Antarctica, 2006 News Archives
Her power and beauty is nature in its
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This section will host some of the important news about Antarctica and will come from many of the online news services and RSS news feeds. This is just a sampling and will not include every news breaking event. If our readers find articles they feel should be listed here, please email us the URL of the news headline and we will consider posting it here.
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2006 News
Drilling into the past to predict the future
LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- Scientists in Antarctica spent
Christmas Day finishing work that may show the effects of global
warming -- drilling for clues about how massive ice sheets responded
to past temperature changes.
The project will be vital to creating a map of how the Earth may
react to higher temperatures, scientists say.
One hundred scientists from four countries are working on the
Antarctic Geological Drilling Program, or ANDRILL, coordinated by
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
They gather rock core from deep below the Antarctic sea floor, then
analyze it.
So far, the cores show a dynamic ice sheet that advanced and
retreated more than 50 times over 5 million years.
Some of the ice shelf's disappearance was probably during times when
the planet was 2 degrees Celsius (36 Fahrenheit) to 3 degrees
Celsius (37 Fahrenheit) warmer than it is today -- "much like it
will be in the next 50 to 100 years," said Tim Naish, a lead
scientist on the project from Victoria University in New Zealand.
When drilling stopped Christmas Day, workers had bored down 1,238
meters (4,061 feet).
"We may not understand the future, but we can understand the past,"
said David Harwood, director of the ANDRILL Science Management
Office at UNL.
The drilling project took place on the Ross Ice Shelf, a floating
glacier about the size of France.
The shelf is believed to be one of the most vulnerable pieces of the
sprawling West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which scientists believe may
have collapsed during a previous warm period. Scientists have
suggested that a naturally occurring period of warmth, exacerbated
by high levels of greenhouse gases, could cause an exceptionally
quick contraction of ice sheets.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey reported last year the
West Antarctic sheet may be starting to disintegrate, which could
lead to rising sea levels.
With temperature change comes the acceptance that "we're looking
blindly into the future," Harwood said, but the ANDRILL project
could at least help establish some expectations.
"We need a map," he said.
Source: CNN, POSTED: 1:59 p.m. EST, December 28, 2006
From the ashes comes baby Nessie fossil
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bones of a baby plesiosaur have been
recovered from an Antarctic island, scientists reported Monday.
In life, 70 million years ago, the five-foot-long animal would have
resembled Nessie, the long-necked creature reported to inhabit
Scotland's Loch Ness.
The new fossil skeleton is one of the most complete of its type ever
found, researchers said. It will go on display Wednesday at the
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's Museum of Geology.
(Watch animation of the baby swimming and the cleaning of the fossil
)
Plesiosaurs lived for millions of years in the then-warm southern
ocean surrounding Antarctica, with adults growing as large as 32
feet long. With diamond-shaped fins they could "fly" through the
water much as penguins do now.
The National Science Foundation said researchers battled freezing
conditions and 70 mile-per-hour winds in recovering the fossil,
which was too heavy to be carried out and had to be moved by
helicopter.
Leaders of the 2005 expedition that recovered the plesiosaur were
James E. Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum,
Judd Case of Eastern Washington University and Marcelo Reguero of
the Museo de La Plata, Argentina.
The researchers said the animal's stomach area was well-preserved,
including forked ribs, sometimes into three prongs, and numerous
small, rounded stomach stones probably used to help maintain
buoyancy or to aid digestion.
The skeleton was found in an area covered with volcanic ash, leading
them to speculate that the plesiosaur was killed in an eruption,
either by the blast or by ash dumped in the ocean.
Source: CNN, POSTED: 9:45 a.m. EST, December 13, 2006
Related Information
Up close and personal with an Emperor penguin
SEA ICE OFF ROSS ISLAND, Antarctica (Reuters) -- It seems best to
play it cool if you want to see a penguin.
Those who come to McMurdo Station, the biggest U.S. science base in
Antarctica, often dream of seeing the regal Emperor penguins or the
smaller Adelies, but environmental policies require humans let the
birds make the first move, and keep their distance in any case.
"If the animals are reacting to you, you're too close," is the
general rule.
But sometimes penguins' curiosity brings them into close proximity
with humans who are out in the penguin stomping ground, foraging for
scientific data while the birds are foraging for food.
That's what happened on Saturday, when marine biologist Gretchen
Hofmann and her team headed onto the sea ice near Ross Island to
catch samples of Antarctic fish and operate an underwater, under-ice
robot.
Hofmann, based at the University of California-Santa Barbara, is an
experienced Antarctic hand and noticed a small dot about a half-mile
away, which she correctly guessed was a lone penguin.
Hofmann kept still on the ice, eventually getting down on her knees,
wondering if the bird would approach. Within a minute or so, the
bird dropped down on its feathered belly and started sliding toward
the scientist.
The bird, a big Emperor penguin, tobogganed to within about 20 feet
of Hofmann, then stood on its leathery feet and waddled even closer,
to about 8 feet away, as if to get a better look.
Penguins have no natural predators on land and have little fear of
humans, Hofmann said.
That certainly appeared to be the case as the penguin preened,
flapped its stumpy wings, gave a few gutteral cries and turned
around several times, as if modeling in some surreal Antarctic
fashion show.
With a snowy breast, glossy black back and wings and a patch of
shaded sunset yellow-orange near its throat, it was a sight to
behold, and seemed to know it.
