Term
|
Definition
| Highest mountain in Antarctica, Ellsworth Mountain Range, 16,080 feet high. |
|
|
Term
| East Versus West Antarctica |
|
Definition
East:
- 60m sea-level equivalent
- 3km thick, steep profile
- Terrestrial ice sheet
- Divergent ice flow
- Stable
West:
- 6m sea-level equivalent
- Marine-based ice sheet
- Convergent ice flow
- Ice streams
- Less stable |
|
|
Term
| Penguins Breeding in Antarctica |
|
Definition
| Emperor, Adelie, Chinstrap, Gentoo, King, Macaroni, Royal |
|
|
Term
| Antarctic circumpolar current |
|
Definition
- Surface current
- Driven by the West Wind Drift
- Ocean current that flows clockwise from east to west
- Largest ocean current |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Amount of Ice which makes up Antarctica |
|
|
Term
| Names of the major Subantarctic islands |
|
Definition
- South Shetlands
- South Georgia
- South Sandwich
- Peters Island
- Heard and McDonald |
|
|
Term
| Major Bases of Antarctica |
|
Definition
Main US Stations:
- McMurdo
- South Pole
- Palmer |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Amount of the surface of Antarctica which is covered by ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Small crustaceans consumed by whales |
|
|
Term
| Foredeepening of the Antarctica shelf |
|
Definition
- Typical shelf depth 0-200m
- Inner Antarctic shelves up to 1200m deep
- Deep from isostatic depression
- Deep from glacial erosion |
|
|
Term
| Thermo-haline circulation |
|
Definition
- Circulation Driven by Density Differences
- Changing Temperatures
- Changing Salinities |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Most important Antarctica contribution to global oceans
- Deepest water masses in the ocean
- Far north as 50 N
- Created in the Weddell Sea, Ross Sea, and Adelie Land (East Antarctica)
- Forms on shelf as sea-ice freezes, increasing salinities |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- 2 Flowering plants
- Antarctica hairgrass (Deschampsia Antarctica)
- Antarctica pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis)
- Mosses and Lichens |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Due to rotation of the Earth, currents are deflected
- Left in the southern hemisphere |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Floating ice extensions of glaciers
- Ice cliff seaward edge
- "The Barrier" of early explorers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Reflecting solar energy
- Highest with white
- 80% of energy coming to Antarctica is reflected back |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Troposhere
- Stratosphere
- Stratospause
- Mesosphere
- Mesospause
- Thermopshere
- Exosphere |
|
|
Term
| What causes precipitation |
|
Definition
- Continental effect
- Isolation from Ocean Currents
- Circumpolar Ocean |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Incoming radiation spread differently through time
- Drives climate at:
- 100 ky, 41 ky, and 19-23 ky cycles |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
P-Waves:
- Compression waves
- Primary waves
- Faster waves
S-Waves:
- Shear waves
- Secondary waves
- Slower |
|
|
Term
| Evidence for plate boundaries |
|
Definition
| Antarctica is made of one plate |
|
|
Term
| Coldest, driest, and windiest continent |
|
Definition
- Coldest temperature recorded on earth
- Windiest continent, 300 km/hr common
- Driest continent, <50 mm per year |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Anomalous region of volcanic activity that appear to remain stationary beneath the moving plates |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Geological period 145 to 66 million years ago |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| East Antarctica, area in the interior of a continent that has been tectonically stable for a billion years |
|
|
Term
| Elemental abundances in the crust |
|
Definition
| 98% is 8 elements: O, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, K, Mg |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Tendency to break along flat surfaces |
|
|
Term
| Melting in the asthenosphere |
|
Definition
| Decreasing in seismic waves velocity from lithosphere to asthenosphere could be caused by the presence of small percentage of melt in the asthenosphere |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Shale - Very fine
Slate - Fine
Schist - Coarse
Gneiss - Very Coarse |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The boundary layer between the earth's crust and mantle whose depth varies from about 3 miles (5 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor to about 25 miles (40 kilometers) beneath the continents |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Area between sinking oceanic plate and an overriding plate |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Floating ice extensions which were barriers of early explorers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Normal, reverse, and strike-slip |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Microplates and volcanic arches that end up "docking" onto a continent along an active continental margin |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Extrusive:
- Cools at the earth's surface
- Fine texture
Intrusive:
- Cools within the earth
- Coarse texture |
|
|
Term
| Stratovolcanoes and rocks |
|
Definition
Stratovolcanoes:
-Have alternating pyroclastic and lava flows
-Violent
- Produce rhyolite and andesite |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- West Antarctica Rift
- Mt. Erebus
- South Shetland Islands
- Peter I Island
- Buckle Island |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Low grade - Fine grained
