Picture galleries

This section regroups all picture galleries published on SciencePoles alongside some articles or news. It's currently a bit of a work in progress but more will be added with future articles.

The search for climate history on James Ross Island

10.10.2012

A team of researchers from the UK, Australia and France were recently able to extract and study an ice core taken from the ice cap covering James Ross Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The part of the core that has been studied thus far details some 15,000 years of climate history from the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the first ice core record from this part of Antarctica that provides a complete climate record for the entire Holocene.
Uncovering a new rift valley beneath the Ferrigno Ice Stream in West Antarctica

30.07.2012

During the 2009-10 austral summer, Dr. Robert Bingham, a lecturer in geosciences at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, along with Dr. Chrish Griffiths from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), discovered a new rift valley beneath the Ferrigno Ice Stream in West Antarctica while doing a radar survey traverse in the region. The newly discovered Ferrigno Rift – which reaches about a mile (1.6 km deep) below sea level – is answering a lot of questions as to why this particular region of West Antarctica is losing ice quite rapidly. This photo gallery shows Dr. Bingham and Dr. Griffiths doing field resarch in West Antarctica during the 2009-10 research season.
Studying Climate Gas Exchanges between Sea Ice and the Atmosphere

28.06.2011

Before research on gas fluxes between sea ice, the ocean, and the atmosphere began in 2004, sea ice was erroneously considered an inert barrier for gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. Recent research has shown otehrwise. The BIGSOUTH project is investigating carbon cycling with an emphasis on the role of sea ice, in particular on climate gas fluxes between the sea ice and the atmosphere as well as between sea ice and the ocean. The project is also looking at biogeochemistry in the Southern Ocean and iron cycling.
Scar-MarBIN and ANTABIF: Antarctic Flora and Fauna

24.01.2011

This photogallery illustrates some of the diverse and unique biota in the Antarctic. SCAR-MarBIN – the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Marine Biodiversity Information Network – is a database to keep track of marine life and biodiversity in Antarctica. The project has been led by Dr Bruno Danis, a marine biologist from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences who has spent a large part of his professional career working on biodiversity databases.
Swiss Camp and the Greenland Ice Sheet

10.12.2010

The Greenland Ice Sheet has been undergoing drastic changes over the past few decades as the Arctic has been warming, gaining mass in its centre from precipitation yet losing more than it gains from increased melting at its edges. Images from thsi gallery were taken from a presentation given by Dr. Konrad Steffen from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)at the University of Colorado as part of his presentation at the Arctic Futures Symposium 2010. They illustrate research being undetaken on the Greenland Ice Sheet at Swiss Camp, which is crurently run by CIRES, as well as what we have learned about the changing ice sheet. Dr. Steffen also discusses the topic in an interview he gave during the symposium.