Coronavirus reaches end of earth as first outbreak hits Antarctica

DEC 23, 2020 The coronavirus has landed in Antarctica, the last continent previously free from COVID-19, Chile's military said this week, as health and army officials scrambled to clear out and quarantine staff from a remote research station surrounded by ocean and icebergs. Chile's armed forces said at least 36 people had been infected at its Bernardo O'Higgins base, including 26 army personnel and 10 civilian contractors conducting maintenance at the base. The permanently staffed research station, operated by Chile's army, lies near the tip of a peninsula in northernmost Antarctica, overlooking a bay often dotted with icebergs. Base personnel "are already properly isolated and constantly monitored" by health authorities in Magallanes, in Chilean Patagonia, the army said, adding there had so far been no complications. Research and military stations in Antarctica - among the most remote in the world - had gone to extraordinary lengths in recent months to keep the virus out, canceling tourism, scaling back activities and staff and locking down facilities. Researchers with the British Antarctic Survey estimate about 1,000 people at 38 stations across the frozen continent had safely navigated the southern hemisphere winter without incident. But an uptick in travel to and from the region this spring and early summer have heightened infection risk. An Army press officer said the first COVID-19 cases had been reported in mid-December, when two soldiers fell ill. The Magallanes region, one of the closest populated areas to Antarctica and take-off point for many boats and planes headed to the continent, is among the hardest-hit in Chile. Much of the area, blasted by cold winds off the ocean, mountains and glaciers, has been under quarantine restrictions for months. Chile's Navy reported it too had detected three cases of COVID-19 among 208 crew members of a ship that had sailed in the Antarctic region between Nov. 27 and Dec. 10. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source: Jammu Links News

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The man who came back from the dead after getting lost in the Arctic

Egor Tarasov, 51, the reindeer herder, confessed that he 'knew somewhere deep inside that I will be found in the end'. Picture: Oleg Tarasov

By Tamara Zubchuk: Grandfather Egor Tarasov's 'miraculous' survival story of 42 days alone in the tundra with polar and brown bears, and wolves. The reindeer herder went missing in the extreme north of Yakutia, close to the East Siberian Sea, in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River basin, prompting a search that included shamans and psychics. 

The 51 year old had been on his boat on the remote Konkovaya River to gather firewood and deliver it to the next point of the migration route for his herd. He was due to be away for a day but got lost in the increasingly cold and treacherous tundra for seven weeks. 

When he left he was dressed for the end of an unusually mild summer, without warm clothes, and day temperatures of up to 15C. He survived living rough through the short Arctic autumn, and was eventually found in winter, with temperatures dipping well below zero.

Local rescuers went to find him the day after he went missing with a full-scale search with a team from Chersky beginning on 8 September. They found his abandoned boat but no sign of him. 

'Now I feel better, just slightly frostbitten.' Pictures: Oleg Tarasov

They say they never gave up hope but the odds were on him being dead when polar bears were spotted on the nomads' migration route. 

Shamans and psychics were brought in to advise on the search but while they did not locate him, some believe the traditional holy men may have kept him safe from wild predators. Now finally rescued, Egor has explained how he got lost - and a survival that locals say is 'miraculous' in the wild tundra.

He got into thick fog in his boat and lost his sense of direction. His fuel supply ran out, and he spent two days at the boat, hoping he would be found. With no sign of help, he attempted to find his own way out. 

He had no gun, nor even a knife. There were dogs with him, but after a time they resented the long walk and vanished. 

His daughter Anastasia, 29, said: 'He had only light clothes, and had to dry them after every river crossing. After some time he was to throw away his sweater, as it was totally wet and heavy. He ate mushrooms and berries, drank water from the lakes. It was getting colder, so he walked even at night because he was afraid of freeze.'

The reindeer herder went missing in the extreme north of Yakutia, close to the East Siberian Sea, in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River basin. Pictures: The Siberian Times

Brown bears and wolves could have been threats - yet he claims he somehow avoided all predators. As he walked relentlessly on, the warm weather turned to rain and by 28 September to snow. Fog led the disorientated herder to walk in circles, and with the cold he developed frostbite on his feet.

He hiked through the Pokhodskaya and Khalarchinskaya tundra, it is reported. Finally, in late September, he came across the fishing hut, close to a small river, which belonged to angler Dmitry Sleptsov. 

