Supplements - The Antarctic Sun - United States Antarctic Program

18 Pages·2003·1.33 MB·English

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program
November 2, 2003
Science
Breaking berg news
all night
long
By Brien Barnett
and Kristan Hutchison
Sun Staff
Stations hunker down during the
long, cold Antarctic winter, but there
is still science going on.
Winter hits hard at the South Pole,
with temperatures often dipping below
–60 C. The cold and long continual
night might dampen spirits, but it
makes for good astronomical observa-
tions. Over the summer, astronomical
data is processed, instruments are fine-
tuned and preparations are made for the
next winter. Scientists have reported a
few successes from the winter season:
The AST/RO project (Antarctic
Photo by Brien Barnett/The Antarctic Sun
Submillimeter Telescope and Remote
Ross Sea ice jams the channel where the mighty B15A iceberg broke apart earlier this month. The iceberg
Observatory) explores the Galactic
on the right retains the name B15A, while the iceberg on the left is now B15J. Barely visible is iceberg C16
Center, the inner 500 light years of the
and Beaufort Island. A research team from McMurdo choppered out to B15A Friday to set up gear to track
Milky Way. Over the winter, Chris
the berg to its demise. B15A has been blamed for clogging McMurdo Sound with ice and disrupting pen-
Martin and Karina Leppik explored
guin colonies along the north coast of Ross Island. The breakup signals significant changes may be ahead.
the submillimeter-wave of the region
See story page 9 and discovered the Milky Way has
explosive star formation episodes, or
Long haul to the Ice starbursts, every 400 million years,
according to Antony Stark of the
Smithsonian Institution and head of
By Kristan Hutchison attendants, the many bags of pretzels and the project. The team plans to publish
Sun staff endless supply of drinks and meals served on the results in the Astrophysical
Except for astronauts, few people have as plastic trays, the seats are still uncomfort- Journal Supplements in January.
long a commute to work as those headed to able and the flight is still long. William Holzapfel reports that his
jobs in Antarctica. But those first 10,000 km are the easy part team has published the results from
For most, the trip to Antarctica begins of getting to the Ice. It’s the last 1,500 to high-resolution observations in 2002
with at least 12 hours on planes and in air- 3,800 km most people write home about, of the cosmic microwave back-
ports, from their home in the U.S. to using descriptive phrases like “sardines in a ground (CMB) radiation using the
Christchurch, New Zealand, or Punta can” and “tossed like a salad.” Which phrase ACBAR program (Arcminute
Arenas, Chile. Despite the efforts of flight See Commute on page 13 See Winter on page 16
Inside Quote of the Week
“Driving it is like driving the
Ozone hole Current science
Snoopy float in the Macy Day
reinvents itself probes Drake Passage parade. Everyone smiles and
Page 7 waves.”
Page 15
- “Ivan the Terra Bus” driver
www.polar.org/antsun
2 • The Antarctic Sun November 2, 2003
Ross Island Chronicles By Chico
Mom, is it true Yes it is son, it’s
that Antarctica also the home of
is the coldest, our penguin
windiest and colony.
driest place in
the world?
Cold, hard facts
Science
Grantees for 2003/2004 season:
728 listed
Penguin colony? Who is the
This place is crazy penguin
Aeronomy and Astrophysics pro-
more like a penal who suggested
colony. we live here in jects: 31
the first place?
Biology and Medicine projects: 54
Geology and geophysics pro-
jects: 25
Glaciology projects: 14
Oceans and Climate projects: 17
Artists and Writers: 8 projects
I think we And why do you suppose you keep
ought to file a getting these fantasies of being Clever acronym: POTATOE
lawsuit against eaten by a killer whale? MOAT - Production Observations
whoever sold us Through Another Translatitudinal
this place. Oceanic Expedition: Alaska to
Antarctica; the Mother Of All
Transects
Source: NSF Science Planning Summary
The Antarctic Sunis funded by the National
Science Foundation as part of the United
States Antarctic Program (OPP-
000373). Its primary audience is
U.S. Antarctic Program partici-
pants, their families, and their
friends. NSF reviews and
approves material before publication, but opin-
ions and conclusions expressed in the Sun
are not necessarily those of the Foundation.
Use:Reproduction and distribution are
encouraged with acknowledgment of source
and author.
Senior Editor:Kristan Hutchison
Editors: Brien Barnett
Kris Kuenning
Copy Editors:Geoff Jolley, Wendy Kober,
JD Menezes
Publisher:Valerie Carroll,
Communications manager, RPSC
Contributions are welcome.Contact the
Sunat [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit
our office in Building 155 or dial 2407.
Web address:www.polar.org/antsun
November 2, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 3
Medevac patient home and well
By Kristan Hutchison
Sun staff
I
f Barry McCue hadn’t got-
ten sick, he’d be waiting
with the rest of the South
Pole winter crew for flights
to carry them to New Zealand.
