Terms: antarctica
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- An Organism Survives Antarctica, Maybe Mars (Time.com)
"Say what you will about the simple, uninteresting lives of microorganisms, they're tough little critters. You try surviving for a million and a half years without heat, food or sunlight and see how you do. A team of National Science Foundation researchers just discovered a species of Antarctic organisms that has accomplished exactly that — and the microbes' unlikely survival can tell us a lot not just about the adaptability of life on Earth, but the prospects for it on Mars." 04-09
- Antarctica Ice Melting (Time.com)
"According to a new report in Nature, glaciers are getting thinner all around the perimeter of Greenland, and in western Antarctica as well. It's not so much that they're melting, says lead author Hamish Pritchard, of the British Antarctic Survey; it's that their seaward motion is accelerating. And, says Pritchard, 'that's a much more rapid way of losing ice than through melting alone.' " 2-06
- Antarctica
- Animated Pictures of Ice Flow in Antarctica (GreenhouseNeutralFoundation.org)
Uses colors to show the flow of ice. Pictures were collected and compiled from satellite images. 02-12
- Antarctica Weather (Antarctic Connection)
Provides daily weather reports. Also provides maps, posters, books, videos, and other items related to Antarctica to purchase. 9-99
- Antarctica - Travel Information by Location (Excite.Travel.com)
Provides information by area. 3-02
- Antarctica (CountryReports.org)
Provides a profile by topic, including Economy, Defense, Geography, Government, People, National Anthem, Lyrics and Related Links. Provides a map and a flag. 6-02
- Antarctica (InfoPlease.com)
Provides information on the history, culture, and geography. 01-06
- Antarctica (CIA.gov)
Provides a history of the country, including history (Introduction), military, transportation, geography, people, economy, communications, transnational issues, and a map. 2-06
- Earth Climate History Through Ice Caps (PBS.org)
Provides graphs and explanations of climate changes, as well as greenhouse gases, radioactivity, and other measures. Shows that climate over the past ten thousand years has been very stable compared to the time before. Uses ice cores from Antarctica to determine past climate. 3-01
- New Underwater Volcano Found (Bloomberg.com)
"A previously unknown underwater volcano has been discovered off the coast of Antarctica, the National Science Foundation said Thursday." 5-04
- Southern Ocean (Wikipedia.org)
"The Southern Ocean is the body of water encircling the continent of Antarctica. It is the world's fourth-largest body of water, and the latest to be defined as an Ocean, having been accepted by a decision of the International Hydrographic Organization in 2000, though the term has long been traditional among mariners. Prior to that, the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans were considered to extend to Antarctica." 10-04
- -07-17-05 Ice Shelf Collapse Reveals Extreme Life Forms (MSNBC News)
"The collapse of a giant ice shelf in Antarctica has revealed a thriving ecosystem half a mile below the sea."
"Despite near freezing and sunless conditions, a community of clams and a thin layer of bacterial mats are flourishing in undersea sediments."
"Since light could not penetrate the ice or water, these organisms do not use photosynthesis to make energy. Instead, these extreme creatures get their energy from methane, Domack said today." 7-05
- -12-11-05 Ice Core Extends Climate Record 650,000 Years (Scientific American)
"Researchers have recovered a nearly two-mile-long cylinder of ice from eastern Antarctica that contains a record of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane--two potent and ubiquitous greenhouse gases--spanning the last two glacial periods. Analysis of this core shows that current atmospheric concentrations of CO2--380 parts per million (ppm)--are 27 percent higher than the highest levels found in the last 650,000 years." 12-05
- Oceanic Conveyor (Woods Hole Oceanic Institute)
"Evidence for abrupt climate change is readily apparent in ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica. One sees clear indications of long-term changes discussed above, with CO² and proxy temperature changes associated with the last ice age and its transition into our present interglacial period of warmth. But, in addition, there is a strong chaotic variation of properties with a quasi-period of around 1500 years. We say chaotic because these millennial shifts look like anything but regular oscillations. Rather, they look like rapid, decade-long transitions between cold and warm climates followed by long interludes in one of the two states." Includes an animation showing the global oceanic conveyor of warm and cool currents. 01-06
- -03-04-06 Our Poles Are Melting (ABC News)
"For the first time, scientists have confirmed Earth is melting at both ends, which could have disastrous effects for coastal cities and villages."
