Please note that this site is an archive. The most up-to-date material is at: https://scar.org/science/geo .
GeoReach Newsletter of the SCAR GSSG, Vol 3, No. 1, March 2004
Updated:
GeoReach - Volume 3, Number 1, March 2004
This can also be viewed as a PDF file [344 Kb]
From the CO's Desk
No news received from the Chief Officer for this edition
GIG News
Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA)
The CGA web
site is being updated quarterly in order to include new names, amendments and
new definitions for existing names.
The last updating will be released on the web on 1 April 2004.
The work on the names database proceeds towards a new
publication to be released at the SCAR Open Science Conference (Bremen, July
2004).
The publication, to be printed with SCAR's funding, is
very comprehensive and supersedes any other updating after March 1998.
The most recent acquisitions to the Gazetteer include
the names (1855 names in total) of the "Diccionario de Nombres Geogràficos
de la Costa de Chile", 2nd Edicion, a publication on paper and digital
form which is expected to bring into the CGA 401 new records (new features and
several corrections) plus the descriptions for all the new and old features.
Another important injection of new information comes
from the US where the relevant Committee, US-ACAN, has met recently approving
264 names of features submitted after the ACAN's last meeting in 2002.
[Thanks to Roberto Cervellati, PNRA, Italy, for
providing this information]
Australian Antarctic Data Centre Web Feature
Server Implementation
The
Australian Antarctic Data Centre is implementing the open source GeoServer Web
Feature Server (WFS: geoserver.sourceforge.net)
to provide Australian Antarctic GIS data to the Geoscience Standing Group’s Cybercartographic
Atlas project (www.geoscience.scar.org/geog/geog.htm#cyber)
The
Web Feature Server provides access the Data Centre’s Antarctic GIS data (stored
in an Oracle Spatial database) using the Open GIS Consortium’s specification
for Web Feature Servers (www.opengis.org/).
The OGC specification is the foundation for web services that facilitate the
sharing of GIS data through the XML variant called Geographic Markup Language
(GML). By using a web browser (or a WFS client), a GIS layer (feature) can be
delivered using GML.
The
AADC has implemented a WFS administration utility that allows the addition of
GIS layers to the WFS via a web-based interface linked to the Feature Catalogue
developed within the Geographic Information Group. The AADC’s full implementation will be able to be exported to any
country also wanting to use the WFS standard to deliver GIS data.
[Thanks to Lee Belbin, AADC, for this article]
Antarctic Digital Database Version 4.1
There have been a few
changes to one of GSSG’s flagship geographic information products.
The following may be of interest to you:
-
Substantial improvements to rock layer in tiles SP19_20, SP21_22,
SQ19_20, SQ21_22 and SR19_20.
- New traverse and elevation data from Australia, China and Italy.
- Corrections
to contour data in tiles SP19_20, SP21_22, SQ19_20, SQ21_22 and SR19_20.
- Layers
with no data are no longer returned (previous versions included some export
files containing no features).
The ADD has acquired a
new website as well – have a look at it and the improved dataset at - www.add.scar.org
Cybercartographic Atlas
Researchers at the Cybercartographic Atlas of
Antarctica Project (CAAP) (see www.carleton.ca/gcrc/caap)
are working with a number of Antarctic research organizations to establish a
network of geographic information servers (see earlier article in this edition
about AADC web server implementation).
Initial prototypes currently under development provide
users a portal useful for identifying, viewing and in some cases downloading
data from a variety of International sources. For more demanding applications,
the site will direct users to other on-line resources developed by
organizations managing geographic information on Antarctica.
Using the data available through the portal, the
research team is concurrently developing a number of thematic content modules
including:
- Ice-sheet Margin Changes in Antarctica;
- The Effects
of Global Environmental Change on Southern Ocean Ecosystems; and
- The Antarctic Treaty System.
A team of researchers from a number of disciplines
(e.g. Cognitive Science) will evaluate the content modules for effectiveness
and usability. This process is already
underway with a group of high school aged science students.
[Thanks to
Peter Pulsifer, Carleton University, for this article]
ANTEC News
No information received for this
newsletter
– Dr Terry Wilson is currently on field work in the
Ross Sea.
