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TOPIC: Antarctica
Blobrana


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RADARSAT-1 satellite
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In 1997, the Canadian RADARSAT-1 satellite was rotated in orbit, so that its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna looked south towards Antarctica. This permitted the first high-resolution mapping of the entire continent of Antarctica. In less than three weeks, the satellite acquired a complete coverage of radar image swaths as part of the first Antarctic Mapping Mission (AMM-1). Swath images have been assembled into an image mosaic depicting the entire continent at 25 m resolution. The mosaic provides a detailed look at ice sheet morphology, rock outcrops, research infrastructure, the coastline, and other features of Antarctica, as well as representing calibrated radar backscatter data which may provide insight into climate processes affecting the upper few meters of snow cover.

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Blobrana


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RE: Antarctica
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Just as explorers once searched the vast reaches of Africa's Nile River for clues to its behaviour and ultimate source, modern-day scientists are searching Antarctica for its hidden lakes and waterways that can barely be detected at the surface of the ice sheet. In a new study, researchers have unearthed how water from this vast subglacial system contributes to the formation of ice streams, and how it plays a crucial role in transporting ice from the remote interior of Antarctica toward the surrounding ocean. Water flowing from this network of under-ice lakes, they say, ultimately affects climate and global sea level.

SubglacialLakes
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Combined RADARSAT and ICESat images show the Recovery Glacier Ice Stream (arrows) and location of four new subglacial lakes (A, B, C and D) that lie at the head of the stream.
Credit: NASA

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Blobrana


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A voyage to Antarctica's icy depths has revealed a rich array of marine life and geological features that may shed light on the region's past and future.
Isis, the UK's first deep-sea remote operated vehicle, combed the area's sea bed, diving up to 3.5km (two miles).
The vessel imaged diverse animals, such as king crabs, anemones and sponges.
It also provided the first view of ancient "mel****er channels", which will aid understanding of the past and present Antarctic ice sheet.

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Blobrana


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Larsen B Ice Shelf
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This image of the Antarctic Peninsula was taken on February 9, 2007, shows snow-covered mountains; glacier-filled valleys; and smooth, broad expanses of ice shelves hanging over the lip of the coastline into the blue-black waters of the Southern Ocean.

Larsen B
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Credit NASA

The semi-circular bay at the right side of the image is the area that the Larsen B Ice Shelf occupied for at least 400 years (and possibly 12,000 years) until March 2002. Increasingly warm summers on the Antarctic Peninsula over recent decades caused the huge ice shelf to disintegrate suddenly in March 2002.

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Blobrana


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Posts: 131433
Date:
Antarctica lakes
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Beneath the snow, ice and bitter cold of Antarctica, scientists have discovered a network of lakes that fill and empty with rapidly flowing water.
It's a finding that may improve understanding of the interaction between global warming and the melting of Antarctic ice, which could contribute to a worldwide rise in ocean level.

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Researchers studying data from satellites were able to measure rises and falls in the overlying ice as the lakes filled and emptied.
More than 100 lakes have been found in West Antarctica, according to research published Thursday in the online issue of the journal Science.

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Blobrana


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Posts: 131433
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Discovery Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet
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Giant "blisters" containing water that rapidly expand and contract have been mapped beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Fed by a complex network of rivers, the subglacial reservoirs force the overlying ice to rise and fall.
By tracking these changes with Nasa's Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) scientists were able to map the extent of the subglacial plumbing.
The results, published in the journal Science, show that some areas fell by up to 9m (10ft) over just two years.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 20:45, 2007-02-15

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Blobrana


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NASA Announces Briefing on Discovery Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet
Researchers from NASA and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, will unveil new results from an unprecedented study of water deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. The study will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at Hotel Nikko, San Francisco.
Using data from NASA satellites, the scientists created a technique that offers a breakthrough perspective of the ice sheet and the environment far below its surface. The study will be published in the Feb. 16 edition of Science magazine.
Robert Bindschadler of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, Md., and Helen Amanda Fricker of Scripps will discuss their findings and answer media questions.

Source NASA

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Blobrana


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RE: Antarctica
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As top scientists meet in the comfort of Paris to hammer out a major report on climate change, a handful of their colleagues, hunkered down on a frozen plateau in the middle of Antarctica, painstakingly gather warning signs of global warming.
A century ago, Antarctica was deemed a forbidding frozen wilderness, a place irredeemably hostile to settlement, or even human life itself.
Today, the fringes of this great white wilderness are valued by scientists as a store of unique wildlife, and its heart is prized as a precious barometer of Earth's fevers and chills.

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Blobrana


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Inflatable Habitats for Polar and Space Colonists
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Humanity has long since established a foothold in the Artic and Antarctic, but extensive colonization of these regions may soon become economically viable. If we can learn to build self-sufficient habitats in these extreme environments, similar technology could be used to live on the Moon or Mars.

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Blobrana


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ANSMET
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  Some  APL staffers will go to the ends of the Earth and back in the name of science. Take, for example, Nancy Chabot, Ben Bussey, Cari Corrigan and Andrew Dombard, all of whom have spent time in Antarctica collecting meteorites as part of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, known as ANSMET.

ANSMET, which is funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and NASA, aims to find and characterize meteorite samples in Antarctica and make those samples available to researchers worldwide. Since its inception in 1976, ANSMET has provided the scientific community with more than 15,000 meteorite specimens. These samples are a unique way to study outer space without actually leaving the planet, and they can offer important clues about the formation of the solar system and the compositions and histories of asteroids and other planetary bodies.

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