Instead, his flight came a
month early. It was the third
winter medevac from the
Amunden-Scott South Pole
Station in four years.
“You can tell they’re get-
ting better at the planning of
it,” McCue said. “For me it
was just take the plan off the
shelf, blow the dust off and
then just figure out what the
people should do.”
McCue, 51, had to be mede- Photo by Iain Airth/Rothera Station
vaced after a gallbladder prob- A Kenn Borek Twin Otter heads to the South Pole from Rothera
lem in late August spread to Station on Sept. 21 to pick up Barry McCue.
his kidneys. South Pole Dr.
Will Silva diagnosed the prob- way to McMurdo for the sum- would shower so I would smell
lem, and after several telemed- mer. Sean Loutitt, the chief good.”
icine consultations with doc- pilot for Kenn Borek Air, said On Sept. 21 one of the Twin
tors in Galveston, Tex., he thought the workers at the Otters took off, while the sec-
Denver, Boston and Baltimore, Pole were happier to see them ond stayed at Rothera as a
it was agreed that McCue last month, perhaps because backup.
needed to be flown back to the the medevac flight brought The temperature was
United States for surgery. down 45 kg of tomatoes, avo- almost –60 C when they land-
He had an infection in his cados and oranges. For the ed and the sun was edging its
gallbladder that was probably winter crew, the fresh fruit was way to the horizon for the first
caused by blockage with a their first since running out in time since March.
Photo by Kristan Hutchison/The Antarctic Sun
gallstone, said Dr. Ron mid-April. “It wasn’t dark, but because Barry McCue waits to board the
Shemenski, medical director This time the flight was eas- it was cloudy you couldn’t air ambulance in Punta Arenas.
for Raytheon Polar Services. If ier, partly because in the sum- really see the sun,” Loutitt
the infection from the gallblad- mer there are more aircraft in said. said. “It’s the first time I didn’t
der had gotten into the liver, it Antarctica to respond if some- The pilots parked the plane have to put my long johns on.”
would probably have been thing goes wrong. on bamboo to prevent the skis From Punta Arenas he was
fatal. For the winter flight, a sec- from freezing to the ice, then ambulanced in a Lear jet to
As Environmental Health ond Twin Otter was flown to turned on heaters in the Galveston, Texas, where his
and Safety officer for the Pole, Britain’s Rothera Station on engines and blanketed them gall bladder was removed.
McCue is quick to point out he the Antarctic Peninsula as with insulated covers. They “I was sicker than I thought.
didn’t ruin the station’s perfect backup and the McMurdo run- brought the battery inside dur- By the time I got to Galveston
safety record for the season. way was prepared in case a C- ing the 10-hour crew rest. I was pretty wiped out,”
Like the previous two winter 141 had to fly in from Before refueling, the pilots ran McCue said.
medevacs, McCue was suffer- Christchurch. the plane around on the run- When he arrived home in
ing from a medical condition “You plan around those way to warm the skis again so Chicago his daughters didn’t
rather than the result of an possible scenarios. You check they wouldn’t stick to the recognize him. He was 22 kg
accident. The 57-person com- for everything,” Loutitt said. snow. The extra caution thinner and had grown a gray-
munity went eight months “In the end, I think it’s a pretty worked well and the pilots ing beard. He still needs fre-
without a reportable injury, safe operation.” only needed half the runway, quent naps and hasn’t gained
setting a record. Loutitt and the other two about 900 meters, for take off. the weight back yet, but he has
“They embraced the idea pilots, Brian Crocker and Rob Coming straight from the had enough energy to visit
that you wanted to come out Forbes, waited six days for the South Pole winter, McCue felt family on his motorcycle and
the way you went in and I’m window of good weather they some culture shock as soon as give some interviews.
the one they had to bail out,” needed to fly to the Pole and he reached Rothera, on the McCue plans to apply for a
McCue said. back to Rothera. Antarctic peninsula. job in Antarctica again for the
The Twin Otter plane tht “I was packed, boxed and “Walking in Rothera it got 2005 season.
flew McCue was back at the ready to go,” McCue said. to me, feeling a breeze in my As he said a day after leav-
South Pole last weekend on its “Whenever it looked good I face and it didn’t hurt,” McCue ing the South Pole, “I miss it.”
