Research paper Is Antarctica in the big problem?

Antarctica is a very beautiful place where human beings can’t live. It is so cold that there that we as human doubt ourselves about its principles. Today, this place is in a great danger because of human being activity and their pressure on earth and the environment. As a cold place, antarctica is among the second coldest place on earth. We should not let the ice collapse because it can cause catastrophic storm, Increased deaths from heat waves and high sea level. In a web article “History” (n.d, paras 1-145) “Wherever humans go they have an impact on the environment, and Antarctica is no exception. Until recently, our record of stewardship has not been good. Within the last few years, though, government agencies involved in Antarctic research have become increasingly aware of the need to protect that continent's uniquely pristine status. Consequently, formerly polluted bases have been cleaned up, and new protocols have been approved by the Antarctic Treaty nations to limit pollution and other forms of environmental damage. It will never be possible to completely eliminate human impact, though, as long as people continue to travel and work in Antarctica. The impact of human activity on the Antarctic environment can be roughly divided into three broad categories: exploitation, pollution, and disturbance. To date, all human exploitation of Antarctica has been for biological resources. This may be due in no small part to the difficulty, even impossibility, of mineral and oil extraction in that environment. That situation may change as new technologies develop, though the Madrid Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty prohibits mining activity until at least the year 2041.Most of Antarctica's biological resources are now protected to some degree. That was not the case in the early years of human activity. Captain Cook's 1775 report of plentiful seals and whales in Antarctic waters brought hunters in great numbers to the southern ocean. The fur trade with China was beginning to open up and there were large amounts of money to be made. British sealers began harvesting at South Georgia as early as 1778. In 1792, American sealers began operations at South Georgia and Kergulen Island. Harvesting methods were brutal and efficient, and there was no regard to sustaining the breeding stock. Between 1790 and 1822 over 1,200,000 skins were taken from South Georgia alone, virtually exterminating the seals there. James Weddell noted that more than 100,000 South Shetland fur seal pups died of starvation during 1821-1822, after their mothers were killed and skinned. With a little prudent regulation, those islands might have provided a yearly harvest almost indefinitely. Instead, the population was rendered economically extinct.By 1825, six species of fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella, A. forsteri, A. tropicalis, A. australis, A. phillipii, and A. pusillus) had been hunted to near extinction around the coasts of Chile and Argentina, and on most of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic islands.By the 1870s, after fifty years of being left alone, seal populations had begun to recover slightly. However, a brief resumption of "scorched earth" policies decimated them again. By the late nineteenth century, commercial fur seal hunting had effectively ended, and it has not been resumed. The hunting of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) for their oil continued at varying levels up until the early 1960s. At times when elephant seals were scarce, the sealers would turn to penguins. Throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, thousands of these birds were killed and rendered for their meager amount of oil. Penguin populations, however, were never decimated to the same degree as seals. In addition to the organized slaughter of seals and penguins for profit, both were occasionally killed for scientific reasons. Also, most early Antarctic expeditions augmented their food supplies with penguin eggs and penguin and seal meat. (The Astrolabe sailors, hungry for fresh meat, compared penguin favorably to chicken. Bellingshausen's men found it to be more palatable after it had been soaked in vinegar for a few days. Adrien de Gerlache considered it inedible.) Fresh meat was considered an effective means of preventing or curing scurvy, a disease which haunted nearly all early explorers. On occasions when an expedition's ship was unexpectedly beset or crushed by pack ice, the crew depended on seal and penguin meat for survival. The men in Nordenskjld's Antarctic expedition killed as many as 2000 penguins for food in 1903. Scott's northern party subsisted almost entirely on penguin and seal meat in 1912. They also depended on seal blubber to keep them warm, as did the men of Shackleton's marooned Ross Sea party in 1916. Because the species exploited for sustenance were usually different than those slaughtered for commercial purposes, the long term effect of these depredations was probably slight.By the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, whales had become the target for exploitation. Whaling technology had advanced enough such that whalers were finally able to hunt the fast-swimming rorquals that populated Antarctic waters in such abundance. Several whaling stations were set up, including ones on South Georgia and Deception Island, and hunting began in earnest. The ocean-going factory ship made its appearance in 1923, accompanied by fast, steam powered catcher boats, and the industry grew rapidly. Species after species was hunted until it became