Antarctica
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Inside an Antarctic Time Machine
August 25, 2010 by Andy Hobsbawm
Superb talk from TED Global in Oxford last month.
Lee Hotz is a science columnist for the Wall Street Journal who talks us through an amazing project at WAIS Divide, Antarctica, where a team dilligently drills into 10,000-year-old ice to analyse vital climate change data.
It’s beautifully written and delivered and fascinating stuff.
Antarctica: History, Culture & Economy
July 31, 2010 by A'Keiba Burrell
Antarctica (pronounced /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/) is Earth’s southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) in thickness.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland. There are no permanent human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, nematodes, tardigrades, mites, many types of algae and other microorganisms, and tundra vegetation.
Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis (“Southern Land”) date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The continent, however, remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of resources,…
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It’s the End of the World (and I Feel Fine)
June 13, 2010 by David Kralik
NOTE: The following was written in 2006 during David Kralik’s trip to Antarctica. This is a re-print.
Greetings from Ushuaia, Argentina! The Blogger-in-Chief has graciously allowed me to veer off topic (yet again) and write a daily travel entry on the blog. Similar to last’s years travel report from Australia, where this humble blog was the first to post a blog entry in 2006, we are making yet another historic first. Today begins the first of ten blog entries on our voyage to Antarctica.
We arrived today from the Buenos Aires (EZE) aeropuerto (airport) to Ushuaia.Ushuaia is flanked on one side by the Andes Mountains. A town of about 60,000 people, it looks like something out of the TV show Northern Exposure.
It is here where the Pan-American Highway (Route #3) begins and ends (the other terminus is at Fairbanks, Alaska).
Some people have been known to ride their bikes or motorcycles for six to eight months to travel the Pan-American Highway’s entire distance. The highway ends where Tierra del Fuego National Park begins. At that spot, a sign reads, “End of the road. No more roads south.” For that reason, and because the city…
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Antarctica: Life at Sea
June 13, 2010 by David Kralik
NOTE: The following was written in 2006 during David Kralik’s trip to Antarctica. This is a re-print.
Today is our first full day at sea. We are very fortunate in that the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage that plagued explorers nearly a century ago have been quite calm for us. The Drake Passage can be difficult to navigate because of the Antarctic Convergence: a place where the warmer south Pacific waters meet with the colder Antarctic waters.
It’s hard to imagine that less than a century ago, in 1916 (the continent was first crossed in 1773), Antarctica was still dangerous place for explorers and their crew, including the notable expedition of Ernest Shackleton. The 1916 trip by Shackleton aboard the Endurance was a risky proposition. In fact, Shackleton’s call for explorers to join him read, “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, return doubtful.”
We are fortunate to have catered meals on our ship, but back then, food was difficult to come by. One set of explorers wrote they ate the rats found on the ship. Drake would remark that in one day, in order to survive, his crew killed atleast 3,000 penguins.
Belgian explorer Adrien de…
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Antarctica: Cabin 223, Tag No. 51
June 13, 2010 by David Kralik
NOTE: The following was written in 2006 during David Kralik’s trip to Antarctica. This is a re-print.
You know how when you take a vacation, it usually takes a few days before you really feel like you are on vacation? Then, something happens where you finally fall into vacation mode? Well, today that was that day, for several reasons.
Currently, I’m sitting in the back of the boat’s on-board movie theater watching — what else? — but March of the Penguins awaiting arrival at Brown Bluff, which will be our first official landing on the continent of Antarctica (up until this point it’s been the nearby islands).
Today’s adventures actually began very early when I suddenly woke up thinking I had missed breakfast only to look outside my window and see huge icebergs float by underneath what appeared to be an early sunset sky. It was actually 2:30 in the morning. At this time of year in Antarctica, there is no permanent nightfall, just a dim, yet colorful sunset. Now that I was awake, I quickly recalled the crew’s suggestion that if we were up at that time during the voyage to Paulet Island to head up to…
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Antarctica: The Conclusion, Part II
May 9, 2009 by David Kralik
Saturday, December 2, 2006
As I conclude this last in the series of entries from Antarctica, I thought it would be helpful to make a connection back to manufacturing. No doubt, you are probably wondering why a blog on Antarctica is found on Shopfloor.org, whose topics are manufacturing related. Three quick points:
1. At a superficial level, the boat that I am on, the polar clothing we had to wear to stay warm, and all things needed to make a safe, a successful journey would be impossible without manufacturing. We make it all; it’s not as if these things just fall out of the sky.