Later in the day, near a few fishing holes drilled through the ice
to collect specimens, a pair of Adelie penguins, also out foraging
on a brilliantly sunny spring day, came into view. What drew the eye
was their rolling gait, a bit like a tired human two-year-old's.
They did not venture as close as the Emperor penguin, but did not
stray from their course, despite human observers.
Source: CNN, POSTED: 10:26 a.m. EST, December 12, 2006
Antarctic ice collapse tied to greenhouse gases
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Scientists said Monday that they had
found the first direct evidence linking the collapse of an ice shelf
in Antarctica to global warming widely blamed on human activities.
Shifts in winds whipping around the southern ocean, tied to human
emissions of greenhouse gases, had warmed the Antarctic peninsula
jutting up toward South America and contributed to the break-up of
the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002, they said.
"This is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate a
physical process directly linking the break-up of the Larsen Ice
Shelf to human activity," said Gareth Marshall, lead author of the
study at the British Antarctic Survey.
The chunk that collapsed into the Weddell Sea in 2002 was 3,250
square kilometers (1,255 square miles), bigger than Luxembourg or
the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
Most climate experts say greenhouse gases, mainly from fossil fuels
burnt in power plants, factories and cars, are warming the globe and
could bring more erosion, floods or rising seas. They are wary of
linking individual events -- such as a heat wave or a storm -- to
warming.
But the British and Belgian scientists, writing in the Journal of
Climate, said there was evidence that global warming and a thinning
of the ozone layer over Antarctica, caused by human chemicals, had
strengthened winds blowing clockwise around Antarctica.
The Antarctic peninsula's chain of mountains, about 2,000 meters
(6,500 feet) high, used to shield the Larsen ice shelf on its
eastern side from the warmer winds.
"If the westerlies strengthen the number of times that the warm air
gets over the mountain barrier increases quite dramatically," John
King, a co-author of the study at the British Antarctic Survey, told
Reuters.
Warmer summers
The average summer temperatures on the north-east of the Antarctic
peninsula had been about 2.2 Celsius (35.96 Fahrenheit) over the
past 40 years.
But on summer days when winds swept over the mountains into the area
the air could warm by 5.5 Celsius (9.9 Fahrenheit). And on the
warmest days, temperatures could reach about 10 Celsius (50.00
Fahrenheit).
King said temperature records in Antarctica went back only about 50
years but that there was evidence from sediments on the seabed --
which differ if covered by ice or open water -- that the Larsen ice
shelf had been in place for 5,000 years.
"Further south on the main Antarctic continent temperatures are
pretty stable," he said. "There is no clear direct evidence of human
activity affecting the main area."
In Ottawa, the director of the British Antarctic Survey said that if
the warming trend continued then other ice shelves would one day be
at risk.
"Ultimately, yes, I think that's bound to be the case ... We've seen
this southward migration as the wave of increased temperatures has
penetrated further and further south," Dr Chris Rapley told Reuters
in an interview Monday.
The collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf did not raise world sea
levels because the ice was floating.
King said the removal of the floating ice barrier could accelerate
the flow of land-based glaciers toward the sea, at least in the
short term. That ice could raise sea levels.
Rapley said recent data had revealed for the first time that two
major glaciers in eastern Antarctica were also starting to discharge
ice into the sea.
Source: CNN, Tuesday, POSTED: 11:24 a.m. EDT, October 17, 2006 (11:24 GMT)
The day in numbers: 1.8 kilometers
(CNN) -- About 100 icebergs from Antarctica are floating towards
New Zealand. The naturally occurring -- but rare -- phenomena pose a
major threat to international shipping.
1.8 km: The length of the largest iceberg in the group. The
icy armada has been pushed north after circulating on ocean currents
and a series of southern storms.
167 km: The size of the original superberg, A-43, that the
flotilla of icebergs are believed to have come from. A-43 broke off
the Ronne Ice Shelf near the Falkland Islands around six years ago
and started splitting apart as it drifted into the southern
Atlantic. By January 2005 it had shrunk to 51 km by 21 km and was
renamed A-43A.
11:40 pm: The time at which Frederick Fleet, a lookout on the
Titanic, saw an iceberg and struck a warning bell three times. He
went to the telephone and called Sixth Officer James Moody and said:
"Iceberg right ahead." Within two hours, 1, 517 passengers and crew
had drowned.
40,000: The number of medium to larger sized icebergs that
"calve" annually in Greenland.
3: The number of polar icebreakers the U.S. Coast Guard
deploys each year to the Arctic and Antarctic to maintain navigation
channels and support scientific missions. During peacetime, icebergs
are considered the most dangerous maritime threat.
1960: The year in which the U.S. Ice Patrol conducted a
number of experiments in iceberg demolition. Experiments included
dropping bombs, planting bombs inside an iceberg and using brooms to
coating icebergs with carbon black to accelerate solar melting. It
was concluded that monitoring and warning mariners of the location
of an iceberg was a better option.
Source: CNN, Tuesday, POSTED: 6:08 a.m. EST, November 8, 2006
Powerful quake hits S. Atlantic
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A powerful earthquake with a preliminary
magnitude of at least 6.9 hit in the Scotia Sea between South
America and Antarctica, Japanese and U.S. officials said Sunday.
No tsunami alert was issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami
Warning Center, said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the U.S.
Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.
The warning center monitors seismic activity in the Pacific area.
The quake struck at 1:41 a.m. local time (0341 GMT) with a
preliminary magnitude of 6.9, the USGS said.