High grade - Coarse grained |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Erosion of natural things caused by the long-term exposure to the air |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Determines the finesse of the grain in metamorphic rocsks |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Angular unconformity, nonconformity, disconformity |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A sheet of very thick ice, with a level or gently undulating surface, which is attached to the land along one side but most of which is afloat and bounded on the seaward side by a step ice cliff rising up to several hundred meters above sea level |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ice washes away the top layer of the earth and pushes it to a new low-land area |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Rock debris in base scrapes the bed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Glacier freezing to bed, moves pulls fragments away |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tunnel valley is a large, long, U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The water beneath glacial ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sediments deposited directly by glacial ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sediments deposited by melwater streams |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| True seasonal thin (cm scale) layers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a rock or boulder that differs from the Surrounding rock and is believed to have been brought from a distance by glacial action. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Fine silt-sized quarts in water that gives lakes/oceans a turquoise color |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Cirque, Aretes, Horn, Nanutuk, Rock Drumlins, Roche Moutonnee |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Semicircular hollows set in a mountain slope characterized by a steep headwall and bounded on three sides |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Global average from 1900-2009: 1.7 mm/year
Global average from 1993-2009: 3.2 mm/year |
|
|
Term
| Antarctica's contribution to recent sea level rise |
|
Definition
- Glacial meltwater
- Thermal expansion of oceans |
|
|
Term
| Sources of global sea level rise |
|
Definition
- Thermal expansion of oceans
- Glacial Meltwater |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- British
- 1772-1775
- Took 2 Ships
- Circumnavigated the globe twice
- Took a stab south 4 times
- First to cross Antarctica Circle |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Russain
- 1819-1821
- Two ships
- Disputed first sighting of the Antarctica Peninsula
- First to find Peter I Island, and Alexander Island
- Sailed 145 latitude south of 60
- Visited South Shetland Islands |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- US Sealer
- Sent to find good harbors for sealing
- Discovered Deception Island
- Went to 66 degrees S
- Didn't care found no seals |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- British Sealer
- 1820-1823
- Jane and Beaufroy
- Sealing in the area of the South Orkneys
- Ventured farther south
- Made it through ice pack of Weddell Sea
- Went furthest south at the time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- British Sealing and Whaling company
- Curious to geographic exploration
- Sent to voyages to Antartica
- John Biscoe
- Discovered Enderby Land
- Peter Kemp
- John Bellany |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Discovered the Bellany Islands and continental mainland south of Australia |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Tula and lively
- Become only 3rd to circumnavigate globa at high southern Latitudes
- Discovered Enderby Land
- Discovered Andelaide Island |
|
|
Term
| Jules S.-C Dumont D'Urville |
|
Definition
- French (1837-1840)
- Commissioned for science
- Look for magnetic south pole
- L'Astrolabe and La Zelee
- Discovered:
- Mapped parts of the Eastern Antarctica Peninsula
- Parts of East Antarctica below Australia |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- US (1838-1842)
- 6 ships, 400 men
- Explorer the coast of south Australia
- First to chart and surmise the extent of the continent
- Thought he was first to discover East Antarctica |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- British (1839-1843)
- Scientific expedition
- Study the Earth's magnetic field near the magnetic south pole
- Erebus (flag) and Terror
- Discoveries
- Ross Sea
- Victoria Land
- Transantarctic Mountains |
|
|
Term
| Robert F. Scott's Voyages |
|
Definition
- 1901-1904
- Landed in McMurdo Area
- Hut Point
- Attempted South Pole
- Discovered Emperor Penguins hatch in the dead of winter
- Discovered Transantarctic Mountains
- First balloon launch in Antarctica
- Got stuck for a second year |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Scottish National Antarctica Expedition
- 1902-1904
- Scotia - probably the most ice and seaworthy ship studying the Antarctica at the time
- Objective - Weddell Sea
- Didn't make it |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- French
- Mapped 600 miles along Antarctica Peninsula
- Found wintered over in Port Lockroy
- Discovered Marguerite Bay |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- 1907-1909 Nimrod
- Very Successful
- Discovered new farthest south
- First to reach south pole
- First to climb Mt. Erebus
- Realization that Ross Ice Shelf Changes
