Antarctic Expeditions - Adventurers Setting Records

Three men, Australians Justin Jones & James Castrission and Alexsander Gamme of Norway have been travelling further than Britain's woman Felicity Aston, whose 59 day trip across 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometres) made her the first woman to travel across Antarctica alone and under her own control.

British adventurer Felicity Aston has become the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica.

Picture: AP Source: AP

All rugged up... Justin Jones and James Castrission in Antarctica.

Picture: Tony Harrington Source: The Australian

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Aussie adventurers break Antarctic record

Felicity Aston first woman to ski solo across Antarctica


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A British woman tries to Record Cross Antarctica

2011- The Year of Two Ozone Holes

As usual The 2011 Ozone Hole formed over Antarctica but unexpectedly an Ozone Hole also formed over The Arctic.

The 2011 Antarctic Ozone Hole is now over. The Ozone Hole began to form in mid August, and by mid September reached it's largest size of 26 million square kilometers on September 12,2011 larger than the average for the last decade and remained near this size into early October according to data from The British Antarctic Survey and NASA. The lowest concentration of ozone in the southern stratosphere—that is, the deepest “hole”—occurred on October 8, 2011 when levels descended to 95 Dobson units. Its size from October to mid November was near to or above the record area for the time of year. The hole became more elliptical in mid October and the edge of the ozone hole passed over the tip of South America and the Falkland Islands, but then returned to a more circular form.

In March of 2011 unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer initiated massive ozone depletion. The 2011 Arctic Ozone Hole occurred over an area considerably smaller than that of the Antarctic Ozone Holes. This is because the Arctic polar vortex, a persistent large-scale cyclone within which the ozone loss takes place, was about 40 percent smaller than a typical Antarctic vortex. While smaller and shorter-lived than its Antarctic counterpart, the Arctic polar vortex is more mobile, often moving over densely populated northern regions. Decreases in overhead ozone lead to increases in surface ultraviolet radiation, which are known to have adverse effects on humans and other life forms. Read more.

Give a thought for Howard Fairbank's solo trip to Soth pole

By the time you read this, Howard Fairbank will be on the 30th day of his journey to the South Pole. Alone.
He hopes to reach the pole, on skis, pulling a sledge, by Christmas eve. 

Photo: Antarctica Richard Weber

The Durban-born man who is trekking unassisted across the icy wastes of Antarctica, wrote on his blog that charts his adventure that he had never experienced anything like the total inability to judge distance.

At sea, which is also a vast “nothingness”, he prided himself on his ability to judge long distances. but this was new territory and something had affected his gut feel.

Fairbank said every day was like a new milestone for him and felt quite special as he imagined himself “upside down”, walking to the globe’s southernmost point.

“To reward myself for achieving the milestone, I delved into my spare food stocks and found two pieces of Josee’s delicious lunch fruitcake: one for dessert tonight, and one for breakfast in the morning. It should have been an extra whisky celebration, but stock is ‘very tight’! Not from excessive helpings, but rather, being heavy, it was always going to be a scarce resource,” Fairbank said.

He also documents how his daily food ration is not enough and no crumb is spared.

His problematic right foot was also still affecting him, though it seemed to be getting better.

Fairbank has resorted to wearing five pairs of socks when he treks. “When one really pushes the pace or has a very heavy sled, the toes get quite stressed, and you almost need like a grab rail in your boot to help them claw back. This is the problem I have, where my toes and ball of my foot are now traumatised,” Fairbank said.

Two of his fingers have suffered from cold blisters and most of them are sensitive to the touch as a result of minor frost damage.

Fairbank said he did not miss shopping, going to gym, paying bills, doing laundry and kitchen dishes, supermarkets, traffic and garbage duty.

“I’m eating the same basic food each day, wearing the same clothes each day, not shaving nor brushing my hair, not showering, I have no idea what’s going on in the world, I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone yet, there is nothing I feel I need or want. Not even a hot bath! Why in that ‘other world’, do ‘we’ need so much variety, external stimulation, so much socialising, news, gadgets, material pleasures?” Source: Independent Online.

Related Story: Howard Fairbank's Solo trip to South Pole begins

First Malayali to visit Arctic & Antarctic (North & South Poles)

Dr. Bijoy Nandan, Aquatic Ecologist, Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry

After returning back from Arctic (North Pole) expedition recently, Dr. Bijoy Nandan is really exited for his next task of expedition to Antarctica (South Pole), although the aouth pole has more challanges than north pole. The 30th Indian Expedition to Antarctica is presently stationed at Antarctica. Dr. Bijoy Nandan will join as team member of next expedition, which is scheduled to be in last quarter of year 2012. He will become the first Malayali scientist to visit both the ice continents, once he sets his foot on the seventh continent near the South Pole. The scientist with the School of Marine Sciences of Cochin University of Science and Technology, he will reach the new Indian station at Anatrctica as part of a team of scientists from India to conduct exciting biological experiments.

National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), is co-ordinating the expedition activities after making a rigorous selection of scientists and other personnel. “The arctic expedition was for 25 days while the trip to Antarctica will be 4 months long. It’s tougher to survive in Antarctica where there are just vast tracts of frozen ice, unlike the Arctic, which does have stretches of land,” says Dr Bijoy. ...Click Here to read more.

Also read related Stories:
An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences
India to commission 3rd station in Antarctica

An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences

A wave of nostalgia swept over me when I read this..since I was fortunate enough to be a part of Indian Scientific Expedition team under the leadership of Dr. Rasik Ravindra in year 1989-90.


After my own experience, I am always fond of knowing more of this frozen planet and to make awareness for saving depleting ozone layer through my own blog.


National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research (NCAOR) is doing wonderful work to celebrate centenary year with thirty expeditions so far (including Soth Pole) ..! And many more to come..to keep India ahead of all odds.. :)

Rasik Ravindra Leader of the Indian expedition team posing at the South Pole in Nov 2010. Source: The Hindu 

Please click below link to read experience shared by the leader and my comments:
An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences




Also read related story: India to commission 3rd station in Antarctica

Ozone Layer Depletion is Stopping..? Please check.

As per SCIENTISTS, they have won the battle to stop ozone depletion, with the hole above Antarctica gradually closing.

But they warn this good work is rapidly being doomed by the growing effects of greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of climate change.

Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate system Science Laureate Fellow Prof Matthew England said the Antarctic ozone hole's influence on the climate in Tasmania and the southern hemisphere was dissipating as the hole slowly closed.

But Prof England, also co-director of the University of New South Wales's Climate Change Research Centre, warned the good work in reducing CFCs from the atmosphere would be progressively overridden by human-induced emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Prof Sherwood said the Montreal Protocol that banned CFC use in the mid-1980s was directly responsible for improving ozone conditions above the Antarctic.
"We know it will take a very long time to recover completely because it takes several decades for the natural process to remove the pollutants from the atmosphere," Prof Sherwood said.

"But the Montreal Protocol is one of the few success stories that we can point to of this kind, where scientists figured out there was a problem (and) the nations of the world worked together to phase out the problem."

But Prof Sherwood said growing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatened to unhinge efforts to reverse ozone depletion.

He said greenhouses gases the carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming cooled the stratosphere, which served to enhance ozone depletion.

"Therefore adding more greenhouses gases to the atmosphere is helping to promote the ozone hole," he said.

"It's fighting against the good outcomes of the reduction of the CFCs."
Prof Sherwood said there was already evidence of the detrimental impact of carbon dioxide on ozone in the northern hemisphere. Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/12/11/283601_tasmania-news.html

Scientist Injured at Prince Charles Mountains in Antarctica

Tessa Williams, a 21 year old New Zealand woman who slipped on a slop of snow in the Prince Charles Mountains (approx. 800 kms. from Davis Station), suffered major cuts and abrasion. Presently, in a stable condition with great spirits. She is flown to Davis Station as she is one of the researchers of South Autralian Museum and studying the origins and dispersal patterns of invertebrates in the Antarctic.

She will be later flown to Casey Station for for greater assessment and to determine by the medical officers if the scientist requires to be evacuated back to Auatralia. She was initially flown about 800 kms. from a remote field camp in the Prince Charles Mountains to Davis station.

The Aurora Australis ship is already en route to Casey for the summer season and will arrive next week. South Australian Museum director Suzanne Miller says it is likely that Ms Williams will be brought back to Australia on the ship.

"At this stage we think the likelihood is that she'll be transferred to one of the other Australian stations and then brought back by one of the Australian Antarctic Division ships which is due there within the next week," she said.

Professor Miller says the remote location of the field study made the rescue more difficult.

"Antarctica's a very harsh place so it adds a whole layer of difficulty onto undertaking field work so we're very pleased and very relieved to know that Tessa's injuries are not as serious as they could have been," she said. Source: abc.net.au

Antarctica Visitors' Unfavourable Iceberg

TOURISTS forking out top dollar to visit Mawson's Hut for centenary celebrations this summer are likely to face disappointment as the "Antarctic factor" heaves an enormous icy obstacle in ships' paths.


Expedition cruise ship MV Orion is due to start its 19-night Southern Ocean voyage on Thursday, with prices for the 100 passengers starting at $19,365 a person.


Orion expedition leader Don McIntyre said the Antarctic always had challenges but an iceberg the size of the ACT blocking access was "unique".


"Whilst it's not looking good, no one will know until we get there," Mr McIntyre said.


"We always maintain a simple philosophy we work with the Antarctic factor. You cannot dictate terms with Antarctica, it lets you in at its pleasure you have to work with it, you can't fight it."


A 2500 sq km tabular iceberg was part of a much larger ice mass that broke free from the Ross Ice Shelf in 1987 but subsequently broke up as it drifted westwards.


Parts of the "B9B" iceberg have grounded on the approach to the Mawson's Hut site at Commonwealth Bay.


Rob Easther, from the Mawson's Hut Foundation, yesterday confirmed their expedition to continue preservation work on the historic hut had been cancelled for this year but they hoped to return next summer.


Former Tasmanian Chris Huxley is due to travel with his wife on the expedition and remains philosophical about his chances of getting to shore.


"I just think you've got to play the elements," Mr Huxley said.


"I'm hoping, but I understand safety comes first."


And he says that even if they can't make it to Mawson's Hut, he hopes he can still play a few overs of Centenary World Series Ice Cricket.


"Being a larrikin Australian, I've organised my brother to knock me up an old cricket bat the old fashioned kids-in-the-back yard sort," he said.


"And I've got some stumps coming. We realised we couldn't stick them in the ice so they'll be in a piece of wood."


Mr McIntyre said the nature of the cruise meant that passengers were told there was always a chance they wouldn't make it to land at Commonwealth Bay.


"We've spent more time at Commonwealth Bay than anyone but I'd not like to make a prediction at this stage," Mr McIntyre said.


Even if they don't make it to shore, first-time visitors will still come away with a once-in-a-lifetime experience, he said. Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/11/26/279771_tasmania-news.html

Howard Fairbank's Solo trip to South Pole begins

A Durban-born man who has sailed solo across the five seas, cycled through Africa and recently trekked unassisted from Canada to the North Pole has begun his latest adventure – walking from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole, alone.

Howard Fairbank, a former Durban High School pupil, began his journey on Saturday, after leaving Punta Arenas in Chile for Antarctica.


If he completes the journey, battling some of Earth’s toughest terrain in sub-zero temperatures, Fairbank is hoping to become the oldest person, and first South African, to do the trip solo, unassisted and unsupported.


Fairbank, who has been training for his latest adventure for months, left South Africa on November 6.


He hopes to reach the South Pole by Christmas Eve.


