• In this continuing report I want to concentrate on matters of scientific interest arising from the Our Far South trip to McMurdo Sound, with my personal slant on it.
  
  
  • 6-7 Mar - Antipodes and Bountry Islands

    The Our Far South expedition has just about finished, with visits to Antipodes and Bounty Islands in the last 2 days, but the real work starts now. Members of the team will be giving presentations to community groups and schools over the next few months, 4 books are expected to come out, and several documentaries are being produced. We want to make all New Zealanders aware of the importance of the things that happen in our territory, both to NZ and to the World.
    
    If anyone wants to get an expediton member to give a pressentation, contact Ray, or look on www.ourfarsouth.org to find out how to make a request.

  • 3-4 Mar - Campbell Island

    2 days of land-based exploration! On the 3rd we made use of the excellent and long boardwalk to get to the top of the hills where many albatrosses were nesting, getting into groups and gliding in the strong winds. Great to be able to sit amongst them all afternoon.

    Campbell Island was farmed till the 1930's, and sheep left to look after themselves till they were finally removed by 1991. The vegetation has recovered well. The bird life is also returning since all rats were killed from the 11,310 hectare island in a massive exercise in 2001. (Mice and rabbits were never there, and cats died out when the sheep were removed.)

    Around the coasts there were many sea lions -- we entertained them greatly, it seemed. A 7-hour tramp on Sunday took us to limestone cliffs and many more breeding albatross, and prepared us for our final 4 days, all to be spent on the boat.

  • 02 Mar - Modern Mining Safety and Environmental Practices

    Today’s discussions are about mining in the Our Far South region. We had an overview on modern mining safety and environmental practice, and a discussion on the fragmented legislative controls and missing controls in the various parts of the regions. It is clear that there is insufficient regulatory power in many places, and a lack of information on what sort of controls are needed.

  • 29 Feb - Sustainable Fisheries, Antarctic Toothfish and Marine Protected Areas

    Today's first lecture was about a certification system for sustainable fisheries and how this applies to the Antarctic Toothfish. The MSC certificate is well known in Europe, but not so much in NZ. It certifies that the present toothfish fishery in our waters is indeed sustainable. The second lecture was about Marine Protected Areas in the Ross Sea Region. These are being proposed by different groups and as you might expect there are major areas of disagreement, although it seems that the well-researched NZ proposal may be better received than some others. The Toothfish fishery is one of the discussion points.

  • 28 Feb - Management of Fisheries in Antarctic waters

    Discussions today centred on management of fisheries in Antarctic waters. It was encouraging to learn that there is an international convention called CCAMLR that has as its goal the control of fishing in such a way as to prevent irreversible ecological damage. To do this the allocation of catch limits has to be done on the basis of researched information, and NZ until now has been doing at least its fair share in that research. Much of the data was initially gathered voluntarily by far-sighted NZ fishing companies, and it is now a requirement of the convention, as well as being an activity of NIWA.

  • 27 Feb - Cape Adare, Possession Islands and Lectures on Circumpolar Currents

    An attempt to land at Cape Adare was foiled by ice conditions. As I write, we are trying to land on one of the Possession Islands – sea conditions are a problem here. This morning’s lecture was on the invertebrates found on the sea floor in this region – the circumpolar currents have isolated them for millions of years from the other oceans so there are many endemic species. Also, gigantism is common. Many species have slow metabolisms and live a
    long time, feeding for only a few months a year when the absence of ice enables plankton to grow at the ocean’s surface.

  • 25 Feb - At Sea for Two Days and Lectures on Global Warming Models and Sea Level Rise

    At sea now for a day or two. A lecture this morning on the measurements and models of global warming, followed by one on seal level rise, with particular reference to melting of polar ice caps. To me, the measured increase in the rate of increase in sea level, which has doubled in the last 10 years, is the major climate change impact, much more adverse than the increase in temperature that drives it.