4 • The Antarctic Sun November 2, 2003
Perspectives sevitcepsreP
Adventure and tragedy in the early Antarctic
By Charles Bevilacqua “Willy Field” is now named in his
Christmas 1955 found us within the I removed my memory. We would lose six more
Antarctic Circle, in very rough, before we left for home in February
stormy waters - the roaring 60’s. I 1957.
heavy outer
was one of the Seabees who had Eventually, the icebreakers broke
volunteered to go to Antarctica on Operation in closer to Hut Point and we began,
clothing and
Deep Freeze I with Admiral Richard Byrd. with much hardship, to build the
Approaching McMurdo, we soon first building at McMurdo. We
boots and
found a very bad ice year. Our ship was worked through the winter improv-
held up more than 60 km from Hut Point, ing the station and preparing to go to
where we were to construct the first jumped back the South Pole.
buildings for the new station beside No one had been there since
Scott’s Discovery Hut. out onto the broken ice, Amundsen and Scott in 1911-12. We
By early January 1956, the situation flew there in a small, underpowered
was desperate. Summer was rapidly into the water again. R4D-8 aircraft with flimsy skis in late
going by. Ninety-three of us Seabees November 1956. Because we were the
were supposed to stay the winter and first there, there was no landing field.
nothing had been built yet to house us. Heavy tractors and sleds The plane touched down but could not stop or the skis would
were lowered over the side of the ship and we began hauling stick to the snow. We had to jump out the door and dive under the
building supplies miles over very treacherous and deteriorated tail as it flew by.
ice. It was very unsafe, but we had to start. We did not even know the location of the pole when we
On January 6, 1956 my small advance group was hauling arrived. It took Lt. Dick Bowers a few days to pinpoint the exact
about four miles northeast of Cape Evans. We had passed over location of the geographic South Pole.
many small ice cracks, but here we came upon a very large crack After completing most of Pole station, we turned it over to the
with open water, too large to cross with tractor and sled, heavily new group coming in, but not before we were able to celebrate a
loaded. most memorable Christmas, complete with an airdropped New
The next day we built a timber bridge and pushed it across the Zealand Christmas tree and plenty of good cheer. It’s good to be
crack. My fellow Seabee Construction Driver Third Class young!
Richard Williams and I took a D-8 tractor up and over the bridge I came back to McMurdo early January 1957, in time to ded-
without a sled in tow, to test the bridge. Petty officer Williams icate the shrine of volcanic stones and the Virgin Mary to Willy.
was the driver while I was the lookout and guide. We crossed the Because Deep Freeze II was taking over, those of us in Deep
bridge successfully. Then, about 15 meters beyond, the D-8 Freeze I had little to do. A few of us went over to help Sir
broke through the weak ice without any warning. The D-8 pulled Edmund Hillary and the New Zealanders put up the original
Willy and me under the ice. Scott Base. We stole much from our own Americans to help put
Somehow I managed to claw my way through the broken ice in Scott Base. Who could resist those jolly Kiwis. It was a plea-
to the surface. I immediately began pushing the broken ice aside, sure to work with them and to have a close association with
looking for Willy. I could not find him. I was pulled out of the Hillary.
water. I removed my heavy outer clothing and boots and jumped As I look back on a most memorable, rewarding and cherished
back into the water again. experience, it’s amazing how many of us remain in contact. We
I had to push more broken ice aside, make a hole and find have reunions and I still make frequent presentations on
Willy. Try as I may, my efforts were to no avail. I was again Antarctica “then and now.”
pulled from the water and went into slight shock and hypother-
mia. I was put into another D-8 with the heat full on to try to Charles A. Bevilacqua was a 25-year-old chief petty officer in
revive me. the U.S. Navy Seabees when he first went to Antarctica as chief
Willy was our first loss on Deep Freeze I. “Williams Field” or builder. He now lives in Meredith, New Hampshire.
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November 2, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 5
around the continent
SOUTH POLE
Eight month winter ends
By Tracy Sheeley
South Pole correspondent "Cookie" Jon Emanuel,
Transition is the name of the game at head chef at Amundsen-
Scott South Pole Station,
South Pole Station this week, in a variety
with a Dissostichus maw-
of ways.
soni, which was filleted
The summer season opened on an over- for eating after scientific
cast Oct. 25 with the arrival of 84 passen- work was carried out on
gers on two flights. The end of winter cer- it. The fish was filleted,
emony was held later that afternoon. sauteed, and served to
Winter Site Manager Bill Henriksen called the South Pole winter
crew when the summer
each individual to receive his or her
crew arrived.
awards, which were presented by Al
Photo by Kris Kuenning/The Antarctic Sun
Sutherland, the National Science
Foundation Representative in McMurdo. begins preparations this year. ICECUBE Ocean, with specific objectives for each
is the next phase of the AMANDA subgroup. The study of physical forces
The 57 people who spent the long winter
(Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector helps to understand how the atmospheric,
night here were recognized for their dedi-
cation to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Array) Neutrino Telescope project. This is oceanic and sea ice processes affect the
Station. They also made it through the a multiyear project destined to bring lots local ecosystems. What are the connec-
of activity to the South Pole. tions between the changes of the climate
entire eight-month winter without a single
injury. Many of the 2003 winter crew will and the response of the ecosystem? What
This winter was an historic one. For the depart their yearlong home this week. are the time and space scales on which the
first time, residents, instead of work crews Those of us who remain salute each one, different ecological levels operate?
