News from the polar regions in June includes speculation on the future of the Arctic sea ice and permafrost, unexpected behavior of an Antarctic ice stream, and new technology designed to assist in polar research. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!

In May, we reported on an international, three-week expedition designed to validate the upcoming CryoSat-2 mission – a 2008 satellite study of the polar ice cover. In another validation program, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer endured a grueling, 106-day trek from Siberia to northern Greenland via the North Pole. En route, the explorers braved harsh temperatures, polar bear encounters, and the physical challenges of dragging sledges over ridges of compressed sea ice and across fractured ice in open water. The pair paused every 50 kilometers (31 miles) to take snow-depth measurements – data that will be used by the CryoSat team to determine how overlying snow can affect ice elevation measurements. Satellite data also played an important role in the explorers’ safety near the end of the trek, when the sea ice began to break up “chaotically” near the coast of northern Greenland.

During the summer of 2007, Arctic sea ice shrank to more than 30 percent below average, and fall air temperatures (August – October) were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) wondered if these two phenomena were related, prompting a study of climate change simulations. Researchers have concluded that during periods of rapid sea-ice loss, Arctic land as far as 900 miles inland is warming 3.5 times faster than average. Accelerated warming translates into rapidly thawing permafrost, which may in turn lead to significant carbon dioxide or methane emissions. An important, unanswered question, according to lead author David Lawrence of NCAR, is “how the delicate balance of life in the Arctic will respond to such a rapid warming.”

Unfortunately, that rapid warming may be closer than we’d like. Many research teams have projected that the summer sea-ice minimum in 2008 will be equally or more dramatic as that of 2007. Independent assessments and explanations can be found on the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) web site. The National Snow and Ice Data Center’s Arctic Sea Ice News and Data Analysis page provides monthly updates and images on ice conditions across the region. 

Scientists continue to analyze ice cores to better understand past warming events and predict future climate change in the face of increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Analysis of a two-mile-long Greenland ice core reveals two large temperature spikes in the Northern Hemisphere. Temperatures jumped 22 degrees Fahrenheit in just 50 years about 14,700 years ago, and then returned to ice age conditions before another abrupt warming about 11,700 years ago. Ice core data revealed that massive “reorganization” of atmospheric circulation coincided with these temperature spikes. According to Jim White, a researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder, “Since such rapid climate change would challenge even the most modern societies to successfully adapt, knowing how these massive events start and evolve is one of the most pressing climate questions we need to answer.”

Also looking to the past is Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen. He and his colleagues have analyzed a hair sample from the Disco Bay ice fjord area of northwest Greenland, finding a mitochondrial DNA match to a population in the Aleutian Islands. This finding suggests that the maternal line of immigrants came to Greenland via Alaska and Canada approximately 4,500 years ago. No connection exists between this DNA and that of the Thule immigration, the ancestors of the modern Greenlandic Inuit. Willerslev hopes to eventually reconstruct the “core” genome from the hair and thus trace the paternal lineage of the immigrants.

In addition, the advent of the summer field season in the Arctic means a host of new studies. Starting June 29, NASA aircraft will be deployed to study the chemistry of the lower Arctic atmosphere, including the smoke plumes of northern-latitude forest fires. Researchers hope to examine these fires’ contribution to Arctic pollution and the implications for climate change. The Alaska Space Grant Program and the Arctic Amateur Radio Club’s Balloon Experiment and Research Program (B.E.A.R) launched its first balloon on May 10, capturing more than 100 photos and videos. As the program expands, it will allow University of Alaska Fairbanks students to conduct atmospheric research of their own.

In Antarctica, paleontologists have discovered fossilized burrows of tetrapods (land vertebrates with four legs or leg-like appendages). The cast fossils date from the Early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago, a time when Antarctica was connected to South Africa in the supercontinent Pangea. These burrows predate previous finds of tetrapod bones in Victoria Land, Antarctica, by at least 15 million years. Though Antarctica was ice free at the time the burrows were dug, the temperatures would have still been quite cold, making the burrows necessary for the animals’ protection from the elements.

Seismological and GPS analyses of an Antarctic ice stream (a giant glacier 60 miles wide and one-half mile thick) revealed unexpected behavior. The ice moves about 18 inches over a ten-minute period, remains still for 12 hours, and then moves another 18 inches. As the ice stream moves, it emits seismic waves detected as far away as Australia and equivalent to a magnitude 7 earthquake. While glaciologists had believed that glaciers moved continuously by creep, this data indicates a “stick-slip” pattern of movement, the classic motion of earthquakes. The difference? The timing of the movement. While the “stick-slip” of an earthquake happens very rapidly, a glacier’s movement lasts much longer (in this case, a ten-minute period). Researchers hope that this phenomenon may provide clues to changes in the movement of ice streams of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet as this portion of the continent warms.