AGEANT News
No information received for this newsletter.
ACE News
ACE held a session at the Fall AGU (10 December 2003)
entitled "Evolution of the Antarctic Climate System: Modelling and
Observation", convened by Tony Payne, David Pollard, Martin Siegert and
Rob DeConto (in absentia).
The session covered a full day and included posters in
the morning and talks in the afternoon.
The ACE proposal to SCAR, to be formed as a Scientific
Research Programme, was submitted prior to the AGU meeting. It is hoped that
ACE will begin its science programme on 1 January 2005.
More information can be found at:
www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?&listenv=table&multiple=1&range=1&directget=1&application=fm03&database=%2Fdata%2Fepubs%2Fwais%2Findexes%2Ffm03%2Ffm03&maxhits=200&="PP31C"
and
www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?&listenv=table&multiple=1&range=1&directget=1&application=fm03&database=%2Fdata%2Fepubs%2Fwais%2Findexes%2Ffm03%2Ffm03&maxhits=200&="PP32D"
plus the ACE website at www.ace.scar.org which has the full
proposal available for download.
[Thanks to Martin Siegert, Bristol University, for
this article]
ADMAP News
No news for this
edition.
Permafrost News
No
information received for this newsletter.
Other News
SCAR Executive Director appointed
The SCAR Executive
Committee is pleased to announce that Dr Colin P Summerhayes has been appointed
Executive Director of SCAR. He will be
working with SCAR from 1 January 2004 and will take up the appointment full-time
at the SCAR Secretariat on 1 April 2004.
Dr Colin Summerhayes
is an oceanographer and geologist. He
comes to SCAR from UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, in
Paris, where he has served since May 1997 as the Director of the Global Ocean
Observing System (GOOS) Project Office, and as the IOC Secretariat lead for the
Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine
Meteorology. Dr Summerhayes' career
includes spells in academia, government and industry in several
countries. Prior to joining UNESCO he was Deputy Director of the
Southampton Oceanography Centre (1995-97), Director of the UK's Institute of
Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory, Wormley (1988-95), and a Senior
Research Specialist at the BP Research Centre (1982-88), where he was also
Manager of the Stratigraphy Branch of the Exploration Division. In his
earlier career he has been a Research Specialist and Project Leader in
Petroleum Geochemistry in Basin Analysis for Exxon Production Research in
Houston, an Assistant Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
Massachussets, a researcher at the University of Cape Town, and a marine
geologist for the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute.
While in New Zealand
Dr Summerhayes carried out marine geological research on the New Zealand
Sub-Antarctic and the Macquarie-Balleny Ridge.
He is an expert in the oceanography, geology and climatic history of
continental margin upwelling systems and their associated mineral deposits, and
has used his expertise on that topic to devise models for petroleum source rock
exploration in basins in America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. He has
been much involved in deep-ocean drilling. He maintains a strong interest
in seabirds and has published several papers on their distribution in the
southern hemisphere.
Dr Summerhayes has
published around 180 research papers and articles, co-edited 7 books, and
produced 120 reports for government and industry. His most recent book (by
Island Press, August 2002) is "Oceans 2020: Science, Trends and the
Challenge of Sustainability", co-edited with John Field and Gotthilf
Hempel. Dr Summerhayes holds a BSc degree in Geology from University College
London, a PhD degree in Applied Geochemistry from Imperial College, and MSc and
DSc degrees in Marine Geology from Victoria University, Wellington NZ. He is a
Chartered Geologist and Chartered Marine Scientist. He has served on many
national and international scientific management committees, including a stint
on the Scientific Steering Group for the Scott Polar Research Institute
(1988-97), and was Chair of the SCOR Working Group on Improved Global
Bathymetry from 1996-2002. Currently he is the Editor in Chief of the
Journal of Marine Science and the Environment, published by the Institute of
Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. In 1996 he won the President's
Award of the Society for Underwater Technology for his contributions to marine
geology, ocean science and technology.
ICESat
The ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land
Elevation Satellite) – launched on January 12, 2003 has been streaming back high quality images to the US
National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Since late March 2003 mission had been "on
hold" during several months of engineering review into the cause of an
anomaly affecting the first laser on ICESat's instrument GLAS (the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System).
