Antarctic Experience Research Articles

Analysis of Spatiotemporal Variations and Influencing Factors of Sea Ice Extent in the Arctic and Antarctic

The 44 years (1979–2022) of satellite-derived sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic reveals the details and new trends in the process of polar sea ice coverage changes. The speed of Arctic sea ice extent reduction and the interannual difference significantly increased after 2004. Trend analysis suggests that the Arctic Ocean may experience an ice-free period around 2060. The maximum anomaly of Arctic sea ice extent has gradually transitioned from September to October, indicating a trend of prolonged melting period. The center of gravity of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is biased towards the Pacific side, and the spatial distribution pattern of sea ice is greatly influenced by the Atlantic warm current. The dynamism of the sea ice extent on the Atlantic side is significantly greater than in other regions. Since 2014, the Antarctic sea ice extent has shifted from slow growth to a rapid decreasing trend; the sea ice extent reached a historical minimum in 2022, decreasing by 2.02 × 106 km2 compared to 2014. The Antarctic experiences seven months of ice growth each year and five months of ice melting period, the annual change patterns of sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic are slightly different.

Antarctic representation in print media during the emergence of COVID-19

AbstractLike every other continent in the world, Antarctica has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, in an imagined as well as a practical sense. Antarctica is a mediated experience; that is, most of us experience the place through films, novels, music, visual arts and the media. We present an analysis of media articles from eight countries over three time periods - pre-COVID-19 outbreak (October–December 2019), shortly after the pandemic hit the headlines (March–May 2020) and when the virus was established (October–December 2020) - to discover how COVID-19 may have changed Antarctic discourse. Our study shows that representations of Antarctica have been affected by the pandemic, in some instances reinforcing existing ideas and in other cases bringing new ideas to the fore. Based on our findings, we believe that COVID-19 has begun to change representations of Antarctica, stepping us away from the prevailing Antarctic hero narrative and providing a more contemporary understanding of the Antarctic experience. We argue that this may increase our motivation to engage with Antarctic issues, with associated implications for future global stewardship of the region.

The “Rediscovery” of Reginald Ford and his New Zealand Antarctic Lectures, 1905 to 1926

Abstract Reginald Ford, steward on Scott’s Discovery expedition, settled in New Zealand in 1905 and over the next two decades gave public lectures about his Antarctic experiences. Hitherto unrelated biographical details of Ford’s early life are assembled, and something of the character of his lantern slide lectures are reconstructed from various sources. The means by which Ford established his authority as a public speaker included his actual participation in the events he lectured about, his credentialling as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and the use of his own lantern slides. The “performative triangle” established around the audience, the lantern slide images, and Ford as lecturer, is examined via contemporary newspaper accounts and Ford’s other writings.

Tourism and heritage in Antarctica: exploring cultural, natural and subliminal experiences

ABSTRACT The guidelines on heritage management adopted by the 2018 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting provide the most recent iteration for an Antarctic tourism sector which had, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, been projected to increase further with various risks and potential impacts requiring careful management. In this paper the role of cultural heritage for tourism prior to the COVID-19 pandemic is examined through three empirical perspectives. First, how the Antarctic cultural heritage is represented through the designation of Historic Sites and Monuments and Site Guidelines for Visitors; then how this is presented through tourism operators’ websites; and, finally, how it is experienced by visitors as narrated in open-source social media information. Each dataset suggests that, while cultural heritage is an important component of an increasingly commodified tourist offering, it is only part of an assemblage of elements which combine to create a subliminal and largely intangible Antarctic experience. In particular, a polarization of the heritage experience between cultural and natural does not appear productive. The paper proposes a more nuanced understanding of heritage tourism in Antarctica which accommodates the notion of a hybrid experience that integrates cultural heritage, the history and stories this heritage represents, and the natural environmental setting.

Can heritage resources highlight changes to the natural environment caused by climate change? Evidence from the Antarctic tourism experience

Tourists are motivated to travel to Antarctica for not only the natural beauty of the continent and its wildlife but also because of the cultural and historical resources associated with the great explorers, such as Shackleton. This article examines the interplay and interrelationships between natural and cultural heritage resources and how this may shape the Antarctic experience and the benefits and outcomes associated with tourism participation. In particular we examined how tourist's perspectives on climate change are influenced through this interplay between natural and cultural heritage resources. Data were drawn from participant observation, field notes, and open-ended questionnaires that were distributed to tourists that participated in four different Antarctic voyages in 2014. The study finds that cultural heritage resources, such as historic sites and locations, could be used as a narrative vehicle for discussing broader enivronmental issues such as climate change, as tourists appear willing to consider cultural and natural environments as existing in a symbiotic, rather than a dichotomous relationship. However, interpreters and guides may need to make the connections between cultural heritage resources and climate change more overt, as tourists did not necessarily view environmental issues through the prism of cultural heritage.