  • 24 Feb - Cape Royd and Emperor Penguins

    We moved to Cape Royds overnight. Saw Emperor Penguins on the ice on the way, close up. Another great day for weather, and a very interesting well-conserved hut to visit.

  • 23 Feb - Scott Base and Royal Society Mountains

    Scott Base. Perfect weather for viewing the Royal Society mountains. Scott Base staff did a great job of showing us around their home for the next 6 months. I last visited nearly 50 years ago, and could not believe how large
    and comfortable the base had become. We spent some time with the conservators who will winter over preserving the relics of the early explorers. My photos from 1963 were of some interest to them.

  • 22 Feb - Franklin Island, Glacier and Adelie Penguins

    Land at last! We met up with a fishing vessel at Franklin Island. Land and sunshine were a pleasant change in environment. The other ship had been conducting research on the numbers of young Antarctic Toothfish in the Ross sea, in order to evaluate the effect of the fishing industry. One of the researchers gave us a talk on the reasons for the survey and the preliminary results.

    We then landed on the island, with some difficulty, and spent an hour admiring glaciers and Adelie penguins.

  • 21 Feb - Temperature Data, Sea Level Change and Antarctic Petrels

    We are past the iceberg region. This morning’s lecture was on the detailed temperature and ice extent data that is available from Antarctic sediment and ice cores. In particular the fluctuations in the extent of Antarctic ice sheets, and implications for sea level change.

    I came out of the lecture room, and looked out of my cabin’s porthole to see a dozen Antarctic Petrels skimming over the waves keeping up with the ship. Remarkable!

  • 20 Feb - Icebergs Everywhere and Global Temperature Measurements over last 100 years

    Icebergs everywhere. This morning's lecture showed us the measurements of global temperature for the last 100 years or so, and revealed increases of several degrees in the polar regions, and the variable patterns in temperature with time and position over the whole world. Whatever the cause, the changes are large and rapid.

  • 19 Feb - Icebergs and Food Web for Antarctica

    First icebergs visible this morning. Lectures on the food web of the Antarctic, and on the various whales that exist in these waters. I was surprised by the importance of viruses and bacteria as part of the food web.

  • 17 Feb - Antarctic Scientists and Argo Floats

    12 We will be away from land for four days. However there are plenty of presentations in the lecture room to keep us entertained -- we have many experienced Antarctic scientists on board. Yesterday we had a presentation of the circulation patterns in the southern oceans, and a summary of the arguments about climate change, as included in the book by Gareth Morgan and John McCrystal.

    Today we had a talk on productivity in the southern ocean and how it is limited by iron concentrations. This was followed at noon by the dropping overboard of another Argo float -- a device that descends and ascends through the top 2000m of ocean, and transmits measurements of water properties back to land via satellite.

  • 16 Feb - Macquarie Island History and Pressure Cooked Penguins for Oil

    We were escorted by the Australian team at Macquarie Is. base to see the facility there. They told us about the history of the island, including the NZer who pressure cooked penguins for their oil. With about 40 staff the base was most impressive. We saw Gentoo penguins and Rock Hopper penguins, and lots of sea elephants. We also watched the release of the weather balloon, which happens twice daily.

  • 15 Feb - Aurora Australis and Macquarie Island

    Woken at 1am by a loudspeaker announcement inviting us to see the Aurora Australis. We had sailed to Macquarie Is. through the night, and were anchored with a clear sky, making it easy to see the sheets of green and yellow light in the sky. In the morning we all went ashore at Sandy bay. Lots of Royal and King penguins, with elephant seals. Fabulous. The Australian conservation people have recently poisoned the whole island (with NZ DOC help) to remove rats, mice and rabbits. The rodents are all gone, but they are following up on the rabbit poisoning with specially trained dogs to find any remaining rabbits. The dogs were also on the beach and completely ignored the birds.