- Used ponies |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Narrow thin ridge between two cirques |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Valley created by the movement of a glacier |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A valley whose floor at the lower end is noticeably higher than the floor of the main valley at the junction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Glacial valley flooded by an arm of the ocea |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Series of small lakes connected by a small meltwater stream within an empty glacial valley |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Isolated mountain sticking up through the ice sheet (becomes a horn) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Smooth streamlined hills elongated parallel to the direction of former ice flow |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Similar to a rock drumlin but truncated at the down ice end |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An elongate hill formed when a glacier flows over and reshapes a mound of till |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Long snake-like ridges formed by deposition in a stream that flowed on, within, or beneath a glacier |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- End(terminal) moraine
- Lateral moraine
- Medial moraine
- Ground moraine |
|
|
Term
| Megascale glacial lineations |
|
Definition
| Long narrow ridges of till alligned parallel to the ice flow and usually found in groups |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A depression in outwash created by melting of a large chunk of ice buried in the till by a receding glacier |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Processes, conditoins, areas, climates, and topographic features at the immediate margins of former and existing glaciers and ice sheets, and influenced by the cold temperature of the ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Happens in cycles
- Places current observations into historical perspective |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Weather: condition of the atmosphere at any particular time and place
Climate: the "average weather"; the accumulation of daily and season weather events over a long period of time |
|
|
Term
| Major Antarctic glaciations |
|
Definition
- Carboniferous - Permian Glaciation
- Modern Cenozoic Glaciation |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Cycles of 23,000, 41,000, and 100,000 years |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Best expressed in the South Shetland Islands |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled out of an ice sheet or glacier |
|
|
Term
| El Nino/La Nina and Antarctica |
|
Definition
- Periods of warmer temperatures along the Equatorian coast
- Brings changes Antarctic weather too |
|
|
Term
| Drivers of climate change |
|
Definition
- Solar Output
- Ocean-Current changes
- Wind pattern changes
- Greenhouse gases |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Carbon Dioxide
- Dust
- Sea Salts
- Pollutants |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Carbon Dioxide, comes from burning fossil fuels (14C) |
|
|
Term
| Amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere |
|
Definition
| Increasing, oceans remove 26% of CO2 emissions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Cool the earth
- Put ash and aerosols into the stratosphere |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Krill changes over last 50 years |
|
Definition
| Krill have been decreasing |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Orogeny refers to forces and events leading to a large structural deformation of the Earth's lithosphere due to the engagement of tectonic plates |
|
|
Term
| Oldest rocks in Antarctica |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| East Antarctica and Laurentia (early North America) were joined prior to 650-750 million years ago |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In paleogeography, Gondwana, also Gondwanaland, is the name given to the more southerly of two supercontinents that were part of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago |
|
|
Term
| Drilling programs in Antarctica |
|
Definition
- Cape Roberts Project
- AnDrill
- ShalDrill |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Late paleozoic
- Late cenozoic |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Small passages of open ocean between continents |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Explains why some types of rocks are found together, why some some are never found together |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Around Lows:
- Ascending air cools, holds less moisture
Around highs:
- Descending air warms, holds more moisture |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Air rises at the equator
- Goes towards poles but some sinks
- Similar movement originationg from the poles
- Sets up Hadley Cells
- 0, 30, 60, 90
- 0 and 60 diverge, 30 and 90 converge |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Cold air sinks
- Slope of the ice sheet - descending winds |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Period of time 4 billion to 3.8 billion years ago |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Crust, Mantle, Outer Core, Inner Core |
|
|
Term
| Common gases in the atmosphere |
|
Definition
Nitrogen - 78%
Oxygen - 21%
Argon - 0.93%
Carbon Dioxide - 0.037% |
|
|
Term
| Sea-level rise due to Antarctica melting |
|
Definition
| Antarctica is a major contribution to the rise in sea level because of melting glaciers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Largest subglacial lake (14,000 km^2) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Ice Fish
- Silverfish
- Krill |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Sea ice formed = higher salinity
Sea ice melted = lower salinity |
|
|
Term
| Why is it cold in Antarctica? |
|
Definition
- Pole Position
- High elevation
- Albedo effect
- Isolated Oceanographically |
|
|
Term
| Subduction zones of Antarctica |
|
Definition
| Major one is the Antarctic Peninsula |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Cuts across bedding