It was deserted but it offered him shelter and the hope he would eventually be discovered. There was some food, and he managed to set a fire, bring water and cook. He found a radio but it was not a transmitter. But he learned it was by now 9 October. He started to mark the days on a sheet of paper.

Finally on 14 October, Dmitry arrived by boat at his hut on a fishing expedition. He used his satellite phone to alert the authorities and then took Egor by boat to Chersky, where he was admitted to the central district hospital.

Dmitry Sleptsov used his satellite phone to alert the authorities and then took Egor by boat to Chersky, where he was admitted to the central district hospital. Pictures: The Siberian Times

The father of three and grandfather of four, said: 'I was going forward with a positive mind, I knew somewhere deep inside that I will be found in the end. Now I feel better, just slightly frostbitten. When I had been walking I was thinking about my family, my wife, children, and grand children... 

'I walked on because I felt must do so. It seemed to me that I was not alone, that someone or something was next to me. It supported me too.' 

Yet locals say his survival is remarkable in such barren conditions, without proper clothing or weapons. YSIA news agency said he had 'a great desire to live, resistance to extreme difficulties, and the belief in a positive outcome'. Strength of character led Egor to a miraculous rescue. And the prayers of his family.'

In all he walked around 120 kilometres (74.5 miles) if it is measured by a straight line. But Egor walked 'round in circles' confused by fog and probably trekked many times this distance. Source: http://siberiantimes.com/

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Unknown class of bacteria found under ice crust of Antarctic lake

Tests of water samples from Antarctica's Lake Vostok have yielded a completely new class of bacteria, a Russian scientist has told reporters.

The frozen samples were brought up from under the Antarctic ice in May 2012. Sergei Bulat of St. Petersburg’s Nuclear Physics Institute said they collected a core sample of water frozen into the borehole. He said the probe contained bacteria that didn’t belong to any known phyla, which is the next ranking above a class in size. In May, the samples will be brought to the lab by the Akademik Feodorov icebreaker to confirm the discovery. Voice of Russia, RIA, Source: Voice of Russia

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Russia sets to develop its Arctic section

By Yelena Kovachich, Russia is to embark on a large-scale extracting of minerals in its Arctic shelf, but all the ecological risks will have to be considered and taken care of first, say experts. The government has prepared a programme for the development of the country’s Arctic shelf up to 2030, envisaging increasing oil production by 5 fold and gas by 4 fold, and the government believes that the completion of the programme will have an 8 trillion rubles economic effect.Russia has been working on the development of its Arctic shelf for many years, but that raises the question of the safety of the extraction of minerals in the region, in view of the fragility of the area - the most vulnerable on the planet and which may not withstand the location of heavy industries. The Russian government is to carry out a detailed study of the ecological fallout from the industrial activity in the region, and the bearing of responsibility in the event of serious damage to the shelf. Boris Nikitin assures that work at the existing deposits in the shelf is being done according to established standards. Source: Voice of Russia.

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First Look: Antarctic Subglacial Lake Explored By Minisub