Japan's Meteorological Agency put the preliminary magnitude at 7.2.
The USGS estimated the earthquake's depth at 10 kilometers (six
miles). The quake was centered in the Scotia Sea, approximately 495
kilometers (305 miles) west-southwest of Bristol Island in the South
Sandwich island group, the USGS said.
Source: CNN, Sunday, August 20, 2006 Posted: 0557 GMT (1357 HKT)
Related Information
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
- USGS Earthquake Hazards Program - Magnitude 4.4 - SCOTIA SEA
- USGS Latest Earthquakes - Last 7 Days
- USGS Earthquake Glossary
Scientists:
Ozone layer recovery will take longer
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The atmosphere will take up to 15 years
longer than previously expected to recover from pollution and repair
its ozone hole over the southern hemisphere, the United Nations'
weather organization said Friday.
Thinning
in the ozone layer -- due to chemical compounds leaked from
refrigerators, air conditioners and other devices -- exposes the
Earth to harmful solar rays. Too much ultraviolet radiation can
cause skin cancer and destroy tiny plants at the beginning of the
food chain.
Scientists said Friday it would take until 2065, instead of 2050 as
previously expected, for the ozone layer to recover and the hole
over the Antarctic to close.
"The Antarctic ozone hole has not become more severe since the late
1990s, but large ozone holes are expected to occur for decades to
come," ozone specialist Geir Braathen told reporters in summarizing
a new report by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.N.
Environment Program. The report will be released next year.
The ozone hole, a thinner-than-normal area in the upper
stratosphere's radiation-absorbing gases, has formed each year since
the mid-1980s at the end of the Antarctic winter in August, and
generally is at its biggest in late September.
Experts said they extended the projected recovery because
chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, would continue to leak into the
atmosphere from air conditioners, aerosol spray cans and other
equipment for years to come.
But there was cause for celebration, they said, noting a decline in
CFCs in the first two atmospheric layers above Earth.
"The level of ozone-depleting substances continues to decline from
its 1992-1994 peak in the troposphere and the late 1990s peak in the
stratosphere," WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud said in a
statement.
Less of these chemicals are used every year, he said, after 180
countries in 1997 committed to reducing CFCs under the Montreal
Protocal.
"This shows that the Montreal Protocol is effective and is working,"
he said.
Last year, the ozone hole reached about 27 million square kilometers
(10 million square miles) on September 20 -- just below its largest
size in 2003 of about 29 million square kilometers (11.2 million
square miles), WMO experts said.
Source: CNN, Friday, August 18, 2006; Posted: 10:07 a.m. EDT (14:07 GMT)
Related Information
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-
Monitoring & Research:
Ozone facts | Ozone Hole - British Antarctic Survey (BAS) - Ozone Hole, Frequently Asked Questions
- Antarctic Ozone Hole
Antarctica: Stunning vistas, wildlife draw more tourists
By Brian Witte (Associated Press)
BROWN BLUFF, Antarctica (AP) -- Stepping carefully down the
cruise ship's gangway, I wait for a break in the swelling waves to
make my move.
With a quick stride, I settle on to a small rubber boat. Within
minutes, our small group of tourists bounces by floating chunks of
strikingly blue ice and a napping seal. The boat lands on a rocky
beach, and I swing my legs over the Zodiac to step on the northern
tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Walking by blocks of beached ice, my senses are struck by a
tremendous sight and a pungent guano smell. Hundreds of adelie
penguins are waddling around in front of me. Their numbers stretch
high up a rocky slope, about as far as I can see.
It's our first landing on this remotest of continents, and already
the two-day cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina, through infamously rough
seas is paying off. Increasingly, travelers worldwide are realizing
this vast crystalline wilderness at the bottom of the world is well
worth the trouble to visit. Some 26,000 visited in the past year,
and the number increases annually.
"Each year seems to be the highest ever," says Kara Weller, who is
leading this trip for Quark Expeditions.
It may be the coldest continent in the world, but the weather can be
surprisingly pleasant during the December days of the austral
summer. Temperatures often get above freezing -- even into the 40s
on the peninsula. Trips usually run from November to March.
Most of this trip spanning 11 days is spent at sea on the M/V
Orlova, a 100-meter ice-strengthened cruise ship that is nearly full
with about 100 passengers. The ship is comfortable, but not fancy.
It has a bar and lounge with a small library and an auditorium.
Small yachts also make trips to Antarctica. Much larger cruise ships
also come down here.
Unforgettable experiences
We leave port on a Friday night. The next day, we're already able
to watch the powerful glides and graceful arcs of wandering
albatrosses and other birds of the southern seas.
To pass the time at sea, tour guides mix in numerous lectures by
various experts, including a bird specialist, a marine biologist, a
geologist, a historian -- even an artist who gives lessons on
drawing and painting icebergs and penguins. Lectures on global
warming are surprisingly absent on this trip, though, but Weller
says the topic is usually discussed.
Many of the trip's highlights happened during landings on the
continent and nearby islands.
Watching an avalanche from a distance or hearing the stentorian
cracking boom of a calving iceberg are unforgettable experiences.
Still, there is plenty to see from the ship's decks. With few hours
of darkness this time of year, tourists are able to maximize
sightseeing.
So long as you're heavily dressed to keep warm from strong winds,
it's easy to spend a couple of hours on deck watching a large array
of wind-carved icebergs floating by, some bright white, others
various shades of blue. We pass pristine landscapes of high
mountains laden with big hanging glaciers. Whales also rise up into
view occasionally. Sunsets can be long-lasting, lighting up the sky
with bright orange and reds.
