fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Antonello receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Strategic tensions with Russia and China are hardening globally and Antarctica won’t be immune from them. Can Antarctica stay peripheral, as it has in previous moments of geopolitical heat?
Alessandro Antonello, Senior Research Fellow in History, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177548
2022-02-21T11:34:28Z
2022-02-21T11:34:28Z
Scott Morrison commits $804 million over a decade for the Antarctic
<p>Scott Morrison on Tuesday will announce $804.4 million over a decade to strengthen Australia’s strategic and scientific capabilities in the Antarctic. </p>
<p>The funding, including for drones, helicopters and vehicles, will enable Australia’s to penetrate inland areas of its claimed territory of East Antartica previously unreachable. </p>
<p>In strategic terms, Australia has had a watchful eye on China’s increasing involvement in recent years in the Antarctic and in Antarctic politics.</p>
<p>The money includes $136.6 million for inland travel capability, mapping, mobile stations, environmental protection, and other core activities.</p>
<p>Another $109 million will fund drone fleets and vehicles to map “inaccessible and fragile areas of East Antartica”, establishing an “Antarctic Eye” with integrated censors and cameras feeding real-time information back. </p>
<p>It will also purchase four new medium-lift helicopters with a range of 550 kilometres when launched from the RSV Nuyina that will give access to areas which have been beyond reach. Helicopters provide more landing flexibility than fixed-wing aircraft.</p>
<p>The Nuyina was launched late last year, when it was described by the government as “the most advanced polar research vessel in the world”. </p>
<p>Other funds in the package will go into shipping support, marine science (including a new krill aquarium in Hobart), environment management including cleaning up “legacy waste”, research on Antarctic ice sheet science to improve understanding of climate change, and international engagement. </p>
<p>Morrison said the Antarctic investment would support jobs in Australia – with Australian businesses, contractors, medical suppliers and other providers benefiting. </p>
<p>Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government’s proposed investments “are a clear marker of our enduring commitment to the Antarctic Treaty system, its scientific foundations, and Australia’s leadership within it”.</p>
<p>Environment Minister Sussan Ley said: “When I sit down with world leaders to discuss the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean in the face of increasing pressures, the strategic importance of our scientific leadership is clear.</p>
<p>"We need to ensure that the Antarctic remains a place of science and conservation, one that is free from conflict and which is protected from exploitation.”</p>
<p>Australia was a founding member of the Antarctic Treaty, signed by the Menzies government in 1959.</p>
<p>Seven countries have made territorial claims in Antarctica. Apart from Australia, the others are Argentina, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Other countries including China, India, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States have stations there. </p>
<p>Australia’s claimed territory covers 42% of the continent and includes the vast majority of East Antarctica.</p>
<p>Under the Hawke government Australia together with France led the successful push to have an international agreement reached to prevent mining in the Antarctic. </p>
<p>Ley has been pushing for the expansion of marine protected areas but getting consensus is hard, with China and Russia being difficult.</p>
<p>Last year the government abandoned a proposal to build a 2700 metre concrete runway at Australia’s Davis research station, following a detailed environmental and economic assessment.</p>
<p>Ley said then that “higher projected costs, potential environmental impacts, and the complexity of a 20-year construction process in an extreme and sensitive environment, are such that we will now
focus on alternative options for expanding our wider Antarctic Program capability”.</p>
<p>Commenting on the government announcement, Elizabeth Buchanan, lecturer
in strategic studies at Deakin University, told The Conversation the promised investment in drone capability - an ‘Antarctic Eye’ network – was “sorely needed”, and a “solid solution to Australia’s inland traverse challenges”. </p>
<p>“However, this clearly signals Canberra’s move into the grey zone of dual-use technologies - a space in which Russia and China are well versed,” Buchanan said.</p>
<p>But she said “all these new capabilities and technological investments still beg the question - so what? Should Australia find evidence of non-compliance, what does this mean? We can’t enforce or punish in the context of Antarctica, just tar a state’s reputation. </p>
<p>"I am not sure this is enough to make any real impact on long-term Antarctic posturing from states like China.”</p>
<p>Buchanan said it was disappointing to see limited multilateral planning in the government’s new investment program. </p>
<p>“Asset-sharing, such as vessels and aviation infrastructure with like-minded parties or developing Antarctic elements to groupings like the QUAD, or AUKUS, is surely worth consideration. This would be smart policy for the long term.”</p>
<p>“Russian and Chinese Antarctic activity might present challenges, however Australia is both curtailed and restrained by responding or this activity in any substantial way due to a fear of eroding or weakening the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) status quo. It is the ATS which protects and supports the Australian Antarctic Territory.</p>
<p>"Smart Australian policy would be to lead compliance and oversight mechanisms such as inspections or constant aerial surveillance as tabled by Canberra’s new ‘Antarctic Eye’ program – call out and shine light on transgressions.</p>
<p>"But keep in mind the ATS is without enforcement mechanisms, and Russia and China have ‘veto’ rights to stymie real governance progress if necessary.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Scott Morrison on Tuesday will announce $804.4 million over a decade to strengthen Australia’s strategic and scientific capabilities in the Antarctic.
Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/153939
2021-02-09T13:31:19Z
2021-02-09T13:31:19Z
Scientists at work: New recordings of ultrasonic seal calls hint at sonar-like abilities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382875/original/file-20210207-18-1wwb8n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C42%2C2766%2C1697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientist and seal, under the Antarctic ice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="SCUBA divers sit around a square hole cut in Antarctic ice" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382838/original/file-20210206-17-q3qr1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Divers inside the shelter hut prepare to drop into the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m sitting on the edge of a hole drilled through 15 feet of Antarctic sea ice, about to descend into the frigid ocean of the southernmost dive site in the world. I wear nearly 100 pounds of gear – a drysuit and gloves, multiple layers of insulation, scuba tank and regulators, lights, equipment, fins and over 40 pounds of lead to counteract all that added buoyancy.</p>
<p>I do a final check with my dive buddies: Air? Hoses? Weights? Then, one by one, we put in our mouthpieces, plop into the hole and sink out of sight into the dark.</p>
<p>As we frog-kick along, following our lights toward the work site, <a href="http://weddellsealscience.com/">a Weddell seal glides by</a> with a few effortless undulations. It glances sideways at us a couple of times, as if doing a double-take.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Weddell seal swims by SCUBA diver with scientific equipment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382841/original/file-20210206-17-2c0iz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Weddell seal swims by as Paul Cziko works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast to us awkward, gear-laden human divers, Weddell seals are completely at home under the ice. They can hold their breath for over 80 minutes and dive to a depth of nearly 2,000 feet. Somehow they explore, find food and return to their isolated breathing holes even when it’s completely dark.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Exit hole for divers cut through 15 feet of ice" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382840/original/file-20210206-21-181rvme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s just one way out for the research divers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We, on the other hand, have about 30 minutes of bottom time before our hands get too cold to work. Then we make our way back to the dive line. Its flags and blinking lights guide us to our one and only way out.</p>
<p>During my deployment to Antarctica in 2018, I participated in 40 such dives to help maintain the <a href="https://moo-antarctica.net/">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</a>. Polar marine biologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Zn3asugAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Paul Cziko</a> installed the 70-foot-deep, seafloor-mounted recorder in 2017. Known affectionately as “MOO,” it resembled R2-D2 in both looks and charm. For two years, MOO successfully sent continuous audio, video and ocean data back to our onshore lab via cable connection. It also streamed a real-time view of this enthralling Antarctic marine ecosystem: ice glittering on the seafloor and ceiling, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/creepy-sea-spiders-have-evolved-be-tough">giant sea spiders</a> and isopods creeping among the sponges and soft corals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="SCUBA diver accesses underwater recording equitpment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382839/original/file-20210206-20-1htjv2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, mounted to the seafloor, 70 feet below the Antarctic ice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seals were only occasionally caught on camera, but their haunting calls dominated the soundscape. Although the initial goal of the MOO was to support research on the <a href="https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/antarctic-notothenioid-fishes/41433/">ice-adapted fishes native to the area</a>, analysis of the audio recordings led us to a surprising discovery. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0002867">Weddell seals produce ultrasonic calls</a> – sequences of chirps and whistles with frequencies well above 20 kHz, the upper limit of human hearing. </p>
<h2>Surprising seal sounds</h2>
<p>These newly discovered call types – nine in total, with base frequencies above 20 kHz and ranging up to nearly 50 kHz – are the first report of such high-frequency vocalizations in any wild seals, sea lions and walruses, the group of sea mammals collectively known as pinnipeds.</p>
<p>Although scientists have studied Weddell seals for many decades and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258836261_Quantitative_analysis_of_the_underwater_repertoire_of_the_Weddell_seal_Leptonychotes_weddellii">described much of their diverse vocal repertoire</a>, acoustic recording has historically been limited by time and equipment constraints. Most prior studies sampled within the human-audible range only for short stints during the Antarctic field season.</p>
<p>The MOO was the first long-term observatory of its kind, and its cutting-edge technology let us collect an unprecedented data set, including sounds with frequencies up to about 10 times higher than most previous studies.</p>
<p>Our discovery begs the question: What do the seals use their high-pitched ultrasonic calls for? One possibility is that they represent a form of active biosonar, similar to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9146-0_1">echolocation used by bats and dolphins</a>. That is, the returning echoes of their high-frequency sounds may provide information to the seals about their environment and potential prey.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NE-sNx1R2L4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Weddell seal producing ultrasonic vocalizations in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Previous studies have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/1.428506">argued that pinnipeds do not echolocate</a> because they do not possess the specialized anatomy for producing or processing tightly focused sounds with very short time intervals. Additionally, their known calls don’t exhibit the telltale characteristics of echolocation pulses, such as accelerating in time as an animal approaches a target.</p>
<p>But the ability to use sound to “see” their surroundings would be especially useful during very low-visibility conditions – like what the seals encounter under thick ice or in the polar winter, when there is no daylight for four months. Our preliminary findings indeed suggested that the use of certain high-frequency pulsed vocalizations increased during the dark Antarctic winter. It is also very likely, and not mutually exclusive, that the seals use ultrasonic calls for communication, as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z83-194">has been shown for their human-audible calls</a>.</p>
<h2>Serendipitous discovery raises more questions</h2>
<p>It’s still a mystery how seals navigate and forage under the ice in certain conditions. Weddell seals and other seals that live on the ice <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2012.07.006">have many adaptations</a> for diving and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z92-238">finding their breathing holes again</a>, including good low-light vision, spatial memory and extremely sensitive whiskers, called vibrissae.</p>
<p>However, these senses each have their limitations. Sometimes there may be literally no ambient light where the seals are diving. Following the same routes on every dive would preclude finding new patches of mobile prey. And the tactile sensation provided by whiskers is only useful at close range.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Weddell seal" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382836/original/file-20210206-17-1o3tql4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Weddell seals swim in challenging conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It seems obvious that seals would also use sound to gain information about their surroundings. Indeed, Weddell seals and other related species can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-013-0813-y">hear frequencies up to at least 60 kHz</a>, and researchers have found that seals use acoustic cues, when available, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z92-238">to navigate</a>. However, actively emitting high-frequency chirps and interpreting their own echoes would definitely be a step beyond passive listening.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Back in the lab <a href="https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm">at McMurdo Station</a>, the MOO livestream ran as we worked at our desks. The ethereal trills and chirps of seals filled the air. During their Southern Hemisphere spring breeding season, vocal activity is nearly constant. A couple of monitors showed real-time graphical displays of the incoming data: ocean temperature, salinity, tides. A scrolling audio spectrogram would pull us in every so often, mesmerizing us with colorful squiggles that appeared as we heard the calls – a synchronized visual soundtrack.</p>
<p>Every few minutes, bright wiggles and lines would scroll by in the upper register, announcing sounds that we cannot hear. They are patterned; they are repeated again and again. They are seal voices. If we can decode them, they may tell us <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03730-w">more about how these seals thrive</a> in what we humans perceive to be a very challenging environment. As technology sheds new light into the depths, what else will we find?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Munger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Microphones on the seafloor recorded life under the Antarctic ice for two years – inadvertently catching seal trills and chirps that are above the range of human hearing. Could they be for navigation?
Lisa Munger, Instructor of Natural Sciences, University of Oregon
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/143271
2020-07-27T20:01:48Z
2020-07-27T20:01:48Z
Carbon emissions are chilling the atmosphere 90km above Antarctica, at the edge of space
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349532/original/file-20200727-19-1oaacdj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4601%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashleigh Wilson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While greenhouse gases are warming Earth’s surface, they’re also causing rapid cooling far above us, at the edge of space. In fact, the upper atmosphere about 90km above Antarctica is cooling at a rate ten times faster than the average warming at the planet’s surface. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2020/antarctic-research-unlocks-mysteries-of-the-upper-atmosphere/">new research</a> has precisely measured this cooling rate, and revealed an important discovery: a new four-year temperature cycle in the polar atmosphere. The results, based on 24 years of continuous measurements by Australian scientists in Antarctica, were published in <a href="https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/6379/2020/">two</a> <a href="https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8691/2020/">papers</a> this month.</p>
<p>The findings show Earth’s upper atmosphere, in a region called the “mesosphere”, is extremely sensitive to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. This provides a new opportunity to monitor how well government interventions to reduce emissions are working.</p>
<p>Our project also monitors the spectacular natural phenomenon known as “noctilucent” or “night shining” clouds. While beautiful, the more frequent occurrence of these clouds is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117703904704">considered</a> a bad sign for climate change.</p>
<h2>Studying the ‘airglow’</h2>
<p>Since the 1990s, scientists at Australia’s Davis research station have taken more than 600,000 measurements of the temperatures in the upper atmosphere above Antarctica. We’ve done this using sensitive optical instruments called <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/ice-and-atmosphere/atmosphere/studying-the-atmosphere/hydroxyl-airglow-temperature-observations/">spectrometers</a>.</p>
<p>These instruments analyse the infrared glow radiating from so-called hydroxyl molecules, which exist in a thin layer about 87km above Earth’s surface. This “airglow” allows us to measure the temperature in this part of the atmosphere.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Scientific equipment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349522/original/file-20200727-25-nzp4ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spectrometer in the optical laboratory at Davis station, Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John French</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results show that in the high atmosphere above Antarctica, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases do not have the warming effect they do in the lower atmosphere (by colliding with other molecules). Instead the excess energy is radiated to space, causing a cooling effect.</p>
<p>Our new research more accurately determines this cooling rate. Over 24 years, the upper atmosphere temperature has cooled by about 3°C, or 1.2°C per decade. That is about ten times greater than the average warming in the lower atmosphere – <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/">about 1.3°C over the past century</a>.</p>
<h2>Untangling natural signals</h2>
<p>Rising greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to the temperature changes we recorded, but a number of other influences are also at play. These include the seasonal cycle (warmer in winter, colder in summer) and the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle (which involves quieter and more intense solar periods) in the mesosphere.</p>
<p>One challenge of the research was untangling all these merged “signals” to work out the extent to which each was driving the changes we observed. </p>
<p>Surprisingly in this process, we discovered a new natural cycle not previously identified in the polar upper atmosphere. This four-year cycle which we called the Quasi-Quadrennial Oscillation (QQO), saw temperatures vary by 3-4°C in the upper atmosphere.</p>
<p>Discovering this cycle was like stumbling across a gold nugget in a well-worked claim. More work is needed to determine its origin and full importance.</p>
<p>But the finding has big implications for climate modelling. The physics that drive this cycle are unlikely to be included in global models currently used to predict climate change. But a variation of 3-4°C every four years is a large signal to ignore.</p>
<p>We don’t yet know what’s driving the oscillation. But whatever the answer, it also seems to affect the winds, sea surface temperatures, atmospheric pressure and sea ice concentrations around Antarctica. </p>
<h2>‘Night shining’ clouds</h2>
<p>Our research also monitors how cooling temperatures are affecting the occurrence of <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/magazine/issue-14-2008/science/first-antarctic-ground-satellite-view-of-ice-aerosol-clouds-at-the-edge-of-space/">noctilucent</a> or “night shining” clouds.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/03/26/noctilucent-clouds-over-the-south-pacific/amp/">Noctilucent clouds</a> are very rare – from Australian Antarctic stations we’ve recorded about ten observations since 1998. They occur at an altitude of about 80km in the polar regions during summer. You can only see them from the ground when the sun is below the horizon during twilight, but still shining on the high atmosphere.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-are-encroaching-on-antarcticas-last-wild-places-threatening-its-fragile-biodiversity-142648">Humans are encroaching on Antarctica’s last wild places, threatening its fragile biodiversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The clouds appear as thin, pale blue, wavy filaments. They are comprised of ice crystals and require temperatures around minus 130°C to form. While impressive, noctilucent clouds are <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-07-climate-night-shining-clouds-visible.html">considered</a> a “<a href="http://userweb.eng.gla.ac.uk/william.ward/eos_review.pdf">canary</a> in the coalmine” of climate change. Further cooling of the upper atmosphere as a result of greenhouse gas emissions will likely lead to more frequent noctilucent clouds. </p>
<p>There is already some evidence the clouds are becoming brighter and more widespread in the <a href="https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/06/09/record-cold-in-the-mesosphere/">Northern Hemisphere</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sea ice in Antarctica" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349537/original/file-20200727-35-1scxyrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new temperature cycle is reflected in the concentration of sea ice in Antacrtica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John French</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Measuring change</h2>
<p>Human-induced climate change threatens to alter radically the conditions for life on our planet. Over the next several decades - less than one lifetime - the average global air temperature is expected to increase, bringing with it sea level rise, weather extremes and changes to ecosystems across the world.</p>
<p>Long term monitoring is important to measure change and test and calibrate ever more complex climate models. Our results contribute to a global network of observations coordinated by the <a href="https://ndmc.dlr.de/">Network for Detection of Mesospheric Change</a> for this purpose. </p>
<p>The accuracy of these models is critical to determining whether government and other interventions to curb climate change are indeed effective.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-a-heatwave-how-antarctica-recorded-a-20-75-c-day-last-month-134550">Anatomy of a heatwave: how Antarctica recorded a 20.75°C day last month</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John French receives funding from the Australian Antarctic Division. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Klekociuk receives funding from the Australian Antarctic Division. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Mulligan lectures and carries out research in Experimental Physics at Maynooth University in Ireland. </span></em></p>
Carbon emissions are chilling the atmosphere 90km above Antarctica, at the edge of space
John French, Atmospheric Physicist at Australian Antarctic Division and Adjunct Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Andrew Klekociuk, Principal Research Scientist, Australian Antarctic Division and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Frank Mulligan, National University of Ireland Maynooth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/139596
2020-07-17T02:17:42Z
2020-07-17T02:17:42Z
Australia wants to build a huge concrete runway in Antarctica. Here’s why that’s a bad idea
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347964/original/file-20200716-33-k4yzs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C68%2C1274%2C781&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAD</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/21cd824e-4f42-ea11-b0a8-00505684324c/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1591849731552">wants to build</a> a 2.7-kilometre concrete runway in Antarctica, the world’s biggest natural reserve. The plan, if approved, would have the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0237-y#Sec8">largest footprint</a> of any project in the continent’s history.</p>
<p>The runway is part of an aerodrome to be constructed near Davis Station, one of Australia’s three permanent bases in Antarctica. It would be the first concrete runway on the continent.</p>
<p>The plan is subject to federal environmental approval. It coincides with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2506-3">new research</a> published this week showing Antarctica’s wild places need better protection. Human activity across Antarctica has been extensive in the past 200 years – particularly in the coastal, ice-free areas where most biodiversity is found. </p>
<p>The area around Davis Station is possibly Antarctica’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00025586">most significant</a> coastal, ice-free area. It features <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/174a3e6b-4f42-ea11-b0a8-00505684324c/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1594857491287">unique lakes</a>, fjords, <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/antarct/aca/nsf01151/aca2_spa143.pdf">fossil sites</a> and wildlife.</p>
<p>Australia has successfully operated Davis Station since 1957 with existing transport arrangements. While the development may win Australia some strategic influence in Antarctica, it’s at odds with our strong history of environmental leadership in the region.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C198%2C4268%2C2638&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340290/original/file-20200608-176550-in2d7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Vestfold Hills, the proposed site of the aerodrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Roden</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Year-round access</h2>
<p>The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), a federal government agency, <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/travel-and-logistics/aviation/davis-aerodrome/about-the-project/">argues</a> the runway would allow year-round aviation access between Hobart and Antarctica.</p>
<p>Presently, the only Australian flights to Antarctica take place at the beginning and end of summer. Aircraft land at an aerodrome near the Casey research station, with interconnecting flights to other stations and sites on the continent. The stations are inaccessible by both air and ship in winter.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-are-encroaching-on-antarcticas-last-wild-places-threatening-its-fragile-biodiversity-142648">Humans are encroaching on Antarctica’s last wild places, threatening its fragile biodiversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The AAD says year-round access to Antarctica would provide significant science benefits, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>better understanding sea level rise and other climate change impacts</p></li>
<li><p>opportunities to study wildlife across the annual lifecycle of key species including krill, penguins, seals and seabirds</p></li>
<li><p>allowing scientists to research through winter.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Leading international scientists <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/delivering-21st-century-antarctic-and-southern-ocean-science/A5E6D29C34AA2794140C6B4966E63048">had called for</a> improved, environmentally responsible access to Antarctica to support 21st-century science. However, the aerodrome project is likely to reduce access for scientists to Antarctica for years, due to the need to house construction workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347690/original/file-20200715-29-bzldv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia says the runway would have significant science benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Antarctic Division</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Australia: an environmental leader?</h2>
<p>Australia has traditionally been considered an environmental leader in Antarctica. For example, in 1989 under the Hawke government, it urged the world to abandon a mining convention in favour of a new deal to ban mining on the continent. </p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/antarctic-strategy-and-action-plan/20-year-action-plan/">20 Year Action Plan</a> promotes “leadership in environmental stewardship in Antarctica”, pledging to “minimise the environmental impact of Australia’s activities”.</p>
<p>But the aerodrome proposal appears at odds with that goal. It would cover 2.2 square kilometres, increasing the total “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/what-is-footprint-in-antarctica-proposing-a-set-of-definitions/7FBDB26F3AF2F5A6C157FCB2E6A2D996">disturbance footprint</a>” of all nations on the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0237-y">continent</a> by 40%. It would also mean Australia has the biggest footprint of any nation, overtaking the United States. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341090/original/file-20200611-114075-y38ird.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The contribution of disturbance footprint from countries in Antarctica measured from Brooks et al. 2019, with Australia’s share increasing to 35% including the aerodrome proposal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shaun Brooks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within this footprint, environmental effects will also be intense. <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/174a3e6b-4f42-ea11-b0a8-00505684324c/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1594857491287">Construction</a> will require more than three million cubic metres of earthworks - levelling 60 vertical metres of hills and valleys along the length of the runway. This will inevitably cause dust emissions – on the windiest continent on Earth - and the effect of this on plants and animals in Antarctica is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102019000440">poorly understood</a>. </p>
<p>Wilson’s storm petrels that nest at the site will be displaced. Native lichens, fungi and algae will be destroyed, and irreparable damage is expected at adjacent lakes.</p>
<p>Weddell seals breed within 500 metres of the proposed runway site. Federal environment officials <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/174a3e6b-4f42-ea11-b0a8-00505684324c/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1594857491287">recognise</a> the dust from construction and subsequent noise from low flying aircraft have the potential to disturb these breeding colonies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/marine-life-found-in-ancient-antarctica-ice-helps-solve-a-carbon-dioxide-puzzle-from-the-ice-age-141973">Marine life found in ancient Antarctica ice helps solve a carbon dioxide puzzle from the ice age</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The proposed area is also important breeding habitat for Adélie penguins. Eight breeding sites in the region are listed as “important bird areas”. Federal environment officials state the penguins are likely to be impacted by human disturbance, dust, and noise from construction of the runway, with particular concern for oil spills and aircraft operations. </p>
<p>The summer population at Davis Station will need to almost double from 120 to 250 <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/174a3e6b-4f42-ea11-b0a8-00505684324c/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1594857491287">during construction</a>. This will require new, permanent infrastructure and increase the station’s fuel and water consumption, and sewage discharged into the environment.</p>
<p>The AAD has proposed measures to limit environmental damage. These include gathering baseline data (against which to measure the project’s impact), analysing potential effects on birds and marine mammals and limiting disturbance where practicable.</p>
<p>But full details won’t be provided until later in the assessment process. We expect Australia will implement these measures to a high standard, but they will not offset the project’s environmental damage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341091/original/file-20200611-114102-4kf7wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Adélie penguin colony near Davis Station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Roden</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Playing politics</h2>
<p>So given the environmental concern, why is Australia so determined to build the aerodrome? We believe the answer largely lies in Antarctic politics. </p>
<p>Australian officials <a href="https://www.antarctica.gov.au/site/assets/files/54470/future_science_opportunities_synthesis_report_final.pdf">have said</a> the project would “contribute to both our presence and influence” on the continent. Influence in Antarctica has traditionally corresponded to the strength of a nation’s scientific program, its infrastructure presence and engagement in international decision-making. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/microscopic-animals-are-busy-distributing-microplastics-throughout-the-worlds-soil-141353">Microscopic animals are busy distributing microplastics throughout the world's soil</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australia is a well-regarded member of the Antarctic Treaty. It was an original signatory and claims sovereignty over 42% of the continent. It also has a solid physical and scientific presence, maintaining three large year-round research stations.</p>
<p>But other nations are also vying for influence. China is constructing its fifth research station. New Zealand <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/113844159/scott-base-rebuild-to-cost-250-million">is planning</a> a NZ$250 million upgrade to Scott Base. And on King George Island, six stations have been built <a href="https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.18206">within a 5km radius</a>, each run by different nations. This presence is hard to justify on the basis of scientific interest alone. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341092/original/file-20200611-114096-1bcyua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Weddell seal and her pup near Davis Station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Roden</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting our priorities straight</h2>
<p>We believe there are greater and more urgent opportunities for Australia to assert its leadership in Antarctica. </p>
<p>For example both Casey and Mawson stations – Australia’s two other permanent bases – discharge sewage into the pristine marine environment with little treatment. And outdated fuel technology at Australia’s three stations regularly causes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.02.024">diesel spills</a>. </p>
<p>At Wilkes station, which Australia abandoned in the 1960s, thousands of tonnes of contaminants have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12383">left behind</a>. </p>
<p>Australia should fix such problems before adding more potentially damaging infrastructure. This would meet our environmental treaty obligations and show genuine Antarctic leadership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Brooks receives funding from the the Australian Antarctic Science Program (Project 4565 - Conservation Planning for Antarctic Stations).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Jabour does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It would be the first concrete runway in Antarctica and have the biggest footprint of any project in the continent’s history.
Shaun Brooks, University Associate, University of Tasmania
Julia Jabour, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/141973
2020-07-06T19:54:37Z
2020-07-06T19:54:37Z
Marine life found in ancient Antarctica ice helps solve a carbon dioxide puzzle from the ice age
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345428/original/file-20200703-29-1edt09w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C14891%2C5853&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://antarcticscience.com">Chris Fogwill</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evidence of minute amounts of marine life in an ancient Antarctic ice sheet helps explain a longstanding puzzle of why rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels stalled for hundreds of years as Earth warmed from the last ice age.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0587-0" title="Southern Ocean carbon sink enhanced by sea-ice feedbacks at the Antarctic Cold Reversal">study</a>
shows there was an explosion in productivity of marine life at the surface of the Southern Ocean thousands of years ago.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-antarctic-ice-melt-caused-extreme-sea-level-rise-129-000-years-ago-and-it-could-happen-again-131495">Ancient Antarctic ice melt caused extreme sea level rise 129,000 years ago – and it could happen again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And surprisingly, this marine life once played a part regulating the climate. Hence, this finding has big implications for future climate change projections. </p>
<h2>Walking into the past</h2>
<p>Our research took us on a four-hour flight from Chile to the Weddell Sea, at the extreme southern end of the Atlantic Ocean, to land on an ice runway at a frigid latitude of 79° south.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345443/original/file-20200703-33918-hxu6kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our Ilyshion aircraft landed on the Union Glacier (Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Turney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Weddell Sea is frequently choked with sea ice and has been hazardous to ships since the earliest explorers ventured south.</p>
<p>In 1914, the Anglo-Irish explorer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Henry-Shackleton">Ernest Shackleton</a> and his men became <a href="https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/antarctica-frank-hurley/shackleton-expedition">stuck here for two years</a>, 1,000 kilometres from civilisation. They faced isolation, starvation, freezing temperatures, gangrene, wandering icebergs and the threat of cannibalism. </p>
<p>Surviving here is tough, as is undertaking science.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-an-ocean-hidden-under-antarctic-ice-reveals-about-our-planets-future-climate-139110">What an ocean hidden under Antarctic ice reveals about our planet's future climate</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We spent three weeks in the nearby Patriot Hills, drilling through ice to collect samples.</p>
<p>Normally when scientists collect ice samples, they drill a deep core vertically down through the annual layers of snow and ice. We did something quite different: we went horizontal by drilling a series of shorter cores across the icescape.</p>
<p>That’s because the Patriot Hills is a fiercely wild place strafed by Weddell Sea cyclones that dump large snowfalls, followed by strong frigid winds (called <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-a-katabatic-wind.html">katabatic winds</a>) pouring off the polar plateau. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T0GWifl2WL4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Those katabatic winds blowing hard.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the winds blow throughout the year, they remove the surface ice in a process called sublimation. Older, deeper ice is drawn up to the surface. This means walking across the blue ice towards Patriot Hills is effectively like travelling back through time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345689/original/file-20200706-33909-1fazk8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A walk across the blue ice is a walk back in time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Harris, Keele University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The exposed ice reveals what was happening during the transition from the last ice age around 20,000 years ago into our present warmer world, known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Holocene-Epoch">Holocene</a>. </p>
<h2>The Antarctic Cold Reversal</h2>
<p>As Earth was warming, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were rising rapidly from around 190 to 280 parts per million. </p>
<p>But the warming trend wasn’t all one way. </p>
<p>Starting around 14,600 years ago, there was a 2,000 year-long period of cooling in the Southern Hemisphere. This period is called the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2580" title="The spatial extent and dynamics of the Antarctic Cold Reversal">Antarctic Cold Reversal</a>, and is where CO₂ levels stalled at around 240 parts per million. </p>
<p>Why that happened was the puzzle, but understanding it could be crucial for improving today’s climate change projections.</p>
<h2>Finding life in the ice</h2>
<p>Over three weeks we battled the winds and snow to make a detailed collection of ice samples spanning the end of the last ice age.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345446/original/file-20200703-33918-ei8t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We collected sample of ice to study later in the lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Turney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To our surprise, hidden in our ice samples were organic molecules – remnants of marine life thousands of years ago. They came from the cyclones off the Weddell Sea, which swept up organic molecules from the ocean surface and dumped them onshore to be preserved in the ice. </p>
<p>Antarctic ice, which forms from snowfall, usually only tells scientists about the climate. What’s exciting about finding evidence of lifẻ in ancient Antarctic ice is that, for the first time, we can reconstruct what was happening offshore in the Southern Ocean at the same time, thousands of years ago. </p>
<p>We found an unusual period, displaying high concentrations and a diverse range of marine microplankton. This increased ocean productivity coincided with the Antarctic Cold Reversal.</p>
<h2>Melting sea ice in summer sustains marine life</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0587-0" title="Southern Ocean carbon sink enhanced by sea-ice feedbacks at the Antarctic Cold Reversal">Our climate modelling</a> reveals the Antarctic Cold Reversal was a time of massive change in the amount of sea ice across the Southern Ocean. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345444/original/file-20200703-33947-mihzqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sea ice formed in winter melts in summer, and dumps nutrients into the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the world lurched out of the last ice age, the summer warmth destroyed large amounts of sea ice that had formed through winter. When the sea ice melts, it releases valuable nutrients into the Southern Ocean, and fuelled the explosion in marine productivity we found in the ice on the continent. </p>
<p>This marine life caused more carbon dioxide to be drawn from the atmosphere as it photosynthesised, similar to the way plants use carbon dioxide. When the marine life die they sink to the floor, locking away the carbon. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in the ocean was sufficiently large to register around the world. </p>
<h2>What this mean for climate change today</h2>
<p>Today, the Southern Ocean absorbs <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/09/14/southern-ocean-begins-to-absorb-carbon-again/">some 40% of all carbon put in the atmosphere by human activity</a>, so we urgently need a better understand the drivers of this important part of the carbon cycle.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-last-ice-age-tells-us-why-we-need-to-care-about-a-2-change-in-temperature-126923">The last ice age tells us why we need to care about a 2℃ change in temperature</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Marine life in the Southern Ocean still plays an important role in regulating the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. </p>
<p>But as the world warms with climate change, less sea ice will be formed in polar regions. This natural carbon sink of marine life will only weaken, increasing global temperatures further.</p>
<p>It’s a timely reminder that while the Antarctic may seem remote, it’s impact on our future climate is closer and more connected than we might think.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Turney receives funding from The Australian Research Council and is a scientific advisor to cleantech graphite company, CarbonScape (<a href="https://www.carbonscape.com">https://www.carbonscape.com</a>).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Fogwill receives funding from UK Research and Innovation and The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
As the world warmed from the last ice age, a rise in carbon dioxide levels stalled for nearly 2,000 years. That’s always puzzled scientists, but now they think they know what happened.
Christian Turney, Professor of Earth Science and Climate Change, Director of the Changing Earth Research Centre and the Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility at UNSW, and Node Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, UNSW Sydney
Chris Fogwill, Professor of Glaciology and Palaeoclimatology, Head of School Geography, Geology and the Environment and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129607
2020-01-24T13:37:47Z
2020-01-24T13:37:47Z
200 years of exploring Antarctica – the world’s coldest, most forbidding and most peaceful continent
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311478/original/file-20200122-32136-14li66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5355%2C3186&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aerial view of a glacier in the Antarctic peninsula region.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/glacier-flows-as-seen-from-nasas-operation-icebridge-news-photo/870893786?adppopup=true">Getty Images/Mario Tama</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Antarctica is the remotest part of the world, but it is a hub of scientific discovery, international diplomacy and environmental change. It was officially discovered 200 years ago, on Jan. 27, 1820, when members of a Russian expedition sighted land in what is now known as the Fimbul Ice Shelf on the continent’s east side. </p>
<p>Early explorers were drawn there by the mythology of <a href="https://lib-dbserver.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/pacific-ocean/terra-australis.html">Terra Australis</a>, a vast southern continent that scholars imagined for centuries as a counterweight to the Northern Hemisphere. Others sought economic bounty from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247416000644">hunting whales and seals</a>, or the glory of conquering the planet’s last wilderness. Still others wanted to <a href="https://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/2012/terraNova.html">understand Earth’s magnetic fields</a> in order to better navigate the seas. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2atjAwMAAAAJ&hl=en">geologist</a> who specializes in understanding the timing and extent of past ice ages. Much of my work focuses on the glacial history of Antarctica, and I’ve been privileged to conduct five field seasons of research there. </p>
<p>For the next two years I’ll be working with a field team made up entirely of undergraduate students from Vanderbilt University to determine whether the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet">East Antarctic Ice Sheet</a> changes flow patterns as it changes shape. All of the research these budding scientists conduct will be done under the auspices of the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html">Antarctic Treaty</a>, a global agreement that promotes scientific cooperation and environmental protection.</p>
<h2>Frozen but abundant</h2>
<p>Antarctica separated from South America 35 million years ago, and its climate started to change. It began to grow <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html">ice sheets</a> – masses of glacial land ice covering thousands of square miles. As plate tectonics shifted other continents, Antarctica became colder and drier. For the past 14 million years, it has been the frigid continent that persists today. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311477/original/file-20200122-117962-1knrm08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antarctica is mostly covered by ice sheets on land and fringed by floating ice shelves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/antarctica-colder-arctic-it%E2%80%99s-still-losing-ice">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Antarctica is the only continent that was literally discovered, because it has no native human population. British explorer Sir James Cook circumnavigated the continent in 1772-1775, but saw only some outlying islands. Cook <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-JOD-00020/1">concluded</a> that if there were any land, it would be “condemned to everlasting regidity by Nature, never to yield to the warmth of the sun.” </p>
<p>Cook also reported that Antarctic waters were rich with nutrients and wildlife. This drew sealers and whalers, mainly from England and the United States, who hunted the region’s fur seals and elephant seals to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247416000644">near-extinction</a> in the following decades. This hunting spree led to the discovery of the Antarctic mainland and its ice sheets, the largest in the world.</p>
<h2>Reading the ice</h2>
<p>Today the combined East and West Antarctic ice sheets hold 90% of the world’s ice, enough to raise global sea levels by <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html">roughly 200 feet (60 meters) if it all melted</a>. Antarctica is the coldest, highest, driest, windiest, brightest, and yes, iciest continent on Earth. And 200 years of research has shown that it is a key component of Earth’s climate system.</p>
<p>Despite the appearance that it is an unchanging, freeze-dried landscape, my research and work by many others has shown that the East Antarctica Ice Sheet does slowly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.2039">thin and thicken over millions of years</a>. Interestingly, my data also suggest that as the ice advances and retreats, it moves in <a href="https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2016AM/webprogram/Paper285013.html">the same patterns each time</a>. Put another way, the ice flows over the same land each time it advances.</p>
<p>While East Antarctica adds and loses ice slowly, it is so large that it is a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/4/1095">major contributor to sea level rise</a>. Understanding how the ice has changed in the past is key to predicting how much and how fast it will melt in the coming years. </p>
<p>These questions are especially important in West Antarctica, where the bottom of the ice sheet is below sea level, making it very susceptible to changes in sea level and ocean temperature. By itself, the West Antarctic ice sheet has the potential to raise sea level by <a href="https://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/375/2013/">16 feet (5 meters) if it collapses</a>.</p>
<p>As climate change raises global sea levels, parts of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet, such as the <a href="https://thwaitesglacier.org/">Thwaites</a> and <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/pine-island">Pine Island Glaciers</a>, are particularly vulnerable to collapse. At the end of the last ice age, parts of West Antarctica thinned by an average of <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/299/5603/99">1.5 to 3 feet (0.5 - 1 meters) per year</a>. Today with GPS, satellite and airborne measurements, scientists are seeing parts of West Antarctica thin by <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060111">3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 meters) per year</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YRe1ymYR45k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, partly due to climate change.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also know from the geological record that this ice sheet is capable of rapid collapses, and has sometimes thinned at rates in excess of <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6174/999.abstract">30 feet (10 meters) per year</a>. Recent models show sea level could rise by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17145">1 meter by 2100 and 15 meters by 2500</a> if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current rates and the ice sheet experiences a rapid collapse, as it has in the past. </p>
<h2>Finding inspiration in scientific diplomacy</h2>
<p>Despite the potential for environmental disaster in Antarctica, the continent also offers evidence that nations can collaborate to find solutions. The <a href="https://www.scar.org/policy/antarctic-treaty-system/">Antarctic Treaty System</a> is the world’s premier example of peaceful and scientific international cooperation. </p>
<p>This landmark accord, signed in 1961, sets aside Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes and recognizes no land claims on the continent. It also was the first non-nuclear accord ever signed, barring use of Antarctica for nuclear weapons testing or disposal of radioactive waste.</p>
<p>The great Antarctic explorer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/shackleton_ernest.shtml">Sir Ernest Shackleton</a> said that “optimism is true moral courage,” and the authors of the Antarctic Treaty were certainly courageous optimists. They were encouraged by the success of the 1957-1958 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/International-Geophysical-Year">International Geophysical Year</a>, a worldwide program of scientific research during which 12 countries built over 50 bases in Antarctica, including <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/support/mcmurdo.jsp">McMurdo Station</a> and the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/support/southp.jsp">Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311481/original/file-20200122-32188-wqqhfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flags of the 12 original Antarctic Treaty member countries at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/4410/">U.S. Antarctic Program/Rob Jones</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under the treaty, scientists from North Korea, Russia and China can freely visit U.S. research stations in Antarctica. Researchers from India and Pakistan willingly share their data about Antarctic glaciers. </p>
<p>Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, 10% of Earth’s land surface is protected as a wildlife and wilderness refuge. I have set foot in places in Antarctica where I know no one has ever been before, and the treaty sets areas aside that no one will ever visit. Antarctica’s landscapes are unlike anywhere else on Earth. The best comparison may be the Moon. </p>
<p>Yet in these stark environments, <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/wildlife/">life finds a way to persist</a> – showing that there are solutions to even the most daunting challenges. If Antarctica has taught us anything in 200 years, it’s that we can cooperate and collaborate to overcome problems. As <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/WTfFSJCJ5jkqnGPm4fqHyy/ernest-shackleton">Ernest Shackleton once said</a>, “Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.” </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Morgan receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>
Two centuries after it was first sighted by Russian explorers, Antarctica is a key site for studying the future of Earth’s climate – and for global scientific cooperation.