On September 25th 2003 ICESat resumed
measurements of the Earth's polar ice sheets, clouds, mountains and forests
with the second of its three lasers. To date, the science and engineering data
sent from the satellite indicates that all is well as ICESat begins its second
major period of ice, cloud, and land elevation data acquisition.
“Operating in a near-polar orbit, ICESat
is adding to our understanding of the mass-balance of the Greenland and Antarctic
ice sheets. ICESat's first topographic profiles across Antarctica revealed
details of features such as the ice streams of the Siple Coast and the Amery
Ice Shelf, as well as the atmospheric phenomena above them.”
Data available from the National Snow and
Ice Data Center at: www.nsidc.org/daac/icesat/
Data animations can be found at: icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/animations.html
Or visit the ICESat home page: icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Ecuador and the Antarctic
During the 9th expedition in the Antarctic Peninsula
the INSTITUTO OCEANOGRAFICO DE LA
ARMADA, DEPARTAMENTO CIENCIAS DEL MAR, SECCION GEOLOGÍA will develop two
research programs on the following topics in Greenwich Island, Fort Williams
Point (also called Spark Point):
1 – Climatic variations during the Holocene
using cross-correlation between spacing, altitude and age of the marine beach
ridges.
Several works made in the Shetland Islands on coastal
morphology successively by English, Chilean, Spanish and recently Ecuadorian
research groups resulted in a general evaluation of the post-glacial uplift and
the additional tectonic effect. In most studies climate variation during the
Holocene appears as a determining parameter for the detail shaping of beach
ridge constructions. The objective of the Ecuadorian program is precise the
possible climate input in the shaping of beach ridges. According to previous
works it may be hypothesized that beach ridge spacing is representative of
climatic variations at local or regional scale. Climate variation should
combine with reservoir capacity of sediment provided by glacier and coastal
processes to determine the spacing and volume of successive lines of beach
ridges. The methods involved include GPS topography, gravimetry, lateral
variation of pebble morphology, and sampling will be made for classical C14 and
cosmogenic dating (contact with CEREGE for cosmogenic dating).
2
– Fault kinematics of an active margin in relation to hydrothermal activity and
mineralogical associations.
The preliminary neotectonic study of the area of Fort
Williams Point provided a general overview of the main fault events with their
kinematic characteristics. In particular the two main events observed are
representative of the morphologic evolution of the South Shetland Islands. The
objective is to stress better the fault analysis in order to define more
precisely the relation between fracturing, hydrothermal process and associated
mineralogy. The hypothesis of kinematic-geometric relationship determining
preference zone of opening near cross cut fractures will be tested.
The area lacks of precise dating of the main
volcanic units, and samples will be collected for the purpose. Besides
stratigraphic correlation with other islands this dating will provide data for
the timing of fault events, as the older fault event is considered as
sub-contemporaneous of the sill and basalt cover, and the recent event
post-dates them. The fault analysis will be made using fault measurement and
analysis to determine stress tensor with Carey method. Observation of fault
planes will be complemented by the study and sampling of mineral coated fractures.
Laboratory mineral analysis and K/Ar dating will be made partly in Ecuador and
Chile.
[My thanks to Essy Santana - geologia@inocar.mil.ec for this
information]
More news about these and other
Ecuadorian activities will be appearing in the next edition of GeoReach.
SCAR Executive Meeting
The SCAR Executive met in Bremerhaven, Germany on 20-21 January – with
the main agenda item being the SCAR Open Science Symposium in late July.
The GSSG budget was discussed and finalised. Those seeking funding approval from the 2003 budget money will be
receiving confirmation shortly.
At this stage no further details of the meeting are available.
Peru and the Antarctic
Dr Hugo de Zela Martinez has succeeded Dr Cesar
Castillo Ramirez as President of INANPE - the Peruvian National Antarctic
Committee.
The 15th Peruvian campaign to Antarctica
(ANTAR XV) being conducted this austral summer will be mainly fulfilling
logistic objectives and thus participation in scientific research projects is
considerably is reduced. This year the expedition did not travel by ship (the
BIC Humbolt) but rather by air.