We see hundreds more penguins on Aitcho Island. Gentoo penguin nests
are clumped together, and they are hard at work using their beaks to
steal small stones from each other to improve their nests. For the
most part, the awkwardly sneaky penguins seem to break even amid the
ruckus.
It's not long, though, before we get our first taste of the
extremely fast-changing Antarctic weather. Strong winds and thick
ice force us to cancel a landing at Paulet Island, home to thousands
of adelie penguins.
The unpredictable nature of Antarctic weather was evident again
several hours later, when our path to Devil Island was blocked by
ice. Our ship had to turn around as we came across sheets of ice at
sea. It's not so bad being stuck on the ship, though, with plenty of
large tabular icebergs to watch at sea.
After yet another canceled landing at Half Moon Island the next day,
we finally get a break in the weather and make it to Deception
Island, a dormant volcano. As chinstrap penguins pop up and down in
quick bursts beside the ship, we ease through a narrow opening
called Neptune's Bellows and to a natural harbor known as Whaler's
Bay.
A couple of hours later, we cruise up the island's caldera to
Pendulum's Cove, where visitors can take a polar plunge in waters
heated by the volcanic activity.
Penguin highways
The next morning, we land on Cuverville Island, where scores of
gentoo penguins are sitting on eggs. Before heading back to the
ship, we take a Zodiac cruise around a group of icebergs, giving us
a close look into cavernous openings with swirling blue patterns.
After lunch, we visit Danco Island, with more breeding gentoo
penguins. Here, they have worked out a network of well-worn "penguin
highways," trails in the snow to aid climbs up a steep hill to other
penguin groups. While waiting to get back to the ship, a couple of
us spot a bright orange 10-legged spider-like creature floating
between some rocks by the beach. Known as a sea spider, it would
more than cover the palm of a hand. It's one of those unusual
critters you can come across here.
A gentoo penguin feeds two recently hatched chicks.Back on the ship,
we get some alarming news that one of the older passengers is very
sick and will need to be evacuated. This means we will make a long
detour overnight and go back to the South Shetland Islands to get to
an airstrip. Because of evacuations like this, which can cost tens
of thousands of dollars, many tour groups highly recommend that
passengers get medical evacuation insurance.
After the passenger was evacuated to Chile, we visited Ardley
Island, where newly hatched gentoo penguins are being fed by their
parents. An adult penguin delicately takes the chick's head into its
mouth and regurgitates a snack of krill into the chick's mouth,
leaving a slimy strand from beak to beak.
Then we dropped by research stations on a nearby island. One of them
even has a gift shop. The area is the only eyesore on the trip, with
rusting barrels and the smell of fuel in the air.
Trying to make up for some lost time, we head south again for a
packed last day, hitting one of the trip's highlights at Paradise
Bay. Mountains here are covered with glaciers, which press down in a
still, jumbled bluish-white fury of ice.
At our farthest point south, we are still 1,487 nautical miles from
the South Pole. The whole trip will be 2,268 nautical miles.
Before making the two-day trip back, we wrap up the visit in the
Lemaire Channel, where the water creates mirror images of a long
string of mountains on both sides of us.
A pod of orca whales swim quickly beside the ship, their black and
white bodies submerged but visible through the clear water.
Source: CNN, Tuesday, August 15, 2006; Posted: 11:32 a.m. EDT (15:32 GMT)
Calls for regulation of rising Antarctica
tourism
By Brian Witte (Associated Press)
DECEPTION
ISLAND, Antarctica (AP) -- While walking beside the ruins of an old
whaling station at this popular tourist stop, a unique aspect of
visiting Antarctica is immediately apparent.
There are no authorities like park rangers around to keep an eye on
things. Only tour guides and our consciences can keep us from
damaging these decaying structures or getting too close to the seals
and penguins on the dark-brown cinder beach of this volcanic island.
Graffiti on oil tanks and an old airplane hanger indicates that not
everyone who has stopped here has respected the ruins.
There are no binding limits on the number of people who can visit
sensitive areas in this remote wilderness. With the number of
visitors reaching new highs in recent years, some environmental
groups have been pushing for regulations on how many people can
visit each year.
Discussions about limiting Antarctic tourism have been raised since
the 2001 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, and the topic was
brought up again at the annual meeting, which was held in June in
Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, which supports
regulations, said in a paper at the meeting that nothing has been
done in almost five years of discussions.
"Antarctic tourist numbers are increasing steeply and appear likely
to continue increasing steeply," the organization stated.
"Presently, nothing is in place to prevent these numbers -- already
above 26,000 -- reaching high tens of thousands within 10 years."
Alan Hemmings, a senior adviser to the ASOC who attended the June
meeting, believes limits need to be established -- before it's too
late.
"Whilst most people, and most operators, will do their best to
minimize impact, that is all they are doing -- minimizing it, not
avoiding it," Hemmings said in an e-mail response to questions about
Antarctic tourism.
But Denise Landau, executive director of the International
Association of Antarctic Tourism Operators, said the number of
tourists is far from overwhelming, and tour operators have become
far more sophisticated in how they conduct trips. She points out
that her organization works very hard to make a unique part of the
world accessible to people in an environmentally responsible way.
"We do look after the place and we do care about it, so it's growing
but it's not at a point now where it's not manageable," she said in
a telephone interview.
Treaty system
A key part of the debate is Antarctica's unique political situation.
