Atmosphere ... The Climate Revealed by Ice

Museum of Arts and Crafts, Paris Until 30 April 2009

With rising levels of emotion clouding the political debate about global climate change, a new exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Crafts (Musée des Arts et Métiers) in Paris provides a timely reminder that accurate data are the basis of scientific objectivity. Running until April next year, Atmosphere shows how the past 50 years of scientific observation in the Arctic and Antarctic have provided evidence of Earth's vulnerability and changed how we view our planet. The exhibition, says geochemist Jean Jouzel, one of its two scientific commissioners, “provides a clarion call to use this carefully collected data to take informed action against climate change”.

The starting point for Atmosphere is the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58. Objects on show in the exhibition include scientific instruments used at the poles, newspaper reports, scientific papers and books, photographs and films. Charcot, the first French polar expedition base in Antarctica, is photographed almost submerged in snow and resembles a surfacing submarine, its tricolour flag taut in the Antarctic wind. Although the focus is on raising awareness of the French contribution to polar research, the work of other nations and international collaborative groups is also presented. Polar wildlife and landscape photographs, including spectacular aurora borealis displays, document the fauna and natural beauty of the polar regions. The 130 exhibited objects range from an apparatus that simulates the aurora borealis in the laboratory, to a 'Weasel' tracked vehicle used for transport across the snow and ice.

Researchers' signs point to home from the French–Italian Concordia base in Antarctica. Credit: G. JUGLÉ/IPEV

Jouzel's own research is included — his sampling to a depth of 3,000 metres, of polar ice that was laid down some 500,000 years ago, is crucial to our current understanding of how Earth's atmosphere has changed during this time. By analysing the composition of tiny bubbles of air trapped in polar ice, he established a correlation between temperature and the concentration of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide and methane, during successive climatic cycles. By revealing what occurred in the past, scientists can understand how best to prevent further damage to the planet. Several conferences will be held during the exhibition to alert the public to the need to change attitudes and behaviours that contribute to global warming. “But Sarah Palin is not welcome,” jokes Jouzel, referring to the climate-change scepticism of the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the US election. “She is not invited.”