The MODIS sensor satellite imagery is showing a beautiful and evolving large plankton bloom in the Chukchi Sea at the moment. Plankton bloom in the Chukchi Sea, as seen in the MODIS sensor on 23 June 2015. Alaska is on the LEFT and Russia the RIGHT. The image is looking SOUTH. The plankton are the […]
This morning I posted my 10,000 tweet. Whilst I am not sure if 10,000 is significant, I pointed to the brilliant NASA Earth Observation www site which has a wonderful post today about the reduction of sea ice increasing phytoplankton growth in the Arctic. (Be sure to click the “image comparision” button on that page). […]
In my career I’ve been very lucky to visit the Arctic and the Antarctic multiple times. Here is a list of the polar trips I’ve been on. The Nathanial Palmer and the Akademik Fedorov in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica in 1992. Mark Brandon on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean doing his PhD research […]
Mark Brandon • October 15, 2024 I love looking at satellite images of the Antarctic and picking out the icebergs. In the last few years we have had great stories about the giant icebergs A68 in 2020, A76 in 2022 and most recently A23a currently in the Southern Scotia Sea. At the moment there are […]
A story on the BBC Business News website about the Northern Sea Route caught my eye: BBC Business News “Container ship to break the ice on Russian Arctic route”. 21 August 2018. The Danish ship Venta Maersk, (Maersk Line, ice-class Baltic feeder vessel of 3,600 containers) is going to attempt to transit across the Kara Sea, the […]
Mark Brandon on the Northern Horizon a long time ago.
In a previous post I showed the temperature cycle on the Antarctic Peninsula, and pointed out that the monthly mean atmospheric temperatures show that it is actually surprisingly moderate. Whether you consider the temperature cycle moderate or not, the cold temperatures and strong winds drive an amazing amount of seasonal sea ice production. This plot […]
In this day and age we seem to leave lots of digital footprints around the internet. I intend put all the videos I find on this page. This is my inaugural lecture in 2018. Here is the official landing page. This is a link to my speech at an event at COP26 Glasgow (November 2021) […]
I am an academic at the Open University who lives in North London. In my day job I research in the area of polar oceanography, and teach in environmental sciences. My work web page has a bit about what I am up to. And this is me on LinkedIn. If you want to see my […]
For a list of my academic publications I recommend you visit the Open University Open Research Online site. On that page you will find links to any works which are Open Access. If they are not Open and you would like a copy of something just email me at my work email address.
In the old days Antarctica wasn’t mapped and measured by satellites like it is now. In the past it was all about exploration. Scientists were dropped at bases by ship, and then left for at least a year – sometimes two. Very occasionally more. When winter comes the sea ice freezes up and the area […]
Antarctic sea ice extent remains low compared with the 1981-2010 median extent. This image shows the mean from 1989-93, the extent on 20 November 2017 and the difference between the two. Red colours imply that there is a decreased sea ice extent compared with the mean. The mean Antarctic sea ice for the years 1989-93 […]
Iceberg A68 calved from the Larsen C ice shelf earlier this year. I wrote about before. As the berg calved it is starting to reveal a patch of seafloor that has been covered by thick glacial ice, and as the BAS press release says this has revealed: a mysterious marine ecosystem that’s been hidden beneath […]