Dan Morgan, Associate Dean and Principal Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/119499
2019-07-22T10:55:31Z
2019-07-22T10:55:31Z
Waiting for an undersea robot in Antarctica to call home
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281448/original/file-20190626-76705-w53a62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C310%2C5184%2C3135&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of two underwater gliders is deployed from a research ship into Antarctic waters.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Call! Just call!” I think loudly in my head. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”</p>
<p>I might seem like a worried parent waiting for a teenager to report in from an unsupervised outing. Rather, I’m a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenmariewalsh">research biologist</a> with the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s late February 2019, and I am waiting for an autonomous underwater glider in Antarctica to surface and call me via satellite, so I can give it new diving instructions. The longest it’s supposed to go without surfacing is eight hours, and it’s now been nine.</p>
<p>Did it get stuck under an iceberg? An underwater ledge? I feel so helpless; I’m 9,000 miles away in San Diego and all I can do is chew my fingernails and think, “No. This can’t happen. We can’t lose this glider so close to the end.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281837/original/file-20190628-94720-cx387f.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The survey area where gliders measured Antarctic krill populations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research team is two-and-a-half months into a three-month-long mission just north of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is our first time deploying gliders so far from home, and our hope for a successful field season – not to mention a great deal of research – depends on recovering the two gliders our group deployed in December 2018. The gliders are now full of oceanographic data that will help us provide scientific advice on how best to conserve the Antarctic ecosystem as the area around the peninsula warms faster than almost any other region on Earth, which may adversely affect the animals that live there.</p>
<h2>9 hours, 30 minutes: No call</h2>
<p>For over 30 years, the <a href="https://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?id=551&ParentMenuId=42">NOAA group I’m part of</a> has conducted studies to estimate how many Antarctic krill, small shrimp-like creatures that support the diverse Antarctic food web, live around the Antarctic Peninsula.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281449/original/file-20190626-76734-1ycpivt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antarctic krill, <em>Euphausia superba</em>, can grow up to about 2.5 inches long.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krill666.jpg">Uwe Kils/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Krill feeds penguins and seals that breed in this area every summer and whales and fishes that feed here year-round, while also supporting a major fishery. You may have seen bright-red dietary supplements made from krill oil prominently displayed at the pharmacy. Our data help establish catch limits for the krill fishery, ensuring enough krill remain in the ocean to maintain the population after all people and animals take what they need to make a living. Without good data to support fishery-management decisions, krill fishing could <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/fisheries/krill-%E2%80%93-biology-ecology-and-fishing">undermine the food web</a> for which Antarctica is so well known, as demand for supplements and other <a href="https://bestmarketherald.com/krill-oil-market-demand-expected-to-raise-by-dietary-supplements-segment-in-upcoming-years/">krill products surges</a>.</p>
<h2>10 hours: No call</h2>
<p>Until three years ago, my program chartered a research vessel for a month each year to sail around the Antarctic Peninsula and <a href="https://swfsc.noaa.gov/contentblock.aspx?ID=14326&ParentMenuId=42">estimate the biomass of krill</a>. But after 2016, rising vessel costs eliminated our surveys. For our program to continue, we had to find a creative way to collect our data in Antarctica without actually going to Antarctica. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281776/original/file-20190628-94724-w5a3pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An autonomous glider in the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our solution was to use autonomous underwater gliders, which can be deployed in just a few hours by a small team from a ship in Antarctica, and then recovered months later. Gliders can dive to 3,000 feet, cover thousands of miles and follow commands from anywhere in the world with a laptop and an internet connection. Their batteries last six months, which means that they can collect much more data for much less money than a bunch of scientists on a research vessel. </p>
<p>The gliders resemble torpedoes in appearance, but contain three massive batteries and an array of scientific sensors that collect much of the same data we used to collect from a ship. Although the gliders are able to transmit small amounts of data via satellite throughout the deployment, the most valuable data are stored on the glider. If we lose a glider, which is always a possibility when you let something roam free in the ocean unattended for months, then we also lose the data.</p>
<p>We had effectively replaced ourselves with drones. But would they work?</p>
<h2>12 hours: No call</h2>
<p>For most of our team, the transition just a year ago from annual research voyages to the aquatic versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 was exciting. Secretly, though, I was terrified. I had spent my career as a scientist collecting krill samples from research vessels for biochemical analyses of their tissues. Suddenly I found myself ousted by oceanographic robots full of cables, wires, circuit boards and all sorts of other technological gadgetry.</p>
<p>These are not what you’d call smart robots. A bit like human toddlers, they have some degree of self-awareness, but would destroy themselves without semi-constant monitoring and instructions on how deep to dive or where to go. Outside supervision is especially important in the Southern Ocean, which is full of seamounts, canyons, strong currents and, most importantly, icebergs. </p>
<p>You can’t glider-proof the ocean the way you can baby-proof a house, so I had to forget everything I knew about biochemistry and learn as much as I could about glider piloting in 10 short months.</p>
<h2>13 hours: No call</h2>
<p>All that training and practice felt like 10 minutes by the time we finally packed up the gliders and shipped them to the Southern Hemisphere for their first Antarctic deployments. The commands for how deep to dive and where to go seemed simple enough, but the gliders responded as unpredictably as the ocean itself. </p>
<p>A near-disastrous practice deployment in San Diego revealed how slowly they maneuver, particularly in strong currents. Piloting them felt like trying to drive a remote-control semi-truck through a go-kart course, which reinforced our apprehension about driving these things through the ocean all the way across the planet, in one of the most remote and treacherous oceans on Earth.</p>
<p>Never mind the wind and the currents and the icebergs. What made this deployment far scarier was that if things started to go horribly wrong, we had no way to get the gliders back. It was like dropping a toddler off at college on another continent: What if he needs you and you can’t get to him?</p>
<h2>14 hours: No call</h2>
<p>Almost exactly 10 months from our first day of glider training, we carried the gliders across the Drake Passage on a research vessel bound for the Antarctic Peninsula. The deployments were flawless, and over the next few days, our confidence began to build. We quickly learned that icebergs were enemy number one, and they were formidable opponents. Satellite images of icebergs were <a href="https://www.polarview.aq/antarctic">available every couple of days</a>, and we overlaid maps of planned glider tracks onto those images so we could steer the gliders around any ice in their way. The trouble was, even the newest images we received were already a day old, and the ice had already moved.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281839/original/file-20190628-94708-1yfhkyg.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On this chart of the South Shetland Islands, one intended glider path is marked in straight gray lines. Circled in red in the middle is the iceberg the researchers called ‘Yacu.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Smaller icebergs were usually avoidable, but around three weeks into the deployment, “Yacu” appeared on the scene. Inspired by a <a href="http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august162010/monster-amazon-ta.php">mythological South American snake</a> that eats everything in its way, that was the nickname we gave a 12.5-mile-wide iceberg from the Weddell Sea that drifted right into the path of one of the gliders. Yacu stuck around for the rest of the deployment, every few days spawning smaller (but still huge) icebergs that posed a constant and unpredictable threat to gliders already at the mercy of currents, tides and wind.</p>
<p>If a glider gets trapped under an obstacle and senses that it’s been underwater for too long, it drops an emergency weight to rocket itself to the surface for an immediate recovery. Once a glider drops its weight, it can’t dive anymore. So if it is trapped under ice, it’s likely to stay trapped under ice. And one way to know if a glider is trapped is that it stops calling in, because it can connect to satellites only when it’s at the surface.</p>
<h2>15 hours: No call</h2>
<p>And then…</p>
<p>Ding ding! Ding ding! My laptop screams at me after 16 long hours: The glider is at the surface.</p>
<p>It is well past 9 p.m., but every member of our five-person team has been glued to a computer since early afternoon, and we collectively sigh with relief. We now think the glider probably surfaced after the first eight hours, failed to connect to the satellite and resumed diving, which can occasionally happen. The reason for the gap is unimportant compared to our elation. A couple of weeks later, we successfully recovered both gliders on schedule and completed our first autonomous Antarctic field season. </p>
<p>One key finding is that we can, in fact, replace a vessel-based fishery assessment with a glider-based one in less than a year. With gliders, we can get krill biomass estimates comparable to those we would expect from a ship. That means we can use gliders to continue to provide critical data for managing the krill fishery.</p>
<p>This is a profound accomplishment for us and for NOAA, and it also has far-reaching promise for the future of fisheries research globally. The cost of science keeps going up, and autonomous instruments offer an affordable way to collect critical data for effectively managing ocean resources and conserving fragile marine ecosystems worldwide. </p>
<p>Our gliders are like toddlers in one final way: They’re advanced technology, yet they’re still in their infancy. Their ongoing usefulness to understand our changing planet in real time will depend on new sensors and instruments yet to be developed. What we accomplished is only the the tip of Yacu compared to what the future of autonomous oceanographic research holds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Walsh is employed and funded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any views or opinions expressed herein, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or the Department of Commerce.</span></em></p>
Sending autonomous vehicles to the Southern Ocean can be fraught with anxiety, especially if one of them doesn’t make radio contact when it’s supposed to.
