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Significant U.S. Science Discoveries from AntarcticaNumerous scientific discoveries of global significance have been made in Antarctica by scientists supported by the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). The National Science Foundation (NSF) administers the USAP and coordinates almost all U.S. science on the continent. For more information about the USAP, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/99/fs_usap.htm. Recent discoveries in reverse chronological order. 2004 Martian meteorite—NSF-funded researchers uncover a new Martian meteorite in Antarctica. A field party from the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) found the new specimen on Dec. 15, 2003, on an icefield in the Miller Range of the Transantarctic Mountains, roughly 750 kilometers (466 miles) from the South Pole. This 715.2 gram (1.5 pound) black rock, officially designated MIL 03346, was one of 1358 meteorites collected by ANSMET during the 2003-2004 austral summer. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=10000000000115 Lake Vostok—NSF-funded scientists develop the first-ever map of water depth in Lake Vostok, which lies between 3,700 and 4,300 meters (more than 2 miles) below the continental Antarctic ice sheet. The new comprehensive measurements of the lake—roughly the size of North America's Lake Ontario—indicate it is divided into two distinct basins that may have different water chemistry and other characteristics. The findings have important implications for the diversity of microbial life in Lake Vostok and provide a strategy for how scientists study the lake’s different ecosystems should international scientific consensus approve exploration of the pristine and ancient environment. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=10000000000113 Undersea volcano—Scientists working in the stormy and inhospitable waters off the Antarctic Peninsula find what they believe is an active and previously unknown volcano on the sea bottom. The international science team from the United States and Canada mapped and sampled the ocean floor and collected video and data that indicate a major volcano exists on the Antarctic continental shelf, they announced in a May 5 dispatch from the NSF's research vessel Laurence M. Gould. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=98 Dinosaurs—Against incredible odds, researchers working in separate sites, thousands of miles apart in Antarctica find what they believe are the fossilized remains of two species of dinosaurs previously unknown to science. One of the two finds, which were made less than a week apart, is an early carnivore that would have lived many millions of years after the other, a plant-eating beast, roamed the Earth. http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=52 Mars analog—NSF-funded researcher David Marchant, of Boston University, co-authors a paper in the journal Nature arguing that studies of the unique landscape in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica provide new insights into the origin of similar features on Mars and provide one line of evidence that suggests the Red Planet has recently experienced an ice age. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr03149.htm Climate—Steven D. Emslie, of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, publishes results of his NSF-funded research indicating that a previously unnoticed cooling trend that persisted for a millennium caused enough ice to build up in Antarctica's Ross Sea that thousands of Adelie penguins abandoned their colonies beginning about 2,000 years ago. His techniques, he says, can also help to refine our understanding of climatic change on the southernmost continent. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr03135.htm 2003—Data collected by a new seismic observatory at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station indicate that it is the quietest listening post on the planet for observing shudders produced by earthquakes around the world as they vibrate through the Earth. The South Pole Remote Earth Science Observatory (SPRESO) is located eight kilometers (five miles) from the South Pole and the new seismometers were installed roughly 300 meters (1000 feet) beneath the surface of the continental East Antarctic ice sheet in specially drilled boreholes. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0333.htm 2002—NSF-supported researchers drilling into Lake Vida, an Antarctic "ice-block" lake, find the lake isn't really an ice block at all. In the December issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reveals that Lake Vida may represent a previously unknown ecosystem, a frigid, "ice-sealed," lake that contains the thickest non-glacial lake ice cover on Earth and water seven times saltier than seawater. Because of the arid, chilled environment in which it resides, scientists believe the lake may be an important template for the search for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars and other icy worlds. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr02100.htm —Using a powerful new instrument at the South Pole, a team of cosmologists produces the most detailed images of the early Universe ever recorded. The information was assembled from measurements of the subtle temperature differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. The CMB is the remnant radiation that escaped from the rapidly cooling Universe about 400,000 years after the Big Bang. The new results provided additional evidence to support the currently favored model of the universe in which 30 percent of all energy is a strange form of dark matter that doesn't interact with light and 65 percent is in an even stranger form of dark energy that appears to be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Only the remaining five percent of the energy in the Universe takes the form of familiar matter like that which makes up planets and stars. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0299.htm —The movements of two gigantic Antarctic icebergs appear to have dramatically reduced the number of Emperor penguins living and breeding in a colony at Cape Crozier, according to two NSF-funded researchers who visited the site. The colony is one of the first ever visited by human beings early in the 20th century. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0291.htm —In a paper published in the journal Nature, Robin E. Bell, an NSF-funded researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and her colleagues argue that the hydrodynamics of Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake deep in the Antarctic interior, may make it possible to search for evidence of life in the layers of ice that accumulate on the lake's eastern shore. Scientists say such a possibility would provide another avenue for exploring the lake’s potential as a harbor of microscopic life, in addition to actually exploring the waters of the lake itself. Lake Vostok is thought to be one of the world's largest, 48 kilometers (30 miles) wide by 225 kilometers (140 miles) long and 914 meters (3,000 feet) deep. Its waters have been sealed from air and light for perhaps as long as 35 million years under the tremendous pressure of the continental ice sheet. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0219.htm —Doug MacAyeal, an NSF-funded researcher at the University of Chicago, lands on iceberg B-15A, perhaps for the final time, to update weather station information that will allow scientists to track the gyrations of the berg and its microclimate. MacAyeal notes that collisions between the berg and a smaller, but still sizeable berg, dubbed C-16, will probably cause B-15A to break up. Data previously collected on the icebergs' movements have helped scientists to understand what propels icebergs as they move along the ice shelf and eventually out to sea. For the full story, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0212.htm 2001—An eight-member team at NSF's McMurdo Station equipped Weddell seals with cameras and data recorders, providing a rare glimpse into the habits of two very important Southern Ocean species, the Antarctic silverfish and the Antarctic toothfish, which is prized by commercial fishing fleets. Their methods could have wider applications for studying other species that thrive at great depths. For the full news release, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0204.htm —Peter Doran of the University of Illinois at Chicago argues in a Nature paper on behalf of researchers with NSF's (NSF) Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Antarctica's Dry Valleys that long-term data from weather stations across the continent, coupled with a separate set of measurements from the Dry Valleys, confirm that Antarctica overall has cooled measurably during the last 35 years. For the full news release, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0203.htm —NSF-funded scientist David Ainley finds that enormous grounded icebergs and an unprecedented amount of sea ice in Antarctica's Ross Sea combined to nearly isolate one of the continent's most populous Adelie penguin colonies. At the same time, NSF-funded researcher Gerald Kooyman discovers that the icebergs' presence also caused a small colony of Emperor penguins to fail to reproduce. For the full news release, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr01108.htm —A team of authors, including John Priscu, an NSF-funded researcher at Montana State University, argue in a paper published in Nature that liquid lakes buried thousands of meters below the Antarctic ice sheet are likely the home to unique habitats and creatures that thrive in them. They also note that exploration of those lakes will require extreme care and international cooperative effort. For the full news release, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0194.htm —Two teams of cosmologists release spectacular images of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), taken with instruments operating from Antarctica, that reveal the strongest evidence to date for the theory of inflation, the leading model for the formation of the universe. For the full news release, see http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0138.htm —NSF-funded researchers install monitors on one of the largest icebergs ever to break away from the Ross Ice Shelf, to track its microclimate and movements. 2000—Balloon-borne instruments provide first detailed images of the early universe. —Evidence is discovered of microbes that can survive the extremes of darkness, cold, and ultraviolet radiation at the South Pole. —Studies show that diverse marine mammals employ the same physiological mechanism to dive to great depths. 1999—Four new fish species are found in Antarctic waters, giving biologists new insights into the processes of evolution in ecological niches. —Research shows that microorganisms can survive in subglacial Lake Vostok, thousands of meters below the Antarctic ice cap. 1998—Measurements show that possible instabilities in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could increase its discharge, raising world sea level more rapidly than at present. 1996—A meteorite collected in Antarctica is confirmed to have come from Mars and offers possible evidence for ancient primitive Martian life. 1994—Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station provides images of the crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter. 1992—An estimated six to 12 percent reduction in Antarctic marine primary production is reported as a result of increases in ultra violet radiation from the Antarctic "ozone hole." 1991—Fossil of 25-ft-long dinosaur discovered 350 miles from the South Pole proves dinosaurs were on every continent. 1988—Sea-floor drilling shows that a much larger Antarctic ice sheet existed 35 million years ago. 1986—Research at McMurdo Station, the main U.S. scientific station in Antarctica, establishes chlorofluorocarbons as the probable cause of the Antarctic ozone hole. 1984—At the South Pole, a sensitive ground-based detector records the largest solar cosmic ray event since 1956. 1982—A fossil mammal discovered on Seymour Island proves Antarctica and South America were connected as recently as 40 million years ago. Science at the South Pole. For information about astrophysics at the South Pole, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/2000/fsastro.htm For information on the University of Chicago's Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, see: http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/ For information on the University of Wisconsin's Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector (AMANDA), see: http://alizarin.physics.wisc.edu/ For an NSF news tips about AMANDA, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/tips/01/tip010327.htm#second The Search for Antarctic Meteorites. For information about the search for meteorites in Antarctica, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/01/fsmeteorites.htm
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