The continent is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, which has
been in effect since 1961. The treaty designates Antarctica as a
natural reserve dedicated to peace and science.
More than 40 nations, including the United States, have agreed to
the treaty. Although different countries have research stations and
bases in Antarctica, no single nation has control over any section
of the continent.
Back when the treaty was signed, tourism was almost nonexistent. It
has grown over the past 50 years, from a few hundred a year to more
than 26,000, according to IAATO.
About 80 outfitters are voluntary members of IAATO, which was
founded in 1991 to advocate and practice safe and environmentally
responsible private-sector travel to Antarctica.
"To date, private sector Antarctic tourism has developed as a
remarkably low impact and cooperative model," Landau said in a
statement at the meeting in Edinburgh. "Thousands of people have
been able to experience and appreciate the Antarctic wilderness,
with much less environmental impact than in any other part of the
globe."
The group has established procedures and guidelines for trips. They
include regulations and restrictions on how many people can go
ashore at one time, staff-to-passenger ratios and guidelines for
activities while ashore. Procedures set up by the group also call
for reporting both before and after visits. IAATO operators also
report environmental concerns.
Landau said many operators in IAATO revere Antarctica and wouldn't
do anything to cause it harm.
"If it was a huge problem, we'd be the first ones to scream and
yell," she said. "They want to protect the places that they're
visiting."
Visitor awareness
During a December trip with IAATO-member Quark Expeditions, trip
organizers were careful to emphasize how about 100 passengers should
conduct themselves on shore. We were reminded during lectures -- and
even with a staff-produced play on the ship -- that we must not get
too close to wildlife. Staff members always accompanied us on
landings.
Once during the trip, when a group of crab-eater seals on a chunk of
ice appeared agitated by our approach on a Zodiac boat, the driver
immediately recognized it and withdrew. For the most part, though,
many penguins and seals we encountered didn't appear too bothered by
our presence. It wasn't uncommon to see penguins waddle within
several feet of human visitors. But penguins could be startled. A
sudden, too-close approach could scare a penguin into reversing its
direction from a group of nests to the closest water.
Tourists have taken note of the impact rising numbers of visitors
could have in the future.
In interviews with passengers during the trip, some said they had
heard the destination had become much more popular in recent years.
They said they wanted to visit before there were too many tourists.
"I wanted to see it hopefully in its more unspoiled manner than what
we may get ten years from now," said Marla Shelton, of Rochester
Hills, Michigan. "There have been a few places that I would liked to
have gone before they got totally touristed out."
A rising concern for Landau and environmental groups is the growth
of outfitters who conduct trips to Antarctica without being members
of IAATO.
"We're not so worried about the growth," Landau said. "We're just
worried about the new parties."
Hemmings is concerned tourism will continue to grow at a much
steeper annual increase than in the recent past. Among other
factors, he said the Oscar-winning film "March of the Penguins"
could boost tourism further. Hemmings said a film about explorer
Ernest Shackleton raised tourism numbers "quite quickly and
appreciably."
Hemmings said another concern is that tourists want to go to
interesting biological sites. Despite the large size of Antarctica,
Hemmings said such areas are limited, because only about 2 percent
of Antarctica is seasonally ice-free.
Still, Hemmings isn't opposed to tourism, and ASOC isn't set on a
particular number of people who could visit each year.
"Whatever the number -- and it would be in excess of the present
numbers -- one would need to partition it sensibly between regions,"
Hemmings said.
Source: CNN, Tuesday, August 15, 2006; Posted: 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 GMT)
Related Information
- Deception Island
- Deception Island Graffiti (images)
- Deception Island Management Group | Current Management Package (pdf)
- 2002 Workshop on a Management Plan for Deception Island (pdf)
- Polar Ecology and Management Group
Mother-of-pearl clouds float over Antarctica
HOBART, Australia (AP) -- Some of the coldest temperatures on
the planet brought a rare cloud formation to the skies over
Antarctica, scientists said Tuesday.
Meteorological officer Renae Baker captured spectacular images of
the nacreous clouds, also known as polar stratospheric clouds, last
week at Australia's Mawson station in Antarctica.
The clouds only occur at high polar latitudes in winter, requiring
temperatures less than minus 176 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 80
degrees Celsius) . A weather balloon measured temperatures at minus
189 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 87 degrees Celsius) on the day the
photos were taken.
Resembling airborne mother-of-pearl shells, the clouds are produced
when fading light at sunset passes through water-ice crystals blown
along a strong jet of stratospheric air more than six miles above
the ground.
"Amazingly, the winds at this height were blowing at nearly 230
kilometers (143 miles) per hour," Baker said on the Australian
government's Antarctic Division's Web site.
Australian Antarctic Division atmospheric scientist Andrew Klekociuk
said the clouds are seldom seen, but are occasionally produced by
air passing over polar mountains.
"You have to be in the right part of the world in winter, and have
the sun just below your horizon to see them," he said.
Source: CNN, Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Posted: 11:28 a.m. EDT
(15:28 GMT)
Brazil's military to airlift penguins back home
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil's air force and navy
will transport more than 100 penguins to Antarctica next month after
the flightless birds were stranded on Rio de Janeiro beaches.
Penguins arrive from the Antarctic Circle on ice floes that melt in
the vicinity of Brazil's shore and the birds wash up on Rio beaches
every winter. Typically many of the birds are sent to local zoos.