"Antarctica has been called 'a slumbering giant' by a climate scientist who predicts that if all the ice melted, sea levels would rise by 200 feet. Other scientists believe that such a thing won't happen, but new studies show that the slumbering giant has started to stir." 03-06
- Freshwater in the Polar Ice Caps (Hypertextbook.com)
"Ice caps are found in several places in the Arctic region (Greenland, Iceland, Baffin Island, and the island of Spitsbergen) and over most of the Antarctic region. Approximately 90% of the ice on earth, is found either in Greenland or in Antarctica. The largest ice caps on the planet are found there. Greenland is a plateau surrounded by mountains. Antarctica is composed of mountains, valleys, and lowlands. From my research, I have found different values for the volume of the polar ice caps. For Antarctica, the approximate volume is 30,000,000 km3. For Greenland, it is approximately 3,000,000 km3."
"The volume of the polar ice caps is very important, because it may provide answers to future problems regarding the earth's fresh water. In the future, fresh water in the other six continents might be depleted. Since ice caps contain over 80% of the earth's fresh water, they could be used in the future to provide fresh water for earth's growing population." 07-07
- Polar Ice Caps and Rising Ocean Levels (HowStuffWorks.com)
"The main ice covered landmass is Antarctica at the South Pole, with about 90 percent of the world's ice (and 70 percent of its fresh water). Antarctica is covered with ice an average of 2,133 meters (7,000 feet) thick. If all of the Antarctic ice melted, sea levels around the world would rise about 61 meters (200 feet). But the average temperature in Antarctica is -37°C, so the ice there is in no danger of melting. In fact in most parts of the continent it never gets above freezing."
"At the other end of the world, the North Pole, the ice is not nearly as thick as at the South Pole. The ice floats on the Arctic Ocean. If it melted sea levels would not be affected."
"There is a significant amount of ice covering Greenland, which would add another 7 meters (20 feet) to the oceans if it melted. Because Greenland is closer to the equator than Antarctica, the temperatures there are higher, so the ice is more likely to melt." 07-07
- Glaciers Melting Faster Than Thought (CBS News)
"Glaciers in Antarctica are melting faster and across a much wider area than previously thought, a development that threatens to raise sea levels worldwide and force millions of people to flee low-lying areas, scientists said Wednesday."
"By the end of the century, the accelerated melting could cause sea levels to climb by 3 to 5 feet - levels substantially higher than predicted by a major scientific group just two years ago."
"Making matters worse, scientists said, the ice shelves that hold the glaciers back from the sea are also weakening."
"The big surprise was exactly how much glaciers are melting in western Antarctica, a vast land mass on the Pacific Ocean side of the continent that is next to the South Pole and includes the Antarctic Peninsula." 02-09
- Southern Ocean (About.com)
"In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization created the fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - from the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean completely surrounds Antarctica."
"The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean)." 10-08
- Southern Ocean (Windows to the Universe)
"So what makes the Southern Ocean an ocean?"
"According to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), because of its distinct circulation pattern, the waters of the Southern Ocean are somewhat separated from other oceans even without continents to form borders. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the strong ocean current that circles eastward around Antarctica." 05-09
- Sauropods (Wikipedia.org)
"They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes many of the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus), Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus. Sauropods first appeared in the late Triassic Period, where they somewhat resembled the closely related (and possibly ancestral) group Prosauropoda. By the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago), sauropods were widespread (especially the diplodocids and brachiosaurids). By the Late Cretaceous, those groups had mainly been replaced by the titanosaurs, which had a near-global distribution. However, as with all other non-avian dinosaurs, the titanosaurs died out in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. Fossilised [sic] remains of sauropods have been found on every continent, including Antarctica."
- Extinction Level Event Lessons (Discovery.com)
"Antarctica served as a climatic refuge for animals during the world's largest known, and probably global warming-fueled, mass extinction event, according to new research that focused on one scrappy survivor."
"The newly identified animal, Kombuisia antarctica, may not have been able to take the heat at the end of the Permian period 252 million years ago, so it moved to the cooler end of the earth." 03-06
- Fresh Water from Icebergs (NOAA.gov)
"Already 40% of the world’s population lives in areas subject to severe water shortages."
"Nearly 70% of all fresh water is locked in the polar ice caps. Just the new icebergs that form every year around Antarctica hold enough water to meet the needs of every person on Earth for several months. Longstanding proposals to tow icebergs to lower latitudes where their valuable water can be harvested have been met with both skepticism and interest. To date, no successful attempts have been made."
Describes challenges to moving icebergs to shores where fresh water is needed. Also notes that it is now practical to do so.
"In this activity, you will investigate some of the logistical problems involved in moving enormous chunks of ice long distances through often turbulent seas." 05-11
- The Science of Towing Icebergs (Time.com)
"Sponsored by Prince Mohammed al Faisal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Khalid, the conference demonstrated that there is no shortage of ideas for using icebergs to slake the world's growing thirst. Prince Faisal's own company, Iceberg Transport International, is considering a plan to find a 100 million-ton iceberg off Antarctica,* wrap it in sailcloth and plastic to slow its melting, and then use powerful tugboats to tow it to the Arabian peninsula, where it would supply enormous quantities of drinking water. The journey would take about eight months and the project would cost around $100 million, according to estimates."
"But it very well might be worth it. Even if the mile-long iceberg lost as much as 20% of its mass en route, it could be melted down and its water made available at a cost of 500 to 600 a cubic meter (about 35 cu. ft.), well under the 80¢ it now costs to desalinate a cubic meter of water."
"*Antarctic bergs are broad, flat and better suited for towing than Arctic ones, which are mountain-shaped and irregular." 05-11
- Antarctic Ice Melting Faster than Expected (Time.com)
"We already know that Arctic ice is melting faster than expected, and that sea level rise will likely bust the IPCC predictions. Now, thanks to a new paper published yesterday in Nature Geoscience, we have a better idea of why. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory examined the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica—one of the frozen continent's largest glaciers—and found that it was melting more than 50% faster than it had been just 15 years ago, when an earlier group of scientists visited it. The glacier is now losing 80 cu. km of ice a year, up from 50 cu. km in 1994." 06-11
- -03-02-12 Acidification of the Oceans: Fastest Change in 300 Million Years (Time.com)
"The researchers found only one moment in the past when the oceans seemed to be changing anywhere near as fast as they are today. That was the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which occurred some 56 million years ago. Back in the 1990s, scientists excavated a layer of mud off the seafloor near Antarctica that was traced back to that period. Over the course of 5,000 years during the PETM, carbon levels in the atmosphere doubled for reasons scientists still don’t know. That pushed global temperatures up by 6 C—one of the reasons why the era is called 'hothouse Earth,' while the pH of the oceans may have fallen by as much as 0.45 units, becoming significantly more acidic." 02-12
- Spiders (Wikipedia.org)
"Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms.[1] Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every habitat with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species, and 109 families have been recorded by taxonomists;[2] however, there has been confusion within the scientific community as to how all these families should be classified, as evidenced by the over 20 different classifications that have been proposed since 1900.[3]"
"Anatomically, spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. In all except the most primitive group, the Mesothelae, spiders have the most centralized nervous systems of all arthropods, as all their ganglia are fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure." 08-12
- -First-Ever Discovery of Whale Bones on the Antarctic Seafloor (New.Yahoo.com)
"For the first time ever, scientists say they have discovered a whale skeleton on the ocean floor near Antarctica. Resting nearly a mile below the surface, the boneyard is teeming with strange life, including at least nine new species of tiny of deep-sea creatures, according to a new study." 03-13
- Penguins Worksheets (AbcTeach)
Provides dozens of printable worksheets by theme. 8-01
- Antarctic Wilkins Ice Shelf Breaking Up (UK.Reuters.com)
"An Antarctic ice shelf is on the brink of collapse with just a sliver of ice holding it in place, the latest victim of global warming that is altering maps of the frozen continent." 01-09
- Polar Ice Caps
- Arctic Circle
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[Dr. Jerry Adams at jadams@awesomelibrary.org.]
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