According to his blog, Fairbank left a successful business career in 2004 to pursue his “Simply Adventure” dream, which he describes as “a simple wandering way of life, centred around sailing, cycling, and sea kayaking adventures, and one far removed from the capitalist and material world”.


In 2009, after years of solo sailing across oceans and cycling the continents, he moved his focus to polar adventure.


Last year, with three others, he completed an unassisted trek from Canada to the geographic North Pole, joining an exclusive club of fewer than 60 people who have completed what is dubbed the “hardest trek on Earth”.


Writing on his blog shortly before he left Cape Town, Fairbank said: “This is a very emotional time, as I seem finally to be on track to meet my destiny with Antarctica.


“In 2006, 2008, and 2009, I came close to meetings with this special wilderness but the experiences weren’t to be, no doubt waiting for this very special meeting and experience that lies ahead.


“I never wanted the meeting to be on passive, commercial-operator terms, I wanted as naked an experience as I could personally manage, and now this is exactly what awaits me.


“As I think through what lies ahead, I have this huge emotional cocktail within, feelings of apprehension, fear, excitement, and a sense of handing myself over to fate.”


Fairbank said a rational person would question why someone would want to leave home to take on the hostility of the Antarctic environment solo.


“There is something bizarre about all this, but having done many of these ‘irrational’ expeditions, I know that there is an amazing way of life awaiting on the ice… It is a life free of mindless clutter, yet full of challenge, and in an environment that is the purest of the pure – the world’s largest desert, and an ice one at that…”


At the weekend while waiting to fly to Antarctica, Fairbank was co-ordinating his trip using two compasses he plans to use while he is out on the ice.


He said he had met three seasoned polar adventurers who completed the Messner route, and who went through their experiences of the dangerous crevasse areas with him.


“The main fear I have is being alone in a whiteout with crevasse around, but now having rehearsed the situation many times in my head, I have to just get out there and deal with it… Gee, this is going to be exciting,” he said. - Daily News. Source: The Post

Related Story: Give a thought for Howard Fairbank's solo trip to Soth pole

Antarctic Centennial Year

South Pole prepares for 100-year anniversary of historic race between Amundsen and Scott.
By Peter Rejcek, Antarctic Sun Editor


A century ago, perhaps the last great feat of terrestrial exploration took place in one of the world’s most inhospitable locations, spawning a race between two very different men.


On one side was Norwegian Roald Amundsen, a veteran polar explorer who had honed his skills among the Inuit of the Arctic. In opposition was Capt. Robert Falcon Scott, the epitome of the stoic British military officer. Their goal: To be the first to stand at the geographic South Pole.


The story is well known: Amundsen and his team easily reached the bottom of the world first on Dec. 14. Scott and his men followed more than a month later, on Jan. 17, perishing on the return trip only 11 miles from their resupply depot.


Now, 100 years later, adventurers, history buffs and avid travelers are expected to visit this once most inaccessible of sites on Antarctica’s polar plateau to commemorate the achievement. Today, 90 South is home to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station , an advanced research center that supports telescopes and observatories that investigate such weird phenomena as neutrinos and dark energy.

Photo Credit: Dwight Bohnet/Antarctic Photo Library

The South Pole Station is named after Amundsen and Scott.

                                

Robert Falcon Scott, left, and Roald Amundsen.

At the height of the summer field season — November to February — the station houses about 250 support personnel and scientists. This year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) , which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) , is expecting up to double that population in tourists — a modest number in the total visitors who journey to Antarctica every year but a staggering amount given the remoteness of the South Pole.

Up to 150 people alone are expected to be at the station on Dec. 14, including a diplomatic party of about a dozen people from Norway led by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg . Another 70 or more people may arrive on the Scott anniversary, although there is not an official British presence expected on Jan. 17.

“In terms of an event, the centennial is completely new territory,” said Bill Coughran, South Pole area director for Raytheon Polar Services (RPSC) , the company that operates the station for the NSF.

For the anniversary year, station personnel will set up a temporary visitor center and small retail store not far from the ceremonial pole behind the station, to be powered by a solar array. In addition, the tour operators will set up a small base camp at the end of the station’s airfield skiway, with additional facilities to accommodate the larger number of tourists expected around the anniversary dates.

“You don’t just pop in to South Pole with these kind of numbers for the day,” Coughran said.

Tourist visits at the South Pole have been creeping up over the last decade. As recently as the 2003-04 season, the station saw 40 visitors. Five years later, the number had quadrupled.

Last year, according to statistics from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) , the voluntary organization of Antarctica-bound outfitters, 386 people participated in land-based expeditions, which include the South Pole and other popular destinations, including Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain.

IAATO lists three operators as members for land-based expeditions: Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE)/Adventure Network International (ANI) , The Antarctic Company (TAC)  and White Desert . ALE is by far the largest of the three companies, flying to the continent from Punta Arenas, Chile, and operating a field camp at Union Glacier in West Antarctica. TAC and White Desert stage their operations out of Cape Town, South Africa.

Most visitors to Antarctica arrive by sea, from small, private yachts to luxury cruise ships. IAATO operators reported supporting 33,824 tourists in 2010-11.

“Overall, land-based tourism — including to the South Pole — is a very small fraction of the visitor numbers to the continent on an annual basis,” noted Steve Wellmeier, executive director of IAATO.

However, Antarctic tourism has been in decline in recent years after peaking at 46,265 visitors in 2007-08. The global recession has largely been to blame, though the numbers are expected to plummet even further this year with a ban on the use of heavy fuel oil imposed by the International Maritime Organization in the Southern Ocean taking effect. IAATO is projecting a 25 percent decline in visitors for 2011-12.

South Pole tourism will certainly buck that trend — at least this year. And it’s not a cheap visit. For example, ALE charges $40,500 for flights to the South Pole.