and wish them safe and happy travels until To researchers examining the local
inhabited the Elevated Station. Berthing
areas and the new dining facility have our paths cross again. ecosystem on most levels of the food
been in use since last March – and what a PALMER chain, emphasis is placed on certain points
of the food chain, beginning with the pri-
change it is! The rumor from the winter
mary producers like phytoplankton, the
crew is that the cooks were up to the chal- Science teams return
lenge of the new space, and created fan- plants that survive in the Southern Ocean.
tastic meals all winter. Feeding on them are krill, the secondary
By Kerry Kells producers. Krill are prey for the penguins
Summer crews are busy completing
Palmer correspondent and other seabirds known as the apex
turnover with the winter crew before they
take off for greener pastures. It’s a chaot- Summer began at Palmer Station with predators. And the microbes wait to break
ic but exciting week as we all try to catch the arrival of six of our eight science down and recycle the waste. Within each
groups. Five of these groups are part of the of those, a variety of parameters are mon-
up with old friends, make new ones and
settle in for a busy summer season. New Long Term Ecological Research Project itored, from distributions of species popu-
folks are taking it all in – absorbing all the (LTER), a collaborative project focusing lations to levels of nutrients in the water to
nuances of this spot at the bottom of the on changes in the climate and how the patterns and disturbances of the research
ecology responds in an ice-dominated sites. For example, how does climate
world.
The Pole staff greeted some early visi- environment. Established in the fall of warming affect changes to snow deposi-
tors in the form of Kenn Borek Twin Otter 1990, Palmer LTER is just one of 24 tion, and how does this affect Adelie pen-
LTER sites in the United States and guin populations? Research is also con-
crews. Seven Otters stopped in at the Pole
Antarctica. Near McMurdo, LTER ducted on the links of ecosystem process-
for a good night’s sleep and to refuel
themselves and their planes for their trip researches the Taylor Valley ecosystem. es to environmental variables and tracked
on to McMurdo. We have an ambitious Here at Palmer, the represented science by satellite data. The U.S. LTER Network
groups are Bill Fraser, Maria Vernet, web site explains that physical, optical,
flight schedule lined up – 332 LC-130
Robin Ross and Langdon Quetin, chemical and biological models build
flights to bring us everything from con-
struction materials and science equipment Raymond Smith and Hugh Ducklow. these links.
The Palmer LTER focuses on three
to the occasional shipment of freshies.
In science news, the ICECUBE project areas of marine ecology of the Southern See Palmer on page 6
the week in weather
McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station
High: 25F/-4C Low:-8F/-22C High: 38F/3C Low:27F/-3C High: -38F/-39C Low:-61F/-52C
Wind: 28 mph/45 kph Wind: 60 mph/90 kph Wind: 25mph/40kph
Windchill: -54F/-48C Windchill: 12F/-11C
6 • The Antarctic Sun November 2, 2003
Palmer and taking measurements along the way.
Designed to insulate rather than cool,
many areas of the NB Palmer became
Over the course of the summer, I hope
uncomfortably hot crossing the equator,
to interview the researchers at Palmer
Lowe said.
Station to convey more in-depth informa-
The NB Palmer arrived back in
tion on the research conducted in our area.
Lyttelton on Oct. 13 and is now headed
With just the briefest introduction to
toward the Ross Sea where it will support
Palmer LTER, we can see how each ques-
six projects this season.
tion generates many more. What is now
discovered? What milestones are passed?
Laurence M. Gould
Long Term Ecological research itself is
Compiled from Sitreps by Steve Ager
dynamic like the ecosystems that surround
The research vessel Laurence M. Gould
us here at Palmer Station.
will be at dock in Punta Arenas until Nov.
7. The ship and crew recently completed a
cruise to drop off the penguin researchers
SHIPS and supplies for Copa field camp on King
George Island and at Palmer Station.
Photo provided by NB Palmercrew
Nathaniel B. Palmer With the seas going their way and light
Polar bears seen from the Nathaniel B.
By Kristan Hutchison Palmer while cruising off Barrow, Alaska. winds, the trip there went great, wrote
Marine Projects Coordinator Steve Ager.
Sun staff temperature, salinity and depth at numer- Passengers sighted a dozen penguins on
The Nathaniel B. Palmer is on its way
ous predetermined locations, done using a the way. They arrived in the morning Oct.
to the Ross Sea after a two-week port call probe called a CTD for Conductivity, 14 and ran two Zodiacs most of the day
in Lyttelton, New Zealand. The port call Temperature and Depth. During the cruise unloading gear. By 2 p.m., it was all
was a chance for the ship and crew to 329 CTDs were deployed, an all-time ashore. The base commander and a few
recover from a cruise to the other side of
record for the ship, said marine technician others from Polnearby Arctowski Station
the world and back. Last spring, the NB Jesse Doren. The measurements will help came over to greet the Copa scientists, and
Palmer was called upon to support an arc- researchers in the Shelf-Basin Interactions the ship crew delivered to them some
tic research project after the Polar Sealost
field program understand the exchanges of much-appreciated freshies.
