Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent

352 Pages·2013·15.49 MB·English

by  David W. H. Walton

Antarctica
Global Science from a Frozen Continent
AntarcticaisthecoldestanddriestcontinentonEarth–aplaceforadventureanda
keyareaforglobalscience.Researchconductedinthisextremeenvironmenthas
receivedincreasinginternationalattentioninrecentyearsduetoconcernsover
destructionoftheozonelayeraboveitandtheproblemsofglobalwarmingandrising
sealevels.DatacollectedintheAntarcticnowinformsawiderangeofscientificfields.
Arecordoftheglobe’sclimateislockedupinitsdeepsnowandicewhile,aspartof
theearlysupercontinentGondwana,itsrockshavemuchtoteachusaboutthe
geologicalhistoryoftheEarth.Adiversityofuniqueplantsandanimalsaboundin
Antarcticwatersandtheclearskiesoverheadallowastronomerstoprobetheouter
reachesoftheUniverse.
Governed internationally since 1959,the Antarctic is also an objectlesson
in collaboration betweennations.This dramatically illustrated newbook brings
togetheraninternationalgroupofleadingAntarcticscientiststoexplainwhythe
Antarctic isso central to understanding the history and potential fateof our
planet.Itintroducesthebeautyoftheworld’sgreatestwilderness,itsremarkable
attributes, andthe global importance of the international sciencedone there.
Spanningtopicsfrommarinebiologytospacescience,thisbookisanaccessible
overviewforanyoneinterestedintheAntarcticanditsscienceandgovernance.It
providesavaluablesummaryforthoseinvolvedinpolarmanagementand
developmentofnewresearchprogrammes,andisaninspirationforthenext
generationofAntarcticresearchers.
Professor David Waltonbegan work in 1967 withthe British Antarctic
Survey(BAS).HeisnowanEmeritusFellowatBAS,publishingpapersandbooks
on manyaspects of Antarctica. Professor Walton represented the international
Antarctic scientificcommunity atAntarctic Treaty Meetings for 14 years and
was awarded the first SCAR medal for International ScientificCoordination.
He was alsoawarded a Polar Medal bythe Queen.The author of more than
100 scientificpapers, and morethan250 reviews,populararticles and reports,
he hasalsowritten andeditedseveral books and hasbeen the editor in chief of
the international journal AntarcticSciencefor thelast25 years.
‘IamprivilegedtohavevisitedAntarcticatwice,asChiefExecutiveof
theUKNatural EnvironmentResearchCouncil.Itwaswonderful to
have the work being done at the British Antarctic Survey’s base
atRotheraexplainedtomepersonallybysomeoftheworld’sleading
Antarctic scientists.When Iretired I hugely missed these “personal
tutorials”,but here is theanswer!A book packedwiththe mostup-
to-dateinformationaboutthehistory,geology,biology,thechanging
climate,human physiology, oceanography, and the space-science
andpoliticsof Antarctica, editedand writtenby worldexpertsbut
accessible to anybodyinterested in thiswonderful frozen continent.
Andaboveall, itexplains why Antarctica isso fundamentalto the
scientificunderstanding of the future of PlanetEarth.’
-Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS,
lastchair of the Royal Commission on EnvironmentPollution
‘This isan excellent review of key multidisciplinary collaborative
research andgeopolitics in Antarctica involvingmore than
30countries,addressingglobalissuesinclimate,oceans,biodiversity,
solar system,tourism and more. Ofimportance tocontemporary
society, itis a valued compendium.’
- Dr Alan K. Cooper,
ConsultingProfessor, StanfordUniversityand recipientof
the second SCAR medal for International Scientific Coordination
‘Antarctica isa conundrum.Itis distant,yet it willshapeour
children’sfuture; it is mysterious,yet a treasuretrove for science;
itis the focus of calculated geopolitical interest,yet the exemplar of
“worldgovernance”. Inthis well-presented and readable book,the
world’s leadingexperts on Antarctic science showcase why the
uninhabitedseventh continentiscentral to thepresentand future
of human interestsand wellbeing.’
- Professor Chris Rapley CBE,
University College London; former Director of British
AntarcticSurvey and former President of SCAR
A N T A R C T I C A
Global Science from a Frozen Continent
Edited by
DAVID W. H. WALTON
British Antarctic Survey
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaby
CambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107003927
©CambridgeUniversityPress2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedandboundbyGrafosSA,Artesobrepapel,Barcelona,Spain
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Antarctica:globalsciencefromafrozencontinent/editedbyDavidW.H.Walton.
p.cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN978-1-107-00392-7(Hardback)
1. Antarctica–Discoveryandexploration. I. Walton,D.W.H.
G860.A55752013
559.89–dc23
2012026684
ISBN978-1-107-00392-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
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Contents
List of contributors vii
Introduction xi
David W. H. Walton
1 Discovering the unknown continent 1
David W.H. Walton
2 A keystone in a changing world 35
Bryan Storey
3 Ice with everything 67
Valérie Masson-Delmotte
4 Climate of extremes 102
John J. Cassano
5 Stormy and icy seas 137
Eberhard Fahrbach
6 Life in a cold environment 161
Peter Convey, Angelika Brandt and Steve Nicol
7 Space science research from Antarctica 211
Louis J. Lanzerotti and Allan T. Weatherwax
8 Living and working in the cold 229
Lou Sanson
9 Scientists together in the cold 253
Colin P. Summerhayes
10 Managing the frozen commons 273
Olav Orheim
11 Antarctica: a global change perspective 301
Alan Rodger
Appendix A Visiting Antarctica 325
Appendix B Further reading 328
Acknowledgements 333
Index 334