More adventurous tourists opt to ski to the South Pole, commonly from Hercules Inlet on the Antarctic coast, about a two-month journey of more than 700 miles. Others find more unusual means to reach the bottom of the world, such as last year’s expedition organized by the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society and TAC. The expedition team drove two Arctic Truck AT44s across 1,400 miles to the South Pole in a record-breaking 108 hours.

This year’s roster of expeditions is a long one, from an adventurer from Oman who hopes to become the first Arab to walk to the South Pole to a team of British soldiers that will follow in the footsteps of their countryman Scott. While many of the visitors to the South Pole on Jan. 17 are expected to be from the United Kingdom, the British government has no plans for a ceremony in the Antarctic.

“We are involved in lots of activities for the centenary but no significant events in Antarctica or at the Pole,” confirmed Athena Dinar, a spokesperson for the British Antarctic Survey , over e-mail. “One of our twin otters may fly over for the big ceremony on 17 January at the Pole. Otherwise, we’ll be focusing on events here in the UK.”

But Dec. 14 at the South Pole will belong to the Norwegians. In addition to the prime minister and his party, a four-person team from Norway will arrive by ski pulling sleds, led by the director of the Norwegian Polar Institute , Jan-Gunnar Winther. The expedition  is retracing Amundsen’s route from the Bay of Whales. The USAP will support the centennial event, including a live broadcast of the ceremony to Norway.

“It’s a significant milestone for Antarcticans, and I’m excited about it,” said Coughran, who has been working in Antarctica, particularly at the South Pole, since 1984. “It’s going to be pretty festive.” Source: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contenthandler.cfm?id=2543

Sir David Attenborough's BBC 1 series, Frozen Planet, an update

David Attenborough travels to the end of the earth in this seven part series (Frozen Planet), taking viewers on an extraordinary journey across the polar regions of our planet, North and South. The Arctic and Antarctic are the greatest and least known wildernesses of all - magical ice worlds inhabited by the most bizarre and hardy creatures on earth.

Frozen Planet is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who himself travelled to both polar regions in the making of the series. Sir David first visited Antarctica 17 years ago, but this was his first time ever to visit the geographical North Pole. To get there, meant flying in to a Russian ice camp on the frozen Arctic ocean, where he could (after several days of bad weather) finally reach the pole itself by helicopter. 


He also returned to Scott's hut, a place he first visited several years ago, but still touches him today. This is the place where Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his men began their fateful journey to reach the geographical South Pole. "I remember very vividly indeed the first time I entered this extraordinary building…it was not like any other place - because it isn't like any other place on earth. If ever there was a place that held the personality of the people that had lived in it, a century ago, this surely must be it". 


Sir David authors On Thin Ice, the seventh film of the series, which explores the effects of climate change on the polar regions and the lengths that scientists are going to, to understand it. Some regions, like the Antarctic Peninsula, have warmed significantly in the years since Sir David first visited them. He explores what this means, not just for the animals and people of the polar regions, but for the whole planet. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mfl7n

Gamburtsev Mountains problem disentangle in interior East Antarctica

The birth of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains buried beneath the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet — a puzzle mystifying scientists since their first discovery in 1958 — is finally solved. The remarkably long geological history explains the formation of the mountain range in the least explored frontier on Earth and where the Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed. The findings are published this week in the journal Nature.

A seven-nation team of scientists explored the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains — buried beneath up to 3km of ice — during the International Polar Year (2007–09) by using two twin-engine aircraft equipped with ice penetrating radars, gravity meters and magnetometers.

By analyzing the new data, the researchers describe the extraordinary processes — which took place over the last billion years — that created and preserved a root beneath the mountains and the East Antarctic rift system — a 3,000km long fracture in the earth’s surface that extends from East Antarctica across the ocean to India.

One billion years ago, before animals and plants evolved on Earth, several continents (or micro-continents) collided, crushing the oldest rocks of the mountain range together. This event formed a thick crustal root extending deep beneath the mountain range. Over time these ancient mountains were eroded but the cold dense root was left behind.

Around 250–100 million years ago — when dinosaurs walked the Earth — rifting paved the way for the supercontinent Gondwana to break apart, which included Antarctica, causing the old crustal root to warm. This rejuvenated crustal root, together with the East Antarctic Rift forced the land upwards again reforming the mountains. Rivers and glaciers carved deep valleys and this helped uplift the peaks to create the spectacular landscape of the Gamburtsevs, which resemble the European Alps. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which formed 34 million years ago and covers 10 million km2 of our planet (an area the size of Canada), protected the mountains from erosion. Source: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/press_releases/press_release.php?id=1641

Tohoku Tsunami Separates Ice from Antarctica

Before, March 12, 2011 After, March 16, 2011

Before (left) and after (right) photos of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf illustrate the calving event associated with the Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011. The icebergs have just begun to separate in the left image. Credit: European Space Agency/Envisat

A NASA scientist and her colleagues were able to observe for the first time the power of an earthquake and tsunami to break off large icebergs a hemisphere away.

Kelly Brunt, a cryosphere specialist at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and colleagues were able to link the calving of icebergs from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica following the Tohoku Tsunami, which originated with an earthquake off the coast of Japan in March 2011. The finding, detailed in a paper published online today in the Journal of Glaciology, marks the first direct observation of such a connection between tsunamis and icebergs.

The birth of an iceberg can come about in any number of ways. Often, scientists will see the towering, frozen monoliths break into the polar seas and work backwards to figure out the cause.

So when the Tohoku Tsunami was triggered in the Pacific Ocean on March 11 this spring, Brunt and colleagues immediately looked south. All the way south. Using multiple satellite images, Brunt, Emile Okal at Northwestern University and Douglas MacAyeal at University of Chicago were able to observe new icebergs floating off to sea shortly after the sea swell of the tsunami reached Antarctica.