a five-ton blade from the starboard pro- heat, salt, nutrients and other organic mat- The Gould made another stop at the
peller last summer while breaking ice in ter between the continental shelf and the Argentinian Jubany Station to pick up a
McMurdo. The Polar Sea had been sched- Arctic Ocean. passenger and deliver another “happily
uled for the arctic cruise, but had to go into
In the arctic, the crew saw a couple received freshies order” to the Argentines.
dry dock instead. The other Coast Guard hundred walrus, seals and about a dozen They still had time to duck into Deception
icebreakers were already busy and the polar bears. Island for a quick shore visit at Whaler’s
Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaker was “Other than seeing the wildlife, we saw Bay before continuing to Palmer Station.
unavailable because of unscheduled main-
nothing,” Doren said. “It was really foggy, A few days later, the Gould returned to
tenance. Since the NB Palmer was avail- cloudy, overcast, just gray.” Copa with additional supplies of frozen
able, arrangements were made. They stopped in Barrow, which remind- food, double A batteries, 96 rolls of toilet
The NB Palmer arrived in Dutch ed both Doren and Ashley Lowe of paper, some medicine, and a few other
Harbor, Alaska, in time to celebrate July
McMurdo, except more expensive. Lowe odds and ends.
Fourth in the midnight twilight, then con- paid $17 for a burrito. On the return trip to Punta Arenas, the
tinued up to Barrow. The main purpose of The voyage back to New Zealand took Gouldgot clobbered by 7.5 meter seas and
the cruise was to collect measurements of
a month and a half, doing seismic trials 35 knot winds crossing the Drake.
“Shackelton's hut and “The first thing I did “I did not expect that
emperor penguins. … was stand next to the so many different
What surprised you It's surprising how tire [of Ivan the countries would be
well the hut is pre- Terrabus] and take a conducting research
most when you first served and the arti- photo. That was awe- with us on King
facts are all there." some. I expected a van.” George Island.”
arrived in Antarctica?
Steve Jackson Frank Rinaldo Dave McWethy
South Pole electrical fore- McMurdo Janitor from COPA seabird biologist
man from Creed, Colo. Sherrill, New York from Victor, Idaho
first season first season first season
November 2, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 7
Sept. 10, 2000 Sept. 24, 2002 Sept. 24, 2003
Ozone hole follows Antarctic weather trends
By Kris Kuenning Antarctica, in summer, is the temporary years has the ozone hole been not as big as
Sun staff home for more than 2,000 sun-conscious we were expecting.”
Like a fickle pop star, the ozone hole people. Among them are scientists who Last year’s vortex actually split in two,
reinvents itself each year. Thanks to a track the levels of ozone above the conti- causing two small ozone holes to go
global clean-up act, the world’s most nent. Terry Deshler of the University of careening towards the edges of the
famous atmospheric trend is already going Wyoming has been overseeing ozone Antarctic continent. Deshler said the vor-
out of fashion. But in the meantime, the research in Antarctica since 1986, one year tex was sent into oscillation and then split
great gap is simply a slave to polar weath- after the ozone hole was first discovered. in two by energy from frequent polar
er patterns. Ozone is made up of three oxygen mol- storms.
Last year, the hole in the ozone layer ecules (O ), brought together by the ener- This year, conditions conspired to make
3
surprised researchers by being small and gy of the sun. From its equatorial breeding one big hole. Peaking at 28 million km
fragmented. This year, it’s just short of the ground, ozone travels through the upper square, it was the same size as the record
largest recorded size. But these variations level of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, hole in 2000, according to the World
are not related to the amount of ozone- and some of it is transported towards Meteorological Organization ozone bul-
depleting chemicals in the environment. Earth’s poles. letin in 2003. That’s more than twice the
Earth’s protective layer of ozone is on When the sun sets on the Antarctic size of Antarctica, its islands and ice
track for a full recovery, but scientists summer, the dark air cools, causing a low shelves combined, or more than three
expect a hole to appear around the polar pressure center called the polar vortex. times the size of the United States.
regions once a year for at least the next 10 Because of the Earth’s rotation, warm air
years. While the number of ozone-destroy- at the boundary can’t get in to the low- Inside the vortex
ing chemicals in the atmosphere gradually pressure center. Inside the vortex, temper- With the launch of balloons into the
begins to decline, variations in the size of atures plummet to below –79 C. stratosphere, scientists are able to tell
the ozone hole are determined annually by It is in this vortex that the systematic exactly where ozone is lost in the atmos-
polar weather. destruction of ozone occurs, so the size of phere’s profile.