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A video camera on a NASA-designed-and-funded mini-submarine captured this view as it descended a 2,600-foot-deep (800-meter-deep) borehole to explore Antarctica's subglacial Lake Whillans. The international Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project was designed to gain insights into subglacial biology, climate history and modern ice sheet behavior. When researcher Alberto Behar from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., joined an international Antarctic expedition last month on a trek to investigate a subglacial lake, he brought with him a unique instrument designed and funded by NASA to help the researchers study one of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth. First view of the bottom of Antarctic subglacial Lake Whillans, captured by the high-resolution imaging system aboard the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device. The imagery and other data from the mini-sub were used to survey the lake floor and help the WISSARD team verify that the rest of their instruments could be safely deployed into the lake.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Called the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device, the instrument was a small robotic sub about the size and shape of a baseball bat. Designed to expand the range of extreme environments accessible by humans while minimally disturbing the environment, the sub was equipped with hydrological chemical sensors and a high-resolution imaging system. The instruments and cameras characterize the geology, hydrology and chemical characteristics of the sub's surroundings. Behar supervised a team of students from Arizona State University, Tempe, in designing, developing, testing and operating the first-of-its-kind sub. NASA/JPL researcher Alberto Behar joins an international Antarctic expedition to investigate a subglacial lake. This is the first instrument ever to explore a subglacial lake outside of a borehole," Behar said. "It's able to take us places that are inaccessible by any other instruments in existence." The sub was deployed by the U.S. team of the international Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project. The project's objective was to access subglacial Lake Whillans, located more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) below sea level, deep within West Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, nearly 700 miles (about 1,125 kilometers) from the U.S. McMurdo Station. The 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) lake is totally devoid of sunlight and has a temperature of 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 0.5 degrees Celsius). It is part of a vast Antarctic subglacial aquatic system that covers an area about the size of the continental United States. The WISSARD team included researchers from eight U.S. universities and two collaborating international institutions. They used specialized tools to get clean samples of subglacial lake water and sediments, survey the lake floor with video and characterize the biological, chemical and physical properties of the lake and its surroundings. Their research is designed to gain insights into subglacial biology, climate history and modern ice sheet behavior. The instrument consists of a "mothership" connected to a deployment device that houses the submarine. The sub is designed to operate at depths of up to three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) and within a range of 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) from the bottom of the borehole that was drilled through the ice to reach the lake. It transmits real-time high-resolution imagery, salinity, temperature and depth measurements to the surface via fiber-optic cables. In a race against time and the elements to access the lake before the end of the current
Antarctic field season, the WISSARD team spent three days in January drilling a 2,600-foot-deep (800-meters), 20-inch-wide (50-centimeters) borehole into the lake, which they reached on Jan. 28. Like Alice down the rabbit hole, the sub was then sent down the borehole, where it was initially used to guide drilling operations. When the instrument finally reached the lake, the team used its imagery to survey the lake floor. The data enabled the team to verify that the rest of the project's instruments could be safely deployed into the lake. The WISSARD team was then able to proceed with its next phase: collecting lake water samples to search for microbial life. And that search has apparently paid off. Earlier this month, the team reported that the lake water did indeed contain living bacteria, a discovery that might hold important implications for the search for life elsewhere in the universe. Core funding for WISSARD and the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device was provided by the National Science Foundation-Office of Polar Programs. The sub was funded by NASA's Cryospheric Sciences and Astrobiology programs. Additional funds for WISSARD instrument development were provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Contacts and sources: Alan Buis, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, For more on WISSARD, visit: http://www.wissard.org . For more on Behar's previous robotic Antarctic research, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/antarctic-shrimp.html .Source: Nano Patents And Innovations

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Russia's Arctic strategy: development and innovations

With many countries having their eyes on the Arctic and its rich resources, the region is becoming the intersection of strategic interests and economic ambitions.

Countries of the Artic rim should be aware of the worst-case scenario and work closely together to avert it. Experts polled by the Voice of Russia agree that Russia’s new strategy for the development of its Artic territories, which was rubberstamped by President Vladimir Putin this week, is a major step forward along this path. A project of unprecedented scale in Russia’s post-Soviet history, it outlines the key Arctic policy priorities and sets a wide range of tasks from socio-economic development and ecological security to tighter border protection and the expansion of international ties. Those are the ambitious targets that Russia must work towards consistently if it wants to secure its positions in the Arctic. Inland mineral resources are rapidly shrinking and will be fully exhausted in 30-40 years, scientists warn, while hidden beneath the untapped Arctic shelf are vast reserves of hydrocarbons. Melting Arctic seas are making them easier to get at. Sergei Pikin is Director of the Energy Development Fund. "The Arctic is a Klondike for decades ahead. All future energy wars will be fought around the Arctic shelf. Therefore, it’s important to attract both Russian companies and foreign partners to the geological exploration and industrial development of the Arctic – the sooner, the better. But it should be remembered that offshore exploration creates environmental risks. To minimize them, everything must be done within the frames of a single strategy. That’s the purpose." With 70% of Russia’s hydrocarbon reserves located in the Arctic shelf, the government’s decision to form a strategic reserve of oil and gas fields in the Arctic region to guarantee national energy security is of utmost importance. Sergei Pikin: "The above reserve will help stabilize the situation on international markets. Excess supply pushes gas prices down but affects the interests of exploration and extraction companies. On the other hand, supply deficit pushes prices up, but then the demand goes down. Such reserves will keep the situation stable for both producers and consumers, making development more sustainable. But that requires a detailed exploration database." Offshore exploratory drilling will begin shortly in the Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas and in the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas. Simultaneously, a major Arctic infrastructure program will be launched. The Northern Sea Route will be the main artery and the core of the future Arctic transportation and supply network, says Vasily Gutsulyak, an expert at the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciencfes: "As larger areas of Arctic ice are melting away due to global warming, all-year-round navigation without icebreakers will no longer be impossible. Naturally, transportation costs will be considerably cheaper than now because we still have to use icebreakers. Also, faced with the increasing piracy threat, ship owners will search for alternative routes. This opens up great prospects for the Northern Sea Route. Japan has already shown interest in it." Another important task is to settle the international formalities regarding the disputed outer border of Russia’s Arctic shelf. Russia will soon file all the necessary documents with the United Nations to substantiate its claims. The case in point is about 10% of the country’s territory. The entire strategy is designed for 2020, but the first stage is to be completed by 2015. Source: Voice of Russia

