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Aerosols are small, solid, particles like dust, smoke, and smog which are suspended in the air. Aerosols are generated by a variety of natural and man-made sources such as fossil fuel combustion, forest fires, and dust storms. Because aerosols have the ability to diffuse light coming from the sun, they may actually have a cooling impact on our Earth’s climate and the Greenland Ice Sheet.

In order to study the effect of aerosols on the arctic and the Greenland Ice Sheet, the research team took snow and air samples to measure the amount of aerosols. By looking at snow surface properties and chemistry the research team explored connections between aerosols and the snow surface albedo, or reflectivity.

The Greenland Ice Sheet plays a key role in regulating global climate. It also stores a large volume of fresh water. If it melts, it has the potential to cause sea level to rise. It is important to understand how air pollutants impact the climate of the Arctic, because changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet could affect places and people around the world. Better understanding the effects of aerosols would allow us to predict or adapt to some of these changes.

Underlying the northern arctic coast of Alaska is a thick layer of permafrost. As water melts and pools on top of the permafrost, thaw lakes are formed. There are many thaw lakes on the North Slope of Alaska. As they decompose organic material, the bacteria and other microorganisms living in thaw lakes produce methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, and increased microbial activity in thawing permafrost areas could lead to changes in the atmosphere due to the release of methane.

Microbial activity in thaw lakes is not very well understood. This research was important for better understanding how microbial activities affect the biogeochemical cycle, or the way specific chemicals move through living and non-living processes on Earth.

To collect their data, the research team combined research methods from biology, ecology, and biotechnology. They collected data in the field including soil cores, thaw depth, water table depth, and dissolved oxygen measurements. Additionally, they monitored bacterial respiration and conducted related lab experiments.

Solar radiation is the major energy source that drives our climate and supports life on earth. In this project, the research team gained a better understanding of the solar radiation reflected back into space and absorbed by our planet, also known as the Earth’s heat balance. The team collected data related to this balance using weather observing instruments and a specially equipped aircraft that detected wind speed and directions and electromagnetic radiation.

The measurements were part of an international effort to record radiation called the Baseline Surface Radiation Network project. The data collected was used to further study the Greenland Ice Sheet and it’s processes such as melting and gas exchange with the atmosphere.

Studying heat balance is an important concept in climatology because light surfaces, like snow, reflect more radiation back into space while dark surfaces, like water, absorb more radiation. When you have snow cover, about 90% of the solar energy that goes through the atmosphere is reflected back into space. But increasing the amount of water on the Ice Sheet causes less radiation to reflect and more heat to be absorbed. This increases the temperature and causes more ice to melt.

Glaciers are like moving rivers of ice, and as meltwater makes its way to the bottom of the ice sheet it acts like a lubricant helping the glacier move. As climate warms in the polar regions, glacial meltwater increases, reduces friction, and causes this movement to increase. Increased glacial movement may cause glaciers to recede more rapidly, but there is no exact formula for this.

For this project, the team worked at the Svartisen Subglacial Laboratory, a laboratory located beneath a glacier, to study the glacier’s movement. From the lab, water pressure beneath the glacier was manually increased in an attempt to cause rapid glacial movement. The sliding of the glacier caused very small earthquakes, which could be measured using seismometers at the glacier surface and in rock tunnels below the glacier.

Predicting future increases in ice-sheet sliding speed is one of the single largest unknowns in predicting sea-level rise due to melting glaciers. The measurements taken were to help scientists learn more about glacial movement. In addition, the information improved how seismological data from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets translate to glacial movement, and therefore sea level rise.

The research team sampled the coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean to investigate how microbial creatures affect the productivity of a coastal Arctic ecosystem. They traveled to the field site via snowmobile and sampled the seawater through a hole drilled into the sea ice. The seawater collected was used to look at competition between autotrophs, organisms that make their own food, and heterotrophs, organisms that cannot make their own food, and for nitrogen (N) in the waters near Barrow, Alaska.

The field work took place over the course of three seasons (two years) to give researchers the opportunity to investigate the coastal water ecosystems in different seasons, winter and summer, and with different amounts of daylight. The sources of nitrogen vary when there is no daylight in the winter, from the summer where there is nearly 24 hours of daylight.

In ocean ecosystems, microbes dominate many of the processes and are the major producers and consumers of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. Understanding the role of microbial communities in the Arctic ecosystem is an essential part of predicting the impact of climate change on Arctic food webs and other natural cycles.

The carbon cycle is the means by which carbon is moved between the world’s soils, oceans, atmosphere, and living organisms. Northern tundra ecosystems play a key role in the carbon cycle because the cold, moist, and frozen soils trap rotting organic material in the soils. This very slowly decaying organic material has caused carbon to build up in the arctic during the past thousands of years. Now warming in the arctic is slowly causing the tundra to become warmer and dryer. As a result, the trapped carbon leaves the soil as carbon dioxide and goes into the atmosphere.

The research team studied changes to the carbon cycle in northern forests by setting up experiments that copy the setting of warmer and dryer tundra. When they arrived at the field site they first removed snow from the research sites, constructed new warming chambers, installed water wells, and set up a carbon dioxide measuring system. After the set-up, the team began taking field measurements of carbon dioxide exchange between the soil and atmosphere, permafrost thaw depth, and water table depth. In addition, they took samples of plant and soil and studied the plant life cycles, also known as phenology.

The experiment is part of the Carbon in Permafrost Experimental Heating Research (CiPEHR) project. The results of their research will be helpful in predicting how the warming and drying tundra will affect the carbon balance, and how the release of additional carbon dioxide will affect global climate change.