Writing with light: a photographer’s vision: Frank Hurley and the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition

Frank Hurley’s photography from the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) has been largely overlooked as a body of work in isolation, too often apprenticed to images he created during Ernest Shackleton’s 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic “Endurance” Expedition. It was Hurley’s first Antarctic experience with the AAE, living and working at Commonwealth Bay in unprecedented wind conditions, and sledging 500 km to and from the vicinity of the South Magnetic Pole, that forged his abiding visual narrative of man’s struggle against nature. The images Frank Hurley captured during the AAE and the “Endurance” Expedition “have so colonised the popular imagination, that they are now the primary means by which the expeditions are visualised”. This paper explores Hurley’s photographic vision, informed by Pictorial aesthetics and embraced through his first experience of Antarctica as official photographer and cinematographer to the AAE; it positions Hurley’s preoccupation with depictions of the Hero as a manifestation of Imperial identity and pride; it analyses the embellishments of Hurley’s iconic AAE blizzard photograph, and touches upon the seeming contradiction of his most contentious darkroom practice – creating composites from two or more images – in which he privileged the Modernist notion of sensate truth above the factual accuracy intrinsic to traditional photojournalism and documentary making.

A working man in Wonderland: Ernest Joyce, photographs and Antarctic exploration

This paper proposes that photographs have the potential to generate new thinking about the experience of Antarctic exploration, suggesting particularly that the diversified photographies of the early twentieth century provide a means of harnessing the reactions of individuals marginalized by conventional text-based discourse. It considers the Antarctic experiences of “second-tier” explorer Ernest Joyce, outlining existing constructions of his Antarctica in order to provide a context for thinking with the group of photographs he compiled in response to his participation in three of the British-led expeditions of the so-called Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. It suggests that Antarctica brought about a significant attitudinal shift for Joyce, drawing him away from a paradigm based in service to duty towards one where individual will might prevail. However, this attitudinal shift was not matched by the tangible recognition Joyce craved, making his Antarctica also a site for considering the restless operation of unresolved aspiration.

From awe to satisfaction: immediate affective responses to the Antarctic tourism experience

ABSTRACTAntarctica is a rugged, austere, and yet stunningly beautiful continent with charismatic fauna including several species of penguins, whales, and seals. Mass media, writings from the early explorers, and modern film all describe firsthand experiences as delightful, beautiful, challenging, humbling, and even awe-inspiring. This dramatic allure of Antarctica now fuels one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world with over 30,000 visitors annually traveling to the continent. Despite the fact that Antarctic tourism has occurred for over 30 years, little research has investigated the psychological and affective influence of these immersive tourism experiences in the Antarctic environment. This study explored visitors' affective judgments regarding their Antarctic tourism experience. An onsite post experience survey was administered to Antarctic tourists to investigate their satisfaction with a range of tour attributes. In addition, the researchers used the open-ended question, “How did this Antarctic experience affect you?” to explore tourists’ affective response to their interaction with the Antarctic tourism environment. These open ended responses were coded usinga priorithemes generated from Kellert's environmental values typology. Additionally, each response was analysed for the presence of an awe experience. Further analysis revealed that tourists described five sub-dimensions of an ‘awe’ experience (nature-human relationship, spiritual connection, transformative experience, goal clarification, and sense of feeling humbled), with many individuals experiencing multiple dimensions of awe. Consequently, this analysis reveals that the impact of an Antarctic tour experience is powerful, rich, and extremely complex.

The extraterrestrial Earth: Antarctica as analogue for space exploration

Abstract The polar regions have often been suggested as surrogates for the exploration and colonization of space. In particular, Antarctica's greater isolation makes it a useful analogue. Its features—abiotic, acultural, alien to human habitation—all echo the regions of interest to contemporary exploration, notably the solar system and the deep oceans. But more than a century of Antarctic experience also suggests that exploration will likely resemble the Renaissance's Great Voyages and their outposts rather than become portals for wholesale colonization. These sites will traffic mostly in information—the spices and luxury goods of interest to their sustaining societies.

