THE ARTIC FUTURE

Antarctica is known to be one of the windiest, driest, coldest and darkest places on earth. Antarctica is covered by ice an also considered a dessert. The large continent full of ice contains a lot of fresh water. But it wasn’t always that way; Antarctica was a tropical place 15 million years ago.  But the planet had a dramatic climate change.

This picture shows that there is land under all the snow

 

 

The winds play a big roll on why Antarctica is so cold. This happens because Antarctica is colder than the water surrounding it. This causes a high pressure of air to travel away from Antarctica and pushes it to a warmer region. With the help of the carioles force the winds start to go counterclockwise with a high pressure in the Southern hemisphere. This helps the current winds run in a pattern and helps to create a Vortex. The vortex spreads from the surface to the stratosphere creating a barrier. The barrier of the winds helps keep the warm air away. But what also really helps the cold wind is the sloping terrain around Antarctica; it rises from 9,000 to 13,000 above the sea level. Along the sloping terrain the colder air starts in the surface and the warmer air stays at the top causing a katabatic wind; this means the colder air stays adjacent to the cold air.  Therefor helping Antarctica keep a cool weather no matter what the season is.

This shows how the cold air and warm air interact

These cold winds are predicted to turn warm in the future.  This warmth is going to be caused by greenhouse gases; causing Antarctica to warm up. It is said that the greenhouse gases has caused the winds to shift’ the shift of winds has warmed the peninsula in Antarctica. This has first been seen in 2002 when the winds shifted and warmed Antarctica’s peninsula. The warmth of Antarctica’s peninsula spread towards south America causing an ice shelf called “Larsen B” to detach from Antarctica.

In 1000 years I believe that greenhouse gases will start to increase; causing the warmth of Antarctica to increase with it. This will cause channels to open between the ices, causing some glaciers to split.

 

(“New Scientist" websites pictures, shows and also believe that channels will form through the ice in 1000 years)

In 10000 still believe that ice caps will continue to melt due to the fact that in 10000 years the human race will have polluted every inch of this earth. The greenhouse gases will increase into a dangers level.  By this time Antarctica will start showing a land and we will start to see trees starting to grow and new animals starting to migrate.

1000000 from now Antarctica will be a tropical forest. It will no longer be a cold dark windy place. New species will be calling Antarctica their home. Antarctica will be a jungle full of life and will be one of the few places left with any vegetation.

This video shows a prediction of what Antarctica might look like in 10 million years from now

Work sited page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiKXJddO-uc

http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/AntarcticLakes_h.jpg

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2837/28374301.jpg

 

Blog #3. Antarctic Ozone Hole

The Antarctica surface temperature has increased a total of 0.005degrees Celsius since 1957. Researchers have found that Antarctica has been warming up since the 1950’s. Researches believe that this has been caused by man-made items and pollution. Some example would be the pollution of cars and factories and greenhouses gases. These gases have taken a toll on Antarctica and surrounding areas. These gases have also caused the Antarctic ozone hole.

This shows how much the ozone hole has increased since 1984

 

The Antarctic ozone hole is an area where ozone levels have dropped over 33% since last tested in 1975. This ozone has been caused because of gases that contain chlorine. With the help of the UV lights the gases release chlorine atoms that cause ozone problems. During the spring the ozone problems increase because there is more sunlight (UV radiations). The spring ozone hole has caused the surrounding areas to also lower their ozone levels.  On October 1994 the ozone hole covered the tip of South Africa and the Falkland Island for a week. The ozone hole damages all living cells from living organisms to plants and animals. Reports show that the ozone layer has been recovering. Satellites show that the total amount of ozone in the Artic hole is decreasing.

If the ozone hole in Antarctica increases it will eventually harm humans. Too much exposure to the ozone can cause you to have trouble with your respiratory system. When breathing in the ozone it can cause diseases like bronchitis, asthma and lung cancer.  The exposure of the ozone will also affect our plants. Too much exposure to the ozone will damage plants and damage their growth.

