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SCAR Newsletter: Issue 17, December 2008
SCAR News
Notes from the President
SCAR President Chuck Kennicutt has begun sending monthly electronic correspondences on SCAR matters to all SCAR Delegates, in the form of 'Notes from the President', to improve communication and consultation within the organisation. Past notes are now available to view on the Notes from the President page in the "Members' Only" area of the website.
SCAR provides advice to ICSU on Strategic Plan
SCAR was invited to provide advice to ICSU on the development of the ICSU Strategic Plan for 2012-2017. A copy of the advice has been sent to all SCAR National Committees and Delegates. View the advice to ICSU.
Ice Cores Meeting produces new results
A workshop meeting of SCAR's International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE) project (Castine, Maine, 2-5 September 2008), brought together specialists from around the world to exchange the latest shallow ice core data and make progress towards using them to assess the variability of the Antarctic climate system over the past 1000 years or so. Results will be useful to all those concerned with climate variability in the Antarctic and its interaction with the global climate system. Especially interesting were results suggesting that there has been significant warming in West Antarctica. For details see, SCAR report 33.
Book published on SCAR's Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) Programme
Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to the developing knowledge on how the world's largest ice sheet formed and changed over its ~34 million years history. To explain Antarctic glacial history, information on terrestrial and marine geology, sedimentology, glacier geophysics (including airborne reconnaissance), shipborne geophysics, and numerical ice sheet and climate modelling, are interwoven within thirteen chapters. The book content largely mirrors the structure of the Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) project, an initiative of SCAR to investigate the climate and glacial history of Antarctica by linking climate and ice sheet modelling studies with geophysical surveys and geological studies on and around the Antarctic continent. The first chapters are dedicated to the history of geological investigation in Antarctica, and geological data acquisition. As the book's publication coincides with the Fourth International Polar Year, an overview on the history and influence of the three previous IPYs on past changes in Antarctica is provided. Further chapters deal with the development of numerical modelling to quantify past ice sheet and climate changes, and on how past changes may be relevant to the modern world. Two further chapters make exhaustive reviews of the geological evolution of the Antarctic continent and the palaeoceanography of the Southern Ocean. All these chapters provide information necessary to comprehend the latter section of the book, which relates the glacial and climate evolution of Antarctica during the most important periods when changes have occurred. Changes to the form and flow of the Antarctic ice sheet are documented and related to climate conditions known from the geological record. The effect of atmospheric CO2, orbital changes and ocean configurations on ice sheet size and shape are examined. In doing so, the book evaluates how the world's greatest ice sheet responds to and influences climate processes acting on a global scale. For more information and to order a copy, visit the publisher's website.
The Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) enters the analysis and synthesis phase
The CAML has recently completed the fieldwork for the biggest-ever biodiversity survey in Antarctica, coordinating projects on 18 major research voyages during the IPY. Given the escalating cost of fuel, it will be difficult to ever repeat this sampling effort.
After analysis of the samples in museums and universities around the world, the data are being shared in SCAR's Marine Biodiversity Information Network (SCAR-MarBIN). This will provide a significant legacy for the IPY, giving access to the data needed to improve our overall understanding of marine biodiversity and its role in the Southern Ocean ecosystem.
The CAML is now in the data integration and synthesis phase. In October, a Census of Marine Life workshop at Duke University, North Carolina will use case studies to explore the mapping and visualisation potential of the data. Comparisons between Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems will be the subject of an associated workshop entitled "Polar Synthesis Macroscope". This refers to using a "zoom" function to examine biodiversity data on different spatial scales.
Despite early indications of success in the data integration phase, there remains major work to be completed by CAML in the final stage of the project. Much of the analysis will extend well beyond the end of CAML in 2010.
News from SCAR's EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic) programme
The second issue of the EBA Newsletter (October 2008) is now available on the SSG-Life Sciences page.
View the EBA Newsletter.
Ice Cores improve view of recent climate change over Antarctica
Shallow, high resolution ice cores are providing deep insights into the recent history of climate and atmospheric chemistry over Antarctica. They are being studied by the International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE) (co-sponsored by SCAR and the PAGES project of IGBP). ITASE is a core part of SCAR's Scientific Research programme on Antarctica in the Global Climate System (AGCS). At an ITASE workshop held in Castine, Maine (2-5 September 2008), 32 delegates met to discuss and synthesize results obtained so far from the ITASE program. Good progress was made in extending the present climate record back to about 200 years, facilitating assessments of the multi-decadal variability of Antarctic climate. One of the main findings was that West Antarctica appears to have warmed during the last several decades. A detailed reconstruction of the temperature across Antarctica over the past 200 years using proxy data from ice cores is now in prospect. See the full report on the SSG-Physical Sciences web page.
The SCAR Map Catalogue
The 465 geological maps that were in the BAS geology maps web site have been added to the SCAR Map Catalogue.
The SCAR Map Catalogue lists Antarctic maps produced by SCAR member countries. Each member country is responsible to update the list of maps published in the respective country. Adding the maps to the SCAR Map Catalogue gives greater searching power - you can search by coordinates, by map name, name of a feature that falls within the map or see the total list by clicking on Popular maps. The Map Catalogue is also cross-related to the SCAR Composite Gazetteer and SCAR flora and fauna databases.