Jennifer Walsh, Research Biologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114553
2019-05-06T10:36:49Z
2019-05-06T10:36:49Z
60 days in Iceberg Alley, drilling for marine sediment to decipher Earth’s climate 3 million years ago
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272054/original/file-20190501-113852-15dg0x7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=614%2C0%2C4226%2C2948&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The research vessel must dodge dangerous icebergs as it drills for sediment core samples.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Phil Christie/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Competition is stiff for one of the 30 scientist berths on the <a href="https://joidesresolution.org/">JOIDES Resolution</a> research vessel. I’m one of the lucky ones, granted the opportunity to work 12-hour days, seven days a week for 60 days as part of <a href="https://joidesresolution.org/expedition/382/">Expedition 382 “Iceberg Alley”</a> in the Scotia Sea, just north of the Antarctic Peninsula.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ruUF3z4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I’m a geologist who specializes in paleoceanography</a>. My research focuses on how Earth’s oceans and climate operated in the past; I’m especially interested in how much and how fast the Antarctic ice sheets melted between 2.5 to 4 million years ago, the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about 400 parts per million, as they are today. This work depends on collecting sediment samples from the ocean floor that were deposited during that time. These sediment layers are like a library of the Antarctic’s past environment.</p>
<p>The JOIDES Resolution is the only ship in the world with the drilling tools to collect both soft sediment and hard rock from the ocean – material that we recover in long cylinders called cores. No wonder researchers from all over the world, at all career stages, are excited to have traveled from India, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom and, of course, the United States to join the expedition.</p>
<h2>Fieldwork 1,000 miles (1600 km) from port</h2>
<p>Two months is actually a short amount of time in which to address scientific research questions, but there have been years of careful planning and detailed preparation in advance of this expedition. We scientists onboard make best use of our limited time by drilling at what we’ve already agreed should be the most informative locations.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4wJOt4fEVnU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An animation explains the drilling process.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the ship arrives at the designated GPS location, the captain, the lab officer and the drilling engineer all check the position coordinates several times. With the ship’s thrusters keeping it precisely in place, workers lower coring equipment, including drill pipe, through an opening in the center of the ship. When the drill pipe reaches the coring depth – in our case ranging from 2,600 feet (800 meters) to 12,500 ft (3,800 m) – we lower a coring tool on a wireline down through the pipe.</p>
<p>Most of our cores are taken with an advanced hydraulic piston corer. In a process similar to using an elaborate cookie cutter, it punches through the ocean floor and collects a thin cylinder of the rock and sediment: our core sample. The wireline brings the 31-ft-long (9.5 m) core back to the ship. In the ship’s lab, we split the core lengthwise into an archive half – to be photographed and described – and a working half. This is the one we sample onboard for density, chemistry and magnetic properties.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272319/original/file-20190502-103057-irmf68.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Co-chief scientist Michael Weber and sedimentologists (core describers) Suzanne O'Connell and Thomas Ronge examine the archive half of a split core at the describing table.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefanie Brachfeld/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today the Greenland and Antarctic <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html">ice sheets contain 99% of Earth’s fresh water</a>. If all the Antarctic ice were to melt, average sea level would rise 200 feet (60 m). This won’t happen in your lifetime. But knowing how fast an event like this can occur – based on how fast ice has melted in the past – is critical to preparing for the sea level rise already accompanying Earth’s currently warming temperatures. Helping to understand that past change is one of the goals of our work on this expedition.</p>
<p>Establishing when it was that melting glaciers originally deposited the sediments we’re collecting is crucial and difficult. Only by dating this process can we figure out how fast the ice sheets disintegrated. There are two complementary approaches that researchers have traditionally used.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272581/original/file-20190503-103068-ch7ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A microscopic fossil of diatom <em>Actinocyclus actinochilus</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Warnock/Indiana University of Pennsylvania</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.05.017">Paleontologists look at tiny microfossils</a> from organisms such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08057">diatoms</a>, <a href="https://www.radiolaria.org/">radiolaria</a> and <a href="https://www.marum.de/Karin-Zonneveld/dinocystkey.html">dinocysts</a> that are found in the sediment cores. Then they can match up the species they spot in the samples with the timeframes they were known to exist. For instance, a paleontologist might know from previous research that a particular species of diatom lived between 1.8 and 2.6 million years ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272318/original/file-20190502-103057-knhn72.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sediment samples, called cubes, taken for future paleomagnetic research and marked styrofoam plugs identify where samples were taken for ‘moisture and density’ (MAD) measurements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefanie Brachfeld/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second method of dating depends on paleomagnetists measuring the strength and direction of the sediments’ magnetism. Over Earth’s history, the magnetic field has reversed, with magnetic north flipping to point south, at irregular intervals. Scientists <a href="https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleomagnetism">know when the reversals occurred</a>. In the period from 1.8 to 2.6 million years ago, for example, the magnetic field flipped four times.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2012PA002308">The paleomagnetists look for reversals</a> in the alignment of magnetic minerals in the sediment we collect, and if they find them, they <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ted_Moore/publication/272713726_Time_is_of_the_Essence/links/569cd6ae08ae2f0bdb8beab4/Time-is-of-the-Essence.pdf">can better identify when</a>, within that 1.8 to 2.6-million-year time interval, the sediment was deposited. If reversals are not present, it might mean the sediment accumulated so fast that only one magnetic interval is represented, or that part of the sediment record is missing. To determine which possibility is more likely, they talk to the people describing the visual properties of the core to see if there are abrupt changes that might indicate a disruption in the sedimentary record.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272594/original/file-20190504-103068-i1law1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suzanne O'Connell points out details of the core on the description table.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lee Stephens/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sort of observation and consultation proceeds continuously as the cores come up and scientists work their shifts. For me, the joy of this at-sea experience is collaborating with other scientists on the same problem at the same time. If each of us was working in isolation in our own lab, collecting this much data would take years.</p>
<h2>Shipboard life</h2>
<p>Working alongside the scientists are 30 technicians who know how to operate the lab equipment, curate the hundreds of cores and keep all the computers running, and two outreach educators. All of this work is made possible by 65 people including a drilling crew, who operate the heavy equipment that collects the cores; the marine crew, who drive and maintain the ship; and the stewards who prepare the food, do the laundry and clean the ship.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272316/original/file-20190502-103082-1pijf22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Loading food onto the JOIDES Resolution in Punta Arenas, Chile, to keep everyone fed during the two month expedition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suzanne O'Connell/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To feed 120 people for two months, 17 pallets of food are onloaded at each port call; each grocery order includes 12,000 eggs, a ton (976 kilograms) of potatoes and 800 lbs (360 kg) of butter. There’s a full-time baker, and the cooks prepare four full meals a day and provide snacks for four coffee breaks. A small gym is available to help to offset the abundant food. On some expeditions, people run on the helipad on the ship’s stern.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272322/original/file-20190502-103045-1bhy1nm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Humpback whales are visible right alongside the JOIDES Resolution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bridget Lee/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s too cold and the seas are too rough for that on this expedition. Instead, we have the thrilling opportunity to see icebergs, whales and penguins. Few places in the ocean offer such a view – but plenty of danger comes with it.</p>
<p>With drill pipe extending 10,500 ft (3,200 m) – about two miles – to the sea floor and as much as a further 2,000 feet (600 m) into the hole, we would not be able to move quickly out of the way of an approaching iceberg. It can take two hours to remove the pipe from the hole. Since the ship is attached to the drill pipe, if an iceberg were fast approaching, there might not be enough time to retrieve the drill pipe – we’d have to break the connection with explosives. Hence, there’s a strict protocol for dealing with icebergs and an experienced ice observer onboard who helps monitor the speed and direction of the nearby icebergs.</p>
<h2>A drilling program that’s grown over decades</h2>
<p>Shipboard life has changed since <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-have-been-drilling-into-the-ocean-floor-for-50-years-heres-what-theyve-found-so-far-100309">my first participation in the scientific ocean drilling program</a> almost 40 years ago. Back then, onboard the program’s first drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, the internet and email were not an option. To contact a person on land, an amateur radio operator on the ship would contact a shore-based shortwave radio operator who would then place a collect call to the person you wanted to speak with. If the call was accepted, you could converse, ending each part of your message with “Over” to let the recipient know it was their turn to speak. Since the entire ship could hear the conversation, as well as anyone in the world listening on the radio, it wasn’t conducive to personal communication.</p>
<p>There are many other changes onboard. Core sections are now scanned by multiple machines that improve the interpretation of the data, and new tools allow better core recovery.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272328/original/file-20190502-103082-1y11wat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Co-chief scientists Michael Weber and Maureen Raymo in the JOIDES Resolution engine room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Kachovich/IODP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most remarkable change, however, is in the composition of the scientific party. Today, half the scientists who go out are women, including the co-chief scientists – the people ultimately responsible for planning the expedition and for it reaching its scientific goals. During the entire Glomar Challenger program, from 1968 to 1983, only three of the 192 co-chief scientists were women.</p>
<p>Soon the expedition will be over, but the research will have only begun. After we’ve returned to our normal lives on land, we’ll continue to collaborate. I’ll be analyzing the size and composition of different parts of the sediment that came from land. Which parts were brought by icebergs, where did they originate, and when were they most active? How much of the sediment was transported by deep ocean currents or even by wind? Colleagues will be addressing the same questions but in the younger sediment, or determining the environmental conditions in which the microfossil communities thrived.</p>
<p>In two years, we’ll reconvene and spend several days presenting the results of our individual research. Each is a part of the larger puzzle about past climates and the rates and causes of climate change before the process was accelerated by human activity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne O'Connell receives funding from the U.S. Science Support Program, IODP, for participation in this expedition. She and her students have received funding to conduct research on prior scientific ocean drilling sediment samples, primarily from the Keck Geology Consortium, which is funded by the members schools (including Wesleyan University) and the National Science Foundation. She serves on the U.S. Advisory Committee for Scientific Ocean Drilling (USAC).</span></em></p>
A paleooceanographer describes her ninth sea expedition, this time retrieving cylindrical ‘cores’ of the sediment and rock that’s as much as two miles down at the ocean floor.
Suzanne OConnell, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109572
2019-01-17T03:29:33Z
2019-01-17T03:29:33Z
Why Antarctica’s sea ice cover is so low (and no, it’s not just about climate change)
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253813/original/file-20190115-180513-i5mp2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C53%2C1276%2C904&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sea ice responds to changes in winds and ocean currents, sometimes with origins thousands of kilometres away.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Antarctic_sea_ice#/media/File:Broken_floes_(30205786983).jpg">NASA/Nathan Kurtz</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sea ice cover in Antarctica shrank rapidly to a record low in late 2016 and has remained well below average. But what’s behind this dramatic melting and low ice cover since?</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07689-7">two</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07865-9">articles</a> published earlier this month suggest that a combination of natural variability in the atmosphere and ocean were to blame, though human-induced climate change may also play a role.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/record-high-to-record-low-what-on-earth-is-happening-to-antarcticas-sea-ice-66114">Record high to record low: what on earth is happening to Antarctica's sea ice?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What happened to Antarctic sea ice in 2016?</h2>
<p>Antarctic sea ice is frozen seawater, usually less than a few metres thick. It differs from ice shelves, which are formed by glaciers, float in the sea, and are up to a kilometre thick.</p>
<p>Sea ice cover in Antarctica is <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/solve-antarctica-s-sea-ice-puzzle-1.22317">crucial to the global climate and marine ecosystems</a> and satellites have been monitoring it since the late 1970s. <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-shenanigans-at-the-ends-of-the-earth-why-has-sea-ice-gone-haywire-69485">In contrast to the Arctic</a>, sea ice around Antarctica had been slowly expanding (see figure below).</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/expanding-sea-ice-is-causing-headaches-for-antarctic-stations-41818">Expanding sea ice is causing headaches for Antarctic stations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, in late 2016 Antarctic sea ice dramatically and rapidly melted reaching a record low. This piqued the interest of climate scientists because such large, unexpected and rapid changes are rare. Sea ice coverage is still <a href="https://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/S_iqr_timeseries.png">well below average</a> now.</p>
<p>We wanted to know what caused this unprecedented decline of Antarctic sea ice and what changes in the system have sustained those declines. We also wanted to know if this was a temporary shift or the beginning of a longer-term decline, as predicted by climate models. Finally, we wanted to know whether human-induced climate change contributed to these record lows.</p>
<h2>Hunting for clues</h2>
<p>Sea ice cover around Antarctica varies a lot from one year or decade to the next. In fact, Antarctic sea ice cover had reached a record high as recently as 2014.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253800/original/file-20190115-180482-13vxm7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antarctic and Arctic sea ice cover (shown as the net anomaly from the 1981–2010 average) for January 1979 to May 2018. Thin lines are monthly averages and indicate the variability at shorter time-scales. Thick lines are 11-month running averages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bureau of Meteorology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That provided a clue. As year-to-year and decade-to-decade sea ice cover varies so much, this can mask longer-term melting of sea ice due to anthropogenic warming.</p>
<p>The next clue was in records broken far away from Antarctica. In the spring of 2016 sea surface temperatures and rainfall in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean were at record highs. This was in association with a strongly negative <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/indices.shtml?bookmark=iod">Indian Ocean Dipole</a> (IOD) event, which brought warmer waters to the northwest of Australia.</p>
<p>While IOD events <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/iod/">influence rainfall</a> in south-eastern Australia, we found (using both statistical analysis and climate model experiments) that it promoted a pattern in the winds over the Southern Ocean that was particularly conducive to decreasing sea ice. </p>
<p>These surface winds blowing from the north not only pushed the sea ice back towards the Antarctic continent, they were also warmer, helping to melt the sea ice.</p>
<p>These northerly winds almost perfectly matched the main regions where sea ice declined.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253801/original/file-20190115-180510-w3lxvb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atmospheric circulation and sea ice concentration during September to October 2016. The top figure shows the Sep–Oct wind anomaly (vectors, scale in upper right, m/s) in the lower part of the atmosphere; red shading shows warmer, northerly airflow, and blue shading represents southerly flow. The bottom figure shows sea ice extent: green represents more sea ice than average, and purple shows regions of a reduction in sea ice (Figure 2a of Wang, et al 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2017GL073656">previous studies</a> had linked this wind pattern to the sea ice decline, our studies are the first to argue for the dominant role of the tropical eastern Indian Ocean in driving it.</p>
<p>But this wasn’t the only factor. </p>
<p>Later in 2016 the typical westerly winds that surround Antarctica weakened to record lows. This caused the ocean surface to warm up, promoting less sea ice cover.</p>
<p>The weaker winds started at the top of the atmosphere over Antarctica, in the region known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_vortex">stratospheric polar vortex</a>. We think this sequential occurrence of tropical and then stratospheric influences contributed to the record declines in 2016.</p>
<p>Taken together, the evidence we present supports the idea that the rapid Antarctic sea ice decline in late 2016 was largely due to natural climate variability.</p>
<h2>The current state of Antarctic sea ice</h2>
<p>Since then, sea ice has remained mostly well below average in association with warmer upper ocean temperatures around Antarctica. </p>
<p>We argue these are the product of stronger than normal westerly winds in the previous 15 or so years around Antarctica, driven again from the tropics. These stronger westerlies induced a response in the ocean, with warmer subsurface water moving towards the surface over time.</p>
<p>The combination of record tropical sea surface temperatures and weakened westerly winds in 2016 warmed the entire upper 600m of water in most regions of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. These warmer ocean temperatures have maintained the reduced extent of sea ice.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-20-year-plan-welcomed-for-australia-in-the-antarctic-32809">A 20-year plan welcomed for Australia in the Antarctic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Antarctic sea ice extent is seeing a <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2019/01/a-record-low-start-to-the-new-year-in-antarctica/">record low</a> start to the New Year. It suggests the initial rapid decline seen in late 2016 was not an isolated event and, when combined with the decadal-timescale warming of the upper Southern Ocean, could mean reduced sea ice extent for some time. </p>
<p>We argue what we are seeing so far can be understood in terms of natural variability superimposed on a long-term human-induced warming signal. </p>
<p>This is because the rainfall and ocean temperature records seen in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean that led to the initial sea ice decline in 2016 likely have some climate change contribution. </p>
<p>This warming and the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole may also impact the surface wind patterns over coming decades. </p>
<p>Such changes could be driving climate change effects that are starting to emerge in the Antarctic region. However the <a href="https://theconversation.com/record-high-to-record-low-what-on-earth-is-happening-to-antarcticas-sea-ice-66114">limited data record and large variability</a> indicate it’s still too early to tell. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>We would like to acknowledge the role of our co-authors S Abhik, Cecilia M Bitz, Christine TY Chung, Alice DuVivier, Harry H Hendon, Marika M Holland, Eun-Pa Lim, LuAnne Thompson, Peter van Rensch and Dongxia Yang in contributing to the research discussed in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Arblaster receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the U.S. Department of Energy</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerald A. Meehl receives funding from Regional and Global Model Analysis at the U.S. Department of Energy in addition to base funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guomin Wang receives funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub.</span></em></p>
Antarctic sea ice cover fell to an all-time low recently and hasn’t yet recovered. Why? The initial answers could lie in an unlikely place – the tropics.
