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Originally Posted by toretorden
Cool  I had a possible opportunity of going down to the antarctic just recently as a field assistant, but I turned it down since it crashed with my life in general. I'm really hoping I'll get the opportunity on a later occasion.
What's your field? Glaciology?
The changes are rather dramatic on the northern hemisphere, the gulf stream and wind systems empty into the arctic basin and this is all water. I guess the antarctic is more protected due being a landmass and having a wind and ocean current system isolating it. I'd like to know more about what's going on down there though.
I know a tasmanian who's worked on invasive species down in the antarctic and although I guess chances are microscopic, if you ever find yourself someplace with a red-haired bloke called Chris, tell him I said hi.  |
Awww that's cool, it's like a dream come true for me to go there. I am so in love with its beauty. I recommend you do get over there, not that many people get a chance to. Do you study or work? I feel like I've met a fellow geographer but I might be wrong?
My field is not known just yet, I'll only be finishing my studies by February next year so it will be the type of job I get that will determine my field. However, I am strongly considering glaciology as I have focused on it at University. I am very interested how the atmosphere interacts with the cryosphere so I think that's where I want to get to work wise.
I think that the Northern Hemisphere is expecting dramatic change due partly to the earths angle, but most important on the wind circulation patterns up there. Dust and aerosols are carried over to the Arctic which in turn lands on the ice/snow to reduce the albedo, which means less solar radiation can be reflected. There's too many things that can be influential. The permafrost layers in the Arctic are changing too, so if the snow cover reduces, the permafrost active layer with thaw, and it can shift the permfrost distribution from say continuous to discontinuous. That can have dramatic effects on the hydrological cycle. So you can see how important it is to determine the underlying processes controlling this change in climate in order to be able to manage it.
To be honest, I believe there will be a lot of damage to the environment even with humans trying to reduce carbon emissions. It's going to be a time lag response to it.
I will so look out for your red-head friend hehe! Any excuse to learn more off others experiences