Scott Centenary 2011–2012

To Strive, To Seek, To Find. and Not to Yield

This quote, from Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’, is engraved on a 9ft cross standing on the summit of Observation Hill, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The cross is in memory of Captain Robert Falcon Scott Royal Navy, and his four companions who died on their return from the South Pole in March 1912.

January 2012 will see the 100th Anniversary of Scott’s heroic efforts to reach the South Pole. Having attained the South Pole through a combination of incredible fortitude and immense physical effort, Scott and his party of four (Dr Edward Wilson, Lt Henry Bowers R.I.M, Capt Lawrence Oates Inniskilling Dragoons and Petty Officer Edgar Evans Royal Navy) were to find that they had reached their destination behind a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen. Undeterred they remained committed to their science projects and during their return journey of some 810miles they collected rock samples which were to confirm that the Southern continents were once been joined as a super continent, thereby confirming the theory of Plate-Tectonics. Furthermore, these specimens also provided evidence for climate change. Undertaking this scientific exploration came at a price though as the 35lbs of rock samples had to be man hauled across the frozen wastes of the Antarctic. Exceptionally bad weather hindered their progress and ultimately led to the team’s tragic demise just 11 miles from safety. When Scott and the remaining members of his team were found frozen in their tent, the rock-samples which they had collected were found at the camp. Despite the hardships they had endured, and in the face of certain death, they had refused to abandon their scientific collections such was Scott’s dedication to his science and the advancement of human exploration and knowledge. Scott and his team had already conducted very significant research and scientific exploration prior to departing for the Pole. Surveying this research shortly before leaving for the Pole and recognizing by then that Amundsen was likely to beat him there, Scott wrote, “It is really a satisfactory state of affairs all around. If the [polar] journey comes off, nothing, not even priority at the Pole, can prevent the Expedition ranking as one of the most important that ever entered the Polar regions.” History and science made it so.

British Antarctic Survey are linked to a number of events and news stories celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s journey to the South Pole in 1911/12. Scott and his men perished on the infamous return to their camp at Hut Point. His remarkable journey involved pioneering scientific research, some of which is still valuable today and forms a benchmark for modern science.

• 3 billion people lack access to affordable, modern energy services for cooking, heating and productive uses.
• More than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, and a billion more depend on unreliable power grids.
• Smoke from polluting and inefficient cooking, lighting, and heating devices kills nearly 2 million people every year, primarily women and children.

Eyewitness: Carina Nebula, Milky Way

Lying 7,500 light years from Earth, the Carina Nebula buzzes with activity. Countless stars are being born among the glowing clouds of dust and gas and, over several million years, this nebula – named after the keel of the mythical ship Argo – has created some of the most massive stars known to astronomers.

Russian Scientists Breach Antarctica's Lake Vostok

A cross-section of Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake in Antarctica, is seen in an illustration.

Illustration courtesy Nicolle Rager-Fuller, NSF

RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS TO UNVEIL VOSTOK LAKE SECRETS

Drilling activities were reassumed after a year of waiting and scientists expect to reach the world’s biggest sub glacial lake in the following days. Vostok is also the deepest of the more than 170 sub glacial lakes discovered in Antarctica and it is expected to contain the most pristine and ancient water in the world.

There are still many feats to be done by scientists. But drilling through more than 3.000 mts of ancient ice in the coldest and most isolated region of the planet is definitely one of those achievements that will make history.

For the past years, Russian scientists have been working to get a sample of what is expected to be the most ancient and pristine water in the world. The expert team plans to reach the surface of LakeVostok in the following days.

Lake Vostok is the largest of the 170 sub glacial lakes that have been discovered under the frozen surface of Antarctica. It is located near the Russian Vostok Station, close to the South Pole of Inaccessibility and the place where the lowest temperature in history was registered-82 ºC.

Lake Vostok is a massive area of water of 250 km., trapped under the frozen surface of Antarctica. It is buried under 3.500 meters of ice and snow and has remained this way for the thousands of yeas.

For the last years, a team of technicians and scientists from the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, have worked there with an especially designed hot water drill to go through the rock solid ice down to the water. They melt ice and snow with a boiler and push it at high pressure to drill through the ice.

The original plan was to get to the water last year, but due to the climate conditions, tasks had to be stopped until this year’s summer season.

Now, according to the announcement made by the AARI Director Valerie Lukin, scientists are less than 50 meters away from their objective.

Once they reach their objective, they will allow the water to freee inside the hole and  wait till next year to collect the samples in order to avoid contaminating the lake.

Earth Overshoot Day is coming!

In 10 months, humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year

Similarly to the way a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network’s methodology tracks human demand on nature – from filtering CO2 to producing the raw materials for food – against nature’s capacity to regenerate those resources and absorb the waste. Our research shows that in approximately nine months,  we have demanded a level of services from nature equivalent to what the planet can provide for all of 2012. We maintain this deficit by depleting stocks of things like fish and trees, and by accumulating waste such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the ocean.

Earth Overshoot Day (based on a concept devised by UK-based new economics foundation), helps conceptualize the degree to which we are over-budget in our use of nature. While meant as an estimate more than an exact date,  Earth Overshoot Day helps conceptualize the size of the gap between a sustainable level of ecological demand and how much is currently required to support human activities globally.

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/earth

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