Indicators of Physical and Biological Trends around the McMurdo Station, Antarctica: A Literature Review

• Main Author: Hardy, Janet P
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Meteorology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *CLIMATE CHANGE; *ROSS SEA; ANTARCTIC REGIONS; BIOLOGY; CIRCULATION; GLACIERS; INFRASTRUCTURE; LOGISTICS; PATTERNS; PERMAFROST; POLAR REGIONS; PRECIPITATION; PREDICTIONS; SEA ICE; SEA LEVEL; TEMPERATURE; WIND; CLIMATE TRENDS; ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE; EPOLAR(ENGINEERING FOR POLAR OPERATIONS LOGISTICS AND RESEARCH); MCMURDO STATION(ANTARCTICA); NSF(NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION); PENGUINS; PHYSICAL TRENDS; BIOLOGICAL TRENDS; AIR TEMPERATURE; SOIL TEMPERATURE; DECREASED GLACIAL EXTENT; SEA LEVEL RISE; CIRCUMPOLAR CIRCULATION; USAP(UNITED STATES ANTARCTIC PROGRAM); Antarctic; McMurdo Station; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice; United States Antarctic Program
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA618136; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA618136

The United States Antarctic Program (USAP) is managed by the National Science Foundation, Division of Polar Programs (NSF-PLR), which has the responsibility for all logistics and operations related to U.S. scientific research in Antarctica and aboard ships in the Southern Ocean. For years, scientific literature has focused on global environmental change and, in particular, the accelerated change occurring, and predicted to occur, in the polar regions. This report summarizes documented changes that have occurred in Antarctica, with a focus on the Ross Sea region, as well as projections of environmental change expected to occur in the next 100 years. Many of the observed changes in the Ross Sea region since 1960, such as increased air and soil temperature, decreased glacial extent, and sea level rise, are consistent with a warming climate; however, the observed increase in sea-ice extent does not fit an expected pattern and is explained by a shift in circumpolar circulation. Models predict the observed changes to continue over the next 100 years, except that they anticipate the sea-ice extent in the Ross Sea region to decrease significantly. This report also presents potential implications of these changes for USAP operations and logistics, primarily in response to the reduced sea-ice extent and higher air and soil temperatures. The original document contains color images.