Antarctic scientists sound warning
CAPE TOWN — The chief scientist on board the SA Agulhas II yesterday sounded a warning about global warming, urging citizens to give more thought to the effect their actions have on the planet.
The Agulhas is a polar supply and research vessel, which yesterday returned from its annual summer voyage to SA’s Antarctic base, where scientists are monitoring space weather and studying the continent’s geology and ecosystems. The ship also carries scientific instruments for studying the Southern Ocean.
“In my time, things have changed. There is no doubt conditions are getting warmer,” said Ian Meiklejohn, who is head of the department of geography at Rhodes University and has worked in Antarctica for more than two decades.
Prof Meiklejohn said the 76day trip had been “quite challenging” as the team had been unable to work for two weeks due to bad weather. He is leading a project that is tracking changes in ground temperature and monitoring the colonisation of the region near SA’s Antarctic base by biological species such as lichens and tiny comma-like soil animals called springtails
The Agulhas left Cape Town harbour two-and-a-half months ago with instruments, supplies, maintenance crews and scientists on board.
It brought back the “overwintering” team of scientists who left for Antarctica 14 months ago, and a team that spent just the summer there.
The expedition included an iron chemistry project led by Thato Mtshali from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which is investigating variations in the concentration of iron in the Southern Ocean and how this is affected by environmental changes.
Iron is an essential nutrient for plankton, which helps maintain the carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When the plankton dies, it sinks to the ocean floor, carrying the carbon with it. This carbon then stays in the deep oceans for hundreds to thousands of years.
Dr Mtshali has been sampling and measuring iron in the Southern Ocean for the past five years. Working with collaborators at the University of Stellenbosch and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in the US, he has helped map different kinds of iron particles to try to understand which regions of the ocean are most helpful in curbing greenhouse gases.