News from the polar regions in February 2008 included an exciting new location for astronomical research, expeditions that will enhance our understanding of the Southern Ocean, and new findings that shed light on glacial melting and ice-shelf collapse in Greenland and Antarctica. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!

A team of international scientists completed installation work on a fully robotic astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau. Known as the PLATeau Observatory, or PLATO, the observatory is designed to operate autonomously for up to 12 months at a time. Scientists from more than 60 nations will use PLATO to conduct 200 research projects. Dome Argus, the coldest, driest place on earth, has low wind speed as a result of its interior location. It is considered an optimal place to conduct astronomical research.

February also saw several Antarctic research expeditions focused on marine studies. The Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine research concluded one expedition on February 4 and launched another just two days later. Both Polarstern expeditions focused on the Southern Ocean, the massive body of water surrounding Antarctica. While the first expedition sampled the complete water column of the Southern Ocean (from the surface to the seafloor) and provided information about the organisms and carbon dioxide cycle of the ocean, the second expedition is focusing on physical and biogeochemical conditions such as currents, interactions between sea, ice, and atmosphere, and the distribution of trace substances in the ocean. The second Polarstern expedition will conclude April 16 in Chile.

Another study of the Southern Ocean, the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census (CEAMARC), revealed a number of previously unknown marine species. Researchers hope to use information gained from this census to better understand the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean and the adaptations of the organisms that live in it. This research also provides a point of reference to monitor the impact of environmental change, such as ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Scientists fear that the rising acidity will stress small creatures that are an important part of Antarctic food webs and make them less able to cope with rising water temperatures.

The rising temperature of the Southern Ocean’s waters may also mark the arrival of new predators, including shell-cracking crabs, predatory fish, and possibly even sharks.  These new species would have a profound effect on the populations of relatively soft-bodied, slow-moving invertebrates such as brittlestars, giant sea spiders, and marine woodlice and on an ecosystem that most closely resembles that of the Paleozoic era – 250 million years ago.

In the North, a new study from the University of Boulder has shown that ice caps of Baffin Island, located in the Canadian Arctic, have shrunk by more than 50 percent in the last 50 years as a result of warming. The study concludes that even with no additional warming, the ice caps will be gone in the next 50 years.

Kansas University researchers from the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) discovered that global warming may not be the only culprit behind glacial melting in Greenland. Using airborne radar and gravity measurements, the scientists found that the earth’s crust is thinner under melting glacial streams than throughout the rest of the Greenland glacier. This close proximity to the hotter mantle may lead to as much as a 20 percent increase in geothermal heat and contribute to melting. The researchers will continue to study the Greenland Ice Sheet to determine the extent that variations in thickness are contributing to melting. They plan to extend their study to Antarctica to see if similar variations are contributing to melting there. Such a finding would support a recent paper in the Journal of Glaciology which concluded that the collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica was the result of a number of natural factors in addition to global warming.

Know of another significant news story from February that you’d like to share? Reactions to one of the stories discussed here? Post a comment – we’d love to hear from you!