Global Systems: Antarctica Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is a global common?
A resources domain or area that lies outside of the political reach of any one nation state: there are four -
- High Seas
- Atmosphere
- Antarctica
- Outer Space
With Cyberspace as a contested 5th
It is underpinned by the principle of the common heritage of humankind
What is the tragedy of the commons?
The economic theory of a shared resource system where individuals act independently, behaving contrary to the common good of all users by depleting that resource
What are the four treaties designed to protect the commons?
- UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982)
- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Montreal and Kyoto Protocol)
- Antarctica Treaty System (1959)
- Moon Treaty (1979)
Antarctica statistics
- Antarctica covers everything 60 degrees south of the South Pole, accounting for 20% of the Southern Hemisphere
- Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent in total area; larger than Oceania and Europe
- The average Antarctic ice sheet is 4.8km thick and contains 90% of the world’s fresh water
- The ice grows in size from bout 3 million square mat the end of summer to about 19 million square km by winter
- The main ice shelves are the Ross and Ronne ice shelves, located at the south and north of the continent respectively
- Glacial ice moves from the continents interior to lower-elevation ice shelves at rates of 10 to 1000m per year
What is the Antarctic convergence zone?
An uneven line of latitude where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet warmer waters. It is 32-48km wide, 48 + 61 latitude and classified as 2 distinct hydrological regions:
- The waters surrounding Antarctica are deep, reaching 4-5km in depth
- These oceans play a key role in the ‘Ocean Conveyor Belt’, a global system in which water circulates around the globe based on density and on currents
- The cold waters surrounding Antarctica, known as the Antarctic bottom water, are so dense that they push against the ocean floor and cause warmer waters to rise/upwell
- Antarctic upwelling is so strong that it helps move water around the globe, aided by strong winds that circumnavigate Antarctica’s oceans
Ocean life and species in Antarctic waters
- Antarctic waters are among the most diverse as upwelling allows phytoplankton and algae to flourish
- Whale species: Blue, Fin, Humpback, Right, Minke, Sei and Sperm in healthy populations
- Penguin adaptations include flippers and air-insulated feathers. One of the Apex predator is the Leopard Seal
Notable geographical and scientific locations
- The Transantarctic mountains
- Ellsworth and Vinson mountain (the highest peak of elevation at 16,050)
- Mount Erebus (3792m and located on Ross Island)
- The Dry Valleys
- Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station (South Pole)
- Vostok research station
- McMurdo research station
- The Larsen Ice Shelf
- Ross and Ronne Ice Shelf
- The Antarctic Peninsula (which is an extension of the Andes mountain range)
Greater (East) Antarctica is composed of older, igneous and metamorphic rocks, while Lesser (West) Antarctica, is made up of younger volcanic and sedimentary rock: Lesser Antarctica is part of the ring of fire.
What is the Antarctic climate like?
- One of the driest deserts in the world
- Winter temperatures along the coast reach -30 degrees Celsius
- Summer temperatures along the coast reach +9 degrees Celsius
- Mountainous interior regions in winter are below -60 degrees Celsius
- In 1983, Russia’s Vostok Research Station recorded the coldest temperature on Earth, -89.2 degrees Celsius
- Antarctica’s interior receives 50-100m of water in snow form a year
What is the Earth’s ‘Heat Balance’?
The relationship between amount of solar heat absorbed by Earth’s Atmosphere and the amount of heat reflected back into space. Antarctica plays an integral role in this system: it’s ice is more reflective than water or other land surfaces
What are the Dry Valleys?
- The McMurdo Dry Valleys form the largest ice-free area in Antarctica
- Surface area: approximately 4800km squared
- Offers the minimal requirements for supporting life
- They remain dry because the precipitation that falls as snow is blown away by katabatic winds through sublimation
- A large variety of aquatic ecosystems thrive due to glacier melt-streams that flow into ice-covered lakes
What vegetation can grow in Antarctica?
- Lichens, mosses and terrestrial algae are among the few species of vegetation that grow
- The vegetation is largely concentrated to the northern and coastal regions of Antarctica
What is the Wais Divide?
An area in Antarctica where snow and ice accumulate ten times faster than anywhere else: according to Lee Holtz’s TED Talk ‘Inside an Antarctic Time Machine’, this makes the area ‘one of the best places to study climate change’
Antarctic ice-loss data
- Antarctica is losing ice mass at an average of 150 billion tons per year
- By 2020, the speed of ice loss in Antarctica had multiplied sixfold over 30 years
- The Antarctic peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming places in the Southern Hemisphere
- It is now accepted that the waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current are warming more rapidly than the global ocean as a whole
What are the impacts of climate change on Antarctica
- Sea level rise at 3mm per year
- New species will migrate, outperforming specialised Antarctic animals and causing extinction i.e there are concerns that rising sea temperatures will increase the presence of microbes that cause disease in starfish
- Significant decline in Emperor and Aďelie penguins: There are currently 20 million breeding pairs
- Less sea ice = decrease in Krill population (they huddle around it for safety): numbers have dropped by 80% since 1970
- Increasingly acidic water affects Krill growth and reproduction - this has implications for secondary and tertiary consumers i.e whales and seals
How important is krill to the Antarctic ecosystem (statistics)?