[Thanks to Domingo Espinoza, Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Peru, for this news]
Mario Zucchelli
It
is with great sorrow that we report the death of Mario Zucchelli on 24 October
2003.
“He
led 16 Italian expeditions to Antarctica, bore overall responsibility for the
building of Terra Nova Bay station, and negotiated many international
cooperative agreements on behalf of Italian scientists, notably Concordia at
Dome C and the Cape Roberts drilling project.
He was the second Chairman of COMNAP, 1991-94, and was the Alternate
Delegate for SCAR from 1996. Away from
the Antarctic he was involved with government ministries, organising and
coordinating scientific and technical activities, and he played an active role
in local politics.
Mario
was a familiar figure at meetings of SCAR, COMNAP and the Antarctic Treaty
where his irrepressible energy ensured his active participation. He was an enthusiastic communicator who was
addicted to his mobile telephone; a workaholic who was never out of touch with
his office. The development and success
of the Italian Antarctic Programme is due in large measure to his unstinting
efforts and will serve as his lasting monument.
We
offer our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues; he will be sadly
missed.”
[Thank you to Peter Clarkson and SCAR Circular 756 for
this article]
Terra Nova Bay station renamed
"Terra
Nova Bay" Station has been renamed "Mario Zucchelli" Station
Dr
Pier Angelo Guermani, President of the Consorzio per l'attuazione del Programma
Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) has advised COMNAP that "Terra
Nova Bay Station" had been officially renamed "Mario Zucchelli
Station" in honour of the late Mario Zucchelli, head of the Italian
Antarctic Programme for 16 years and chairman of COMNAP from mid 1991 to mid
1994.
Dr Pier Angelo Guermani reported:
"Soon
after the death of Mario Zucchelli a proposal spontaneously arose both in Italy
and among the expedition members in Antarctica. The proposal was to honour
Mario's memory by dedicating the Italian Station at Baia Terra Nova to him.
Actually it is broadly acknowledged, also outside Italy, that Mario put every
effort for about 16 years to make the station large, efficient and clean. The
Ministry for Education, Universities and Research, which is the official body
responsible for the Italian programme in Antarctica (PNRA), agreed to the
proposal.
Accordingly,
the name Stazione "Mario Zucchelli" (in English "Mario
Zucchelli" Station) will replace from now on the previous name Stazione
"Baia Terra Nova" (in English "Terra Nova Bay"
Station)."
GSSG web site
The “Search” function on the website has been fixed and
upgraded.
[My apologies it has taken so long to do!]
New Lab at Rothera opens
A new £3 million (US$5 million) laboratory was opened
at the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Rothera Research Station on 10 January
2004. The new Bonner Laboratory replaces the research facility destroyed by
fire in September 2001.
More information and pictures can be found at:
www.antarctica.ac.uk/News_and_Information/Press_Releases/story.php?id=92
ANDRILL update
ANDRILL is a multinational initiative to
improve understanding of Antarctica's role in Cenozoic (65 million years ago to
Present) global change through stratigraphic drilling of marginal sedimentary
basins.
In the coming
summer season a 17-strong team from Otago University, IGNS and Webster Drilling
will again be on the Ice for two months continuing the ANDRILL data gathering
work in the White and Black Island areas to the south of Scott Base.
Update on
the project can be found at either:
www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/Pages/Science/Projects/ANDRILL/Andrill_update.msa
or the ANDRILL home page:
andrill-server.unl.edu/
Papers from Advanced SAR
Workshop 2003
Papers for
a Special Collection in the Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing (CJRS) on “SAR
Polarimetry, Interferometry, and Polarimetric Interferometry: Calibration,
Requirements, and Applications” will be published shortly.
This
Special Collection in CJRS will primarily be derived from papers and discussion
from the joint CEOS/Advanced SAR Workshop that was held at the Canadian Space
Agency in Saint-Hubert, Canada in June 2003
For
more information:
www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/csa_sectors/technology/development/csa_labs/expertise/cjrs.asp
Polar
Environment Times
UNEP/GRID-Arendal
has published Issue 3 of the Polar Environment Times. It features articles from
several environment ministers that visited Svalbard last August, news from
Antarctica, and a feature story on NATO bombing ranges on traditional Saami
lands in northern Norway. You can read these and other stories on-line at www.grida.no/environmenttimes/polar
or request a copy by emailing polartimes@grida.no.
