2017 in Antarctica
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Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
in
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
.


Events

*January 4 – A machine, dubbed the "cosmic dust sucker," begins its first runs. It will be used to literally pull in
cosmic dust Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust, star dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 micrometers). Larger particles are c ...
and
micrometeorites A micrometeorite is a micrometeoroid that has survived atmospheric entry, entry through the atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere. Usually found on Earth's surface, micrometeorites differ from meteorites in that they are smaller in size, more a ...
from the air in order to reduce air contamination. *March (unknown date) **Scientists at
McMurdo Vice-Admiral Archibald McMurdo (24 September 1812 – 11 December 1875) was a Scottish naval officer and polar explorer after whom Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station, McMurdo Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valleys and McMurdo–South Pole ...
retrieve a tag that had been on a seal since December 2015 and recover data recorded in six-second intervals for a period of 448 days. This is the longest time period of which data recording was uninterrupted. **
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
enlisted numerous members of the McMurdo community to study the long-term cognitive effects of living in a harsh, remote environment. McMurdo was chosen as a test site due to its environmental similarity to
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
, and this study is being done to prepare for crewed missions to the Red Planet. *March 14 – A team of researchers begin testing 108 samples of rock taken from numerous spots on
Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...
and Black Island and from the transantarctic mountains in order to track Earth's past magnetic moments. *April 20 – After spending two months at a drilling site on the Antarctic ice sheet, researchers have retrieved a rock core for testing in order to study the ice levels over the past thousands of years. *May 17 – An electronic tagging project to study the population and demographics of
Adelie penguins Adelie or Adélie may refer to: * Adélie Land, a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica * Adelie Land meteorite Adelie Land is a meteorite discovered on December 5, 1912, in Antarctica by Francis Howard Bickerton (1889-1954), a membe ...
around
Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...
finds that the penguin population was not decreasing, but increasing rapidly. *June 13 – A lost 118-year old painting by British polar explorer, Dr. Edward Wilson is discovered in his abandoned hut in
Cape Adare Cape Adare is a prominent cape of black basalt forming the northern tip of the Adare Peninsula and the north-easternmost extremity of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Description Marking the north end of Borchgrevink Coast and the west e ...
. The hut was used by Wilson in a 1911 expedition. The painting was found buried under penguin excrement and moldy papers. *November 20 – A project that will utilize the IDDO Deep Logging Winch to log the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) Antarctic field trial (AFT) borehole drilled during the 2017–2018 summer field season near Minna Bluff, Antarctica is estimated to begin on this date. The RAID AFT includes a new slim version of PI Ryan Bay's optical logging device for use in the 3.5-inch diameter RAID boreholes. The optical logger will enable rapid establishment of the ice chronology in a borehole, in a few hours after drilling. This field trial will be critical in determining whether or not the RAID borehole wall roughness, and cleanliness, permits optical logging at the level of detail needed for accurate dating of the ice. The project is estimated to last through January 4, 2018. *December 1 -A project that will study a large body of ice that is buried beneath approximately a meter of debris in the
Ong Valley The Miller Range () is a mountain range extending south from Nimrod Glacier for along the western edge of the Marsh Glacier in Antarctica. Named for J.H. "Bob", now Sir Joseph Holmes Miller, a member of the New Zealand party of the Commonwealth Tr ...
of the Transantarctic Mountains of East Antarctica is estimated to begin on this date. Preliminary analyses of this material suggest that it could be over a million years old. Most
glacial ice A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
contains tiny air bubbles that have trapped the
atmospheric gases The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Gravity of Earth, Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating Atmo ...
and other atmospherically transported materials existing at the time that the ice was deposited such as plant
pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
, microbes and
mineral dust Mineral dust is atmospheric aerosol originated from the suspension of minerals constituting the soil, composed of various oxides and carbonates. Human activities lead to 30% of the airborne dust load in the atmosphere. The Sahara Desert is th ...
. Samples will be collected from this buried ice mass, down to a depth of 10 meters, and cosmogenic
nuclide A nuclide (or nucleide, from nucleus, also known as nuclear species) is a class of atoms characterized by their number of protons, ''Z'', their number of neutrons, ''N'', and their nuclear energy state. The word ''nuclide'' was coined by Truman ...
concentrations both in the overlying debris and in the till contained in the ice will be measured. The combined analysis of the target cosmogenic nuclides ( Beryllium-10, Aluminum-26, and
Neon-21 Neon (10Ne) possesses three stable isotopes: , , and . In addition, 17 radioactive isotopes have been discovered, ranging from to , all short-lived. The longest-lived is with a half-life of . All others are under a minute, most under a second. ...
) will allow the age of the ice to be uniquely determined and will enable determination of the rate that the ice is sublimating. The project is estimated to last through January 25, 2018.


Climate

*A survey finds that Antarctica is more covered with meltwater than previously thought. *A team of scientists who spent two seasons on
Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...
to better understand the plumes of gas coming out from the mountain discovers that some isotopic carbon dioxide gas is coming from a source that is below the Earth's surface. *A 100-mile-long rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf is set to break off into an iceberg the size of
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
in between 2017 and 2020. *It is discovered that a monitoring station in West Antarctica detected a sharp warming of the atmosphere and the presence of clouds containing a considerable amount of moisture during a strong El Niño event for 15 days in January 2016 in the
Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...
. This caused a
melt area Melt may refer to: Science and technology * Melting, in physics, the process of heating a solid substance to a liquid * Melt (manufacturing), the semi-liquid material used in steelmaking and glassblowing * Melt (geology), magma ** Melt inclusions ...
bigger than
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Researchers find that there may have even been rainfall on the ice shelf in that period of time causing the surface of the ice shelf to possibly be covered with a layer of
slush Slush, also called slush ice, is a slurry mixture of small ice crystals (e.g., snow) and liquid water. In the natural environment, slush forms when ice or snow melts or during mixed precipitation. This often mixes with dirt and other pollutant ...
. *A study finds that the ice-free areas of Antarctica could expand up to 17,000 sq km by 2100 due to
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
, potentially harming the continent's unique species of animals.


Flora and fauna

*Scientists discover that the moss on Green Island has grown more than usual in the past five decades and is becoming a problem. *A new
invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
, the common house fly begins to become a problem as they are now colonizing coastal areas of the continent.


References

{{Years in Antarctica 2010s in Antarctica Years of the 21st century in Antarctica