Contributors
Professor Angelika Brandt is Professor of Zoology at the University of
Hamburg and Director of the Zoological Museum. Her research focuses
on systematics, evolution, ecology, biogeography and biodiversity of
peracarid crustaceans in the deep sea, especially in the polar regions.
Named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2007, Angelika
has been a driving force in the international Census of Marine Life and is
the author of over 100 papers.
Associate Professor John Cassano teaches and researches in the
DepartmentofAtmosphericand OceanicSciences,UniversityofColorado,
and is a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental
Sciences at the University of Colorado. He uses observations from
autonomous observing systems and computer models of the atmosphere
to study the weather and climate of the polar regions. He has spent ten
field seasons in Antarctica since 1994 and is the author of three books
and 60 scientific papers.
Professor Peter Convey, a terrestrial ecologist with British Antarctic
Survey for 24 years, has authored over 200 publications on polar biology.
Active in the development of international Antarctic science through the
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, he is an Honorary Lecturer at
the University of Birmingham and a Visiting Professor at the University
of Malaya. He is an advisory editor for the journals Global Change
Biology and BMC Ecology.
Dr Eberhard Fahrbach studied physics in Heidelberg and physical
oceanography at Kiel University, initially working on wave structure off
Sierra Leone. His PhD in 1984 was on the heat budget of the equatorial
Atlantic. In 1986 he moved to the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and
Marine Research where he has studied the role of the Antarctic and Arctic
Oceans in the climate system, leading many cruises to the polar oceans.
He was awarded the Georg Wüst Prize in 2007 for his outstanding
contribution to oceanography.
Professor Louis J. Lanzerotti, now retired from the Bell Laboratories
Lucent Technologies, is currently Distinguished Research Professor of
Physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark. He has extensive
research experience in the Antarctic and with spacecraft instruments, all
concerned with studies of the Earth’s space environment. He is a Fellow of
viii Listofcontributors
several professional societies and a member of the National Academy of
Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics.
Dr Valérie Masson-Delmotte is a senior scientist and head of a research
group at Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et l’Environnement (LSCE),
France, using natural archives to investigate past climate dynamics. She
analyses ice cores and tree rings to quantify past changes in both climate
and the water cycle on various time scales (centuries, glacial–interglacial
cyclesandabruptevents),togetherwithclimatemodelstounderstandthese
changes. She has published over 120 papers and books on climate change.
DrStephenNicol workedattheAustralianAntarcticDivisionfor24years,
first heading the krill research, then as a Program Leader for Southern
Ocean Ecosystem Studies. A member of the Australian delegation to the
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(CCAMLR) from 1987–2010, much of his research has been directed
towardsmarineconservation.NowanAdjunctProfessorattheInstitutefor
Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, he has published
widely and has visited Antarctica several times. He was awarded the
Australian Antarctic Medal in 2011.
Dr Olav Orheim is a glaciologist with over 80 research publications.
Head of Antarctic Research at the Norwegian Polar Institute 1972–93 he
served as Director 1993–2005. A member of Norwegian delegations to the
AntarcticTreatyConsultativeMeetingsforthreedecades,hewaselectedas
the first Chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection, 1998–2002,
and Chair of the Legal and Institutional Working Group, 2005–09. He is
presently Chair of the Board of several Norwegian institutions, including
the polar ship Fram Museum in Oslo.
AfteradegreeinelectronicengineeringfromtheUniversityofManchester,
Professor Alan Rodger wintered in the Antarctic in the early 1970s
as an electronics technician with the British Antarctic Survey. His career
evolved into a research scientist focussing on upper atmospheric physics.
He now leads the interdisciplinary research programmes at BAS and
provides advice to the government on climate change in the polar
regions. He is Visiting Professor at Manchester.
Lou Sanson is Chief Executive of Antarctica New Zealand and
responsible for the New Zealand Antarctic Programme. He has served on
the executive of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs.
His career has been in environmental management with oversight of
significant environmental projects such as the establishment of