Ozone serves the planet by filtering the the vortex determines the size of the hole There may be a layer between 12 and
dangerous spectra of ultraviolet light. in the ozone layer. 20 km above the earth where zero ozone is
Ultraviolet-B light causes sunburn and “The size and stability of the polar vor- present, but above or below that, low lev-
skin cancer in humans. It also has the abil- tex is determined by the amount of tropos- els of ozone still exist. The overall effect is
ity to change the genetic makeup of plants pheric storm activity,” Deshler explained. more like a very thin layer of ozone than a
and therefore alter the food chain. “A year with a lot of storms around the true hole.
This year, with the ozone hole exceed- periphery of the continent of Antarctica So why does the ozone hole appear at
ing the size of the Antarctic continent and can cause the polar vortex to become the poles and not over Jamaica? And why
even exposing the southern tip of South unstable and make it smaller.” only in spring? The answers lie within the
America, its effects will be tangible for Bad weather is good for minimizing the swirling polar vortex.
people living in southern latitudes. While ozone hole, while less stormy weather There are three factors that come
weathermen alert Chileans to dangerous brings a larger vortex. together to wipe out ozone – naturally
levels of ultraviolet light, Australians and “In general, the vortex above occurring polar clouds, human-released
New Zealanders should be spending Antarctica is quite stable and quite large,” Chloroflorocarbons (or CFCs) and the
another spring under a thick paste of sun- Deshler said. Last year’s smaller hole was
See Ozone on page 8
screen. unusual. “Only two times in the last 15
8 • The Antarctic Sun November 2, 2003
Ozone study
goes global
By Kris Kuenning
Sun Staff
Study of the ozone hole continues to be some
of the most important research coming out of
the Antarctic, drawing the attention of the world
and focusing international collaboration.
Even if the discovery of the ozone hole and its
cause had been the only results to come from
Antarctic research, that would be enough to jus-
tify all the money invested, said British Antarctic
Survey Deputy director John Dudeney.
That research continues. In addition to the
regular, annual spring research, Terry Deshler’s
team from the University of Wyoming partici-
pated this year in an international experiment
to track and measure air parcels as they moved
around the Antarctic continent. The project
involved the coordinated release of measuring
units known as ozone sondes from nine stations
in Antarctica: South Pole (U.S.), Belgrano
(Argentina & Finland), Dumont d’Urville
(French), Marambio (Argentina & Spain),
Neumayer (Germany), Rothera (UK), Syowa Photo by Anthony Powell/Scott Base
(Japan), Davis (Australia), and McMurdo (U.S.). Olivia Billett and Rebecca Batchelor launch a balloon to measure ozone.
Post-doctorate research assistant Jennifer
Mercer said, “We would get an e-mail that Ozone
From page 7
Belgrano launched a sonde four or five days
ago and then we would launch ours.”
magic ingredient – sunlight. ozone. Because polar stratospheric
The timing of the releases was coordinated
Ozone depletion is a result of human clouds exist only at the poles, 90 percent
by the Alfred Wegner Institute in Potsdam,
release of chloroflorocarbons into the of ozone destruction occurs there,
Germany and 14 nations are involved in the
atmosphere. CFC’s were first produced Mercer said.
measurement and analysis campaign.
in the 1930s as a completely safe refrig- The vortex forms in winter, but the
The goal is to measure ozone in nearly the
erant. During World War II, they were destruction doesn’t occur until the sun
same air parcel from several locations and
used as propellants in insecticide spray comes out in the spring. By mid-
compare ozone changes in the air parcel with
cans. October the warmer weather is already
our understanding of ozone chemistry.
In 1947, the first automobile air con- weakening the vortex to release its con-
Coming this year...
ditioner was developed using CFCs, and tents.
Although gradual healing of the hole is production picked up further in the ‘50s Although a seasonal Antarctic ozone
expected, predictions indicate the recovery may and ‘60s, when it reached 60 million hole is a foregone reality for at least the
be delayed by the impact of global warming. tons. Up to 70 percent of that went next 10 years, the news is not all bad.
Frank Murcray, from the University of Denver, directly into the air. Wind currents dis- By phasing out the production of CFCs,
will be overseeing a project that aims to make tribute CFCs around the stratosphere. the Montreal Protocol agreement
measurements of some of the chemical compo- The chemical makeup of ozone is reduced atmospheric CFC levels by
nents that are involved in ozone chemistry. just one step away from the oxygen we more than 86 percent in 13 years.
Satellite instruments don’t take measure- breathe. When the CFCs get broken up According to the World Bank’s
ments as well in the darkness of winter so by the sun’s radiation, chlorine is Montreal Protocol Status Report,
ground-based instruments can provide impor- released. The chlorine molecule then released on Sept. 17, 2003, annual con-
tant additional data. This year, the team will has the power to extract one oxygen sumption of CFCs dropped from 1.1
install ground-based spectrometers at South atom from an ozone molecule, thus million tons in 1986 to 150,000 tons in
Pole Station and McMurdo to study vortex- destroying ozone. 1999.
related chemical and dynamic effects. “Chloride is an unhappy molecule Without the protocol, the report esti-
“This will provide information on how the because it’s missing an electron,” mates consumption would have reached
atmosphere has changed in intervening years. explained post-doctorate research assis- 3 million tons by 2010.
