Scientists find big changes in Antarctic ice

WHAT is happening to the sea ice in Antarctica?

Returning from a recent trip‚ funded by the Department of Science and Technology‚ with 70 other scientists‚ a marine expert and an artist from the University of Cape Town have come home with some harrowing information – and beautiful imagery to explain it.

It is all about pancake ice – frozen discs which look like puzzle pieces floating in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica in a region between the Atlantic and the Indian oceans that had never been explored before in winter.

Associate Professor Marcello Vichi‚ who is head of the Marine Research Institute at UCT and led the expedition‚ says what they discovered is “not something I would have believed until I saw it myself”.

The scientists found unexpected changes in the sea ice features. “The warming of the upper part of the ocean in the last century has been affecting sea ice,” he said.

This year has seen the lowest value of sea ice area ever recorded in 40 years (28% lower than average)‚ and the rate of sea ice retreat has been the quickest ever observed (46% faster than the mean rate in spring).

Being out in the pancake ice itself is no mean feat‚ but this “very peculiar and weirdly shaped” ice is highly valued for research.

The scientists deployed buoys to measure movement and direction‚ and they were also able to “core” some of the pancake ice to analyse its structural properties.

For artist and climate change communication expert Katrine Claassens, it is crucial that such information is conveyed in a way with which people can connect.

She came home from the trip with melted sea ice which she is using to make a series of paintings, which will be exhibited at the Loop Gallery in Cape Town from Thursday until August 19.