ANTARCTICA MAY BE REMOTE, CUT OFF BY OCEAN CURRENTS AND WINDS AT THE BOTTOM OF OUR WORLD, BUT IT'S DEEPLY CONNECTED TO WHAT HAPPENS AROUND OUR PLANET.
chapter head graphic: THE OZONE HOLE AND UV-B
IN THIS VIDEO... THE ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE, AND WHAT INCREASED LEVELS OF ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION MAY MEAN FOR LIFE ON EARTH...
chapter head graphic: ICE AND WATER/ICE AND OCEAN
...WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF SOME OR ALL THIS ICE SHOULD TURN, ONCE AGAIN, TO LIQUID WATER...
chapter head graphic: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
AND HOW AND WHY RESEARCH IN ANTARCTICA MAY NOT ONLY GIVE US CRITICAL INFORMATION, BUT ALSO SERVE AS A MODEL FOR 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE.
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>>>MAIN TITLES<<<
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chapter head: THE OZONE HOLE AND UV-B
KATY McNITT IS YOUNG IN YEARS, BUT IN TERMS OF TIME SPENT WORKING ON THE ICE, SHE'S A VERITABLE "OLD ANTARCTIC EXPLORER."
WHEN WE FIRST MET HER, SHE WAS ABOUT TO SPEND HER SECOND WINTER ON THE ICE.
PART OF HER JOB WAS TO COLLECT SNOW AND AIR SAMPLES FOR ANALYSIS BACK IN THE STATES.
BY THE TIME WE LAST MET HER ON CAMERA, SHE'D MARRIED-AND HER NAME HAD CHANGED FROM McNITT TO JENSEN.
SHE WAS WORKING AT THE SOUTH POLE AS A MEMBER OF STATION MANAGEMENT.
SHE INTERACTED, VIA INTERNET VIDEO, WITH YOUNGSTERS HERE IN THE STATES, DURING HER 3RD WINTER STAY AT THE SOUTH POLE STATION, MAKING HER ONE OF THE FEW HUMANS EVER TO SPEND THIS MANY DARK MONTHS AT THE POLE.
THIS IS HER STORY, AND HOW HUMANS STUDY THE ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE.
NAME TITLE: Katy Jensen, NOAA/ASA South Pole Station Rep.
KATY:
The satellites tell us how big the hole is area-wise, and what we want to know is how deep that layer of depletion is.
OZONE IS A MOLECULE COMPOSED OF 3 ATOMS OF OXYGEN. HIGH UP IN THE STRATOSPHERE, IT ACTS AS A NATURAL SHIELD, PROTECTING LIFE ON EARTH FROM HARMFUL ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION FROM SPACE.
IN THE 1980'S RESEARCH IN ANTARCTICA REVEALED THAT EACH YEAR A LARGE HOLE IN THIS PROTECTIVE LAYER OPENS UP, AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS SATELLITE VIEW.
name title: Chlorofluorocarbons
FURTHER RESEARCH SHOWED THAT CHEMICALS CALLED "CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS", "CFC'S" FOR SHORT-FOUND IN AIR CONDITIONERS, REFRIGERATORS AND SPRAY CANS-WERE A SOURCE OF CHLORINE WHICH WAS DESTROYING THE OZONE.
THIS PROCESS HAPPENS MOST INTENSELY OVER ANTARCTICA, BECAUSE OF THE EXTREME COLD, AND THE ANNUAL CYCLE OF MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS FOLLOWED BY MONTHS OF LIGHT.
KATY:
When the sun goes down, it starts to get very cold here, and there's a wind system called the polar vortex. And this is an almost circular wind pattern that goes around the continent of Antarctica, and it essentially traps the air over the South Pole. And any CFC's that happen to be in the air, which are everywhere, happen to stick to these ice crystals on the clouds.
WHAT MADE CFC'S SO DANGEROUS WAS A KIND OF CHEMICAL CHAIN REACTION, IN WHICH ONE CHLORINE MOLECULE COULD BREAK APART MANY MOLECULES OF OZONE...
THE DISCOVERY OF THE OZONE HOLE TOOK SCIENTISTS AND THE PUBLIC BY SURPRISE. DOCUMENTING WHAT WAS HAPPENING MEANT PEOPLE LIKE KATY WERE NEEDED TO TAKE MEASUREMENTS AT THE POLE, YEAR ROUND. THEY LIVED COMPLETELY CUT OFF FOR 8 MONTHS IN THE EXTREME COLD AND DARKNESS OF THE ANTARCTIC WINTER.
KATY:
Once a week, during most of the year, we launch a balloon into the stratosphere with an instrument on it that measures ozone. And ...it goes pretty fast. About a thousand feet per minute up into, pretty high into the stratosphere. They usually go about 30 kilometers above sea level. And really what we're interested in is long-term monitoring of this stuff. We can't afford to just take samples one time of year, we have to know what's going on every day of the year for several years in a row before we know what's happening globally.
EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS IN ANTARCTICA ALL KNOW TO WEAR DARK GLASSES AND SUN BLOCK TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THE GLARE AND SUNBURN.
