antarctica

A group of researchers is caught in a Antarctica base under a threat: that of one of them

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In 1982 the film teacher John Carpenter made us feel the other face of the currency of cold isolation at a research station in Antarctica. Through science fiction he spoke to us In ‘The Thing’ of the human psyche in such auspicious conditions for paranoia and conflict. Therefore, when in 2018 it occurred A real violent story In a Russian station, the looks returned to the classic. Something similar is happening again in the area. There are nine researchers and a defendant and, as almost always, without the possibility of leaving. Investigation. February 2025. The government of South Africa arrives a first report, a report where there is A serious accusation Among the team of nine outstanding researchers who have in the SANAE IV Antarctic Base. In addition, the accusation arises less than a month after the team started from South Africa for a 13 -month mission. According to leaksone of the victims would have sent an email to the government describing the attack, the worrying behavior of the aggressor and direct threats against his life. However and until now, the government He has not confirmed Independently, the content of the message has not given details about the identity of the accused or the victim. In 3D games Generation Z cannot pay the rent, but very soon it will be the richest generation in history Government decision. In the last hours, the Government of South Africa has made a key decision: it has decided Do not evacuate any member After investigating the complaints of physical aggression and sexual harassment that occurred at the station. Dion George, Minister of Environment, He affirmed to New York Times that the situation is currently “under control”, that the alleged aggressor has shown repentance and that a mediation protocol has been activated with the support of psychologists. However, the real problem is in the extreme distance (more than 4,300 km to Cape Town), and the environmental conditions, which have complicated research, leaving many questions about the safety and well -being of the equipment. Antarctica: an inhospitable environment. The Sanae IV base is one of the many scientific facilities in Antarctica where researchers must LIVING FOR MONTHS IN ISOLATION Extreme, without the possibility of abandoning the place due to severe climatic conditions. The hostile environment, with extreme temperatures, ice storms and months of total darkness, makes any interpersonal conflict amplify in a dangerous way, since victims cannot get away from their aggressors or seek immediate help. The Sanae IV station Recent cases. We said it at the beginning: the problem of inappropriate behaviors and violence in Antarctic scientific bases It is not new. At the beginning of the new millennium the geologist Jane K. Willenbring denounced being harassed Sexually during an expedition, although it only filed the complaint in 2016 after obtaining professional stability. Perhaps the most popular case of all It happened in 2018when a researcher at a Russian station stabbed a colleague, in what was described as An emotional collapse Due to insulation pressure. A year earlier, in a South African base, an investigator destroyed another’s computer with an ax For a love dispute. All incidents that reflect the psychological complexity of prolonged isolation and the challenges that the authorities face to supervise the behavior of the equipment deployed in the region. And the law? It We count a few years ago. Given the absence of effective autonomous institutions, and having such a tiny and scientific population, we can only refer to the Antarctic Treaty which was signed in the mid -twentieth century by 53 countries, the same that establishes that each malefactor will be tried according to the jurisdiction of their country of origin. Of course, there are no order forces or real judicial figures. The logistics dilemma. It is the great leg to elucidate. One of the key factors in the decision of the South African government not evacuating anyone lies in the logistics and operation of the base. In winter, ice storms They make any evacuation impossible Without high risk for the entire crew. In addition, each team member plays an essential role to maintain the operational station, and the lack of personnel could be unusable the base, a crucial infrastructure for South Africa’s scientific research in the region. According to Dawn Sumnerprofessor at the University of California, withdrawing a single person is not viable without affecting the stability of the equipment and the operability of the station. Plus: The physical structure of the SANAE IV base limits the possibility of completely isolating the aggressor of others. {“Videid”: “X8SQN4A”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “The largest iceberg in the world follows its course by Antarctic Waters”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “10”} Protocols and prevention. To avoid incidents, researchers traveling to Antarctica are subject to rigorous selection processes similar to those of astronautswhere technical skills, psychological history, medical history and coexistence capacity are evaluated. Thus, even with these filters, coexistence problems in extreme environments remain a constant threat. In this regard, Minister George said that, at the time of the team’s departure in February, no problem was detected in the evaluation of the members. However, recent events suggest that current protocols may not be enough to prevent this type of incidents in long -term missions. In Xataka Elon Musk fired 6,000 employees two weeks ago. Now the US faces the massive entry of invasive species Plus: Winter. Despite the apparent current calm, experts warn that the worst is yet to come. The months of July and August will bring total darkness and even more extreme temperatures, which could intensify tensions within the equipment and increase psychological risks. As stood out in the Times Professor Sumner, “darkness has not yet arrived, and they are already facing these problems,” suggests that the situation could deteriorate even more. With this cultivation broth, the combination of isolation, extreme climatic conditions and interpersonal conflicts without the possibility of escape, they make this A high -risk case. While South Africa insists that everything is under control, the history of violence … Read more

We have been trying to decipher how 1950 the Antarctica would be like. We just discovered it

