«La France est aux avant-postes et reste un leader dans les activites scientifiques en milieu polaire, a souligné Valérie Pécresse lors du colloque de clôture de l'Année polaire internationale, qui s'est tenu le 14 mai 2009. À cette occasion, la ministre a annoncé la création de l'observatoire international de l'Arctique qui rassemblera l'ensemble de la communauté scientifique et aura le rôle d'une vigie scientifique. Elle a également assuré que la recherche polaire était l'une des «priorités scientifiques de notre nation»
]]>
News And Announcements Tue, 26 May 2009 17:34:01 +0000
Arctic sea ice will probably not recover
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2130-arctic-sea-ice-will-probably-not-recover http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2130-arctic-sea-ice-will-probably-not-recover
As predicted by all IPCC models, Arctic sea ice will most likely disappear during summers in the near future. However, it seems like this is going to happen much sooner than models predicted, as pointed out by recent observations and data reanalysis undertaken during IPY and the Damocles Integrated Project.
On February 25, 2009, there will be a celebration in Geneva, Switzerland to officially close the 4th IPY that started on March 1st 2007 in Paris, France. It is not a surprise that one of the main topics of this 4th IPY was climate change, since the polar regions play a very important role in Earth's climate. This role is magnified by the combined effect of two main processes: one is due to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping longwave solar radiat...
As predicted by all IPCC models, Arctic sea ice will most likely disappear during summers in the near future. However, it seems like this is going to happen much sooner than models predicted, as pointed out by recent observations and data reanalysis undertaken during IPY and the Damocles Integrated Project.
On February 25, 2009, there will be a celebration in Geneva, Switzerland to officially close the 4th IPY that started on March 1st 2007 in Paris, France. It is not a surprise that one of the main topics of this 4th IPY was climate change, since the polar regions play a very important role in Earth's climate. This role is magnified by the combined effect of two main processes: one is due to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping longwave solar radiation, which keeps our atmosphere warm, and the other, called albedo, is due to the capacity of the Earth's surface to either reflect (in particular over ice and snow) or absorb (in particular over the ocean) incoming shortwave solar radiation.
Unprecedented events have been reported during the past 20 years in the Arctic Ocean, mostly related to the Arctic sea ice summer minimum extent that retreated in September 2007, far beyond previous extreme minimum records. This is the first clear evidence of a phenomenon of importance on a planetary scale, forced by global warming, mainly caused initially by an Earth energy imbalance due to greenhouse gas concentrations increasing in the atmosphere.
The Earth now absorbs 0.85 watts per square meter more energy from the sun than it emits into space, raising the likelihood of an acceleration of sea ice melting, ice sheet disintegration and a rise in sea levels (Hansen et al. 2005).
The European integrated project Damocles is one of the major programs of the International Polar Year (2007-2009). It is dedicated to the Development of Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies (DAMOCLES). Damocles started in December 2005 and will end up in June 2010. Damocles was proposed and selected by the European Union in response for a call addressing the development of observing systems for predicting extreme climate events.
Damocles was based on the fact that Arctic sea ice was retreating and thinning at an alarming pace. Projecting a disappearance of Arctic sea ice during summer in the near future could be considered as an extreme climate event. During the two international polar years 2007 and 2008, Damocles experienced two extreme climate events. Arctic sea ice retreated during both IPY years by more than 1 million km2 compare to a previous extreme case occurring in September 2005 before Damocles and IPY started.
It is quite instructive to compare the last 3 years (2005, 2007 and 2008) and also to compare the past 20 to 30 years, when satellites for observing planet Earth have been in existence.
Over the past 30 years we have observed a gradual long-term warming, mostly characterized by milder winter freezing seasons and longer summer melting seasons, evidencing strong albedo positive feedback effects. Less ice means more sea water being exposed to short-wave solar radiation that would be absorbed and transformed into heat by the ocean melting more ice and so on… Strong positive feedback accelerates the melting of Arctic sea-ice, especially due to the sharp contrast of the high albedo for sea-ice areas covered with snow (>0.8) that reflects 80% of the incoming solar radiation back into space, in contrast with the very low albedo (0.2) of the ocean, absorbing 80% of the incoming solar radiation.
Although long-wave and short-wave downwards solar radiation agreed rather well between models and observations, one of the biggest uncertainties in Arctic climate simulations still remains how albedo effects are affected by cloud cover and aerosols (Arctic haze). Warming amplification in the Arctic resulting in sea-ice thinning and retreat might also be attributed partly to atmospheric circulation (Graversen et al. 2008) and oceanic circulation (Zhang et al. 1998, Polyakov et al. 2005 and Dmitrenko et al. 2008) but this is still controversial. A drastic retreat of the sea-ice minimum extent in summer has inevitably profound consequences during the following fall season. Then all the heat taken up by the ocean has to be evacuated by the atmosphere, delaying the onset of freezing and consequently the amount of sea ice formed during the following winter. Observations taken during the past 20 years indicate that sea ice is becoming thinner, younger, moves faster and retreats more and more in summer. The sea-ice extent, ice thickness, ice drift and ice age are all interrelated parameters best characterizing Arctic sea-ice evolution and it is remarkable to realize that all these parameters have changed radically.
Surprisingly, the 2007 Arctic sea-ice event was largely unpredicted, even if extreme sea-ice conditions were observed almost every September month each year over the past 10 years (Perovich et al. 1999, 2003, Serreze et al. 2003 and Stroeve et al. 2005). Premises for an Arctic sea-ice thinning and of an Arctic ocean warming were reported nearly 20 years ago by Wadhams (1990) and Quadfasel (1991). So why the 2007 Arctic summer sea-ice minimum extent occur as a complete surprise if it was not an exceptional and an extraordinary event?
During the summer of 2005 we did not observe any replenishment of the MYI (Multi Year Ice) lost during the previous months by FYI (First Year Ice) either because FYI melted entirely or because FYI escaped the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait or both. So at the end of the summer of 2005, there was almost no FYI left and consequently second year ice could not grow. Only MYI remained in the Arctic Ocean in 2005 and that explained why an extreme Arctic sea-ice extent minimum was reached during that particular year.
During the summer of 2007 we observed a similar situation but even more extreme simply due to a cumulative effect characterized by no replenishment of MYI by FYI during previous years. That explained why MYI was so depleted, leading to an extreme situation in September 2007 with an all-time absolute sea-ice extent record minimum. It is quite important to understand precisely why in 2005 and 2007 all FYI disappeared and could not replenish any of the MYI like it usually did in normal years. There are several potential reasons such as a polar amplification of global warming in particular in summer during the melting season due to strong albedo positive feedback.
During the summer of 2008 we observed a drastic decrease of the Arctic MYI and an exceptional replenishment of MYI by FYI. Because FYI resisted the summer melt in 2008, the sea-ice extent minimum record of 2007 was not reached in 2008. It would be quite important to understand precisely why FYI in summer 2008 resisted both the summer melt and the transpolar drift through Fram Strait.
Based on the 2005, 2007 and 2008 extreme events occurring in the Arctic and on observations occurring very intensively thanks to the IPY stimulus and the Damocles project, it is remarkable that scientists collected lots of basic information badly needed for improving modelling and predictive capabilities. At the same time however, it should be recognized that the situations met both in 2007 and 2008 were entirely unpredicted by the IPCC models. The original design proposed by the Damocles consortium to the European Commission had to be completely revised and adapted to the new situation.
The first polar year of Damocles (2007) was mainly characterized and highlighted by the transpolar drift of the French vessel Tara (September 2006-January 2008), 115 years after the Norwegian Fram expedition with Fridtjof Nansen at the helm. Tara drifted along the transpolar drift in an amazing 15 months (500 days) compared to 3 years for the Fram 115 years ago. See illustration:
During the exceptional summer of 2007, the Russian icebreaker Akademik Fedorov from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) based in Saint Petersburg (Russia) and the German icebreaker Polarstern (the SPACE project) from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) based in Bremerhaven (Germany), circumnavigated an Arctic Ocean drastically depleted with sea ice, collecting an abundant dataset to document the prevailing conditions met during this peculiar summer of 2007. Akademik Fedorov deployed the NP35 Russian drifting station in September 2007 during the very last day of the campaign, near the Svernaya Zemlya Russian islands. NP 35 was recovered near Svalbard 10 months later, confirming the acceleration of the transpolar drift as also observed by Tara. See illustration below:
The second polar year of Damocles (2008) was highlighted by an impressive number of field work campaigns involving seven icebreakers from Russia (Akademik Fedorov and Kapitan Dranitsyn), from China (Xuelong), from Sweden (Oden), from Germany (Polarstern), from Norway (KV Svalbard and Lance) and from Canada (Louis Saint Laurent). The Swedish icebreaker Oden was stationary in the vicinity of the North Pole during the whole summer of 2008 (the ASCOS experiment). See illustration below:
New important processes were discovered during winter and summer of 2007 and 2008, such as frazil ice formation (deep ice) during the transpolar drift of Tara in winter, as well as ponds melting throughout the entire layer of ice, which drastically accelerated lateral sea-ice melting, as observed from the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong during summer of 2008.
Very innovative high technology was operated during Damocles, such as ITP, POPS, MOPS, AITP and sea glider, and an impressive array for acoustic tomography in Fram Strait was deployed. All kinds of new systems for performing sea-ice thickness measurements such as EM bird, ULS on floats and submarines, tiltmeters and seismometers and IMBs were operated.
An important September Sea-Ice Outlook was initiated by the Search for Damocles group in April 2008 after an S4D workshop organized in the US (Palisades, New Jersey) in March 2008. This Outlook will continue in 2009. A new workshop will be organized in Boulder, Colorado, in March 2009. The S4D activities were pretty successful in 2008, as illustrated by the five workshops organised during that year.
Damocles stimulated a very intensive international cooperation with the US, thanks to an EU initiative (Search for Damocles); with the Russian Federation, thanks to the EU initiative Damocles TTC (Third Targeted Countries) extension; with China thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the PRIC (Polar Research Institute of China) in Shanghai to participate in the Arctic Chinese expedition Chinare 2008 on board the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong; and with Canada thanks to a convention signed with the PCSP (Polar Continental Shelf Project) to access the Canadian Polar stations of Resolute Bay and Eureka (Environment Canada).
Our main conclusions so far indicates that there is a very low probability that Arctic sea ice will ever recover. As predicted by all IPCC models, Arctic sea ice is more likely to disappear in summer in the near future. However it seems like this is going to happen much sooner than models predicted, as pointed out by recent observations and data reanalysis undertaken during IPY and the Damocles Integrated Project. The entire Arctic system is evolving to a new super interglacial stage seasonally ice free, and this will have profound consequences for all the elements of the Arctic cryosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems and human activities. Both the atmosphere and the ocean circulation and stratification (ventilation) will also be affected. This raises a critical set of issues, with many important implications potentially able to speed up melting of the Greenland ice sheet, accelerating the rise in sea levels and slowing down the world ocean conveyor belt (THC). That would also have a lot of consequences on the ocean carbon sink (Bates et al. 2006) and ocean acidification. Permafrost melting could also accelerate during rapid Arctic sea-ice loss due to an amplification of Arctic land warming 3.5 times greater than secular 21st century climate trends, as pointed out recently by Lawrence et al. (2008). This permafrost evolution would have important consequences and strong impacts on large carbon reservoirs and methane releases, either in the ocean and/or on land.
There will be a large symposium organised in Brussels on November 17-19, 2009 by the Damocles consortium to present the complete and final results.
Recommendations
1/ Establishment of an Arctic Treaty covering scientific needs, rights and access for exploring the Arctic in exchange of a fully transparent process for all scientific activities occurring under the Treaty, including unlimited and full transparent data sharing between all the parties.
2/ Large European involvement for Arctic exploration: promotion of the Aurora Borealis European icebreaker and European full partnership in the Arctic Council.
3/ Establishment of an international pan-Arctic coordinated scientific network of polar stations including Tiksi (Siberia), Resolute Bay & Eureka (Nunavut), Longyearbyen & Ny Alesund (Svalbard), Nuuk (Greenland) and Point Barrow (Alaska) and logistical platforms (ice breakers).
4/ Establishment of an international pan-Arctic coordinated scientific network of Arctic researchers gathering ALL scientists working in ALL countries contributing to Arctic research with NO exclusion. This network (Open Forum) should elaborate and keep updated a coordinated science plan for future Arctic research covering all disciplines. Scientists should elect network coordinators for any given stretch of time. This network should also elaborate an implementation plan to be discussed with national and international polar agencies. The European Union and the Arctic Council could provide the funding necessary for the foundation and functioning of this international network of scientists. That would be a great legacy of both IPY and Damocles.
5/ The fourth IPY is ending soon but due to the rapid evolution of climate change, specially in the Arctic domain, we need to maintain a high level of scientific activity in the Arctic. It would make no sense to wait for another 50 years for the fifth International Polar Year to continue our investigations regarding climate change.
6/ The human dimension of climate changes is global and this is why we called the new era the anthropocene.
Contacts:
Jean Claude Gascard, project leader:
Cellphone: +33 6 81 72 91 03
Eric Brossier, scientist live from the Arctic:
Cellphone: +881 621 412 299
Bob Dickson: integrated Arctic Ocenan observing system
Telephone: +44 15 02 52 42 82
Cellphone: +44 79 73 30 62 68
Erlend Hermansen, press officer
Cellphone: +47 99 64 36 01
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
On February 25, 2009, there will be a celebration in Geneva, Switzerland to officially close the 4th IPY that started on March 1st 2007 in Paris, France. It is not a surprise that one of the main topics of this 4th IPY was climate change, since the polar regions play a very important role in Earth's climate. This role is magnified by the combined effect of two main processes: one is due to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping longwave solar radiation, which keeps our atmosphere warm, and the other, called albedo, is due to the capacity of the Earth's surface to either reflect (in particular over ice and snow) or absorb (in particular over the ocean) incoming shortwave solar radiation.
Unprecedented events have been reported during the past 20 years in the Arctic Ocean, mostly related to the Arctic sea ice summer minimum extent that retreated in September 2007, far beyond previous extreme minimum records. This is the first clear evidence of a phenomenon of importance on a planetary scale, forced by global warming, mainly caused initially by an Earth energy imbalance due to greenhouse gas concentrations increasing in the atmosphere.
The Earth now absorbs 0.85 watts per square meter more energy from the sun than it emits into space, raising the likelihood of an acceleration of sea ice melting, ice sheet disintegration and a rise in sea levels (Hansen et al. 2005).
The European integrated project Damocles is one of the major programs of the International Polar Year (2007-2009). It is dedicated to the Development of Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies (DAMOCLES). Damocles started in December 2005 and will end up in June 2010. Damocles was proposed and selected by the European Union in response for a call addressing the development of observing systems for predicting extreme climate events.
Damocles was based on the fact that Arctic sea ice was retreating and thinning at an alarming pace. Projecting a disappearance of Arctic sea ice during summer in the near future could be considered as an extreme climate event. During the two international polar years 2007 and 2008, Damocles experienced two extreme climate events. Arctic sea ice retreated during both IPY years by more than 1 million km2 compare to a previous extreme case occurring in September 2005 before Damocles and IPY started.
It is quite instructive to compare the last 3 years (2005, 2007 and 2008) and also to compare the past 20 to 30 years, when satellites for observing planet Earth have been in existence.
Over the past 30 years we have observed a gradual long-term warming, mostly characterized by milder winter freezing seasons and longer summer melting seasons, evidencing strong albedo positive feedback effects. Less ice means more sea water being exposed to short-wave solar radiation that would be absorbed and transformed into heat by the ocean melting more ice and so on… Strong positive feedback accelerates the melting of Arctic sea-ice, especially due to the sharp contrast of the high albedo for sea-ice areas covered with snow (>0.8) that reflects 80% of the incoming solar radiation back into space, in contrast with the very low albedo (0.2) of the ocean, absorbing 80% of the incoming solar radiation.
Although long-wave and short-wave downwards solar radiation agreed rather well between models and observations, one of the biggest uncertainties in Arctic climate simulations still remains how albedo effects are affected by cloud cover and aerosols (Arctic haze). Warming amplification in the Arctic resulting in sea-ice thinning and retreat might also be attributed partly to atmospheric circulation (Graversen et al. 2008) and oceanic circulation (Zhang et al. 1998, Polyakov et al. 2005 and Dmitrenko et al. 2008) but this is still controversial. A drastic retreat of the sea-ice minimum extent in summer has inevitably profound consequences during the following fall season. Then all the heat taken up by the ocean has to be evacuated by the atmosphere, delaying the onset of freezing and consequently the amount of sea ice formed during the following winter. Observations taken during the past 20 years indicate that sea ice is becoming thinner, younger, moves faster and retreats more and more in summer. The sea-ice extent, ice thickness, ice drift and ice age are all interrelated parameters best characterizing Arctic sea-ice evolution and it is remarkable to realize that all these parameters have changed radically.