To put the dynamics of this event in perspective: An earthquake off the coast of Japan caused massive waves to explode out from its epicenter. Swells of water swarmed toward an ice shelf in Antarctica, 8,000 miles (13,600 km) away, and about 18 hours after the earthquake occurred, those waves broke off several chunks of ice that together equaled about two times the surface area of Manhattan. According to historical records, this particular piece of ice hadn't budged in at least 46 years before the tsunami came along.

And as all that was happening, scientists were able to watch the Antarctic ice shelves in as close to real-time as satellite imagery allows, and catch a glimpse of a new iceberg floating off into the Ross Sea.

Nearly 50 square miles of ice broke off the Sulzberger Ice Shelf on the coast of Antarctica, resulting from waves generated by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011. Credit: NASA/Goddard

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"In the past we've had calving events where we've looked for the source. It's a reverse scenario – we see a calving and we go looking for a source," Brunt said. "We knew right away this was one of the biggest events in recent history – we knew there would be enough swell. And this time we had a source."

Scientists first speculated in the 1970s that repeated flexing of an ice shelf – a floating extension of a glacier or ice sheet that sits on land – by waves could cause icebergs to break off. Scientific papers in more recent years have used models and tide gauge measurements in an attempt to quantify the impact of sea swell on ice shelf fronts.

The swell was likely only about a foot high (30 cm) when it reached the Sulzberger shelf. But the consistency of the waves created enough stress to cause the calving. This particular stretch of floating ice shelf is about 260 feet (80 meters) thick, from its exposed surface to its submerged base.

Thick cloud cover briefly fell away to reveal this first image of icebergs breaking away from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf due to sea swell from the Tohoku Tsunami, which had originated 8,000 miles away about 18 hours earlier. The icebergs can be seen behind a thin layer of clouds just off the ice shelf near the center of the image. Source: MODIS Rapid Response/NASA

When the earthquake happened, Okal immediately honed in on the vulnerable faces of the Antarctic continent. Using knowledge of iceberg calving and what a NOAA model showed of the tsunami's projected path across the unobstructed Pacific and Southern oceans, Okal, Brunt and MacAyeal began looking at what is called the Sulzberger Ice Shelf. The Sulzberger shelf faces Sulzberger Bay and New Zealand.

Through a fortuitous break in heavy cloud cover, Brunt spotted what appeared to be a new iceberg in MODerate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data.

"I didn't have strong expectations either way whether we'd be able to see something," Brunt said. "The fastest imagery I could get to was from MODIS Rapid Response, but it was pretty cloudy. So I was more pessimistic that it would be too cloudy and we couldn't see anything. Then, there was literally one image where the clouds cleared, and you could see a calving event."

A closer look with synthetic aperture radar data from the European Space Agency satellite, Envisat, which can penetrate clouds, found images of two moderate-sized icebergs – with more, smaller bergs in their wake. The largest iceberg was about four by six miles in surface area – itself about equal to the surface area of one Manhattan. All the ice surface together about equaled two Manhattans. After looking at historical satellite imagery, the group determined the small outcropping of ice had been there since at least 1965, when it was captured by USGS aerial photography.

The proof that seismic activity can cause Antarctic iceberg calving might shed some light on our knowledge of past events, Okal said.

"In September 1868, Chilean naval officers reported an unseasonal presence of large icebergs in the southernmost Pacific Ocean, and it was later speculated that they may have calved during the great Arica earthquake and tsunami a month earlier," Okal said. "We know now that this is a most probable scenario."

MacAyeal said the event is more proof of the interconnectedness of Earth systems.

"This is an example not only of the way in which events are connected across great ranges of oceanic distance, but also how events in one kind of Earth system, i.e., the plate tectonic system, can connect with another kind of seemingly unrelated event: the calving of icebergs from Antarctica's ice sheet," MacAyeal said.

In what could be one of the more lasting observations from this whole event, the bay in front of the Sulzberger shelf was largely lacking sea ice at the time of the tsunami. Sea ice is thought to help dampen swells that might cause this kind of calving. At the time of the Sumatra tsunami in 2004, the potentially vulnerable Antarctic fronts were buffered by a lot of sea ice, Brunt said, and scientists observed no calving events that they could tie to that tsunami.

"There are theories that sea ice can protect from calving. There was no sea ice in this case," Brunt said. "It’s a big chunk of ice that calved because of an earthquake 13,000 kilometers away. I think it's pretty cool." Source: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/tsunami-bergs.html

Punta Arenas serves as hub of Antarctic study and scientific innovation

PUNTA ARENAS — International experts from around Europe and the Americas are working together from Nov. 13 to Nov. 15 in Punta Arenas, Chile to nurture study of Antarctica to uncover facts related to the environment and climate change. Countries such as Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States, France, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden represent the international community attending the meeting.

A 3-day meeting between international scientists will take place in Punta Arenas. They will discuss climate change and the environment, Photo: INACH

Various symposiums will take place over the three-day meeting. Twenty years of cooperation and research between Germany and Chile at GARS O’Higgins (German Antarctic Receiving Station) will be celebrated through an event called “20 Years Antarctic Research Station GARS O’Higgins.” Their on-going cooperation has resulted in capturing vital pole-to-pole information about Earth via communication with European satellites.

Another workshop, organized by the National Commission of Scientific Investigation (CONICYT) and the Chilean Antarctica Institute (INACH), include the “Chile-European Union: Climate Change and Environment Research Opportunities Under the FP7.” This workshop is an initiative that looks to stimulate multinational project presentation on themes such as the environment and climate change at the seventh European Union Framework Programme.

For the director of INACH, Dr. José Retamales, the meeting will permit international cooperation concerning the exploration of climate change and the environment, as well the use of radar sensor satellites to gather data.

Gonzalo Arenas, the subdirector of the International Relations Department of CONICYT, added that Chile is a natural scientific laboratory considering the presence of diverse scientific fields such as astronomy, seismology, climate change and Antarctica.