Such warming caused a large area (400 square kilometers, or 154 square miles) to break off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula in March. Now, despite the winter season’s colder temperatures, the shelf has experienced further break-up, with an area of about 160 square kilometers (61 square miles) breaking off in late May. Satellite images show a dwindling strip of ice, 2.7 kilometers (over 1 ½ miles) wide, that is protecting thousands of kilometers of the ice shelf from disintegration. Researchers believe that further break-up is very likely. Unlike the eastern portion of the continent, the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed in the past 50 years. In the past 20 years, seven ice shelves along the peninsula have either retreated or disintegrated, including the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002.

Finally, new technology will assist polar scientists in their efforts in the Arctic and Antarctica. New medical equipment will help researchers understand how the human body adapts to the physically challenging environment of Antarctica – and possibly help prepare for future missions to Mars. A new wireless sensor network will allow researchers to collect data and monitor environmental factors from a distance, enabling otherwise difficult or even impossible studies such as Arctic ice cap movements. And new robots called SnoMotes will traverse potentially dangerous ice sheets, allowing researchers to collect data while avoiding dangers posed by the cracking and shifting ice.

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

Want to learn about polar research? Check out the In the Field: Scientists at Work department in Issue 4 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Weather and Climate: From Home to the Poles!

In this issue:

Read about current news from polar researchers.

Read how a surprising discovery led to a better understanding of Earth’s climate 5,000 years ago.

Of course, there’s much more to explore. Check out Issue 4 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears today!

This September in a two-hour broadcast titled Earth 2100, ABC News will bring scientists, historians, economists, and viewers worldwide together to predict what the planet will be like by the next century. The news organization is inviting Internet viewers now to create short videos about what life will be like if we do nothing about climate change and dwindling resources in this decade. The most compelling videos will be included in the fall broadcast.

To help viewers create their 1- to 3-minute videos, ABC staff will provide scenarios based on predictions of conditions in different parts of the world in the years 2015, 2050, 2070, and 2100. Find instructions for participating in Earth 2100 at http://earth2100.tv/game.

Some experts say that if we continue on the current path to 2015, it may be impossible to avert climate change that cannot be managed. ABC says the story viewers tell for the year 2015 will dictate the scenario the producers create for the year 2050 and the following two dates.

National research centers in the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to work together on atmospheric science and technology and develop joint educational and training programs. The agreement, which runs for three years, is between the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Britain’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS).

NCAS Director Stephen Mobbs says, “International collaboration on this scale has never been more timely. It is essential, not optional, to work together now to provide society with reliable weather and climate predictions. No one nation can unravel the complexities of the atmosphere–we have to work together to tackle environmental issues head on.”

The goal of the partnership is to coordinate ongoing research and education programs and to develop and implement future joint research projects. Among the focus areas are: research into weather, climate, air quality, and interactions between land, oceans, and atmosphere; developing new sensors and other measuring instruments; and such outreach activities as joint summer schools and student and staff exchanges.

NCAR, located in Boulder, Colorado, provides university scientists and teachers with the tools, facilities, and support required to perform innovative research. NCAR and university scientists work together on research topics in atmospheric chemistry, climate, cloud physics and storms, weather hazards to aviation, and interactions between the sun and Earth.

What’s happening under and inside the masses of ice in the polar regions is of great interest to scientists. Recently researchers in West Antarctica have found that one ice stream–a region of the ice sheet that moves faster than the surrounding ice—jerks along in an earthquake-like pattern equivalent to a magnitude 7 quake.

Their findings ran counter to the general belief that ice streams moved in a creeping motion. Instead, they found that the ice moved in a stick-slip movement, caused by the base of the stream alternating between sticking to the bed and then sliding over it.

In the ice stream studied, the jerking stick-slip motion occurs twice a day and seems to be related to the tides in the Ross Sea. When a slip occurs, a part of the Whillians Ice Stream 60 by 120 miles and almost 2,000 feet thick moves as much as 2.2 feet in about 25 minutes.

Douglas Wiens of Washington University in St. Louis, and leader of the research team, says, “A big puzzle is why this particular ice stream shows this slip-stick behavior and others don’t and we don’t really understand why. Our results show that the stick-slip motion originates from a sticky region on the bed of the ice stream where friction is higher, perhaps due to the absence of water.” Adding to the puzzle is the fact that this particular ice stream is slowing down.

