BAS Science Summaries 2018-2019 Antarctic Field Season
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'Landscapes of Exploration' Education Pack
Landscapes of Exploration February 11 – 31 March 2012 Peninsula Arts Gallery Education Pack Cover image courtesy of British Antarctic Survey Cover image: Launch of a radiosonde meteorological balloon by a scientist/meteorologist at Halley Research Station. Atmospheric scientists at Rothera and Halley Research Stations collect data about the atmosphere above Antarctica this is done by launching radiosonde meteorological balloons which have small sensors and a transmitter attached to them. The balloons are filled with helium and so rise high into the Antarctic atmosphere sampling the air and transmitting the data back to the station far below. A radiosonde meteorological balloon holds an impressive 2,000 litres of helium, giving it enough lift to climb for up to two hours. Helium is lighter than air and so causes the balloon to rise rapidly through the atmosphere, while the instruments beneath it sample all the required data and transmit the information back to the surface. - Permissions for information on radiosonde meteorological balloons kindly provided by British Antarctic Survey. For a full activity sheet on how scientists collect data from the air in Antarctica please visit the Discovering Antarctica website www.discoveringantarctica.org.uk and select resources www.discoveringantarctica.org.uk has been developed jointly by the Royal Geographical Society, with IBG0 and the British Antarctic Survey, with funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) supports geography in universities and schools, through expeditions and fieldwork and with the public and policy makers. Full details about the Society’s work, and how you can become a member, is available on www.rgs.org All activities in this handbook that are from www.discoveringantarctica.org.uk will be clearly identified. -
Ice Dynamics and Stability Analysis of the Ice Shelf-Glacial System on the East Antarctic Peninsula Over the Past Half Century: Multi-Sensor
Ice dynamics and stability analysis of the ice shelf-glacial system on the east Antarctic Peninsula over the past half century: multi-sensor observations and numerical modeling A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science of the College of Arts and Sciences by Shujie Wang B.S., GIS, Sun Yat-sen University, China, 2010 M.A., GIS, Sun Yat-sen University, China, 2012 Committee Chair: Hongxing Liu, Ph.D. March 2018 ABSTRACT The flow dynamics and mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are intricately linked with the global climate change and sea level rise. The dynamics of the ice shelf – glacial systems are particularly important for dominating the mass balance state of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The flow velocity fields of outlet glaciers and ice streams dictate the ice discharge rate from the interior ice sheet into the ocean system. One of the vital controls that affect the flow dynamics of the outlet glaciers is the stability of the peripheral ice shelves. It is essential to quantitatively analyze the interconnections between ice shelves and outlet glaciers and the destabilization process of ice shelves in the context of climate warming. This research aims to examine the evolving dynamics and the instability development of the Larsen Ice Shelf – glacial system in the east Antarctic Peninsula, which is a dramatically changing area under the influence of rapid regional warming in recent decades. Previous studies regarding the flow dynamics of the Larsen Ice Shelf – glacial system are limited to some specific sites over a few time periods. -
2. Disc Resources
An early map of the world Resource D1 A map of the world drawn in 1570 shows ‘Terra Australis Nondum Cognita’ (the unknown south land). National Library of Australia Expeditions to Antarctica 1770 –1830 and 1910 –1913 Resource D2 Voyages to Antarctica 1770–1830 1772–75 1819–20 1820–21 Cook (Britain) Bransfield (Britain) Palmer (United States) ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Resolution and Adventure Williams Hero 1819 1819–21 1820–21 Smith (Britain) ▼ Bellingshausen (Russia) Davis (United States) ▼ ▼ ▼ Williams Vostok and Mirnyi Cecilia 1822–24 Weddell (Britain) ▼ Jane and Beaufoy 1830–32 Biscoe (Britain) ★ ▼ Tula and Lively South Pole expeditions 1910–13 1910–12 1910–13 Amundsen (Norway) Scott (Britain) sledge ▼ ▼ ship ▼ Source: Both maps American Geographical Society Source: Major voyages to Antarctica during the 19th century Resource D3 Voyage leader Date Nationality Ships Most southerly Achievements latitude reached Bellingshausen 1819–21 Russian Vostok and Mirnyi 69˚53’S Circumnavigated Antarctica. Discovered Peter Iøy and Alexander Island. Charted the coast round South Georgia, the South Shetland Islands and the South Sandwich Islands. Made the earliest sighting of the Antarctic continent. Dumont d’Urville 1837–40 French Astrolabe and Zeelée 66°S Discovered Terre Adélie in 1840. The expedition made extensive natural history collections. Wilkes 1838–42 United States Vincennes and Followed the edge of the East Antarctic pack ice for 2400 km, 6 other vessels confirming the existence of the Antarctic continent. Ross 1839–43 British Erebus and Terror 78°17’S Discovered the Transantarctic Mountains, Ross Ice Shelf, Ross Island and the volcanoes Erebus and Terror. The expedition made comprehensive magnetic measurements and natural history collections. -
