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Welcome to Antarctica!

Science in Antarctica

Why Science in Antarctica?

Antarctica is the most undisturbed, pristine places in the world, allowing many experiments to take place without outside interference or contamination.

* The air is cleaner in Antarctica than anywhere else, providing a reliable baseline for air quality monitoring.

* It's the darkest place on earth, making it great for astronomical research.

* Studying global warming in Antarctica gives us insight into environmental impacts across the globe.

* Additionally, there are no borders or governments in Antarctica, so there's lots of room for international scientific cooperation without territorial issues.

Aeronomy

Aeronomy is a term introduced by S. Chapman in 1932. It refers to the study of the chemical & physical phenomena in the atmosphere above a height of 30 km. One of the most prominent areas of aeronomy research is the reduction of the ozone layer by human-introduced gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Antarctic research has given us a much clearer picture of how the atmosphere at high altitude functions. One reason is the "polar vortex": a strong circumpolar wind (a wind in the mid- to lower stratosphere, circling the pole) that develops during the polar winter. Since no sunlight reaches the South Pole during the winter, this isolated air can become very cold. Once the air temperature reaches -80ºC, Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) form. They're formed of ice particles containing dissolved nitric acid. These PSCs alter the chemical balance between chlorine (from CFC breakdown) and other atmospheric gases, allowing ozone loss to occur. This process happens only in Antarctica because of the very specific conditions under which it occurs; this makes Antarctica an ideal place to study the process.

Astrophysics

Because of the PSC formation in the winter, the thinning of the ozone layer is at its peak during the spring. The "silver lining" of the spring ozone hole in Antarctica is that it provides favorable conditions for observing things outside our atmosphere. The Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole is known as one of the best places on earth to study the stars. Current research includes the origin of star-forming clouds, the origin & evolution of protostars and young stars, and the interaction between molecular clouds and young stars. It is also the perfect place to study microwave background radiation, believed to be the remaining echo of the "Big Band". Scientists use the cold, dry conditions to determine whether there is a spatial structure to the background radiation, which is predicted by some theories.

Biology

One of the reasons biology is studied in Antarctica is simplicity. So few organisms can survive in such a harsh environment that the ecosystems are, by definition, very simple. There are fewer variables to consider, therefore conclusions are easier to draw. Under the ocean, however, the situation is the opposite; the ocean ecosystem in Antarctica is complex and rich. Many of the resources in this ecosystem have been exploited in the past, and those events provide large-scale experiments in things such as food chain disruptions. Another point is Antarctica's particular susceptibility to climate change. Even very small climate changes can have major effects on organisms in Antarctica because the plants & animals here are adapted to survive in such a very specific climate. This can help us learn more about evolution and adaptation.

Climate Change

There is currently such an interest in global climate change that Antarctic research into that area has become very important. Because of the frigid temperatures in the Antarctic, when snow falls, it never melts. Therefore thousands of years of snow stack upon each other, forming layers that get increasingly older the deeper one digs. Information taken from ice cores (long cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers & ice packs) can reveal information about the climate history of the earth, because each of these snow layers contains details about the atmosphere at the time it was formed. These details might include the relationship between carbon dioxide and temperature, evidence of major volcanic eruptions, and patterns of mean air temperature in the earth's past.

Dry Valleys

The "Dry Valleys" region of Antarctica gets almost no snowfall or moisture of any kind. Several lakes occupy parts of some of these valley floors. Many are over 30 meters deep and have year-round ice covers that several meters thick. These lakes have a unique chemical composition, with the bottom few meters of the lakes having more dissolved salt than sea water (three times as saline as the ocean!) while the upper layers have only 0.1 percent dissolved solids. Amazingly, some of these polar lakes show a temperature inversion, with temperatures as high as 25ºC (75ºF) at the bottom, entirely due to solar heating of the water through the ice. These lakes have organisms growing on and in the ice cover, in the water, and at the lake bottom. Exploration of the lakes by scuba divers have shown algal mats on the bottoms of the lake floors.

Medical Research

Antarctic stations provide a unique group of people to study for medical research: the population of Antarctica is usually young and fit, and they all eat the same diet, experience the same environment, are isolated from the world for a long time, and are subject to major seasonal changes in temperature and sunlight. Current research includes microbiological studies on station crew, body rhythm studies, and studies on the psychology of small groups. Antarctica's long periods of sun and darkness make it the perfect place to study body rhythms triggered by the hormone melatonin. Melatonin production is triggered by bright sunlight, so when the long Antarctic night removes sunlight, there is a unique opportunity to study the resulting situation. In such small, isolated groups, it is possible to to identify and follow every single strain of a particular microbe as it spreads throughout the crew. India's stations are even investigating the value of yoga as a contributor to health!