difficult to find, then the hunt was transferred to another animal. After the prized southern right whale, blue and humpback whales were hunted preferentially. Then the hunt shifted to fin whales, then sei whales. Sperm whales were also taken. During the 1937-1938 season, 33 whaling expeditions killed 46,000 whales. Between 1956 and 1965, 631,518 whales were killed. Up until 1935, England and Norway was responsible for about 90% of the catch. After 1937, Japan began to dominate the southern whaling industry, with the Soviet Union entering the scene in 1951. By the early-1960s, it became clear that whales had been overhunted. Catches per unit effort were declining dramatically (even though 41,000 whales were killed in Antarctic waters during the 1960-61 season). England ceased Antarctic whaling in 1963, and Norway followed suit in 1968. By then, though, many whale stocks had been reduced to small fractions of their estimated original populations; blue whales to 5%, fin and sei whales to 20%, right and humpback whales to 3%. Currently there is a moratorium on Antarctic factory ship whaling, though a certain level of "scientific" whaling is permitted. Japan takes advantage of that loophole to kill about 300 minke whales per year. Nonetheless, the level of exploitation has been reduced to near zero. The effect of the whale slaughter on the Antarctic ecosystem is still under study. Penguins that consume krill are abundant. Fur seals that use the same food source have not only recovered from the brink of extinction, but may in fact be more numerous than before they were hunted. In some areas they are overrunning breeding beaches and degrading the surrounding foliage, which in turn is destroying the breeding habitat of some sea birds. Whales take much longer to reproduce than seals and penguins, and it may be that the absence of these large predators from the ecosystem has provided extra food for their pinniped and avian competitors. This may be slowing the whales' recovery, since they are faced with increased competition for food. The equation is further complicated by human harvesting of krill. It is unknown how long it may take for the Antarctic ecosystem to return to its pre- exploitation equilibrium, if indeed it ever will. First negative effect visited on Antarctica by human presence was pollution; early expeditions simply tossed all of their garbage and sewage overboard. However, the small quantities of these pollutants generated by the expeditions of Kergulen and James Cook had a negligible impact. Later sailing expeditions also discarded their refuse into the environment, but the number of people involved and amount garbage generated was still relatively small.In addition, the garbage discarded or lost to storm damage was natural in origin (foodstuffs, feces, wood, fabric, metal) and so could be expected to degrade at some level (albeit slowly). Natural items in relatively small amounts are also unlikely to adversely affect indigenous biology. Even the photochemicals discarded by early photographers like Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley were biodegradable.At times the level of refuse was higher than others. When a vessel was beset and crushed by the pack ice, such as the Antarctic in 1903 and the Endurance in 1915, a comparatively large amount of anthropogenic debris was deposited into the environment. In the early nineteenth century, sealers left large amounts of debris and garbage on numerous Antarctic and sub- Antarctic islands, including building materials, personal goods, food containers, and rusting, metal try pots. Whalers were even more prodigious in the amount of garbage they left behind. Whole whaling stations, like those at Grytviken and Leith Harbor on South Georgia, lie abandoned and crumbling. On the shore, huge oil storage tanks disintegrate into rust and numerous buildings fall into disrepair, while catcher boats wallow in the harbor. On some islands huge piles of bleached whale bones attest to the former slaughter.Despite the prodigious mess in some places, the level of historical pollution is still quite low when measured against the vastness of Antarctica.The twentieth century brought three notable changes in Antarctic pollution. First, technology began to produce materials which had never existed in nature. The advent of airplanes, diesel powered vessels, and motorized vehicles meant the introduction of gasoline and other refined fossil fuels to Antarctica. These and other manufactured chemicals have a notably deleterious effect on the environment when they are spilled, as they often were. (The aviation fuel requirement for America's IGY effort alone was over a million gallons, of which 140,000 was spilled into McMurdo Sound in 1956 when a fuel barge was crushed between ice floes.) The wreck of the Bahia Paraiso in 1989 provided a recent and dramatic example of the kinds of damage possible from fuel spills; several breeding bird populations were severely impacted. Also, until recently hazardous chemical wastes (solvents, laboratory chemicals, and the like) were poured directly into the environment, with unknown consequences.The modern era also brought with it other manufactured and synthetic products, like plastics, for which no biological breakdown system exists. In the cold and dry Antarctic environment, where unpainted wood can last for centuries, these synthetic products can be expected to persist essentially forever. Before they were banned as packing material, styrofoam peanuts were frequently shipped to McMurdo Station, where the persistent winds would blow them across the landscape. If one were to look hard