Antarctica - a critical part of the Earth system

Year 2014, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 60 - 77, 01.04.2014

Alan Rodger

Abstract

Abstract Antarctic is remote from all civilisation but what happens there affects everyone. The paper briefly describes some science research topics of significant global relevance, where Antarctic and the surrounding ocean play a very important role. These include climate change, a sink for carbon dioxide, sea level rise, and the sustainable use of natural resources. Some suggestions are made about areas of Antarctic science that are likely to grow in importance over the next decade. In the future, Antarctic science requires a much more multi-disciplinary approach, scaling up from a local perspective to a continent-wide view and taking full account of the interactions between the Antarctic and the rest of the Earth system. New technologies are making an ever-more important contribution to Antarctic science but some developments are limited by the lack of cost-effective broad-band communications between Antarctica and the rest of the world. Computer models need to continue to be developed and data management requires major investment and coordination to address the key science questions. It is emphasised that international cooperation is essential owing to the scale and complexity of the fundamental science questions combined with the exceptionally-challenging operational conditions.

Keywords

Key words: Antarctic, climate change, sea level, krill, technology, data

References

• Atkinson, A., Volker, S., Pakhomov, E., Rothery, P. (2004) Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean. Nature 432: 100
• Brandt, A., and 21 other authors. (2007) First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Nature 447: 307-311.
• Cook, A.J., Vaughan, D.G. (2010) Overview of areal changes of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 50 years. The Cryosphere 4: 77-98.
• Dastidar, P.G. (2007) National and institutional productivity and collaboration in Antarctic science: an analysis of 25 years of journal publications (1980- 2004). Polar Research 26: 175-180.
• Dastidar, P.G., Persson, O. (2005) Mapping the global structure of Antarctic research vis-à-vis Antarctic Treaty System. Current Science 89: 1552-1560.
• Dastidar, P.G., Ramachandran, S. (2008) Intellectual structure of Antarctic science: A 25-year analysis. Scientometrics 77: 389-414.
• Dutrieux, P., de Rydt, J., Jenkins, A., Holland, P.R., Ha, H.K., Lee, S.H., Steig, E.J., Ding, Q., Abrahamsen, E.P., Schroder, M. (2014) Strong sensitivity of Pine
• Island Ice-Shelf melting to climatic variability. (DOI: 10.1126/science.1244341) Science 1244341.
• Frenger, I., Gruber, N., Knutti, R., Munnich, M. (2013) Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall. Nature Geo. 6: 608-612.
• Fretwell, P.T., La Rue, M.A., Morin P., Kooman, G.L., Wienecke, B., Ratcliffe, N., Fox, A.J., Fleming A.H., Porter, C., Trathan P.N. (2012) An Emperor
• Penguin population estimate: The first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. Plos One 10: 1371/journal.pone.0033751.
• Holland, P.R., Kwok, R. (2012) Wind-driven trends in Antarctic sea-ice drift, Nature Geo. 5: 872-875.
• IPCC (2013) Working Group 1 Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment
• Report (AR5). Climate Change 2013: The Physical Basis. UNEP and WMO, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Jenkins, A., Dutrieux, P., Jacobs, S.S., McPhail, S.D., Perrett, J.R., Webb, A.T., White,D. (2010) Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat. Nature Geo. 3: 468-472.
• Jullion, L., Naveira-Garabato, A.C., Meredith, M.P., Holland, P.R., Courtois, P., King, B.A. (2013) Decadal freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water exported from the Weddell Sea. J. Climate 26: 8111-8125.
• Lumpkin, R., Speer, K. (2007) Global ocean meridional overturning. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 37: 2550-2562.
• Meredith, M.P., King, J.C. (2005) Rapid climate change in the ocean to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula during the second half of the twentieth century. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32: L19604.
• Murphy, E.J. (1995) Spatial structure of the Southern Ocean ecosystem: predator-prey linkages in Southern Ocean food-webs. J. Animal Ecology 64: 333-3
• Murphy, E.J., Watkins, J.L., Reid, K., Trathan, P.N., Everson, I., Croxall, J.P., Priddle, J., Brandon, M.A., Brierley, A.S., Hofmann, E. (1998) Inter-annual variability of the South Georgia marine ecosystem: biological and physical sources of variation in the abundance of krill. Fisheries Oceanography 7: 381- 3
• Nicholls, K.W., Boehme, L., Biuw, M., Fedak, M.A. (2008) Wintertime ocean conditions over the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35: L21605.
• Pritchard, H.D., Lightenberg, S.R.M., Fricker, H.A., Vaughan, D.G., van den Broeke, M.R., Padman, L. (2012) Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves. Nature 484: 502-505.
• Purkey, S.G., Johnson, G.C. (2010) Warming of global abyssal and deep
• Southern Ocean waters between the 1990s and 2000s: Contributions to global heat and sea level rise budgets. J. Climate 23: 6336-6351.
• Purkey, S.G., Johnson G.C. (2012) Global contraction of Antarctic bottom water between the 1980s and 2000s. J. Climate 25: 5830-5844.
• Rintoul, S.R. and 98 other authors. (2012) The Southern Ocean Observing
• System: Initial Science and Implementation Strategy, SCAR and SCOR, 74pp. Robertson, R., Visbeck, M., Gordon, A.L., Fahrbachi E. (2002) Long-term temperature trends in the deep waters of the Weddell Sea. Deep-Sea Res. II, 49: 4791-4806.
• Ross, N., Bingham R.G., Corr, H.F.J., Ferraccioli, F., Jordan, T.A., Le Brocq, A., Rippin, D.M., Young, D., Blankenship D.D., Seigert, M.J. (2012) Steep reverse bed slope at the grounding line of the Weddell Sea sector in West Antarctica. Nature Geo. 5: 393-396.
• Tonnessen, J.N., Johnsen, A.O. (1982) The History of Modern Whaling.
• (Translated by R. I. Christophersen.) University of California Press, Berkeley, USA, 798pp. Turner, J., Bindschadler, R., Convey, P., di Prisco, G., Fahrbach, E., Gutt, J., Hodgson, D., Mayewski, P., Summerhayes, C. (2009) Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) Report. Scientific Committee on Antarctic
• Research, Cambridge, UK.