A land of ice and ambition
RNZ Science journalist, Dr Claire Concannon visited Antarctica and recorded a series of podcasts. In the six accompanying articles Claire introduces us to the people she met and their work in Antarctica and how it is shaping our understanding of our changing world.
Land of extremes
Welcome to Antarctica – a land of ice, extremes and ambition. From historic expeditions to modern-day science projects, Antarctic exploration is a unique and dangerous experience.
In this article, we meet one researcher involved in an epic journey across the largest ice shelf in Antarctica, mapping a safe route through a crevassed landscape for others to follow. We also learn about the different types of ice found in this vast, frozen landscape.
Introducing A land of ice and ambition
RNZ science communicator Dr Claire Concannon shares some insights into the hidden dangers that people face while travelling across the ice. Claire provides a summary of the first episode, A land of ice and ambition, in the Voice of the Sea Ice podcast series.
Select here to view the video transcript and copyright information.
A long and icy road trip
Antarctic science often hits our headlines. But what about the backstories? To pull off ambitious projects takes years of planning, logistics and sometimes some really crazy journeys – like 2 weeks of non-stop driving across a flat, white expanse of nothingness, at a maximum speed of 10 kilometres per hour, to track a safe route for the research teams to follow.
A land of ice and ambition – podcast
This is the first episode of six in the Voice of the Sea Ice podcast series from RNZ science communicator Dr Claire Concannon. Listen to a brief overview of the history of exploration in Antarctica and meet glaciologist Dr Daniel Price to learn about crevasses and different types of ice.
Select here to view the audio transcript, jargon definitions and copyright information.
Drilling back in time to learn about the future
That epic road trip was what was needed to set up the SWAIS2C project. It’s an international collaboration, led by New Zealand agencies, attempting to drill through hundreds of metres of ice and into the seafloor sediment below.
The layers in this sought-after sediment are like a time machine, allowing scientists to look back into the past.
The big question they want to answer: What was the West Antarctic Ice Sheet like when global temperatures were 1–1.5°C warmer? This will give clues about what our sea-level rise future looks like as the climate heats up.
Antarctic ice sheets and ice shelves
The Antarctic ice sheets are shown in white and are on the land. The ice shelves are shown in grey and are on water.
Antarctica’s ice sheets are massive amounts of ice, kilometres thick in some parts, that sit on the continent’s bedrock. As the ice sheets build up mass, they start to flow off the continent and down into the ocean. When they start to float, they are called ice shelves.
The one closest to New Zealand’s Scott Base on Ross Island is the largest – the Ross Ice Shelf.
The slowest road trip
Dr Daniel Price with radar
Dr Daniel Price stands beside a radar on the end of a long arm. The arm is attached to the front of the vehicle he uses to survey for hidden crevasses.
Dr Daniel Price of the University of Canterbury and Kea Aerospace has crossed the Ross Ice Shelf several times in the last 8 years, starting with a route-finding mission for the SWAIS2C project in 2017.
It's about the size of France and completely flat and completely white, and there is absolutely nothing to see.
One of the drill sites is where the West Antarctic Ice Sheet becomes the Ross Ice Shelf, a driving distance of 1,300 km from Scott Base. Daniel was tasked with marking a path that would be safe from one of the key dangers out here – crevasses, or large cracks in the ice.
Crevasse
Crevasses can vary in width and depth, but most have steep vertical walls. All crevasses can pose safety risks for people working in Antarctica.
The first part of the journey was along the South Pole Highway, a part of the Ross Ice Shelf that the US team uses to drive to the South Pole. They maintain it each year, using explosives to blow up and then fill in crevasses. But at some stage, Daniel needed to turn off the highway and venture out into the unknown.
This is where satellite images came in handy.
Crevasses in a satellite image
This satellite image of the McMurdo Shear Zone is marked up to show some of the features scientists need to identify for safe travel across an ice sheet.
Active microwave radar satellites bounce energy off the Earth’s surface, and the resulting image looks like an X-ray of the ice, revealing the cracks hidden beneath the snow. But it’s not enough to draw a line on this X-ray image and hope you’ll be safe. Daniel also needed to check each crevasse on the ground, using a radar out the front of a vehicle like a minesweeper spotting crevasses in real time.
This made their journey very slow – they moved at just 5 or 6 kilometres per hour when surveying for crevasses.
Having a road trip playlist was never more important.
Everything slows down
Between the journey to and from and work at the site, Daniel spent about 60 days out on the Ross Ice Shelf each trip. Being in this flat, white expanse of nothing for so long does something to your brain he says.
“I guess it's kind of like muscles if you don't use them – parts of the mind start to slow down and shut off. So when you come back to base or New Zealand, it's quite exhausting really to start interacting with people, seeing colours. And just the mind is a little overwhelmed for a while until it readjusts to the normalcy of life.”
He’s not the first, and likely not the last, to experience this – living in Antarctica is the closest thing on Earth to being on another planet.
Student activities
The following activities visually demonstrate the implications of melting:
Related content
Voice of the Sea Ice is a six-part RNZ podcast series that delves into science research and adventure in Antarctica. Explore the other episodes:
The heartbeat of Antarctica: Meet and learn from some of the researchers studying the physics of the Antarctic annual sea ice cycle.
Antarctic life – microalgae: Introduces microalgae (zooplankton) that live on the bottom of the ice and among the platelet ice layer just below it.
Antarctic life – penguins, seals and fish: Scientists are investigating the Antarctic food web to better understand the interconnections.
Changing times in Antarctica: Scientists talk about what sea ice decline means for the world and how they feel about it.
Climate change – where to?: Human-induced climate change is impacting Earth’s global systems, including ice melt in Antarctica. What is the world doing to combat it? Where does New Zealand fit in, and are we doing our bit as a nation?
For resources that provide a deeper exploration of ice in Antarctica, go to Icebergs and Glaciers. Antarctic sea ice decline and modelling explains sea ice around Antarctica, and Climate change, melting ice and sea level rise explores ice sheets and ice shelves.
Satellites are an important tool in many different types of research. Take a closer look at some research in Antarctica that has used satellites:
Use these articles to explore how rising global temperature is causing both land ice and sea ice to melt:
Rising seas – a Connected article
Antarctica tipping points looks at the irreversible changes we could be facing if we fail to keep global warming below 2°C.
Useful links
Hear more about the SWAIS2C project 2023/24 season in the podcast The fate of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in a warming world.
Dr Daniel Price explains the radar technology he uses to map crevasses in this accessible blog.
Learn more about crevasses in this National Geographic article.
Take a deeper dive into the concept of Antarctic ice sheet surface mass balance.
For more podcasts about living and working on the ice, listen to the RNZ series Voices from Antarctica.
Acknowledgement
This resource is adapted from the work of Dr Claire Concannon for the RNZ podcast series Voice of the Sea Ice. The series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.