  • 14 Feb - Talks about Issues, while at Sea

    At sea all day. Three talks to expand our knowledge of the issues. One talk was on the piston corer being used to collect sediment samples from the sea floor at our stopover sites – this will give data on past climates. Another presented detailed data on sea lion populations and the possible reasons for the alarming decline in numbers of pups being born each year on Enderby Is. The third gave us background on Macquarie Is, where we will be going ashore tomorrow. We might see 4 penguin species, 4 albatross species and a couple of petrels. As well as elephant seals. The expectation is very large numbers of just a few species.

  • 13 Feb - Auckland Island

    Weather at Auckland Is was calm but foggy so we could not climb up to an albatross colony. Instead visited a site where the Grafton was wrecked over 100 years ago. We were entertained by bellbirds and sea lions. One of the scientists found a spider that lives below the high tide mark -- it appears to spin itself a container for an air bubble. The picture is of a Gibson's wandering albatross that is too young to be able to take off from still water. We hope the wind comes up before the bird is found by a sea lion!

  • 12 Feb - Enderby Island

    Landed on Enderby Island. All animals were removed in mid 1990's so much regeneration. Met a DOC scientist who has been studying NZ Sea Lion numbers. These are decreasing significantly from year to year at this location, for the last 2 decades or more, and it is not clear why. Part of the Island is covered with a scrubby rata that is in flower at the moment. Beautiful. Despite their decreasing number, we were greatly entertained by sea lions wherever we went, even in the bush. A few Yellow Eyed Penguins and lots of individuals of several albatross species, and shags on the cliffs.

  • 11 Feb - Along the Northeast Island Coast

    Went along the coast of Northeast Island in the Snares group in a Zodiac. Not allowed to land because it is a reserve -- no man-introduced species. Saw fernbirds, Tomtits, Bullers albartos (lots) an endemic Snares Crested penguin (ditto) Terns, Lots of fur seals and Sea lions in the water and on the rocks. Calm water, sun sometimes and a little rain.

    In the afternoon everyone gathered in the lecture room for a series of scientific talks -- on polar ice, ocean currents, and evolution of whales.

  • 08 Feb - Mathcad Prime 2 for Cruise Time

    I have been able to load a preview version of Mathcad Prime version 2 on my laptop, so I will be able to work on my new seminar to entertain myself between exploring the islands.

  • 07 Feb - Small Ventifact for Voyage Show and Tell

    The trip organisers asked us all to bring an object of special significance, and I have chosen to bring a small ventifact (see picture) -- this is a rock from the Dry Valleys, carved by wind-blown sand. (I worked on the lakes there as a student.)

    

  • 05 Feb - Back from Boston and Preparations for Trip

    I am back from a week at the MathWorks kickoff in Boston, and frantically preparing to leave in a few days. To save weight and space in my luggage on the boat I bought a Nook e-book reader while I was there, and am buying and downloading books. I find the Calibre e-book manager to be very useful, particularly for changing formats to epub format. I bought a book from Amazon in Kindle format, and found that its DRM protection stopped me from moving it to my Nook. A quick search found an add-on to Calibre that fixed that problem. (I don’t equate this with software piracy, since I had purchased the book!)

  • 26 Jan - Photography Equipment for Trip

    I have had a life-time interest in photography, with a present focus of HD movies on pocket digital cameras. A camera of particular use on this trip will be my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3, which can be used under water, and is resistant to cold and shock. I have no interest in immersing myself in the water, but will put the camera on a monopod, over the side of a Zodiac, and hope to be able to show you underwater pictures of penguins and other animals.

    

  • 16 Jan - Climate Change Expedition

    Climate change is one of the focal points of the expedition, and I was fortunate to have a book recommended to me by a friend, in which Lonnie Thompson’s work on analysing ice cores from tropical glaciers is shown to extend similar work on polar ice cores. The book is called “Thin Ice”, by Mark Bowen. "Capturing the fanatical enduring love of a scientist for his work, wars and pettiness amongst terrestrial 'big-thinkers,' and heroic failures and success in the most forbidding and spectacular places on our planet, Thin Ice is more revealing than The Double Helix." (Dr. James E. Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.) It also describes climate records in detail and discusses the evidence for the effect of carbon dioxide.