Evolution of the coping strategies in an isolated group in an Antarctic base

AbstractThe Antarctic environment is well known for its hostility (cold, isolation, and confinement). The effects of the Antarctic experience on human health are controversial, as some studies emphasise negative (‘pathogenic’) and others positive (‘salutogenic’) effects. In the process of human adaptation to extreme environments, the cognitive and behavioural strategies — defined as coping — that individuals use are a basic component.This study investigated the use and the changes of coping strategies in nine Antarctic wintering-over expeditioners by administering the COPE questionnaire three times during the year. The results showed a composite use of the coping strategies in the group. The ways of coping, focusing on problem solving and developing personal maturity, were judged to be those most used over the period. Some variations connected with the specific environment were noticed. There was an increase in self-distancing from problems, disengaging from the socio-operational environment, procrastinating, and emotional levelling, particularly in mid-winter. This lethargic, apathetic attitude, which is called ‘freezing,’ may represent a defence against useless energy expenditure and may reduce stress response. This ‘immobilisation’ strategy, well reflected in the symptoms of the ‘winter-over syndrome,’ appears to be adaptive in an environment where the control an individual can exert is highly limited. The results seem to support the salutogenic effects of the winter-over experience.

Polar environmental protection and international law: the 1991 Antarctic Protocol

The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty has created for the first time an integrated environmental protection regime in Antarctica. Negotiated at a time when there was considerable debate over whether mining should be permitted in Antarctica and not long after the Treaty parties had concluded negotiations for a specific Antarctic minerals regime, its entry into force in 1998 is a testament to the international goodwill to cooperatively manage Antarctica and the robustness of the Antarctic Treaty system. The Protocol is also another milestone in the international management of Antarctica and generally for international environmental law. While the 1959 Antarctic Treaty initially sought to neutralise sovereignty and promote scientific cooperation, increasingly an environmental focus in Antarctic management has begun to prevail. The result is a comprehensive environmental law regime which increasingly controls all activities undertaken on the continent and the surrounding Southern Ocean. Antarctica is a unique model for development and implementation of international environmental law with successes often replicated in other global or regional law instruments. This permits some important lessons to be drawn from the Antarctic experience for the development of international environmental law and treaty-making generally.

Six years of UARS Microwave Limb Sounder HNO3 observations: Seasonal, interhemispheric, and interannual variations in the lower stratosphere

We present an overview of the seasonal, interhemispheric, and interannual variations in the distribution of HNO3 in the lower stratosphere based on measurements of gas‐phase HNO3 made by the UARS Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) through six complete annual cycles in both hemispheres. Outside of the winter polar regions, zonal‐mean HNO3 mixing ratios on the 465‐K potential temperature surface are comparable in the two hemispheres in all latitude bands and in all years examined. Except at high latitudes, interannual variability is minimal, and there is no significant hemispheric asymmetry in the overall HNO3 distribution or its seasonal cycle. Although the Antarctic experiences widespread severe denitrification, the MLS data indicate that the denitrification is not complete; that is, not all polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) particles sediment out of the lower stratosphere. Replenishment of HNO3 at 465 K during the mid‐ to late‐winter period (when temperatures, though still low, are generally rising) is most likely achieved through a combination of PSC evaporation and continuing weak diabatic descent. Despite large interhemispheric and interannual differences in the extent and duration of PSC activity and denitrification, HNO3 recovers to similar values at the end of every winter in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Zonal‐mean HNO3 values for the two hemispheres are virtually indistinguishable for the latitudes equatorward of 65°, even during the winter months. Thus the effects of severe denitrification are confined in both space and time to the regions poleward of 65°S during the winter and early spring.

Looking at the Falkland Islands from Antarctica: the broader regional perspective

AbstractA range of geographical, political, legal, economic, scientific, environmental, and other inter-connections can be drawn between the Falkland Islands and Antarctica. One common element concerns the fact that both areas remain the subject of long-standing dispute between Argentina and Britain. In the past, various attempts have been made to present Antarctic experience as the basis for action in the Falklands question, most notably, as part of the search for a resolution of the Anglo-Argentine impasse regarding sovereignty over the Falklands/Malvinas. A number of proposed linkages are examined, although, admittedly, it is easier to pose questions than to provide answers. Nevertheless, the proposals articulate the merits of viewing the Falkland Islands in a wider regional context, defined as covering the archipelago, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica, and possibly South America.

Multiple stress tolerance in an antarctic terrestrial arthropod: Belgica antarctica

Terrestrial arthropods of the maritime Antarctic experience a diverse range of environmental Stressors including extended periods of ice and snow cover, anoxia, immersion in water of variable pH and salinity, and extensive habitat drying. The collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus and the mite Alaskozetes antarcticus seasonally depress whole body supercooling points to avoid the lethal effects of freezing. Alternatively, the wingless chironomid Belgica antarctica has a relatively limited supercooling capacity (between −6 and −8 °C) and tolerates extracellular freezing. The lower limit of freeze tolerance remains unchanged near −13 °C throughout the year in B. antarctica. Summer larvae tolerate dehydration to a limit of 35% of initial body weight as well as extended periods of anoxia and immersion in freshwater and saltwater. Two weeks of exposure to variable pH (3–12) induced no mortality.