enough, one could probably find bits of styrofoam along the entire length and breadth of the Ross Sea. Second, the level of human activity increased dramatically. The 1946-1947 U.S. Navy Antarctic Developments Project was the largest expedition ever launched. While no records exist, it is reasonable to presume that the quantity of garbage discarded into the environment that summer season was commensurate with the large number of people involved. (Until very recently, all shipboard garbage was tossed into the sea, worldwide.) As human activity in the Antarctic continued to increase, through the IGY and beyond, so too did the amount of trash, sewage, and hazardous chemicals introduced to the environment.In recent years, however, there have been some positive changes. The U.S. Antarctic Program, for instance, no longer dumps or burns garbage but removes all waste (except sewage) from the continent. Even better, most of this material is recycled. Third, a dramatic change in the pattern of garbage dumping and accumulation came with the establishment of permanent stations. Until that time, waste was spread out as ships and ground-based expeditions dumped their refuse wherever they happened to be. Minor accumulations, two to four years worth perhaps, built up around the campsites of the heroic era expeditions of Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and others. (Many of these areas are now considered historical monuments, garbage and all.) Once stations became permanently inhabited, waste began to accumulate in one spot over a period of many years. Storms and high winds would spread some of the trash across a wider area, but most of it remained (or remains) localized. Before long many stations began to look like garbage dumps--and many of them still do. The impact of this waste concentration on the immediate environment has not been extensively studied. In some cases, the waste was dumped into the sea, from where it is extremely difficult to remove. For many years the U.S. program piled unwanted metal waste on the sea ice and waited for it to melt through or be carried away. Piles of debris are now scattered widely on the sea floor of McMurdo Sound and it is unlikely the area will ever be completely cleaned up. Trash was also bulldozed into the sea near McMurdo Station and Scott Base. The sea floor in Winter Quarters Bay, around Hut Point, and at Pram Point on Ross Island is littered with large amounts of debris. It is likely that this pattern has been repeated at other stations around the continent and on the Antarctic and sub- Antarctic islands. While it is obvious that the slaughter of animals and pollution of the environment clearly constitute a disturbance, the term is used here to refer to activities that do not fall specifically into either of those categories. For instance, the movement of ships through the pack and fast ice will displace (and may sometimes kill) seals and penguins. Helicopters and airplanes flying overhead will also disturb animals on the ice, causing them at times to scramble toward the water. As more and more vessels and aircraft operate in the Antarctic, this level of disturbance will increase. Construction activities have been known to disturb indigenous animal populations. The most egregious example of this was the French Antarctic Program's construction of a gravel runway at Dumont d'Urville Station, which involved dynamiting parts of a penguin rookery. The runway was subsequently destroyed by a storm and is not operational.In the course of their studies, scientists must often disturb animals and their environment. Researchers often capture and restrain seals and penguins to draw blood samples or attach depth recorders and satellite tracking devices. Long term population studies necessarily disturb the same animal groups for many years, and this may ultimately alter the animals' behavior toward humans. Recent penguin studies that used stomach lavage to study food preferences resulted in breeding failure and chick mortality. Other scientists have collected fish and invertebrate samples from the water column and sea floor, and these collections constitute a disturbance of the local ecology. How great is the disturbance caused by these activities is not known, but where collections have occurred for many years in the same place, it is conceivable that the local ecology has been altered.Finally, the mere presence of human establishments and the constant levels of human activity in a previously unoccupied environment constitutes a disturbance of that environment. Currently, this type of disturbance is highly localized, occurring primarily at the permanent stations and the frequently visited tourist destinations. Animal behavior, and the growth and distribution patterns of both vertebrates and invertebrates, may be altered. Once again, the level of alteration and its ultimate effects have not been extensively studied and are not well known”. The Antarctica situation is so critical that we, as human being are afraid about it. Things start to break over there, and it is only because of global warming. We need to make things change and focus on the most important things. We should not let the ice collapse because it can cause catastrophic storm, Increased deaths from heat waves and high sea level First, Catastrophic storm will be a result if the Antarctica ice collapse. Weather condition will be at an extreme condition and more death and instability will gain the world. Those storms named hurricane need heat to be born and actually, it is so destructive that it has many consequences. How does it affect the falling of the Antarctica ice?

