Antarctica's Future

             Antarctica is considered a desert due to the fact that there is more precipitation evaporated than there is precipitation in form of rain or snow. The snow flurries are usually caused by the wind. Besides being known for a dry, freezing, and windy climate, Antarctica is a large continent covered in glacial ice also considered fresh water.

            Why does Antarctica have the freezing climate famously known around the globe? The water surrounding Antarctica, the ocean, is actually warmer than Antarctica itself. The reason for the rapid winds is that the colder air in Antarctica has higher pressure and then travels to the warmer air, the lower pressure. This causes the illusion of snow in form of precipitation, when in reality the snow is only being displaced by the wind. The freezing cold climate in Antarctica is mainly due to the low angle of sun rays received at its latitude. Antarctica loses more heat than it is able to retain. The massive amounts of snow and ice present in Antarctica have a great albedo effect, reflecting most of incident solar light back into space.

Albedo Effect: This image demonstrates that lighter colored surfaces, like snow and ice, reflect more sunlight, reflecting up to 80-65% more, than darker colored surfaces such as land and water. (image courtesy of http://www.cocorahs-albedo.org)

            In 1,000 years into the future Antarctica will remain a barren ice land, still considered a dry desert. Although, greenhouse gases will continue to increase; causing a slight warmer climate for Antarctica. Channels may then begin to form between ice sheets, causing some glaciers to break off from each other.

            In 10,000 years the similar greenhouse gas effect will only continue to evolve in intensity, exposing some dry land due to the melting of the ice in a slightly warmer climate. The land will not have as great as of an albedo as the ice did and will observe more sunlight, versus reflecting it back into space.

            Although Antarctica is covered with thousands of feet of snow, in the distant future, about 100,000,000 years into the future, Antarctica may be an enriched temperate climate forest. A temperate forest refers to a forest that is located in a temperate climate, normally in between 23.5 degrees and 66.5 degrees north and south in latitude. Antarctica is on the move because of the drifting continental plates. Antarctica is predicted to pull north by the subduction zone at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. A subduction zone takes place at a convergent boundary where one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate. Since the continent, which would have been once covered in massive sheets of ice, has shifted north, receiving a greater amount of incident solar light, the climate will begin to be warmer causing dramatic changes to its landscape. The land will than begin to be exposed, forming soil and becoming an excellent habitat for vegetation.

Eventually, Antarctica will drift further north and be exposed to tropic climates, and inevitably become a dense rain forest many million years later.

This video forecasts the climate for Antarctica in 100 million years

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiKXJddO-uc

http://jeanlouisetienne.com/EN/images/encyclo/imprimer/11.htm

http://www.polaris.iastate.edu/NorthStar/Unit5/unit5_sub1.htm

http://www.antarctica.org.nz/03-environment/

http://www.antarcticconnection.com/shopcontent.asp?type=science-greenhouse-effect

Clouds and Moisture

Antarctica has a climate with average temperatures well below zero degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average high temperature in Antarctica is -49 degrees Fahrenheit. Although Antarctica's atmosphere is normally below freezing, there can still be water droplets, along with ice crystals, found in the clouds. In the interior of Antarctica the temperature is much colder, causing the clouds to be made up of solely ice crystal particles. The consistency of the clouds made solely of ice crystals, are mostly thinner and fine in form. Due to the climate of Antarctica, deep convective clouds, like those found in thunderstorms, cannot be found in Antarctica’s atmosphere. Deep convective clouds are classified as cumulonimbus clouds that can be many kilometers thick, with its base near the Earth’s surface. For these cumulonimbus clouds to form there must be a warm surface to start the convection of the cloud, a characteristic not found in Antarctica.
Some common clouds found in Antarctica are lenticular clouds.

Standing Lenticular clouds over the Transarctic Mountains, common among mountain ranges.
Image courtesy of http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/altocumulus-standing-lenticular-clouds

Lenticular clouds are often formed when mountains create an obstruction for the wind flow, creating turbulence and uplift. Lenticular clouds are often lens shape stationary clouds formed in high altitude, perpendicular in alignment to the wind direction. How can clouds be created due to the obstruction of wind flow? An offer to this explanation is when moist air flows over a mountain range, standing waves of air can form on the down side of the mountain. Then the temperature in the standing air wave must reach the dew point in order for moisture in the air to condense and form lenticular clouds. Dew point is the temperature air must be cooled, at constant air pressure, in order for saturation to occur in respect to a plane surface of water. In order to create saturation the rate of evaporation and condensation must be equal. However, just because the air temperature has reached the dew point temperature does not mean there is going to be precipitation. The process for rain or snow is more complicated than the dew point, taking into consideration the type and size of cloud condensed nuclei that water vapor can condense upon is another process.

