Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 08:26
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Oden Antarctic Expedition 08

Hey Jeff,

 It looks like if you are not two froozen you are having a great time and I am glad you got this oppertunity.

 Two questions...

1) Have you figured out how to bring a penguin back to Talooli so we can all touch and feel .. :)

2) CNN has articles about the Polar caps melting at a rapid rate. Can you Actually see/tell witht he naked eye that the ice is melting or can you only really tell by comparing dated images??

 

Mandy Martensen

I can't wait to you are back at talooli to hear the stories, hope Jan has starte planning that weekend ;)

Mon, 12/22/2008 - 17:55

Jeff Peneston

Mandy,There is no question that global warming is real and the best place to notice the changes are at the poles.  In Antarctica, the most profound changes are along the Palmer Peninsula where there is so much less sea ice, that penguin populations are shifting to new areas farther south.  Here in the Amundsen Sea, there has been over a 5% reduction in average sea ice cover in the last decade.  However, everyone knows that the day-to-day weather is hard to predict and changes all the time.  The best (and sometimes the only way) to really see change is to look at an area over a long time.  In fact, part of the reason we are here is that this is one of the parts of the ocean where we know change is happening but we don’t have very good historic measurements to compare to.   The short answer is, no.  I can’t point to anything I have seen and say that it is an indicator of climate change.  The maps from last year’s Oden expedition show that parts of the Amundsen Sea had more ice last year but in some other parts, we have ice so thick that it has caused us to change our course plan.  There are parts of this area that had less ice but more wind last year.
Regarding penguins, we don’t even joke about it.  Everyone is very careful when we go out onto the ice to make sure that we don’t do anything to approach or affect the penguins.
Have a great holiday and I will see you at Camp Talooli!
Take care,
Jeff