Since 2002 the Sothern Ocean takes up an increasing amount of the greenhouse gas CO₂ from the atmosphere. This is the result of two studies recently published in the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters.

The oceans are known as an important CO₂ sink. It is suggested that until now they removed 25% of the human made amount of CO₂ from the atmosphere, meaning a significant contribution in slowing climate change. The Southern Ocean (here: below the 35th parallel south) is particularly productive in this case. Although it covers only 26% of the oceanic surface it contributes approximately 40% to the ocean´s CO₂ sink. In the 1990s studies had suggested that this absorbing capacity of the sea around Antarctica was weakening. A positive feedback effect was discussed: That it was global warming itself which provoked this weakening and thereby contributed to its own acceleration.

Now, by analyzing long-term data from atmosphere and surface water of the Southern Ocean, the new, recently published studies show that the Antarctic Sea began to strengthen its CO₂ absorbing capacity again in 2002 and continued to do so until at least 2012. The reasons for this change are still not clear. There is one suggestion, that in winter an increasing amount of deepwater is getting to the surface; water that didn´t have contact to the atmosphere for several hundreds of years. If the new strengthening of the oceans CO₂ sink is again provoked by global warming, cannot be negated. In this case at least the effect would be a welcome one.

Source: American Geophysical Union, Science

There is a new panorama tour (virtual tour) from Antarctica, namely from Cape Adare in the Ross Sea. Cape Adare is one of the most famous, but rarely visited places in Antarctica: in 1895, it was the site of the first well-documented landing on the continent, and in 1899 it was the site of the very first wintering on the continent, by an expedition led by Karsten Borchgrevink. These stories are shortly summarized in the new panorama tour, and so is the visit of the northern party under Campbell during Robert F. Scott’s final expedition with Terra Nova.

The panorama tour documents the historic huts at Cape Adare and gives impressions of the amazing scenery of the place at the northernmost end of Victoria Land, being part of the famous Transantarctic Mountains. Cape Adare is also home to the largest colony of Adélie penguins in Antarctica, which means in the world.

In early February, I was lucky to spend a rare good weather day at Cape Adare. On this occasion, I shot the panoramas which are now assembled to this new panorama / virtual tour (click here to get to the tour). Enjoy a virtual trip to Cape Adare!

The third and last main working phase of the Habitat Restoration Project on South Georgia has been completed successfully. The Habitat Restoration Project of the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) is the immense task to remove rats from the island that have been introduced by sealers and whaler, see also previous news on this website. The aim is to restore South Georgia as a breeding habitat for millions of seabirds, especially smaller species.

Some days ago, the SGHT was able to release an important press stop: the third, final main phase of the project has been completed with success! On Monday, March 23rd 2015, the last load of bait was dropped from one of the helicopters of Team Rat.

It will, however, take several years until final success can be declared: all areas need to be carefully checked to make sure no rats have survived. The survival of only 2 rats, male and female, or even one pregnant female, would sweep off all efforts as rats populations can pick up very quickly, making it impossible to control them on a low level. Currently, areas from earlier working phases are being checked. This work will continue for several years to come. At the time being, Team Rat is still in South Georgia and able to do more baiting should any need arise.

The SGHT and their supporters have done an immense work with great success, achieving what many would have described as the impossible. In the interest of millions of seabirds, we wish the Habitat Restoration Project of the SGHT the very best and we hope that we can celebrate the final success of the project after all checks have been completed within a few years.

The SGHT is happy to receive donations to support their ongoing work for the project.

Source: South Georgia Heritage Trust

The Habitat Restoration Project of the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) is the highly ambitions project to eradicate rats completely on South Georgia. The island has been rat infested since the Brown rat was incidentally introduced by sealers and whalers, since then these rodents have spread over most parts of the island: a disaster for millions of smaller seabirds which are breeding there in the high tussock grass or in burrows, and their populations have been decimated drastically.

After rats and other introduced species had been sucessfully eradicated on other, though smaller, subantarctic islands such as Campbell Island and Macquarie Island (both south of New Zealand), the SGHT decided to attempt the seemingly impossible and get rid of rats on South Georgia, which is, however, much larger and has a much more difficult, largely alpine, terrain. But the glaciers help to make it possible, as they are impassable barriers for rats, separating the large island into a number of smaller areas which can be treated separately. But not forever, as glaciers are retreating rapidly on South Georgia, and it won’t take long until some have retreated far enough to expose beaches where rats can then move freely from one area to another. Then, the areas will be too large for a successful eradication. The consequence is simple: now or never!

The procedure to drop poisoned bait from helicopters is sophisticated, but generally well known from previous projects such as Campbell and Macquarie Islands. The teams involved there have now brought their knowledge and experience to South Georgia. Certain techniques, bait and good timing limit the number of other birds being poisoned by accident to a minimum. There is some mortality amongst species like Giant petrels and Skuas, but numbers are low and far from a level that might endanger populations.

A first testing phase in a smaller area was successful, and so was the first of the two main phases of the project in a larger part of South Georgia. Several helicopters are used to drop large volumes of bait during a strictly defined, very sophisticated flight pattern in short time periods when weather allows flying. Weather conditions during the first main phase were very challenging, but “team rat” managed to complete their task successfully after initially having been driven to near despair when strong winds and poor visibility kept the helicopters on ground for quite some time.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2015. So, currently rats are still roaming on large parts of South Georgia, and many more flight hours are required to bring the work to a good end. Control of the rat population on a low level is not possible, it is either success in terms of an absolutely complete eradication or a total failure, nothing in between. In case only one pregnant female survives, the population would increase again very quickly and the effort would have been in vane. This means that the completion of the project cannot be postponed for a long time, also considering the rapid glacier retreat. First sightings of breeding South Georgia pipits in areas where they had not been breeding for decades is amongst the evidence for the success that has already been achieved, showing it is worth every effort to give the island back to millions of seabirds that had been breeding there for thousands of years until the sealers and whalers brought the rats.

Success will now depend on weather and, as too often in life, money: the immense logistics needed to move the team, equipment, bait and helicopters to South Georgia, where no helicopters are available, require large-scale funding in the order of millions. The South Georgia Heritage Trust appreciates every donation ( click here for more information on this ).

It is also possible to buy items which are nice to have and nice as presents to support the project, such as James McQuilken’s book The Mists of Time, the moving life story of Cymba, a Wandering albatross. The present author has translated this book into German as Die Nebel der Zeit to support the project. In 2014, sales of Die Nebel der Zeit raised money to support the work of the habitat restoration project on 2 hectares of South Georgia. Far from enough, but every contribution makes a difference!

Source: South Georgia Heritage Trust

Photo galleries and triplog of the Ross Sea voyage with MV Ortelius in January-Februar 2015 are already online. Now, the first of several panorama series that have been taken during this trip is published. At Cape Evans, I had the rare opportunity to take panorama photos inside Scott’s hut from his last expedition with Terra Nova (1910-1913) and of the surrounding landscape. The results can now be seen on this website (click here). 10 panoramas, 8 from inside the Terra Nova hut and 2 landscape panoramas of Cape Evans, can be viewed both individually and as a virtual tour, taking the visitor online through all corners of the hut and around at Cape Evans, where you can see Mount Erebus, McMurdo Sound frozen between Cape Evans and Hut Point further south, with islands including Razorback Island and Inaccessible Island that are known to those who have read Scott’s diaries that were published as Scott’s last expedition. Short commentary comes along with the individual panoramas. Most of them are inside the hut, showing all parts of the famous base from which Scott went to the South Pole. It is well known that he and his 4 comrades died on the way back.