Surprisingly, the 2007 Arctic sea-ice event was largely unpredicted, even if extreme sea-ice conditions were observed almost every September month each year over the past 10 years (Perovich et al. 1999, 2003, Serreze et al. 2003 and Stroeve et al. 2005). Premises for an Arctic sea-ice thinning and of an Arctic ocean warming were reported nearly 20 years ago by Wadhams (1990) and Quadfasel (1991). So why the 2007 Arctic summer sea-ice minimum extent occur as a complete surprise if it was not an exceptional and an extraordinary event?
During the summer of 2005 we did not observe any replenishment of the MYI (Multi Year Ice) lost during the previous months by FYI (First Year Ice) either because FYI melted entirely or because FYI escaped the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait or both. So at the end of the summer of 2005, there was almost no FYI left and consequently second year ice could not grow. Only MYI remained in the Arctic Ocean in 2005 and that explained why an extreme Arctic sea-ice extent minimum was reached during that particular year.
During the summer of 2007 we observed a similar situation but even more extreme simply due to a cumulative effect characterized by no replenishment of MYI by FYI during previous years. That explained why MYI was so depleted, leading to an extreme situation in September 2007 with an all-time absolute sea-ice extent record minimum. It is quite important to understand precisely why in 2005 and 2007 all FYI disappeared and could not replenish any of the MYI like it usually did in normal years. There are several potential reasons such as a polar amplification of global warming in particular in summer during the melting season due to strong albedo positive feedback.
During the summer of 2008 we observed a drastic decrease of the Arctic MYI and an exceptional replenishment of MYI by FYI. Because FYI resisted the summer melt in 2008, the sea-ice extent minimum record of 2007 was not reached in 2008. It would be quite important to understand precisely why FYI in summer 2008 resisted both the summer melt and the transpolar drift through Fram Strait.
Based on the 2005, 2007 and 2008 extreme events occurring in the Arctic and on observations occurring very intensively thanks to the IPY stimulus and the Damocles project, it is remarkable that scientists collected lots of basic information badly needed for improving modelling and predictive capabilities. At the same time however, it should be recognized that the situations met both in 2007 and 2008 were entirely unpredicted by the IPCC models. The original design proposed by the Damocles consortium to the European Commission had to be completely revised and adapted to the new situation.
The first polar year of Damocles (2007) was mainly characterized and highlighted by the transpolar drift of the French vessel Tara (September 2006-January 2008), 115 years after the Norwegian Fram expedition with Fridtjof Nansen at the helm. Tara drifted along the transpolar drift in an amazing 15 months (500 days) compared to 3 years for the Fram 115 years ago. See illustration:
During the exceptional summer of 2007, the Russian icebreaker Akademik Fedorov from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) based in Saint Petersburg (Russia) and the German icebreaker Polarstern (the SPACE project) from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) based in Bremerhaven (Germany), circumnavigated an Arctic Ocean drastically depleted with sea ice, collecting an abundant dataset to document the prevailing conditions met during this peculiar summer of 2007. Akademik Fedorov deployed the NP35 Russian drifting station in September 2007 during the very last day of the campaign, near the Svernaya Zemlya Russian islands. NP 35 was recovered near Svalbard 10 months later, confirming the acceleration of the transpolar drift as also observed by Tara. See illustration below:
The second polar year of Damocles (2008) was highlighted by an impressive number of field work campaigns involving seven icebreakers from Russia (Akademik Fedorov and Kapitan Dranitsyn), from China (Xuelong), from Sweden (Oden), from Germany (Polarstern), from Norway (KV Svalbard and Lance) and from Canada (Louis Saint Laurent). The Swedish icebreaker Oden was stationary in the vicinity of the North Pole during the whole summer of 2008 (the ASCOS experiment). See illustration below:
New important processes were discovered during winter and summer of 2007 and 2008, such as frazil ice formation (deep ice) during the transpolar drift of Tara in winter, as well as ponds melting throughout the entire layer of ice, which drastically accelerated lateral sea-ice melting, as observed from the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong during summer of 2008.
Very innovative high technology was operated during Damocles, such as ITP, POPS, MOPS, AITP and sea glider, and an impressive array for acoustic tomography in Fram Strait was deployed. All kinds of new systems for performing sea-ice thickness measurements such as EM bird, ULS on floats and submarines, tiltmeters and seismometers and IMBs were operated.
An important September Sea-Ice Outlook was initiated by the Search for Damocles group in April 2008 after an S4D workshop organized in the US (Palisades, New Jersey) in March 2008. This Outlook will continue in 2009. A new workshop will be organized in Boulder, Colorado, in March 2009. The S4D activities were pretty successful in 2008, as illustrated by the five workshops organised during that year.
Damocles stimulated a very intensive international cooperation with the US, thanks to an EU initiative (Search for Damocles); with the Russian Federation, thanks to the EU initiative Damocles TTC (Third Targeted Countries) extension; with China thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the PRIC (Polar Research Institute of China) in Shanghai to participate in the Arctic Chinese expedition Chinare 2008 on board the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong; and with Canada thanks to a convention signed with the PCSP (Polar Continental Shelf Project) to access the Canadian Polar stations of Resolute Bay and Eureka (Environment Canada).
Our main conclusions so far indicates that there is a very low probability that Arctic sea ice will ever recover. As predicted by all IPCC models, Arctic sea ice is more likely to disappear in summer in the near future. However it seems like this is going to happen much sooner than models predicted, as pointed out by recent observations and data reanalysis undertaken during IPY and the Damocles Integrated Project. The entire Arctic system is evolving to a new super interglacial stage seasonally ice free, and this will have profound consequences for all the elements of the Arctic cryosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems and human activities. Both the atmosphere and the ocean circulation and stratification (ventilation) will also be affected. This raises a critical set of issues, with many important implications potentially able to speed up melting of the Greenland ice sheet, accelerating the rise in sea levels and slowing down the world ocean conveyor belt (THC). That would also have a lot of consequences on the ocean carbon sink (Bates et al. 2006) and ocean acidification. Permafrost melting could also accelerate during rapid Arctic sea-ice loss due to an amplification of Arctic land warming 3.5 times greater than secular 21st century climate trends, as pointed out recently by Lawrence et al. (2008). This permafrost evolution would have important consequences and strong impacts on large carbon reservoirs and methane releases, either in the ocean and/or on land.
There will be a large symposium organised in Brussels on November 17-19, 2009 by the Damocles consortium to present the complete and final results.
Recommendations
1/ Establishment of an Arctic Treaty covering scientific needs, rights and access for exploring the Arctic in exchange of a fully transparent process for all scientific activities occurring under the Treaty, including unlimited and full transparent data sharing between all the parties.
2/ Large European involvement for Arctic exploration: promotion of the Aurora Borealis European icebreaker and European full partnership in the Arctic Council.
3/ Establishment of an international pan-Arctic coordinated scientific network of polar stations including Tiksi (Siberia), Resolute Bay & Eureka (Nunavut), Longyearbyen & Ny Alesund (Svalbard), Nuuk (Greenland) and Point Barrow (Alaska) and logistical platforms (ice breakers).
4/ Establishment of an international pan-Arctic coordinated scientific network of Arctic researchers gathering ALL scientists working in ALL countries contributing to Arctic research with NO exclusion. This network (Open Forum) should elaborate and keep updated a coordinated science plan for future Arctic research covering all disciplines. Scientists should elect network coordinators for any given stretch of time. This network should also elaborate an implementation plan to be discussed with national and international polar agencies. The European Union and the Arctic Council could provide the funding necessary for the foundation and functioning of this international network of scientists. That would be a great legacy of both IPY and Damocles.
5/ The fourth IPY is ending soon but due to the rapid evolution of climate change, specially in the Arctic domain, we need to maintain a high level of scientific activity in the Arctic. It would make no sense to wait for another 50 years for the fifth International Polar Year to continue our investigations regarding climate change.
6/ The human dimension of climate changes is global and this is why we called the new era the anthropocene.
Contacts:
Jean Claude Gascard, project leader:
Cellphone: +33 6 81 72 91 03
Eric Brossier, scientist live from the Arctic:
Cellphone: +881 621 412 299
Bob Dickson: integrated Arctic Ocenan observing system
Telephone: +44 15 02 52 42 82
Cellphone: +44 79 73 30 62 68
Erlend Hermansen, press officer
Cellphone: +47 99 64 36 01
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:07:01 +0000
A large pool of freshwater is building up in the Arctic
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2129-a-large-pool-of-freshwater-is-building-up-in-the-arctic http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2129-a-large-pool-of-freshwater-is-building-up-in-the-arctic
Recent observations of Arctic Ocean outflow in the Fram Strait suggest that freshwater is piling up in the Arctic Ocean. A change in wind direction could release the largest amount of freshwater through Fram Strait ever recorded.
Photo: Rudi Caeyers
The freshwater transport from the Arctic to lower latitudes is one of the main ways of the Arctic to interact with the global climate system.
The effect of such a release of freshwater depends on the final magnitude and nature of the release.
“The effects this release will have on the climate processes are in the focus of ongoing res...
Recent observations of Arctic Ocean outflow in the Fram Strait suggest that freshwater is piling up in the Arctic Ocean. A change in wind direction could release the largest amount of freshwater through Fram Strait ever recorded.
Photo: Rudi Caeyers
The freshwater transport from the Arctic to lower latitudes is one of the main ways of the Arctic to interact with the global climate system.
The effect of such a release of freshwater depends on the final magnitude and nature of the release.
“The effects this release will have on the climate processes are in the focus of ongoing research. But it will certainly affect the processes behind deep water formation in the Northern North Atlantic” said co-leader of iAOOS Norway, Dr. Edmond Hansen.
Historic data and modeling studies show that a release of the fresh water pool is likely to happen at some stage in the near future.
“The freshwater is believed to be one of the factors modulating the deep water formation in the subpolar gyres, and hence the northward transport of oceanic heat, which in turn is very important for the climate in the Northern regions”, Hansen continued.
More freshwater in, but not out
Observations done by The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) across the Arctic Ocean outflow region in Fram Strait since 1997 have been extended through IPY within the IPY-project iAOOS.
“New investigations of the observed data reveal that the southward transport of freshwater through Fram Strait stays at a constant level, despite the fact that increased Arctic river runoff and sea ice melt have added much extra freshwater to the Arctic system over the past twenty to thirty years”, Hansen said.
The observations in Fram Strait show that the extra freshwater has not been exported south, although some transport may have occurred through the Canadian Archipelago.
The scientists conclude that the extra freshwater is being stored internally in the Arctic Ocean. This is verified by US scientists, who report that an anomalously large amount of freshwater is building up in the Beaufort Gyre. Historical observations have shown that this freshwater storage at some point will be released, and flushed through the Canadian Archipelago and Fram Strait.
Global effects?
The Arctic climate is a very complex system, which interacts with the global climate in an even more complex way.
“Increasing air and ocean temperatures, increased river runoff and a disappearing summer sea ice cover are changes that are likely to modify the physical processes of the Arctic Ocean and its interaction with the global climate system”, Hansen said.
“One such interaction is exactly the export of freshwater southward through the Canadian Archipelago and Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard”, he continued.
As a result of the efforts made in developing monitoring systems for the Arctic during IPY, the scientists have a unique opportunity to document the freshwater release from Arctic Ocean.
“At the observation site in the Fram Strait, we are in the best position available to observe, document and analyze the extraordinary event a freshwater storage release would be”, Hansen concluded.
About the project
The main objective of the IPY project iAOOS Norway (integrated Arctic Ocean Observation System) is to better understand the interactions and processes in the Arctic. iAOOS-Norway builds on, and supplements, other ongoing components of this observation system, such as DAMOCLES (http://www.damocles-eu.org/) and NABOS. The Arctic has been peppered with instruments that are central components in an integrated Arctic Ocean Observation System (AOOS). The aim is to improve both operational and climate forecasting in the Arctic region. For more information please visit this web site.
Contacts:
Edmond Hansen (edmond.hansen@npolar.no)
Cellphone: +47 95 78 46 93
Telephone: +47 77 75 05 36
Erlend Hermansen - media inquiries (e.a.t.hermansen@cicero.uio.no)
Cellphone: +47 99 64 36 01
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
Photo: Rudi CaeyersThe freshwater transport from the Arctic to lower latitudes is one of the main ways of the Arctic to interact with the global climate system.
The effect of such a release of freshwater depends on the final magnitude and nature of the release.
“The effects this release will have on the climate processes are in the focus of ongoing research. But it will certainly affect the processes behind deep water formation in the Northern North Atlantic” said co-leader of iAOOS Norway, Dr. Edmond Hansen.
Historic data and modeling studies show that a release of the fresh water pool is likely to happen at some stage in the near future.
“The freshwater is believed to be one of the factors modulating the deep water formation in the subpolar gyres, and hence the northward transport of oceanic heat, which in turn is very important for the climate in the Northern regions”, Hansen continued.
More freshwater in, but not out
Observations done by The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) across the Arctic Ocean outflow region in Fram Strait since 1997 have been extended through IPY within the IPY-project iAOOS.
“New investigations of the observed data reveal that the southward transport of freshwater through Fram Strait stays at a constant level, despite the fact that increased Arctic river runoff and sea ice melt have added much extra freshwater to the Arctic system over the past twenty to thirty years”, Hansen said.
The observations in Fram Strait show that the extra freshwater has not been exported south, although some transport may have occurred through the Canadian Archipelago.
The scientists conclude that the extra freshwater is being stored internally in the Arctic Ocean. This is verified by US scientists, who report that an anomalously large amount of freshwater is building up in the Beaufort Gyre. Historical observations have shown that this freshwater storage at some point will be released, and flushed through the Canadian Archipelago and Fram Strait.
Global effects?
The Arctic climate is a very complex system, which interacts with the global climate in an even more complex way.
“Increasing air and ocean temperatures, increased river runoff and a disappearing summer sea ice cover are changes that are likely to modify the physical processes of the Arctic Ocean and its interaction with the global climate system”, Hansen said.
“One such interaction is exactly the export of freshwater southward through the Canadian Archipelago and Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard”, he continued.
As a result of the efforts made in developing monitoring systems for the Arctic during IPY, the scientists have a unique opportunity to document the freshwater release from Arctic Ocean.
“At the observation site in the Fram Strait, we are in the best position available to observe, document and analyze the extraordinary event a freshwater storage release would be”, Hansen concluded.
About the project
The main objective of the IPY project iAOOS Norway (integrated Arctic Ocean Observation System) is to better understand the interactions and processes in the Arctic. iAOOS-Norway builds on, and supplements, other ongoing components of this observation system, such as DAMOCLES (http://www.damocles-eu.org/) and NABOS. The Arctic has been peppered with instruments that are central components in an integrated Arctic Ocean Observation System (AOOS). The aim is to improve both operational and climate forecasting in the Arctic region. For more information please visit this web site.
Contacts:
Edmond Hansen (edmond.hansen@npolar.no)
Cellphone: +47 95 78 46 93
Telephone: +47 77 75 05 36
Erlend Hermansen - media inquiries (e.a.t.hermansen@cicero.uio.no)
Cellphone: +47 99 64 36 01
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:06:00 +0000
Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study Celebrates with IPY in Geneva
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2125-circumpolar-flaw-lead-system-study-celebrates-with-ipy-in-geneva http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2125-circumpolar-flaw-lead-system-study-celebrates-with-ipy-in-geneva
Winnipeg, Canada — 18 February 2009 — The University of Manitoba-led project that gained worldwide appeal and interest will be one of the highlights of a conference in Europe Feb. 25, 2009 as International Polar Year (IPY) wraps. An IPY committee will release its State of Polar Research report at that time to summarize all the IPY studies, one of the largest of which was led by a climate change expert at the University of Manitoba.
“Our data is coming in and our team is looking forward to the next phase of our research,” says Barber, David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) at the University of Manitoba. “IPY gave us this tremendous window into climate change. What we learned about...
Winnipeg, Canada — 18 February 2009 — The University of Manitoba-led project that gained worldwide appeal and interest will be one of the highlights of a conference in Europe Feb. 25, 2009 as International Polar Year (IPY) wraps. An IPY committee will release its State of Polar Research report at that time to summarize all the IPY studies, one of the largest of which was led by a climate change expert at the University of Manitoba.