Antarctic icefish are uniquely adapted to life in the extreme conditions of the Southern Ocean. Waters surrounding Antarctica are unlike any other, they are isolated, very cold, have large amounts of dissolved oxygen, and have low numbers of competing animals.

Because of this unique environment, the icefish have evolved with some interesting traits. They do not have a swim bladder, and they spend much of their time near the ocean floor. To help them survive in the very cold waters, they have antifreeze proteins in their blood and body that keep their cells from freezing. Because of the high oxygen content in Antarctic waters, the icefish are able to survive with lower amounts of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen to the rest of the body, than other fishes.

Scientists believe that the unique characteristics of icefish cell structure may be connected to how well they are able to withstand increases in ocean temperature. Because of this, Antarctic icefish may signal the impacts of climate change on the water temperature of the Southern Ocean.

The research team captured the icefish by trawling from the R/V Laurence M. Gould. After catching them, they placed the icefish in tanks at Palmer Station. By changing water conditions in the tanks, the team studied the fishes tolerance to changing conditions. They also took tissue samples from the fishes for future experiments at their home institutions.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), traveled from McMurdo Station, Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile aboard the U.S. research vessel Nathanial B. Palmer. While aboard, they collected data from the Bellingshausen, Amundsen, and Ross Seas and the Southern Pacific Ocean. Using many different types of oceanographic instruments they collected water samples at various depths to obtain data about the salinity, temperature, oxygen, CFCs, nutrients, ocean carbon, and other substances. Other scientists participating in the research cruise measured aerosols, solar radiation, and recovered and deployed moorings that were used to collect data during the remainder of the year.

Oceans play an important role in the global carbon cycle, as they absorb and store carbon dioxide (CO2) from our atmosphere. However, the amount and rate of carbon dioxide absorption depends on many things such as phytoplankton, temperature, salinity, water currents, and location. One of the main goals of this study was to observe the changing patterns of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ocean. This helped give scientists the information they needed to improve their forecasting abilities for the oceans and global climate.

The US Global Ocean Carbon and Repeat Hydrography program began it's ship-based studies in 2003, and has since conducted similar work around the world with research cruises scheduled into 2014.

¿Qué están hacienda?

Un grupo interdisciplinario de científicos, apoyados por el NAtional Science Foundation (NSF) y la National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), viajarán de la Estación McMurdo, Antártida hasta Punta Arenas, Chile abordo del buque de investigación Nathaniel B. Palmer. Desde el buque colectarán datos de os mares Bellinghausen, Amundsen y Ross y el Pacífico del Sur. Utilizarán diferentes instrumentos oceanográficos para colectar muestras de agua a diferentes profundidades para obtener información sobre la salinidad, temperatura, oxígeno disuelto, compuestos clorofluorocarbonados (CFC), nutrientes, carbono oceánico, y otras substancias. Otros científicos en la expedición medirán aerosoles, radiación solar, y recuperarán boyas oceanográficas que se han utilizado para colectar datos en meses pasados.

Los océanos juegan un papel muy importante en el ciclo global del carbono, al absorber y almacenar dióxido de carbono (CO2) de nuestra atmósfera. Sin embargo, la cantidad de carbono y la rapidez con la que es absorbido por los océanos depende de muchas cosas, como el fitopláncton, temperatura del agua, salinidad, corrientes oceánicas, y localidad. Uno de las metas más importantes de este estudio es el observar los cambios en los patrones del dióxido de carbono en el océano. Esta información permitirá a los científicos mejorar la capacidad de predicción de sus modelos climáticos y oceánicos .

El programa US Global Ocean Carbon and Repeat Hydrography (Carbono Oceánico Global e Hydrografía repetida de los EU) empezó sus investigaciones desde buques científicos en el 2003, y desde entonces ha conducido trabajos similares en diferentes cruceros por el mundo entero. Estos trabajos están programados para continuar hasta el 2014.

Glaciers are like moving rivers of ice, and their rate of movement can vary depending on many factors including friction, the slope of underlying bedrock, and climate. Byrd Glacier is unique because it goes through large changes in its speed in response to two subglacial lakes, lakes that remain unfrozen underneath the glacier, which drain periodically. This project was designed to study the changes in glacier behavior on timescales from minutes to years by closely monitoring Byrd Glacier for the following 2.5 years.

To do this, the research team installed about 30 GPS units on Byrd Glacier. Some of the sensors remained on the glacier during just the 2010-2011-research season (November – February) and some stayed out there and took recordings all year long. The data collected from different parts of the glacier provided a continuous record of horizontal and vertical motions over a 26-month time period.

The results of the study were used in conjunction with a longer record of remote sensing observations. The combined datasets were used to check a numerical model of the glacier’s flow dynamics, or changes in rates of movement. The modeling efforts were applied to other East Antarctic outlet glaciers so that scientists could develop a better understanding of glacier behavior in Antarctica.

The research team made two trips to Antarctica as part of the same project, first from 8-25 November 2010 and later in the field season from 29 January - 12 February 2011.

As the Oden and the Palmer traveled towards McMurdo Station from Chile, international teams of researchers on board both ships investigated the summer sea ice, biology, oceanography, and biogeochemistry of the Amundsen Sea Polynya. Polynyas are areas of open water surrounded by sea ice and are very productive parts of the polar oceans where nutrients are rapidly exchanged between the atmosphere, ocean surface, and the deep sea.

The research team looked closely at the processes that control the production and destruction of greenhouse gases, and also on the role of sea ice microorganisms in this process. These studies added to the limited knowledge of these remote corners of the Antarctic Seas and lead to a better understanding of the interactions between the climate and the marine biosphere. Polynyas may be the key to understanding the future of polar regions since their area is expected to increase with warming in the polar regions.