In Antarctica, Canadian scientists have a “major” opportunity to learn more about climate change
In the middle of an active volcano at the bottom of the world, dozens of fur seals emit wet snow. They are Most of them will not be separated Guests are brought by their two feet.
The cockkey iron tanks and wooden boats around them were placed from whaling settlements in the early 20th century and thus weathered, and they were almost absorbed by the black sand beach. The traces of Chile and British bases also seem humble.
On the surface, the whaler’s Bay, which deceives the island, remains the biggest mark of Antarctica outside the research stations of around 80.
But climate scientists might say so.
Research on this fragile continent records how temperatures, glaciers, oceans and wildlife respond to the warming consequences of fossil fuel emissions. According to many scientists, this distant and isolated place is the ideal laboratory for mastering the past, present and future of the Earth’s climate.
Canadian natural resources scientist Thomas James said it was a case study, leading the first all-Canadian expedition.
“What happened in Antarctica is not staying here,” he said, saying while walking on the beach in Whalers Bay recently that scientists collected samples from sand, snow and air.
Ripples of climate transfer outside Antarctica
It is understood that climate change does not recognize politically attractive boundaries. But James explains that Antarctica’s ice and cold seas play an important role in regulating our climate.
Just this month, The researchers confirmed Freshwater melting from glaciers in Antarctica is changing the water chemistry of the Southern Ocean. They predict that by 2050, the varying salinity will reduce the important Antarctic polar current by 20%. The strongest current on Earth, the influence of ACC extends to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, pumping water, heat and nutrients around the world.
The current also protects the Antarctic ice sheet (large of land-based ice) from warmer northern waters, thus preventing sea level rise, which will affect coastal communities around the world.
“We know that the Antarctic ice sheet may be unstable and may offer greater sea level changes than the currently predicted model,” James said. “It’s a huge freshwater reservoir.”
He has been studying Antarctica for more than 30 years, but his field work is mainly in the Arctic. This is only the second time James has been in Antarctica.
“We think it’s very important for Canadians to spend some time understanding the Antarctic ice sheet.”
It’s not just the ice sheet melting. Sea ice at both poles (frozen sea water) Reaching record lows Three consecutive months.
“The fact that we are seeing the decline in Antarctic sea ice now is really just one of many indicators of global climate change happening,” James said. “This is happening in all aspects of the environment and in many cases it seems to be accelerating.”
Stranger Team Contributes to Climate Science
James’s team of 15 scientists – many strangers before this expedition – spanned many scientific disciplines. They are not only studying ice sheets, but also studying glacier melting, seabeds, pollutants and other pollutants and seawater itself.
On HMCS Margaret Brooke, they were supported by the Royal Canadian Navy, which will run winches, cranes and ships to help scientists collect large quantities of samples near the South Shetland Islands near the tip of the South Watland Peninsula.
It is a larger part of RCN Operational projectionin order to travel around South America, strengthen alliances with other South Navy, and gather experience in the Antarctic region.
The military can only enter the Antarctic borders in support of scientific research, a rule set out in the Antarctic Treaty that rule the continent.
Arctic and maritime patrol vessels will cover only a small portion of the mainland within four weeks of the Punta Arena in Chile, but navigation and scientific work require tremendous efforts.
From morning trips on zodiac boats to glacier-lined shores to late nights, using exquisite cranes, winches and boom systems in a deep water collection designed in Halifax, the scientific team will put it into practice for a long time, determined to maximize their rare Antarctic access.
Brent is one of the scientists who studies the chemical properties of the ocean.
“It turns out that oceans absorb a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” said a researcher at the University of Calgary. “If you can look back over time since industrialization, then they may have already taken on the equivalent of about 40% of all emissions that humans put into the atmosphere. So that brings us a huge breakthrough in climate change. What we really need to understand is, will the oceans continue to do this?”
Due to the cold temperatures of temperature, the Southern Ocean has the ability to reduce carbon to a large depth and remove it from the atmosphere for hundreds of years.
Otherwise, it’s very important to say, “We understand what’s going on in polar oceans, especially because they change the fastest.” “So in regions like Antarctica, as we start getting more ice sheet melting, this will get more freshwater into the Southern Ocean. This could affect the interaction of all these things.”
On the Deception Island in Antarctica, Canadian scientists have studied the link between melted ice sheets and global sea level rise and say what’s going on in Antarctica will not stay there.
This is why the interdisciplinary approach of this expedition is so favorable.
“In essence, most science is gradual. What we are doing is adding to the knowledge system,” James said.
The team will retrieve thousands of samples for analysis in the next few weeks and months. Many of them will return to other researchers in Canada.
“It feels important,” James said of the groundbreaking expedition.