“Our data is coming in and our team is looking forward to the next phase of our research,” says Barber, David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) at the University of Manitoba. “IPY gave us this tremendous window into climate change. What we learned about climate change was more dramatic and immediate than we had anticipated. Now we must take our work to the next level and understand the very strong physical processes which are shaping the sea ice in the Arctic and to understand how these changes are affecting northern peoples, industrial development and the marine ecosystem.”
Barber led the Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) system study to examine the importance of climate processes in changing the nature of a flaw lead system in the Northern Hemisphere. He and his team looked at the effect these changes have on the marine ecosystem, contaminant transport, carbon fluxes and greenhouse gases. The project involved the overwintering of the CCGS Amundsen, Canada’s premier research icebreaker, in the Cape Bathurst flaw lead in the western Canadian high Arctic. The CFL project was the first time ever that a research icebreaker overwintered in a flaw lead while staying mobile throughout the year.
The project also aimed to integrate Traditional Knowledge with science through a series of interviews and Inuit-led policy initiatives and workshops called the 2008 Circumpolar Inuit Field Program (CIFP), as well as coordinated a massive project that brought high school students on board with the ‘Schools on Board’ field program. Participants participated in an educational program that included fieldwork, lab activities and lectures delivered by scientists. This unique program featured knowledge exchange workshops on “two ways of knowing” and involved participation of northern community leaders and Inuit elders.
The Feb. 25 IPY celebration will include a press conference and presentation in Geneva, Switzerland. The State of Polar Research report will present an overview of the collective impact of the international and interdisciplinary research achieved through the IPY 2007-8 and will outline the future for polar research.
Canada’s $150 million IPY program was officially launched March 2007. It included more than 40 Canadian projects that focused on the environmental, climatic and social changes taking place in Polar regions, with a strong focus on the Canadian Arctic.
Dr. David Barber will be available today, Feb. 18, 2009 for comment on the CFL and IPY. He can be reached at (204) 510-6981.
To learn more about the Canadian Flaw Lead System Study, please visit the project’s web site: www.ipy-cfl.ca.
To learn more about Canada’s International Polar Year initiatives, please visit the Government of Canada’s International Polar Year web site: www.ipy-api.gc.ca.
Public Affairs Department
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Canada
Media contact: Tamara Bodi
204-474-7963
umanitoba.ca/mediaroom
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
“Our data is coming in and our team is looking forward to the next phase of our research,” says Barber, David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) at the University of Manitoba. “IPY gave us this tremendous window into climate change. What we learned about climate change was more dramatic and immediate than we had anticipated. Now we must take our work to the next level and understand the very strong physical processes which are shaping the sea ice in the Arctic and to understand how these changes are affecting northern peoples, industrial development and the marine ecosystem.”
Barber led the Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) system study to examine the importance of climate processes in changing the nature of a flaw lead system in the Northern Hemisphere. He and his team looked at the effect these changes have on the marine ecosystem, contaminant transport, carbon fluxes and greenhouse gases. The project involved the overwintering of the CCGS Amundsen, Canada’s premier research icebreaker, in the Cape Bathurst flaw lead in the western Canadian high Arctic. The CFL project was the first time ever that a research icebreaker overwintered in a flaw lead while staying mobile throughout the year.
The project also aimed to integrate Traditional Knowledge with science through a series of interviews and Inuit-led policy initiatives and workshops called the 2008 Circumpolar Inuit Field Program (CIFP), as well as coordinated a massive project that brought high school students on board with the ‘Schools on Board’ field program. Participants participated in an educational program that included fieldwork, lab activities and lectures delivered by scientists. This unique program featured knowledge exchange workshops on “two ways of knowing” and involved participation of northern community leaders and Inuit elders.
The Feb. 25 IPY celebration will include a press conference and presentation in Geneva, Switzerland. The State of Polar Research report will present an overview of the collective impact of the international and interdisciplinary research achieved through the IPY 2007-8 and will outline the future for polar research.
Canada’s $150 million IPY program was officially launched March 2007. It included more than 40 Canadian projects that focused on the environmental, climatic and social changes taking place in Polar regions, with a strong focus on the Canadian Arctic.
Dr. David Barber will be available today, Feb. 18, 2009 for comment on the CFL and IPY. He can be reached at (204) 510-6981.
To learn more about the Canadian Flaw Lead System Study, please visit the project’s web site: www.ipy-cfl.ca.
To learn more about Canada’s International Polar Year initiatives, please visit the Government of Canada’s International Polar Year web site: www.ipy-api.gc.ca.
Public Affairs Department
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Canada
Media contact: Tamara Bodi
204-474-7963
umanitoba.ca/mediaroom
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on ‘The State of Polar Research’. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:50:00 +0000
Documents for EOC Meeting, Geneva, February 2009
http://www.ipy.org/links-a-resources/item/2121-documents-for-eoc-meeting-geneva-february-2009 http://www.ipy.org/links-a-resources/item/2121-documents-for-eoc-meeting-geneva-february-2009
Below are documents that we will be discussing and developing at the IPY/Oslo 2010 meeting for Education, Outreach, and Communication in Geneva, February 23-24th 2009.
The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.
Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.
Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate
Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy
Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far
Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer
The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.
Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.
Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate
Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy
Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far
Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer
Below are documents that we will be discussing and developing at the IPY/Oslo 2010 meeting for Education, Outreach, and Communication in Geneva, February 23-24th 2009.
The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.
Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.
Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate
Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy
Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far
Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer
The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.
Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.
Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate
Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy
Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far
Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer
]]>
links and resources Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:10:00 +0000
Hundreds of Identical Species Thrive in Both Arctic and Antarctic Oceans
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2113-hundreds-of-identical-species-thrive-in-both-arctic-and-antarctic-oceans http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2113-hundreds-of-identical-species-thrive-in-both-arctic-and-antarctic-oceans
Polar Bears and Penguins May Live at Opposite Poles, But Census of Marine Life Explorers Find Hundreds of Identical Species Thrive in Both Arctic and Antarctic
Contacts: Mr. Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712; +1-416-538-8712; terrycollins@rogers.com
Ms. Darlene Trew Crist, +1-401-295-1356; +1-401-952-7692; darlene.crist@cox.net
Mr. Gregg Schmidt, +1-202- 448-1231; gschmidt@oceanleadership.org
Experts are available for advance interviews. Video and high-resolution images are online at www.coml.org/embargo/polar2009
Download PDF of CoML IPY Press Release for i...
Polar Bears and Penguins May Live at Opposite Poles, But Census of Marine Life Explorers Find Hundreds of Identical Species Thrive in Both Arctic and Antarctic
Contacts: Mr. Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712; +1-416-538-8712; terrycollins@rogers.com
Ms. Darlene Trew Crist, +1-401-295-1356; +1-401-952-7692; darlene.crist@cox.net
Mr. Gregg Schmidt, +1-202- 448-1231; gschmidt@oceanleadership.org
Experts are available for advance interviews. Video and high-resolution images are online at www.coml.org/embargo/polar2009
Download PDF of CoML IPY Press Release for images
• Researchers in North and South startled to find Polar oceans share 235 species;
• Changes in species distribution documented as warmer oceans spur migration;
• United by high-speed current, Antarctic benthos revealed as single bioregion;
• Smaller species replacing larger ones in some Arctic waters
Polar Year results are milestones towards historic 1st global oceans Census: Oct. 2010
Earth’s unique, forbidding ice oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic have revealed a trove of secrets to Census of Marine Life explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite an 11,000-kilometer distance in between.
The scientists found marine life that both poles apparently share in common include marathoners such as great whales (www.eol.org/pages/328569) and birds, but also worms, crustaceans, and angelic snail-like pteropods, the latter discoveries opening a host of future research questions about where they originated and how they wound up at both ends of the Earth. DNA analysis is underway to confirm whether the species are indeed identical.
Among many other findings, the scientists also documented evidence of cold water- loving species shifting towards both poles to escape rising ocean temperatures.
The discoveries are the result of a series of landmark, often perilous voyages conducted during International Polar Year, 2007-2008. Biologists braved waves of up to 16 meters (48 feet) while getting to and from the Antarctic while their Arctic colleagues often worked under the watchful eye of an armed lookout to scare off polar bears.
The studies by a global network of polar researchers have added substantially to human knowledge about the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life, with results to be fully detailed in the world’s first Census report, to be released in London Oct. 4, 2010.
“The polar seas, far from being biological deserts, teem with an amazing quantity and variety of life,” says Dr. Ian Poiner, Chair of the Census Scientific Steering Committee. “Only through the co-operation of 500 people from more than 25 countries could the daunting environmental challenges be overcome to produce research of such unprecedented scale and importance. And humanity is only starting to understand the nature of these regions.”
The polar Census teams are documenting:
• The distribution of ocean animals – mapping their changing ranges and hotspots;
• The diversity of species (to date: 7,500 animals in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the
Arctic, of a global marine life species total estimated at 230,000-250,000); and
• The abundance and sizes of major species groups at various levels in the food
web, in order to gauge how they change over time;
Antarctic seafloor: a single bioregion, and a cold incubator for new species
Previously thought to be low in species diversity and abundance, CAML researchers and collaborators have amassed biological data from nearly 1 million locations. Those places include seafloors exposed to light for the first time in as much as 100,000 years when ancient ice shelf lids melted and disintegrated in recent years.
Led by Drs. Michael Stoddart and Victoria Wadley of the Australian Antarctic Division, and Dr. Colin Summerhayes, Executive Director of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, www.caml.aq ) coordinated 18 major research voyages during IPY (2007-2008), the tracks of the voyages shown below. That compares with two or three expeditions in a normal year.
The extensive sampling has provided both an immediate picture of unexpectedly rich marine life around Antarctica and the means to test important theories.
Research in the 1970’s suggested separate bioregions around Antarctica. CAML’s efforts, however, reveal life on the seafloor encircling Antarctica forms a single biological province, even though 8,500 km of ocean separates opposite sides of the continent.
Scientists are now analyzing hundreds of open ocean (pelagic) samples from all compass points around Antarctica to establish whether, as suspected, marine life distribution has been evened by the churn of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. That swift-flowing current circles the polar continent twice as fast as the Gulf Stream flows from the Gulf of Mexico towards Europe.
And they report species of cold-water snail (pteropods) migrating southward as ocean temperatures rise further north.
Meanwhile, the polar marine explorers were startled when molecular techniques revealed that glacial cycles over millions of years made the Antarctic the cold incubator of many species residing today in more northern waters.
Census researchers last year established that several octopus types have repeatedly colonized the deep sea, each migration coinciding with retreating Antarctic ice over 30 million years.
Today they theorize that the Antarctic also regularly refreshes the world’s oceans with new varieties of sea spiders, isopods (crustaceans related to shrimp and crabs), and others as well. They believe the new species evolve when expansions of ice cloister Antarctica; when the ice retreats, they radiate northward along the same pathways followed by the octopuses.
The abundance of Antarctic marine biodiversity is recorded in the SCAR-MarBIN database, which today contains close to 1 million marine life observations below the Antarctic Circle. About half of Antarctic species are found nowhere else on Earth.
Says Victoria Wadley: “One hundred years ago, Antarctic explorers like Scott and Rutherford saw mostly ice. In 2009, we see life everywhere.”
The Arctic: changes recorded
Many global collaborators teamed with the Census’ project on Arctic Ocean Diversity (ArcOD, www.arcodiv.org ), led by Drs. Rolf Gradinger, Bodil Bluhm and Russ Hopcroft of the University of Alaska, and Dr. Andrey Gebruk of the Shirshov Institute, Moscow. Together they completed 14 IPY expeditions, including 10 cruises.
Field work will continue this summer, including a cruise to the Beaufort Sea to investigate the potentially important role sea ice ridges could play as a refuge for marine life if ice loss continues long-term.
ArcOD researchers say subtle effects on marine life distribution, abundance and diversity due to recent warming in the Arctic have started appearing, most notably:
• A rising ratio of warm water to cold water-loving amphipod crustaceans in Hornsund fjord in Norway’s Svalbard Island group (also called Spitsbergen, midway between Norway and the North Pole); and
• Documentation from the Chukchi Sea of range extensions to the north of at least three species – in two cases by up to 500 km – plus a growing number of snow crabs.
Meanwhile, researchers say smaller marine species are replacing larger ones in some Arctic waters. The reasons behind the shift are obscure but the implications for the Arctic food web may be profound.
The Census database known as OBIS (the Ocean Biogeographic Information System) today contains almost 1 million observations of more than 5,500 distinct taxa above the Arctic Circle, with more being added at an ever quickening pace.
The map below depicts the number of records in OBIS for all Arctic marine life, where white indicates no records.
Says Russ Hopcroft: “We have filled in major blank spots on the Arctic map, and continue to add more, though big unobserved areas remain.”
New technologies
New technologies are dramatically speeding Census research into the abundance, diversity and distribution of marine biodiversity.
Census researchers are using cell phone-like devices to learn about the distribution of large animals at both poles. For example, tracking devices fitted to narwhals, the ocean unicorn (www.eol.org/pages/328542), record their Arctic migrations and provide as a by-product a wealth of rich data on the status of polar oceans, lending a major assist to science. Seals (http://eol.org/pages/1052724), meanwhile, captured before and after observations of the 2008 collapse of a large part of Antarctica’s Wilkins ice shelf.
SCUBA divers were deployed for observations in heavy Arctic ice and advanced, deep water optical systems on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) enabled detailed studies of delicate marine animals too fragile to collect. Similar approaches recorded videos of penguins and seals under Antarctic ice.
And DNA sequences, or barcodes, will dramatically accelerate the cataloguing of life’s diversity, helping to identify new and cryptic species. In partnership with Canada’s University of Guelph, ArcOD, CAML, their sister project, the Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ, www.cmarz.org), and others are collaborating in the Polar Barcode
of Life project, with Belgium’s SCAR-MarBIN (www.scarmarbin.be) creating data storage, analysis and visualization tools. CAML is barcoding some 3,000 Antarctic species; ArcOD has barcoded about 300 to date. With a completed molecular catalog, analysis of genetic variation within polar marine environments and at different depths will be far quicker and easier.
* * * * *
Others among the 17 Census of Marine Life projects contributing to the progress of understanding in polar regions is the International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM, http://icomm.mbl.edu), which was recently able to sequence the DNA of more than 370,000 individual microbes living in 2-to-10 liter seawater samples drawn from 16 points around the Antarctic. Work is underway to distinguish the species captured.
The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP, www.hmapcoml.org) project researchers, meanwhile, studied monastic and government records dating back to the 1600s to reconstruct populations of walruses in the White and Barents seas.
Benefits to society accruing already from Census research include the identification of vulnerable marine habitats in the Southern Ocean, based on CAML information. Meanwhile, the marine component of a multi-national Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (http://arcticportal.org/en/caff/cbmp) is in development with ArcOD participation.
Braving often bitter cold and perilous ocean conditions, the outstanding accomplishments of dedicated polar marine researchers have been honored recently in a number of countries. On a 2008 visit to Antarctica, for example, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, presented CAML scientist Dr. Lucia Campos with a national award for her work in that region. Researcher Dr. Angelika Brandt of Germany was awarded the prestigious biennial SCAR medal by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. And Census scientists Drs. Eduardo Klein and Elizabeth Huck of the Universidad Simon
Bolivar received Venezuela’s highest civilian honor for their studies of Antarctic biodiversity.
Photography by ArcOD team members has earned a place in galleries from Alaska to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and inspired an exhibition of paintings based on the images. CAML and ArcOD researchers, meanwhile, have both provided marine life photos used for stamps in Canada and Australia commemorating IPY.
* * * * *
Concludes Ian Poiner: “In these unique oceans, where the water temperature is colder at the surface than below, we are establishing the first benchmarks of marine biodiversity against which change may be measured, a significant polar year legacy for future generations. The significant investment of nations, the skills of scientists from the many ocean research disciplines, and the social network of the Census of Marine Life made it happen.”
* * * * *
Census of Marine Life
Started in the year 2000, CoML is an international science research program uniting thousands of researchers worldwide with the goal of assessing and explaining the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life – past, present and future – by 2010.
In 2009, researchers will pursue adventurous expeditions to sample a range of key habitats. They will conduct the first exploration of the world’s deepest known ocean volcanoes, for example, found more than 5,000 meters below surface in a Caribbean seafloor rift between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Of particular note also is sampling scheduled in the largely unexplored areas of the Indian Ocean off Madagascar, where experts expect to meet hundreds of new species in all taxonomic groups. Since the mid 1990s, collectors have been intrigued by the seashells of unknown mollusc species offered for sale by local lobster fishermen. Advanced amateurs have since sampled and described more than 35 mollusk species that appear unique to this area.