- Discordant |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sometimes, evaporation does not always come from water, it often comes from land. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Snow converts to firn after it becomes granular ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Glacial ice is formed after snow becomes granular ice, then firn, then glacial ice |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Precipitation from Solid to gas (over land) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Most Water
- Most Evaporation |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Continental glacier covering less than 50,000 km^2 |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Glacier covering more than 50,000 km^2 |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- High precipitation = high speeds
- Glacial surges: periods of time with rapid glacial flow |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Entire glacier slides over bedock |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Glacier deforms as viscous fluid |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Avalanches of ice, streaming down the side of mountains |
|
|
Term
| Zones of accumulation/ablation |
|
Definition
Accumulation - More snow and ice falls in the winter than melts in the summer
Ablation - More snow and ice melts in the summer than falls in the winter |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Icebergs breaking off into the ocean
- Dominant form of ablation in Antarctica |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Calve from the front of the glacier
- Drift with the wind/current |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Flat icebergs shaped like slabs/tabs |
|
|
Term
| Classification of glaciers |
|
Definition
- Thermal
- Morphologic
- Dynamic
- Tidewater |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Confined in upper reaches but at terminus discharges as broad radially flow - like a lobe |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Major ice cream in North West Antarctica |
|
|
Term
| Recent temperature trends in Antarctica |
|
Definition
| One of the fastest warming places on the planet |
|
|
Term
| Ocean temperatures last 80 years |
|
Definition
| The southern ocean has gained 1 degree C over the last 80 years |
|
|
Term
| Sea ice changes last 50 years |
|
Definition
- Spatial differences
- Increasing:
- Ross Sea
- Slightly in the Weddell and Indian Ocean
Decreasing:
- Amundsen
- Bellinghausen |
|
|
Term
| Tidewater glaciers change last 50 years |
|
Definition
| 85% of the 244 glaciers surveyed retreated in the Antarctic Peninsula over the last 50 years |
|
|
Term
| Ice shelf collapse and causes |
|
Definition
Rapidly retreating from:
- Increased temperature
- Basal melting from increased ocean temperatures |
|
|
Term
| Ice mass changes and measurements |
|
Definition
- Melting ice
- Sea ice - no changes in sea level |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Amundsen and Scott raced to reach the South Pole first, Amundsen won |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Norwegian
- 1910-1912 Fram
- Race to the south pole
- Small light swift
- Discovered Northwest Passage
- Used Dogs |
|
|
Term
| Country claims on Antarctica |
|
Definition
- New Zealand
- Britain
- France
- Australia
- Norway
- America and USSR claim the whole continent |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Established to continue the coordination of scientific activity on Antarctica after IGY |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Post WWII as part of demobilization of military
- 13 ships, 23 aircraft, 4700 personnel
- Mapped parts of Antarctica
- Rewards not commiserate with effort |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Mapping via 2 airships
- 7 days, 16 trips
- Mapped 600,000 km^2 |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Norwegian-British-Swedish
- International Science Expedition
- Established a research station |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- USA
- Largely paved the way for planned IGY activities
- Deepfreeze I established McMurdo
- Deepfreeze II established South Pole |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Idea originated in 1950 between American and British Scientist
- Established 50 reserach stations
- Launch of Sputnik
- Laid framework for later international negotiations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Complex of arrangements made for the purpose of regulating relations among nations in the Antarctic
- Promotes peace |
|
|
Term
| Annexes to the Antarctic Treaty |
|
Definition
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Conservation of Antarctica Fauna and Flora
- Waste Disposal and Waste Management
- Prevention of Marine Pollution
- Area Protection and Management
- Liability arising from environmental emergencies |
|
|
Term
| Specially Protected Areas |
|
Definition
- First established in 1964
- 3 Categories
- Antarctic specially Protected Areas
- Antarctic specially managed areas
- Historic sites and monuments
- Need a permit to enter |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "nothing in the Treaty shall...affect the rights...of any state... with regard to the high seas within that area" |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A really big fish which was illegal to catch |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Waste
- Managing Tourism
- Global Warming
- Ozone Hole |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Reached a peak in 2007-2008
- 32, 637 by sea
- Decline due to the global economy and banning of heavy fuels |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- Ozone protects us from UV radiation
- Use of choloflourocarbons depletes levels of ozone
- Saw expansoin of ozone hole in the 1980's
- CFC's banned by treated starting in September 1987 |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| CFCs, aerosol cans, reactions destroying the ozone |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Reached as large as 11.4 million km^2 |
|
|