“We should make the most of this advantage so that we don’t just develop national abilities, but also open up the doors of the laboratory to the scientists of the whole world so that together we can create and develop centers of excellence at a world level,” Arenas said. Source: http://ilovechile.cl/2011/11/14/international-scientists-rally-punta-arenas/39237

Your vision – Antarctica 100 years from now

Australian students are being invited to be part of the nation’s polar history by sharing their vision of Antarctica 100 years from now.

The competition is part of celebrations marking the centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–1914, led by Australia’s Sir Douglas Mawson.

In no more than 100 words, Grade 5–9 students, are being asked for their thoughts and ideas of what Antarctica will be like by the time we reach Mawson’s bicentenary in 2111.

The five winning entries will be sealed in a time capsule to be installed at Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica, the place Douglas Mawson called ‘The Home of the Blizzard’.

The Director of the Australian Antarctic Division, Dr Tony Fleming said this is an exceptional opportunity for young people to share their dreams for the future of the icy continent.

“It was Mawson’s vision 100 years ago that established Australia as a leader in scientific research and environmental protection in Antarctica, he knew it contained useful information that would prove critical to a better understanding of issues such as global climate,” Dr Fleming said.

“But we are also reflecting on what Mawson’s expeditioners actually thought and felt about their time on the ice through their writings and photographs.

“We are hoping this competition will stimulate the imagination of today’s generation and inspire their ideas for what Antarctica will look like in another century,” he said.

A panel of judges will chose one winner from each grade and prizes will be awarded to the winning students and their schools.

The competition runs from 14 to 25 November, 2011. Entries should be submitted electronically via the Australian Antarctic Division website.

The names of winners and their schools will be announced on Wednesday 7 December, 2011. Source: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/media/news/2011/your-vision-antarctica-100-years-from-now

SA Agulhas on climate awareness voyage

South Africa's ice-strengthened polar research and supply vessel, the SA Agulhas, is on a symbolic 10-day voyage to raise climate awareness ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 17) starting in Durban later this month.

The ship is sailing from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and then on to Durban, before heading back to Cape Town.

With a mix of scientists, academics, students and journalists on board, the vessel set sail from Cape Town on Saturday to raise awareness around climate change in the country's coastal cities.

The 17th Conferences of the Parties (COP 17) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change takes place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December.

In the build-up to the conference, the voyage will have on-board exhibitions, symposiums and lectures from climate change scientists showcasing the work the vessel has done in the area of climate research for the last three decades.

The voyage will highlight the various scientific activities undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs in Antarctica and the Southern Oceans, the opportunities and threats posed by the ocean to coastal communities, and the real and considerable impact of oceans on the climate.

"The Southern Ocean is regarded as key in understanding the processes of climate change," the department's oceans and coasts deputy director-general, Monde Mayekiso, said at the start of the voyage in Cape Town.

"South Africa has an advantage in that the Southern Ocean is on its doorstep, so to speak, and now we’ll have the ideal tool and platform to do cutting-edge research."

SA National Antarctic Programme

The SA Agulhas has 138 people onboard, comprising 40 crew and 98 scientific and other staff. She is used to service the three South African National Antarctic Programme (Sanap) research bases in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica as well as various research voyages. She spends most of her time out of harbour.

The three Sanap research bases include the ones on Marion Island, Gough Island, and the SA National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) IV base station at Vesleskarvet nunatak, which is a rocky outcrop peeping out of a snowy surface.

The SA Agulhas also provided the capacity for South Africa to commit to and honour international agreements, including deploying drifting weather buoys that significantly increased the country's weather predicting capability, and servicing automatic weather stations on remote islands like Southern Thule and Zawadovski.

Modern, fuel efficient replacement

This voyage will also highlight the last voyage of the SA Agulhas to Antarctica in December 2010 before it is replaced by a new vessel, the SA Agulhas II, being built in Finland at a cost of about R1.5-billion.

The new vessel will have enhanced technologies and capabilities to further understand the ocean environment and to bring that understanding to an increasing number of South Africans.

"By the time COP 17 draws to a close, the SA Agulhas will be on her last voyage to the Antarctic," Mayekiso said. "South Africa has been involved in Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and on the sub-Antarctic islands, Marion and Gough, for more than 50 years, doing research.

"For 33 of those 50-plus years, the SA Agulhas has been the means to get to the remote stations and providing the platform to do oceanographic research and meteorology observations from.

"She served us very well - transporting supplies and fuel and carrying the relief overwintering teams to the islands and Antarctica."

SAinfo reporter Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/cop17/agulhasclimate-141111.htm#ixzz1dw5ErJ7o

India to commission 3rd station in Antarctica

Almost twenty-eight years after it set up the first permanent research station in the South Polar region, India is all set to commission and occupy third such station, named as 'Bharti', in Antarctica by March next year, a senior scientist associated with the project said today.

After 'Bharti' becomes operational, India will join the league of select nations that have multiple operation stations in the region.

The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) Director Rasik Ravindra stated that the new station is located almost 3,000 km away from the existing 'Maitri' station which has been serving the nation since its inception in 1988-89.

"The construction of the new station is going on at a hectic speed. The current Indian Antarctic Expedition that sailed off from Cape Town on October 26, 2011 under the leadership of Dr Rajesh Asthana will complete the project in this Antarctic summer itself, hopefully by March 2012," Ravindra told PTI.

"We will occupy it soon thereafter," he said. The scientists associated with NCAOR had earlier carried out a comprehensive environmental evaluation (CEE) of the project for the new station at Grovnes promontory in the Larsemann Hills on the eastern part of the South Pole.

Indian scientists will undertake cutting-edge research on geological structures and tectonics at the centre from the next year, he added.

The setting up of this station was taken up in two phases. Phase I materialised during summer of 2010-11 and Phase II in the successive summer.

As per the CEE, minor and transitory impacts on the Antarctic environment are likely due to construction of the ambitious project.

