ANTARCTICA

Resources:

•http://www.discoveringantarctica.org.uk
•http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/journalists/resources/science/climate%20c...
•http://wonderfulantarctica.com/antarctic-climate-change/
•http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysicst/question47...
•http://toptentipstosaveantarctica.blogspot.com
•Unfortunately I have lost some of my resources

SOME ANIMALS THAT LIVE IN ANTARCTICA:

• Fish, like the Antarctic Cod
• Penguins, for example the Emperor Penguin
• Seals, like the Weddell Seal
• Whales, one of many is the Blue Whale
• Many birds, one of them is the Antarctic Skua

FISH IN THE ANTARCTIC

BLUE WHALE

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Food Chain:

The Phytoplankton is consumed by the krill, which is then eaten by the Penguin, which is the Leopard Seal's prey.

Krill

A krill is a small shrimp-like crustacean. They are one of the most important organisms in the Antarctic food chain. They feed on plankton, so if plankton was to die because of the acidity in the sea water, gradually, krill would die as well and that will have a huge impact on all the other creatures in the food chain.

An ice core is a sample of ice, made up of lots of layers of snow, that have been compacted together over many years. These samples tell us about the climate of our past, future and present Earth. To find ice cores scientist have to dig up to 3,000 metres (3 feet) into the ice. Scientists have done this in Antarctica, and they have given us a lot of information.

Information We Get From Ice Cores

The layers that create ice cores contain little bubbles that tell us the concentration of gases. We find out about the past by studying this information. Scientists can gain a simple, but clear understanding of what Earth used to be like. We cannot find out everything about the past using this, it only gives us a good idea of what the air quality and climate was like.

Discovering the past

Scientist have managed to look as far as 740,000 years into the past, just based on their ice core knowledge. We can clearly see that it is a lot warmer today than it used to be. The carbon dioxide levels in the ice cores, the concentrations of carbon dioxide are the highest they have been for 650,000 years.

Climate Change

Many years ago the climate used to be a lot colder, but the temperature is rising, this is due to climate change. The air temperature of Antarctica Peninsula has experienced increases by 3°C, five times the average rate of global warming. For the last 50 years the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the most rapidly warming places in the world. Since 1955 the upper ocean to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula has increased by over 1°C.

The hole in the ozone layer has not only caused increases in radiation, but also temperature changes. These temperature changes have had a massive impact on the weather all around the world, as well as making weather patterns more difficult to cope with, such as tropical storms and monsoons. These create waves high up in the atmosphere, which travel to higher latitudes, disturbing polar weather patterns.

The changes in climate have hugely affected the ice and wildlife in Antarctica. The sea ice conditions change as the climate changes, this changes how many environments there are for each species of penguin. The melting of ice covers and snow has actually resulted in more plants growing. In the South-Western Atlantic sector of the Southern ocean the reduced amount of sea ice cover has caused a long-term decline in the number of Antarctic krill. Since the temperatures are high, ice is melting faster a giant amount of glaciers have collapsed or retreated throughout just a few years.

If Antarctica Disappeared

Antarctica hold about 90% of the worlds ice and 70% of its fresh water. It is estimated that if Antarctica were to melt the sea level would rise by 61 meters (200 feet). But since the average temperature in Antarctica is -37°C, and most places there never get above freezing, it looks like this won't happen for a long time.

Saving Antarctica

There are so many things we can do to protect Antarctica. If we drink tap water instead of bottled water we can reduce the amount of fossil fuels that are burnt from transporting plastic bottles. This has been said many times, but, recycle. This will save the environment as it prevents CO2 getting into the atmosphere, and also uses up less energy. How about using energy efficient light bulbs instead of regular ones, they use up a lot less energy and also prevent CO2 getting into the atmosphere.

Plus they are cheaper and last longer. Lastly even if we stop eating ready made meals, these meals are often cooked twice, using up unnecessary energy, plus they need extra energy to stay frozen. If we all try to save the planet by doing these things Antarctica can be reserved.