We are hopeful that the extension of time cov- tant Jennifer Mercer. “It works as a cat- Deshler said the ozone story is a pos-
erage and the comparison of current and his- alyst to the ozone, stripping off an O.” itive one.
toric measurements will give a fairly complete In polar regions, the particles of “A global problem created by local
picture of the status of ozone chemistry and polar stratospheric clouds provide an human activities was identified, and
how it is changing since international treaties especially fertile staging area to convert reasonable solutions were adopted by
have reduced chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emis- chlorine, trapped in benign molecules, the world’s leading countries to reduce
sion,” Murcray said. into an active state ready to destroy and eventually eliminate the problem.”
November 2, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 9
PPoopp ggooeess BB1155
Researchers hope to learn more from big berg’s breakup
By Brien Barnett original B15 iceberg has spawned. B15 has
Sun staff broken into 10 smaller icebergs (including
Researchers tagged and bagged two B15A), most of which have since floated
important icebergs Friday, weeks after the away from the area and to the north.
giant B15A iceberg split in two earlier this According to MacAyeal, powerful winds
month and mere days before a key member of up to 120 kph during a storm on Oct. 7
of the team was due to leave. played the primary role in snapping the berg.
It was a Halloween treat for Doug The process that broke B15A came in
MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University three stages. First, two cracks had worked
of Chicago, who headed a team that erected their way from opposite sides of the berg
a weather and global positioning tower on toward the middle, but like a sawyer felling
B15A. He returns to Chicago next week, a giant tree, didn’t exactly meet in the mid-
though his team will remain at McMurdo dle. That middle kept the berg intact, but
B15A
conducting further research. now acted like a hitch on a truck.
Another team set up a station on iceberg Next, the strong winds generated by the
C16, which is to the southwest of B15A. storm blew north-northeast, pushing the ice-
MacAyeal has wanted to track an iceberg berg. However, the wind also pushed the sur-
C16
through its phases until it disappears to face of the water between Ross Island and
write what he calls a “user’s guide to ice- the southern edge of the berg north. That cre-
bergs.” He expects the instruments will pro- ated a slight depression of perhaps just a few
vide key information about the movement centimeters over several kilometers – “an
and disintegration of the massive objects. inclined plane,” as MacAyeal put it.
The iceberg split into two pieces earlier The final act was the pull of gravity as
this month after more than two years locked the southern third of the berg slipped back
into position north of Ross Island. toward the hole and ripped free from the B15J
While visiting the bergs Friday, more massive northern portion. Once the
MacAyeal spotted additional fissures he storm subsided, the bergs drifted close to
predicted may lead to further breakup of the one another, but were now separate. Even
berg this year. though it is still immense, at 3,496 sq. km,
On Oct. 9 Judy Shaffier, an analyst at the B15A is not the world’s largest iceberg.
National Ice Center in Maryland, spotted That title goes to C19A, which, at 5,659 sq.
the break in the B15 iceberg in a satellite km is residing in the so-called “iceberg
photo and confirmed it using an infrared graveyard” near Durmont D’Urville, west
image from another satellite. of the Ross Sea.
The ice center named the smaller, south- MacAyeal, who has studied B15 from the McMurdo
ern iceberg B15J. The larger, northern berg time it calved, or broke away from, the Ross
retained the name B15A. The last letter indi-
cates the succession of “child” bergs the See Berg on page 10
October 2003:B15A breaks and B15J is born N
Ross
Wind creates
Island
a “hole” in the
sea, gravity Southern Wind gusts of Cracks that
beats out the 30% of iceberg 121 kmh push started on
wind to draw slips toward across surface opposite edges
the berg hole and adds of northern meet as iceberg
into the stress to cracks 70%, creating N is ripped apart
hole that formed on opposing in a north-
Graphic:Brien Barnett
Source:Dr. Doug MacAyeal, opposite edges forces. south rift
University of Wisconsin
Note: graphic not to scale
10 • The Antarctic Sun November 2, 2003
as last year. According to the Oct. 20
Berg McMurdo sea ice report, this year’s ice
From page 9 depth ranges from 1.5 m at the edges to 4.2
m under the sea ice runway,
Ice Shelf in March 2000, predicted the Two icebreakers, the Polar Star and the
breaking point some two years ago, but Polar Sea, are scheduled to leave Seattle in
B15A was quite resilient. November and arrive in the area around
And despite his nearly constant atten- Christmas, National Science Foundation
tion over the last few years, MacAyeal Representative Al Sutherland said.
learned about the split second-hand. He Sutherland said TERASCAN satellite
was on his way to McMurdo when word images clearly show where the channel was
was forwarded. cut last year, but said it doesn’t mean the ice
“It was like watching a pot of water is thinner.
