Open-air lab to study climate change
Scientists research Chilean fjord to predict future environmental changes
Seno Ballena: In one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, the southernmost part of Chile’s Patagonia region, scientists are studying whales, dolphins and algae in order to help predict how climate change will affect the world’s oceans.
For the study, four researchers from the Austral University of Chile embarked from Punta Arenas for the remote Seno Ballena fjord.
The fjord currently produces the kind of conditions that should be seen in other marine systems in the next few decades, when dramatic changes are expected in the environment due to increased carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and the melting of glaciers.
“This place is like an actual experiment in nature because it allows us, without needing to conduct experiments in the lab, to know what will happen without imagining it,” marine biologist Maximiliano Vergara said.
Reaching the fjord is no easy task – they had to negotiate the treacherous Strait of Magellan a day and a half aboard a small raft, with winds exceeding 100kph and glacial temperatures.
On site, they take readings from a system of sensors that provide a constant stream of data from water samples taken every three hours.
They are analysing the chemical, physical and biological variables of the waters, which show lower levels of pH, salinity and calcium, as a consequence of climate change.
“What we’re doing at the moment is establishing our information baseline,” Vergara said.
Seno Ballena gets its name from the humpback whales that feed in the area after travelling from Central America, where they breed.
The chilly waters provide among the most productive marine habitats, where sardines and krill can be found in huge numbers.
But climate change poses a threat to its ecosystem as the melting of a glacier on Santa Ines island and increased rainfall have led to rising levels of freshwater.
It would have dire consequences for whales as the plankton they feed on could disappear.
“A change in the microalgae could generate changes in the secondary structure (of the marine system) or the animals that feed on these,” marine biologist Marco Antonio Pinto said.
Under normal circumstances, when there is an abundance of microalgae, these provide food for the zooplankton that subsequently nourish the food chain, said Pinto.
The researchers are taking samples from eight stations around Seno Ballena to measure the effects of the melting glacier on Santa Ines, which has sped up so much that rocks have appeared that weren’t visible on their last trip in April.
“The waters of high latitudes, in both hemispheres, contain a huge amount of information that can be used as a basis to take crucial deci- sions for environmental preservation projects,” said biologist Maximo Frangopulos, a professor at the University of Magellanes and leader of the expedition.
The scientists are worried about a red tide – a phenomenon brought on by huge numbers of microorganisms that absorb a huge amount of oxygen and produce toxins.
For now, they have noted a slight drop in humpback whales numbers but an increase in species such as sea lions, which previously were absent in that region, and dolphins.
They also found a lower concentration of calcium carbonate, which can affect the shells of marine organisms such as mollusks or krill, a staple of a whale’s diet.
“It’s like a puzzle that we’re trying to put together, to see how climate change can affect the marine system, something that would have a social and economic impact on the region,” said Pinto.
This place is like an actual experiment in nature because it allows us, without needing to conduct experiments in the lab, to know what will happen without imagining it.
Maximiliano Vergara