Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Climate change

Icy message from the Antarctic

Nature volume 389, pages 20–21 (1997)Cite this article

Historically, much of the whaling in the Antarctic occurred in the vicinity of the ice edge where the whales congregated to feed on krill. During the austral spring, the whalers tracked the animals as they moved south with the edge of the sea ice, and their records of harvesting position thus provide proxy data for ice extent before monitoring by satellite began. An analysis of those records by de la Mare, published on page 57 of this issue1, suggests that there was a large and rapid decrease in Antarctic summertime sea-ice extent between the 1950s and 1970s. The cause of this inferred decrease is unknown. But it will be sadly ironic if the human slaughter of the great whale populations reveals something of the Earth's climate system that may have dramatic implications for our own long-term future on the planet.

Such a change in sea-ice extent would have global significance, because ice cover of the polar oceans is an important component of the Earth's climate system. It exerts strong controls on the exchanges of energy between atmosphere and oceans at high latitudes. Sea ice has a higher albedo than the open ocean and thus modifies the energy balance of polar regions. It also acts as an insulating blanket, reducing the transfer of heat from the underlying oceans to the cold polar atmosphere.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY

References

  1. de la Mare, W. K. Nature 389, 57–60(1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bjorgo, E., Johannesen, O. M. & Miles, M. W. Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 413–416(1997).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stouffer, R. J., Manabe, S. & Bryan, K. Nature 342, 660–662(1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Murphy, E. J., Clarke, A., Symon, C. & Priddle, J. Deep-Sea Res. 42, 1045–1062(1995).

    Google Scholar 

  5. White, W. B. & Peterson, R. G. Nature 380, 699–702(1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kukla, G. & Gavin, J. Science 214, 497–503(1981).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Jacobs, S. S. & Comiso, J. C. J. Clim. 10, 697–709(1997).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Mierzejewska, A. W., Wu, Z., Newell, R. E. & Miyahita, T. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 78, 443–447(1997).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mitchell, J. F. B. & Senior, C. A. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 115, 225–246(1989).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Simmonds, I. & Budd, W. F. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc 117, 1003–1024(1991).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Jones, P. D. Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 1345–1348(1995).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Morgan, V. I., Goodwin, I. D., Etheridge, D. M. & Wookey, C. W. Nature 354, 58–60(1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Coles, V. J., McCartney, M. S., Olson, B. B. & Smethie, W. M. J. J Geophys. Res. 101, 8957–8970(1996).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Broecker, W. S. Nature 328, 123–326(1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Barker, P. F. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 338, 259–267(1992).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Life Sciences Division,

    Eugene Murphy & John King

  2. John King in the Ice and Climate Division, British Antarctic Survey, NERC, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    Eugene Murphy & John King

Authors
  1. Eugene Murphy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Murphy, E., King, J. Icy message from the Antarctic. Nature 389, 20–21 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37876

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/37876

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing