Polar Studies - Antarctic Studies

Environmental Studies > Polar Studies > Antarctic Studies

Antarctic Studies

International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008
"This site features IPY activities supported by the United States Government."
Sections include: Science & Nature ; People & Culture ; Explore & Learn For Students & Teachers ; Multimedia ; News.

Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses (March 2002)
"This is the largest single event in a series of retreats by ice shelves in the Peninsula over the last 30 years. The retreats are attributed to a strong climate warming in the region."
The National Snow & Ice Data Center

Legal Issues
The Antarctic Treaty (1959)

The five international agreements are: [From British Antarctic Survey]

• Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora (1964)
• Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972)
• Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (1980)
• Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (1988)
• Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1991)

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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) - (dead link) (German or English)
"Polar and Marine research are central themes of Global system and Environmental Science. The Alfred Wegener Institute conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and at temperate latitudes."

• Click & Learn - (dead link) (K12)
  "The Alfred Wegener Institute gets a vast number of enquiries from school children, their teachers and occasionally their parents. Almost everyone wants to know more about the Arctic and the Antarctic, the polar fauna and flora, work on a polar research station, life in the sea, life on board a research vessel or how to become a marine scientist...Here are the most "frequently asked questions" (and answers)."

Antarctic Journal of the United States

Antarctic Meteorology Research Center (AMRC) - (dead link)

• Iceberg Images at AMRC

Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) - Antarctica Online
"The AAD houses staff performing a range of administrative and support functions for Australia's Antarctic Program. Its administrative role takes in management of an antarctic research grants scheme, which supports antarctic studies undertaken by scientists from research institutions around Australia and in other countries. AAD scientists have a major research input into the Australian Antarctic Program, covering the fields of biology, glaciology, atmospheric physics and medical science."

• Australian Antarctic Data Centre
  "...the Data Centre addresses Australia's Antarctic Treaty obligation to facilitate full and free exchange of the results of scientific research...The Data Centre is also responsible for surveying, mapping, geographical datasets for use in a Geographic Information System and the Gazetteer of the Australian Antarctic Territory and Heard and McDonald Islands. Most of the Data Centre's information is on-line."
• Australian Antarctic Magazine
  "...It seeks to inform the Australian and international Antarctic community about the activities of the Australian Antarctic program. It is produced twice-yearly, with contributions from AAD officers and from external organisations and individuals."
• Antarctic Research
  • Antarctic Seals, Whales and Dolphins of the Early Twentieth Century
    Marine Mammals of the Australian Antarctic Expedition 1911-14 (AAE) and the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition 1929-31 (BANZARE)
    ANARE Report 142
    Edited by Peter D. Shaughnessy
• Classroom Antarctica (K12)
  "...is designed to help both teachers and students gain a greater awareness of the global importance of Antarctica, of Australia's role in Antarctica, past and present, and our commitment to its future. We can learn much from studying Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and their ecosystems, how scientific programs are supported there and how people live in the harsh, isolated environment."

Boston Museum of Science - Secrets of the Ice
An Antarctic Expedition
Sections include: Explore Antarctica ; Ice Core Research ; Scientific Expedition ; Expedition Headquarters ; Learning Resources.

British Antarctic Survey

• About Antarctica
  Sections include: Weather ; Wildlife ; Ice ; Rock ; Islands ; Tourism ; Antarctic Orchestral Music ; Environmental Management and Conservation ; British Antarctic Territory ; The Antarctic Treaty.
• Antarctic Environmental Data Centre (AEDC) - (dead link)
• Antarctic Meteorology Online
  "...simple, easy-to-use guide to recent Antarctic weather reports..."
• Polar Programmes and Data Centres - (dead link)

Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing - Climate Change Research - (dead link)

• The Calving of Icebergs A-43 and A-44, Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica - (dead link)
  "This series of geocoded images documents the calving of icebergs A-43 and A-44 from the Ronne Ice Shelf in May 2000."

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

• A Databank of Antarctic Surface Temperature and Pressure Data (NDP-032 2001)

The Exploratorium - Antarctica (K12)
Scientific Journeys from McMurdo to the Pole
Sections include: Place ; People ; Tools ; Ideas

Global Ice-Core Research
"...studies ice that is sometimes thousands of years old to determine what the earth's climate was like in the past. Once information about the past is known, we can apply the knowledge to the present and future."
Water Resources of Idaho, USGS

Glossary of Glacier Terms
By Ellin Beltz

JPL Polar Oceanography Group - Publications - (dead link)

Kodak: The Endurance
Frank Hurley: Hero of Expedition Photography
"By seeking beauty in icy bleakness, Hurley changed expedition photography forever. Instead of routinely recording day-by-day activities, Hurley chose to tell a dramatic story. He produced a saga that endures in his stunning photographs."

National Academy Press (free downloads)

• 2001
  • Enhancing NASA's Contributions to Polar Science: A Review of Polar Geophysical Data Sets
    Committee to Review NASA's Polar Geophysical Data Sets, Polar Research Board, National Research Council, 2001.
• 1993
  • Science and Stewardship in the Antarctic
    Committee on Antarctic Policy and Science, Polar Research Board, National Research Council, 1993.

National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)
"...is a facility for storing, curating, and studying ice cores recovered from the polar regions of the world. It provides scientists with the capability to conduct examinations and measurements on ice cores, and it preserves the integrity of these ice cores in a long-term repository for current and future investigations."
- USGS

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

• Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES)
  "...collect global data on a daily basis for a variety of land, ocean, and atmospheric applications. Data from the POES series supports a broad range of environmental monitoring applications including weather analysis and forecasting, climate research and prediction, global sea surface temperature measurements, atmospheric soundings of temperature and humidity, ocean dynamics research, volcanic eruption monitoring, forest fire detection, global vegetation analysis, search and rescue, and many other applications."

National Science Foundation

• Assessment of the Possible Cummulative Environmental Impacts of Commercial Ship-Based Tourism in the Antarctic Peninsula Area
  Proceedings of a Workshop Held in La Jolla, California, 7-9 June 2000.
  Document Date: December 21, 2001.

National Science Foundation - Office of Polar Programs

• Diving under Antarctic Ice
  • Underwater Field Guide to Ross Island & McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

National Snow and Ice Data Center
"We distribute data and maintain information about snow cover, avalanches, glaciers, ice sheets, freshwater ice, sea ice, ground ice, permafrost, atmospheric ice, paleoglaciology, and ice cores."

• Data Catalog
  • Ice Thickness and Surface Elevation, Southeastern Ross Embayment, West Antarctica
• NSIDC Notes
• 
  "Our quarterly publication is intended to inform the polar research community of current research and the data and services we provide."
• Antarctic Glaciological Data Center
• Antarctic Ice Shelves and Icebergs
  • Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses (March 2002)
    "This is the largest single event in a series of retreats by ice shelves in the Peninsula over the last 30 years. The retreats are attributed to a strong climate warming in the region."
    The National Snow & Ice Data Center
• Distributed Active Archive Center
• U.S. Antarctic Data Coordination Center

Ohio State University - Byrd Polar Research Center

• Polar Pointers - (dead link)
  Meta-directory of online resources
• Antarctic Numerical Weather Prediction - (dead link)
  "Presented by Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University."
• Ice Sheets Newsletters - (dead link)

PBS NOVA - Mountain of Ice (February 2003)
Companion website to the TV broadcast.
"Jon Krakauer and fellow mountaineers pioneer a new route on a scientific expedition up Antarctica's highest peak."
Sections include: Interview and Article ; Interactives and Slide Show ; Links & Books ; Life Cycle of a Glacier ; Teacher's Guide ; Transcript.

Scott Polar Research Institute

Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance
NOVA Online
Sections include: Shackleton's Expedition ; Surviving Antarctica ; Explore Antarctic Islands ; Diary of a Survivor ; Classroom Resources ; Resources.
"TV Web Markers" include: Quest for the Pole ; Meet Shackleton's Team ; Kingdom of Ice ; More from Orde-Lee's Diary ; Other Polar Survival Stories ; Danger on the Ice ; Navigating the Open Seas ; Interview with Alexandra Shackleton ; Explore South Georgia ; Expedition Timeline 1914-1916.

United States Antarctic Program
Department of Invertebrate Zoology

• Polar Invertebrate Catalog - (dead link)
  "This database contains all of the polar invertebrate cataloged specimens in the NMNH through September, 1998. Each record (approx. 48,000 in total) has a unique USNM number and contains taxonomic and collecting data for each lot of specimens."

US Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory - (dead link)

U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN)

• Antarctica Geographic Names Data Base
  "...contains geographic names in Antarctica which are approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for use by the Federal Government."

USGS - United States Antarctic Resource Center
"...maintains the Nation's most comprehensive collection of Antarctic maps, charts, satellite images, and photographs produced by the United States and other member nations of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)."

WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletins - 2001
"The Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization issues bulletins containing information on the state of the ozone layer in the Antarctic at roughly two week intervals from August to November. The bulletins are based on data provided by WMO Members which operate ozone monitoring stations in the southern hemisphere and satellites to observe ozone globally."

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