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Glossary
adaptation
A characteristic or feature of a plant or animal that helps it survive, adaptations evolve over long time periods e.g. birds that become flightless
Ice that forms on the sea floor
An ocean current that flows clockwise from west to east around Antarctica
Caused by people e.g. ocean acidification is caused by people increasing carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolutions
The air around us
The smallest unit that anything can be easily broken down into, containing protons, neutrons and electrons
Charged particles colliding creating bright lights in the atmosphere
An organism made up of one cell
Small broken pieces of iceberg
The range or variety of living things in a particular area
A person who studies living things
The part of the Earth system to do with all living things
Slightly salty
As salt is squeezed out of freezing sea water a slushy mixture known as brine is formed (a salty liquid mixture)
When icebergs break away from ice shelves
carbon
A natural chemical element found in all living, or once living things
carbon-13
A natural form of carbon found more in sea ice algae than in open ocean algae
Just as the "water cycle" describes the transfer of water molecules between rivers, oceans, land and the atmosphere, the "carbon cycle" refers to the flow of carbon through different parts of the Earth system – including the air and the bodies of plants and animals
When a carbon atom joins with two oxygen atoms, a lot of carbon dioxide comes from burning things containing carbon
Molecules made up of different types of atoms bonded together
The average weather over many years
Rapid change in climate due to human activity (mainly burning fossil fuels) increasing heat trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
climate model
A computer model used to predict future climate change and the impacts of these changes
All the living things in a particular area
condensation
The process of changing water from a gas to a liquid is called condensation
One of the seven large areas of land on earth
A place where food, fuel and equipment is stored so a travelling party can re-supply and continue their journey
This is all the living (e.g. animals, plants) and non-living (e.g. light, water) things within a particular area
A native species found nowhere else in the world
A protein produced naturally by living things to speed up a process such as digestion
evaporation
The process of changing water from a liquid to a gas is called evaporation
Sea ice that is held in place year after year
This shows what eats what in a community
fossil
When a plant or animal or parts of a plant or animal are preserved in rocks
The first ice crystals that form on the sea's surface when the water temperature dips below 1.8 degrees Celsius, are known as frazil
Not a plant or an animal but a group of living things that feed off plants, animals or decaying matter
The southern most point on Earth, the Earth spins around the North and South Pole
A person who studies land formation and rock types
Related to the magnetic field of Earth
A river of ice
When a glacier shrinks as melting exceeds the amount of snow that accumulates
When the average temperature on earth naturally falls
When the average temperature on earth naturally rises
The natural way the earth is warmed 33 degrees by its atmosphere
greenhouse gases
Gases which trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere
Gulf Stream
A powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida
Amount of moisture in the air described as a percentage
All the waters on the Earth's surface, such as lakes and seas
An explanation of why things happen that can be tested by scientists
A period when the earth's climate is colder
A large area of ice formed when glaciers join together
A large area of floating ice, formed when glaciers flow out to sea
Part of a glacier or ice shelf that has broken off and floated away
A period when the invention of machines led to a rapid increase in industry in Britain in the late 1700s
Outer layer of the Earth's atmosphere
International Geophysical Year
A period of over a year where scientists worked together on important scientific projects in Antarctica
When cold air descends from high mountains down into lower areas because the cold air is denser (heavier)
The solid rocky layer covering the surface of the Earth including the crust and upper mantle
Where a compass points to south, which changes slightly over time due to changes in the Earth's magnetic field
mass
The quantity of matter contained in an object
matter
Anything that takes up space and has mass - everything around us
The iceshelf that fills McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
The area of the Ross Sea between Ross Island and the TransAntarctic Mountains
A person who studies the atmosphere and especially the weather
To do with the atmosphere, especially weather
A greenhouse gas CH4 produced from the breakdown of once living things
an organism too small to see with the naked eye
A group of atoms bonded together
Sometimes called laughing gas, a greenhouse gas produced by bacteria and by people through agriculture
The lowering of the pH of the oceans due to their absorbtion of carbon dioxide
Large flows of water in the oceans
A living thing
A gas made up of three oxygen atoms which is naturally present in the upper atmosphere, it helps protect Earth from harmful UV radiation
particles
A very small amount of something, or the smallest possible part of something
A measure of how acidic (or alkaline) a substance is
The process that plants carry out to harness the sun's energy and carbon dioxide to make sugars for food
Polar Plateau
The level surface of the ice sheet at the center of which the South Pole is located. The height of the plateau varies between 2,500 and 3,000 m.
polynya
An area of open water surrounded by sea ice
A hut that fits together as a kitset
The force of something upon a surface eg air pressure is the force or weight of air above a particular point on the Earth's surface
A fold or buckle in ice, often where ice collides with land
Energy that comes from a source and travels through some material or space. Light, heat and sound are forms of radiation
A piece of equipment between a diver's airtank and mouthpiece that controls the airflow to the diver
The huge Antarctic ice shelf directly south of New Zealand
The island in Antarctica formed by Mt Erebus, also the location of Scott Base
Part of the Pacific Ocean that juts into Antarctica and ends in the Ross Ice Shelf
The amount of salt in sea water
sea ice
Sea ice is formed on the ocean surface when the water temperature falls to –2 degrees Celsius. It floats because it is less dense than sea water
Movement caused by earthquakes
Sea Ice Microbial Community, a group of microorganisms that live in or on the underside of sea ice
activity on the sun's surface such as flares and sunspots
darker, cooler areas on the sun's surface
The term scientists use to describe a liquid that is below its freezing point but remains a liquid
Across Antarctica
A line made through an area to be studied along which samples are taken
Day to day changes in the atmosphere