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.

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.
The Current State of Permafrost

18.11.2010

Permafrost is permanantly frozen soil (constantly below 0°C) which has particles of ice mixed into it. It can be found underneath the tiaga and tundra in polar and sub-polar regions, as well as in the high mountainous regions of the world. During the International Polar Year (IPY), an international effort was made to step up permafrost research in order to fill knowledge gaps.
Inuit Food Insecurity

27.07.2010

In order to get a better idea of food security issues Canadian Inuit are facing from the perspective of the Inuit, Marie-Pierre Lardeau and her colleauges from McGill University in Canada got people from the community of Iqaluit, Nunavut involved in their photovoice project. The results were telling. They covered at lot of the issues that they felt influenced their own food security. The participants placed them into one of four themes: The role of country food and how important it was for their well-being as well as the importance of having access to it through traditional Inuit sharing practices; The importance of these community programs, how they’d like to have access to them every week (if not for these programs these people would probably be knocking on other peoples’ doors to ask for food); How expensive it is to live in the Arctic; How country food is more expensive than food shipped in from the south (which also addressed addictions to alcohol and tobacco a lot fo these people have).