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SCAR Newsletter: Issue 24, September 2010
SCAR Business News
New SCAR Action Group on Ocean Acidification
29 September 2010
During the SCAR meetings held in Buenos Aires in August, SCAR approved a new Action Group on Ocean Acidification.
The oceans provide an important service in absorbing from anthropogenic CO2 perturbations of the natural carbon cycle and therefore lowering the warming effect of a larger atmospheric CO2 reservoir. To date, the oceans have absorbed around 50% of anthropogenic CO2 (defined as the excess CO2 in the system over the natural cycle) and at present are taking up about 25% annually. There is, however, a cost to this natural carbon mitigation. As carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater the speciation of dissolved inorganic carbon is altered - a process termed ocean acidification. There are measurable changes in marine carbonate chemistry that have been shown to change physiological and biogeochemical systems. Although there are developments towards a greater understanding of global acidification and development of observational and experimental strategies, the Southern Ocean is poorly represented. To date there has not been a group who focus specifically on coordination of Southern Ocean acidification research, hence SCAR approved the formation of the new group. The initial form of the action group will consist of a cross-disciplinary team of ocean acidification experts representing the fields of marine carbonate chemistry, global and regional modelling, pelagic marine ecology, benthic marine ecology, ecotoxicology/physiology and paleoceanography. The group will be setup and led by Richard Bellerby, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Norway.
Professor Helen Fricker awarded the 2010 Martha T Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica
28 September 2010
An outstanding glaciologist, Associate Professor Helen Fricker from Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica. Professor Fricker is widely recognized for her discovery of active subglacial lakes, and she has shown that these lakes form dynamic hydrologic systems, where one lake can drain into another in a short period of time. She is also known for her innovative research into Antarctic ice shelf mass budget processes such as iceberg calving and basal melting and freezing. The Selection Committee of leading Antarctic scientists and policy makers cited her leadership in the application of remote sensing techniques using laser altimetry to detect current changes in the Antarctic ice sheet in response to rising sea level and climate variability and her individual activities promoting educational outreach about ice sheets of Antarctica.
Professor Fricker will be awarded the Prize and deliver the Muse Lecture at the American Geophysical Union meeting to be held in San Francisco in December 2010.
Read an interview of Professor Fricker in Nature
Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) plan available for community comment
The Southern Ocean provides the principal connection between the Earth's ocean basins and between the upper and lower layers of the global ocean circulation. As a result, the Southern Ocean strongly influences climate patterns and the cycling of carbon and nutrients. Changes in the Southern Ocean would therefore have global ramifications. However, the short and incomplete nature of existing time series makes the causes and consequences of observed changes difficult to assess. Sustained, multi-disciplinary observations are required to detect, interpret and respond to change.
The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) plan outlines the scientific rationale and strategy for the SOOS; identifies the variables to be observed; presents a draft plan for an integrated multi-disciplinary observing system for the Southern Ocean; and identifies the next steps required for implementation. We encourage all interested parties to provide feedback (email: soos@scar.org) before the 1st of October after which a final version will be produced. Further details are available from the SOOS page.
Antarctic Science News
Behind the Eco-Label - a Debate Over Antarctic Toothfish
27 September 2010
The controversial case of the Antarctic toothfish has raised questions about the gold standard for environmentally friendly fishing.
In grocery stores around the world, discerning consumers can select fish that come with a distinctive blue label and a checkmark. It's the most common eco-label for seafood, offering guilt-free eating in exchange for a premium price. This stamp of approval from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a rapidly growing non-profit organisation based in London, means that the fishing operation doesn't catch so many fish that it jeopardizes the stock. Moreover, the fishing techniques should minimize collateral damage to the ecosystem, such as accidentally catching sea birds or turtles.
But how well the sticker delivers on its promise is up for debate. Critics, both academic scientists and those with environmental groups, say MSC dispenses its labels too liberally, when there are not enough data for a definitive evaluation. They also say the process of certification can be too subjective. The result, they say, is that fisheries are certified when they aren't clearly sustainable.
