A very cool talk this week at GEOTOP by André Pellerin, University of Quebc at Rimouski. He spoke on the strange chemistry and biology of Lake Untersee, east Antarctica. This lake is perpetually ice-covered and the bottom covered with #stromatolites (microbial mats) similar to those found in ecosystems three billion years in Earth's past. #UCAR#Antarctica#Rimouski#Quebec#Archean#GEOTOP
Front of the Ross Ice Shelf - its nigh on impossible to do something around 800 km long justice in a photo... what's more incomprehensible is there a cavity beneath this which stretches back 800 km. And these are only now starting to feature in climate models. #Antarctica#Climate#IceShelves
may not look it but it was blowing like crazy... #katabatic continues ...60knots and v v cold we are having to helicopter our remaining team over rather than use a boat #oceanography#antarctica
Glacier Tongues are the best... this is the tip of the Campbell GT a little to the east of the Italian and Korean bases in Terra Nova Bay... a many 10s of km long thread of ice floating out over the ocean. Nothing else like them on the planet. This coast is festooned with them... #cryosphere#glacier#Antarctica
Fox et al investigate the interesting problem of the increasing intensity of Antarctic Peninsula glaciation during the past 3 million years or so. They find that the increase in glaciation is purely a function of tectonic uplift of the Peninsula, rather than requiring a climatic explanation. The uplifting mountains made it easier for an ice sheet to develop over time. #ClimateChange#Antarctica#IceSheetshttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01336-7
An old, never before assembled timelapse from breaking ice on the SIPEXII expedition off East Antarctica in 2012. Shot with a Nikon D200, rotated by hand!
Adélie penguins for #PenguinAwarenessDay ! ⠀
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This handsome couple, two Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), common to all the Antarctic coasts, are hand printed in black ink with a hint of orange on white Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. Each print is 12.5" by 9.25" (31.8 cm by 23.5cm). Adélie penguins are the most widely spread and southernly penguins (along with the Emperor penguins).⠀
⠀ #linocut#AdéliePenguin#printmaking#Antarctica#MastoArt
Morning all. It's Friday. Have a nice cup of tea and P-P-Pick up a Penguin! A new poster inspired by this week's antarctic-like weather. Have a great weekend. xx
"In March 2022, Antarctica experienced an extraordinary heat wave. Large swathes of East #Antarctica experienced temperatures up to 40°C (72°F) above normal, shattering #temperature records. (To understand the immensity of this, consider that the previous March maximum temperature at this location was -27.6°C (-17.68°F))
So shocking & rare was the event, it blew the minds of the Antarctic #climate science community. A major global research project was launched to unravel the reasons behind it & the damage it caused.
The #GUSTO#Telescope currently circling #Antarctica onboard a #NASA#balloon flying at 125.000 ft completed almost 16 days of flight and one and a half turns to the south pole.
So far, it has become the most successful flight of a balloon campaign marked by leaking balloons.
The mission aims to remain aloft for another 40 days before being carried away from the continent when the volar vortex disintegrates and finally sinks into the Ocean.
New emperor penguin colonies discovered in Antarctica after guano spotted from space (lighthouse-eco.co.za)
Emperor penguins are the largest but least prevalent Antarctic penguin species, with scientists estimating a total population of about 600,000