UK Funding and National Facilities (Research Vessel Facilities and Equipment)
UK Funding and National Facilities (Research Vessel Facilities and Equipment) Lisa McNeill and the UK community National Oceanography Centre Southampton University of Southampton Research Council Funding • Natural Environment Research Council primary funding source – Part of Research Councils UK (RCUK) – Potential to apply to other RC programmes e.g., EPSRC (e.g. for engineering related technology development) • A: Responsive mode (blue skies). Includes Urgency Funds • B: Research Themes (part of current focus – increasingly strategic, applied and impact focused). Relevant themes: – Forecasting and mitigation of natural hazards (includes “Building resilience in earthquake-prone and volcanic regions”) – Earth System Science – Sustainable Use of Natural Resources • Increasing cross Research Council themes and programmes, e.g.: – Living With Environmental Change • Impact of current economy: – Reduction of overall NERC budget in real terms – Focused on significant capital budget reduction – “Protecting front line science” through various measures including efficiency savings – External funds to support major capital investments, e.g., RRS Discovery replacement – Maintaining share of the budget for responsive mode research funding, although implementing “demand management” IODP-UKIODP • UKIODP also funded through NERC, with associated research funding • This includes funds for site survey, post-cruise and other related research International Collaboration • Many examples of co-funded research • Usage of barter/joint agreements for research -
Thatcher IEE, 21 Dec 2010
1 Initial Environmental Evaluation for the eradication of rodents from Thatcher Peninsula, South Georgia* South Georgia Heritage Trust 21 December 2010 *to be read in conjunction with ‘Environmental Impact Assessment for the eradication of rodents from the island of South Georgia, version 2’. Eradication of rodents from South Georgia 21 December 2010 Thatcher Peninsula IEE, version 3 2 CONTENTS 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Description of proposed activity .......................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Proposed eradication methodology ........................................................................................... 3 2.2 Treatment of areas inaccessible by air ...................................................................................... 4 2.3 Monitoring .................................................................................................................................. 4 3 State of the environment..................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Location ..................................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Landforms, glaciology and hydrology ........................................................................................ 5 3.3 Human habitation and visitors -
Species Status Assessment Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes Fosteri)
SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT EMPEROR PENGUIN (APTENODYTES FOSTERI) Emperor penguin chicks being socialized by male parents at Auster Rookery, 2008. Photo Credit: Gary Miller, Australian Antarctic Program. Version 1.0 December 2020 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Program Branch of Delisting and Foreign Species Falls Church, Virginia Acknowledgements: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Penguins are flightless birds that are highly adapted for the marine environment. The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. Emperors are near the top of the Southern Ocean’s food chain and primarily consume Antarctic silverfish, Antarctic krill, and squid. They are excellent swimmers and can dive to great depths. The average life span of emperor penguin in the wild is 15 to 20 years. Emperor penguins currently breed at 61 colonies located around Antarctica, with the largest colonies in the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea. The total population size is estimated at approximately 270,000–280,000 breeding pairs or 625,000–650,000 total birds. Emperor penguin depends upon stable fast ice throughout their 8–9 month breeding season to complete the rearing of its single chick. They are the only warm-blooded Antarctic species that breeds during the austral winter and therefore uniquely adapted to its environment. Breeding colonies mainly occur on fast ice, close to the coast or closely offshore, and amongst closely packed grounded icebergs that prevent ice breaking out during the breeding season and provide shelter from the wind. Sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean has undergone considerable inter-annual variability over the last 40 years, although with much greater inter-annual variability in the five sectors than for the Southern Ocean as a whole. -
Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories. Peterborough, Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories Compiled by S. Oldfield Edited by D. Procter and L.V. Fleming ISBN: 1 86107 502 2 © Copyright Joint Nature Conservation Committee 1999 Illustrations and layout by Barry Larking Cover design Tracey Weeks Printed by CLE Citation. Procter, D., & Fleming, L.V., eds. 1999. Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories. Peterborough, Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Disclaimer: reference to legislation and convention texts in this document are correct to the best of our knowledge but must not be taken to infer definitive legal obligation. Cover photographs Front cover: Top right: Southern rockhopper penguin Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome (Richard White/JNCC). The world’s largest concentrations of southern rockhopper penguin are found on the Falkland Islands. Centre left: Down Rope, Pitcairn Island, South Pacific (Deborah Procter/JNCC). The introduced rat population of Pitcairn Island has successfully been eradicated in a programme funded by the UK Government. Centre right: Male Anegada rock iguana Cyclura pinguis (Glen Gerber/FFI). The Anegada rock iguana has been the subject of a successful breeding and re-introduction programme funded by FCO and FFI in collaboration with the National Parks Trust of the British Virgin Islands. Back cover: Black-browed albatross Diomedea melanophris (Richard White/JNCC). Of the global breeding population of black-browed albatross, 80 % is found on the Falkland Islands and 10% on South Georgia. Background image on front and back cover: Shoal of fish (Charles Sheppard/Warwick -
Halley Research Station
British Antarctic Survey Halley Research Station Halley V The Station alley V took six years from being conceived at the The Laws Building comprises three sections, a Hdrawing board to its commissioning in February services/technical support area, living area and sleeping 1992. It is novel in that the three main buildings sit 4 m quarters. Diesel engines provide electrical power and above the snow on independent jackable steel platforms. their waste heat warms the buildings and melts snow to The largest is the Laws Building (accommodation) which provide water.The living area includes a darkroom, is 59 m long, 14.6 m wide and 3 m high.The smaller lounge, library, dining room, kitchen, computer room, base Simpson Building (meteorology and ozone studies) and commander’s office, communications room, recreation Piggott Building (upper atmospheric sciences) house room, storage areas, washrooms, a hospital and a surgery. specialist laboratories.The height of the platforms above There are 20 two-person bedrooms.The winter station the ice shelf affects the local wind turbulence and the complement ranges from 14 to 18 and includes scientists, build-up of drifting snow. Each summer the platforms are support staff and a doctor. Summer visitors are raised an average of 1m to compensate for the accommodated in the Drewry Building,a self-contained accumulated snowfall. In addition, the supporting legs can building on skis that is towed to a fresh site each year to be realigned to correct for distortion caused by avoid burial, and also serves as an emergency refuge.The differential movement in the flow of the ice shelf beneath. -
NERC Delivery Plan 2019
Delivery Plan 2019 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL Contents 1. Foreword by Executive Chair 2 2. Vision and objectives 4 3. Research and innovation priorities 6 3.1 Environmental solutions 6 3.2 Pushing the frontiers of understanding 8 3.3 Productive environment 10 3.4 Healthy environment 12 3.5 Resilient environment 14 3.6 Digital environment 16 3.7 Global environment 18 3.8 Best environment for research and innovation 21 4. Delivering and being accountable as an outstanding organisation 24 5. Financial allocation 27 1 1. Foreword NERC has a proud history of identifying the issues that communities in the UK and worldwide face on a changing planet. For over 50 years, our work has increased understanding of environmental challenges and enabled effective responses to them. Our science is essential to forming and delivering policy that makes it possible for the environment, people and businesses to succeed together. The UK public recognise this work as critically important and in their consciousness it is only matched by future health challenges, to which environmental considerations are increasingly linked. According to our 2017 Public Attitudes survey, 76% of the public want to understand more about the science we fund. Nationally, our science continues to help the UK achieve the goals set out in the government’s Industrial Strategy, Clean Growth Strategy, and in the 25-year Environment Plan and devolved policy, as well as supporting Professor Duncan Wingham efforts to achieve the 80% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050 outlined in the 2008 Climate Change Act. Internationally, this science plays a central role Executive Chair, NERC in each of the assessment reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and informs efforts to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and to answer the World Economic Forum’s assessment of global risks in 2019, where environmental risks dominate. -
Kinematic First-Order Calving Law Implies Potential for Abrupt Ice-Shelf Retreat
