Antarctica Archives - Mission Blue

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East Antarctic Hope Spot Highlights Ecological Importance and Need for Comprehensive Protection of Marine Life

Featured image: John Weller
(EAST ANTARCTICA) – 
The East Antarctic region is distinctive and dynamic, yet less well understood than other regions of the Antarctic. The remote, extreme, cold areas of East Antarctica remain largely untouched by human intervention. However, increased human activities and associated infrastructure could have long-lasting effects on the environment. The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is developing international campaigns to designate the East Antarctic marine protected area (MPA). The campaign focuses on building support for the designation by countries that are Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). This plan includes raising the international profile of Antarctic conservation so that it remains a priority for decision-makers.
 
 
Mission Blue recognizes Claire Christian, Executive Director of ASOC, and Kimberly Aiken, Research and Policy Associate with ASOC as the Hope Spot Champions of the East Antarctic Hope Spot in recognition of their efforts to encourage continued international collaboration to protect Antarctica.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Uncategorized |

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Southern Ocean Retrospectives and Perspectives

Maggie Amsler, Department of Biology University of Alabama at Birmingham

I recently sailed away from Antarctica on almost the shortest day of the year, plying north through the Southern Ocean to the port city of Punta Arenas, Chile and ultimately flying home to Alabama where I touched down on the longest day (and hottest?!) of the year in Alabama. The four-day transit featured relatively calm seas most of the time, even in the notorious Drake Passage. Island-lifestyle enthusiast Jimmy Buffett would term my relocation a “change in latitude” and as a career polar marine biologist, I have made this drastic hemispheric shift for each of my 27 expeditions to Antarctica. According to my back of the envelope scribbles, I have had the privilege of spending approximately eight years of my life beside, on, in and even above the Southern Ocean.…

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Finding New Homes Won’t Help Emperor Penguins Cope with Climate Change

Mission Blue is a proud supporter of the WHOI emperor penguin study in collaboration with WHOI and The French National Research Agency!

If projections for melting Antarctic sea ice through 2100 are correct, the vanishing landscape will strip Emperor penguins of their breeding and feeding grounds and put populations at risk.  But like other species that migrate to escape the wrath of climate change, can these iconic animals be spared simply by moving to new locations?
According to new research led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), they cannot. Scientists report that dispersal may help sustain global Emperor penguin populations for a limited time, but, as sea ice conditions continue to deteriorate, the 54 colonies that exist today will face devastating declines by the end of this century.…

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Major Victory for Protection of the Ross Sea Hope Spot

Mission Blue and her partners have been advocating for the protection of the Ross Sea Hope Spot for years. And now that Russia has finally jumped on board, what was once just hope is now a reality: plans are set for the creation of a huge new marine protected area in the region! Located deep in the Southern Ocean, the Ross Sea is one of the most pristine marine ecosystems on the planet offering scientists the chance to study marine processes yet to be affected by human interference, pollution or exploitation. Due it its remarkable biodiversity, the Ross Sea is full of unique wildlife like penguins and blue whales, including numerous species found nowhere else in the world. HUGE thanks go to the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, Ocean Unite, The PEW Charitable Trusts, Greenpeace, Lifeline Antarctica and the many other passionate and persistent voices for the Ross Sea — including YOURS!…

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The Mighty Antarctic Krill and the Global Movement to Save Them

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Lifeline Antarctica! One of the most important Hope Spots is the Ross Sea in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Currently, CCAMLR delegates have the unique opportunity to ensure this last great wilderness is protected.
By: Kristin Urquiza, Lifeline Antarctica 

Krill may be small but this shrimp-like crustacean plays a mighty role as the foundation of the Antarctica ecosystem. Penguins survive almost exclusively on krill and blue whales need four tons per day to survive.
Because of krill’s critical position in the ecosystem, the United States prohibits its harvest off the Pacific coast. Partly as a result, the region’s blue whales have recovered to 97 percent of their pre-whaling population, the only fully recovered blue whale population in the world.…

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The World’s Last Great Wilderness

By: Mike Walker, Project Director Antarctic Ocean Alliance

For many of us Antarctica is out of sight and out of mind. We know even less about the waters surrounding it, the wild Southern Ocean. Our ignorance may aid its conservation, as what goes unseen goes, relatively, unharmed. However, this might also means we have not noticed the repeated failure of decision-makers to honour their commitment to protect this unique wilderness.
Exactly 25 years ago on October 4, 1991, countries signed the Madrid Protocol to protect Antarctica’s environment. The agreement is widely regarded as one of the most successful examples of diplomacy in modern history and has ensured that Antarctica remains “a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”. And while the Protocol applies to the waters surrounding the continent it does not apply to fishing activities.…

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Voyage of Discovery

By Philippa Ross – Great, Great, Great Granddaughter to Sir James Clark Ross

My own ‘Voyage of Discovery’ was quite unlike the perilous journey my Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Sir James Clark Ross, took 175 years ago. The most dominant difference being, I knew where I was going and when I’d be back!
James was a true pioneer who sailed unchartered waters, discovering the Antarctic continent in what Amundsen described as ‘ponderous tubs’—a man who’s remembered as one of the most capable seamen the world has ever produced and a votary of science to whom Antarctic scientific exploration owes so much.
I, on the other hand, am a mere pilgrim who owes much to Heritage Expeditions for their generosity in giving me a free passage to honor my ancestor—thankfully in a vessel that was a far cry from being ponderous or tub-like!…

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Exploring Antarctica

Until well into the 20th Century, getting to Antarctica – and returning – was a really big deal. It still is, but thanks to new technologies and operations such as the National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions, adventurous souls from around the globe are able to experience Earth’s southernmost continent and appreciate the importance of the whales, seabirds, fish and seals that live there like never before. Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle is grateful that “the value of exploiting Antarctic wildlife as commodities is giving way to appreciating them as vital elements of systems that maintain Earth as a planet that works in our favor.” The urgency of exploring and protecting the Southern Ocean has never been greater.
The following photo journal illustrates Gale Mead’s recent visit to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands.…

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Lost Antarctica!

Dr. Sylvia Earle has penned the intro to the newly released paperback version of James McClintock’s, Lost Antarctica. 
Says Dr. Earle, “but the book is the main thing, a riveting account of changes that have taken place in just a few decades.  It reads like an Indiana Jones adventure. Jim is Indy, Nature is the heroine, we are the villains.”

The bitter cold and three months a year without sunlight make Antarctica virtually uninhabitable for humans. Yet a world of extraordinary wildlife persists in these harsh conditions, including leopard seals, penguins, giant sea spiders and predatory worms, corals, multicolored sea stars, and 50-foot algae.
Now, as temperatures rise and ocean acidification increases, this fragile ecosystem is under attack. In this closely observed account, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Antarctica gives us a highly original, colorful, and distinctive look at a world that we’re losing.…

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Diving Beneath the Antarctic Ice with Dale Andersen

Mission Blue ally and long-time friend, Dr. Dale Andersen, is currently camped out with his team on the shores of Lake Obersee, a perennially ice-covered lake not too far from Lake Untersee in the mountains of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. They made the traverse out here via snowmobile and trucks last month and are soon heading home armed with fascinating scientific data and media from under the antarctic ice.
Dale wrote Sylvia, “the skidoo ride was a bit challenging since we had white-out, near white-out and marginal conditions the whole way (125 km or so over 7 hours) but we made it out by midnight and had a tent up with some heat by 3am. Having been here a few more days we now have the camp established but our  winds are still pretty high (35-40 kts) so our work is a bit limited right now.  …

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