Here are some recent images from the great continent of Antarctica. Not about climate change per se, but just some beautiful pictures of the cold continent, mainly from the viewpoint of scientists and researchers.
It is summer time there now and researchers, like migrating birds and marine life, flock there along with their science equipment on ships, planes and snow mobiles, to get the best out of a few months of summer, when daylight lasts 24 hours and the weather is less treacherous than that in the brutal winter.
Science in the Antarctic broadly addresses the following issues, according to www.nature.com/… -
- Define the global reach of the Antarctic atmosphere and Southern Ocean
- Understand how, where and why ice sheets lose mass
- Reveal Antarctica's history
- Learn how Antarctic life evolved and survived
- Observe space and the Universe
- Recognize and mitigate human influences
This is not a a diary about global warming or climate change, although that thought is always present in the background. It’s not even about science. It’s about the scientists, their equipment and the inspiring beauty of Antarctica.
The Aussies at Davis station -
Icebergs under the midnight sun! Image taken by the Landsat 8 satellite. In September 2017, iceberg B-44 calved off from Pine Island Glacier and shattered into multiple fragments.
The Askaryan Radio Array, an extension of the IceCube neutrino detector, will ultimately have 37 substations buried 200m deep over a 100 square km area; 3 will be installed this season. The Dark Sector is so-named due to the absence of light and radio wave interfence.
Neutrino scientists are cool.
A 470-mile trip to accurately measure position and latitude around the 88 degree South circle to help calibrate the ICESat-2 satellite when it is launched in 2018.
Video by NASA's Operation IceBridge in November 2017.
NASA IceBridge pictures -
Cosmic Ray Detector Balloon, at NASA's Long Duration Balloon (LDB) site in McMurdo. Not launched yet as of Dec 30, due to poor weather. Will lift 3,600 kg science payload to an altitude of 42 km.
China making inroads into the Antarctic -
The Belgian research station below can withstand gales of up to 190 mph. Runs entirely on solar and wind energy.
The midnight sun!
Who is the person in the photograph being displayed below? Hint: Has to do with the Internet.
Wow!
Iceberg A68 which calved off the Larsen C ice shelf in July -
At the end of the 2016 summer season, the entire fully relocatable Halley VI Research Station was relocated and moved inland by 23 km on the Brunt Ice Shelf, due to growing cracks in the ice shelf. It was shut down during the 1027 winter season and is now open. It will close again for the winter 2018 season, due to concerns over new cracks in the ice.
This video is from the Homeward Bound project women scientists leadership expedition of 2016. Next expedition departs on Feb 18, 2018.
And this is just a cool summary -
Epilogue
Have you been to Antarctica? Do you plan to go there? Do you wish you had gone there?
Would you like to go and work there?
What emotions do you feel when you see images of Antarctica? Of researchers braving the elements to bring us science and information?
For Further Reading
- @AntarcticReport
- British Antarctic Survey — www.bas.ac.uk
- NSF Polar Programs — www.nsf.gov/…
- South Pole Telescope
- NASA Earth Observatory — earthobservatory.nasa.gov/...