NASA PARTICIPATED IN STUDY THAT FINDS ANTARCTICA WAS MUCH WARMER IN THE PAST

FROM: NASA 
WASHINGTON -- A new university-led study with NASA participation finds ancient Antarctica was much warmer and wetter than previously 
suspected. The climate was suitable to support substantial vegetation
-- including stunted trees -- along the edges of the frozen
continent.

The team of scientists involved in the study, published online June 17
in Nature Geoscience, was led by Sarah J. Feakins of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and included researchers from 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge.

By examining plant leaf wax remnants in sediment core samples taken
from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, the research team found summer
temperatures along the Antarctic coast 15 to 20 million years ago
were 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) warmer than today,
with temperatures reaching as high as 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7
degrees Celsius). Precipitation levels also were found to be several
times higher than today.

"The ultimate goal of the study was to better understand what the
future of climate change may look like," said Feakins, an assistant
professor of Earth sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences. "Just as history has a lot to teach us about the
future, so does past climate. This record shows us how much warmer
and wetter it can get around the Antarctic ice sheet as the climate
system heats up. This is some of the first evidence of just how much
warmer it was."

Scientists began to suspect that high-latitude temperatures during the
middle Miocene epoch were warmer than previously believed when
co-author Sophie Warny, assistant professor at LSU, discovered large
quantities of pollen and algae in sediment cores taken around
Antarctica. Fossils of plant life in Antarctica are difficult to come
by because the movement of the massive ice sheets covering the
landmass grinds and scrapes away the evidence.

"Marine sediment cores are ideal to look for clues of past vegetation,
as the fossils deposited are protected from ice sheet advances, but
these are technically very difficult to acquire in the Antarctic and
require international collaboration," said Warny.

Tipped off by the tiny pollen samples, Feakins opted to look at the
remnants of leaf wax taken from sediment cores for clues. Leaf wax
acts as a record of climate change by documenting the hydrogen
isotope ratios of the water the plant took up while it was alive.

"Ice cores can only go back about one million years," Feakins said.
"Sediment cores allow us to go into 'deep time.'"

Based upon a model originally developed to analyze hydrogen isotope
ratios in atmospheric water vapor data from NASA's Aura spacecraft,
co-author and JPL scientist Jung-Eun Lee created experiments to find
out just how much warmer and wetter climate may have been.

"When the planet heats up, the biggest changes are seen toward the
poles," Lee said. "The southward movement of rain bands associated
with a warmer climate in the high-latitude southern hemisphere made
the margins of Antarctica less like a polar desert, and more like
present-day Iceland."

The peak of this Antarctic greening occurred during the middle Miocene
period, between 16.4 and 15.7 million years ago. This was well after
the age of the dinosaurs, which became extinct 64 million years ago.
During the Miocene epoch, mostly modern-looking animals roamed Earth,
such as three-toed horses, deer, camel and various species of apes.
Modern humans did not appear until 200,000 years ago.

Warm conditions during the middle Miocene are thought to be associated
with carbon dioxide levels of around 400 to 600 parts per million
(ppm). In 2012, carbon dioxide levels have climbed to 393 ppm, the
highest they've been in the past several million years. At the
current rate of increase, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are on
track to reach middle Miocene levels by the end of this century.

High carbon dioxide levels during the middle Miocene epoch have been
documented in other studies through multiple lines of evidence,
including the number of microscopic pores on the surface of plant
leaves and geochemical evidence from soils and marine organisms.
While none of these 'proxies' is as reliable as the bubbles of gas
trapped in ice cores, they are the best evidence available this far
back in time. While scientists do not yet know precisely why carbon
dioxide was at these levels during the middle Miocene, high carbon
dioxide, together with the global warmth documented from many parts
of the world and now also from the Antarctic region, appear to
coincide during this period in Earth's history.

This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation with
additional support from NASA. The California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

THE SOUTH POLE LEGACY

                                              Photo:   McMurdo Antarctica.  Credit:  Wikimedia.


FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
May 31, 2012
A Legacy of the Race to the South Pole: New Scientific Discoveries in Antarctica
Forbidding though Antarctica is, the stations located there are nevertheless irresistibly inviting to scientists, as Antarctica supports a cornucopia of unique life forms, geologic wonders, and marine and atmospheric conditions

This winter marks the 100th anniversary of the race to the South Pole. After crossing Antarctica-the coldest, windiest, driest continent on Earth-the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team arrived at the geographic South Pole on Dec. 14, 1911, the first people in history to reach the bottom of the Earth.

About one month later, on January 17, 1912, the British explorer Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his party arrived at the South Pole to discover that Amundsen had beaten them there. Sadly, Scott died on the ice while attempting to return from the Pole. Nevertheless, the work of the Scott team on their trek to and from the Pole-including hauling 35 pounds of rock and fossil specimens on their return journey-helped lay the foundation for modern Antarctic science.

If Amundsen and Scott could somehow magically be transported back to the South Pole now, they would probably be amazed and honored to discover that the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a massive, two-story, science-support structure, overlooks the spot they worked so hard to reach. Nearby is a 10-meter radio telescope that is currently being used to study the nature of mysterious dark matter.  Below the surface of the ice sheet ice is a cube-shaped detector--a kilometer on each side--searching for elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos.

Amundsen-Scott is one of three year-round stations operated by the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), which is managed by NSF under terms of Presidential Memorandum 6646. The other stations are McMurdo Station on Ross Island and Palmer Station on Anvers Island in the Antarctic Peninsula Region.

Forbidding though Antarctica is, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, McMurdo Station and Palmer Station are nevertheless irresistibly inviting to scientists because Antarctica supports a cornucopia of fantastic life forms, geologic wonders, and marine and atmospheric conditions that are found nowhere else on Earth.

For example, researchers are studying adaptations that enable various life-forms-from microorganisms to penguins to seals-to survive in Antarctica, and how research into those adaptations may ultimately benefit human health. Researchers are even looking at the living and working conditions of research teams already in Antarctica to get a better understanding for how people can survive in such extreme ecosystems.

Some Antarctic species, despite their adaptations, are under particular stress. The retreat of sea ice in some parts of Antarctica are critically affecting two penguin species with particularly restricted ranges, and recent warming of water temperatures may be influencing the proliferation of undersea giants, including extremely large sea stars, jellyfish and sea spiders.

Scientists are also investigating global changes for which Antarctica provides an ideal study site, such as the current state of our planet's ozone layer, which protects us from ultraviolet radiation, and the impacts that are emerging as global climate changes. Observations of Antarctica's response to a warming globe-such as ocean acidification and the calving of glaciers off of continental ice sheets-are important for understanding such factors as the effects of ice retreat on global sea level and, more broadly, serve as bellwethers for the planet as a whole.

NAVY SUPPORTS RESEARCH IN ANTARCTICA WITH OPERATION DEEP FREEZE

A C-17 sits on the ice runway at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Nov. 21, 2011. The C-17 is a part of Operation Deep Freeze which provides airlift support to the National Science Foundation. The NSF manages the United States Antarctic Program. Courtesy photo

The above picture and excerpt below are from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Operation Deep Freeze Supports Antarctica Research Mission
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2012 - Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday -- a sure sign, according to popular lore, that winter will hang on for another six weeks. But it's late summer in Antarctica, where Operation Deep Freeze, the Defense Department's support mission there, is beginning to wind down another successful season.

Operation Deep Freeze has been supporting the National Science Foundation, which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, for almost 60 years.

It's an extension of a mission the Navy started almost 200 years ago. Back to 1839, Navy Capt. Charles Wilkes led the first U.S. naval expedition into Antarctic waters. Navy Adm. Richard E. Byrd following in his footsteps, establishing naval outposts on the Antarctic coast in 1929 and later that year, made the first flight over the South Pole.