In Ground-Based Astronomy's Final Frontier, China Aims for New Heights
8 September 2010
No place on Earth rivals the Antarctic Plateau for stargazing. The air is thin and bone-dry; dust is minimal. As observatories go, the higher the better — and at 4093 metres above sea level, it doesn't get any higher on the East Antarctic icecap than Dome A. Last year, Chinese researchers opened Kunlun Station near Dome A. Now they intend to find out if a superior vantage point translates into superior astronomy. At a workshop last month, astronomers unveiled plans to build two major telescopes at Dome A during the Chinese government's next 5-year plan, to start in 2011. The 2.5-metre Kunlun Dark Universe Telescope, or KDUST, would survey the optical and near-infrared bands for planets beyond our solar system and plumb the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. However, "one instrument would be lonely," says astronomer Yang Ji, director of Nanjing's Purple Mountain Observatory, which is developing a companion: a 5-metre terahertz (THz) telescope to observe 200- to 350-micrometer wavelengths. This "under-explored frequency window" is acutely sensitive to gas clouds — ideal for probing, for example, star and planet formation, says Qizhou Zhang, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the group that initiated the THz telescope project.
The two telescopes would be a major expansion of China's formidable Antarctic buildup. During the 2007–08 International Polar Year, China erected Kunlun Station, teamed with the United States and others to study the Gamburtsev Mountains — the origin of the East Antarctic ice sheet — and with Australia began testing observing conditions at Dome A. To pave the way for expansion, China last year built an ice runway at Kunlun; until now, all materials and people have been brought in by arduous traverses.
Read the full Science article.
Antarctica's Adolescence
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Image credit: |
By Brooks Hanson. Antarctica, particularly East Antarctica, harbours much of the world's ice. Thus, accurate knowledge of its sensitivity to melting from global warming is critical for assessing likely sea-level rise in the years ahead. To this end, two recent studies examine the region's dynamics during past glacial cycles and the period when it first grew. Lilly et al. use cosmogenic isotopes, which accumulate in exposed bedrock, to show that the height of the East Antarctic ice sheet fluctuated by only about 100 m through at least the last glacial cycle; the best model fit to the data includes a slow decline in height over longer times. Thus, the East Antarctic ice sheet has had a stable height during past glaciations. In exploring its stability during warmer times, Peters et al. show that an incised coastal valley in Egypt records a sudden and rapid change (within 2 million years) in sea level of about 40 m, at the time when global records imply that major ice sheets first grew in Antarctica, about 35 million years ago. Several smaller fluctuations in sea level (of about 10 m) are also recorded. The rapid changes correlate with estimated fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 levels and occurred when levels dropped below about 750 ppm. |
| To read the abstracts or full texts of the articles, see the August 2010 issue (v. 38, no. 8) of Geology Lilly et al., p. 703; Peters et al., p. 723. |
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IceCube Neutrino Observatory Picks Up Cosmic Rays
Next year, scientists will cut the ribbon on IceCube, a neutrino observatory consisting of strings of detectors buried deep in Antarctic ice. But eager researchers have already used the unfinished detector to search for a different type of particle from space, called cosmic rays—mostly energetic protons and helium nuclei of cosmic origin. Both cosmic rays and neutrinos create the same particles—muons—when they collide with matter, and muons are what the observatory is designed to detect. Only neutrinos, however, can travel through Earth. So muons that come from below are from neutrino collisions inside the ice, whereas the vast majority of muons that come from above are created by cosmic ray collisions in Earth's atmosphere. Next month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers report that they used IceCube to study a longstanding puzzle: whether the distribution of cosmic ray arrivals is uneven across the southern sky, as scientists have previously observed in the northern hemisphere. Indeed, the team found, IceCube detected a disproportionate number of cosmic rays arriving from some parts of the sky. But the reason for this uneven distribution remains unclear.
For a photograph of the observatory, see the original Science article.
Other Polar News and Announcements
Open Review: "State of the Arctic Coast 2010 - Scientific Review and Outlook"
23 September 2010
The editorial team invites the community to participate in the open review of the report "State of the Arctic Coast 2010 - Scientific Review and Outlook". The draft report is now available for download and open review but should not be cited or quoted at this time.