The Census of Marine Life is supported by private sources and government agencies the world over. A list of all supporters is online at
www.comlsecretariat.org/Dev2Go.web?id=302846&rnd=27348.
* * * * *
International Polar Year (www.ipy.org)
Organized by the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, IPY has been a scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.
Several thousand scientists spanning over 200 projects and 60 nations participated.
Funded by national agencies, projects endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee were grouped into thematic clusters, each with a lead project (a projects overview is online at: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi). The Census’ Arctic and Antarctic projects lead
IPY’s biodiversity clusters.
The Census’ polar team aims to develop by 2010 projections of shifts in marine biomes that might accompany climatic and other changes drawing on the data collected during IPY.
Says Dr. Ian Allison, one of the leaders of IPY: "CAML and ArcOD have been outstanding examples of collaboration during the International Polar Year, achieving major biological advances and doing much to further our understanding of the diversity of the polar seas."
Download PDF of CoML IPY Press Release for images
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
Contacts: Mr. Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712; +1-416-538-8712; terrycollins@rogers.com
Ms. Darlene Trew Crist, +1-401-295-1356; +1-401-952-7692; darlene.crist@cox.net
Mr. Gregg Schmidt, +1-202- 448-1231; gschmidt@oceanleadership.org
Experts are available for advance interviews. Video and high-resolution images are online at www.coml.org/embargo/polar2009
Download PDF of CoML IPY Press Release for images
• Researchers in North and South startled to find Polar oceans share 235 species;
• Changes in species distribution documented as warmer oceans spur migration;
• United by high-speed current, Antarctic benthos revealed as single bioregion;
• Smaller species replacing larger ones in some Arctic waters
Polar Year results are milestones towards historic 1st global oceans Census: Oct. 2010
Earth’s unique, forbidding ice oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic have revealed a trove of secrets to Census of Marine Life explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite an 11,000-kilometer distance in between.
The scientists found marine life that both poles apparently share in common include marathoners such as great whales (www.eol.org/pages/328569) and birds, but also worms, crustaceans, and angelic snail-like pteropods, the latter discoveries opening a host of future research questions about where they originated and how they wound up at both ends of the Earth. DNA analysis is underway to confirm whether the species are indeed identical.
Among many other findings, the scientists also documented evidence of cold water- loving species shifting towards both poles to escape rising ocean temperatures.
The discoveries are the result of a series of landmark, often perilous voyages conducted during International Polar Year, 2007-2008. Biologists braved waves of up to 16 meters (48 feet) while getting to and from the Antarctic while their Arctic colleagues often worked under the watchful eye of an armed lookout to scare off polar bears.
The studies by a global network of polar researchers have added substantially to human knowledge about the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life, with results to be fully detailed in the world’s first Census report, to be released in London Oct. 4, 2010.
“The polar seas, far from being biological deserts, teem with an amazing quantity and variety of life,” says Dr. Ian Poiner, Chair of the Census Scientific Steering Committee. “Only through the co-operation of 500 people from more than 25 countries could the daunting environmental challenges be overcome to produce research of such unprecedented scale and importance. And humanity is only starting to understand the nature of these regions.”
The polar Census teams are documenting:
• The distribution of ocean animals – mapping their changing ranges and hotspots;
• The diversity of species (to date: 7,500 animals in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the
Arctic, of a global marine life species total estimated at 230,000-250,000); and
• The abundance and sizes of major species groups at various levels in the food
web, in order to gauge how they change over time;
Antarctic seafloor: a single bioregion, and a cold incubator for new species
Previously thought to be low in species diversity and abundance, CAML researchers and collaborators have amassed biological data from nearly 1 million locations. Those places include seafloors exposed to light for the first time in as much as 100,000 years when ancient ice shelf lids melted and disintegrated in recent years.
Led by Drs. Michael Stoddart and Victoria Wadley of the Australian Antarctic Division, and Dr. Colin Summerhayes, Executive Director of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, www.caml.aq ) coordinated 18 major research voyages during IPY (2007-2008), the tracks of the voyages shown below. That compares with two or three expeditions in a normal year.
The extensive sampling has provided both an immediate picture of unexpectedly rich marine life around Antarctica and the means to test important theories.
Research in the 1970’s suggested separate bioregions around Antarctica. CAML’s efforts, however, reveal life on the seafloor encircling Antarctica forms a single biological province, even though 8,500 km of ocean separates opposite sides of the continent.
Scientists are now analyzing hundreds of open ocean (pelagic) samples from all compass points around Antarctica to establish whether, as suspected, marine life distribution has been evened by the churn of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. That swift-flowing current circles the polar continent twice as fast as the Gulf Stream flows from the Gulf of Mexico towards Europe.
And they report species of cold-water snail (pteropods) migrating southward as ocean temperatures rise further north.
Meanwhile, the polar marine explorers were startled when molecular techniques revealed that glacial cycles over millions of years made the Antarctic the cold incubator of many species residing today in more northern waters.
Census researchers last year established that several octopus types have repeatedly colonized the deep sea, each migration coinciding with retreating Antarctic ice over 30 million years.
Today they theorize that the Antarctic also regularly refreshes the world’s oceans with new varieties of sea spiders, isopods (crustaceans related to shrimp and crabs), and others as well. They believe the new species evolve when expansions of ice cloister Antarctica; when the ice retreats, they radiate northward along the same pathways followed by the octopuses.
The abundance of Antarctic marine biodiversity is recorded in the SCAR-MarBIN database, which today contains close to 1 million marine life observations below the Antarctic Circle. About half of Antarctic species are found nowhere else on Earth.
Says Victoria Wadley: “One hundred years ago, Antarctic explorers like Scott and Rutherford saw mostly ice. In 2009, we see life everywhere.”
The Arctic: changes recorded
Many global collaborators teamed with the Census’ project on Arctic Ocean Diversity (ArcOD, www.arcodiv.org ), led by Drs. Rolf Gradinger, Bodil Bluhm and Russ Hopcroft of the University of Alaska, and Dr. Andrey Gebruk of the Shirshov Institute, Moscow. Together they completed 14 IPY expeditions, including 10 cruises.
Field work will continue this summer, including a cruise to the Beaufort Sea to investigate the potentially important role sea ice ridges could play as a refuge for marine life if ice loss continues long-term.
ArcOD researchers say subtle effects on marine life distribution, abundance and diversity due to recent warming in the Arctic have started appearing, most notably:
• A rising ratio of warm water to cold water-loving amphipod crustaceans in Hornsund fjord in Norway’s Svalbard Island group (also called Spitsbergen, midway between Norway and the North Pole); and
• Documentation from the Chukchi Sea of range extensions to the north of at least three species – in two cases by up to 500 km – plus a growing number of snow crabs.
Meanwhile, researchers say smaller marine species are replacing larger ones in some Arctic waters. The reasons behind the shift are obscure but the implications for the Arctic food web may be profound.
The Census database known as OBIS (the Ocean Biogeographic Information System) today contains almost 1 million observations of more than 5,500 distinct taxa above the Arctic Circle, with more being added at an ever quickening pace.
The map below depicts the number of records in OBIS for all Arctic marine life, where white indicates no records.
Says Russ Hopcroft: “We have filled in major blank spots on the Arctic map, and continue to add more, though big unobserved areas remain.”
New technologies
New technologies are dramatically speeding Census research into the abundance, diversity and distribution of marine biodiversity.
Census researchers are using cell phone-like devices to learn about the distribution of large animals at both poles. For example, tracking devices fitted to narwhals, the ocean unicorn (www.eol.org/pages/328542), record their Arctic migrations and provide as a by-product a wealth of rich data on the status of polar oceans, lending a major assist to science. Seals (http://eol.org/pages/1052724), meanwhile, captured before and after observations of the 2008 collapse of a large part of Antarctica’s Wilkins ice shelf.
SCUBA divers were deployed for observations in heavy Arctic ice and advanced, deep water optical systems on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) enabled detailed studies of delicate marine animals too fragile to collect. Similar approaches recorded videos of penguins and seals under Antarctic ice.
And DNA sequences, or barcodes, will dramatically accelerate the cataloguing of life’s diversity, helping to identify new and cryptic species. In partnership with Canada’s University of Guelph, ArcOD, CAML, their sister project, the Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ, www.cmarz.org), and others are collaborating in the Polar Barcode
of Life project, with Belgium’s SCAR-MarBIN (www.scarmarbin.be) creating data storage, analysis and visualization tools. CAML is barcoding some 3,000 Antarctic species; ArcOD has barcoded about 300 to date. With a completed molecular catalog, analysis of genetic variation within polar marine environments and at different depths will be far quicker and easier.
* * * * *
Others among the 17 Census of Marine Life projects contributing to the progress of understanding in polar regions is the International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM, http://icomm.mbl.edu), which was recently able to sequence the DNA of more than 370,000 individual microbes living in 2-to-10 liter seawater samples drawn from 16 points around the Antarctic. Work is underway to distinguish the species captured.
The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP, www.hmapcoml.org) project researchers, meanwhile, studied monastic and government records dating back to the 1600s to reconstruct populations of walruses in the White and Barents seas.
Benefits to society accruing already from Census research include the identification of vulnerable marine habitats in the Southern Ocean, based on CAML information. Meanwhile, the marine component of a multi-national Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (http://arcticportal.org/en/caff/cbmp) is in development with ArcOD participation.
Braving often bitter cold and perilous ocean conditions, the outstanding accomplishments of dedicated polar marine researchers have been honored recently in a number of countries. On a 2008 visit to Antarctica, for example, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, presented CAML scientist Dr. Lucia Campos with a national award for her work in that region. Researcher Dr. Angelika Brandt of Germany was awarded the prestigious biennial SCAR medal by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. And Census scientists Drs. Eduardo Klein and Elizabeth Huck of the Universidad Simon
Bolivar received Venezuela’s highest civilian honor for their studies of Antarctic biodiversity.
Photography by ArcOD team members has earned a place in galleries from Alaska to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and inspired an exhibition of paintings based on the images. CAML and ArcOD researchers, meanwhile, have both provided marine life photos used for stamps in Canada and Australia commemorating IPY.
* * * * *
Concludes Ian Poiner: “In these unique oceans, where the water temperature is colder at the surface than below, we are establishing the first benchmarks of marine biodiversity against which change may be measured, a significant polar year legacy for future generations. The significant investment of nations, the skills of scientists from the many ocean research disciplines, and the social network of the Census of Marine Life made it happen.”
* * * * *
Census of Marine Life
Started in the year 2000, CoML is an international science research program uniting thousands of researchers worldwide with the goal of assessing and explaining the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life – past, present and future – by 2010.
In 2009, researchers will pursue adventurous expeditions to sample a range of key habitats. They will conduct the first exploration of the world’s deepest known ocean volcanoes, for example, found more than 5,000 meters below surface in a Caribbean seafloor rift between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Of particular note also is sampling scheduled in the largely unexplored areas of the Indian Ocean off Madagascar, where experts expect to meet hundreds of new species in all taxonomic groups. Since the mid 1990s, collectors have been intrigued by the seashells of unknown mollusc species offered for sale by local lobster fishermen. Advanced amateurs have since sampled and described more than 35 mollusk species that appear unique to this area.
The Census of Marine Life is supported by private sources and government agencies the world over. A list of all supporters is online at
www.comlsecretariat.org/Dev2Go.web?id=302846&rnd=27348.
* * * * *
International Polar Year (www.ipy.org)
Organized by the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, IPY has been a scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.
Several thousand scientists spanning over 200 projects and 60 nations participated.
Funded by national agencies, projects endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee were grouped into thematic clusters, each with a lead project (a projects overview is online at: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi). The Census’ Arctic and Antarctic projects lead
IPY’s biodiversity clusters.
The Census’ polar team aims to develop by 2010 projections of shifts in marine biomes that might accompany climatic and other changes drawing on the data collected during IPY.
Says Dr. Ian Allison, one of the leaders of IPY: "CAML and ArcOD have been outstanding examples of collaboration during the International Polar Year, achieving major biological advances and doing much to further our understanding of the diversity of the polar seas."
Download PDF of CoML IPY Press Release for images
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:00:00 +0000
Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic: EBA
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2109-evolution-and-biodiversity-in-the-antarctic-eba http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2109-evolution-and-biodiversity-in-the-antarctic-eba
EBA is a complex interdisciplinary project involving over 40 research groups from approximately 22 nations, as well as links to the Arctic research community. Its work crosses traditional disciplinary divides within biology, in particular working across the marine and terrestrial realms. EBA has multiple aims reflected in its structure of 5 work packages. At a broad scale, these packages are aimed at understanding how the various ecosystems of Antarctica are structured and function, what historical processes have shaped them to be as they are now, what evolutionary processes have taken place in the Antarctic environment and, in turn, what that tells us about the environment itself. Finally, in the context of parts of Antarctica currently facing the fastest rates of environmental change on ...
EBA is a complex interdisciplinary project involving over 40 research groups from approximately 22 nations, as well as links to the Arctic research community. Its work crosses traditional disciplinary divides within biology, in particular working across the marine and terrestrial realms. EBA has multiple aims reflected in its structure of 5 work packages. At a broad scale, these packages are aimed at understanding how the various ecosystems of Antarctica are structured and function, what historical processes have shaped them to be as they are now, what evolutionary processes have taken place in the Antarctic environment and, in turn, what that tells us about the environment itself. Finally, in the context of parts of Antarctica currently facing the fastest rates of environmental change on the planet, and also as it is currently the continent least affected by the direct impacts of human activity, EBA has a focus on identifying and understanding the consequences of environmental change in Antarctica, as a model and as a ‘warning’ for what may happen elsewhere. In doing so, EBA makes an important contribution in placing its scientific research into the public realm, and to policymakers.
(c) Rodd Budd, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K082 06/07
Period of field work (as appropriate)
Ongoing from 2007 to 2009 within IPY, and to at least 2012 within SCAR
Countries involved:
Italy, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Spain, Brazil, USA, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, Russia, Norway, Canada, Argentina, Poland, Czech Republic, Malaysia, France, Chile, Sweden
Preliminary results and conclusions
- Living in thermally very stable environments, many marine organisms and hence ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to even small levels of warming in their environment.
- Antarctic deep sea marine diversity is far greater than previously recognised.
-Characteristics of marine benthic communities along the Victoria Land coast link to differences in ice conditions between locations.
- A large proportion of invertebrate animals and lichens living on the continent have survived there throughout multiple glacial cycles over millions or tens of millions of years.
- Lichen species numbers are high in the maritime Antarctic but relatively constant and low on the continent. There is no apparent cline in species number along the Victoria Land coast.
- The description of microbial diversity using molecular techniques is demonstrating both higher levels, and more distinctness in the ecosystems studied, than previously thought.
- Human assistance as a vector far outweighs the natural rates of colonisation of Antarctica by new species.
- Introduced or alien species add new complexity to existing ecosystems, which are poorly equipped to respond, thus native species and ecosystems are rapidly threatened (especially currently in the sub-Antarctic); increasing human contact with the continent, combined with regional change, will act in synergy to increase this risk.
- ‘Climate change’ involves far more than simple temperature warming, with other variables (e.g. precipitation, wind, cloudiness, frequency and size of extreme events) and their interactions all playing a role in defining biological responses. These responses are often subtle, involving small changes in energy investment in different biochemical pathways, but nonetheless are fundamentally important in defining how organisms can and will respond, and integrate throughout the ecosystem.
(c) Rachel Brown, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K024 05/06
Contacts:
, Italy, Project Lead
, UK, Project Lead
{encode="hogg@waikato.ac.nz" title="Ian Hogg"}, New Zealand, Terrestrial Leader
{encode="takn@hiroshima-u.ac.jp" title="Takashi Naganuma"}, Japan, Terrestrial Leader
Please contact {encode="S.Gordon@antarcticanz.govt.nz" title="Shulamit Gordon"} (NZ) for contacts in a specific country or research area of interest.
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
(c) Rodd Budd, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K082 06/07Period of field work (as appropriate)
Ongoing from 2007 to 2009 within IPY, and to at least 2012 within SCAR
Countries involved:
Italy, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Spain, Brazil, USA, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, Russia, Norway, Canada, Argentina, Poland, Czech Republic, Malaysia, France, Chile, Sweden
Preliminary results and conclusions
- Living in thermally very stable environments, many marine organisms and hence ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to even small levels of warming in their environment.
- Antarctic deep sea marine diversity is far greater than previously recognised.
-Characteristics of marine benthic communities along the Victoria Land coast link to differences in ice conditions between locations.