First, we know that global warming is the major problem of all this. Second, the heat condensed because of the global warming creates those terrible hurricanes and actually can affect many areas as buildings, increase water flooding and death. According to Rosenberg (2008, paras. 8, 9) “Storm Surge. Approximately 90% of all hurricane deaths can be attributed to the storm surge, the dome of water created by the low pressure center of a hurricane. This storm surge quickly floods low-lying coastal areas with anywhere from 3 feet (one meter) for a category one storm to over 19 feet (6 meters) of storm surge for a category five storm. Hundreds of thousands of deaths in countries such as Bangladesh have been caused by the storm surge of cyclones. Wind Damage. The strong, at least 74 mph or 119 km/hr, winds of a hurricane can cause widespread destruction far inland of coastal areas, destroying homes, buildings, and infrastructure). This quotation gives a real disadvantage of what hurricanes can do when it happens and what it will cause. None of these disadvantages are good for us as human. We don’t need death those problems. We have the consequences of what we created and now there is still a chance that we can be eco friendly with the environment.

Second, we can have more death increased. More death will increase because of how the heat hit us. The planet will be at a higher degree of heating because of global warming and if it gets too higher, we can have more death. What happen is that, the sun will hit the earth third times than it does and people will be vulnerable. More heat and deshydratation will occur. People will be face with many injuries of it and die. It can also bring other disastrous elements that can really damage our skin. Ices that are collapsing in the Antarctica is a big problem because it is the only one that we have actually and those ice are unique for us to have an eye on them.

Third, greenhouses effects in the Antarctica will cause a rise on the sea level. Global warming is a serious problem that most of the countries in the world are fighting against. Sea levels may be affected by green houses effects because of the melting of the ices. If there are too many ices that melt in the Antarctica, then it means that we have a lot of water that will be added to our current sea and the level will be higher. Higher sea level will cause a serious injury to our planet because it may lead to flooding problems. Flooding problems is a consequence of higher sea levels. They will be water everywhere and we as humans will be more vulnerable to diseases and death. According to Grabiamowski & Strickland (n. d, paras.1, 2) “Glaciers and ice shelves around the world are melting [Source: Guardian Unlimited]. The loss of large areas of ice on the surface could accelerate global warming because less of the sun's energy would be reflected away from Earth to begin with (refer back to our discussion of the greenhouse effect). An immediate result of melting glaciers would be a rise in sea levels. Initially, the rise in sea level would only be an inch or two. Even a modest rise in sea levels could cause flooding problems for low-lying coastal areas. However, if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt and collapse into the sea, it would push sea levels up 10 meters (more than 32 feet), and many coastal areas would completely disappear beneath the ocean [Source: NASA]. The IPCC estimates that sea levels rose 17 centimeters (or about 6.7 inches) in the 20th century. Scientists project rising sea levels to continue through the 21st century, with levels increasing between 7 and 22 inches by 2100. The IPCC did not consider changes in ice flow in these projections due to a lack of scientific data. Sea levels will likely be greater than the range of projections, but we can't be sure by how much until more data can be gathered about the effect of global warming on ice flows”. According to this research by scientists, they estimate in the future that they will be a rising on sea levels because of the effects of global warming. Many bacteria will develop themselves and they are going to be more death and a world flooding problems. However, many scientists are fighting and trying to find a solution to this future problem. We have to look forward to find a solution and reduce the risk and to be able to have a safer environment. In conclusion, we have different options to help prevent the Antarctica from getting totally melted by the impact of global warming. Scientists should look on how they can come up with a radical solution and prevent this place that we can call historic to disappear.

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