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We have always seen the earth in the same way: Green and Brown Earth masses and the poles contrasting in white. Logical, because it has been tens of thousands of years covered by that white command, but the funny thing is that we have been trying to unravel What would Antarctica be like without ice. And we just discovered it in what is a curious and bleak view that could be the future of the earth. Decades melting Antarctica. Making Antarctica is not just a matter of curiosity. It is also key to predicting ice loss and sea level elevation. It is something that has studied Since 1950, but in 1996 the culminating moment came: the creation of the Bedmap consortium. With European support, many measurements and the most avant -garde technology at that time, the researchers marked the goal of creating a complete map of Antarctica. That came a few years later, with the Bedmap1 published in 2001. Bedmap1 Methods. It is what allowed us to know the average elevation of the rock base of Antarctica, the distribution of ice and its volume. Bedmap1 gave us a vision of that scenario with a resolution of five kilometers. In 2013 Bedmap2 appeared, for which they used ten times more measurements than the first and with a superior resolution. For the analysis, the researchers gathered data thanks to airplanes that fly over the area by sending radio pulses that allow measuring both the ice thickness and the most interesting: the depth of the rock bed. Crossing the data of these radars, batimetric data, satellite information and seismic studies, we can have that radiography of Antarctica. Bedman2 To the third is the defeated. And the most accurate so far is the one that crowns this article: Bedmap3. This is the result of the study of more than 82 million data points – some times more than those taken into account to elaborate Bedmap2 – and, as explained from British antarctic surveyit is as if they had removed the 27 million cubic kilometers of ice that cover the territory. In this new analysis, we see the most hidden places of the great mountains, but also details of the deepest cannons. Bedmap 2 already had a great level of detail, but this third map reveals is more depth in some areas. For example, where is the thickest layer of ice. It has been identified in an unnamed cannon in Wilkes, where the ice has a whopping 4,757 meters thick. Bedmap3 Fascinating. The resolution of this third attempt is 500 meters and, as we say, is the result of 70 years of measurements that have combined to give life to the new map. The three overlapping models It is what allows researchers to be more precise when having place statistics: Total ice volume in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 27.17 million km³. In Bedmap1, the calculation was 25.34 million km³. In Bedman2, 26.54 million km³. Total ice surface in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 13.63 million km² Ice thickness in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 1,948 m (excluding ice platforms: 2,148 m) Potential increase in sea level globally if all ice melts: 58 meters. And scary. That last value, the potential increase in sea level, is one of the main utilities of this type of research. It has not varied in the three attempts to map Antarctica and, as one of the researchers of the Bedmap project points out, the utility goes beyond the simple objective of satisfying curiosity. With the new data, Peter Fretwell comments that “it is evident that the Antarctic ice layer is thicker than we originally realized and has a greater volume of ice. It is also buried in a layer of rock located under sea level and is something that exposes ice at a greater risk of melting due to the incursion of warm water of the ocean. It is something that is taking place on the banks of the continent and what Bedmap3 shows us is that we have a slightly more vulnerable Antarctica than we thought. ” Precisely there is the disturbing. If the average temperature continues to increase, Bedmap3 may go from being a simple map to a prediction of the future of the earth. By the way, if you want to toys with Bedmap3, you have it in This link. Images | Bedmap, Bas In Xataka | Whenever there is a cold episode, voices arise that question climate change. The explanation is simpler than it seems

The antarctica penguins

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Almost a year ago, towards the end of the Southern Summer, the Antarctic Expedition team of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) He detected the arrival From the highly pathogenic avian flu virus (H5N1) to Antarctic fauna. On that occasion the detection was in marine mammals but They would soon arrive The news of the detection of the pathogen in the penguin populations of the region. An expanding virus. Now the same, the CSIC-UNESPA expedition has confirmed The expansion of the virus in the most remote continent in the world: all animal species analyzed In the Weddell Sea surroundings they showed the presence of highly pathogenic avian flu virus (HPAI). As the team explains, the analyzes left 42 positive tests. 28 corresponded to corpses of species such as Crab, Skuas (Paxos), Gaviota, Antarctic Paloma, Adelia Pingüino and Papua Penguin; While the remaining 14 positives were obtained from analysis to living specimens from skuas, and Adelia and Papua penguins. Antonio Alcamí, who led the expedition, pointed in a press release That the viral load detected in the bodies was “very high, which indicates a risk of exposure to virus in the proximity of the bodies.” Contrasting new technologies. The team used various methodologies in its analysis, some of them, innovations that could help in the detection of outbreaks in very different contexts. This is the case of air sampling. This methodology was applied in penguin colonies and consists of the installation of a pump connected to a nanofiber filter. Once the sampling is done, a laboratory performs a PCR test to determine if it has captured the virus. According to Explain Alcamíthe results obtained have allowed to validate this air sampling test as a virus detection method. Its use could allow virus detection without manipulating animals. A year later. The analyzes have allowed the team to conclude that the infection can be extended in the colonies of penguins without causing great mortality that of the presence of its presence. This raises an additional issue: if the penguins are more resistant to the virus than we believed or if this resistance is the result of the immunity of the specimens that were exposed to the virus last year. The arrival of the virus to Antarctica was a matter of time. In 2022 the arrival of the HPAI virus to South America was confirmed, so the first detections in mammals and birds in the icy continent was not entirely surprising. The new data now allow us to know better the magnitude of a problem that affects both wild birds and the farms of poultry and that has already extended to other areas of the livestock industry such as that of the milk production. From the Australis sailboat. The CSIC-UNESPA scientific expedition departed in January aboard the sailboat Australis towards the southernmost continent of the earth. The expedition, led by the CSIC and financed by a group of insurers attached to the Business Association of the sector, Unespa, aims Weddell. In Xataka | Outdoor -raised chickens are over: the government has made a temporary and radical decision by the flu Image | Australis sailboat in Antarctica. Antonio Alcamí (CBMSO)

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