- A large proportion of invertebrate animals and lichens living on the continent have survived there throughout multiple glacial cycles over millions or tens of millions of years.
- Lichen species numbers are high in the maritime Antarctic but relatively constant and low on the continent. There is no apparent cline in species number along the Victoria Land coast.
- The description of microbial diversity using molecular techniques is demonstrating both higher levels, and more distinctness in the ecosystems studied, than previously thought.
- Human assistance as a vector far outweighs the natural rates of colonisation of Antarctica by new species.
- Introduced or alien species add new complexity to existing ecosystems, which are poorly equipped to respond, thus native species and ecosystems are rapidly threatened (especially currently in the sub-Antarctic); increasing human contact with the continent, combined with regional change, will act in synergy to increase this risk.
- ‘Climate change’ involves far more than simple temperature warming, with other variables (e.g. precipitation, wind, cloudiness, frequency and size of extreme events) and their interactions all playing a role in defining biological responses. These responses are often subtle, involving small changes in energy investment in different biochemical pathways, but nonetheless are fundamentally important in defining how organisms can and will respond, and integrate throughout the ecosystem.
(c) Rachel Brown, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K024 05/06Contacts:
, Italy, Project Lead
, UK, Project Lead
{encode="hogg@waikato.ac.nz" title="Ian Hogg"}, New Zealand, Terrestrial Leader
{encode="takn@hiroshima-u.ac.jp" title="Takashi Naganuma"}, Japan, Terrestrial Leader
Please contact {encode="S.Gordon@antarcticanz.govt.nz" title="Shulamit Gordon"} (NZ) for contacts in a specific country or research area of interest.
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:03:00 +0000
First Antarctic Subglacial Lake Entry on the Horizon
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2085-first-antarctic-subglacial-lake-entry-on-the-horizon http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/2085-first-antarctic-subglacial-lake-entry-on-the-horizon
(c) National Science Foundation
After years of planning, strategizing, and international discussions and debate, what once seemed to be only lofty scientific ambitions are now closer than ever to becoming a reality. Ever since subglacial lakes captured the imagination of scientists and the public more than a decade ago, researchers have dreamed of entering and sampling these alien environments to unlock secrets that might guide us in the search for life elsewhere in our solar system.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) Scientific Research Program (SRP) on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Envir...
(c) National Science Foundation
After years of planning, strategizing, and international discussions and debate, what once seemed to be only lofty scientific ambitions are now closer than ever to becoming a reality. Ever since subglacial lakes captured the imagination of scientists and the public more than a decade ago, researchers have dreamed of entering and sampling these alien environments to unlock secrets that might guide us in the search for life elsewhere in our solar system.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) Scientific Research Program (SRP) on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments (SALE) has made significant advances on several fronts in promoting, facilitating and championing international cooperation to better understand subglacial aquatic environments in Antarctica. SALE also promotes and advances all aspects of environmental stewardship in research in and exploration of these unique settings. During the International Polar Year 2007-2008 this same group of pioneering scientists banded together under the auspices of the SALE-UNified International Team for Exploration and Discovery (SALE-UNITED).
Partnerships and cooperation among national programs that conduct studies of subglacial environments have led to yearly meetings to exchange the latest knowledge. This community has proposed three programs — one each lead by Russia, the United Kingdom, and the US — to sample subglacial systems.
A guiding principle of these programs is compliance with strict environmental protocols. The most well-known program is that by the Russian Antarctic Expedition that continues to make progress in drilling toward Subglacial Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake on earth. The lake/ice interface is now believed to be less than 100 meters away.
Specialists of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute have developed drilling techniques to meet the unprecedented challenges of drilling through warm ice crystals that often exceed six feet in length. If all goes well, the first ever direct sampling of a subglacial lake beneath the vast East Antarctic ice sheet is expected to occur some time in 2009-2010.
Two programs in West Antarctica are under final consideration for funding by national programs. US scientists have proposed studies of subglacial environments beneath two West Antarctic ice streams. Direct sampling will yield information on the glaciological, geological and microbial dynamics of these environments and test the overarching hypothesis that the hydrology in these environments exerts a major control on ice sheet dynamics, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations of major elements. If funded, the ice streams subglacial environment will be sampled some time in 2010-2011.
The second West Antarctica program involves direct access, measurement and sampling of Subglacial Lake Ellsworth. The team includes a consortium of ten UK universities and research institutes and three US institutions. The project will access the lake using hot water drilling designed to penetrate the lake's ice roof without contaminating the water body below. A probe will then enter the lake and collect measurements and samples. A gravity core will subsequently be deployed into the lake floor collecting a 2-3 m sediment core. Instrument development and testing and a comprehensive environmental evaluation will be completed within the next three years. The lake access experiment is scheduled to be conducted in 2012-2013.
These programs will be the first nodes in what is environed as a continent-wide network of study sites that international teams will use to conduct a wide array of research projects over the next decade or more exploring the influence and importance of subglacial environments in the evolution of Antarctica as a continent covered by massive ice sheets and of the biota that live and thrive in these harsh and unique ecological niches.
(c) National Science Foundation
SALE-UNITED web page
Contacts:
{encode="jpriscu@montana.edu" title="John Priscu"}
{encode="jcel@bas.ac.uk" title="Cynan Ellis Evans"}
About Lake Vostok:
About Lake Ellsworth:
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
(c) National Science FoundationAfter years of planning, strategizing, and international discussions and debate, what once seemed to be only lofty scientific ambitions are now closer than ever to becoming a reality. Ever since subglacial lakes captured the imagination of scientists and the public more than a decade ago, researchers have dreamed of entering and sampling these alien environments to unlock secrets that might guide us in the search for life elsewhere in our solar system.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) Scientific Research Program (SRP) on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments (SALE) has made significant advances on several fronts in promoting, facilitating and championing international cooperation to better understand subglacial aquatic environments in Antarctica. SALE also promotes and advances all aspects of environmental stewardship in research in and exploration of these unique settings. During the International Polar Year 2007-2008 this same group of pioneering scientists banded together under the auspices of the SALE-UNified International Team for Exploration and Discovery (SALE-UNITED).
Partnerships and cooperation among national programs that conduct studies of subglacial environments have led to yearly meetings to exchange the latest knowledge. This community has proposed three programs — one each lead by Russia, the United Kingdom, and the US — to sample subglacial systems.
A guiding principle of these programs is compliance with strict environmental protocols. The most well-known program is that by the Russian Antarctic Expedition that continues to make progress in drilling toward Subglacial Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake on earth. The lake/ice interface is now believed to be less than 100 meters away.
Specialists of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute have developed drilling techniques to meet the unprecedented challenges of drilling through warm ice crystals that often exceed six feet in length. If all goes well, the first ever direct sampling of a subglacial lake beneath the vast East Antarctic ice sheet is expected to occur some time in 2009-2010.
Two programs in West Antarctica are under final consideration for funding by national programs. US scientists have proposed studies of subglacial environments beneath two West Antarctic ice streams. Direct sampling will yield information on the glaciological, geological and microbial dynamics of these environments and test the overarching hypothesis that the hydrology in these environments exerts a major control on ice sheet dynamics, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations of major elements. If funded, the ice streams subglacial environment will be sampled some time in 2010-2011.
The second West Antarctica program involves direct access, measurement and sampling of Subglacial Lake Ellsworth. The team includes a consortium of ten UK universities and research institutes and three US institutions. The project will access the lake using hot water drilling designed to penetrate the lake's ice roof without contaminating the water body below. A probe will then enter the lake and collect measurements and samples. A gravity core will subsequently be deployed into the lake floor collecting a 2-3 m sediment core. Instrument development and testing and a comprehensive environmental evaluation will be completed within the next three years. The lake access experiment is scheduled to be conducted in 2012-2013.
These programs will be the first nodes in what is environed as a continent-wide network of study sites that international teams will use to conduct a wide array of research projects over the next decade or more exploring the influence and importance of subglacial environments in the evolution of Antarctica as a continent covered by massive ice sheets and of the biota that live and thrive in these harsh and unique ecological niches.
(c) National Science FoundationSALE-UNITED web page
Contacts:
{encode="jpriscu@montana.edu" title="John Priscu"}
{encode="jcel@bas.ac.uk" title="Cynan Ellis Evans"}
About Lake Vostok:
About Lake Ellsworth:
On February 25th 2009, the IPY Joint Committee will release a report on 'The State of Polar Research'. In the lead-up to this event, major IPY research projects are releasing information for the press, and making themselves available for media enquiries. A wide range of projects will be profiled reflecting the diversity of IPY. For more information, please visit http://www.ipy.org/index.php?ipy/detail/feb09_projects/ or contact Rhian Salmon (ipy.ras@gmail.com)
]]>
News And Announcements Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:53:00 +0000
Report from the YEP expedition to Antarctica
http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/2048-report-from-the-yep-expedition-to-antarctica http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/2048-report-from-the-yep-expedition-to-antarctica
My name is Henry Stanislaw and I am from the USA. Together with Maria Puig Ribas from Spain, Nora Hasselbach and Vincent Butty from Switzerland, Alexandra Le Dily from France and Carlien Wolmarans from South Africa, I joined the Young Explorer Program within Mike Horn’s PANGAEA Expedition.
This program is created to introduce young adults to exploration, but also to scientific working and learning about the environmental conditions and threats. The first trip in this program took us to Antarctica. Mike is starting his expedition here, where he will walk alone from the Peninsula to the South Pole and back.
For all of us this is the first contact with a polar environment. We started in Ushuaia / Tierra del Fuego, South ...
My name is Henry Stanislaw and I am from the USA. Together with Maria Puig Ribas from Spain, Nora Hasselbach and Vincent Butty from Switzerland, Alexandra Le Dily from France and Carlien Wolmarans from South Africa, I joined the Young Explorer Program within Mike Horn’s PANGAEA Expedition.
This program is created to introduce young adults to exploration, but also to scientific working and learning about the environmental conditions and threats. The first trip in this program took us to Antarctica. Mike is starting his expedition here, where he will walk alone from the Peninsula to the South Pole and back.
For all of us this is the first contact with a polar environment. We started in Ushuaia / Tierra del Fuego, South Argentina. Ushuaia is the most southerly city in the world and known as the “world’s end”. It is located at the famous Beagle Channel which stretches east-west across the southern tip of South America and is separating Tierra del Fuego from the continent. The PANGAEA yacht (a 100ft ketch) had already arrived when we got to Ushuaia. She came the long way from New York down to Ushuaia.
After storing all provisions and technical checks, we started our trip and left Ushuaia at about 8 pm, sailing down the Beagle Channel in perfect conditions. In the early morning we passed Cape Horn in the distance, we had reached the well known Drake Passage. The wind gods stayed with us and we sailed with a north westerly wind of 20 – 30kt southward. During the second night at sea we had snowfall. The deck was covered in snow and we got a new crew member:
After two and a half days we could see Trinity Island, our first destination (63°55’S, 60°58’W; Mikkelson Harbour, southern end of Trinity Island). The sea became oily and patches of grease ice developed. Everybody kept watch for the first iceberg. When we had Trinity Island in our vicinity, we had a look at our first big one. Sailing into Mikkelson Harbour was spectacular, we were surrounded by big Icebergs, glaciers and in the middle a small island with an old Argentine shelter and a large colony of Gentoo Penguins.
Mikkelson Harbour is a sheltered place, only exposed to the south. But as many of the Antarctic bays, it is deep and the ground is shingle, so finding a good spot to anchor is not easy. While looking for a good anchorage, something unpredictable and scary happened: We ran aground! The ocean floor showed a sudden rise from more than 50m to below 2m. We tried hard to get the boat off the bank, unfortunately the tide was going out! The only possibility we had was to lighten the boat and wait for the next high tide the next day.
While the crew was exploring for a deep channel, we went ashore to the penguin colony, well briefed about proper behaviour around wildlife. It was fascinating how close we could come to the penguins without threatening them. We also took the time to explore the abandoned building.
The old Argentinean shelter is a mess. Parts of the roof have collapsed, the door is broken and the penguins just walk in and out.
However, there is still some food in and of course the Argentinean flag. Originally it was planned to clean up the place and to do some repairs. But this would take weeks. The old antenna, old barrels and other garbage are still buried under snow and ice, for it is too early in the year. The next day, we planned to embark on a two-day crossing of the island including a night on the ice. Unfortunately, an incoming storm with gusts up to 45kt and intense snowfall stopped our plans. So we just had another visit to the “penguin island”. During the night the storm diminished and the next day was just gorgeous.
We set sail and went to Orleans Strait. Here we conducted our first Plankton sampling. (Position: 63°55.3’ S, 60°36.8’ W). We also took a temperature and salinity profile down to 100 m, tested the visibility using a Secchi-disc and took Plankton samples from 10m, 30m, 50m and 100m depth, storing them in the fridge to have later a look.
After some hours, we reached Lancaster Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula – the real continent! The scenery was breathtaking, all that we could see were calving glaciers, high mountains, deep blue and turquoise ice bergs. However, the ice closed in and we had to leave.
Turning north, we found a safe anchorage at the southern end of Charcot Bay and here we finally could go on the ice. We hurried to get out crampons, ice axes and the other gear ready and went ashore. We climbed a small, but quite steep mountain at position 63°46.35' S and 59°47.44' W. Since it has no charted name and probably has not been climbed before, we named it Pangaea Horn.
The view was fantastic: we could see along the coast, over to Trinity Island and below the giant yacht PANGAEA looked very small tucked about the mighty icebergs. At an area sheltered from the wind on the summit, we conducted our first snow measurement.
At a suitable place near the summit of “Pangaea Horn”, Roswitha Stolz showed us how to conduct snow measurements. She is from the Geographical Department of Munich University and was the scientific and educational advisor during our trip.
We dug a 170 cm deep snow pit, down to the last summer's snow layer, which was indicated by a very hard ice layer. We checked for different layers, the snow structure of each layer and the snow-water equivalent.
Heading down the mountain we had a short break aboard and turned around to spend a night on the Peninsula at the northern end of Charcot Bay. We climbed up in the evening on to a ridge and set up a tent. It was amazing.
Most impressive is that there is now human created sound, no airplanes, traffic, nothing. Only crashing ice echoed through the quiet. The only lights were our headlamps and PANGAEA’s mooring lights, far below us. Mike and Erwan prepared us some food on a stove, it is amazing how good 2-minute noodles can taste. The night was cold, but in our sleeping bags surrounded by people, it was quite comfortable.
The next morning we headed down. More strong winds were predicted and it was time to find more protected anchorage. The next destination was Deception Island (63°00' S, 61°20’ W). We could not figure out why it is called Deception. Does anybody know? It was a rough passage with wind from the N-NW. About 10 miles ahead of the island we saw a whale! We are not sure what kind it was. Some said they spotted a big fin – so it would have been an Orca, some said that it looked more like a Minke Whale. In the rough sea it was hard to get a good look and decide.
The entrance to Deception is like none other, huge black and red cliffs, which drop to the sea, leaving only a narrow entrance.
We anchored in Whaler’s Bay and had a first stroll over the permafrost beach. It was quite misty and cloudy, which set an eldritch tone over the abandoned whaling station and British meteorological station. The whaling station was abandoned in the 1930s but the British stayed on until after two volcanic eruptions at the end of the 1960s sent a colossal mudslide down and destroyed many of the remaining buildings.
As we continued down the shore, we were told that there was still volcanic activity on the island. Testing what we were told, Erwan, one of our mountain guides, dug a hole and had a bath in the up to 48°C warm water. The air temperature was around 0°C!
During the night the storm with strong westerly winds caught up with us, and we sailed over to Fumerole Bay to find more shelter. It was a rough night. The anchor dragged and the crew was up all night while we slept. The next day, the storm burned off and left us with beautiful blue skies. In the morning we took more plankton samples and analysed them under the microscope. The phytoplankton, which is in bloom, proved the most prominent. The foam rimming the beach also showed this.
Afterward we went back over to Whaler’s Bay. Where we dug two big holes so everybody could enjoy the thermal baths.
As we took turns, some strolled along the beach and observed Skuas having a bath in a pond (just as we had), Cape Petrels, Giant Petrels feasting on a seal carcass, Gentoo Penguins, a lonely Chinstrap Penguin, and a Weddell Seal with a newborn.
With all this life, we also experienced the other side of nature. We came across an abandoned, half dead baby seal, which was lying in shallow water and being attacked by two Giant Petrels.
In the afternoon we set sails again and sailed towards King George Island, our last destination. We left the cliffs of Deception Island behind us and headed along Livingston Island and the other islands of the South Shetlands. As we sailed we experienced our last sun set in Antarctica, and it was undoubtedly the most beautiful one any of us had ever seen.
