December 30, 2009
0122 gmt
Antarctica Satellite - there is no frigid air over the ice continent.
December 30, 2009
0300 AM
Antarctica temperature image (Click here for 24 hour loop showing images from 3AM, 9AM, 12PM and 3PM)
Coldest Station Reporting
Vostok, Antarctica
Local Time: 12:53 PM VOST (GMT +06)
Lat/Lon: 78.4° S 106.9° E
Temperature ONLY -21F
Conditions :: Clear
Humidity :: 40%
Dew Point :: -31 F
Wind :: -
Pressure – inches (Rising)
Visibility :: 12.0 miles
Elevation :: 11220 ft
Mawson, Antarctica
Local Time: 12:59 PM MAWT (GMT +06)
Lat/Lon: 67.6° S 62.9° E
Temperature :: 36F
Conditions :: Partly Cloudy
Humidity :: 15%
Dew Point :: 6 F
Wind :: 17 mph from the Southeast
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 29.59 in (Rising)
Visibility :: 19.0 miles
Elevation :: 33 ft
...Palmer Station is on the front lines of climate change. (click title to entry - thank you) It is the base of the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research Project, led by oceanographer Hugh Ducklow at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.
Long-term measurements here tell the story. The Marr glacier behind the station has retreated more than 1,500 feet since 1963. The Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than anywhere else on earth. Average temperature has warmed 6 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950 — winter temperature even more, a shocking 11 degrees F.
The sea ice along the western Antarctic Peninsula has declined 40 percent, and ice cover is 80 days shorter compared with 25 years ago.
Shrinking sea ice reverberates through the ocean food web. Diatoms, the single-celled plants that drive the ocean web of life, overwinter in ice and thrive at the ice edge. Diatoms are the preferred food of Antarctic krill, abundant shrimplike zooplankton.
Krill depend on sea ice. Young krill feed and escape from predators under the ice. As sea ice disappears, so do krill....
Ecotourism does NOT the cause of Human Induced Global Warming or the 'ice melt' at Antarctica. There is however other damage that is critical to protect ice and snow structures.
The meeting of Antarctic experts follows the 2007 sinking of the Explorer off King George Island, 120km off Antarctica.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says the sinking is evidence that the guidelines tourism operators work to are not strict enough.
He is backed by Maritime New Zealand which wants a code that would prevent vessels working in the Antarctic and Arctic waters if they do not meet safety requirements.
The agency hopes new rules would better manage the risk to human life as well as the environment.
There have been four serious incidents involving tourist ships in the area in the past three years.
New Zealand is responsible for managing any emergency in a large area of the Antarctic waters.