*Antarctic Soil and Greenhouse effect*

Greenhouse Gases are created by cars, factories, and fossil fuels being burned. This has caused the world to warm up, not by much but enough to affect Antarctica. The north-east Antarctica peninsula has had a temperature change in the last 56 years. Flighty six years ago the Antarctica air would warm up to 2.2 Celsius during the warmest summer days. Now the Antarctica air warms up to 10 Celsius on the warmest summer days. The shift of winds and the effects of the greenhouse gases has recently caused ice shelf’s to break apart from Antarctica. The most reason example has been the Larsen B ice shelf that broke apart in 2002. The cause of the break-up was not only caused by the increase of temperature, but also because of the strong Antarctic winds. The increase of temperature caused the ice shelf to become thinner, making it vulnerable to the harsh Antarctic winds, causing the ice shelf to break apart from the cold Antarctic.

 (This is a Nasa Picture of the Larson B ice shelf. The Larson B ice shelf had an area of 3,250 square kilometers, or 1,250 square miles. The ice shelf was the size of Road Island)

Antarctica is not just a sheet of ice it also contains a body of soil. That body of soil is seen as the Antarctica Dry Valley.  The low humidity and the lack of snow and ice cover, makes the Dry Valley a visual place to see the artic soil. Dry Valley contains the coldest, driest and most oligotrophic soils making the Dry Valley soil known as arid soil. Arid soil lacks water; preventing the growth of plants and animals. Arid soil lacks vegetation; making Antarctica a dry, cold desert. Without the growth of animals and vegetation it makes Antarctica a hard place to, not only live, but also for organisms to be created.   

         (The Antartica Dry Valley; as you can see it is a dry, cold desert without vegetation)

How earth’s tilt affects Antarctica

   Around the world there are four seasons; summer, fall, winter and spring. During the summer you get more sunlight and, during fall, the hours of sunlight decreases. During the winter the hours of sunlight decreases even more, during the spring the hours of sunlight you get in a day will start to increase again. You will be surprised to know that Antarctica only has two seasons; winter and summer. Antarctica has six months of summer and six months of winter. During the summer Antarctica gets a full 24 hours of sunlight for six months. During the winter Antarctica gets a full 24 hours of darkness for six months.

   Many people in our society believe seasons are caused by the distance of the earth from the sun. The seasons have to do with the earths tilt maintaining the same angle. Earth’s tilt is the reason why Antarctica only has two seasons. When the Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun Antarctica receives sunlight causing summer to happen. Antarctica’s 24 hour sunlight occurs because the bottom of the earth is always tilted towards the sun during summer. When the Southern Hemisphere is titled away from the sun; Antarctica receives no sunlight causing winter to happen. Antarctica’s 24 darkness occurs because the bottom of the earth is always tilted away from the sun during the winter. We now know that Antarctica has 24 hour days of darkness and 24 hour day’s sunlight depending on the season.  Antarctica is located at a latitude and longitude of 90° 00' S and 0° 00' E when looking for it on a map. When looking for those coordinates on a map you will find that Antarctica is located at the bottom of our earth. The farther away you get from these coordinates the days will become normal.

Introduction

 My name is Luis Gallegos but I go by my middle name Alfredo. I am currently a sophomore and pursuing to get a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. I enjoy swimming, eating, and sleeping. My friends would describe me as random, funny, and hard working. I am originally from Nayarit Mexico; where it is hot year around.  The best part about living in Nayarit was the fact that I lived 10 minutes away from the ocean. I learned to appreciate the ocean and the weather but soon became bored with it. It was too hot and too humid for my liking. At the age of eight I moved to East Los Angeles where I went to school and adapted to my new life. East LA was a big change and learned to love living in a big city. I loved my life in east LA but my mother got a job offering in Colorado. Five years later I moved to Colorado and feel in love with the Colorado cold weather. Not only did I fall in love with the cold weather but I also liked the fact that it was not humid. It was something that I had to get use to but enjoyed the big change.

Spending most of my life in hot tropical places I learned to have an appreciation for colder weather. Making Colorado a perfect place for me to live and love. Because of my obsession with colder weather I decided to choose Antarctica as my geographic landscape. Antarctica is located in the South Pole where temperature can get extremely cold. The coldest weather ever recorded in Antarctica was -89.9 degrees Celsius. Antarctica is the emptiest and coldest place on earth making it a perfect place for me to learn about.