A plane carrying equipment for an Antarctic naval base will take the
penguins to Brazil's southernmost region next month, an air force
spokesman said on Monday. They will continue their journey on a
naval ship, which will release them into the ocean in their
Antarctic habitat.
Source: CNN, Monday, July 31, 2006; Posted: 1:36 p.m. EDT (17:36
GMT)
Man missing from U.S. ship near Antarctica
DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A crewman was missing from an American
research ship near Antarctica, and the vessel and a Chilean plane
were searching for him Wednesday.
Joshua Spillane, 31, a marine technologist from Bellingham,
Washington, apparently fell overboard from the Laurence M. Gould on
Monday, Raytheon Polar Services said.
Raytheon said the ship was making a routine shuttle between the U.S.
Antarctic Program's Palmer Station and Punta Arenas, Chile.
The trip through the Drake Passage, regarded as one of the fiercest
bodies of water on the globe, usually takes four days.
Raytheon spokeswoman Valerie Carroll said the ship carries emergency
gear but she did not know whether Spillane had any with him when he
disappeared.
Raytheon said U.S., Chilean and company officials were conducting
"routine fact-finding" about the incident.
Raytheon Polar Services, based in the Denver suburb of Centennial,
provides science, operations and maintenance services to three U.S.
research stations and two research vessels in the Antarctic. It is a
unit of Raytheon Technical Services Co.
Source: CNN, Wednesday, April 19, 2006; Posted: 7:55 p.m. EDT (23:55 GMT)
Scientists dig up million-year-old ice cube
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A million-year-old ice sample drilled
from 3 kilometers under the Antarctic and unveiled in Tokyo on
Tuesday could yield vital clues on climate change, Japanese
scientists said.
Researchers, showing off the cylindrical samples of what they said
was the oldest ice ever to be retrieved, said studying air trapped
inside "core" samples taken from various depths under ground could
also help predict how the Earth's weather patterns will change in
the future.
"The ice core is made up of snow that fell in the distant past,"
said project leader Hideaki Motoyama of the National Institute of
Polar Research, dressed snugly in a parka after unveiling the
gleaming ice in a room kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4
Fahrenheit).
"You can use it to examine changes in temperature, levels of carbon
dioxide and methane over time, information that is only available
from the core," he said.
Researchers at the Dome Fuji base in the eastern Antarctic spent
more than two years on the delicate operation of drilling into the
ice sheet, coming up with the million-year-old samples in January
and shipping them to Japan on an icebreaker.
Research based on a previous study of Antarctic ice and published by
the journal Science last year said concentrations of carbon dioxide
and methane were far higher now than at any time in the last 650,000
years.
The Japanese team will look farther into the past and are also
hoping the ice samples will yield opportunities to study the
evolution of tiny organisms trapped in the ice.
"The environment there is very harsh, with temperatures about minus
45 degrees, so we don't know if life can be sustained," Motoyama
said. "But we believe we will find organisms."
The researchers believe they can dig about another 20 meters into
the ice at the Antarctic site before reaching base rock.
Source: CNN, Wednesday, April 19, 2006; Posted: 9:45 a.m. EDT (13:45 GMT)
Report: Air warming above Antarctica
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The air over Antarctica is warming even faster
than in other parts of the world, according to an analysis of 30
years of weather balloon data.
While surface warming has been reported in parts of Antarctica, this
is the first report of broad-scale climate change across the whole
continent, the British Antarctic Survey says in Friday's issue of
the journal Science.
The weather balloon data show a warming of 0.9 degree to 1.3 degree
Fahrenheit per decade over the last 30 years. By contrast, the
average worldwide temperature has risen 0.2 degree per decade in
that time, according to the paper.
Detailed records from the weather balloons launched at nine stations
around the continent, including Russian records, have only recently
become available, the researchers said.
The research team led by John Turner reported that they could not
provide a definite cause for the warming, but added that the
observed increases are what would be expected as a result of warming
caused by greenhouse gases trapping heat from the sun in the
atmosphere.
Source: CNN, Thursday, March 30, 2006; Posted: 2:48 p.m. EST (19:48 GMT)
Final Report:
Leopard Seal Kills Kirsty Brown (Antarctic Scientist) in Antarctica
The death of a British marine biologist in Antarctica [July 2003] is thought to be the first human fatality ever caused by a leopard seal. Since more and more people are visiting Antarctica each year, scientists fear further seal attacks are on the rise.
- Final report into the Interactions between humans and
leopard seals - A review board was setup to gather
information on interactions between humans and leopard seals
following the tragic death of Kirsty Brown (Antarctic
Scientist), who was attacked and killed by a leopard seal in
July 2003. This study was sponsored by the Kirsty Brown Fund and
hosted at
British Antarctic Survey.
This one-year study has complied data on interactions between humans and leopard seals, from over 180 questionnaires and interviews, were analyzed to provide the information required for any assessment of the risks posed by leopard seals to people working in the Antarctic. The results have been published in the journal Antarctic Science and the full report is available to download from the BAS site - View Report (.pdf 1.1 MB).
Source: British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Friday, March 10
Related Information
- Leopard Seal Kills Scientist in Antarctica
- Young scientist killed by seal in Antarctica
- British Antarctic Territory: The Inquest of Kirsty Brown (pdf)
Climate risk 'worse than thought'
Scientists warn of Greenland, West Antarctic ice sheets melting
LONDON,
England (AP) -- The threat posed by climate change may be greater
than previously thought, and global warming is advancing at an
unsustainable rate, a report by scientists published Monday says.