The report is a collaborative effort of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) Project and the International Permafrost Association (IPA). The document was prepared by an international writing team, including 15 Lead Authors and 27 Contributing Authors. It was released during the IPY Oslo Conference, 8-12 June 2010, and is now available for public comments with the objective to publish the final version early 2011. The Editorial Team and Lead Authors welcome comments on the draft report from the Arctic science and stakeholder communities, including northern residents.
The content of the report is intended to reflect results in the published literature, with preference to peer-reviewed results and qualified recognition of other insights from the grey literature, ongoing research programs and traditional knowledge. The report is not intended to promote policy goals or approaches; instead it attempts to provide an objective assessment of the current state of Arctic coasts and to provide background for the development of policy, with a discussion of potential strategies to enhance circum-polar collaboration for an integrated approach to research on Arctic coastal systems.
To download the report and the review instructions, please visit the Arctic Coast website.
The Antarctic Centennial Year (ACY) 2011-2012 in Hobart, Tasmania
9 September 2010
Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania, will celebrate a remarkable 'Antarctic Centennial Year' in 2011-2012. Historically, the port was the departure point for some noteworthy Antarctic expeditions: Australian geologist Douglas Mawson led an expedition in 1911 which very nearly cost him his life, and in 1912, Norwegian Roald Amundsen walked in to Hobart's General Post Office to send a telegram to the King of Norway, announcing that he had won the 'Race to the Pole', defeating the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott to become the first human being to reach 90° South. Both centenaries will be celebrated during the ACY, and a number of other cultural events are planned. Hobart will host the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) conference in May 2011 and the prestigious 35th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in June 2012.
More information is available in the ACY brief.
Canadian High Arctic Research Station coming to Cambridge Bay
25 August 2010
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station will be located in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
"Through our Northern Strategy our Government is committed to realizing the full potential of Canada's North" said Prime Minister Harper. "By building this leading-edge research station, we are advancing Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate while at the same time ensuring that Northern communities are prosperous, vibrant and secure."
The Canadian High Arctic Research Station will be a year-round, multidisciplinary facility exploring the cutting-edge of Arctic science and technology issues. The research at the station will help protect and understand the northern environment, contributing to the overall quality of life for Northerners and all Canadians.
The station is an integral part of Canada's four part Northern Strategy: to assert and defend Canada's sovereignty, to protect the unique and fragile arctic ecosystem, to develop a strong Northern economy and to encourage good governance and greater local control and opportunity.
See background information on the research station and feasibility study.
Events
Census of Marine Life 2010: A Decade of Discovery
4 - 8 October 2010, London, UK
6th Northern Research Forum (NRF) Open Assembly
24 – 27 October 2010, Oslo and Kirkenes, Norway
Research network for permafrost microbiology
8 - 10 November 2010, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
For further details of these and other events of interest to the SCAR community, please visit our Events page.
Other
Free Online Access to the journal Polar Geography!
As an example of the high quality research published in Polar Geography, we would like to offer you 14 days free online access to the entire back catalogue of the journal!
To take advantage of this offer, please click on Free Online Access and enter the following code: VTPOGFA0001B34C
Polar Geography is a quarterly publication that offers a venue for scholarly research on the physical and human aspects of the Polar Regions.
The journal seeks to address the component interplay of the natural systems, the complex historical, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and security issues, and the interchange amongst them. As such, the journal welcomes comparative approaches, critical scholarship, and alternative and disparate perspectives from around the globe.
The journal offers scientists a venue for publishing longer papers such as might result from distillation of a thesis, or review papers that place in global context results from coordinated national and international efforts currently underway in both Polar Regions. The journal also offers a section for book reviews and invites such submissions or suggestions.
Access the journal's homepage or view the journal's full table of contents.
Newsletter prepared by Mike Sparrow and Rosemary Nash, SCAR Secretariat. Please send feedback to info@scar.org
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