Manuscript prepared for The Cryosphere with version 3.2 of the LATEX class copernicus.cls. Date: 30 January 2012 Kinematic First-Order Calving Law implies Potential for Abrupt Ice-Shelf Retreat Anders Levermann1,2, Torsten Albrecht1,2, Ricarda Winkelmann1,2, Maria A. Martin1,2, Marianne Haseloff1,3, and Ian Joughin4 1Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany 2Institute of Physics, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany 3University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 4Polar Science Center, APL, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Correspondence to: Anders Levermann ([email protected]) Abstract. Recently observed large-scale disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves has moved their fronts closer towards grounded ice. In response, ice-sheet discharge into the ocean has accelerated, contributing to global sea-level rise and emphasizing the importance of calving-front dynamics. The position of the ice front strongly influences the stress field within the entire sheet-shelf-system 5 and thereby the mass flow across the grounding line. While theories for an advance of the ice- front are readily available, no general rule exists for its retreat, making it difficult to incorporate the retreat in predictive models. Here we extract the first-order large-scale kinematic contribution to calving which is consistent with large-scale observation. We emphasize that the proposed equation does not constitute a comprehensive calving law but represents the first order kinematic contribution 10 which can and should be complemented by higher order contributions as well as the influence of potentially heterogeneous material properties of the ice. When applied as a calving law, the equation naturally incorporates the stabilizing effect of pinning points and inhibits ice shelf growth outside of embayments. -
Science Organising Committee Local Organising Committee Katherine Joy (Chair) Romain Tartese Mahesh Anand John Pernet-Fisher
Science Organising Committee Local Organising Committee Katherine Joy (Chair) Romain Tartese (Chair) Romain Tartese Katherine Joy Mahesh Anand Patricia Clay John Pernet-Fisher Samantha Bell Kerri Donaldson-Hanna Vera Fernandes Evelyn Furi John Pernet-Fisher Jessica Flahaut Sarah Crowther Greg Schmitt Gemma Coleman James Carpenter Updated: 27 March 2019 European Lunar Symposium Manchester 2019 Meeting information Welcome you to Manchester for the 7th European Lunar Symposium (ELS). We are hoping to have a great meeting, demonstrating the diversity of the current lunar research in Europe and elsewhere, and continuing to provide a platform to the European lunar researchers for networking as well as exchanging news ideas and latest results in the field of lunar exploration. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the University of Manchester, NASA SSERVI, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Europlanet, and the European Space Agency. Our special thanks to our SSERVI colleagues Kristina Gibbs, Jennifer Baer, Maria Leus, and Ashcon Nejad, and to Gemma Coleman at the University of Manchester for their contribution to the meeting preparation and program implementation. Members of the Science Organising Committee are thanked for their input in putting together an exciting program and for volunteering to chair various sessions in this meeting. Meeting Venue Please note that there are two different venues: • The reception event on the 20 th May will be held at the Manchester Museum in the south of the city, close to the University of Manchester. • The symposium on 21 st -23 rd May will be held at the Science and Industry Museum – Garratt suite conference facilities. -
The Centenary of the Scott Expedition to Antarctica and of the United Kingdom’S Enduring Scientific Legacy and Ongoing Presence There”
Debate on 18 October: Scott Expedition to Antarctica and Scientific Legacy This Library Note provides background reading for the debate to be held on Thursday, 18 October: “the centenary of the Scott Expedition to Antarctica and of the United Kingdom’s enduring scientific legacy and ongoing presence there” The Note provides information on Antarctica’s geography and environment; provides a history of its exploration; outlines the international agreements that govern the territory; and summarises international scientific cooperation and the UK’s continuing role and presence. Ian Cruse 15 October 2012 LLN 2012/034 House of Lords Library Notes are compiled for the benefit of Members of the House of Lords and their personal staff, to provide impartial, politically balanced briefing on subjects likely to be of interest to Members of the Lords. Authors are available to discuss the contents of the Notes with the Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Any comments on Library Notes should be sent to the Head of Research Services, House of Lords Library, London SW1A 0PW or emailed to [email protected]. Table of Contents 1.1 Geophysics of Antarctica ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 Environmental Concerns about the Antarctic ......................................................... 2 2.1 Britain’s Early Interest in the Antarctic .................................................................... 4 2.2 Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration .......................................................................