During the night we arrived in Maxwell Bay on King George.
The next day, before we went to the small airstrip, scientists from the Chilean Station Eduardo Frei invited us for a trip to the penguin colonies on Ardley Island. Large colonies of Gentoo and Adelie penguins are breeding on the ice free areas of the island and the scientists are expecting chicks in a couple of weeks. We went slowly along the beach, keeping a good distance to the nests, to avoid any disturbance and got some incredible looks at the nesting birds.
In the afternoon we had to say goodbye to Antarctica. A small twin-engined plane brought us from King George back to Ushuaia. Now we are all home, re-entering into our day-to-day lives, after one of the most incredible trips any of us has ever had. However, this is not the end of our connection with Antarctica. It is now our turn to go out and tell all our communities, friends, and families what we have seen and what we all can do. Our relationship with Antarctica is only beginning.
This program is created to introduce young adults to exploration, but also to scientific working and learning about the environmental conditions and threats. The first trip in this program took us to Antarctica. Mike is starting his expedition here, where he will walk alone from the Peninsula to the South Pole and back.
For all of us this is the first contact with a polar environment. We started in Ushuaia / Tierra del Fuego, South Argentina. Ushuaia is the most southerly city in the world and known as the “world’s end”. It is located at the famous Beagle Channel which stretches east-west across the southern tip of South America and is separating Tierra del Fuego from the continent. The PANGAEA yacht (a 100ft ketch) had already arrived when we got to Ushuaia. She came the long way from New York down to Ushuaia.
After storing all provisions and technical checks, we started our trip and left Ushuaia at about 8 pm, sailing down the Beagle Channel in perfect conditions. In the early morning we passed Cape Horn in the distance, we had reached the well known Drake Passage. The wind gods stayed with us and we sailed with a north westerly wind of 20 – 30kt southward. During the second night at sea we had snowfall. The deck was covered in snow and we got a new crew member:
After two and a half days we could see Trinity Island, our first destination (63°55’S, 60°58’W; Mikkelson Harbour, southern end of Trinity Island). The sea became oily and patches of grease ice developed. Everybody kept watch for the first iceberg. When we had Trinity Island in our vicinity, we had a look at our first big one. Sailing into Mikkelson Harbour was spectacular, we were surrounded by big Icebergs, glaciers and in the middle a small island with an old Argentine shelter and a large colony of Gentoo Penguins.
Mikkelson Harbour is a sheltered place, only exposed to the south. But as many of the Antarctic bays, it is deep and the ground is shingle, so finding a good spot to anchor is not easy. While looking for a good anchorage, something unpredictable and scary happened: We ran aground! The ocean floor showed a sudden rise from more than 50m to below 2m. We tried hard to get the boat off the bank, unfortunately the tide was going out! The only possibility we had was to lighten the boat and wait for the next high tide the next day.
While the crew was exploring for a deep channel, we went ashore to the penguin colony, well briefed about proper behaviour around wildlife. It was fascinating how close we could come to the penguins without threatening them. We also took the time to explore the abandoned building.
The old Argentinean shelter is a mess. Parts of the roof have collapsed, the door is broken and the penguins just walk in and out.
However, there is still some food in and of course the Argentinean flag. Originally it was planned to clean up the place and to do some repairs. But this would take weeks. The old antenna, old barrels and other garbage are still buried under snow and ice, for it is too early in the year. The next day, we planned to embark on a two-day crossing of the island including a night on the ice. Unfortunately, an incoming storm with gusts up to 45kt and intense snowfall stopped our plans. So we just had another visit to the “penguin island”. During the night the storm diminished and the next day was just gorgeous.
We set sail and went to Orleans Strait. Here we conducted our first Plankton sampling. (Position: 63°55.3’ S, 60°36.8’ W). We also took a temperature and salinity profile down to 100 m, tested the visibility using a Secchi-disc and took Plankton samples from 10m, 30m, 50m and 100m depth, storing them in the fridge to have later a look.
After some hours, we reached Lancaster Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula – the real continent! The scenery was breathtaking, all that we could see were calving glaciers, high mountains, deep blue and turquoise ice bergs. However, the ice closed in and we had to leave.
Turning north, we found a safe anchorage at the southern end of Charcot Bay and here we finally could go on the ice. We hurried to get out crampons, ice axes and the other gear ready and went ashore. We climbed a small, but quite steep mountain at position 63°46.35' S and 59°47.44' W. Since it has no charted name and probably has not been climbed before, we named it Pangaea Horn.
The view was fantastic: we could see along the coast, over to Trinity Island and below the giant yacht PANGAEA looked very small tucked about the mighty icebergs. At an area sheltered from the wind on the summit, we conducted our first snow measurement.
At a suitable place near the summit of “Pangaea Horn”, Roswitha Stolz showed us how to conduct snow measurements. She is from the Geographical Department of Munich University and was the scientific and educational advisor during our trip.
We dug a 170 cm deep snow pit, down to the last summer's snow layer, which was indicated by a very hard ice layer. We checked for different layers, the snow structure of each layer and the snow-water equivalent.
Heading down the mountain we had a short break aboard and turned around to spend a night on the Peninsula at the northern end of Charcot Bay. We climbed up in the evening on to a ridge and set up a tent. It was amazing.
Most impressive is that there is now human created sound, no airplanes, traffic, nothing. Only crashing ice echoed through the quiet. The only lights were our headlamps and PANGAEA’s mooring lights, far below us. Mike and Erwan prepared us some food on a stove, it is amazing how good 2-minute noodles can taste. The night was cold, but in our sleeping bags surrounded by people, it was quite comfortable.
The next morning we headed down. More strong winds were predicted and it was time to find more protected anchorage. The next destination was Deception Island (63°00' S, 61°20’ W). We could not figure out why it is called Deception. Does anybody know? It was a rough passage with wind from the N-NW. About 10 miles ahead of the island we saw a whale! We are not sure what kind it was. Some said they spotted a big fin – so it would have been an Orca, some said that it looked more like a Minke Whale. In the rough sea it was hard to get a good look and decide.
The entrance to Deception is like none other, huge black and red cliffs, which drop to the sea, leaving only a narrow entrance.
We anchored in Whaler’s Bay and had a first stroll over the permafrost beach. It was quite misty and cloudy, which set an eldritch tone over the abandoned whaling station and British meteorological station. The whaling station was abandoned in the 1930s but the British stayed on until after two volcanic eruptions at the end of the 1960s sent a colossal mudslide down and destroyed many of the remaining buildings.
As we continued down the shore, we were told that there was still volcanic activity on the island. Testing what we were told, Erwan, one of our mountain guides, dug a hole and had a bath in the up to 48°C warm water. The air temperature was around 0°C!
During the night the storm with strong westerly winds caught up with us, and we sailed over to Fumerole Bay to find more shelter. It was a rough night. The anchor dragged and the crew was up all night while we slept. The next day, the storm burned off and left us with beautiful blue skies. In the morning we took more plankton samples and analysed them under the microscope. The phytoplankton, which is in bloom, proved the most prominent. The foam rimming the beach also showed this.
Afterward we went back over to Whaler’s Bay. Where we dug two big holes so everybody could enjoy the thermal baths.
As we took turns, some strolled along the beach and observed Skuas having a bath in a pond (just as we had), Cape Petrels, Giant Petrels feasting on a seal carcass, Gentoo Penguins, a lonely Chinstrap Penguin, and a Weddell Seal with a newborn.
With all this life, we also experienced the other side of nature. We came across an abandoned, half dead baby seal, which was lying in shallow water and being attacked by two Giant Petrels.
In the afternoon we set sails again and sailed towards King George Island, our last destination. We left the cliffs of Deception Island behind us and headed along Livingston Island and the other islands of the South Shetlands. As we sailed we experienced our last sun set in Antarctica, and it was undoubtedly the most beautiful one any of us had ever seen.
During the night we arrived in Maxwell Bay on King George.
The next day, before we went to the small airstrip, scientists from the Chilean Station Eduardo Frei invited us for a trip to the penguin colonies on Ardley Island. Large colonies of Gentoo and Adelie penguins are breeding on the ice free areas of the island and the scientists are expecting chicks in a couple of weeks. We went slowly along the beach, keeping a good distance to the nests, to avoid any disturbance and got some incredible looks at the nesting birds.
In the afternoon we had to say goodbye to Antarctica. A small twin-engined plane brought us from King George back to Ushuaia. Now we are all home, re-entering into our day-to-day lives, after one of the most incredible trips any of us has ever had. However, this is not the end of our connection with Antarctica. It is now our turn to go out and tell all our communities, friends, and families what we have seen and what we all can do. Our relationship with Antarctica is only beginning.
]]>
IPY Blogs Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:10:00 +0000
Dr. Stein Sandven on Arctic Regional Ocean Observing Systems
http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1954-dr-stein-sandven-on-arctic-regional-ocean-observing-systems http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1954-dr-stein-sandven-on-arctic-regional-ocean-observing-systems
The Arctic has always been a difficult place to do any extensive monitoring and data collection. Until recently, there have only been a limited number of projects that have taken any significant, long-term, and coordinated observations of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent bodies of water. This is due in part to the extensive sea ice cover that persists over Arctic waters for a good part of the year, which makes it difficult to conduct ship surveys or deploy weather buoys and moorings to measure deep water currents.
Arctic ROOS (Regional Ocean...
The Arctic has always been a difficult place to do any extensive monitoring and data collection. Until recently, there have only been a limited number of projects that have taken any significant, long-term, and coordinated observations of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent bodies of water. This is due in part to the extensive sea ice cover that persists over Arctic waters for a good part of the year, which makes it difficult to conduct ship surveys or deploy weather buoys and moorings to measure deep water currents.
Arctic ROOS (Regional Ocean Observing Systems) is an IPY Project (project no. 379: "IPY Operational Oceanography for the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas") that is making an effort to change this trend. Founded in December 2007 by fourteen European institutions from nine European countries working on observing and modelling the Arctic Ocean and other bodies of water in the Arctic, Arctic ROOS will collect and integrate data from in-situ observations, remote sensing and numerical models and data assimilation. The project is contributing to the IPY data legacy by maintaining cost-effective and useful observing systems that will continue after the end of IPY and encouraging the development of programmes that can obtain long-term data on a regular basis.
On the International Polar Foundation's SciencePoles website, Dr. Stein Sandven, Research Director at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) and coordinator of Arctic ROOS, talks about the IPY project and the future and importance of monitoring the Arctic.
The Arctic has always been a difficult place to do any extensive monitoring and data collection. Until recently, there have only been a limited number of projects that have taken any significant, long-term, and coordinated observations of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent bodies of water. This is due in part to the extensive sea ice cover that persists over Arctic waters for a good part of the year, which makes it difficult to conduct ship surveys or deploy weather buoys and moorings to measure deep water currents.Arctic ROOS (Regional Ocean Observing Systems) is an IPY Project (project no. 379: "IPY Operational Oceanography for the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas") that is making an effort to change this trend. Founded in December 2007 by fourteen European institutions from nine European countries working on observing and modelling the Arctic Ocean and other bodies of water in the Arctic, Arctic ROOS will collect and integrate data from in-situ observations, remote sensing and numerical models and data assimilation. The project is contributing to the IPY data legacy by maintaining cost-effective and useful observing systems that will continue after the end of IPY and encouraging the development of programmes that can obtain long-term data on a regular basis.
On the International Polar Foundation's SciencePoles website, Dr. Stein Sandven, Research Director at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) and coordinator of Arctic ROOS, talks about the IPY project and the future and importance of monitoring the Arctic.
]]>
IPY Blogs Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:17:00 +0000
ANDRILL photo exhibition opens in Paris
http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1948-andrill-photo-exhibition-opens-in-paris http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1948-andrill-photo-exhibition-opens-in-paris
My name is Lucia Simion, I am a science writer and a photographer, specialized in the Antarctic. I love that continent because I always liked snow, it’s a magic element of nature, like wind, fire and ice. All these elements are to be found in Antarctica. But there is another reason too: As a child I used to live close by the home of Commander Jean-Baptiste Charcot, explorer of the Antarctic as well as the Arctic.
One year ago, in November 2007, I was deployed to the Ice to cover the ANDRILL SMS international project. ANDRILL stands for Antarctic Geological Drilling and SMS for Southern McMurdo Sound; the project has dr...
My name is Lucia Simion, I am a science writer and a photographer, specialized in the Antarctic. I love that continent because I always liked snow, it’s a magic element of nature, like wind, fire and ice. All these elements are to be found in Antarctica. But there is another reason too: As a child I used to live close by the home of Commander Jean-Baptiste Charcot, explorer of the Antarctic as well as the Arctic.
One year ago, in November 2007, I was deployed to the Ice to cover the ANDRILL SMS international project. ANDRILL stands for Antarctic Geological Drilling and SMS for Southern McMurdo Sound; the project has drilled 1,138 m of sediment cores from the bottom of the sea in an area located between the south-eastern shores of Ross Island and the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.
ANDRILL is an international project involving 200 people from four different nations: the United States, New Zealand, Germany and Italy. I am Italian, that’s why I had the chance to be there. The chief objective of ANDRILL (one of the most important projects in the 2007-2009 IPY) is to drill back in time to recover a history of paleo-environmental changes that will guide our understanding of how fast, how large, and how frequent were glacial and interglacial changes in the Antarctic region. Future scenarios of global warming require data from past history that will reveal potential timing frequency and site of future changes.
In November 2007 I was based at Scott Base (founded 50 years ago by Sir Ed Hillary). Every morning I went “uphill”, I mean on the other side of Observation Hill, to McMurdo station, and to the Crary Lab, where the ANDRILL Headquarters were located. The Crary Lab is operated by the US National Science Foundation. Every evening I went “back home” to Scott Base, overlooking the vast expanse of the Ross Ice Shelf, with White Island and Black Island. And Mt. Erebus to the North.
I spent two weeks with the ANDRILL SMS team, and I have been three times to the drill site, where the huge drill rig—weighing some 60 tons—was sitting on the McMurdo Sound sea-ice (8.5 meters thick). My chief objective during my deployment was to make a photographic reportage on ANDRILL and interview the team, with the goal to publish articles in the press, organize photographic exhibitions, publishing photos in my future books and talk about ANDRILL in my presentations. The overall main goal is to raise awareness about Antarctica, antarctic sciences and antarctic drilling among a wide audience in France, in Italy and elsewhere.
These objectives have been thoroughly achieved. The ANDRILL SMS project is now on show as an educational exhibition held in Paris, France, at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, from October 2008 until January 2009. On exhibit there are large-scale photographs (120 x 80 cm) and the 5 Flexhibit banners produced for the Engaging Antarctica Project funded for the IPY by the US National Science Foundation (Judy Diamond, Mike Farrell, LuAnn Dahlman, banners designed by Angie Fox, Nebraska State Museum). I translated the banners from English into French and in Italian.
Operations and logistics for ANDRILL are managed by Antarctica New Zealand. The scientific research is administered and coordinated through the ANDRILL Science Management Office, located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The ANDRILL SMS core, drilled between October and December 2007 (1,138 meters, with a recovery success of 98%) covered the palaeo-climatic history of the region of the past 17 million years. Fossils and microfossils preserved in the strada (such as diatoms and spores) suggest that 16 millions years ago the Western Ross Sea had a climate similar to that found today in southern Patagonia, in southwestern New Zealand and southern Alaska. The coastal marine environment was characterized by river estuaries overshadowed by many trees.
ANDRILL PHOTO EXHIBIT:
Bibliothèque de la Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie,
30, Avenue Corentin Cariou – 75019 PARIS
Opening hours : Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm
Sundays : 10 am to 7 pm – closed on Mondays.
Check out the ">ANDRILL Exhibit website.
Lucia Simion is author of the book Antarctica, White Heart of Our Planet, in the IPY Polar Books collection. The book has been awarded by the Académie de Marine in Paris, October 15th, as the best coffee table book in 2008. The Académie de Marine is a department of the French Ministry of Defence.
My name is Lucia Simion, I am a science writer and a photographer, specialized in the Antarctic. I love that continent because I always liked snow, it’s a magic element of nature, like wind, fire and ice. All these elements are to be found in Antarctica. But there is another reason too: As a child I used to live close by the home of Commander Jean-Baptiste Charcot, explorer of the Antarctic as well as the Arctic.
One year ago, in November 2007, I was deployed to the Ice to cover the ANDRILL SMS international project. ANDRILL stands for Antarctic Geological Drilling and SMS for Southern McMurdo Sound; the project has drilled 1,138 m of sediment cores from the bottom of the sea in an area located between the south-eastern shores of Ross Island and the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.