BUT THE EFFECTS OF INCREASED ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION GO MORE THAN SKIN-DEEP.
KATY:
It's quite probable that the increased UV radiation is affecting the phytoplankton here. And if that's the case, then it's affecting the entire food chain, and the richest ecosystem there is. Not only would the phytoplankton be affected, but our crops would be destroyed, and people.... There would be more instances of skin cancer, and cataracts. And those are just the direct effects, there are many indirect effects that we don't even know about yet.
NO CROPS GROW FOR HUNDREDS OF MILES AROUND THE SOUTH POLE, SO TO STUDY THE IMPACT OF INCREASED UV-B, RESEARCHERS HAVE TO WORK AT PLACES LIKE STEPPING STONES ISLAND, NEAR PALMER STATION.
THAT'S WHY TAD DAY AND HIS TEAM ARE OUT HERE, MONITORING THE GROWTH OF TWO OF THE RARE, GREEN PLANTS WHICH CAN SURVIVE IN ANTARCTICA...
name title: voice of Tad Day, Plant Biologist, Arizona State University
name title: Antarctic Pearlwort
name title: Antarctic Hair Grass
This is one of the species that we're studying, it's called Antarctic Pro-Wart. You can see all the small leaves here, and this is the other vascular plant native to Antarctica. This is called Antarctic Hair Grass, or "deschampsia."
THEIR EXPERIMENT IS TRYING TO SEE HOW INCREASED UV RADIATION AFFECTS THE SURVIVAL OF THE SEEDLINGS.
name title: Chris Ruhland, Arizona State University
CHRIS:
Worldwide, it's been shown that maybe, in some species of plants, UV does in fact cause them to grow better. And nobody's really quite sure, but in a lot of species, you get this situation where UV damages the growth, and it's real interesting to study these plants down here, and find if they are acclimated to growing in such a high UV environment.
MORE RECENT WORK HAS SHOWN THAT INCREASED AMOUNTS OF ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION DO INDEED HARM THE SIMPLE ONE-CELLED FREE FLOATING PLANTS CALLED "PHYTOPLANKTON", WHICH WE'VE SEEN AS THE ALL-IMPORTANT BASE OF THE ANTARCTIC FOOD CHAIN.
SCIENTIFIC CRUISES ABOARD NSF RESEARCH VESSELS HAVE ALSO SHOWN DAMAGE DONE TO ORGANISMS FARTHER UP THE FOOD CHAIN.
INCREASED UV RADIATION HARMS THE DNA OF ANTARCTIC ICE-FISH. DNA IS THE MASTER MOLECULE OF ALL LIFE ON EARTH, CONTROLLING THE GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION OF EVERY LIVING ORGANISM.
OTHER RESEARCH ON THE PALMER PENINSULA HAS SHOWN OTHER CLIMATIC CHANGES. OVER THE PAST DECADE THERE HAS BEEN A RISE IN TEMPERATURE.
Tad Day
Whether or not this is due to the greenhouse effect is unclear at this point. But it would suggest that at we can also use the Antarctic Peninsula as a window into the future to look at how plants respond to rising temperatures.
chapter head title: ICE AND WATER
IN THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT, AT THE CAMP CALLED "CWA", RESEARCHERS ARE TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF TEMPERATURES CHANGE SO MUCH THAT SOME OR ALL OF ANTARCTICA'S ICE COULD MELT.
TED CLARKE USES EXPLOSIONS TO CREATE A KIND OF MINI-EARTHQUAKE.
(explosion)
THE SHOCKS WAVE TRAVELS DOWN THROUGH THE ICE, AND BOUNCE BACK TO SPECIAL DETECTORS, REVEALING MUCH ABOUT THE ROCK DEEP BELOW.
CLARKE THINKS THE EARTH'S CRUST MAY BE THIN HERE, AND THAT HEAT FROM EARTH'S INTERIOR MAY CAUSE VAST ICE-STREAMS TO FLOW OFF THE CONTINENT AND INTO THE OCEAN.
ADD THAT TO ANY HUMAN GENERATED CLIMATE CHANGE... AND THE CONSEQUENCE COULD BE DRAMATIC.
name title: Ted S. Clarke, S-151/University of Wisconsin
TED CLARKE
If that possibility were to come true, the sea level could rise as much as 6 meters or twenty feet, and that has obvious consequences on... Most of Miami would be under water; New York, Los Angeles, Boston, parts of San Francisco and so on.
ALREADY HUGE ICEBERGS HAVE BEEN CALVING FROM COASTAL GLACIERS.
ROSS POWELL AND HIS SCIENCE GROUP STUDY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN GLACIERS SLIDE DOWN INTO THE OCEAN.
IT TOOK THE TEAM SEVERAL TRIPS BY TWIN OTTER TO GET ALL THEIR GEAR OUT INTO THE FIELD.
AND THEN THERE WERE DANGEROUS CRACKS IN THE SEA ICE WHICH THREATENED THEIR FIRST CAMP SITE.
(Ross Powell, prodding the sea ice cracks)
You can see there is a series of "workings" here and there is another here...