Julie Arblaster, Associate Professor, Monash University
Gerald A Meehl, Senior scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Guomin Wang, Research scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/105858
2018-10-31T05:13:44Z
2018-10-31T05:13:44Z
Explainer: what any country can and can’t do in Antarctica, in the name of science
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243158/original/file-20181031-76405-1rep8f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Antarctica, many countries want a piece of the action.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/26459153968/">Flickr/Christopher Michel</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Antarctica is owned by no one, but there are plenty of countries interested in this frozen island continent at the bottom of the Earth.</p>
<p>While there are some regulations on who can do what there, scientific research has no definition in Antarctic law. So any research by a country conducted in or about Antarctica can be interpreted as legitimate Antarctic science.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-near-perfect-rectangular-iceberg-formed-105655">How a near-perfect rectangular iceberg formed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are 30 <a href="https://comnap.aq/Members/Shared%20Documents/COMNAP_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue.pdf">countries</a> – including Australia – operating bases and ships, and flying aircraft to and from runways across the continent. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-28/china-and-russia-are-eyeing-up-antarctica/10433024">Russia and China</a> have increased their presence in Antarctica over the past decade, with China now <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2170735/china-begin-building-first-permanent-airfield-antarctica">reportedly interested</a> in building its first permanent airfield.</p>
<p>It is not surprising there is significant interest in who is doing what, where – especially if countries ramp up their investment in Antarctic infrastructure with new stations, ships or runways.</p>
<p>Their actions might raise eyebrows and fuel speculation. But the freedom of countries to behave autonomously is guided by the laws that apply to this sovereign-neutral continent.</p>
<h2>Treaties and signatories</h2>
<p>There are 12 original signatories to the 1959 <a href="https://ats.aq/e/ats_keydocs.htm">Antarctic Treaty</a>, including Australia, and they do not have to prove their commitment to the treaty since they wrote the rules.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://ats.aq/devAS/ats_parties.aspx?lang=e">41 countries</a> have signed on since 1959, and they do need to prove commitment. </p>
<p>Non-signatory countries, such as Iran or Indonesia, are freed from many of these legal obligations. </p>
<p>Until such time as the Antarctic Treaty has been designated customary international law applicable to all states by a high authority (such as the International Court of Justice), non-signatories can essentially do what they like in Antarctica. </p>
<h2>The appliance of science</h2>
<p>Autonomous freedom of activity by signatory countries is legitimised through the fact that science is the currency of credibility in Antarctica. This is important for two reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>scientific research has legal priority</li>
<li>new signatories can become decision-makers when they do science.</li>
</ol>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/ats_science.htm">freedom of scientific investigation</a>” is preserved in Article II of the Antarctic Treaty. It directs that signatories to the treaty can conduct scientific research of any kind anywhere in the Antarctic, without anybody else’s permission.</p>
<p>The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (<a href="https://www.scar.org/">SCAR</a>) coordinates Antarctic research, but being a <a href="https://www.scar.org/about-us/members/overview/">member</a> is not a prerequisite for doing Antarctic science. </p>
<p>Further, the treaty outlines the process for new signatories (that is, other than the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/devAS/ats_parties.aspx?lang=e">original 12</a>) to achieve Consultative Party (decision-making) status. </p>
<p>Decisions are made by consensus (that is, everyone agrees or there is no formal objection). So every country’s “vote” counts and new countries aspire to gain a seat at the table to further their national agendas. </p>
<p>They become Consultative Parties by conducting “substantial scientific research activity” (Article IX.2) and when this has been accomplished to the satisfaction of the other decision-makers, they will be accepted. </p>
<h2>Piggy backing</h2>
<p>Demonstrating interest in Antarctic science was initially interpreted as building a base or dispatching an expedition (Article IX.2). But after the adoption of the <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/ats_keydocs.htm">environmental protocol</a> to the treaty in 1991, this was re-interpreted.</p>
<p>Parties were encouraged (but not legally bound) to consider piggy-backing on existing national scientific expeditions of other countries, and to share stations and other resources such as ships and aircraft where possible. </p>
<p>Currently there is only one jointly operated scientific base - <a href="http://www.institut-polaire.fr/ipev-en/infrastructures-2/stations/concordia/">Concordia</a>, occupied by both France and Italy. The Novolazarevskaya airfield is a joint operation coordinated by Russia. </p>
<p>This encouragement was designed to reduce the potential for expansion of the footprint of human activities. </p>
<p>In 2017 the Consultative Parties adopted <a href="https://ats.aq/devAS/ats_meetings_meeting_measure.aspx?lang=e">revised guidelines</a> for how to become a decision maker. These outline new rules on a concept that has never been articulated publicly in an Antarctic forum before – evaluating the quality of scientific research. </p>
<p>This could put the brakes on the rapid addition of new signatories to the table.</p>
<h2>There are limits</h2>
<p>Although there is freedom to conduct science anywhere in Antarctica, what any country cannot do is lay claim to territory on the basis of its research efforts.</p>
<p>The treaty expressly excludes new claims or the extension of existing claims. Signatories that conduct research, and support those endeavours by building a base and infrastructure such as an airstrip, cannot use those actions as a basis of a claim while the treaty is in force. </p>
<p>Seven countries claim Antarctic territory: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. Two others – the United States and the Russian Federation – have reserved their rights to claim any or all of Antarctica in the future.</p>
<p>These paper claims are acknowledged by Article IV of the treaty. But its artful craftsmanship prevents conflict over the claims and reservations during the life of the Treaty – which incidentally has neither an expiry nor a future review date. </p>
<p>Because the Article II freedoms permit research to be undertaken anywhere on the continent, the borders delineating claims become irrelevant to all but the claimant. </p>
<p>A party has an option of recognising a claim, or not, and does not need anyone’s permission to build a station or send an expedition. This means that the claimants have very limited capacity to exercise sovereignty in their territory. This effectively reduces their power to that of jurisdiction only over their own nationals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-trip-to-antarctica-became-a-real-life-experiment-in-decision-making-96726">How a trip to Antarctica became a real-life experiment in decision-making</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The sting in the tail is that conducting substantial scientific research activity in Antarctica – including the building of support infrastructure – is the pathway new states must take to achieve decision-making status. </p>
<p>This is only constrained by the legal requirement to undertake an environmental impact assessment of any activity prior to its commencement. </p>
<p>Irrespective of whether the activity’s proponent complies with <a href="https://www.ats.aq/devAS/info_measures_listitem.aspx?lang=e&id=637">best practice environmental evaluation</a>, under the rules, no other party can veto that activity. </p>
<p>Essentially, any country – whether a party to the treaty or not – can do whatever they like in Antarctica.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Jabour does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There are some limits on what countries can do in the Antarctic, but not when it comes to science.
Julia Jabour, Leader, Ocean and Antarctic Governance Research Program, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/105034
2018-10-16T07:27:29Z
2018-10-16T07:27:29Z
Remembering Sidney Jeffryes and the darker side of our tales of Antarctic heroism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240755/original/file-20181016-165924-14cuqe4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Aurora lying at anchor in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica in 1913.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Antarctica is famous for its survival stories, but one of the most compelling has languished in the shadows for over a century. An unmarked grave in the public cemetery at Ararat has been the resting place of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Jeffryes">Sidney Jeffryes</a>, the remarkable radio operator of Douglas Mawson’s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110423023749/http://www.mawsonshuts.aq/">Australasian Antarctic Expedition</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240702/original/file-20181015-165894-1aeaou9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sidney Jeffryes photographed between 1912 and 1914.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1913, Jeffryes achieved a world first when he made ongoing two-way wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. However, his mental illness during the expedition, and his subsequent committal to a high-security asylum, meant his contribution was swept under the carpet.</p>
<p>Only now has his important role in Australian Antarctic history been recognised with the laying of a plaque on his grave.</p>
<p>A Queenslander, Jeffryes was working as a shipboard radio operator and already making claims to long-distance telegraphy records when in 1911 he applied for a position on Mawson’s expedition. Although another applicant was selected, Mawson considered Jeffryes a “very good man”. </p>
<p>It is unsurprising, then, that the following year, when the expedition vessel, the Aurora, left Hobart to bring the expeditioners back from Antarctica, Jeffryes was offered a place as its wireless operator. What he didn’t realise was that he would end up spending an unexpected year in the far south.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240753/original/file-20181016-165918-xsjkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition in polar seas, 1912.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E.W Searle, National Library of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the Aurora arrived at the expedition hut in Commonwealth Bay to take all the men home, three were missing: a sledging party led by Mawson had failed to return. With the season growing late, the ship’s captain had to leave to collect a group of men at another continental base. So he took most of the expeditioners with him, leaving five behind to wait for the missing party. Jeffryes agreed to stay behind and take the place of the original radio operator, Walter Hannam.</p>
<p>When Mawson returned to the hut, he was alone. His two companions had perished during the journey. Thus began a very trying year. Mawson was recovering from an extremely arduous journey, and he and the five men from the original expedition were mourning the loss of two beloved friends. As the only newcomer to the hut, unused to the extreme conditions, and under pressure to make the wireless work better than it had, Jeffryes was in a difficult position.</p>
<p>Despite these pressures, he made a success of his unanticipated role. In March 1913 the Australian press celebrated the establishment of wireless contact with Australia. The expeditioners were delighted to be able to communicate with their loved ones, although there was tension over whose messages would get priority. Jeffryes had to operate under testing circumstances, working late into the night, when reception was best, to try to pick up the faint and noisy messages.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sledging-songs-penguins-and-melting-ice-how-antarctica-has-inspired-australian-composers-101325">Sledging songs, penguins and melting ice: how Antarctica has inspired Australian composers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In June 1913, after a particularly strong gale, the always troublesome wireless mast blew down, making it impossible to send or receive messages. Shortly afterwards, Jeffryes began exhibiting unusual behaviour, at one point challenging another man to a fight.</p>
<h2>‘Delusional insanity’</h2>
<p>Over the next few weeks he exhibited a series of symptoms – including delusions of persecution, paranoia and decline in hygiene – that are consistent with what we now classify as schizophrenia. The expedition doctor, Archie McLean, diagnosed “delusional insanity”. With none of the men able to leave the hut in the freezing, dark winter, the situation became very trying for all. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240706/original/file-20181015-165903-tnfkdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mawson’s hut at main base, 1911.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Believing his companions were trying to murder him, Jeffryes began sending out messages secretly on the wireless, including one saying that five others were “unwell” and he and Mawson would have to escape. Luckily, it was never received, but Mawson eventually dismissed Jeffryes – a strange situation given he was unable to leave his workplace.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240773/original/file-20181016-165891-t7xrsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffryes’ cell in J-ward, Ararat Hospital for the Insane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Leane</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The seven men struggled through the next few months, and were relieved when the Aurora arrived to pick them up towards the end of 1913. Jeffryes’ behaviour remained erratic and he took no part in the celebrations that greeted the expedition on its arrival in Adelaide in February 1914. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, he was allowed to board a train alone, presumably headed home to distant Toowoomba. The next that was heard of him was media reports that he had been found wandering in the bush in regional Victoria, starving despite the money in his pocket, and saying Mawson had hypnotised him.</p>
<p>Jeffryes was quickly committed to Ararat Hospital for the Insane (as it was then called). Initially his prognosis was hopeful, and he was transferred to Royal Park and Sunbury asylums in the hope a change of scenery would help. In Sunbury, however, he attacked a staff member, which landed him back in Ararat, this time in “J-Ward”, the facility for the criminally insane.</p>
<p>Life in the high-security ward was notoriously hard and the temperatures could be very low; a cell in J-Ward must have made the hut in Antarctica look like a picnic. Yet Jeffryes survived for another 28 years, until his death from a cerebral haemorrhage in 1942.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240774/original/file-20181016-165921-1rx03dp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The plaque unveiled on October 16 2018 in Ararat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Leane</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With mental illness highly stigmatized in the early 20th century, and incongruous with the heroic framework within which Antarctic explorers were viewed, Jeffryes’ part in the expedition was deliberately downplayed. He gradually vanished from exploration history, his impressive achievement largely forgotten.</p>
<p>This changed today (Tuesday), when Mawson’s Huts Foundation chairman David Jensen unveiled a plaque on Jeffyres’ grave, officially marking his contribution to wireless history and Australian Antarctic history. </p>
<p>We are moving beyond our obsession with heroes and now telling richer, more complex accounts of human presence in the far south.</p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Ben Maddison.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Leane receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberley Norris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Sidney Jeffryes achieved a world first by establishing wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. But his mental illness meant he gradually vanished from history - until now.