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Russian scientists get first ice samples from Antarctic Lake Vostok

© Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Russian scientists have obtained first ice samples from Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice. The scientists presume that the ice from the lake may have special physical characteristics.

Lake Vostok is considered to be the largest of several hundreds of reservoirs located under the Antarctic ice. With an area of 15,000 square km it is slightly smaller that Ladoga Lake in Russia, which is considered to be the largest in Europe. For millions of years Lake Vostok was isolated from earth atmosphere. The thickness of the ice layer above the lake varies between 3,700 up and 4,200 meters. On January 10, the members of the Antarctic expedition received first ice samples from that lake. The samples will be brought to St. Petersburg in mid-May when the research ship “Academician Fyodorov” is back from the expedition. We hear from Valery Lukin, the head of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in charge of the mission. "Thеn (in May) these samples will be taken to our laboratories for micro-biological and chemical analysis. We are going to study the biodiversity of an absolutely unknown object. So far no one else in the world has managed to take sample from that lake. If we find some microorganisms in those samples we will probably get new data about evolution laws because such organisms lived in such a unique environment." The study of water from the lake will help researchers answer an important question about life forms which existed on our planet millions of years ago. So far there are no direct proves of life forms in the lake but many scientists believe that they exist there, Tamara Hoger, deputy head of the limnology institute of the Siberian department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says. "Lake Vostok was isolated from the outer world for more than a million years. It is possible to speak about the reconstruction of paleo-climate by analyzing samples of water. Perhaps we will discover the most primitive life forms." Antarctica is still full of secrets and now Russian scientists have come closer to discovering the secrets of the largest Antarctic lake. Source: Voice of Russia

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Part of Antarctica to be named Queen Elizabeth Land

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The British Government thought long and hard about what to give the Queen as a Diamond Jubilee gift. The cabinet gave her a set of place mats decorated with pictures of Buckingham Palace, but the Foreign Office have been a bit more imaginative. They've named a large piece of Antarctica Queen Elizabeth Land - an area twice the size of the UK. Professor Julian Dowdeswell is the Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University. Of course, Queen Land is ice for the most part. And, in fact, the two edges of it converge on the South Pole. The both of it is covered by ice up to about 3,5 km in thickness, but there’re also several mounting ranges that also poke their way through to the surface. In some areas there are mountains that we call nunataks. And it doesn’t have a coast line, does it? I heard from the reports that it’s one of the most inaccessible spots left on Earth. Yes, that’d be true, partly because that area of Antarctica is covered by sea ice, a very thick sea ice. And it makes it hard for the ships to get there. It was the part of Antarctica that Shackleton was hoping to cross during his expedition when he suggested the first trans-Atlantic crossing 100 years ago. But of course he failed either. And I suppose the other problem for the Queen to get there and have a look at the place is that there’s an international disagreement on whether anybody has a right to claim any portion of Antarctica as a national territory. A number of countries have made claims to parts of Antarctica. Those claims including that of U.K. were held in the bans under the Antarctic Treaty system of which the U.K. is a signatory. I don’t think there’s any kind of immediate controversy about the area. What about the actual registering of that name of maps? Who is likely to adopt it? Will everybody go along with it? Not necessarily. There’s a Place-names Committee for the British Antarctic Territory. And we make a series of recommendations to the commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory who has adopted this suggestion as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. And therefore on British maps the name will appear. There’s no compulsion for any country to use the name at all. The name will also be submitted to the scientific committee on Antarctic research and we hope to adopt it there which will make it more likely for the other countries to use it. I think there’s already a piece of Antarctica which was named after her before she came to the throne. That’s right. It was named in the 1930s by Sir Douglas Mawson. There were also one or two other royal names in Antarctica – Victoria Land is clearly named after Queen Victoria. And there’s Princess Royal Range elsewhere on the British Antarctic Territory. Source: Voice of Russia, 

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Who has the right to Antarctic?