References:
·      http://traveltips.usatoday.com/average-temperature-antarctica-13726.html

·      http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Clouds/clouds5.php

·      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud

·      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point

·      http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/geography/weather/clouds.php

·      http://weathersavvy.com/Q-Science_Dewpoint.html

Soil and Hydrology of Antarctica

Although Antarctica is mostly made of ice, it also contains a body of soil. The body of soil is known as the Antarctic Dry Valley. The climate of the Antarctic Dry Valley is cold and dry. This causes the soil there to be very similar to arid soil. Arid soil is very dry and lacks vegetation. This lack of life in the soil makes it hard to live off of, and is similar to a desert landscape. This barren land sees few, if any animals, because there is no vegetation to serve as food. The lack of water in the soil also makes it hard for organisms to be created. Arid Soil is scientifically categorized as Aridisol. Aridisol is the most wide spread soil around the world. Arid soil contains sufficient amount of water to support vegetation for no more than 90 days. Considering the harsh climate in Antarctica and the lack of water in the Aridisol, it’s no wonder why the Antarctic Dry Valley has no vegetation growth.

The cold climate in Antarctica is so cold that it slows down the atom particles in water enough to chemically change its physical state. This scientific wonder leads to the 61 percent of the world’s fresh water being located in Antarctica’s ice caps. This does not address the amount of 0.01% of all the water in the world being fresh useable water, as previously discussed in the University of Colorado Denver Geography 1202 course. To put into perspective the massive amounts of ice in Antarctica, the approximate 14,000,000 squared kilometers of Antarctica is 12,150,000 squared kilometers of ice sheet. The Onyx River also shows the hydrology of Antarctica in a liquid state. The Onyx River is an example of an endorheic drainage system. This means the river is a closed drainage basin. It does not flow into external bodies of water like rivers or into the ocean, but instead forms bodies of water such as lakes.

 (This image of the Onyx River shows the relative small size to other rivers through out the world of Antarctica's longest river.

The approximate length of the Onyx River is only 32 Kilometers)

Seasons and Volcanic Activity of Antarctica

Antarctica has two seasons. The earth has different seasons because of its tilt. The tilt of the earth dictates the amount of sun light the northern or southern hemisphere receives. The earth's tilt maintains the same angle, so when the southern hemisphere is facing the sun in its orbit the southern hemisphere is receiving more sunlight. On the opposite side of the sun the tilt still maintains its angle, so now the northern hemisphere is more direct towards the sun and the southern hemisphere receives less sunlight; making it winter in Antarctica.

The concept of volcanic activity in Antarctica is a hard one to grasp at first, considering that it is about 98% covered by the Antarctic Ice Sheet. However, there are volcanoes such as, Mount Berlin, Mount Hampton, and Mount Kauffman. Mount Hampton actually is a volcanic caldera, which is unique in the way it is formed. A volcanic caldera is usually formed when a collapse of land occurs followed by a volcanic eruption. It is commonly described as having the shape of an inverse volcano. 

Mount Berlin is a combination of two shield volcanoes. A shield volcano is considered the least dangerous because of its low viscosity. The flow would be slow enough to give a person a chance to out run the magma flow. Volcanoes at Mount Berlin have not been active for a long time. This is known because the youngest tephra layer was aged to be 10.3 thousand years at the base of an ice cave. Tephra is rock particles that are ejected out of a volcano because of an eruption. This is why Mount Berlin volcanoes are considered to no longer be active because the youngest evidence of eruption was about 10.3 thousand years ago. 

This is a picture of Mount Hampton, an example of a volcanic caldera in Antarctica.

Mount Berlin

Reference:

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1900-022

Intro Blog

This blog is a joint project about the physical geography of Antarctica. Niconor Garcia, or more commonly known as Nick, is a freshmen at the business school at the University of Colorado Denver seeking a bachelors degree in business with an emphasis in marketing. Leon Ramirez is a freshmen at the College of Arts and Media at the University of Colorado Denver, seeking a bachelors degree with an emphasis in recording arts. This project is based on the Physical Geography 1202 course at UCD.

Antarctica was chosen because we wanted to research a place that we know little about. We believe that Antarctica has plenty of geographic features that will keep us busy, writing a four month blog.