Exploring the Last Continent

Exploring the Last Continent

Daniela Liggett Bryan Storey Yvonne Cook Veronika Meduna Editors Exploring the Last Continent An Introduction to Antarctica

Editors Daniela Liggett Gateway Antarctica University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Yvonne Cook School of Earth and Environmental Science, James Cook University Townsville, QLD, Australia Bryan Storey Gateway Antarctica University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Veronika Meduna Radio NZ House Wellington, New Zealand ISBN 978-3-319-18946-8 ISBN 978-3-319-18947-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18947-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947821 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image: The picture is showing the sea ice edge in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, (looking ENE towards Mt. Erebus) in late January 2015. Photo by R. Eisert. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www. springer.com)

Acknowledgements This book has been an incredible and enlightening journey for the authors, editors and publishers and would never have come to fruition without the support, encouragement and enthusiasm of a wide range of people and organisations. We owe sincere gratitude to Michelle Rogan-Finnemore for her generosity, good advice and help in moving this book project along. Sam Elworthy, the Director of Auckland University Press, was instrumental in supporting the development of the book project from early ideas and draft chapters into a coherent academic text. Margaret Deignan and Takeesha Moerland-Torpey at Springer were helpful, understanding and patient with us and gave us sufficient time and support to fine-tune the final product. We gratefully acknowledge the crucial funding that led to the production of this book. Funding was provided by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology in support of the International Polar Year through contract UOCX0806 to Gateway Antarctica (University of Canterbury) entitled Providing gateways for Antarctic and Southern Ocean education. We wish to thank Paul Bealing at the Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, for producing the Antarctic map featured in this book and Kurt Joy at Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, for drawing a range of geological images. Andy Reisinger s help with converting file formats and producing figures was invaluable. A number of New Zealand and international artists gave us the kind permission to include some of their work in this book, and in particular, we wish to extend our gratitude to Nigel Brown, Margaret Elliot, Fieke Neuman, Robert Nicholls and Clare Plug. Many individual researchers, writers, modellers and technicians generously allowed us to reuse their photos, drawings or diagrams and find mention in the respective figure captions throughout the book. We acknowledge and thank each of them for their generosity in this regard. Reasonable attempts have been made to secure copyright permissions. If any have been overlooked, we apologise and ask the concerned individuals or groups to contact us in this regard. v

vi Acknowledgements Finally, we are very grateful for having had the opportunity to work with a wonderful team of extremely knowledgeable, talented and accommodating authors, without whom we could not have produced this multidisciplinary and multifaceted introduction to Antarctica, Antarctic research and current issues surrounding human engagement in Antarctica. We appreciate their support, patience and enthusiasm for this project throughout and beyond a very long gestation period. Chapter authors would also like to thank the following: Dave Barnes, Eugene Murphy, Inigo Eversen, Pete Bucktrout, Chris Gilbert, Geraint Tarling and John Turner for providing figures, comments and discussions about Chap. 12. This work is part of the research sponsored by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal), Institute of Marine Research of the University of Coimbra and by the Polar Science for Planet Earth (PSPE) programme of the British Antarctic Survey (United Kingdom).

Contents 1 Exploring the Last Continent... 1 Daniela Liggett, Bryan Storey, and Yvonne Cook Part I Physical Sciences 2 A Continent Under Ice... 9 Yvonne Cook and Bryan Storey 3 A Long Journey South... 29 Bryan Storey and Yvonne Cook 4 Looking Back to the Future... 51 Cliff Atkins 5 An Ice-Bound Continent... 67 Kate E. Sinclair 6 Weather and Climate... 91 Ian Owens and Peyman Zawar-Reza 7 The Southern Ocean... 115 Michael J.M. Williams 8 From Ice to Space... 129 Rhian A. Salmon and Anna E. Jones Part II Life Sciences 9 Remote Ocean Outposts... 157 Peter W. Carey 10 Life on Land... 175 Paul A. Broady vii

viii Contents 11 Life on Land... 201 Paul A. Broady 12 Life Beyond the Ice... 229 José C. Xavier and Lloyd S. Peck 13 Antarctic Megafauna... 253 Regina Eisert 14 Surviving in the Cold... 291 Crystal Lenky and Bill Davison Part III Social Sciences and Humanities 15 Polar Expeditions... 307 Ursula Rack 16 A Continent for Peace and Science... 327 Neil Gilbert 17 Extreme and Unusual... 361 G. Daniel Steel 18 Destination Icy Wilderness... 379 Daniela Liggett 19 Creativity at the Frozen Frontier... 399 Patrick Shepherd Part IV Current Issues 20 Commercial Harvest in Antarctica... 413 Alan D. Hemmings 21 Southern Ocean Fisheries... 429 Denzil G.M. Miller 22 The Search for Extremophiles... 463 Veronika Meduna 23 The Question of Mining... 477 Yvonne Cook and Bryan Storey 24 Ice and Mineral Resources... 487 Karen N. Scott 25 Recent Climate Change... 505 Michael J. Bentley

Contents ix 26 Reducing Fossil Fuel Consumption... 521 Pat Bodger and Yvonne Cook 27 Alien Invasions... 539 Peter Convey 28 Meeting Future Challenges of Antarctic Research... 557 David Carlson 29 Antarctic Scientific Collaboration... 573 David W.H. Walton, Mahlon C. Kennicutt, and Colin P. Summerhayes Index... 589