Next century may see replotting in the Antarctic. As soon as scientists find ways of extracting oil and gas from under layers of ice 1 kilometre thick, at least 30 countries will make claims on the sixth continent. At present scientists continue working on the southernmost continent where they mainly study the resource base. Huge resources of oil and gas are hidden under the ice cover of the Antarctic. It is a proved fact but at present the development of these fields is too difficult and unprofitable. In addition, many countries are held back by the status of a continent. According to the treaty on the Antarctic, no one has the right either to draw state borders there or develop mineral deposits. Still, there are some countries whose Constitutions guarantee control over Antarctic territories to them. For example, Australia raises claims to one third of the continent. Argentina and even the UK apply to the principle of neighbourhood. London and Buenos Aires stake on sectors in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) whose status the two countries have not regulated until today. Incidentally, Chile also makes claims to the same sector. Vyacheslav Martianov from the Institute of the Arctic and the Antarctic, deputy head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, explains the situation. “The sector which belongs to Chile is registered in Argentina and the UK as their own sectors. If one of those countries says that this is their territory they will face opposition from the whole of the Antarctic community and the two pioneer countries, as well as those countries whose constitutions also claim that those are their territories. The agreement on the Antarctic prevents all countries from taking any steps concerning the continent but the ocean around is a different matter. There is a contradiction between the maritime law and the treaty on the use of seabed mineral resources.” New Zealand, France and Norway also raise claims to parts of the Antarctic. The latter is prepared to annex lands in the centre of the continent that exceed the area of that country tenfold. In addition, there are about 20 other countries that in the past began scientific research on the South Pole, made some discoveries there and built research stations. In the future their contribution to the Antarctic science could become the reason for claiming rights to their own piece of the sixth continent, experts say. However, no one has yet cancelled the right of pioneer countries for the new lands, Vyacheslav Martianov says. “The pioneer countries for the Antarctic are Russia and the US. Russia carried out the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev in 1819-1821. Americans produced a pirate who discovered the Antarctic at approximately the same time and this has been recognized. For this reason the two countries are considered to be pioneers in discovering the Antarctic. As a pioneer country, either of these countries can announce the whole of the sixth continent their territory.” Neither Russia nor the US has taken advantage of this right yet. Still, there is no way to avoid replotting of the Antarctic. In about 100 years the world may face deficit of resources, scientists believe. Then countries would have to solve the problem of the right to oil and gas fields on the South Pole. It would most likely be a peaceful process, Russian scientists say. The treaty on the Antarctic which forbids exploring mineral resources on the continent is reviewed every 50 years. No amendments were introduced to the treaty at the session in 2009. Experts do not rule out that by the time of the next session representatives of the member-states could develop suggestions on borders. In 1959 the agreement was signed by 12 countries that wanted to carry out research on the continent, Russia and the US included. At present the convention is supported by over 45 countries. Source: Voice of Russia

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Russia to create Arctic nature park

Russia will create the Russian Arctic nature park in the western area of the Arctic coast, the country’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated Thursday. He signed a decree in this respect after a meeting on the Far East development. The new nature preserve will spread over a territory of 600,000 ha. Interfax, Source: Voice of Russia

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Lake Vostok water sampled

After almost 22 years of on-off careful drilling through almost 3,800 metres of Antarctic ice, Russian explorers have successfully sunken a well into subglacial Lake Vostok in eastern Antarctica. Some 40 liters of its water have already been sampled.The sample is to be examined for life forms that might have evolved far astray from those known on the surface during their hundreds of thousands of years beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists say they are looking forward to discovering wonders of the magnitude of life on Mars.Tags: Lake Vostok , World, News, Antarctic, Sci-Tech, Russia, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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The amazing Antarctica

