HOT DAYS ALONG THE WEST ANTARCTIC PENINSULA THANK YOU SEBS STAFF FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

1990

As a grad student

2010

Temperature Trends (degrees C per year) -0.2 0.2

WAP peninsula is experiencing the largest winter warming on Eart

Larson-B ice shelf after its collapse Thanks to BAS & A. Clarke

Mean Winter Temperatures

Black is British Faraday & Ukraine Vernadsky Station Red is US Palmer Station

Melt pools on surface of King George VI Sound

(from a BAS twin otter, January 2004)

QuickTime and a Motion JPEG OpenDML decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Palmer Station in the present

photo by Bill Fraser

Plants at Palmer Station, the greening of Antarctica

Heat input from Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC - worlds largest ocean current = ~30,000 Niagara Falls). The heat is driven onto the shelf by intensification of upwelling-favorable winds.

The WAP is the only location in the Antarctic where the ACC is adjacent to the shelf break. The ACC is Antarcticas warmest water

QuickTime and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture.

The decadal changes have resulted changes in the phytoplankton

The change in chlorophyll since the 1970s

The changes driven by a decline in sea ice, wind and sun

Montes Hugo et al. Science 2009

100 Thalassiosira antarctica

Corethron criophilum

Palmer Cryptophytes --> 8 2 10 Cryptomonas cryophila

1993

Salinity (p.p.t) 33.3 33.6 33.8 Palmer Station 65S

Antarctic Peninsula
64W % Cryptophytes 0 25 50

65S

Moline et al. GBC 2004

Zooplankton are dominated by krill or salps

Krill greatest biomass of any animal on earth

What does a krill want to eat?

Is there an impact on higher trophic levels?

Anvers Island

Changing diets for the Adelie penguins

1 % 1 %

1994present
9 8 %

r i l l

i s

t h

1995present

70 West

69 West Rothera Station

Old Day Communication

Brave New Day

Adelaide Island

68 South WHOI Drifter Ocean Station Obama RU05 Plan RU05 Actual

RV Gould Rothera Real time Base

comms

HAM Operator Coms Palmer Station 1988 Rutgers COOLroom

QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Conclusions: The oceans are changing in our lifetimes. A changing ocean will impact human society Rutgers, and you!! (SEBS), are at the frontlines of understanding where our ocean world is going Thank you SEBS staff, as we all have a long journey and much work to do

QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.