Today the continent of Antarctica sits over the South Pole, frozen, ice-covered and remote. It is an extremely cold, windy and dry continent covered by an ice sheet that is over 4km thick in places. Very little life can survive on this frozen landscape but the surrounding oceans are teeming with life. What happens on this continent today affects the whole Earth through sea level rise as ice sheets melt, and the cold ocean interacts with global climates.
Four main aspects of Antarctic science will be covered in this course: the climate, the evolution of the ice sheet, the animals, and geological history. You will learn about what Antarctica is like today and how the continent has responded to climate change over a variety of timescales.
Antarctic climate - past, present and future: What do we know about Antarctica’s climate today? Is it changing? If so, how? What will it be like in the future? These are a few of the questions that will be addressed in this talk, using information from measurements, models, and ice cores.
Secrets of the Antarctic ice sheet: Ice sheet – ocean interactions ancient and modern. How has the shifting of the southern continents influenced the formation of modern polar currents; what can the geological record of the Southern Ocean seafloor tell us? Includes exciting new results from the ongoing International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration.
Penguins from space: Antarctica’s remote and inhospitable environment means that studying it’s wildlife is difficult and expensive. Researchers are turning to high-tech alternatives such as satellite imagery to overcome these problems. This talk will highlight recent advances in remote sensing and show examples of finding and studying penguins, whales, seals and albatross by satellite.
The evolutionary history of Antarctica: 100 million years ago when Antarctica was still closely connected with southern South America in one direction and Australasia in the other, the climate was much warmer, forests covered much of the continent, and dinosaurs roamed widely across the major southern continents. So, what happened to all these plants and animals when it got colder; what can the fossil record tell us?
Learning outcomes
- An introduction to the natural history of Antarctica and to the science undertaken at the British Antarctic Survey;
- An understanding of how the ice, climate, oceans and animals of Antarctica function in such a remote and cold region of the planet;
- An understanding of how Antarctica influences global climates and sea level.