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Antarctica, the Earth's southernmost place, is the best continent for natural beauty. For the most part, Antarctica is just frozen and lifeless, but the perimeter of Antarctica is where you can find all the wildlife, especially on its peninsula. [huanqiu.com] Source: China.org.cn

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Antarctica had semi-tropical rainforests 50 million years ago

RAINFOREST thrived in Antarctica during a period of high atmospheric carbon levels 50 million years ago, scientists have discovered. And they are warning the planet's atmosphere could have similar levels of the greenhouse gas within hundreds of years and we could end up with an ice-free Antarctica. An international team led by German scientists and involving University of Queensland Environmental Geologist Dr Kevin Welsh has found tropical palms grew on the coast of Antarctica 52 million years ago. At that warm period in the earth's history, there was twice as much CO2 in the atmosphere as there is now and winter temperatures of 10C meant Antarctica's 4km thick ice sheet didn't exist. "It's massively different to what we think of today," Dr Welsh said. "It would be entirely ice-free and not only ice-free but warm enough that you'd have near-tropical rainforest actually growing along the margin of the continent."Soure: Sam Daily Times

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China's Quest for Arctic Access & Resources

 Coming Crisis: China has become increasingly interested in the Arctic in recent years due to the melting of the polar ice-cap, and its own desperate need for energy resources and raw materials for its growing economy. Access to natural resources and shortened shipping routes has prompted China to look at what Arctic might provide. China is not an Arctic littoral state, has no Arctic coast, and as such neither sovereign rights over region’s continental shelves nor the resources that lay beneath them. Regardless as an emerging global power and permanent member of United Nations Security Council, it is expected to seek a role in determining this framework and legal foundations for the region’s future management. The changing situation in the Arctic has raised many questions and uncertainties about its future and could lead to new geopolitical challenges for both Arctic littoral states and non-Arctic countries. These issues are primarily related to free passage and resource extraction rights. To this end, countries across Asia, including China, Europe and North America are concerned with this transformation and its economic, territorial and geopolitical implications Source: The Coming Crisis

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Why Ancient Antarctica May Have Been Very Different

The few plants that live in Antarctica today are hardy hangers-on, growing just a few weeks out of the year and surviving poor soil, lack of rain and very little sunlight. But long ago, some parts of Antarctica were almost lush. New research finds that between about 15 million and 20 million years ago, plant life thrived on the coasts of the southernmost continent. Ancient pollen samples suggest that the landscape was a bit like today's Chilean Andes: grassy tundra dotted with small trees. This vegetated period peaked during the middle Miocene, when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were around 400 to 600 parts per million. (Today, driven by fossil fuel use, atmospheric carbon dioxide has climbed to 393 parts per million.) As a result, global temperatures warmed. Antarctica followed suit. During this period, summer temperatures on the continent were 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) warmer than today, researchers reported June 17 in the journal Nature Geoscience. "When the planet heats up, the biggest changes are seen toward the poles," study researcher Jung-Eun Lee, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "The southward movement of rain bands made the margins of Antarctica less like a polar desert and more like present-day Iceland." NASA researchers, along with scientists from the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University, collected long cores of sediment from below Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. Within the sediment, they found plant-leaf wax, an indication of ancient vegetation. The cores also contained pollen and algae. An analysis of the leaf wax provided a record of the water taken up by the plants when they lived. Researchers could then track variations in the hydrogen molecules in the water, called isotopes. Because isotopes vary over time and over certain environmental conditions, these variations allowed the researchers to reconstruct what the climate would have looked like when this water fell as rain. If current carbon emissions continue as they are, atmospheric carbon is set to reach middle Miocene levels by the end of the century. The northern Antarctic Peninsula has already warmed by 4.5 degrees F (2.5 degrees C) over the last 50 years, and satellite views reveal melting ice shelves. The ancient Antarctic sediment could provide a vision of what is to come, said study leader Sarah Feakins, an earth scientist at the University of Southern California. "Just as history has a lot to teach us about the future, so does past climate," Feakins said in a statement. "What this record shows us is how much warmer and wetter it can get around the Antarctic ice sheet as the climate system heats up." (Huffingtonpost.com) Source: Sam Daily Times

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Eyes in the sky worldwide as Venus makes mark on sun