Recent Bulletins published
In December, SCAR published Bulletin 169 on the SCAR Conference and Delegates meetings. In October, SCAR published Bulletin 168 on SCAR's recent policy advice to Antarctic Treaty bodies.
Antarctic News
Cruise Ship Stranded in Wilhelmina Bay off the Antarctic Peninsula
The cruise ship, the MV Ushuaia, carrying 89 passengers and 33 crew, which ran aground in Wilhelmina Bay off the Antarctic Peninsula, has now crossed the Drake Passage en route to be repaired in Punta Arenas; nobody was hurt and the ship was not in danger of sinking. For details, see the full news report. The vessel was refloated on 8 December, then went under her own steam to Paradise Bay for a hull inspection. Minor oil leaks were minimized by transferring oil from damaged to undamaged tanks.
IPY Antarctic University Expedition 2009
Recruitment is now taking place for the first university expedition to Antarctica, organised by Students on Ice Expeditions, from 13-28 February 2009. It is hoped that this will be the first of a multi-year series of university expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic, providing students from around the world with inspiring educational opportunities at the ends of the Earth and helping them foster a new understanding and respect for the planet. Officially endorsed by the IPY (project 343), Students on Ice is committed to engaging a select group of universities from around the world to help deliver the expedition's education programme. So far, the universities of Ottawa, Alberta and Northern British Columbia are involved as partner universities and the organisers are actively seeking further potential partner universities from around the world. Interested professors, researchers and students from other countries are encouraged to take part in the initiative. For more information on the expedition, visit the expedition website.
British Antarctic Survey unveils plans to explore Gamburtsev Mountains
One of the largest mountain ranges on Earth lies hidden beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. How old are the Gamburtsev Mountains? What are they made of? How did they get there? What effect did they have on the development of the ice sheet? These and other fundamental questions will be addressed through an International Polar Year programme involving the UK, USA, Germany, Australia and China in one of the most technically and physically ambitious projects yet attempted in the Antarctic. See the BAS website for more information on the project.
Freeze dried findings - difference between west and east Antarctica
Samples from a frozen lake bed suggest profound differences between west and east Antarctic climates over the past 14 million years. Read the full article from Science magazine.
Polar News
'Above The Polar Regions' IPY Day
The IPY Day on December 4th focussed on research 'Above The Polar Regions', including atmospheric research, meteorology, astronomy, and space observing systems. Draft web pages for this event can be found on the IPY website. If you would like to get involved in future IPY Days, promote your research or researchers, join an event, or connect your classes to researchers in the polar regions, please contact Rhian (ipy.ras@gmail.com).
Arctic Science Committee seeks Executive Officer
As of January 1, 2009, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) will be based in Potsdam, Germany, and seeks to expand its staff with an Executive Officer (see the job description for more details). Deadline for applications is November 30.
Gas bubbling from Arctic seabed
Nature News (26 September) reports that, in the past few weeks, scientists aboard the British research ship James Clark Ross have discovered more than 250 plumes of methane bubbling up along the continental margin northwest of Svalbard. The findings add to a similar discovery by a Russian team in August, that reported elevated methane concentrations near the Lena River delta, as part of the International Siberian Shelf Study. The findings have provoked alarmist media reports predicting massive methane bursts that could accelerate global warming. Methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, although it is present in much lower concentrations in the atmosphere. But the phenomenon is probably not new. The scientists believe that methane has been released in the region for at least 15,000 years. Whether what we're seeing in the region is of any relevance for the global climate is mere speculation.
Events
Arctic Science Summit Week 2009
The Second Circular announcing details of this meeting is now available.
Antarctic Sea Ice Workshop, 23-24 March 2009 at Il Ciocco, Lucca, Italy
Under the auspices of (i) the SCAR programme on Antarctica in the Global Climate System (AGCS) and its sub-project - Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) - and (ii) the International Polar Year project Antarctic Sea Ice in IPY, a workshop will be held on 23-24 March 2009 in Lucca, Italy, to review and establish joint data analyses from two late-winter cruises to the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone both made during Sept-Oct 2007. You can view a summary of SIMBA (Sea Ice Mass Balance in the Antarctic) activities along 90W longitude in the Bellingshausen Sea and SIPEX (Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment) activities in the 90-135E longitudes off East Antarctica. An extensive satellite remote sensing campaign with designated IceSAT altimetry, RadarSAT images, and EnviSAT ASAR images coincided with the surface measurements. The workshop is open to all and may present opportunities for interaction between expedition participants and members of the remote sensing and modeling communities, and from other cruises to the Antarctic sea ice during the IPY period. Many of the workshop participants will be attending the Gordon Research Conference on Polar Marine Science, held the preceding week (15-20 March 09) at the same location, Il Ciocco. Those interested in attending the workshop should contact Steve Ackley (email: sackley@pol.net) and Klaus Meiners (email: Klaus.meiners@acecrc.org.au).
Other Events
Other events of interest to the SCAR Community are listed on the Events page.
Newsletter prepared by Colin Summerhayes and Rosemary Nash, SCAR Secretariat. Please send feedback to info@scar.org
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