Beauty of Antarctica and the threat to its future
University of Leeds scientist Dr Anna Hogg has seen first hand how climate change affects the continent
NOT MANY people could cope with the sub-zero temperatures and isolation of Antarctica.
But for Dr Anna Hogg, the barren white tundras are among the most beautiful landscapes in the world.
The 34-year-old earth observation scientist at the University of Leeds first visited the Antarctic in 2013 as the only woman on a 11-strong team.
She travelled more than 620 miles as part of a four-month expedition.
Dr Hogg, an associate professor in the university’s school of earth and environment, has witnessed first hand the devastating effects of global warming in one of the remotest locations on the planet and said urgent action is needed.
She is an expert in earth observations of the polar regions and uses satellite data to monitor remote ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic.
On her first visit to the Antarctic, she recalled waking every morning to the sight of penguins and seals near the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station, where she was based for the first month.
Dr Hogg said: “It’s the most remarkable place on earth – it’s the collision between the dramatic landscape and the natural world.
“You have a 3,000 metre-high mountainous spine just like the Alps – but full of ice and glaciers coming down to sea level and carving into the ocean.”
Dr Hogg is at the forefront of world-leading Yorkshire research in climate change data, as one of the leading scientists in a £5m innovative virtual project.
She is part of the Centre for Satellite Data in Environmental Science (SENSE) set up by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Space Agency, which brings together more than PhD researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Edinburgh, with the aim of monitoring climate change.
A team of earth observation scientists from the University of Leeds are due to attend the United Nations’ climate change conference, in Glasgow, in November.
Dr Hogg stressed the need for urgent action on the climate and ecological emergency. “Everybody working in this area, day and night, knows this change is happening.
“We all have a responsibility to do our little part in the overall picture of securing ourselves a happier, healthier, greener world to live in.
“It’s going to be better, but only if we act now.
She added: “The opportunity is now for the international community to come together and put in place strong enough actions to do something about it. I feel hope – now might be the turning point.”
Since her initial trip eight years ago, she has explored Western Palmer Land, near the Antarctic Peninsula, and made three trips to Greenland.
Last month, Dr Hogg, whose expertise include data analysis of satellite imagery, was also part of the University of Leeds team to warn that 14 glaciers in West
Antarctica are flowing faster. Using a 25-year record of satellite observations over the Getz region in Antarctica, which cannot be accessed by humans, the team reported widespread increases in ice speed across the region, with the acceleration of ice away from the land into the ocean rising by nearly 50 per cent.
It is the most remarkable place on earth. University of Leeds scientist Dr Anna Hogg.
GLACIERS MELTING is potentially contributing to climate change more than previously thought, new research from the University of Leeds has found.
An international research team has for the first time linked glacier-fed mountain rivers with higher rates of plant material decomposition, a major process in the global carbon cycle. As mountain glaciers, such as those on New Zealand’s Mount Cook, melt, water is channelled into rivers downstream. But with global warming accelerating the loss of glaciers, rivers have warmer water temperatures and are less prone to variable water flow and sediment movement, meaning carbon dioxide releasing fungi are more likely to grow.
Lead author of the study Sarah Fell said: “We found increases in the rate of organic matter decomposition in mountain rivers, which can then be expected to lead to more carbon release to the atmosphere.
“This is an unexpected form of climate feedback, whereby warming drives glacier loss, which in turn rapidly recycles carbon in rivers before it is returned to the atmosphere.”
The research, which looked at 57 rivers across the world, were funded mainly by the Natural Environment Research Council, and the results have been published in Nature Climate