LiveScience's Image of the Day

Abundant Sea Ice in the Antarctic Ocean

Tuesday April 22, 2008

Scientists monitor temperature in the Antarctic Ocean

More Images...

Despite the warmest ever Arctic summer, Antarctic summers remain cold and sea ice continues to be abundant. This is the latest finding from the Polarstern expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, which is charged with the mission of investigating the relationship between the Southern Ocean and climate.

The team of 58 scientists studied ocean currents and the distribution of temperature, salt and trace substances in the sea water from February 6, 2008 to April 16, 2008. The results from Polarstern will provide the initial data in a multi-year project that will record and analyze ocean data.

Over the next five years, scientists will monitor sixty five buoys dispersed throughout the Antarctic sea ice. These buoys can independently record water temperature and salt concentration. Then researchers will analyze the data in an attempt to understand how changes in the Antarctic Ocean correlate to changes in climate.

--LiveScience Staff

Image Credit: Alfred Wegener Institute

Advertisement

From the Blogs

LiveScience Blogs
  1. Can A Computer Simulation Solve The Mystery Of Dark Matter?
  2. Modern Gossip Magazine Culture Began With Celebrity Obituaries
  3. 12,000 Year Old Shaman Burial Site Discovered In Northern Israel - And It Was A Woman
  4. Learning About Lightning - Interferometer Records Discharge In Detail To The Microsecond
  5. India To The Moon: Chandrayaan-1 Settles Into Lunar Transfer Trajectory
  6. Those Dang Transcription Factors
  7. Pretty Women Make Men Shortsighted
  1. 10.30.2008 | Leonard David
    Private Moon Lander Group Teams with NASA
    Keep an eye out for Odyssey Moon Ventures — one of the contenders in the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition — to announce they... ...
  2. 10.25.2008 | Leonard David
    Armadillo Scraps Further Lunar Lander Challenge Attempts
    Update 7: The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is over for the day. John Carmack and his Armadillo Aerospace team have declared no more... ...

Related Items from the LiveScience Store

  1. Go to Store
  2. Go to Store

More Stores to Explore