By Jan Strugnell, British Antarctic Survey Today we all joined the RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, to get ready for our cruise! The JCR is almost 100m long and seems enormous when it is docked at Stanley. The hull is painted bright red and the words ‘James Clark Ross’ are written in large white letters at the front. The JCR was named after Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, R.N. (1800-1862) who discovered the North Magnetic Pole in 1831. During 1840-43 he also made three voyages to Antarctica in an attempt to reach the South Magnetic Pole, and to undertake a range of scientific studies of the region. The JCR can hold 80 people, and for our cruise we have 24 sc...

FSU IPY Cruise: Meet graduate student Jun Dong My name is Jun Dong. I am a Ph.D. candidate in physical oceanography at Florida State University, working under Professor Kevin Speer on Polar Front dynamics in the Southern Ocean. I am very glad that I can join this CLIVARI6S cruise. I work on a team with Prof. Speer and Katy Hill, who is a physical oceanography Ph.D. student from Australia. Our shift is from noon to midnight. Photo caption: Jun is learning a variety of sampling procedures on this cruise. With Professor Bill Landing looking on, Jun draws a water sample for trac...

As early as 1917, it was recognized that whales were in danger of being hunted to extinction, due in part to the flourishing whaling industry in Antarctic waters. A British Government interdepartmental committee was set up to review the excesses of the industry, but it was not until 1923 that a committee with the required finances and authority was assembled to make "a serious attempt to place the whaling industry on a scientific basis." The steady decrease in the number of whales could only be avoided by controlling whale catching. But effective control could not be planned for a painfully simple reason: not enough was known about the habits of whales, their distribution and migration, or of their main food — the 4-6 cm. long shrimp known as krill. D...

Download PDF pic: Icicles form as meltwater drips from winter sea ice grounded as the tide drops. Rothera Point, Adelaide Island, Antarctica. Pete Bucktrout (British Antarctic Survey) In order to understand how climate change is affecting the Southern Ocean ecosystem, it is necessary to understand the context in which change occurs. What was the Southern Ocean ecosystem like 10 years ago, 50 years ago or 5,000 years ago? Long-term monitoring combined with techniques which provide clues about the distant past, suc...

Photo: Scott Island with Haggit’s Pillar to the left. By John Mitchell By John Mitchell, Voyage Leader After completion of the first abyssal station in the northern part of our survey – at a depth of 3500m – we moved on to our last seamount station next to Scott Island. Scott Island is very small (400m by 200m) and isolated, lying about 310 nautical miles northeast from Cape Adare. Its companion – Haggit’s Pillar – is an impressive 62m high volcanic stack sitting 200m northwest of the island. We are sampling in this area to compare the biodiversity with that of the Balleny...

Contents: 1. Current Expeditions 2. APECS update 3. The Second SAON Workshop 9-11 April 4. The Legacies of IPY 5. UNEP Children's Conference,- call for material 6. IPY Science Day: Changing Earth, March 12th 2008 Report no. 11, March 2008 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. Current Expeditions The initial season of IPY activities on the Antarctic continent gradually comes to an end. If you follow the blogs on ipy.org, you have read the stories of traverses, sea ice cruises, and geophysical sensor deployments. Many of those researchers and staff start their way northward. We ...

By John Mitchell, Voyage Leader. Now we are out of the inner Ross Sea the focus of the voyage has changed to sampling seamounts (underwater mountains) and the abyss (seafloor in the deep ocean 2000–4000 m). We’re surveying a series of seamounts, concentrating on the Scott complex around Scott Island north of the Ross Sea, at about 68 ºS, 180º followed by the Admiralty chain further to the west. Even further west are the Balleny Islands and associated seamounts, which will not be visited this trip as they have already been sampled during previous Tangaroa voyages. The composition of the fauna has gradually changed and reduced in quantity (but not quality) as we have moved north and is now ‘transitional’ i.e., is a mixture containing fauna typical of both the Ross ...

Chief Scientist Kevin Speer, geared up for brisk weather on an upper deck of the R/V Roger Revelle, watches whales near the ship on the CLIVARIS6 cruise in the Southern ocean. (Photo Credit: Brett Longworth, a participant from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Greetings. I’m Kevin Speer, Chief Scientist on the current CLIVAR cruise, Professor of Oceanography at the Florida State University. I’m a physical oceanographer and earned my Ph.D. at MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Joint Program, 1988. I joined the FSU Department of Oceanography faculty in 1999 as an associate professor and am ...

New Zealand Science Learning Hub website is featuring New Zealand's IPY research voyage to Antarctica and is bringing weekly themes which are linked to the curriculum, from the scientists and crew on board the RV Tangaroa. The New Zealand Science Learning Hub features science reports, photos, video and data from the ship and associated classroom activities as well as a question and answer section for teachers and their students to the scientists. For further information go to http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/ipyvoyage or contact Julie Hall at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ...

On March 12th and 13th, four events are being organised where students can interact with scientists. More information on all events is here. The following announcement describes one of these events, that will have a live connection to both the Antarctic and the Arctic: ____ Celebrate the International Polar Year (IPY) and virtually join researchers on IPY Science Day, 12 March 2008! Interact with researcher conducting research in the Arctic and Antarctic. These are real-time, interactive events where you can ask questions and view photos! Anyone can register for these events and participation ...