The UK government-commissioned report collates evidence presented at a Meteorological Office conference on climate change last year. It says scientists now have "greater clarity and reduced uncertainty" about the impacts of climate change.
In a foreword, Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was clear that "the risks of climate change may well be greater than we thought."
"It is now plain that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with industrialization and economic growth from a world population that has increased six-fold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a rate that is unsustainable," he wrote.
Over the next century, global warming is expected to raise ocean levels, intensify storms, spread disease to new areas and shift climate zones, possibly making farmlands drier and deserts wetter.
The U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says temperatures rose by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) during the 20th century. Computer modeling predicts increases of between 2.5 degrees and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees and 5.8 degrees Celsius) by the year 2100, depending on how much is dome to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientists have warned of climatic "tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down.
In the British report, the head of the British Antarctic Survey, Chris Rapley, warned that the huge west Antarctic ice sheet may be starting to disintegrate, an event that could raise sea levels by 16 feet (five meters).
Rapley said a previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report playing down worries about the ice sheet's stability should be revised.
"The last IPCC report characterized Antarctica as a slumbering giant in terms of climate change," he wrote. "I would say it is now an awakened giant. There is real concern."
Blair's vow to put climate change at the center of the international agenda during Britain's leadership of the G8 and the European Union last year met brought only a limited response.
He was unable to overcome the Bush administration's antipathy to the Kyoto climate-change accord -- rejected by the U.S. government on the grounds it would damage the economy. British ministers also have acknowledged that Britain is unlikely to meet its own target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2010.
Source: CNN, Wednesday, February 1, 2006; Posted: 12:34 p.m. EST (17:34 GMT)
Related Information
- The science debate behind climate change
- Global Warming | Defending our Oceans
- Blair: Global Warming Is Advancing
Dead whale in Greenpeace protest
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Greenpeace activists parked a 20-ton
dead whale outside the Japanese Embassy in Berlin to protest against
the country's whaling program on Thursday.
Hundreds
of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the 17-meter (56-foot) fin
whale, which the environmental group transported to the German
capital late on Wednesday on a trailer emblazoned with banners
saying "Stop Whaling!"
"This fin whale is one of the most endangered species in the world and Japan still hunts them," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Stefanie Werner. "It must stop."
Greenpeace said it hoped the whale's presence would demonstrate to Japan the futility of its whaling program, which has caused controversy for nearly 20 years.
A spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Berlin said it regretted Greenpeace's move, adding the country's whaling activities were carried out in accordance with international agreements.
Found stranded on Germany's Baltic coast last week, the whale is due to return there for an autopsy later on Thursday.
"You don't get whales coming to Berlin too often," said Berlin police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski.
Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986, in line with an international moratorium, but began catching whales again the following year for what it calls scientific research. Critics say the whale meat goes to up-market Japanese restaurants.
Greenpeace told Reuters on Thursday that Japanese hunters had killed at least 123 whales in the icy seas off the coast of Antarctica since the start of the whaling season this year, adding that its activists had managed to disrupt several hunts.
Earlier this week, 17 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Britain, France and Germany, jointly called on Japan to put a stop to its Antarctic whaling programme.
Source: CNN, Thursday, January 19, 2006; Posted: 8:39 a.m. EST (13:39 GMT)
Related Information
- Dead whale left outside embassy - BBC News
- Should the whaling ban be lifted? - BBC News (Talking Point)
- Dead whale dumped at Japan’s doorstep - MSNBC.com
- International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- The High North Alliance
Greenpeace, whalers clash at sea
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Greenpeace environmental group
says a Japanese whaling ship has deliberately rammed its protest
ship Arctic Sunrise in the Southern Ocean.
But
the Greenpeace claim has been disputed by the Japanese side, which
said the Arctic Sunrise initiated Sunday's incident with its
research vessel Nisshin Maru in waters off the Antarctic.
Greenpeace says the Nisshin Maru is the factory ship of the Fisheries Agency of Japan's whaling fleet.
No one was injured in Sunday's incident, though Greenpeace said its ship was "battered and bruised."
Greenpeace has been shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary in recent weeks.
It says that despite international protests about Japan's annual "scientific" whale hunt, the Fisheries Agency of Japan has sharply increased its catch of minke whales and added fin whales to the kill.
In a statement Sunday, Greenpeace expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said: "There is no way to describe this as anything but a deliberate ramming which placed the safety of our ship and the lives of our crew in severe danger."
In response, the Fisheries Agency's Institute of Cetacean Research said its Nisshin Maru was deliberately rammed by the Arctic Sunrise "while it was attempting to transfer cargo."
According to Rattenbury, the incident happened Sunday morning as Greenpeace activists aboard inflatables were beginning to paint the words "whale meat from sanctuary" on the side of a supply ship, the Oriental Bluebird, which was taking on whale meat from the Nisshin Maru.
He said the Arctic Sunrise was watching the action from about a kilometer (0.6 miles) away, when the Nisshin Maru suddenly disengaged from the supply vessel and headed for the Arctic Sunrise, striking it on the port side.
He said the Nisshin Maru then steamed away.
But in a statement from the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo, Director-General Hiroshi Hatanaka said the bow of the Arctic Sunrise hit the Japanese vessel twice.
"The captain of the Nisshin Maru confirmed to ICR today that Greenpeace had rammed our vessel, which has sustained some damage. Luckily, no crew members were injured," he said.
