Whaling records and changes in Antarctic sea ice: consistency with historical records

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: de la Mare, William K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2002
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Weddell; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Record; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400018040; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400018040

Abstract A claim that there are substantial discrepancies between direct observations of the Antarctic sea-ice edge and the implicit sea-ice edge derived from whaling records is rebutted. The claimeddiscrepancies are shown to arise largely from comparing the two types of information from different dates. A date-corrected comparison shows generally good agreement between the southernmost limit of whaling and the most comprehensive of the early monthly ice charts of Antarctica. The remaining apparent discrepancies are accounted for either by very limited data or the complex nature of the ice edge in the region of the Weddell ice tongue. Correlation of the southernmost limits of whaling with direct observations of the ice edge provides the most powerful calibration of the relationship between them