Exploring the Last Continent: An Introduction to Antarctica

588 Pages·2015·23.08 MB·English

by  Daniela Liggett

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

Daniela Liggett • Bryan Storey • Yvonne Cook •
Veronika Meduna
Editors
Exploring the Last Continent
An Introduction to Antarctica
Editors
DanielaLiggett BryanStorey
GatewayAntarctica GatewayAntarctica
UniversityofCanterbury UniversityofCanterbury
Christchurch,NewZealand Christchurch,NewZealand
YvonneCook VeronikaMeduna
SchoolofEarthandEnvironmental RadioNZHouse
Science,JamesCookUniversity Wellington,NewZealand
Townsville,QLD,Australia
ISBN978-3-319-18946-8 ISBN978-3-319-18947-5 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-18947-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015947821
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015
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Acknowledgements
Thisbookhasbeenanincredibleandenlighteningjourneyfortheauthors,editors
andpublishersandwouldneverhavecometofruitionwithoutthesupport,encour-
agementandenthusiasmofawiderangeofpeopleandorganisations.
WeowesinceregratitudetoMichelleRogan-Finnemoreforhergenerosity,good
adviceandhelpinmovingthisbookprojectalong.SamElworthy,theDirectorof
AucklandUniversityPress,wasinstrumentalinsupportingthedevelopmentofthe
book project from early ideas and draft chapters into a coherent academic text.
MargaretDeignanandTakeeshaMoerland-TorpeyatSpringerwerehelpful,under-
standingandpatientwithusandgaveussufficienttimeandsupporttofine-tunethe
finalproduct.
Wegratefullyacknowledgethecrucialfundingthatledtotheproductionofthis
book.FundingwasprovidedbytheFoundationforResearchScienceandTechnol-
ogy in support of the International Polar Year through contract UOCX0806 to
Gateway Antarctica (University of Canterbury) entitled “Providing gateways for
AntarcticandSouthernOceaneducation”.
We wishtothankPaul Bealing atthe DepartmentofGeography,Universityof
Canterbury,forproducingtheAntarcticmapfeaturedinthisbookandKurtJoyat
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, for drawing a range of geological
images.Andy Reisinger’s help with converting file formatsandproducingfigures
wasinvaluable.
AnumberofNewZealandandinternationalartistsgaveusthekindpermission
toincludesomeoftheirworkinthisbook,andinparticular,wewishtoextendour
gratitude to Nigel Brown, Margaret Elliot, Fieke Neuman, Robert Nicholls and
ClarePlug.Manyindividualresearchers,writers,modellersandtechniciansgener-
ouslyallowedustoreusetheirphotos,drawingsordiagramsandfindmentioninthe
respectivefigurecaptionsthroughoutthebook.Weacknowledgeandthankeachof
themfortheirgenerosityinthisregard.
Reasonable attempts have been made to secure copyright permissions. If any
havebeenoverlooked,weapologiseandasktheconcernedindividualsorgroupsto
contactusinthisregard.
v
vi Acknowledgements
Finally, we are very grateful for having had the opportunity to work with a
wonderfulteamofextremelyknowledgeable,talentedandaccommodatingauthors,
withoutwhomwecouldnothaveproducedthismultidisciplinaryandmultifaceted
introduction to Antarctica, Antarctic research and current issues surrounding
humanengagementinAntarctica.Weappreciatetheirsupport,patienceandenthu-
siasmforthisprojectthroughoutandbeyondaverylonggestationperiod.
Chapter authors would also like to thank the following: Dave Barnes, Eugene
Murphy, Inigo Eversen, Pete Bucktrout, Chris Gilbert, Geraint Tarling and John
Turnerforprovidingfigures,commentsanddiscussionsaboutChap.12.Thiswork
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
PolarScienceforPlanetEarth(PSPE)programmeoftheBritishAntarcticSurvey
(UnitedKingdom).
Contents
1 ExploringtheLastContinent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
DanielaLiggett,BryanStorey,andYvonneCook
PartI PhysicalSciences
2 AContinentUnderIce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
YvonneCookandBryanStorey
3 ALongJourneySouth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
BryanStoreyandYvonneCook
4 LookingBacktotheFuture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
CliffAtkins
5 AnIce-BoundContinent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
KateE.Sinclair
6 WeatherandClimate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
IanOwensandPeymanZawar-Reza
7 TheSouthernOcean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
MichaelJ.M.Williams
8 FromIcetoSpace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
RhianA.SalmonandAnnaE.Jones
PartII LifeSciences
9 RemoteOceanOutposts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
PeterW.Carey
10 LifeonLand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
PaulA.Broady
vii
viii Contents
11 LifeonLand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
PaulA.Broady
12 LifeBeyondtheIce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Jose´ C.XavierandLloydS.Peck
13 AntarcticMegafauna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
ReginaEisert
14 SurvivingintheCold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
CrystalLenkyandBillDavison
PartIII SocialSciencesandHumanities
15 PolarExpeditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
UrsulaRack
16 AContinentforPeaceandScience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
NeilGilbert
17 ExtremeandUnusual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
G.DanielSteel
18 DestinationIcyWilderness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
DanielaLiggett
19 CreativityattheFrozenFrontier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
PatrickShepherd
PartIV CurrentIssues
20 CommercialHarvestinAntarctica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
AlanD.Hemmings
21 SouthernOceanFisheries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
DenzilG.M.Miller
22 TheSearchforExtremophiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
VeronikaMeduna
23 TheQuestionofMining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
YvonneCookandBryanStorey
24 IceandMineralResources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
KarenN.Scott
25 RecentClimateChange.. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 505
MichaelJ.Bentley
Contents ix
26 ReducingFossilFuelConsumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
PatBodgerandYvonneCook
27 AlienInvasions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
PeterConvey
28 MeetingFutureChallengesofAntarcticResearch. . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
DavidCarlson
29 AntarcticScientificCollaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
David W.H. Walton, Mahlon C. Kennicutt,
and Colin P. Summerhayes
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589