Journeys to the ice

ANZICE Part 5: Policy Interface

Matthew Wood • Jul 07, 2010

• ANZICE,
• Carbon Partnership,
• climate change,
• IPCC,
• policy

The ANZICE program is certainly producing some intriguing results when viewed from a purely scientific perspective. But the serious implications of this research for the future of our environment and society give this work a pertinence beyond just the scientific community. Preliminary results are strongly suggesting that we have no time to lose in making significant changes towards … Read More

ANZICE Part 4: Climate Models

Matthew Wood • Jun 22, 2010

• Computer Modeling,
• glaciers,
• ice shelves,
• Paleoclimate,
• Southern Alps

Suspended by string from the ceiling of my tween-years bedroom, the wooden skeletons of prehistoric reptiles jostled for space among enamel-coated Harrier jets and Hellcats, sculpted in miniature from cast plastic and balsa. And I wonder why I never had a girlfriend back then? The point is I loved models. I clearly remember being thrilled by … Read More

ANZICE Part 3: Southern Ocean – New Zealand Responses

Matthew Wood • Jun 05, 2010

• ANZICE,
• insolation,
• ocean temperature,
• phytoplankton,
• pollen,
• sediment

New Zealand is a geographically lonely place. It is the only major landmass between the tropics and Antarctica at these longitudes, and shares the southern mid-latitudes with only Patagonia and Tasmania. As such, it is a fantastic natural laboratory for investigating oceanic and atmospheric change in the southern hemisphere. Our country is perpetually being ground down … Read More

ANZICE Part 2: Antarctic Climate Drivers

Matthew Wood • May 24, 2010

• ANZICE,
• ice cores,
• ice shelves,
• Ross Sea,
• sea level rise

To ask the question, ’How will Antarctica respond to a warmer world?’ is similar to pondering, ’What was the weather like in the United States last century?’ In both cases there are multiple layers of complexity — from persistent regional disparities to variability on a range of timescales — yet this is a question being tackled by Earth … Read More

ANZICE Part 1: An Overview

Matthew Wood • May 13, 2010

• ANZICE,
• climate change,
• IPCC,
• Modeling,
• policy

It is ironic that a science initiative called ANZICE should be concerned with investigating times in our geological past when there was relatively little of the cold, slippery stuff around. The Antarctica — New Zealand Interglacial C … Read More

Sugar, You Ain’t So Sweet

Matthew Wood • Apr 26, 2010

• Biofuels,
• Brazil,
• Comissão Pastoral da Terra,
• Sugar cane,
• Tiago Thorlby

’Sugar? No problem! Ethanol? No problem!’ the Padre assures his audience. ’It’s the model…’ the model for biofuel production in Brazil that he’s here to denounce. Tiago Thorlby, a Scottish ex-pat priest, belongs to an ecumenical church organisation called Comissão Pastoral da Terra, CPT (The Land Pastoral Commission) and for 25 years has worked … Read More

Two Birds, One Stone

Matthew Wood • Apr 15, 2010

• geomorphology,
• Lake Rotoiti,
• native birds,
• ophiolite,
• School of Biological Sciences

Each year the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington join forces to take 2nd year science students to Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park. The Environmental Studies/Biology 222 paper combines the two complementary disciplines in a single field trip. The course … Read More

“And ice, mast-high, came floating by…”

Matthew Wood • Mar 29, 2010

• Greenhouse World,
• Icebergs,
• JOIDES Resolution,
• Polynya,
• Wilkes Land

Unlike Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, unwillingly blown there by a tyrannous storm-blast, the modern day seafarers aboard the JOIDES Resolution traveled to the Antarctic coast very much on purpose, following many years of preparatory work to identify the best sites to drill and retrieve sediment cores from beneath the sea floor. In early January, after … Read More

A Journey to the Ice

Matthew Wood • Mar 15, 2010

• Project K,
• Scott Base,
• Vidcast,
• Webster Drilling & Exploration

My last job before heading overseas in mid-2007 (following months of sedimentary grain size analysis on the then recently collected McMurdo Ice Shelf ANDRILL core) was to put together a short film for the Antarctic Research Centre. As I mentioned in the third episode, the ARC has an annual educational outreach programme aimed at … Read More

Riders on the Storm

Matthew Wood • Feb 28, 2010

• El Niño–Southern Oscillation,
• Elemental Chemistry,
• Katabatic Winds,
• McMurdo Dry Valleys,
• Ross Sea,
• Victoria Land Coast

Turns out there are no reservations about hitchhiking in Antarctica. On the Victoria Land coast, microscopic particulate matter, from volcanic ash to sea salt, powdered rock to helicopter exhausts, make a habit of snatching free rides on the winds of Ross Sea cyclonic systems or on the gravity-driven katabatic gales that flow … Read More