Antarctica Put to the Acid Test
By Maggie Amsler
The great white continent of Antarctica and its encircling frigid Southern Ocean is one of the most remote and pristine regions of the planet and as such lends itself to a natural laboratory. It is also now one of the planet’s most threatened regions due to climate change. I recently completed a four-month research expedition investigating the effects of climate change on the marine communities in the local, shallow waters. Local meaning Palmer Station, a US research facility on Anvers Island off the western Antarctic Peninsula, which served as both home and laboratory.
My team and I were not studying the direct effects of the documented increase in air temperature over Antarctica or increase in the Southern Ocean water temperature, yet was reminded of it daily. …