Elizabeth Leane, Associate Professor of English and ARC Future Fellow, University of Tasmania
Kimberley Norris, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/101325
2018-08-28T20:19:05Z
2018-08-28T20:19:05Z
Sledging songs, penguins and melting ice: how Antarctica has inspired Australian composers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231257/original/file-20180809-30446-cko92d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most people will never visit Antarctica but music can evoke the continent in myriad ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Meredith Nash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Douglas Mawson led Australasia’s first expedition to Antarctica in 1911–14, his crew took along a folding organ, a concertina, a flute, a piccolo and a mouth organ, as well as a gramophone, records and a hymn book. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231866/original/file-20180814-2900-3evoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Program for The Washerwoman’s Secret: the first ‘opera’ on the continent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of The Mawson Centre, South Australian Museum. Used with permission.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His men’s diaries detail numerous musical activities that took place on board the Aurora and in the huts they built on the ice. Their band – the “Adélie Land Band” – was such a hit that, as Mawson wrote, “Men crawled out of their beds all eager to be in it”.</p>
<p>They even staged the first “opera” on the continent: an original production titled The Washerwoman’s Secret, billed as a “Grand Opera in Five Acts” and performed at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, on 12 October 1912. As biological collector Charles Laseron <a href="https://collection.maas.museum/object/121109">recalled</a>, it had a “complicated and highly dramatic plot”. The expedition doctor, Archibald McLean, reportedly stole the show by dressing like a woman, singing in a contralto register and acting out several awkward “love” scenes. The “arias” sung were original creations, accompanied by geologist Frank Stillwell on the organ. </p>
<p>Mawson’s men also wrote new lyrics for existing tunes to sing for both leisure and while at work (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247416000255">such as “sledging songs”</a>). These both entertained and boosted morale. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231863/original/file-20180814-2894-1ng74qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frank Hurley: ‘A winter evening at the hut’ (1911).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136188901.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the past 30 years, a spate of professional Australian composers and musicians <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2017.1417456">have also engaged with Antarctica creatively</a>. Interest has no doubt been spurred by the celebration of centenaries relating to the Heroic Age, support for arts residencies as part of Australia’s Antarctic science program, and increased media focus on the continent due to climate change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctic-seas-host-a-surprising-mix-of-lifeforms-and-now-we-can-map-them-99667">Antarctic seas host a surprising mix of lifeforms – and now we can map them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The most widely known Australian composition about Antarctica is perhaps Nigel Westlake’s Antarctica suite for guitar and orchestra (1992). Derived from his film score for John Weiley’s 1991 IMAX documentary Antarctica: An Adventure of a Different Nature, the four-movement suite explores some of the film’s primary themes. </p>
<p>The opening movement (“The Last Place on Earth”) employs sparse, static textures and dramatic gestures to represent the desolation and grandeur of the ice sheet. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vSlMrb0k1qA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The second (“Wooden Ships”) is a nostalgic tribute to the pioneering Antarctic explorers. The penultimate movement (“Penguin Ballet”) vividly evokes the fluid, playful movements of penguins underwater. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tRUH9Xb5EY0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The final one opens with a slow, static section titled “The Ice Core” and ends with an uplifting “Finale”, inspired by the optimism surrounding the signing of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (“Madrid Protocol”) in 1991. Through performances, recordings and broadcasts, Westlake’s suite has encouraged audiences to reflect on Antarctica’s unique environment, the history of human presence there, Antarctic science and the importance of protecting the continent.</p>
<h2>Love, death and serious science</h2>
<p>More recently, Hobart-based composers Scott McIntyre and Joe Bugden produced a chamber opera each to commemorate the centenary of the Terra Nova and Aurora expeditions, respectively.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctica-has-lost-3-trillion-tonnes-of-ice-in-25-years-time-is-running-out-for-the-frozen-continent-98176">Antarctica has lost 3 trillion tonnes of ice in 25 years. Time is running out for the frozen continent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>McIntyre’s <a href="https://soundcloud.com/scott-mcintyre1/fire-on-the-snow-an-opera-in-2-acts">Fire on the Snow</a> is based on Douglas Stewart’s 1941 radio play of the same name about <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/scott_of_antarctic.shtml">Robert Falcon Scott’s final</a>, ill-fated expedition. The chamber opera features, in the composer’s words, “Music devoid of warmth, music that [is] brittle, like ice, the howl of the wind, the slow onset of death”.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/158937501&color=%23da352a&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe>
<p>Similarly, Bugden’s <a href="http://www.call-of-aurora.yolasite.com">The Call of Aurora</a> is serious in tone. Based on his own libretto, it explores themes of love, death, madness and isolation by focusing on Mawson’s longing for his fiancee, Paquita, his experience of the deaths of Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz, and his management of the mad wireless operator, <a href="http://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/cape-denison/the-people/sidney-jeffryes">Sidney Jeffryes</a>.</p>
<p>McIntyre has also produced a series of shorter compositions, including a song cycle, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/scott-mcintyre1/sets/songs-of-the-south">Songs of the South </a> (2014), based on those originally written during the Terra Nova and Aurora expeditions. Two of McIntyre’s songs were inspired by “sledging songs”, while others were derived from songs written by Mawson’s men about Christmas Day and one of the team’s dogs, Basilisk.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/187741962&color=%23da352a&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe>
<p>The Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship scheme has supported classical harpist <a href="https://aliceinantarctica.wordpress.com/explore/videos-from-antarctica/">Alice Giles</a> and sound artist Philip Samartzis on residencies in Antarctica. Giles performed harp music there in 2011 to commemorate the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (her grandfather, Cecil Thomas Madigan, was the expedition’s meteorologist). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231865/original/file-20180814-2900-17f7nli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philip Samartzis in Iceberg Alley (Antarctic Sound), Antarctica, in March 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Ian
Aitkinson, used with permission
.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The sound of ice cracking</h2>
<p>Samartzis’s two fellowships (2009 and 2015) enabled him to document in sound the impact of extreme climate and weather events on Australian research stations in Antarctica and on Macquarie Island, as well as on the icebreaker Aurora Australis. </p>
<p>His suite of compositions “Antarctica: An Absent Presence” (2016) captures a rich variety of sounds including those made by seals, wind, blizzards, ice when it cracks and calves, helicopters, trucks and generators. </p>
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/217541672&color=%23da352a&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe>
<p>Scientific research has proven fertile ground for composers.
Stuart Greenbaum’s choral work Antarctica (2002) uses a text by Melbourne poet Ross Baglin about sea level rise due to the melting Antarctic ice sheet. The music, written for treble choir, two violins and organ, is a poignant elegy to a place (and world) under threat.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-alien-seaweed-invasion-spawned-an-antarctic-mystery-99944">How an alien seaweed invasion spawned an Antarctic mystery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Matthew Dewey’s symphony ex Oceano (2013) was written in response to research on the Southern Ocean undertaken by scientists at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the CSIRO. The music takes the listener on a journey, exploring not only the strength of the ocean’s currents and enormity of its scale and influence, but also the microscopic life that lives within it.</p>
<p>The second movement, for instance, is dedicated to phytoplankton – microscopic organisms that produce over half the world’s oxygen. Invisible to the naked eye, they are visible in vast blooms from space. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3m97QwKIbAU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Antarctica: The Musical, which premiered in Hobart in 2016, features music and lyrics by songwriter Dugald McLaren and a book by ecologist Dana Bergstrom (both of whom have spent time there). Focusing on the experiences of a group of scientists living on the continent for a year and the challenges they face, it conveys a strong message of concern for the region’s changing environment.</p>
<p>Most people will never visit Antarctica. It is an inhospitable place at the margins of our world. But music enables audiences to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2017.1417456">come to know the continent</a> as a place of both the imaginary and of urgent, practical scientific work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolyn Philpott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Scientific research into the effects of climate change in Antarctica - and its history of intrepid exploration - is inspiring contemporary Australian composers.
Carolyn Philpott, Senior Lecturer in Musicology, Conservatorium of Music; Associate Head - Research, School of Creative Arts; Adjunct Researcher, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91360
2018-07-16T09:28:53Z
2018-07-16T09:28:53Z
Pristine Antarctic fjords contain similar levels of microplastics to open oceans near big civilisations
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226612/original/file-20180708-122265-151f1tn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the middle of the last century, mass-produced, disposable plastic waste started washing up on shorelines, and to be found in the middle of the oceans. This has since become <a href="http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/">an increasingly serious problem</a>, spreading globally to even the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/the-untouched-south-pacific-island-choking-on-38-million-bits-of-plastic">most remote places</a> on Earth. Just a few decades later, in the 1970s, scientists found the same problem was occurring at a much less visible, microscopic level, <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-ocean-the-most-harmful-plastic-is-too-small-to-see-35336">with microplastics</a>. </p>
<p>These particles of plastic are between 0.05mm and 5mm in size. Larger pieces of plastic can be broken down into microplastics but these tiny bits of plastic also come from deliberate additions to <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-stealth-microplastics-to-avoid-if-you-want-to-save-the-oceans-90063">all sorts of products</a>, from toothpaste to washing power. </p>
<p>Now, with major global sampling efforts, it <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastics-in-oceans-are-mounting-but-evidence-on-harm-is-surprisingly-weak-93877">has become clear</a> that microplastics are dispersing all over the world – in the water column, sediments, and marine animal diets – even reaching as far south as the pristine environments of Antarctica.</p>
<h2>Glacial retreat</h2>
<p>While this plastic problem has become more prevalent, one of the most pristine ecosystems on Earth, the fjords of the Western Antarctic Peninsula, have been revealed by retreating glaciers.</p>
<p>Tucked between islands and the mainland, the coast along the Western Antarctic Peninsula has long, narrow inlets created by glaciers. During the last 50 years, these fjords have physically changed, due to reduced sea ice cover and because nearly 90% of glaciers have retreated in this region. These processes have exposed the ocean floor of many of the fjords for the first time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227576/original/file-20180713-27039-1h1jbso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Antarctic fjords.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Earth/US Geological Survey/DigitalGlobe/CNES/Airbus</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The potential for microplastics to impact this environment and its marine life is huge – and we’re now working to figure out the depth of the effect that microplastic pollution is having on the newly colonised habitats. Any microplastics recovered in the Southern Ocean, particularly in newly formed ecosystems, raise alarm. They not only indicate that the area has been affected, but that plastic pollution is increasingly ubiquitous too.</p>
<h2>New habitats</h2>
<p>In November 2017, our multidisciplinary UK-Chile-US-Canada research team – known as ICEBERGS – joined the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rrs-james-clark-ross/">RRS James Clark Ross</a> (an ice strengthened research ship) and headed to Antarctica’s northernmost fjords. Our goal was, and still is, to gain a better understanding of how the environment and organisms evolve in newly emerging and colonising habitats in Antarctica. We are particularly interested in the marine ecosystems on the ocean floor, so have been looking at areas such as Marian Cove and Börgen Bay on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, where communities have only developed in the last few decades – due to the retreating glaciers.</p>
<p>Thriving marine ecosystems can act as climate regulators. When ice retreats, new, pristine fjordic habitats are revealed and phytoplankton blooms occur. These help to counteract climate change because they take carbon dioxide gas out of the atmosphere. New productive seabed habitat also becomes available for the diverse shallow water fauna that eat this algae, and store the carbon long term. Not counteracting climate change, however, is the fact that new open water absorbs heat faster, in contrast to ice that would have reflected it. </p>
<p>The animals colonising the exposed fjords face challenging conditions. The sediment and fresh water flowing in the glacier melt runoff make it very difficult for many organisms to survive. And, if exposed to them, microplastics can be a serious concern for many marine animals, especially filter-feeding organisms (for example krill, and other zooplankton). As these creatures filter water to obtain food, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534718300090">they may ingest microplastics</a> which can clog and block their feeding appendages, limiting food intake. Ingested microplastics may be transferred to the circulatory system too, which can cause an increased immune response. </p>
<p>Microplastics may also bring in new bacteria and chemical pollutants attached to them too. So, because many filter-feeding organisms support the entire food web, any impact on them should be expected to have cascading effects on the ecosystem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226983/original/file-20180710-70051-9cxec8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On board the RRS James Clark Ross.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In newly revealed habitats, creatures are less likely to have been impacted by marine pollutants previously so they can help us learn about more recent changes in an environment. To our knowledge, microplastics have not been found in the Antarctic fjords before now, but our preliminary results have already found an alarmingly high presence – similar to those found in the open water of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, near big civilisations.</p>
<p>These results came from samples taken directly from the fjords, and we are now looking further at the evidence of how micro-organisms are being affected by microplastics. During the next two Antarctic summers, we will be collecting more geophysical, physical oceanographic, sedimentological and biological data from these pristine sites in the same locations, so we can compare the changes over time in the habitats that colonise new ocean floor in Antarctic fjords. </p>
<p>Only after such rigorous data collection and analysis will we be able to tell the true impact of microplastics on pristine environments. Until then, we can all do our bit to cut down on potential pollution and protect what may very well be the last pristine environments on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Barnes receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council grants. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Scourse received funding from the Natural Environmental Research Council and CONICYT for this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katrien Van Landeghem acknowledges the financial support provided by the Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales through the Sêr Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and Environment, and she receives funding from the Natural Environmental Research Council for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexis Janosik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Preliminary results of a study have shown microplastics have reached in a newly revealed Antarctic environment.