Although 'more than minor and transitory impacts on the Antarctic environment' are expected due to construction, the impacts are expected to be minimised with measures like use of combined heat and power concept for heating and renewable energy sources, low sulphur fossil fuel, optimisation of vehicle movement, efficient treatment of effluents, bringing back hazardous and sanitary wastes to mainland for disposal and others, Ravindra said quoting the CEE study.

The proposed location is of interest on account of scientific and logistic reasons, ice-free terrain and easy access from the sea.

"This area, including the islands and promontories, offer an excellent scope for extensive studies on geological structures and tectonics with special reference to Gondwanaland, palaeoclimatology, solid earth geophysics, space-weather and meteorology, oceanography, marine biology, microbiology, environmental science," Javed Beg, a senior NCAOR scientist said.

"To facilitate the planned scientific studies, including environmental monitoring, the station will have state-of-the-art laboratory facilities," he said.

The station is designed to withstand extreme environmental conditions prevailing at Larsemann Hills and is compliant with the environmental standards under the Madrid Protocol, Ravindra said.

The Larsemann Hills area is marked by persistent, strong katabatic winds that blow from east to southeast during austral summer. Extreme minimum temperature recorded in the region so for is -40 C, though the daytime mean monthly temperatures during summer drop to around 0 degree C.

India had in the past established Dakshin Gangotri (1983) and Maitri (1988-89) stations in Antarctica. The former has since been decommissioned after it got buried under ice and has been marked as an historic site. Source: indiatimes.com

Also read related Story: An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences

Chinese Icebreaker Leaves for New Antarctic Expedition

The Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon", left the northern port city of Tianjin on Thursday, November 3, 2011 for the country's 28th scientific expedition to Antarctica.

With hundreds of people waving their hands and saying goodbye, the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon", left the northern port city of Tianjin on Thursday for the country's 28th scientific expedition to Antarctica.

The 220-member expedition team, including two scholars from Taiwan, will carry out 31 scientific research tasks during the trip lasting around 160 days.

Antarctica survey telescope AST-3, independently designed by Chinese researchers, will be installed at Dome A, the continent's highest point at 4,093 meters above sea level.

According to Captain Shen Quan, the new instrument could enable his team to make new discoveries as the air in Antarctica is almost as clean as that of outer space.

Du Fujia, one of four freshmen crew members on the vessel, described the successful launch and operation of the telescope as the "biggest wish in our maiden trip to Antarctica."

Another important mission for the expedition is drilling deeper into the ice core, said Shen.

Li Yuansheng, head of the research team, said they plan to drill a hole 120 meters deep and install a device in the Antarctic ice sheet to take samples from an ice core that has existed for more than 1 million years.

Li explained that such samples play a significant role in studying climate change as they may help researchers analyze the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

The ship will also bring supplies to two of China's three Antarctic stations, and drop a team off at the third, Kunlun, located at the peak of the snow-covered continent.

With the exception of field surveys, crew members have to spend almost all their time on the icebreaker during the half-year trip, said Li.

Zhu Qi, a chef working aboard the Xuelong for the first time, said there are various dishes served on the icebreaker.

"We have porridge and pastry at breakfast time, and meat, vegetables and soup for lunch and supper. Dinner with more dishes and wine is served once a week. We follow a healthy diet with an appropriate amount of salt and oil," said Zhu, who used to be a chief chef of a hotel in Shanghai.

"But it is quite different to cook here and it usually takes a longer time because we use electricity instead of fire and most dishes are cooked in the oven."

Another thing making life tricky for the chefs is the lack of green vegetables. Since they could easily go bad, most of the vegetables have to be consumed in the first week of the voyage. A short stop in Australia would present the next opportunity to pick up fresh produce.

Bean sprouts are germinated, and dehydrated vegetables are offered during the trip as well as some pickled vegetables to ensure the crew get enough vitamins, said Zhu.

When in Antarctica, two TV sets in the dining hall of the ship will prove important. Programs from China's CCTV-4 and broadcasters from Chile and the Republic of Korea, will allow the crew to keep updated with information about the outside world.

All the garbage will be classified and stored in the icebreaker, and then shipped back in containers and disposed of in China.

According to captain Shen Quan, since the working environment in the Antarctic continent is very demanding both physically and psychologically, and the ship would encounter storms and other extreme weather on the way, crew members will inevitably feel lonely and restless during the long trip.

Activities such as singing contests, photography competitions and chess games will be held regularly on the icebreaker to help crew members keep mentally healthy, said Shen.

Kang Donghai, a new member of the crew said he is really looking forward to the icebreaker passing the equator, a time that all aboard would celebrate as it means they have finished half of their journey.

Xuelong, an A-2 class icebreaker capable of breaking ice 1.2 meters thick, is scheduled to arrive at the Zhongshan Station in early December and will move on to the Changcheng (Great Wall) Station at the beginning of next year, before returning to Zhongshan on February 18, 2012.

The icebreaker is expected to leave Antarctica on March 10, 2012, and return to Shanghai about one month later, covering an estimated 31,000 nautical miles during the expedition.

Before embarking, the ship was open to the public in Tianjin for two days, and attracted thousands of visitors.

China launched its first Antarctic expedition in 1984 and has established three stations there -- Changcheng, Zhongshan and Kunlun. Source: http://www.cri.cn

Nation’s newest environmental satellite successfully launched

NPP is vital for NOAA’s weather forecast mission.

America’s newest polar-orbiting satellite roared into orbit this morning, setting the stage for enhanced weather data NOAA scientists will use to develop life-saving severe weather forecasts days in advance.

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force, Calif., at 2:48 a.m. PDT aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. At approximately 3:45 a.m. PDT, the spacecraft separated from the Delta II to the delight of NOAA and NASA officials.

NPP is a NASA Earth-observing satellite and features five new instruments that will collect more detailed information about Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans. NASA will use NPP as a research mission, while NOAA will use the data for short and long-term weather forecasting and environmental monitoring.