- There is likely to be over 500 million tons of krill in the Southern Ocean
- Important food source for fish, squid, whales (i.e baleen, blue, humpback, fin and minke all have fibrous plates instead of teeth)
- During main feeding seasons, the Blue whale will consume an average of 3600kg of krill a day
- Crabeater seals rely almost entirely on krill
- Supports 17 species of penguin, including the Macaroni Penguin 🍝
History of commercial fishing
- 1960s: arrival of powerful fishing fleets into the Antarctic, particularly Soviet fleets
- 1980s: fisheries for krill have been dominated, as well as Patagonian toothfish, Antarctic toothfish and mackerel icefish
All of these fisheries are now regulated by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), est. 1982 - 1990s: slow down in catch of krill from early 1990s - catches of 500,000 tons a year dropped to less than 100,000 tons by 1993 due to the collapse of the Soviet Union
- Increased again in recent years due to the development of new technologies
What is the CCAMLR?
The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was formed to protect and monitor the exploitation of the Southern Ocean within a Convention area (this covers areas beyond the 60 degrees south zone.)
In recent years, the issue of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing has been a cause of great concern for the Convention Area: species such as the Patagonian Toothfish are currently being fished unsustainably (threatening not only the species, but the surrounding food chain) - ghost gear is also a prominent issue.
History of whaling
- 1904: began with the building of a whale processing station at Grytviken, South Georgia
- 1925: the first ‘factory ships’ were built so that whaling could take place entirely at sea - no regulation
- 1931: peak year. 40,199 whales caught in Antarctica vs. the 1124 caught in the rest of the world
- 1986: the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling although Japan continued to take Antarctic whales for ‘science’ until 2018
What is the IWC?
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established in 1946 and is responsible for management of whaling and conservation of whales. There is 88 member countries. In 1982, the commercial whaling moratorium (ban) was adopted and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established (1994) - this space was 50 million square km to help recover whale populations.
Japan still conducts lethal ‘scientific’ whaling within the sanctuary boundaries.
What are the threats from science in Antarctica?
- Increase in discoveries may stimulate further interest: tragedy of the commons
- Pollution caused by light, sound, waste and left-over equipment
- Inevitable disruption: 70 research stations, 55 countries, 10,000 scientists at any one time
- Spatial spread of research stations can lead to widespread disruption
- Extraction of ice cores takes away from the natural environment
History of tourism in Antarctica
- in 1969: average visitor number increases from several hundred to around 40,000 in 2018-19 (recent years: 100,000)
- in 1977: Aus and NZ started to offer scenic flights to Antarctica, crash in 1979 so all stopped until 1994
All activities in Antarctica are heavily regulated by the Antarctic Treatyfor environmental protection purposes and the industry is largely managed by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) - regulations:
1. Do not disturb wildlife
2. Do not damage plants or bring invasive species
3. Do not litter
Antarctic tourism activities
- Yachts and category 1 ships generally land on the continent with a duration lasting approximately 1-3 hours. There can be between 1-3 landings per day using inflatable crafts or helicopters
- Cruise ships carrying more than 500 passengers are no longer operational as of 2009 due to concerns of oil/fuel spills
- Most on-land activities include visits to operational scientific stations, scuba-diving…
- A trip to Antarctica can range anywhere from as little as $3000-$4000 to over $40,000
Overview: what is the function of the Antarctic Treaty System (1959+)?
- Applies to area of 60 degrees latitude south
- Antarctica as a demilitarised zone
- Promotes scientific collaboration
- Sets aside territorial disputes
- Prohibits nuclear testing and waste disposal
- Guarantees freedom for scientific research
- Requires advance notice of expeditions
- Came into force in 1961
- ATS includes Madrid Protocol, a convention dealing with the Conservation of Antarctic Seals and a convention dealing with the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Overview: what is the function of the Madrid Protocol (1991)?
- Negotiated at Antarctic treaty conference in 1991: fully implemented in 1998
- Extra protection against mineral exploration
- Establishes Antarctica as a ‘natural reserve devoted to peace and science’
- Ban on mining is of indefinite duration
- Up for review 2041-2048
- Environmental audits carried out
This protocol was superseded by the Antarctic Treaty System