Upcoming meetings
SCAR 28, Bremen
A draft
timetable for GSSG meetings during SCAR 28 has been developed – further
information will be posted on the GSSG web site in coming months.
[Please note: this has not been finalised yet]
Friday 23 July 2004
Bremerhaven
- Antarctic Geodesy Symposium
2004 - all day
- Geospatial Information Group
meeting - all day
Saturday 24 July 2004
Bremerhaven
- Geospatial Information Group meeting - all day
-
Antarctic Geodesy Symposium 2004 - all day
Sunday 25 July 2004
Bremerhaven (in the morning)
-
Joint meeting ANTEC & GIANT/GIG 9.00am to 12.00
Bremen (in the afternoon)
- Whole of GSSG meeting from 12:00 to 17:00
Monday 26 July 2004
- SCAR Open Science Conference
- Antarctic Geodesy topics
will be addressed
- Geospatial Information
topics will be addressed
Tuesday 27 July 2004
- SCAR Open Science Conference
- Antarctic Geodesy topics
will be addressed
- Geospatial Information
topics will be addressed
Wednesday 28 July 2004
- SCAR Open Science Conference
- Antarctic Geodesy topics
will be addressed
- Geospatial Information
topics will be addressed
Thursday 29 July 2004
- Whole of GSSG meeting
- Break into Action Groups, Programme Planning Groups, etc to determine
project programmes for 2004-2006.
- International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) meeting
- Antarctic Geodesy Symposium 2004 (AGS'04) - organisational issues to be
discussed
Friday 30 July 2004
-
Whole of GSSG meeting
-
Break into Action Groups, Programme Planning Groups, etc to determine
project programmes for 2004-2006.
- Prepare final GSSG report to SCAR Executive.
- International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) meeting
- Joint GSSG/JCADM meeting?
Saturday 31 July 2004
AEGIS, Cambridge, UK
AEGIS - Antarctic Exploitation of Geospatially
Irregular Samples
A meeting
and workshop (in Cambridge, UK, 18-20 July, 2004) to present and develop means of
exploiting spatial or temporal data that are sampled sparsely , irregularly or
where sampling is dense along tracks but tracks are sparsely distributed.
Examples
of these problems can be found in most areas of science, and are particularly
relevant to Antarctic work, where logistic difficulties and operating costs may
preclude obtaining improved samples.
Although
Antarctica provides the focus for the meeting, examples and methodologies from
elsewhere are very welcome.
Further
information is available from the AEGIS web
site or contact the workshop Convenor Mr
Paul Cooper, BAS.
Other meetings
- UNEP/GRID-Arendal has published Issue 3 of the Polar Research: Let Us
Share: Amiqqaaluta. The 20th Polar Libraries Colloquy June 7 - 11, 2004 Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada. The Organizing Committee of the 20th Polar Library Colloquy
invites you to visit their conference web site at www.plc2004.org
- SCAR GSSG meeting (including
meetings of the Geospatial Information Group and a joint meeting with JCADM) in
Bremen, Germany, 23-25 July, 2004
- SCAR
Open Science Symposium, in Bremen, Germany, 25-31 July, 2004
- 32nd
International Geological Congress International Union of Geologial
Sciences, 20 - 28 August 2004, Florence, Italy
- International Symposium on the Geology and Geophysics of the Southernmost
Andes, the Scotia Arc and the Antarctic Peninsula (GeoSur 2004), Buenos Aires, 22-23 November 2004
Next Edition
We would ask for your contributions to the next edition on:
- News items
- Field work/workshop reports
- Reports from leaders of Action Groups, the Expert Group, Scientific Research Programmes
and Scientific Programme Planning Groups
- Diary events
Details should be sent to Glenn Johnstone
glenn@glennjohnstone.freeserve.co.uk
The deadlines for contributions to the editions for 2004 are as follows:
- Vol. 3 No. 2 - Friday 7 May 2004
- Vol. 3 No. 3 - Monday 9 August 2004
- Vol. 3 No. 4 - Monday 1 November 2004