“This year has been one for the record books for severe weather,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The need for improved data from NPP and the next generation satellite system under development by NASA and NOAA has never been greater. They will enhance our ability to alert the public with as much lead time as possible.”

In 2011, data from polar-orbiting satellites like NPP allowed emergency managers and communities to prepare for severe weather events . Five days before a destructive and deadly tornado outbreak in Alabama and parts of the Southeast in April, NOAA forecasters were able to see the early atmospheric signs of the storm system developing and issue timely warnings.

NPP will orbit Earth every 102 minutes, flying 512 miles above the surface, monitoring atmospheric conditions below. The first of the NPP data will become available in about 90 days and begin replacing data from the NOAA-19 satellite in the afternoon orbit, passing over the United States during full daylight hours.

NPP is also the bridge that links NOAA’s current polar-orbiting satellites to the next generation of advanced spacecraft called the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which is currently set to launch in late 2016, pending funding. NPP will test how the new instruments perform before they are formally added to the JPSS satellites. NOAA’s Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md., will process and distribute the data from NPP.

The originally planned launch of JPSS has been setback due to delays in funding over the past couple of years. This means there will be a data gap between the time NPP begins to degrade from the harsh space environment and the time JPSS is succsessfully placed into operation. The length of that gap depends on future years funding and the agency remains optimistic that current year Congressional support will carry over into a final appropriation and outyear funding.

Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction and NOAA deputy administrator, hailed the successful launch of NPP as a credit to the long-standing partnership between NOAA and NASA.

“This partnership works,” Sullivan said. “For more than 40 years, we have worked together fielding observation satellites to provide the nation with critical environmental intelligence to protect lives and livelihoods.” Source: www.noaa.gov

NOAA, NASA reports Significant ozone hole remains over Antarctica

The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on September 12, stretching 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest on record. Above the South Pole, the ozone hole reached its deepest point of the season on October 9 when total ozone readings dropped to 102 Dobson units, tied for the 10th lowest in the 26-year record.

Ozone levels in the atmosphere above the South Pole dropped to a seasonal low of 102 Dobson Units Oct. 9, tied for the 10th lowest in the 26-year record. The ozone layer helps protect the planet’s surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Every year, an ozone hole forms above the Antarctic for several weeks, because of environmental conditions and the presence of ozone-depleting chemicals. Credit: NOAA

The ozone layer helps protect the planet’s surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation. NOAA and NASA use balloon-borne instruments, ground instruments, and satellites to monitor the annual South Pole ozone hole, global levels of ozone in the stratosphere, and the manmade chemicals that contribute to ozone depletion.

“The upper part of the atmosphere over the South Pole was colder than average this season and that cold air is one of the key ingredients for ozone destruction,” said James Butler, director of NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division in Boulder, Colo. Other key ingredients are ozone-depleting chemicals that remain in the atmosphere and ice crystals on which ozone-depleting chemical reactions take place.

“Even though it was relatively large, the size of this year's ozone hole was within the range we'd expect given the levels of manmade, ozone-depleting chemicals that continue to persist," said Paul Newman, chief atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Levels of most ozone-depleting chemicals are slowly declining due to international action, but many have long lifetimes, remaining in the atmosphere for decades. Scientists around the world are looking for evidence that the ozone layer is beginning to heal, but this year’s data from Antarctica do not hint at a turnaround.

In August and September (spring in Antarctica), the sun begins rising again after several months of darkness. Circumpolar winds keep cold air trapped above the continent, and sunlight-sparked reactions involving ice clouds and manmade chemicals begin eating away at the ozone. Most years, the conditions for ozone depletion ease by early December, and the seasonal hole closes.

NOAA researchers at the South Pole release a ballonsonde, a massive balloon carrying instruments that measure ozone, temperature, humidity and more from the surface of the snow to about 20 miles high. Credit: NOAA

Levels of most ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere have been gradually declining since an international treaty to protect the ozone layer, the 1987 Montreal Protocol, was signed. That international treaty caused the phase out of ozone-depleting chemicals, then used widely in refrigeration, as solvents and in aerosol spray cans.

Global atmospheric models predict that stratospheric ozone could recover by the middle of this century, but the ozone hole in the Antarctic will likely persist one to two decades beyond that, according to the latest analysis by the World Meteorological Organization, the 2010 Ozone Assessment, with co-authors from NOAA and NASA.

Researchers do not expect a smooth, steady recovery of Antarctic ozone, because of natural ups and downs in temperatures and other factors that affect depletion, noted NOAA ESRL scientist Bryan Johnson. Johnson helped co-author a recent NOAA paper that concluded it could take another decade to begin discerning changes in the rates of ozone depletion.

Johnson is part of the NOAA team tracks ozone depletion around the globe and at the South Pole with measurements made from the ground, in the atmosphere itself and by satellite. Johnson’s “ozonesonde” group has been using balloons to loft instruments 18 miles into the atmosphere for 26 years to collect detailed profiles of ozone levels from the surface up. The team also measures ozone with satellite and ground-based instruments.

This November marks the 50th anniversary of the start of total ozone column measurements by the NOAA Dobson spectrophotometer instrument at South Pole station. Ground-based ozone column measurements started nearly two decades before the yearly Antarctic ozone hole began forming, therefore helping researchers to recognize this unusual change of the ozone layer.

NASA measures ozone in the stratosphere with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the Aura satellite. OMI continues a NASA legacy of monitoring the ozone layer from space that dates back to 1972 and the launch of the Nimbus-4 satellite.

A new satellite scheduled to launch this month, the NPP satellite, features a new ozone-monitoring instrument, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite, which will provide more detailed daily, global ozone measurements than ever before to continue the task of observing the ozone layer's gradual recovery. The NPP satellite is part of Joint Polar Satellite System, a program of NOAA, NASA and the Department of Defense (formerly known as the NPOESS Preparatory Project). It is scheduled to launch October 27 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.

Source: NOAA