Delivering the Science
Many
factors make Antarctica particularly fascinating to scientists. First, it is a concealed land mass; 99% of the continent is buried under perpetual ice up to four and half kilometres thick. Scientists have, however, devised techniques of measuring through the ice to reveal a picture of the hidden landscape. Antarctica is spanned by one of the world’s longest mountain chains, the Transantarctic Mountains. This divides the continent into two geologically contrasting parts, Lesser Antarctica and Greater Antarctica. Lesser Antarctica, which includes the Antarctic Peninsula, would consist of a group of islands if the ice were to disappear, but most of Greater Antarctica to the east of the mountains would be above sea level.
HMS Endurance in Antarctica
Second, Antarctica is the coldest of our continents, with temperatures considerably lower than the Arctic. In the vicinity of the South Pole, the average annual temperature is only -49°C and yet the area is technically a desert! Only 15cm of snow collects here each year, equivalent to 70mm of rain. What is not so commonly known is that Antarctica is the highest continent; its average height is three time that of other continents.
Coloured Icebergs
The massive icesheet that smothers the continent gradually creeps outwards and spills on to the surrounding sea. Massive icebergs are spawned every year from Antarctica’s floating ice shelves and each winter the surrounding oceans freeze, doubling the size of the continent.
Antarctica is an engine of our environment; the processes there are inextricably linked to the oceans and the world’s climate, and affect living conditions thousands of miles away in the northern hemisphere. Its ice cap (in some places up to 4km deep) contains a 500,000-year-old climate record with an archive of ice-trapped air bubbles indicating global pollution levels and ozone depletion through time. Studies of the ice sheet’s behaviour are vital to our understanding of climate change and sea-level rise, while the rich fauna of the Southern Ocean provides vital evidence of the impact of global warming.
Antarctica
Recognising this, British Antarctic Survey has committed itself to become, by 2012, the leading international centre making use of the exceptional importance of the Antarctic and the surrounding Southern Ocean to achieve new insights into key global phenomena and scientific fundamentals. The BAS five-year research programme Global Science in the Antarctic Context (GSAC) is the main way of fulfilling this vision.
With its headquarters in Cambridge, BAS as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has over 450 staff. It operates five research stations; four in the Antarctic and one on the sub-Antarctic Bird Island, just off South Georgia, two Royal Research Ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica.
One of HMS Endurance’s helicopters in action
In addition, the Royal Navy provides support for field operations with HMS ENDURANCE and her two ice-modified Lynx Mk 3 helicopters: very flexible utility aircraft that enable the ship to support BAS fieldcamps in remote areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the South Shetlands whose scientists are working on four of BAS’s eight core scientific programmes from GSAC.
Since environmental change affects us all, it is important to BAS to explain its science and operations to as wide an audience as possible.
BAS scientist at work
Apart from undertaking a world class programme of science in the Antarctic and related regions, BAS helps to support the UK’s international responsibilities under the Antarctic Treaty System, especially concerning environmental protection and management. The UK is one of the founding signatories to the treaty and a leader in its development.
Briefly the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty are:
- Antarctica is be used for peaceful purposes only, though military personnel may be used for scientific purposes;
- Freedom of scientific investigation and co-operation continue;
- Scientific data and personnel are freely exchanged;
- Territorial claims are not recognised, disputed or established by the Treaty;
- Nuclear explosions and radioactive waste disposal are banned;
- All stations and equipment
are open to inspection by any Treaty member.
Finally, BAS also supports international objectives through their collaborative scientific and logistic links with many other countries and will be a major contributor to International Polar Year 2007 – 2008 (IPY).
To find out more, visit www.antarctica.ac.uk
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The British Antarctic Survey
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