ANDRILL is an international project involving 200 people from four different nations: the United States, New Zealand, Germany and Italy. I am Italian, that’s why I had the chance to be there. The chief objective of ANDRILL (one of the most important projects in the 2007-2009 IPY) is to drill back in time to recover a history of paleo-environmental changes that will guide our understanding of how fast, how large, and how frequent were glacial and interglacial changes in the Antarctic region. Future scenarios of global warming require data from past history that will reveal potential timing frequency and site of future changes.
In November 2007 I was based at Scott Base (founded 50 years ago by Sir Ed Hillary). Every morning I went “uphill”, I mean on the other side of Observation Hill, to McMurdo station, and to the Crary Lab, where the ANDRILL Headquarters were located. The Crary Lab is operated by the US National Science Foundation. Every evening I went “back home” to Scott Base, overlooking the vast expanse of the Ross Ice Shelf, with White Island and Black Island. And Mt. Erebus to the North.
I spent two weeks with the ANDRILL SMS team, and I have been three times to the drill site, where the huge drill rig—weighing some 60 tons—was sitting on the McMurdo Sound sea-ice (8.5 meters thick). My chief objective during my deployment was to make a photographic reportage on ANDRILL and interview the team, with the goal to publish articles in the press, organize photographic exhibitions, publishing photos in my future books and talk about ANDRILL in my presentations. The overall main goal is to raise awareness about Antarctica, antarctic sciences and antarctic drilling among a wide audience in France, in Italy and elsewhere.
These objectives have been thoroughly achieved. The ANDRILL SMS project is now on show as an educational exhibition held in Paris, France, at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, from October 2008 until January 2009. On exhibit there are large-scale photographs (120 x 80 cm) and the 5 Flexhibit banners produced for the Engaging Antarctica Project funded for the IPY by the US National Science Foundation (Judy Diamond, Mike Farrell, LuAnn Dahlman, banners designed by Angie Fox, Nebraska State Museum). I translated the banners from English into French and in Italian.
Operations and logistics for ANDRILL are managed by Antarctica New Zealand. The scientific research is administered and coordinated through the ANDRILL Science Management Office, located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The ANDRILL SMS core, drilled between October and December 2007 (1,138 meters, with a recovery success of 98%) covered the palaeo-climatic history of the region of the past 17 million years. Fossils and microfossils preserved in the strada (such as diatoms and spores) suggest that 16 millions years ago the Western Ross Sea had a climate similar to that found today in southern Patagonia, in southwestern New Zealand and southern Alaska. The coastal marine environment was characterized by river estuaries overshadowed by many trees.
ANDRILL PHOTO EXHIBIT:
Bibliothèque de la Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie,
30, Avenue Corentin Cariou – 75019 PARIS
Opening hours : Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm
Sundays : 10 am to 7 pm – closed on Mondays.
Check out the ">ANDRILL Exhibit website.
Lucia Simion is author of the book Antarctica, White Heart of Our Planet, in the IPY Polar Books collection. The book has been awarded by the Académie de Marine in Paris, October 15th, as the best coffee table book in 2008. The Académie de Marine is a department of the French Ministry of Defence.
]]>
IPY Blogs Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:14:00 +0000
CRAC-ICE: Collaborative Research into Antarctic Calving and ICeberg Evolution
http://www.ipy.org/projects/item/1905-crac-ice-collaborative-research-into-antarctic-calving-and-iceberg-evolution http://www.ipy.org/projects/item/1905-crac-ice-collaborative-research-into-antarctic-calving-and-iceberg-evolution
CRAC-ICE will be a coordinated investigation into calving processes on three major Antarctic ice shelves, and a (long-term) monitoring of icebergs in the Southern Ocean, including the study of the physical processes related to iceberg drift and decay.
CRAC-ICE will be a coordinated investigation into calving processes on three major Antarctic ice shelves, and a (long-term) monitoring of icebergs in the Southern Ocean, including the study of the physical processes related to iceberg drift and decay.
]]>
Projects Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:05:01 +0000
Impacts of Climate Warming on Polar Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1888-impacts-of-climate-warming-on-polar-marine-and-freshwater-ecosystems http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1888-impacts-of-climate-warming-on-polar-marine-and-freshwater-ecosystems
The Prince Albert II of Monaco foundation is financing the participation of scientists and students in the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting to be held in Nice, France, Jan 25-30, for the Topical Session 054: Impacts of Climate Warming on Polar Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. As a result of this financing, 12 fellowships worth 1000 euros each are available, to be used to finance the participation in this polar session of 12 scientists from developing countries, countries bordering the southern Mediterranean, or students. If you are eligible, please, contact the co-chairs of the 054 Topical session after confirmation of your abstract submission (...
The Prince Albert II of Monaco foundation is financing the participation of scientists and students in the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
">Aquatic Sciences Meeting to be held in Nice, France, Jan 25-30, for the Topical Session 054: Impacts of Climate Warming on Polar Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. As a result of this financing, 12 fellowships worth 1000 euros each are available, to be used to finance the participation in this polar session of 12 scientists from developing countries, countries bordering the southern Mediterranean, or students. If you are eligible, please, contact the co-chairs of the 054 Topical session after confirmation of your abstract submission (on-line submission).
The deadline for abstract submission is October 3, 2008.
Organizers:
Susana Agusti, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (MEDEA, CSIC), sagusti@uib.es;
Mikael K. Sejr, National Environmental Research Instiute University of Aarhus, mse@dmu.dk
The deadline for abstract submission is October 3, 2008.
Organizers:
Susana Agusti, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (MEDEA, CSIC), sagusti@uib.es;
Mikael K. Sejr, National Environmental Research Instiute University of Aarhus, mse@dmu.dk
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:32:00 +0000
ASLO-09: Call for papers
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1887-aslo-09-call-for-papers http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1887-aslo-09-call-for-papers
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting
Nice, France, 25-30 January, 2009
Two special sessions at the upcoming ASLO meeting that may be of interest to those involved with the International Polar Year.
Session titles are below, followed by a session summary.
Abstract deadline 3 October, 2008
Special session 099: IPY-GEOTRACES: Trace Elements and Isotopes in Polar Oceans
Convenors: Marie Boye, LEMAR, IUEM, Technopole de Brest-Iroise, France, marie.boye@univ-brest.fr; H.J.W. De Baar, Department Ocean Ecosystems, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, debaar@ni...
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
">Aquatic Sciences Meeting
Nice, France, 25-30 January, 2009
Two special sessions at the upcoming ASLO meeting that may be of interest to those involved with the International Polar Year.
Session titles are below, followed by a session summary.
Abstract deadline 3 October, 2008
Special session 099: IPY-GEOTRACES: Trace Elements and Isotopes in Polar Oceans
Convenors: Marie Boye, LEMAR, IUEM, Technopole de Brest-Iroise, France, marie.boye@univ-brest.fr; H.J.W. De Baar, Department Ocean Ecosystems, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, debaar@nioz.nl
Trace elements essential for life, notably iron (Fe), play a key role in marine ecosystems and climate. Isotopes are natural tracers and time-clocks in the sea. The international GEOTRACES program has its flying start in the International Polar Year (2007-2008). The unique quasi-synopsis of IPY-cruises with GEOTRACES issues has the potential to provide new insights into a wide range of ocean processes and dynamics in Polar Oceans. Furthermore multi-tracers approaches and intercalibration exercises achieved during the IPY-GEOTRACES is an important step forward towards the development of analytical techniques that are essential to improve our knowledge of ocean dynamics.
Special Session 049: The Southern Ocean during the International Polar Year
Convenors: Marie Boye, LEMAR CNRS UMR6539, FR, marie.boye@univ-brest.fr; Sabrina Speich, LPO, FR, speich@univ-brest.fr; Frank Dehairs, VUB, Belgium, fdehairs@vub.ac.be; Damien Cardinal, African Museum Tervuren, Belgium, damien.cardinal@africamuseum.be; François Lacan, LEGOS, FR, Francois.Lacan@legos.obs-mip.fr
In the framework of the IPY (GEOTRACES, ICED & CASO), BONUS-GOODHOPE programme aims at understanding the interactions between the oceanic dynamics, the bio- and geo-chemistry, the sediment and the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean and south-eastern Atlantic Ocean. The multidisciplinary and international MD166 BONUS-GOODHOPE cruise was conducted on board of the French R.V. MARION-DUFRESNE II between 33.58°S 17.14 °E and 57.33°S 00.02°W, from 08/02/07 to 08/03/24. A huge field work was achieved to collect samples and data in seawater (Niskin-CTD; GO-FLO, in situ pumps, underway pumping, XBTs, PROVOR, CPIES, incubations), in the atmosphere (balloons, dust and rain collection, sensors), and in the sediment (surficial multicorer). The unique complementary approach, based on the coupling of multitracers of selected trace elements and isotopes, with the biogeochemistry, the physical oceanography and the atmospheric dynamics, has the potential to provide unique insights into a wide range of oceanic processes and the status of the functioning of the Southern Ocean. Furthermore the synopticity with the German R.V. POLARSTERN (IPY ANT-XXIV/3 cruise) along the Greenwich meridian will bring a complete section of several parameters from the sub-tropical region towards the Antarctic Peninsula. We would like to report here the preliminary results of the BONUS-GOODHOPE cruise.
Furthermore, international efforts to organise several Southern Ocean cruises in the framework of IPY have been successfully implemented in the last two years. Submission of abstracts presenting results from these cruises (e.g. SAZ-SENSE, Zero-Drake, SR3-GEOTRACES...) are particularly encouraged.
For more information, contact:
Marie BOYE
Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), CNRS-UMR 6539
Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM)
Technopole Brest-Iroise
Place Nicolas Copernic
29280 Plouzané- FRANCE
Phone: 33 2 98 49 86 51 - Fax : 33 2 98 49 86 45 - E-mail : marie.boye@univ-brest.fr
Visit the International Polar Year BONUS-GOODHOPE project
Visit the CAMAIEUD project
Nice, France, 25-30 January, 2009
Two special sessions at the upcoming ASLO meeting that may be of interest to those involved with the International Polar Year.
Session titles are below, followed by a session summary.
Abstract deadline 3 October, 2008
Special session 099: IPY-GEOTRACES: Trace Elements and Isotopes in Polar Oceans
Convenors: Marie Boye, LEMAR, IUEM, Technopole de Brest-Iroise, France, marie.boye@univ-brest.fr; H.J.W. De Baar, Department Ocean Ecosystems, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, debaar@nioz.nl
Trace elements essential for life, notably iron (Fe), play a key role in marine ecosystems and climate. Isotopes are natural tracers and time-clocks in the sea. The international GEOTRACES program has its flying start in the International Polar Year (2007-2008). The unique quasi-synopsis of IPY-cruises with GEOTRACES issues has the potential to provide new insights into a wide range of ocean processes and dynamics in Polar Oceans. Furthermore multi-tracers approaches and intercalibration exercises achieved during the IPY-GEOTRACES is an important step forward towards the development of analytical techniques that are essential to improve our knowledge of ocean dynamics.
Special Session 049: The Southern Ocean during the International Polar Year
Convenors: Marie Boye, LEMAR CNRS UMR6539, FR, marie.boye@univ-brest.fr; Sabrina Speich, LPO, FR, speich@univ-brest.fr; Frank Dehairs, VUB, Belgium, fdehairs@vub.ac.be; Damien Cardinal, African Museum Tervuren, Belgium, damien.cardinal@africamuseum.be; François Lacan, LEGOS, FR, Francois.Lacan@legos.obs-mip.fr
In the framework of the IPY (GEOTRACES, ICED & CASO), BONUS-GOODHOPE programme aims at understanding the interactions between the oceanic dynamics, the bio- and geo-chemistry, the sediment and the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean and south-eastern Atlantic Ocean. The multidisciplinary and international MD166 BONUS-GOODHOPE cruise was conducted on board of the French R.V. MARION-DUFRESNE II between 33.58°S 17.14 °E and 57.33°S 00.02°W, from 08/02/07 to 08/03/24. A huge field work was achieved to collect samples and data in seawater (Niskin-CTD; GO-FLO, in situ pumps, underway pumping, XBTs, PROVOR, CPIES, incubations), in the atmosphere (balloons, dust and rain collection, sensors), and in the sediment (surficial multicorer). The unique complementary approach, based on the coupling of multitracers of selected trace elements and isotopes, with the biogeochemistry, the physical oceanography and the atmospheric dynamics, has the potential to provide unique insights into a wide range of oceanic processes and the status of the functioning of the Southern Ocean. Furthermore the synopticity with the German R.V. POLARSTERN (IPY ANT-XXIV/3 cruise) along the Greenwich meridian will bring a complete section of several parameters from the sub-tropical region towards the Antarctic Peninsula. We would like to report here the preliminary results of the BONUS-GOODHOPE cruise.
Furthermore, international efforts to organise several Southern Ocean cruises in the framework of IPY have been successfully implemented in the last two years. Submission of abstracts presenting results from these cruises (e.g. SAZ-SENSE, Zero-Drake, SR3-GEOTRACES...) are particularly encouraged.
For more information, contact:
Marie BOYE
Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), CNRS-UMR 6539
Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM)
Technopole Brest-Iroise
Place Nicolas Copernic
29280 Plouzané- FRANCE
Phone: 33 2 98 49 86 51 - Fax : 33 2 98 49 86 45 - E-mail : marie.boye@univ-brest.fr
Visit the International Polar Year BONUS-GOODHOPE project
Visit the CAMAIEUD project
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:12:00 +0000
Black Carbon: Playing a Major Role in Arctic Climate Change
http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1732-black-carbon-playing-a-major-role-in-arctic-climate-change http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1732-black-carbon-playing-a-major-role-in-arctic-climate-change
Sooty particles emitted during the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (petroleum, coal), biofuels, and biomass (wood, animal dung, etc.) can do more than just create unsightly pollution and provoke respiratory problems. Known within the scientific community as black carbon, research and modelling conducted in recent years shows that this dark-coloured aerosol has been playing a significant role in climate warming through its absorption of solar radiation. Its impact is heaviest in the cryosphere, where its presence can reduce snow albedo and can lead to faster melting of snow on land and on sea ice.
...
Sooty particles emitted during the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (petroleum, coal), biofuels, and biomass (wood, animal dung, etc.) can do more than just create unsightly pollution and provoke respiratory problems. Known within the scientific community as black carbon, research and modelling conducted in recent years shows that this dark-coloured aerosol has been playing a significant role in climate warming through its absorption of solar radiation. Its impact is heaviest in the cryosphere, where its presence can reduce snow albedo and can lead to faster melting of snow on land and on sea ice.
In a recently published article, SciencePoles has a closer look at black carbon's role as a climate forcing agent, how it came to be recognised as such by the scientific community, and the immediate benefits of reducing black carbon emissions. The article also links to two interviews with polar scientists who are currently conducting research on black carbon's effects on snow albedo during the IPY:
- In the first interview, Dr. Stephen Warren, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle talks about his current research project, in which he is taking Arctic snow samples from different locations across the Arctic and bringing them to labs to be analysed. The project is a follow-up to the broad-scale survey of Arctic snow that Clarke and Noone were involved with back in 1983-84.
- In the second interview, Dr. Charles Zender, Associate Professor and Director of at the University of California, Irvine and Dr. Florent Dominé, CNRS Research Director at the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE) in Grenoble, France, talk about Dr. Dominé's new optical device used for measuring snow reflectance, and how they are using this device to measure snow reflectance with significant amounts of black carbon in it in order to verify Dr. Zender's models.
Stephen Warren, Charles Zender & Florent Dominé were kind enough to provide us with a few pictures about their work.
Picture: The Arctic Arc / © International Polar Foundation
]]>
IPY Blogs Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:31:01 +0000
Grand Designs: New Antarctic Stations Around the IPY 2007-08
http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1674-grand-designs-new-antarctic-stations-around-the-ipy-2007-08 http://www.ipy.org/ipy-blogs/item/1674-grand-designs-new-antarctic-stations-around-the-ipy-2007-08
On the occasion of the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative meeting held in Kiev, Ukraine, from the 2nd to the 13th of June 2008, SciencePoles looks at one of the lasting legacies of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08: A series of high-tech scientific research stations recently completed, or in the process of being constructed in Antarctica.
Never since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 has the frozen continent seen suc...
On the occasion of the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative meeting held in Kiev, Ukraine, from the 2nd to the 13th of June 2008, SciencePoles looks at one of the lasting legacies of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08: A series of high-tech scientific research stations recently completed, or in the process of being constructed in Antarctica.