The researchers stress that these findings do not immediately have implications for global warming, but are significant because they add to the understanding of ice dynamics. Scientists need more information about the conditions beneath glaciers and ice streams to model and predict sea level during climate change.

Other members of the team were from Penn State University, and the University of Newcastle in Great Britain.

While many scientists are studying snow, ice, and permafrost on the earth for clues to climate change, others are flying a jet into the tropopause, the boundary between the lower atmosphere (troposphere) and the stratosphere. They are interested in this region because the buildup of greenhouse gases has altered it in ways that are not fully understood.

To gather the data, scientists are using a jet aircraft that will fly about a dozen missions across North America, ranging up to 47,000 feet high. The plane will take sensors through the top of the troposphere and into the stratosphere. Samples of air will determine the movements and concentrations of a number of gases.

One of the goals of the project, known as START 08 (Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport), is to learn more about water vapor and ozone, which act as potent greenhouse gases by trapping thermal radiation in the atmosphere.  

 The tropopause is too high to observe with most ground-based instruments or most aircraft, and too low for satellites to view with great detail. The START aircraft allows the detail that researchers need to determine how weather patterns stir up chemicals near the tropopause and how the tropopause’s changing chemical composition influences global climate.  Over the next two years, climate scientists will use observations from START and other sources to adjust computer models that simulate Earth’s climate. These models will be used for the next round of reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which are likely to be issued about 2012.  The IPCC, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, operates under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.

Jeff Peneston, a PolarTREC teacher, Program Director of Camp Fire USA (Camp Talooli), and a 9th grade Earth Science teacher, is traveling to Antarctica on the International Expedition of the Icebreaker Oden. He has created his own expedition flag as well as a special Camp Talooli Antarctic Expedition flag, and is initating a flag exchange program with schools and camps across the country and world.

Teachers and camp leaders can contact Jeff by email to receive a blank rip-stop nylon flag that can be decorated by students and campers and mailed back. In exchange, Jeff will send one of his official blue and white expedition flags and will fly the decorated flags aboard the Oden research vessel and over McMurdo Base in Antarctica.

Participation in the flag exchange is free. For more information, refer to Jeff’s PolarTREC journal.

Interested in extending your science and literacy lessons into other content areas? Check out the Across the Curriculum department of Issue 4 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Weather and Climate: From Home to the Poles!

In this issue:

Discover free podcasts on climate and climate change from the NSDL on iTunes U collection.

Learn how weather lessons can help you integrate math through data analysis.

Consider the film and video game Arctic Tale and how polar weather affects the people and animals that live and work there.

Of course, there’s more to explore! Check out Issue 4 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears today!

This summer 75 teenagers, ages 14-19, will sail to the Arctic with a team of scientists, environmentalists and polar educators in the Students on Ice program. The Arctic expedition, August 2-17, will explore southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, and the northern reaches of Nunavik in Quebec province. The itinerary includes workshops, lectures and seminars as well as ship-based exploration.

Students on Ice is an educational organization based in Gatineau, Québec, now in its eighth year. It has taken more than 700 students, teachers and scientists from around the world on expeditions to both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Geoff Green is the founder and executive director of the program.

The cost to the student is $7,500; chaperones pay $6,500. Students and chaperones must submit application forms. Videos and journals from past expeditions are available on the web site.

 An expedition to Antarctica is scheduled for December 28, 2008-January 8, 2009. Applications are also available on the web site.

Russian and American scientists have found that the world’s largest lake, located in Siberia, is becoming warmer, another sign of climate change.  

They have expressed surprise because it was thought this lake with its vast volume of water and a unique water circulation would be more resistant to climate change.

Lake Baikal contains 20 percent of the world’s freshwater and is the world’s oldest lake and its deepest. It was declared a World Heritage site because of its biological diversity—2,500 plant and animal species, including the freshwater seal found nowhere else.

Overall, the average temperature of the lake is 4 degrees Celsius, and it begins freezing in early fall. But, decades of data collection show significant warming of the surface waters and long-term changes in the food web. According to a recent report on the lake’s health, “Increases in water temperature (1.21 degree Celsius since 1946), chlorophyll (300 percent since 1979), and an influential group of zooplankton grazers (335 percent since 1946) have important implications for nutrient cycling and food web dynamics.”

Interestingly, the rich documentation of the lake can be traced to one Siberian family. In the 1940s, Mikhail Kozhov began analyzing water samples. His daughter and his granddaughter continued the program year-round even though temperatures drop to -50 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter. Mikhail’s granddaughter is a co-author of the study that will be published in a future issue of Global Change Biology.