come to a boil,” MacAyeal said. “We “The ice in the channel is more rugged
watched it for more than two years and it and busted up than the surrounding fast
cracked when we looked away.” ice,” he said. “Boulders the size of buses
Nevertheless, MacAyeal sees the now and locomotives have frozen back together
independent bergs as a big opportunity to again. Even though the annual sea ice is
study how icebergs live and die. There are much less in extent than it was last year, the
now weather stations on all three bergs. breaking of the channel, through very thick
MacAyeal said he hopes the newly ice, will remain a challenge. Unless there is
installed weather and GPS station on a dramatic natural breakout of the multi-
B15A will remain with the iceberg until Photo by Brien Barnett/The Antarctic Sun year fast ice, ice-breaking this year may not
the end, eventually disappearing into the Iceberg expert Doug MacAyeal adjusts be appreciably easier this year when com-
ocean with it. wires on the weather and GPS station that pared to last.”
was installed Friday on B15A, which will
He has identified at least four more The primary question now is what will
be tracked until it disintegrates.
cracks on the two icebergs that could the icebergs do this year. It’s anybody’s
cause them to further break up. But that McMurdo sea ice outlook guess, said MacAyeal, the iceberg
doesn’t mean there isn’t valuable data to B15 is the prime suspect as the cause of researcher. Additionally, another iceberg-to-
be gathered. thick fast, or attached, ice around Ross be seems looming on the Ross Ice Shelf. A
It will take a long time for the bergs to Island. It is thought the iceberg interrupts stress fracture near 177W (the western edge
clear out and disintegrate, perhaps many the normal ocean currents, according to of the original B15) has become more pro-
years, MacAyeal said. working theories. Several years of thick ice nounced during the past few years and is
The bergs generally are locked into the required two U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers being monitored, Shaffier said.
same place they’ve been for the last few to clear the channels. There is a chance B15A will move north
years. The sea ice forecast from the National quickly and follow the normal iceberg track
That spot, against Ross Island to the Ice Center for this year estimates only about to Cape Adare, both MacAyeal and Shaffier
south, C16 to the southwest and Franklin 30 km of annual fast ice, compared with said. However, Shaffier has noticed B15A
Island to the northwest, appears to be an nearly 90 km last year. However, near and B15J are moving in roughly the same
avenue for ocean currents that sweep McMurdo Sound and Hut Point the second- pattern as the original B15 and she doesn’t
annual sea ice out of McMurdo Sound. and third-year ice is expected to be as thick expect the cork to pop quickly.
What B15 split means for Crozier’s emperor penguins
By Brien Barnett “I felt that there is a pretty high level of summer and are not dependent upon stable
Sun staff adult mortality,” Kooyman said. “If there fast ice, as are the emperors.
The iceberg B15 has made life confus- wasn’t much, then I would think that the The main effect of B15, Ainley said, is
ing and sometimes deadly for the penguins colony would bounce right back.” that the Adelies from Cape Crozier had to
of Cape Crozier. Kooyman said he believes the destruc- move farther east to find food, and that for-
Over the last two years B15 wreaked tion caused by B15A is not normal, but he tunately the staples of the food chain also
havoc on the emperor penguin colony at isn’t completely sure of the birds’ fate. moved east, likely due to the changes in
Cape Crozier, which depends on stable sea Certainly many adult emperor penguins ocean currents brought by the bergs.
ice to incubate their eggs. On the other and all chicks died, but even annual popu- Ainley and Ballard soon will be in
hand, the increased fast ice west of iceberg lation counts were next-to-impossible this Antarctica to continue their research, again
C16, adjacent to B15, lead to better condi- year given the amount of ice debris and the focusing on birds that previously nested at
tions for the emperor penguins at the much danger in attempting to reach the area. Cape Royds and Cape Byrd on Ross
larger Beaufort Island colony. “Most of the damage is already done,” Island’s western edge.
Penguin researcher Gerald Kooyman of Kooyman said. “All of the trash bergs and In the past two seasons, many of the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography esti- trash ice that’s in there are still causing Royds and Byrd penguins opted for Cape
mates nearly 75 percent of the emperor problems.” Crozier, because there was no fast ice
penguins previously counted at Cape David Ainley and Grand Ballard, who there, and all the fast ice in McMurdo
Crozier are no longer around. On a visit to study the smaller Adelie penguins at the Sound out to Beaufort Island had discour-
the area this year, Kooyman and his team Ross Island colonies, said those birds aged them from their normal routine.
found few emperors remaining and many seemed to adapt well to B15, even if they Kooyman and Ainley both said more
bodies of adults buried in ice, as well as were a bit confused at first. As well, the research, and time, will tell what the effect
unhatched eggs and dead hatchlings. Adelies breed much later in the year in of B15 will be.