Never since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 has the frozen continent seen such intense infrastructure building activity, or such a rapid increase in research capacity. Futuristic in their design and all specifically adapted to the Antarctic environment, these new stations draw on the latest technological and design innovations to maximise functionality and minimise their environmental footprint in accordance with the requirements of the Protocol for Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
Although they share many similarities such as waste treatment plants and stilts or hydraulic legs, the new stations also vary significantly in scale, scientific function, geographic location, and energy reliance.
A picture gallery of the various stations and projects is available
]]>
IPY Blogs Wed, 28 May 2008 21:30:00 +0000
EPOCA: Ocean Acidification and its Consequences on Ecosystems
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1655-epoca-ocean-acidification-and-its-consequences-on-ecosystems http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1655-epoca-ocean-acidification-and-its-consequences-on-ecosystems
May 26, 2008. Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through human activities have a well-known impact on the Earth's climate. Its other, less well-known impact is ocean acidification, with uncertain consequences on marine organisms and ecosystems. The European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) will be launched on 10 June 2008. Its goal is to document ocean acidification, investigate its impact on biological processes, predict its consequences over the next 100 years, and advise policy-makers on potential thresholds or tipping points that should not be exceeded. The World's oceans cover over 70% of the planet's surface, contribute half of its primary production and contain an enormous diversity of life. Thus it is not surprising that they provide i...
May 26, 2008.
Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through human activities have a well-known impact on the Earth's climate. Its other, less well-known impact is “ocean acidification, with uncertain consequences on marine organisms and ecosystems. The European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) will be launched on 10 June 2008. Its goal is to document ocean acidification, investigate its impact on biological processes, predict its consequences over the next 100 years, and advise policy-makers on potential thresholds or tipping points that should not be exceeded.
The World's oceans cover over 70% of the planet's surface, contribute half of its primary production and contain an enormous diversity of life. Thus it is not surprising that they provide invaluable resources to human society. They also play a vital role in Earth's life support system due to their impact on climate and global biogeochemical cycles and due to their capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
The oceans currently absorb half of the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels. Put simply, climate change would be far worse if it was not for the oceans. However, there is a cost to the oceans. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid. As more CO2 is taken up by the oceans surface, the pH (a measure of acidity, the lower the pH the greater the acidity) decreases, moving towards a more acidic state. This change is called “ocean acidification and is happening at a rate that has not been experienced for at least 400,000 years and probably for the last 20 million years.
The overall goal of the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) is to fill the numerous gaps in our understanding of the effects and implications of ocean acidification.
- EPOCA aims to document the changes in ocean chemistry and biogeography across space and time. Paleo-reconstruction methods will be used on several biological archives, including foraminifera and deep-sea corals, to determine past variability in ocean chemistry and to tie these to present-day chemical and biological observations.
- EPOCA will determine the sensitivity of marine organisms, communities and ecosystems to ocean acidification. Molecular to biochemical, physiological and ecological approaches will be combined with laboratory and field-based perturbation experiments to quantify biological responses to ocean acidification, assess the potential for adaptation, and determine the consequences for biogeochemical cycling. Laboratory experiments will focus on key organisms selected on the basis of their ecological, biogeochemical or socio-economic importance. Field studies will be carried out in regions of the ocean deemed most sensitive to ocean acidification.
- Insights into the impacts of ocean acidification will be integrated in biogeochemical, sediment and coupled ocean-climate models to better understand and predict the responses of the Earth system to ocean acidification. Special attention will be paid to the potential feedbacks of the physiological changes in the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and iron cycles.
- EPOCA will assess uncertainties, risks and thresholds ("tipping points") related to ocean acidification at scales ranging from sub-cellular to ecosystem and local to global. It will also assess pathways of CO2 emissions required to avoid these thresholds and describe the change and the subsequent risk to the marine environment and Earth system, should these emissions be exceeded.
Led by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the EU Framework 7 Collaborative Project EPOCA is run by a consortium of 27 partners across 9 countries involving many of the leading oceanographic institutions across Europe and more than 100 permanent scientists. The budget of this 4 year project is 16.5 M¤ with a contribution from the European Commission of 6.5 M¤.
For more information and a full list of all EPOCA partners visit this site.
Kickoff meeting: EPOCA will officially be launched during a kickoff meeting in Nice (France), 10-13 June 2008.
Notes for Editors:
Your contact person at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research is Prof. Dr Jelle Bijma (Phone: +49-471-4831-1831, email: Jelle.Bijma@awi.de). Your contact person in the Communications Dept. of the Alfred Wegener Institute is Dr Susanne Diederich (Phone: +49-471-4831-1376, email: medien@awi.de).
Your contact person at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM GEOMAR) is Prof. Dr Ulf Riebesell (Phone: +49 431 600 4444, email: uriebesell@ifm-geomar.de).
Your contact person at the EPOCA coordination office is Dr Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche (Phone: +33 4 93 76 38 59, email: coord-ocean-acidification@obs-vlfr.fr).
Further institutional contacts in Germany:
GKSS Research Centre, Institute for Coastal Research
Dr Markus Schartau
Phone: +49 4152 87 1540
Email: markus.schartau@gkss.de
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Dr Ernst Maier-Reimer
Phone: +49 41173 233
Email: ernst.maier-reimer@zmaw.de
The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) conducts research in the Arctic, Antarctic and in oceans of temperate and high latitudes. The AWI coordinates polar research in Germany, and provides important infrastructure, such as the research icebreaker Polarstern and research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic for international science organisations. The Alfred Wegener Institute is one of 15 research centres of the 'Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft' (Helmholtz Association), the largest scientific organisation in Germany.
PRESS RELEASE
Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung
in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Communications Dept.
Postfach 12 01 61, 27515 Bremerhaven/Germany
Tel. ++49 471 4831-1376, Fax ++49 471 4831-1389
email: medien@awi.de
www.awi.de
Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through human activities have a well-known impact on the Earth's climate. Its other, less well-known impact is “ocean acidification, with uncertain consequences on marine organisms and ecosystems. The European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) will be launched on 10 June 2008. Its goal is to document ocean acidification, investigate its impact on biological processes, predict its consequences over the next 100 years, and advise policy-makers on potential thresholds or tipping points that should not be exceeded.
The World's oceans cover over 70% of the planet's surface, contribute half of its primary production and contain an enormous diversity of life. Thus it is not surprising that they provide invaluable resources to human society. They also play a vital role in Earth's life support system due to their impact on climate and global biogeochemical cycles and due to their capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
The oceans currently absorb half of the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels. Put simply, climate change would be far worse if it was not for the oceans. However, there is a cost to the oceans. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid. As more CO2 is taken up by the oceans surface, the pH (a measure of acidity, the lower the pH the greater the acidity) decreases, moving towards a more acidic state. This change is called “ocean acidification and is happening at a rate that has not been experienced for at least 400,000 years and probably for the last 20 million years.
The overall goal of the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) is to fill the numerous gaps in our understanding of the effects and implications of ocean acidification.
- EPOCA aims to document the changes in ocean chemistry and biogeography across space and time. Paleo-reconstruction methods will be used on several biological archives, including foraminifera and deep-sea corals, to determine past variability in ocean chemistry and to tie these to present-day chemical and biological observations.
- EPOCA will determine the sensitivity of marine organisms, communities and ecosystems to ocean acidification. Molecular to biochemical, physiological and ecological approaches will be combined with laboratory and field-based perturbation experiments to quantify biological responses to ocean acidification, assess the potential for adaptation, and determine the consequences for biogeochemical cycling. Laboratory experiments will focus on key organisms selected on the basis of their ecological, biogeochemical or socio-economic importance. Field studies will be carried out in regions of the ocean deemed most sensitive to ocean acidification.
- Insights into the impacts of ocean acidification will be integrated in biogeochemical, sediment and coupled ocean-climate models to better understand and predict the responses of the Earth system to ocean acidification. Special attention will be paid to the potential feedbacks of the physiological changes in the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and iron cycles.
- EPOCA will assess uncertainties, risks and thresholds ("tipping points") related to ocean acidification at scales ranging from sub-cellular to ecosystem and local to global. It will also assess pathways of CO2 emissions required to avoid these thresholds and describe the change and the subsequent risk to the marine environment and Earth system, should these emissions be exceeded.
Led by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the EU Framework 7 Collaborative Project EPOCA is run by a consortium of 27 partners across 9 countries involving many of the leading oceanographic institutions across Europe and more than 100 permanent scientists. The budget of this 4 year project is 16.5 M¤ with a contribution from the European Commission of 6.5 M¤.
For more information and a full list of all EPOCA partners visit this site.
Kickoff meeting: EPOCA will officially be launched during a kickoff meeting in Nice (France), 10-13 June 2008.
Notes for Editors:
Your contact person at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research is Prof. Dr Jelle Bijma (Phone: +49-471-4831-1831, email: Jelle.Bijma@awi.de). Your contact person in the Communications Dept. of the Alfred Wegener Institute is Dr Susanne Diederich (Phone: +49-471-4831-1376, email: medien@awi.de).
Your contact person at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM GEOMAR) is Prof. Dr Ulf Riebesell (Phone: +49 431 600 4444, email: uriebesell@ifm-geomar.de).
Your contact person at the EPOCA coordination office is Dr Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche (Phone: +33 4 93 76 38 59, email: coord-ocean-acidification@obs-vlfr.fr).
Further institutional contacts in Germany:
GKSS Research Centre, Institute for Coastal Research
Dr Markus Schartau
Phone: +49 4152 87 1540
Email: markus.schartau@gkss.de
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Dr Ernst Maier-Reimer
Phone: +49 41173 233
Email: ernst.maier-reimer@zmaw.de
The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) conducts research in the Arctic, Antarctic and in oceans of temperate and high latitudes. The AWI coordinates polar research in Germany, and provides important infrastructure, such as the research icebreaker Polarstern and research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic for international science organisations. The Alfred Wegener Institute is one of 15 research centres of the 'Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft' (Helmholtz Association), the largest scientific organisation in Germany.
PRESS RELEASE
Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung
in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Communications Dept.
Postfach 12 01 61, 27515 Bremerhaven/Germany
Tel. ++49 471 4831-1376, Fax ++49 471 4831-1389
email: medien@awi.de
www.awi.de
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 26 May 2008 22:51:00 +0000
Global Change Research conference: Nov 5-10, France
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1629-global-change-research-conference-nov-5-10-france http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1629-global-change-research-conference-nov-5-10-france
Contents:
1. IPO Planning - 2008 and Beyond
2. February 2009 dates and events
3. Canada 2012
4. UNEP Children's Conference - call for material
5. Polar Books
6. www.IPY.org,- , bloggers needed, fly the IPY flag!
7. Report from SAON
8. IPY Science at the European Geophysical Union (EGU) meeting 2008
Report no. 13, May 2008
From: IPY International Programme Office
To: IPY Project Coordinators
cc: IPY Community Google Groups
1. IPO Planning - 2008 and Beyond
Many IPY participants consider post-IPY activities and events. IPY Project Coordinators consider project data responsibilities, special publications, project summary meetings, and th...
The Entre-Sciences program (Foundation Maison Sciences de l'Homme) is pleased to announce the ESF-FMSH Entre-Sciences International conference "New Methodologies and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Global Change Research" (see flyer (PDF)) organized in partnership with the European Science Foundation. The conference will take place from November 5th to 10th in Porquerolles (French Riviera).
More information here.
More information here.
]]>
News And Announcements Tue, 13 May 2008 19:09:00 +0000
Albedo experiment
http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1617-albedo-experiment http://www.ipy.org/news-a-announcements/item/1617-albedo-experiment
From May 15-24, 2008, science centers worldwide are joining forces with local students for an international, educational event about the importance of the Polar ice caps.
To fully understand how these regions are critical to helping the Earth maintain its climate through their reflection of the sun's rays (a process called albedo), youngsters will create large white spots using available material. At a scheduled time determined by optimum overpass angle, NASA satellites will pass overhead, measuring the reflectivity of these white spots and recording images of the white spots. On June 9, the World Ocean Network will participate in the Albedo Experiment as part of its World Ocean Week closing ceremony.
...
From May 15-24, 2008, science centers worldwide are joining forces with local students for an international, educational event about the importance of the Polar ice caps.
To fully understand how these regions are critical to helping the Earth maintain its climate through their reflection of the sun's rays (a process called albedo), youngsters will create large white spots using available material. At a scheduled time determined by optimum overpass angle, NASA satellites will pass overhead, measuring the reflectivity of these white spots and recording images of the white spots. On June 9, the World Ocean Network will participate in the Albedo Experiment as part of its World Ocean Week closing ceremony.
In addition, science center partners will organize a program of supporting events for the students, such as demonstrations and other related activities. The Albedo Experiment was created through a collaboration between IGLO and NASA.
Partner Institutions:
May 1
Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
http://www.smv.org/
May 16
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois
http://www.lakeview-museum.org/
May 17
Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia
http://www.longwood.edu/
May 19
Technopolis, Mechelen, Belgium
http://www.technopolis.be/eng/index.php?n=0
Henri Bergson High School, Paris, France
http://lyc-henri4.scola.ac-paris.fr/
May 20
Monash Science Centre, Monash, Australia
http://www.sci.monash.edu.au/msc/
Heureka, Vantaa, Finland
http://www.heureka.fi/portal/englanti/
MadaTech, Haifa, Israel
http://www.madatech.org.il/pages/Index.aspx?language=English
Singapore Science Center, Singapore
http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/index.jsp
Techniquest, Cardiff, Wales
http://www.tquest.org.uk/
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton, Ohio
http://www.boonshoftmuseum.org/
Norwegian Museum of Science & Technology, Oslo, Norway
http://www.tekniskmuseum.no/
May 21
Questacon, Canberra, Australia
http://www.questacon.edu.au/
TeknikensHus, Lulea, Sweden
http://www.teknikenshus.se/english/index.html
May 22
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico
http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/
May 23
National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/templates/StartPage.aspx?id=13327
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy
http://www.mtsn.tn.it/
May 24
Discovery Science and Outdoor Center, Ocala, Florida
http://www.ocalafl.org/RECPARK.aspx?id=818
June 9
Nausicaa, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
http://www.nausicaa.fr/Anglais/intro.htm
To fully understand how these regions are critical to helping the Earth maintain its climate through their reflection of the sun's rays (a process called albedo), youngsters will create large white spots using available material. At a scheduled time determined by optimum overpass angle, NASA satellites will pass overhead, measuring the reflectivity of these white spots and recording images of the white spots. On June 9, the World Ocean Network will participate in the Albedo Experiment as part of its World Ocean Week closing ceremony.
In addition, science center partners will organize a program of supporting events for the students, such as demonstrations and other related activities. The Albedo Experiment was created through a collaboration between IGLO and NASA.
Partner Institutions:
May 1
Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
http://www.smv.org/
May 16
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois
http://www.lakeview-museum.org/
May 17
Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia
http://www.longwood.edu/
May 19
Technopolis, Mechelen, Belgium
http://www.technopolis.be/eng/index.php?n=0
Henri Bergson High School, Paris, France
http://lyc-henri4.scola.ac-paris.fr/
May 20
Monash Science Centre, Monash, Australia
http://www.sci.monash.edu.au/msc/
Heureka, Vantaa, Finland
http://www.heureka.fi/portal/englanti/
MadaTech, Haifa, Israel
http://www.madatech.org.il/pages/Index.aspx?language=English
Singapore Science Center, Singapore
http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/index.jsp
Techniquest, Cardiff, Wales
http://www.tquest.org.uk/
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton, Ohio
http://www.boonshoftmuseum.org/
Norwegian Museum of Science & Technology, Oslo, Norway
http://www.tekniskmuseum.no/
May 21
Questacon, Canberra, Australia
http://www.questacon.edu.au/
TeknikensHus, Lulea, Sweden
http://www.teknikenshus.se/english/index.html
May 22
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico
http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/
May 23
National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/templates/StartPage.aspx?id=13327
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy
http://www.mtsn.tn.it/
May 24
Discovery Science and Outdoor Center, Ocala, Florida
http://www.ocalafl.org/RECPARK.aspx?id=818
June 9
Nausicaa, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
http://www.nausicaa.fr/Anglais/intro.htm
]]>
News And Announcements Mon, 12 May 2008 21:21:00 +0000
Meet Armelle Decaulne - APECS (in French)
http://www.ipy.org/multimedia/item/1511-meet-armelle-decaulne--apecs-in-french http://www.ipy.org/multimedia/item/1511-meet-armelle-decaulne--apecs-in-french
]]>
Meet APECS scientists (in their native language): Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:25:00 +0000