A second Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, was in the area at the time. About 70 crew and campaigners are on the two ships in the Southern Ocean as part of a Greenpeace campaign called "Defending our Oceans."
Another ship, the Sea Shepherd, which is not part of Greenpeace, has also been in the area.
Last week, the research institute said it was resuming what it termed its whaling research in the Southern Ocean "despite harassment and illegal actions by environmental groups Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace."
The institute said the Japanese ships would continue to use water cannons to deter the activists.
The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty limit.
The Southern Ocean is the fourth largest of the world's five oceans, after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean. It is larger than the Arctic Ocean.
Source: CNN, Sunday, January 8, 2006; Posted: 7:51 p.m. EST (00:51 GMT)
Related Information
- Whalers ram Greenpeace ship
- Paul Watson: Chasing the whalers - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
- Paul Watson: Whalers' refueling violates Antarctic treaty
- 'Horrifying' slaughter exposed
- Green Activists Target Japanese Whalers, Bicker Over Tactics
Other Polar News
Divers' deaths under polar ice remain mystery
SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Five hundred miles north of Alaska, a
group of shipmates from the Coast Guard cutter Healy tossed a
football on the blue-and-white, diamond-hard Arctic ice.
Others snapped panoramic photos and took walks during the two-hour
break, stretching their legs after a month aboard the 420-foot
icebreaker.
Lt. Jessica Hill and Boatswain's Mate Steven Duque seized the chance
for a training dive and slipped into a patch of open water near the
Healy's bow. A team held ropes attached to the divers, lest they
become disoriented under the ice. Several research scientists
watched from the deck.
But no one knows what happened on the other end of those ropes on
that cold, brilliant summer day -- except that both divers died.
The Coast Guard has started two investigations, relieved the Healy's
captain, pulled all diving equipment off the ship and suspended all
polar diving. But nothing has been said about what might have killed
Hill, 31, and Duque, 22, on August 17, or when the investigations
will conclude.
"We can get no word whatsoever, and that's tough," Hill's father,
William Hill Jr., said. "We can't even get the death certificates."
The Healy was on a research mission backed by the National Science
Foundation. On board were three dozen scientists collecting data
that would help them map the ocean floor and study the Earth's crust
to better understand earthquakes, tsunamis and plate tectonics.
Hill, the ship's marine science officer and a native of St.
Augustine, Florida, was an experienced civilian diver before she
joined the Coast Guard about four years ago. Her shipmates described
her as a fun-loving officer who, during a trip to the North Pole
last year, posed on the ice in a bikini by a red and white striped
pole.
Duque, whose responsibilities included keeping the Healy's decks in
order, operating machinery and driving launch boats, was from Miami,
Florida. Colleagues said he was exceedingly professional and
inspired others to take their jobs seriously.
Both attended the Navy's dive school, which is required of all Coast
Guard divers.
The pair had been underwater for about 10 minutes, estimated Harm
Van Avendonk, a University of Texas geophysics researcher, and
something appeared to be wrong.
"I saw people from the bow looking intently down on the ice, and I
sensed immediately that they didn't look relaxed," he said. "It was
taking a long time for the divers to reappear."
In a blur, the crew's training took over, several witnesses said.
The divers were pulled up by the ropes. Blankets and stretchers were
rushed onto the ice, and EMTs immediately began performing CPR. The
divers were carried to the ship's sick bay, where they were
pronounced dead roughly two hours after the dive.
"What I can tell you is this: These people were very well trained.
Every time we did something we had to have a safety briefing," said
Steve Stevenoski, a high school teacher from Wisconsin Rapids,
Wisconsin, who was videotaping the frozen seascape when he heard
shouts from the dive support team.
"There was an accident that was completely unforeseen," he said.
Captain relieved of duty
According to Coast Guard protocol, they would have created a "dive
profile," detailing who was diving, how far down they were going and
how long they would spend at various depths.
Typically such plans are drawn up by a ship's dive officer, though
the captain is ultimately responsible for the safety of divers. That
could explain why Capt. Douglas Russell was relieved of command less
than two weeks later. Vice Adm. Charles D. Wurster, commander of the
Coast Guard in the Pacific, said he had lost confidence in Russell.
The only signs of the tragedy during a recent tour of the ship were
a grief counseling pamphlet on a table in the scientists' lounge and
the locked and empty room where dive equipment was stored. The
equipment was shipped to the Navy's dive school in Panama City,
Florida, for examination.
One Coast Guard investigation is focusing on the root cause in hopes
of preventing future accidents; the other is a broader
administrative investigation that could result in findings of
responsibility.
One investigator, a lieutenant, said Hill and Duque were the first
Coast Guard divers to die underwater since the 1970s.
The Coast Guard described the dive as routine, but any dive in
frigid waters beneath 4-feet-thick ice poses serious dangers. The
cold can numb the extremities. Divers typically wear dry suits,
which use air to help determine buoyancy. Such suits can balloon
during ascents as pressure decreases -- if the diver doesn't release
the air quickly enough, he or she can shoot toward the surface and
crash into the ice.
They also must use equipment that can handle the cold, such as
breathing regulators outfitted with rubberized covers filled with
antifreeze.
The deaths were hard on the Healy's crew of 75, said Ensign Stephen
Elliott, who was on the ice as part of the dive support team that
day.
"These are people you watch movies with, eat with, joke around
with," he said. "It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't live on
a ship what it's like to be a shipmate. They were incredible
shipmates."
Posted: CNN, 09/24/06 06:53 PM, EDT
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