March, 2015 | Mallemaroking

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Mark Brandon • March 26, 2015

I was enjoying my polar books the other night and came across a quote attributed to everyone’s  favourite humanitarian polar explorer and scientist, Fridtjof Nansen.

Fridtjof Nansen, 1915, from the George Grantham Bain Collection

If I were not a Norwegian, I would be an Englishman rather than belong to any other nation

Nansen is quoted in Fridtjof Nansen, his life and explorations, by James Arthur Bain, 1897.

Fridtjof Nansen quoted by James Bain, 1897. Page 45

It’s hard not to be in awe of Nansen.

…continue reading →

Posted in History. Tags: Arctic, DeLong, Fram, history, Jeannette, Nansen, polar on March 26, 2015 by Mark Brandon. Mark Brandon • March 25, 2015

Mark Brandon, The Open University

You never forget the first time you see an iceberg. The horizon of a ship at sea is a two dimensional space and to see a three dimensional piece of ice appear in the ocean is quite something. But, in truth, the first iceberg you see is likely to be small. Most icebergs that make it far enough north from Antarctica to where they are danger to shipping are sometimes many years old and at the end of their lives. They are small fragments of what once left the continent.

Once in a while, however, a monster breaks free from the edge of Antarctica and drifts away. Tens of kilometres long these bergs can tower perhaps 100 metres above the sea and reach several hundred more below the surface. These are called tabular icebergs – and while it is rare for humans to see something on such a scale they are part of the normal cycle of glacial ice in Antarctica.

A tabular iceberg gets stuck in thin, seasonal sea ice.
Mark Brandon, CC BY-NC-SA

Everyone knows Antarctica is an ice-covered continent, but the ice is not static. To a scientist it is a dynamic environment – it’s just a question of the timescale you are looking at. Snow falls on the continent and over time it has built up layers of ice which flow in glaciers towards the coast.

…continue reading →

Posted in Science. Tags: antarctica, Conversation, Icebergs, Mertz Glacier, polynya, sea ice on March 25, 2015 by Mark Brandon.