THIS WAS A VERY INTERESTING AND DISTURBING ARTICLE I FOUND IN THE ABC NEWS PAGE - HAVE A READ AND SEE WHAT YOU ALL THINK.

Arctic research team evacuates as ice floe melts
By Moscow Correspondent Scott Bevan
July 15, 2008 - 10:17AM
Source: ABC

A research team working on a drifting ice floe in the Arctic has had first-hand experience of the perils of global warming.

The researchers are being evacuated from the research station because the ice under their laboratory is melting faster than expected.

Since September last year, 20 Russian scientists have lived and worked on what's known as 'North Pole 35'.

The rather clinical name belies the natural setting for the research station - a drifting ice floe in the Arctic.

From this base, the scientists have been conducting a range of experiments, including monitoring pollution levels and the effects of climate change.

They were meant to stay on the floe for about a year. But after 10 months' research, the team came up with some data that really hit home; the ice they were based on was disappearing very rapidly.

Professor Arkady Tishkov is an Arctic expert from the Institute of Geography in Moscow.

"This work of ours was about three kilometres by five kilometres. Now [it is] only 300 metres by 600 metres. It is not enough," he said.

With the ice floe a little more than a tenth of the size it was less than a year ago, and the station drifting into an area with warmer currents, the scientists concluded it was time to leave.

Vladimir Sokolov is from the Saint Petersburg-based Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, which is in charge of the North Pole 35 station.

"There is nothing presently that threatens the safety of the people and they would have been safe for quite a while," he said.

"But if we let time drag on for a month, the ice under the station would have started collapsing. That's why we're getting them off."

On Sunday, two ships began evacuating the scientists and their equipment from the floe, which is near the Spitsbergen Islands.

The evacuation operation is expected to take three to four days.

Professor Tishkov says this incident gives an indication of what is happening to the thickness of the ice cover across the Arctic.

"We have in the centre of Arctic, sea ice four and more metres, however now it is only two metres," he said.

"And the change has [affected] not only ice condition. The sea water in the Arctic Sea is more warm."

The scientists from North Pole 35 are to be brought back to the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk.

Then they will begin collating their research and their life experiences to reach some conclusions as to whether the globe is floating on thin ice when it comes to climate change.

In 10 months, the ice floe shrank from 3km x 5km to 300m by 600m.

MY VISIT TO ANTARCTICA

I CREATED THESE SHORT VIDEOS USING A PROGRAM ON THE APPLE MAC. IT IS A VERY EASY WAY TO CREATE A PRESENTATION - I AM SURE IT WOULD BE A GREAT WAY IN WHICH YOU COULD PRESENT YOUR ANTARCTICA PRESENTATIONS. WE WILL MAKE SOME VIDEOS IN CLASS USING THIS PROGRAM - IT'S LOTS OF FUN.










DO YOU KNOW HOW I MADE THESE VIDEOS - OR DID I REALLY VISIT ANTARCTICA?

Seas of Shame

WHAT A DISTURBING STORY. I FEEL VERY GUILTY BECAUSE I KNOW THERE IS MORE THAT I COULD BE DOING TO KEEP OUR OCEANS CLEAN AND TO KEEP THE ANIMALS ALIVE.

IS THERE MORE THAT YOU COULD BE DOING?

PURPOSE
WHAT TYPE OF TEXT IS USED IN THIS DOCUMENTARY?
WHY DO YOU THINK THE DOCUMENTARY WAS MADE?
WHAT TECHNIQUES WERE USED IN THE DOCUMENTARY TO HELP ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE.

AUDIENCE
WHO WAS THE DOCUMENTARY MADE FOR?

TONE/MOOD
WHAT IS THE MOOD OF THE DOCUMENTARY?
WHAT TYPE OF LANGUAGE IS USED - FORMAL, INFORMAL, SLANG?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THIS VIDEO?
HOW EFFECTIVE DO YOU THINK THE DOCUMENTARY IS IN ACHIEVING ITS PURPOSE?

ANTARCTICA - a visual perspective.

Antarctica 2007

View more presentations from Gvidas Kenstavičius.

As you are watching the slideshare presentation on Antarctica think about how different it would be to live in Antarctica.

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Would it be easy to live in Antarctica - what would be some of the challenges?

What have you learnt about Antarctica through watching this presentation and watching Happy Feet?

What questions do you have about Antarctica?