SO NOW THEY HAD TO MOVE ALL THAT EQUIPMENT HALF A MILE-"MAN-HAULING" LIKE GENUINE "OLD ANTARCTIC EXPLORERS."
POWELL'S TEAM USES A REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE, OR "ROV", TO SEND BACK VIDEO.
POWELL, LIKE THE OTHER RESEARCHERS, THINKS HIS FINDINGS MAY HELP US UNDERSTAND THE SPEED AND INTENSITY OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.
name title: Ross D. Powell, Geologist, Northern Illinois University
Ross Powell:
Yeah, the reason that we're looking at the place where the glacier is sitting on the sea floor, we call it the "grounding line." With global warming, this predicted sea level rise, and it's that place, the grounding line, where the glacier is probably going to be most sensitive, and react to any sort of rise in sea level.
chapter head: SEEING THE FUTURE
RESEARCHERS IN ANTARCTICA HAVE TO BE PERSONALLY ADVENTUROUS AND INTELLECTUALLY INGENIOUS.
ON A CONTINENT THAT'S ALMOST LIFELESS, THEY HAVE TO LOOK FOR CLUES IN SOME OF THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES.
PAUL BERKMAN STUDIES THE FOSSILIZED SHELLS OF ANTARCTIC CLAMS AND SCALLOPS ALONG THE COASTLINE OF THE CONTINENT.
BUT, HE'S NOT ONLY A BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER. HE'S LOOKING FOR CLUES TO THE PAST CLIMATE OF ANTARCTICA.
name title: Paul Berkman, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State
PAUL:
One thing that we look at are these very fine rings that go around the shell...
YOU CAN READ THE RINGS, JUST LIKE THOSE YOU FIND IN TREES, TO FIND OUT LOTS ABOUT WHAT CONDITIONS WERE LIKE WHEN THESE SHELLFISH WERE ALIVE.
PAUL:
One of the things that we're looking at, is was there a change in the environment when these fossils lived, as compared to the environment where the modern scallops live today. And over the decadal life span, over the ten to fifteen years that these shells live, you can interpret the seasonal growth of the animal. And so there's a very, very high resolution record, a very fine record, of changes in the environment.
WORKING WITH SIMPLE PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY, PAUL AND HIS TEAM KNOW THAT WHEN TEMPERATURES WERE VERY LOW, IT WAS HARDER FOR THE SHELLFISH TO GROW THICK SHELLS.
THEREFORE WHEN YOU FIND THIN SHELLS, YOU KNOW TEMPERATURES WERE VERY COLD. THICKER SHELLS... THINGS HAD WARMED UP!
WHY DOES THIS MATTER-EXCEPT, OF COURSE, TO THE SHELLFISH!
Paul:
Inside the shells, there are geo-chemical records of, for example, changes in the isotopes as well as the trace metals associated with melt water that would reflect the environmental conditions in which these shells had lived sometime in the past.
IF WE CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PAST CLIMATE, IT WILL HELP US UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY WITH MORE CERTAINTY.
AND MAYBE, EVEN-THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION-WHETHER THE CHANGES THAT WE SEE HERE ARE CAUSED BY HUMAN ACTION.
Paul:
One thing that's necessary is to have information, baseline information, before any human impacts occurred. Those impacts, in order to interpret them, you have to go backward in time, before humans ever impacted Antarctica. And the fossil system provides you with that baseline information.
BERKMAN'S TEAM INCLUDES SWEDES ALONG WITH AMERICANS AND JAPANESE. HE'S ALSO WORKED WITH FRENCH AND ITALIAN RESEARCHERS.
AND THEY COME FROM JUST AS MANY DIFFERENT SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES. THERE ARE GEOLOGISTS, BIOLOGISTS, CHEMISTS AND OCEANOGRAPHERS.
Paul:
I would think that aside from the science, the single greatest contribution that the scientific community in Antarctica has made is that it has maintained the region of Antarctica for peaceful use only.
AS WE'VE SEEN THROUGHOUT THIS SERIES TO UNDERSTAND ANTARCTICA TAKES ALL KINDS OF SCIENTISTS DOING ALL KINDS OF RESEARCH.
YOU CAN STUDY EMPEROR PENGUINS OR MICROSCOPIC ALGAE. BOTH TELL YOU ABOUT LIFE IN EXTREMES.
THERE'S A PLACE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE IT OUT IN REMOTE FIELD CAMPS, AND FOR COOKS BACK IN McMURDO WHO CAN FEED THE BODY AND SOUL.
WORKING TOGETHER, THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE "UNITED STATES ANTARCTIC PROGRAM" HAVE BROUGHT A CONTINENT TO LIFE, AND ILLUMINATED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF OUR WORLD.
Paul Berkman:
Antarctica is a spectacular region on the planet. Live in a place, or come to a place to visit, that is surrounded by beautiful glaciers, very jagged peaks... even the storms and the way they lash the environment is interesting. I feel very fortunate in being able to come to this place.
Ross Powell:
It's absolutely spectacular. There's no other words for it. With the scenery you have here, and the peace and quiet, and just the environment is just so exhilarating, and then being able to get the scientific results that we are, that's really the icing on the cake.
Katy Jensen:
It's magic.