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Hindustan Times, Cape Canaveral, A rare celestial spectacle -- Transit of Venus -- the last for this century, unfolded in the morning sky all across the country today, enthralling the astro enthusiasts. Scientists and amateur astronomers alike celebrated the arrival of the Transit of Venus, peering up to the skies to watch a dark black spot slide over the surface of the Sun. The awesome spectacle was visible all over the country, including the national capital. However, a cloudy sky restricted its visibility from Delhi and some other parts of northern India. "This was the century's last Venus Transit," Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree said. The event was visible at around 7 am, she said. Large projectors, pin hole cameras and telescopes were set up to help people see the celestial event unfold at the Planetarium, where a large number of people had gathered to see the rare event. "It is exciting to see such an event," said a Class X student Soumaya. "It is too good to resist. It is awesome," Nisha Gupta, a school teacher said, who had earlier seen the 2004 spectacle also. "The next Venus transit will happen after 105.5 years in 2117, making this a lifetime's event," Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Director C B Devgun said. From the Earth, this phenomenon is seen when the Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. It occurs in intervals of 8, 121½, 8 and 105½ years, Devgun said. "The phenomenon should be seen only through solar filters, special solar glasses or with the help of pin hole cameras," Secretary of Planetary Society of India N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said. The last Transit of Venus occurred on June 8, 2004 and was visible across India. The passage of planet Venus across the face of Sun is once in a life time celestial event and many viewed it across the country. An official said today, "Over 5,000 people might have come and gone after seeing the celestial event in Chennai since morning. We made arrangements for the people to view the event thorough different telescopes," S. Soundarajaperumal, joint director, Birla Planetarium said. Special arrangements were made for the people to watch the transit of Venus as watching it with naked eyes is injurious. "While the school students enjoyed watching the event, Madras University students are doing their research," Soundarajaperumal said. See in pics The planet Venus made a slow transit across the face of the sun today, the last such passing that will be visible from Earth for 105 years. Transits of Venus happen in pairs, eight years apart, with more than a century between cycles. During the pass, Venus took the form of a small black dot slowly shifting across the northern hemisphere of the sun.Armchair astronomers watched the six-hour and 40-minute transit on the Internet, with dozens of websites offering live video from around the world. Closeup views from the Prescott Observatory in Arizona, fed into Slooh.com's webcast, showed a small solar flaring in the making just beneath Venus' sphere. Tuesday's transit, completing a 2004-2012 pair, began at 6.09 pm EDT (2209 GMT). Skywatchers on seven continents, including Antarctica, were able to see all or part of the transit. Even astronauts aboard the , International Space Station joined in the spectacle. "I've been planning this for a while," space station flight engineer Don Pettit said in a NASA interview. "I knew the transit of Venus would occur during my rotation, so I brought a solar filter with me." It's not all about pretty pictures. Several science experiments were planned, including studies that could help in the search for habitable planets beyond Earth. Telescopes, such as NASA's Kepler space telescope, are being used to find so-called extrasolar planets that pass in front of their parent stars, much like Venus passing by the sun. During the transit of Venus, astronomers planned to measure the planet's thick atmosphere in the hope of developing techniques to measure atmospheres around other planets. Studies of the atmosphere of Venus could also shed light on why Earth and Venus, which are almost exactly the same size and orbit approximately the same distance from the sun, are so different. Venus has a chokingly dense atmosphere, 100 times thicker than Earth's, that is mostly carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Its surface temperature is a lead-melting 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius) and towering clouds of sulfuric acid jet around the planet at 220 miles per hour (355 kph) dousing it with acid rain. "Venus is known as the goddess of love, but it's not the type of relationship you'd want," an astronomer said on the Slooh.com webcast. "This is a look-but-don't-touch kind of relationship." Scientists are interested in learning more about Venus' climate in hopes of understanding changes in Earth's atmosphere. During previous transits of Venus, scientists were able to figure out the size of the solar system and the distance between the sun and the planets. Tuesday's transit is only the eighth since the invention of the telescope, and the last until December 10-11, 2117. It also is the first to take place with a spacecraft at Venus. Observations from Europe's Venus Express probe will be compared with those made by several ground and space-based telescopes, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, the joint US-European Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and Japan's Hinode spacecraft. (with inputs from PTI, Reuters) Source: Hindustan Times

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Antarctic Ocean Alliance: committed to protecting critical areas in the Southern Ocean