2. One of the reasons for this trip was to look into the theory of global warming, which has been a big focus on our blog in the last few months. It’s interesting to note that not all the scientists on board here buy into this theory. During our concluding Q&A session yesterday, several of the scientific crew said that they’d like to see more evidence in another 50 to 100 years before one can say for sure we are really facing global warming.
3. Finally, a definite connection can be made between…
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Antarctica: The Conclusion, Part I
May 9, 2009 by David Kralik
Friday, December 1, 2006
For the next two days, we will be travelling the Drake Passage. The waters are slightly rough today owing to the fact that we are travelling north as the winds blow east to west. By sunrise tomorrow, we will be at Cape Horn, having past through the worst of it all.
This morning we heard a lecture about whales. Some of the passengers saw a few of them over the last few days, but I did not. It’s still very early in the migratory season for them. In about a month, viewings will be more plentiful.
A few notes about whales:
Antarctica: When the Volcano Blows
May 9, 2009 by David Kralik
Thursday, November 30, 2006
We visited Deception Island today, which is part of the South Shetland Islands. What a cool name, eh? On the island, there is a place called Whalers Bay, between Fildes Point and Port Foster. It is here where we got to check out a former whaling station. The area had some remains of a few houses and some large tanks for storing food and processed whale oil. Oh, and don’t forget the whale bones! While walking around the beach, you can see the mostly-intact skeletal remains of several very large Blue Whales.
Blue Whales are, and have always been, the largest mammal on earth. Just for a quick perspective, their tongue is the size of an elephant. I’m told we are going to have a lecture tomorrow on whales, so I’ll be sure to take lots of notes and write more on that subject then.
A few more things on Whalers Bay: Once home to 1,000 people, The Bay was abandoned in 1911 after the price of whale oil dropped. Looking inside the abandoned houses gives the impression of a ghost town that people left in haste. The station remained abandoned until early…
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Let it Snow! Let it Snow!! Let it Snow!!!
May 9, 2009 by David Kralik
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The crew woke us up at 7 a.m. to have us observe an interesting formation on the sea: grease ice. As I may have mentioned in a past entry, in Antarctica, ice freezes at -1.8 degrees Celsius. But when its slightly warmer, ice begins to form on the water in small pieces, the effect of which is that the waves appear to flow like molasses. It looks as though there is a thin layer of oil slick on the ice. Hence. the name, grease ice.
This morning, our first zodiac excursion was to George’s Point, at the northern tip of Ronge Island, off the West Coast of Graham Land.
When we arrived at George’s Point it began to snow! Our outing there provided us the opportunity to observe more Chinstrap penguins and their stench was nearly unbearable. As the snow increased, a group of us decided to do what any self-respecting traveller would in the snows of Antarctica: We built a snowman! We also hiked up a small hill for a nice scenic view and then had some fun sledding our way down.
We returned from this excursion and found hot…
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Antarctica: The March of the Humans
May 9, 2009 by David Kralik
Prior entries have been all about visits to the various islands in the Antarctic circle but today was different. Today was the day we would actually set foot on Antarctica for the first time. Its a balmy -1 degrees Celsius outside right now (about 30 Fahrenheit). Our first trip out this morning began at 9 a.m. with a visit to Brown Bluff. Upon landing, the first thing I did was get a picture taken of myself holding up seven fingers, one for each of the continents that I have visited. Our visit to Brown Bluff was another good opportunity to see some Adelie penguins in action and towards the end of the excursion we spotted a leopard seal.
Because a trip to Antarctica is not your typical vacation destination, everyone here has invested heavily in the proper clothing and their own brand of camera and tripod. So, when someone spots something photo-worthy, everybody instantly grabs their camera and begins clicking away. The only way to describe this scene would be if the White House photo press corps at a head of state visit were suddenly transported.
Between three meals, two daily excursions, playing Scrabble and a bit…
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