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TOPIC: Antarctica
Blobrana


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RE: Antarctica
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Global warming causes ice shelf to collapse quicker (2008)
MSNBC Our Planet : Antarctica : Ice Shelf Disintegrating



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Blobrana


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The Wilkins Ice Shelf
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Satellite imagery from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that a 13,680 square kilometre ice shelf has begun to collapse because of rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a broad plate of permanent floating ice on the southwest Antarctic Peninsula, about 1,000 miles south of South America. In the past 50 years, the western Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the biggest temperature increase on Earth, rising by 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 degree Fahrenheit) per decade.

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The Wilkins Ice Shelf



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Blobrana


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Antarctic iceshelf 'hanging by a thread'



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Blobrana


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A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate.
Satellite images suggest that part of the ice shelf is disintegrating, and will soon crumble away.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf has been stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the 1990s.

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Blobrana


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Antarctic Ice Cores



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Blobrana


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Boulders the size footballs could help scientists predict the West Antarctic Ice Sheets (WAIS) contribution to sea-level rise according to new research published this week in the journal Geology.
 Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Durham University and Germanys Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) collected boulders deposited by three glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment a region currently the focus of intense international scientific attention because it is changing faster than anywhere else on the WAIS and it has the potential to raise sea-level by around 1.5 metres.

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Blobrana


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 Frozen in time frozen in place frozen solid All of these phrases have been used to describe Antarctica, and yet they all belie the truth about this southerly point on the globe. Although the area is covered in ice and bears witness to some of the most extreme cold on the planet, this ecosystem is dynamic, not static, and change here has always been dramatic and intense.
A report published in the March issue of Ecology argues that the extreme cold and environmental conditions of past Ice Ages have been even more severe than seen today and changed life at the Antarctic, forcing the migration of many animals such as penguins, whales and seals. Understanding the changes of the past may help scientists to determine how the anticipated temperature increases of the future will work to further transform this continent.
Extreme cold and lasting darkness have always worked to limit the productivity of the microscopic algae in Antarctica. The availability of such algae drives the entire regions food web, from one-celled organisms to top predators such as whales and seals, making life in this region challenging for all kinds of animals.
But during the Ice Ages, animals in Antarctica faced conditions even more life-threatening. Massively thick and permanent ice covered most of the land, and sea-ice coverage around the continent was permanent. The Antarctic continental shelf was glaciated and most seafloor animals dodged extinction by emigrating into deeper waters.

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Blobrana


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Aliens are landing in Antarctica.
Seeds, spores, mites, lichens and mosses alien to the continent have been brought unwittingly by scientists and tourists, and could disrupt life in the icy wilderness.
Antarctica is best known for penguins as well as seals and whales, but scientists are finding a host of other tiny organisms from springtails -- closely related to insects -- to mosses.
And they fear global warming may create conditions suitable for outside marauders such as rats or mice in Antarctica, where the biggest land creature is now a tiny flightless midge.

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Blobrana


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Volcanic eruption
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Scientists have found what they say is the first evidence of a volcanic eruption under the Antarctic ice sheet.
They believe the volcano erupted about 2,000 years ago, and would have burst through its ice covering, producing a burst of steam and rocky debris.

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Blobrana


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The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarcticas most rapidly changing ice sheet is reported this week in the journal Nature Geosciences. The volcano on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet erupted 2000 years ago (325BC) and remains active.
Using airborne ice-sounding radar, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) discovered a layer of ash produced by a subglacial volcano. It extends across an area larger than Wales.

 The discovery of a subglacial volcanic eruption from beneath the Antarctic ice sheet is unique in itself. But our techniques also allow us to put a date on the eruption, determine how powerful it was and map out the area where ash fell. We believe this was the biggest eruption in Antarctica during the last 10,000 years. It blew a substantial hole in the ice sheet, and generated a plume of ash and gas that rose around 12 km into air - Lead author, Hugh Corr of the British Antarctic Survey.

The discovery is another vital piece of evidence that will help determine the future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and refine predictions of future sea-level rise.

This eruption occurred close to Pine Island Glacier on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The flow of this glacier towards the coast has speeded up in recent decades and it may be possible that heat from the volcano has caused some of that acceleration. However, it cannot explain the more widespread thinning of West Antarctic glaciers that together are contributing nearly 0.2mm per year to sea-level rise. This wider change most probably has its origin in warming ocean waters - Co-author Professor David Vaughan, British Antarctic Survey.

Volcanic eruption.kmz

Sourse  British Antarctic Survey 

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