RTSea: The Antarctic's Ross Sea is considered by many to be one of the most pristine marine environments to be found down under. Facing New Zealand to the north, it has had proposals for basic protection sponsored by the United States and New Zealand, but now a more coordinated and international plan is being initiated, one that will possibly lead to the world's largest fully protected marine reserve. The recently launched Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) represents the coming together of several leading international conservation organizations, along with renown ocean conservation experts and even celebrities - all bound by one common purpose: to protect the Antarctic's marine resources. As a first step, they hope to establish a protected marine reserve in the Ross Sea, one that will ultimately expand to reach over 2.2 million square miles. “The  Ross  Sea  is

one of the most amazing and relatively untouched marine environments on earth,” said the Alliance’s Chuck Fox. “While there are two proposals on the table to protect some of it, our report shows that we need a much broader and ecosystems-focused approach if we are to ensure this environment remains healthy and stable.“  The AOA includes, as its supporters, Greenpeace, WWF, Humane Society International, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), the Blue Marine Foundation (UK), Mission Blue (US), Oceans 5 (US), Deep Wave (Germany), The Last Ocean, Forest & Bird (NZ), the Environment and Conservation Organizations of New Zealand, and many others, along with individuals like oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, and actor/conservation activist Edward Norton. While the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR) is the regulatory body that has agreed to work with AOA to establish a network of marine protected areas in and around the Ross Sea, they tend to work more behind the signs. The AOA will take a more proactive position when it comes to public exposure and media attention. This is meant to help ensure that all nations involved in implementing plans for marine protection will be better held accountable for the policies and plans they put in place. “The fate of the Antarctic’s Ross Sea is likely to be decided by 24 countries and the EU this year and the global public knows nothing about it,” said Alliance Campaign Director Steve Campbell.“Now is the time to protect this amazing environment but we’ll need the global public involved to make that happen.” Antarctic waters, which include the Southern Ocean, the Ross Sea,

the Weddell Sea, and the Amundsen Sea, represents some of the richest  marine ecosystems on earth with as many as 10,000 species calling it home. This environmental bounty has, over the years, been seen as a commercial bounty, too, with industrial fishing taking a heavy toll on many species. The Antarctic Ocean Alliance seeks to curb commercial overfishing in the Antarctic and, with the Ross Sea protections as a start, the Alliance will be identifying 16 other critical habitats within the Southern Ocean that need protection.Source: RTSea

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Fire at Brazilian research station in Antarctica

A fire at a Brazilian research station "Comandante Ferraz" in Antarctica, according to the Associated Press, broke out Saturday morning in the machine room that houses the energy generators. The staff of 44 people were evacuated by helicopter to the Chilean research station, which is located nearby.Two people from "Comandante Ferraz" are missing. The Brazilian newspaper Estado de S. Paulo reported that they had died; however, the press service of Brazil’s Navy has not confirmed this information. Source: Voice of Russia.

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Scientists reach water of ice-covered lake in Antarctic

Russian Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev has presented a sample of water from Lake Vostok in the Antarctic to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Lake Vostok is a unique reservoir of unfrozen water hidden under an about 4 kms-thick layer of ice in the Antarctic.

Russian Minister of  Natural  Resources  Yuri Trutnev  has  presented  a sample of water from Lake Vostok in the Antarctic to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Lake Vostok is a unique reservoir of unfrozen water hidden under an about 4 kms-thick layer of ice in the Antarctic. Scientists say that the lake was covered with ice several million years ago and has been blocked from the rest of the world since. This week, Russian scientists finally reached the unfrozen water, after several years of drilling a hole in the ice. Scientists hope to discover unique microorganisms in the lake’s water.The Russian Academy of Science says that that this achievement can be compared with people’s landing on Mars. Source: Voice of Russia

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Can Antarctic ices cool global warming?

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By Smirnova Viktoria, The Antarctic continent is sometimes called the humankind’s last reserve, for it has been much less explored and exploited than all the other continents.The Antarctic was discovered only about 200 years ago by Russian seafarers Mikhail Lazarev and Faddey Bellingshausen. The first polar station which opened there in 1956 was a Russian station called “Mirny”, which means “peaceful”. At present, about 60 bases and stations, which belong to 11 countries, are working in the Antarctic.Tags: Antarctic, Commentary, Russia, Society, World, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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