Antarctic expedition a success The Prague Post, March 26

In April of 2008 a team of scientists and Canadian Rangers will traverse the northern coast of Ellesmere Island to study the state of the ice shelves and associated ecosystems in this remote region. The Canadian high Arctic is undergoing substantial climate-related changes; ice shelves along Ellesmere's northern coast that have been attached to the shore for thousands of years, some over 30 meters thick, and thousands of square kilometers of land-fast sea-ice have been breaking-up. The loss of these dominant features has dramatically changed the coastal landscape, leading to the drainage of massive volumes of freshwater from fiords previously dammed by the ice shelves and the creation of vast ice islands. These physical changes are altering the habitat of aquatic microbial communities ex...

Free lecture - Arctic Caribou for International Polar Year Come to the Canadian Museum of Nature on April 1 for a free lecture by wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer about Arctic Caribou. The presentation is the launch of a national speakers series for International Polar Year. Research frenzy greets Arctic spring ABOARD CCGS AMUNDSEN-After being icebound on the Coast Guard's Amundsen icebreaker for nearly four days, dozens of researchers yesterday fanned out on the ice in a controlled scientific frenzy. They're racing against time to begin taking measurements and placing crucial detectors before the looming chemical and biological explosion o...

Media release: 22 March 2008 The final sailing south in the world’s largest Southern Ocean climate experiment gets underway today when the Aurora Australis sets sail from Hobart. Aurora Australis is the last of 20 international research vessels deploying instruments in the Southern Ocean as part of an International Polar Year (IPY) experiment known as CASO, for Climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC) is leading the voyage, which includes a team of researchers from the Centre’s partner organisations includ- ing the Alfred Wegner Institute (Germany) and the National Institue of Water and Atmospher- ic Research (New Zealand). “By pooling resources, s...

360-degree panoramas are more and more the rage because they are wonderfully immersive and give users the chance to explore a space themselves. Panoramas of the polar regions are especially interesting, as very few people get the chance to visit these places, so anything that gives us an inkling of what it is like there is welcome. The latest issue of VRMag, an online magazine of panoramic photos, contains a huge collection of polar and ice-themed panoramas. Here is a brief description of what is inside: Jordi Clariana, takes you on a 2 weeks photographic expedition to the Svalbard Island; Witek Katzskin, who lives and works at the Horsund polish Polar station shares his experiences; Dr Matt Nol...

Hello. I’m Thorsten Dittmar (pronounced TOR-sten), Assistant Professor of Oceanography at FSU since 2003 and co-chief scientist on this cruise. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Bremen, Germany. I’m a chemical oceanographer. My research focuses on the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean. I use molecular methods to resolve environmental questions regarding DOM. Mugshot: Co-chief Scientist Thorsten Dittmar, photo by grad student JiYoungPaeng Why DOM? DOM is important in many aspects. DOM contains several chemical elements essential for the g...

Time lapse images of the Belcher Glacier.

Over 4.5 months, from November 2007 to March 2008, the BELARE expedition built the Princess Elisabeth Station's outer shell and set up the seven remaining wind turbines at Utsteinen, East Antarctica. Princess Elisabeth Station: From Tour & Taxis to Utsteinen After the success it encountered during its pre-assembly and public viewing in Brussels, the elements of the Princess Elisabeth station were dismantled and packed into containers. They were then loaded onto a Russian ice-class cargo ship on November 6, 2007 for their twenty day journey ...

Submitted March 16, 2008: By John Mitchell, Voyage Leader Midday Friday, and all the sampling on Admiralty Seamount was completed. Our survey time has run out and we’re heading home. It’s a 1550 nautical mile steam from the Admiralty Seamount to Wellington, which will take just under 6 days if the weather is kind to us. If not, it could be much longer. Photo: NIWA’s research ship Tangaroa working in heavy pack ice, Peter Marriott A summary of what we’ve achieved: 39 sampling sites from the shelf, slope, abyss ...

FSU IPY Cruise: Return & St. Paddy’s Day Greeting A Celebration We’ve finished the outbound leg of our cruise; we’ve turned around and we’ll be doing additional sampling, especially in areas that piqued our curiosity on the leg out. We have some real-world experience under our belts, now. The first leg of our cruise was a gas; it’s taught us we can do, and have now already done, things we didn’t dream we could do. Challenges Some of us have had to cope with and adapt to seasickness. We’ve gotten used to a 12-hour shift, called a “watch.” We’ve had to deal with a pitching deck, at times encrusted with ice. We’ve had to sample when our hands had gone numb with cold. ...