Clipmarks | Socratoad's Antarctic collection

Antarctica is a Cool Place

Mon, 14 May 2007 14:31:04 GMT

clipped by: zephyr1

Composite image of Antarctica and southern hemisphere at night showing lights from major cities on South America (top left), Africa (top right) and Australia / New Zealand (bottom right). The earth could never be viewed in this way as in reality one half of this view would be in daylight and the other in darkness.

Maybe you've been to Antarctica on a cruise or to work and want to reminisce

Perhaps you haven't been but would love to travel to the Antarctic

Possibly you have no intention of going, but just think Antarctica is a cool place

If you like pictures - we've got stacks of pictures of Antarctica and photographic advice

You may have homework to do so you need facts about Antarctica or its animals

Maybe you're planning an Antarctic cruise or vacation. Find out what you will see, where you'll go and what you need to take in the Antarctica travel guide

Tags: antarctica, travel, destination

International Polar Year got started

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:29:59 GMT

clipped by: luixxiul
clipper's remarks: Hope this series of events should help the scientists to gain much knowledge about polar region!

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Science Daily — International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 officially gets underway on 1 March, 2007. IPY, which is a programme of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), will be the largest internationally coordinated scientific research effort in 50 years.

The geodesic Dome at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The flags of the original signatory nations of The Antarctic Treaty can be seen in the lower right corner surrounding the ceremonial and geographical poles. (Credit: Image courtesy of Scot Jackson; National Science Foundation)

During the course of IPY, thousands of scientists, from over 60 countries and a wide range of research disciplines, will carry out 220 science and outreach projects under six major themes:

The campaign also aims to educate and involve the public while helping to train the next generation of engineers, scientists and leaders.

Tags: science, research, study, international, academics, polar, international polar year, antarctica, arctic, climatology, meteorology

First Indian children to explore Antarctica document their trip

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:40:06 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Suravi and Rishi Thomas sailed to Antarctica in February 2005 along with a group of international adult travellers, including their parents, on their way to the Chilean station on the icy continent.

The young authors have peppered their book with amazing colour photographs they took themselves.

Suravi

and Rishi Thomas reveal in their Adventures in Antarctica how they discovered an eye-catching shrine with Hindu statues in the southernmost tip of Chile from where expeditions to Antarctica sail out.

The builder of the temple, the book says, is Dwarkadas, son of Bhai Bhojrajmal Hotchand Nandwani, who came to own a chain of stores in Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands where he was once an employee.

Inside, on display were idols and symbols of all the different religions of India including Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Buddhism."

Tags: antarctica, explore, temple, chile, india, religions

Ice Fish

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:40:49 GMT

clipped by: FredExtra
clipper's remarks: I like photographs, and love discovery. Evolution is fascinating. Here's a photograph of a discovery illustrating evolution.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Amazing adaptation

One of the extraordinary adaptations which evolution generates in the extreme Antarctic cold is found in the ice fish.

It has evolved to have no red blood cells and no haemoglobin, meaning that its blood flows more freely. The oxygen which its muscles need simply dissolves in the blood.

(Image: J Gutt, Alfred Wegener Institute)

Tags: fish, ice, antarctica, biology, evolution, adaptation, blue, photos, marine

Pristine Antarctic Ecosystems Exposed

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:59:45 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Ice collapse exposes Antarctic beauty

The collapse of two Antarctic iceshelves has exposed an exquisite seabed ecosystem, including species of crustaceans and marine anemones that have never been identified, researchers say.

The insight into Antarctica's hidden marine world came from the break-up of the Larsen A and B ice shelves, 12 and five years ago respectively, that later formed huge icebergs.

Antarctic sea star from the area that the Larsen B iceshelf once covered (Image: Dijon University/Thomas Saucède)

Their collapse exposed 10,000 square kilometres of the seabed that had been covered by ice for millennia.

"The break-up of these iceshelves opened up huge, near pristine portions of the ocean floor, sealed off from above for at least 5000 years, and possibly up to 12,000 years in the case of Larsen B," says Dr Julian Gutt, the expedition's chief scientist.

The team of 52 scientists from 14 countries collected around 1000 species, some of which are believed to be new to science, and took images of unfamiliar creatures.

New creatures include 15 shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods, including one beast that was nearly 10 centimetres long.

Four presumed new species of organisms related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones called cnidarians were also found.

One of them lives on the back of a snail, showing a symbiotic relationship in which the snail provides locomotion for the cnidarian, and the cnidarian provides protection for the snail.

This ice fish has no red blood pigments or red blood cells as an adaptation to low temperatures. This makes the blood more fluid, meaning the fish can save energy otherwise needed to pump blood through its body (Image: Alfred Wegener Institute/J Gutt)

A new giant amphipod, a crustacean nearly 10 centimetres long (Image: C d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences)

At present, international databases have recorded 5957 forms of marine life, but as many as 11,000 more remain to be discovered.

Tags: antarctic, ecosystem, marine biology, nature, ocean, ice cap

Strange New Creatures Found in Antarctica

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:11:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Strange New Creatures Found in Antarctica

Several strange creatures including a psychedelic octopus have been found in frigid waters off Antarctica in one of the world’s most pristine marine environments.

Others resembled corals and shrimps. At least 30 appear to be new to science, said Julian Gutt, chief scientist of an expedition that was part of the International Polar Year research effort set to launch on March 1. The researchers catalogued about 1,000 species in an area of the Antarctic seabed where warming temperatures are believed to have caused the collapse of overlying ice shelves, affecting the marine life below.

“This is virgin geography,” said expedition member Gauthier Chapelle. “If we don’t find out what this area is like now following the collapse of the ice shelf, and what species are there, we won’t have any basis to know in 20 years’ time what has changed and how global warming has altered the marine ecosystem.”

The expedition also found sea lilies, sea cucumbers and sea urchins thriving on the sea floor—these species are usually found in much deeper waters where food is scarce, but the ice shelves probably made food scarcer than it would usually be at that shallow depth.

Images of the newfound creatures:

In the Weddell Sea off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, 10,000 square kilometers of seabed was sealed off from the surface for thousands of years by the 100-m thick Larsen A and B ice shelves. When these ice shelves collapsed in recent years, the area was opened up to colonization by species that could not have survived there before [Original News Story].

In general, the expedition found that animals were less abundant in the Larsen A and B areas compared to other areas of the Antarctic. Animals in the area were only one percent as abundant as other parts of the Weddell Sea, which Gutt suspects is somehow related to the availability of food.

New species?

Tags: cience, research, antarctica, new species, pristine environment