Alexis Janosik, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of West Florida
David Barnes, Data Interpretation Ecologist, British Antarctic Survey
James Scourse, Professor of Physical Geography, University of Exeter
Katrien Van Landeghem, Senior Lecturer in Marine Geology, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/95207
2018-06-13T17:21:48Z
2018-06-13T17:21:48Z
Short-term changes in Antarctica’s ice shelves are key to predicting their long-term fate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222991/original/file-20180613-32347-12ej8ho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The northeast edge of the Venable Ice Shelf, near Antarctica's Allison Peninsula.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/H84yYt">NASA/John Sonntag</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Antarctica’s ice sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by around 180 feet if it all melted. But dramatic, eye-catching changes to Antarctica’s floating ice shelves, such as calving icebergs, are often highlighted in the news without a sense of long-term context or a clear connection to what is causing the changes. </p>
<p>Antarctica is <a href="https://theconversation.com/cold-and-calculating-what-the-two-different-types-of-ice-do-to-sea-levels-59996">losing land ice</a> at an accelerating rate, and current observations suggest it will become the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/new-study-finds-sea-level-rise-accelerating">largest contributor to sea level rise</a> by the middle of this century. Understanding variations in the height of Antarctic ice shelves – the floating edges of the continent’s ice sheet – can tell us how and why Antarctica is changing, and what that could mean for future sea levels.</p>
<p>We study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JI_DpHwAAAAJ&hl=en">changes</a> in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J4DvU4oAAAAJ&hl=en">Antarctic</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ybHJBncAAAAJ&hl=en">ice</a> shelves, along with our colleague <a href="https://www.esr.org/staff/laurence-padman/">Laurie Padman</a> at <a href="https://www.esr.org/">Earth & Space Research</a>, a nonprofit institute in Seattle. One of us, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5prTIdoAAAAJ&hl=en">Helen Amanda Fricker</a>, contributed to two articles in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/collections/jwwltflrpn">special issue of the journal Nature</a> that brings together current understanding of the state of Antarctica. Here’s what we see happening.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222802/original/file-20180612-112614-1nf8oyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antarctica’s major geographical features, including the West and East Antarctic ice sheets, the Antarctic Peninsula and some of the larger ice shelves around the continent’s edges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antarctica_major_geographical_features.jpg">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ice shelves hold back the grounded ice</h2>
<p>Antarctic ice shelves provide mechanical support to hold back the flow of ice from the continent to the ocean, regulating the pace of mass loss from the enormous ice sheet. Scientists call this process “buttressing,” since it works in the same way that an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/buttress-architecture">architectural buttress</a> prevents a building from collapsing. </p>
<p>Reducing the mass of an ice shelf does not contribute directly to sea level rise, since this ice is already floating on the ocean, but it promotes faster discharge of grounded ice, which increases sea level. To understand how Antarctic mass loss varies, we need to understand how ice shelves grow and shrink.</p>
<p>Ice shelves gain mass mainly through ice flowing from the continent and local snowfall on their surfaces. They lose mass primarily through melting by the ocean and by iceberg calving. </p>
<p>Antarctica has more than 300 ice shelves, and the net change in their mass is a delicate balance between gains and losses. Determining this balance requires understanding how ice, ocean, and atmosphere interact to drive changes around Antarctica. Climate change will alter the overall balance between gains and losses, and will determine the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0173-4">future of Antarctica’s ice loss</a>.</p>
<h2>The critical role of satellites</h2>
<p>Antarctica’s small ice shelves are roughly the area of small cities, and its largest is the size of Spain. The total ice-shelf area is around 1.5 million square kilometers (580,000 square miles), about as large as Mongolia. The only viable way to routinely monitor changes in their mass is with satellites. </p>
<p>Since the launch of <a href="https://landsat.usgs.gov/landsat-missions-timeline">Landsat 1</a> in 1972, satellite data have taught us a lot about the ice sheet, including its large-scale structure, surface properties and flow rates. A <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0179-y">recent synthesis</a> combined 150 independent estimates of ice-sheet mass loss from satellite data and atmospheric models to show that the ice sheet is losing more mass to the ocean with every passing year. The largest changes have occurred in places where ice shelves have either thinned or collapsed.</p>
<p>Single satellite missions typically only last five to 10 years, but we can stitch together data from consecutive missions to increase the length of the record. This helps us separate long-term trends from natural climate variability and unravel processes that drive changes around the margins of Antarctica.</p>
<p>The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched four ice-observing satellites since 1992, carrying radar altimeters to precisely determine the distance between the satellite and the Earth’s surface beneath it. These data have now provided a continuous time series of variations in ice-shelf surface height since the early 1990s. Combining measured increases and decreases in surface height with the latest generation of climate models to infer how the atmosphere has changed, we can estimate the amount of mass an ice shelf can lose to the ocean.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aSRxJVGlx7U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Work by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography reveals that strong El Niño events can cause significant ice loss in some Antarctic ice shelves.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>El Niño and La Niña affect ice shelves</h2>
<p>The Pacific Ocean sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is experiencing exceptionally high mass loss. This sector contains the rapidly changing Thwaites Glacier, which is the focus of a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43936372">new major research initiative</a> between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the United Kingdom’s National Environmental Research Council. </p>
<p>The 23-year altimeter record revealed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-017-0033-0">long-term mass loss in the Pacific sector ice shelves</a>. Further analysis of these data showed that in addition, the <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html">El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)</a> – a periodic variation in sea surface temperatures and pressure over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean – caused additional height change fluctuations. </p>
<p>Strong El Niño events, which typically bring warmer ocean waters and increase precipitation, increase snowfall over these ice shelves. But they also increase ocean-driven melting, removing ice from the ice-shelf base. Since snow is less dense than solid ice, mass lost through melting exceeds that added by snowfall. The result is that total ice-shelf mass, and hence its buttressing capability, actually decreases during El Niño events even though the height of the ice shelf may increase. </p>
<p>The opposite occurs during La Niñas, the counter to El Niño, where tropical ocean waters cool. Scientists expect that total precipitation and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2100">frequency of extreme ENSO events will increase as Earth’s atmosphere warms</a>, which implies that yearly fluctuations of ice shelf thickness and mass will also increase.</p>
<h2>Atmospheric conditions affect the Antarctic Peninsula</h2>
<p>A region further north in Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, has experienced <a href="https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/larsen_B/2002.html">startling changes over the past three decades</a>. Here several ice shelves have catastrophically collapsed due to warming in the atmosphere. Scientists see this as a canary in the coal mine: Similar warming events could drive the collapse of more southern ice shelves, which can play a larger role in future sea level rise. </p>
<p>Extensive press coverage of the 2017 calving of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aw0kHAnY28">Delaware-sized iceberg</a> from Larsen C Ice Shelf has aggravated such concerns. However, in a recent study we showed that the height of the remaining Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves across the region has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076652">increased since 2009</a>. Using atmospheric models backed up by field observations, we connected this height recovery to a regional cooling that persisted for several years and reduced summertime surface melting. The large calving event was likely a normal mass loss process, similar to a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01431169508954407">larger event in 1986</a>. There is so far no clear indication that Larsen C is on the brink of collapse.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222800/original/file-20180612-112599-s3do2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Height changes observed over Larsen C Ice Shelf from Four European Space Agency satellites, one NASA satellite and an extensive airborne survey from NASA’s Operation IceBridge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Helen Fricker</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The role of the atmosphere is only part of this story. After removing the effect of higher air temperatures, we found that the ocean continued to melt the ice shelves’ bases at a rate that tipped the scales toward net mass loss. In fact, we found that the atmosphere recently played a stabilizing role while the ocean exerts a continuing destabilizing influence, highlighting the complex interplay between the atmosphere, ice and ocean around Antarctica.</p>
<h2>New satellites will provide more insight</h2>
<p>With existing data, scientists can begin to decode the intricacies of ice-shelf evolution to improve our understanding of what is influencing ice-shelf mass changes and stability. </p>
<p>Satellites have shown that the ice shelves are shrinking overall due to increased ocean-induced melting. In addition to the overall trend, signals corresponding to atmospheric and oceanic processes are becoming apparent, such as influences from El Niño and La Niña cycles in the tropics and local atmospheric changes. </p>
<p>As the satellite record lengthens with the launch of new polar-orbiting satellites like NASA’s <a href="https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/">ICESat-2</a> in September 2018 and <a href="https://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov/">NISAR</a> in 2020, scientists expect to reach the point where we can confidently include these processes in models of ice-sheet response to climate changes, which will improve projections of future sea level rise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Amanda Fricker receives funding from NASA and NSF.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fernando Paolo receives funding from NASA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Siegfried receives funding from NSF and NASA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susheel Adusumilli receives funding from NASA. </span></em></p>
Last summer one of Antarctica’s floating ice shelves calved an iceberg the size of Delaware – but scientists say other less dramatic changes reveal more about how and why Antarctica is changing.
Helen Amanda Fricker, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Fernando Paolo, Postdoctoral Scholar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Matthew Siegfried, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, Stanford University
Susheel Adusumilli, Graduate Student Researcher, University of California, San Diego
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86059
2017-11-14T03:47:50Z
2017-11-14T03:47:50Z
As China flexes its muscles in Antarctica, science is the best diplomatic tool on the frozen continent
<p>Science has always drawn people and nations to Antarctica. But territorial claims and political tensions are also part of the history of that continent. </p>
<p>China is investing heavily in infrastructure and capability in Antarctica with research stations, airfields, field camps and plans for more. Science must continue to play a pivotal role in easing territorial tensions, as interest in Antarctica increases.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-china-came-in-from-the-cold-to-help-set-up-antarcticas-vast-new-marine-park-67911">How China came in from the cold to help set up Antarctica's vast new marine park</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A brutal scientific history</h2>
<p>Some argue that Captain Robert Scott and his team perished on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/28/captain-scott-antarctic-centenary-profile">their infamous return journey</a> from the South Pole because of their dogged determination to haul 15kg of geological specimens. </p>
<p>Science has always nestled alongside the dominant motivation of territorial claims. But in Antarctica, it has evolved as a tool of diplomacy between nations, as a means to suppress tensions about national claims to the land. </p>
<p>This tension is not new. It was during his 1929–31 expedition that Sir Douglas Mawson claimed what is now the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) as British sovereign territory, with sovereignty eventually being <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/australia-in-antarctica/australian-antarctic-territory">transferred to Australia</a> in 1936.</p>
<p>Australia’s National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE), formalised in 1947, were not established for <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2356043">scientific reasons</a>. Rather, they were meant to support our territorial claims and enable investigation of valuable mineral and marine resources located within the AAT. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.science.org.au/news-and-events/events/antarctic-frontier-developing-research-extreme-environment">A recent event</a> in Hobart held by the Australian Academy of Science, examining the future of antarctic science was underscored by such themes. </p>
<h2>A time of increased tensions</h2>
<p>In their 2016 book, <a href="http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-074565245X.html">The Scramble for the Poles</a>, academics Klaus Dodds and Mark Nuttall suggest that the planting of a Russian flag beneath the North Pole in 2007 precipitated a new scramble for resources in the polar regions. </p>
<p>In their view, there is an ongoing and under-discussed unease among Antarctic players when it comes to territory. This is felt particularly keenly by countries that have publicly reserved their right to make a future Antarctic claim (such as the United States and Russia), and those that have made no such claim, nor reserved such a right (such as China). </p>
<p>Australia is one of the <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/law-and-treaty/history/antarctic-territorial-claims">original seven Antarctic claimants</a>; we claim 42% of the continent. Our actions in Antarctica are pivotal as we grapple with increasing interest in the continent from assertive states such as China. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/report/chinas-expanding-interests-antarctica">Special Report</a> to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2017, Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury outlined three stations, three airfields and two field camps that China has in the AAT. She also noted China’s intention to build a fourth station on King George Island, with plans for a fifth station for the Ross Sea region.</p>
<p>Only weeks ago, Brady released a book, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316832004">China as a Polar Great Power</a> that further examines the game changing nature of China’s growing strength at the poles. </p>
<p>This power has grown, she argues, thanks to the country “investing more in capacity than any other nation”. This includes investment in BeiDou, China’s own global GPS network, which will enhance capability for the Chinese military.</p>
<h2>What is Australia doing about this?</h2>
<p>Australia is emerging from a long period of under-investment in Antarctica to slowly address this geopolitical situation.</p>
<p>In 2012, the US <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/usap_special_review/usap_brp/rpt/index.jsp">released an examination</a> of its need to renew its infrastructure and logistical capability in Antarctica. In 2016, the Australian Antarctic Division released its own <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/antarctic-strategy-and-action-plan">Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan</a>. </p>
<p>These documents explain Australia’s future role in Antarctica and outline the measures we need to implement to retain our role as an Antarctic leader. These measures include things such as the re-establishment of our overland traverse capability, an upgrade of our ageing Antarctic stations and the investigation of year-round aviation links.</p>
<p>Progress is being made. Australia’s newest icebreaker was <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2017/australias-new-icebreaker-name-providing-students-with-the-trip-of-a-lifetime">recently named</a> and the first steel was cut in June 2017. A Modernisation Taskforce has been established. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191494/original/file-20171023-1722-1jwr3m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s new icebreaker will be called RSV Nuyina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2017/australias-new-icebreaker-name-providing-students-with-the-trip-of-a-lifetime">Australian Antarctic Division/Damen/DMS Maritime/Knud E Hansen</a></span>
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<p>Without these vital infrastructure and operational assets, we lose the ability to conduct science across our territorial claim. If we lose this, we can no longer wield science as a valuable diplomatic tool.</p>
<h2>Science as a bridge builder</h2>
<p>Science has long served as a bridge builder in Antarctica, but how long can it sustain this role?</p>
<p>The importance of ongoing scientific collaboration between Australia and China in Antarctica has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-antarctica-depends-on-australia-and-chinas-alliance-59522">been discussed</a>.</p>
<p>It is generally asserted that the capacity of science to serve as a form of “soft power” diplomacy is sound and that sovereignty can best be sustained by deploying a continuous and substantial scientific program.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revenge-served-cold-was-scott-of-the-antarctic-sabotaged-by-his-angry-deputy-85288">Revenge served cold: was Scott of the Antarctic sabotaged by his angry deputy?</a>
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<p>But, although Antarctica is considered “a reserve for peace and science” under International governance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-claim-to-antarctica-at-risk-33074">the robustness</a> of the Antarctic Treaty too is often discussed. Contemporary media continues to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/conservation/should-we-be-concerned-about-a-challenge-to-australias-territorial-claim-in-antarctica/news-story/ad27325554ff70b7b0a0e7c5e1312c3a">illustrate concerns</a> over our claim in Antarctica.</p>
<p>The Chief of the Australian Defence Force spoke recently on such matters in Washington and a colleague and I are currently examining the implications for Australian Defence policy of other states’ assertive actions in Antarctica.</p>
<p>Science must continue to play a pivotal role in sustaining peace in Antarctica so that alternative tools need not be called upon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian McCallum is a polar scientist and engineer; he served for twenty years across the Australian Defence Forces and has received research funding from the Australian Army. All views expressed are the author's own.</span></em></p>
Australia must keep up its scientific presence in Antarctica and work with others if it’s to maintain its territorial claim on the frozen continent.
Adrian McCallum, Lecturer in Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.