    

HRS is proud to be a sponsor of the Our Far South Southern Ocean voyage, to take place for 4 weeks from mid-February 2012. Our interest stems from Ray Hoare's student project, where he spent two summer seasons studying the lakes in the dry valleys, and confirming that the reason they were warm was trapped solar heat, rather than volcanism. Ray will return to Antarctica on the voyage, and will post reports on this web page.

The voyage’s goal is to raise New Zealanders' awareness of this beautiful unspoiled environment and the issues that it faces, and all members are committed to sharing their adventure with as many people as they can.

Part of this awareness-raising is to involve schools, and if you are involved with a local school I invite you to share with it the following link, that explains how schools can get involved.

http://media.gmi.co.nz/Sites/OurFarSouth/mailouts/OFS-Teachers-Newsletter-Template.htm

Ray Hoare, Ph.D.

Despite his scientific career heading in other directions, he remains an active, outdoor-oriented person who has always been envious of those who managed to see much more of the Antarctic wild life than he did in the Dry Valleys. This trip to the islands and coastal stations will greatly expand his polar experiences. He hopes to share them with the many thousands of researchers who are on his software company’s mailing list.

The Project

The objective of this project is to raise New Zealanders’ awareness of the importance of the area between Foveaux Strait and the South Pole, to highlight the reasons why it is of such value and to outline the threats and opportunities. The more aware New Zealanders are of these issues, the more likely our future governments are to make decisions that reflect an ongoing commitment to this region. Specifically; commitment to preserve the integrity of the environment, respect the unique value it has for scientific progress, minimise the chances of its ecosystem being destroyed by short term exploitative ventures, and maintain it as a valued destination.

In short, without knowledge the public cannot be expected to provide the commitment needed to ensure New Zealand governments protect our interests in Our Far South.

The Issues

Climate Change

The Southern Ocean plays a vital role in regulating the climate of the planet and evidence of anthropogenic climate change is mounting in terms of substantial changes in the region. Monitoring these changes, and promoting the research that furthers our understanding of how these changes will impact humankind, is of critical importance. We have a responsibility to support the efforts of the teams of international of scientists committed to this work. 

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Territorial aspirations 

 

There are various claims and treaties that govern territorial ownership in Anarctica. Having an appreciation of the historical perspective helps understand where this might lead us. From the age of exploration to staking claims, to the Antarctic Treaty System, the history records the tussle. And now we have the Extended Continental Shelf Treaty and the open slather that pertains to the sea floor around Antarctica. What is in store? Will it be a re-run of the contested chaos that characterises the Arctic contest?

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Protecting biodiversity

Our subantarctic islands have been described as “the most diverse and extensive of all subantarctic archipelagos”. We need to understand the detail and relevance of the biodiversity of the sub-Antarctic Islands and why we should care enough to protect it. The Southern Ocean diversity is central to life on the whole planet. Maintenance of this biodiversity, in the face of climate change, pollution, and overfishing are all matters of concern.

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Overfishing

Overfishing threatens the sustainability of the region’s ecosystems, ecosystems vital to sustainability of life on the planet. There is much debate over what a sustainable level of fishing is for this region. Good research, regulatory arrangements and compliance from industrial fishers is key to sustainability.

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Tourism

The issue of tourism is a vexed one, the risk of ecological damage to a pristine environment being the most published one. On the other hand, the strongest advocates of protection and guardianship of the region tend to be those members of the public who have been fortunate enough to see it. The power of this public endorsement cannot be overestimated.

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Mineral exploration

Antarctica has large known reserves of many minerals including copper, gold and silver, as well as oil and gas. What happens when someone decides to start mineral exploitation. The frozen continent’s minerals offer the allure of turning Antarctica into an El Dorado in future, much as is looming right now in the “race for the Arctic”.

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