In 1946, Byrd organized the Navy's Operation Highjump, which included more than 4,000 people and numerous ships and other craft operating in the area of the Ross Sea.

In 1955, the Navy conducted the first Operation Deep Freeze.
Today, Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica, led by 13th Air Expeditionary Group, brings together active and reserve assets from the Air Force, Navy, Army and Coast Guard, as well as Defense Department civilians.

The task force provides the aircraft, ships and logistical expertise needed to support research in what may well be the most isolated and challenging part of the globe, Air Force Col. Gary James, the deputy task force director, told American Forces Press Service.

Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft operated by the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., fly most of the aerial resupply missions from a base they establish early in the season at Christchurch International Airport. So far this season, they have transported over 4 million pounds of cargo and 3,800 passengers.

James cited the challenges of providing logistical reach to such an isolated part of the world, particularly when factoring in extreme weather and temperatures. Once their cargo arrives in Antarctica, the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing uses ski-equipped LC-130 Skibird aircraft to supply remote operating bases around the continent.

The 109th began working with the Navy to support Operation Deep Freeze in the mid-1990s and assumed the mission full-time in 1998, Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Hedges, its executive officer, reported.

Now, as the only unit of its kind capable of providing ski-equipped heavy airlift, it averages six to seven aircraft and about 150 airmen on the ground in Antarctica throughout the season that typically runs from late September and continues through early March, Hedges said.

So far this season, they have airlifted nearly 6 million pounds of cargo and more than 1,300 scientists and support personnel throughout the continent, he reported.

That's a huge mission load, particularly while operating in one of the world's harshest and most demanding environments. Crews land on unimproved or partially groomed surfaces, fly where there's little or no contrast between the sky and ground and navigate where traditional compasses often don't work and solar sun spots often interfere with communications, Hedges said.
Meanwhile, unit maintainers from the unit keep the aircraft flying, operating in frigid, windy conditions without the benefit of hangars.
Despite these challenges, both James and Hedges touted a safety record of never losing a single person or aircraft.
"We ensure safe operating by practicing proven operational risk management," James said. "We have established guidance that gets people and equipment to the continent without taking unnecessary risks."
Hedges attributed his unit's safety record to an experience base built by Guardsmen who return year after year to conduct the mission. Some have been flying the missions since the mid-1990s, he said, bringing a wealth of polar experience and capability.

Other unit members are former sailors who supported Operation Deep Freeze when it was a Navy mission, then joined the 109th Airlift Wing when the mission transferred there, Hedges said.
The Navy, which led the first Operation Deep Freeze in 1955, continues to contribute to its success.
Cargo and fuel tanker ships from Military Sealift Command provide the largest share of resupply to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 1 sailors provide cargo handling and ship loading. Additionally, elements of the military's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and several other logistics specialties provide other support.

In addition, Coast Guard icebreakers remain on call in the event that the National Science Foundation's primary contract icebreakers aren't available to open icy sea lanes in and around the Ross Sea.
Operating in the world's coldest, windiest, highest and most inhospitable conditions, they ensure the National Science Foundation has what it needs to do its work.

"What they do, in some of the most austere conditions on the planet, is incredible," said Lt. Gen. Ted Kresge, the task force commander, after seeing members of his joint service, interagency team in action in November. "No one else can do what these professionals do. These men and women, with their expertise and selflessness, are a national treasure."

James said there's tremendous satisfaction working closely with the National Science Foundation in support of its mission in Antarctica. "It is good to know we provide much of the support that makes cutting-edge science possible on this continent," he said.

"Exploration of this world and its secrets is human nature," he said, noting so many discoveries that have occurred through history when scientists actually were looking for something else.
At Antarctica's South Pole Station, for example, "scientists are looking into the heavens for clues to our origins," he said. Elsewhere on the continent, they are studying geological core samples "for clues only found here -- secrets locked undisturbed in the ice from time."

"Who knows what secrets Antarctica will reveal?" James questioned. "Just being here opens those doors of possibility."