Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T05:27:41.097Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The future of Antarctic scientific research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

David J. Drewry
David J. Drewry
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Within the stable political context of the Antarctic Treaty regime, science has flourished, achieving considerable prominence and an increasing global relevance. Issues such as stratospheric ozone depletion and enhanced ultraviolet effects, environmental and climatic archive from ice cores, detection of anthropogenic pollution, study of global climate change (such as the carbon cycle and sea level), and analysis of unique collections of meteorites have attracted and focused unprecedented international attention on Antarctica. In the future, major challenges will continue to emerge in Antarctic science, driven by conceptual breakthroughs, innovative field research, and rapidly developing technology. Today's fashionable topics such as global wanning, biodiversity, thecarbon pump, and ozone loss may soon fade. What will replace them remains uncertain. The study of the coupling of presently diverse whole-earth systems appears a possibility: the biogeochemical coupling of landmasses, oceans, and ice geared to the study and provision of new food resources, to meet the demands of a world population in exponential growth, will feature considerably in the next century and involve much Antarctic research. Future science will develop against a backdrop of heightening external pressures: (1) the competing demands from the AntarcticTreaty System, including environmental concerns and possible operating restrictions, and the requirement to provide expert opinion from specialised research, (2) increasing problems of the coordination of an expanding and diverse scientific community, (3) the high cost and level of sophistication of modern research, and (4) accountability, particularly in respect of quality scientific results. Within each of these areas national programmes will assess and determine priorities for the future, which will severely test existing systems for collaboration, logistics sharing, and financial underpinning. Attention will need to be directed at a critical evaluation of the international mechanisms and frameworks for establishing the details of the Antarctic scientific agenda, and its meshing with discipline-based research in general.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 29 , Issue 168 , January 1993 , pp. 37 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties. 1991. Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty–Final Report of the Xlth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting. Madrid, 3–4 October 1991.Google Scholar
ATCM. 1991. Final Report of the XVIth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Bonn, 7–18 October 1991.Google Scholar
Drewry, D.J. In press. Conflicts of interest in the use of the Antarctic. In: Hempel, G. (editor). Antarctic science and global concerns. Stuttgart: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Drewry, D.J., and Morris, E.M.. 1992. The response of large ice sheets to climatic change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 338: 235–242.Google Scholar
Farman, J.C., Gardiner, B.G., and Shanklin, J.D.. 1985. Large losses of total ozone in Antarctica reveal seasonal ClOx/NOx interaction. Nature 315: 207–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Global Change Newsletter. 1991. A quick start for START. Global Change Newsletter 9. 5–7.Google Scholar
Gordon, A.L. 1988. The Southern Ocean and global climate. Oceanus 31 (2): 39–46.Google Scholar
Haldane, J.B.S. 1927. The future of biology. In: Haldane, J.B.S.Possible words andotheressays. London: Chatto and Windus, 139–153.Google Scholar
Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J., and Ephraums, J.J. (editors). 1990. Climate change: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
IUCN. 1991. A strategy for Antarctic conservation. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge: IUCN.Google Scholar
Lorius, C., Jouzel, J., and Raynaud, D.. 1992. The ice core record: past archive of the climate and signpost to the future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 338: 227–234.Google Scholar
Morita, A. 1992. ‘S’ does not equal ‘T’ and ‘T’ does not equal ‘I’. The first United Kingdom Innovation Lecture. London: Department of Trade and Industry.Google Scholar
Nicol, S. In press. Antarctic krill—changing perceptions of its role in the Antarctic ecosystem. In: Hempel, G. (editor). Antarctic science and global concerns. Stuttgart: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Priddle, J., Smetacek, V., and Bathmann, U.. 1992. Antarctic marine primary production, biogeochemical carbon cycles and climatic change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 338: 289–297.Google Scholar
Pyle, J.A., Carver, G., Grenfell, J.L., Kettleborough, J.A., and Larry, D.J.. 1992. Ozone loss in Antarctica: the implicationsf or global change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 338: 219–226.Google Scholar
SCAR. 1989. The role of Antarctica in global change. Cambridge: ICSU.Google Scholar
SCAR. 1991. SCAR perspectives on Antarctic research and management. SCAR Information Paper, XVIth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Bonn, October 1991.Google Scholar
SCAR. 1992. The role of Antarctica in global change. Part II: An international plan for a regional research programme. Cambridge: ICSU.Google Scholar
SCAR–COMNAP. 1992. Environmental monitoring in Antarctica – a discussion document. Prepared for the Meeting of Experts on Environmental Monitoring of the Antarctic Treaty, Buenos Aires, July 1992.Google Scholar
Streten, N.A. 1992. Antarctic operational meteorology — past, present and future. World Meteorological Organization Bulletin 41 (2): 145–154.Google Scholar
Tickell, C. 1986. Climatic change and world affairs. Boston: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar