Michael Jordan's Blog: Climate Change

The Antarctic is an extremely important part of the Earth's climate system and is very vulnerable to temperature change. Even though Antarctica is separated from the rest of the world, it gives us a lot of important global information. Knowing about the Antarctic's global effects, can tell us about what the continent was like in the past, and can even give us predictions on what the earth will be like in many years.

Some areas in the poles are warming at the rate of two or three times the global average; The most recent news about global warming causing problems in Antarctica started on the 28th of February 2008. Satellite images show that a 414 square meter chunk from western Antarctica broke off. It was a part of the Wilkins ice shelf which has been a part of Antarctica for hundreds of years, roughly estimated around 1500 years.

"The sudden collapse is the result of global warming" says Antarctic Scientist David Vaughan.

During the collapsing of the ice cap, satellite cameras turned toward the Wilkins Ice Shelf, even planes and helicopters flew by to witness the massive break of the Wilkins Ice Shelf.. Breaks like these are un-common but have been happening more often, the rest of the Wilkins ice shelf is being held together by a thin piece of ice, scientists are worried that it may collapse in as soon as 2023.

The area that recently collapsed makes up only about four per cent of the whole shelf, but it is a very important part which may lead into other collapses into the Wilkins Ice Shelf. There are still possibilities that the rest of the ice shelf will survive until next year, as it is coming to the end of the Antarctic summer and colder weather is coming. Scientists say that they are not worried about sea levels rising from the latest ice collapsing, but they say it is a sign of global warming getting worse.

The climate in Antarctica is very unusual and isolated from the rest of the world. Antarctica is not getting warmer although some areas are cooling. Western Antarctica, which includes the Wilkins ice shelf, sticks out into the ocean which is being warmed, this is the area of Antarctica where scientists are most worried about ice melting, leading to the sea-levels rising.

The Antarctic ice core gives us the most understandable link between the levels of green-house gasses and climate change. Geologists can get information from Antarctica today, which gives us information about 100's of years ago. Geologists gather this information by examining Antarctic rocks and sediments, gathered from areas including the sea and lake beds, they can even gather information which can tell us what the earth was like millions of years ago when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Geologists can also gather information about ice-sheets, and find out how much these ice sheets have shrunk over the many years, this is extremely important if we want to be able to predict how these ice-sheets will react and change in the future.

Scientists gather information about climate change on and off land. As the water warms around Antarctica, ecologists are studying how penguins, seals and the other species of animals which live around Antarctica are reacting to the changes of global warming.

Antarctica has only two plant species which contains flowers, these plants can only be found on the Peninsula. But these plant species have spread quite a bit in the last few decades in many areas, in some areas they are becoming the main species.
Adelie Penguins have also been in danger, as the number of the Adelie penguins have been reducing in parts of the Antarctic Peninsula region for the last 20 years.
Adelie penguins have also been abandoning certain nesting sites, leaving the Chinstrap penguins to take their place. Adelie penguins require pack ice for most of the year and feed almost only on Krill; as for the Chinstrap penguins, they eat a wider variety of foods and rather open waters.

Sea ice has reduced a fare bit over the last 20 years, due to the temperatures rising in the peninsula region. Gentoo penguins have also begun to nest in the Peninsula in recent years. This has only happened recently, as evidence from bones and remains found in abandoned colonies tells us that Gentoo penguins have not nested in these areas prior to the 1950's.

The amount of krill found in Antarctica has reduced rapidly in recent years. The reason for this is a rapid fall in sea-ice, this effects krill so much as the krill feed on the algae found under the sea ice near the Antarctic Peninsula. Krill numbers may have been reduced by a possible 80% since the 1970's, meaning that today krill stocks are a tiny fifth of what they were 30 years ago. Reducing krill numbers may lead to a lack of food sources to some species of penguin.

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the places in the world where it has been affected by temperature change due to global warming so badly. The Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by a possible 2.5 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years which is much more than the average global rate, which also leads to a decrease in winter sea-ice cover. Scientists don't really know how the loss of sea-ice in the Antarctic Peninsula is linked to global warming, but they do believe that it could be behind the rapid reduction of krill.

Although global warming is so bad, especially in the Antarctic regions, we can help reduce it by doing simple jobs like; buying a less polluting car and using it less often, finding a more efficient refrigeration system, as fridges and freezers are one of the most energy consuming house-hold appliance, reducing the amount of un-natural heating in the house or office by using insulation, or even by turning down heating appliances by one degree, reduce water heating requirements by taking showers not baths, taking normal showers and not power-showers, or getting a more energy efficient washing machine or even using energy efficient light bulbs or fluorescent lighting and turning them off when not needed.

The graph above shows the average monthly temperatures, in various places in Antarctica.