Because of their fundamental role in climate change, the earth’s polar regions are currently receiving much attention from scientists from all over the world, including experts from the Czech Republic.
In Paris on March 2, 2007-2008 was declared the International Polar Year, the largest scientific project of the last half-century. Over 50 000 scientists from more than 60 countries including the Czech Republic will partake in the project. The main subject of research will be climate change in the Artic and Antarctic regions and its consequences for the entire planet.
The Antarctic and Czech experts
Czech scientists have been active in the polar regions since the 1960s. During previous expeditions they used the polar stations of other countries. This year however, they succeeded in establishing their own station. On February 2, 2007 the Czech scientific polar station on James Ross Island on the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula was festively inaugurated.
Ulu Peninsula on the western part of the island was chosen as the location for the station. It is one of the largest areas of glacial retreat in the Antarctic. The phenomenon of glacial retreat is, geologically speaking, relatively recent. It has only started 6000 years ago and still continues today.
The Czech station on James Ross Island in Antarctica. Source: ČTK
The gradually receding ice sheet in the region is very interesting for scientists. Here they can study the changes to the Earth’s surface, which have occurred in completely different conditions. The goal of the Czech expedition’s scientific program is to perform a comprehensive study of this phenomenon in the region.
“It should all culminate with the creation of a model of glacial retreat in the Antarctic. Using this model, it should be possible to change some of the parameters and observe the subsequent effects of a simulated environment. Polar ecosystems are relatively simple, so they are quite easy to study; however, they are also very sensitive to exterior changes, so the whole process of global warming can damage them quite a bit. With such a model, we can introduce future parameters and study how the ecosystem will behave. On this basis it is possible to estimate its destruction,” explains Professor RNDr. Pavel Prošek, CSc, leader of Masaryk University’s scientific team.
The Antarctic coasts are less extreme in temperature and are damper than the interior of the continent. The daily temperature here is around freezing and in the winter it drops to minus 30 degrees Celsius. The continental area often experiences lows of minus 90 degrees Celsius. The more accommodating coastal climate allows cyanobacteria, algae, lichen, moss and soil animals to survive, while the sea is a source of sustenance for an array of birds and sea mammals.
Johan Gregor Mendel Station
The Czech station was named after the famous Moravian scientist Johan Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) who was a pioneer in modern genetics and meteorology.
Its celebratory opening took a year of preparation. The project, which is sponsored by Brno’s Masaryk University, was started by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Schools, Youth and Physical Education in 1999. The preparations on James Ross Island were finally completed in 2002. The whole project, however, had to be approved by members of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. This was done in 2004, after which construction could finally begin. The foundations of the station were finished in March of last year.
The Czech polar station is able to accommodate 15 to 20 people. It is composed of a main building, which provides space for accommodation, eating, laboratory work and relaxation, and nine technical containers.
The Johan Gregor Mendel Czech Polar Station. Source: ČTK
The station project is ecologically accommodating both in its technical construction and infrastructure and the station’s sources of energy. Its operation is provided in large part with the help of renewable resources including small wind power plants and solar collectors.
The station will serve researchers from Masaryk University as well as other Czech and foreign institutions for the next twenty to thirty years.
The cost of building the station was around 60 million crowns, which was provided by the Ministry of Schools, Youth and Physical Education and Masaryk University in Brno.
Currently the university provides funds from its own reserves for the operation of the station and the shipment of materials. Nevertheless, its rector, Professor Petr Fiala, hopes that the government will also help carry the costs. “We will have more meetings so that part of the logistical costs, which are essential for the station’s operation, will be covered by the Czech government,” said the rector.
The first scientific season
The first tests at the Czech polar station were a success. The research team, made up of scientists from Masaryk University, the Czech Geological Service and the Academy of Science, lasted a full eight weeks.
“This year’s season was very important for us because it was the first time we were at home in Antarctica, at our own base,” said the expedition’s leader Pavel Prošek after returning.
“We are very happy with the station. Its technical systems didn’t let us down. It was capable of standing up against the wind that we had to endure,” affirmed Prošek.
Thirteen geologist, climatologists and biologists participated in the expedition. The geologists focused on reconstructing glaciations in relation to global climate changes. The climatologists devoted themselves to the influence of atmospheric factors on the behavior of solar radiation and important parts of its spectrum (UV for example). Researchers from the Czech Geological Service continued the essential geological mapping of vast regions on the north of the island and on neighboring islands since a geological map of the area hadn’t existed up until now.
The biological research was focused mainly on the cyanobacteria, algae, lichen and moss. Researchers studied their ability to adapt to the extreme conditions.
Olga Bohuslavová, one of the expedition’s participants, preparing a photo from February 22 of four small glass cases close to the Czech station. Source: ČTK
The biologists set up four small glass cases – Plexiglas containers with an open lid covering an area of 1.5 square meters. With the help of these containers they will learn how moss and lichen react to global warming.
The glass containers simulate the conditions that the Earth is expected to experience during the next 150 years, when the temperature is expected to rise by between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius. During the next 15 to 20 years, scientists will learn how this change in the Antarctic region will occur.
Life at the station
Living and carrying out research at the station is possible only during the Antarctic summer, which last from December to March, when temperatures hover around the freezing point. Nevertheless, the research program must always adapt to sudden changes in the weather; sunshine alternates with snowstorms and winds reaching speeds of more than 150 kilometers per hour.
In favorable weather, groups of researchers spend several days at a time away from the base.
Climatologists, biologists and geologists on their way to map the surrounding area. Source: ČTK
“The relatively large area of the region requires staying in tents in remote locations for several days at a time. The weather this year, at least in the first days, definitely helped us and during the first stay at such a camp we experienced an unbelievable nine days of warm, sunny, windless weather. Such a period of good weather is quite exceptional in Antarctica. More often the weather alternates about every two or three days, and the change can come quite suddenly. When we got caught out in a snow storm some 20 kilometers from the station we stayed in the tent for three days. Visibility in conditions of driven snow is minimal and wandering more than several tens of meters away from the tent can be quite dangerous,” explains Ondřej Marvánek, who describes the life of a researcher at the Artic circle on the portal EnviWeb.cz.
The research season has reached as successful conclusion as the harsh, dark Antarctic winter begins. However, most of the work is only just beginning for the researchers. They will now start the job of analyzing the collected samples and data. At the end of this year the Czech scientists will again return to the Czech polar station, when it will again be summer in the southern hemisphere.
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