New Oxford Atlas Lessons - Mawson Station ----------------------------------------------------------------1. Q. Where is Mawson Station?

Describe the location of the station relative to lar ge Australian cities. Which is the nearest large Australian city and how far is it to this place? How many stations does Australia have in Antarctica? Describe the distribution o f these stations. A. North of the Amery Ice Shelf and West of The Heard and Mcdonald islands. The Nearest major Australian City is Hobart which it is South Of. ----------------------------------------------------------------2. Q. Describe the climate that is experienced at Mawson Station making reference t o temperature and winds. A. The climate that is experienced at mawson station is a polar climate. Which m eans that it is very cold and dry, making it, in essence a desert. It has cold w aters surrounding it which means that it will get less rainfall. It is extremely windy at mawson station. During the months of winter the temperature ranges fro m -19.5 to -13.6 Degrees Celcius. ----------------------------------------------------------------3. Q. You will be travelling to Mawson Station on board the ship Aurora Australis. Take a virtual tour of the ship and make a list of five features that seem to ha ve been designed specifically for trips to and from Antarctica. A. The ship can produce up to 45,000 litres of fresh water per day for use on bo The Aurora Australis and other a very ard for both drinkingis painted uses. bright orange, thus allowing it to be eas With satellite communications, ily seen in ice-strewn waters. people on the ship can phone anywhere in the worl d at any time. Expeditioners are also able to stay in contact with friends and f On a via email. amilysix week voyage, the ship's kitchen can go through 4500 eggs, 1000 kg of po The ship can roll up of ice cream. tatoes and 280 litresto 45 degrees in big swells. In these situations the angle of the deck is far steeper than any streets in Australia. ----------------------------------------------------------------4. Q. Describe the station itself and its physical location. Why do think this part icular location has been selected for the station? What facilities have been built at this location? Divide a list of these facilit ies into transport, scientific and other amenities. A. The area for Mawson's station was likely chosen because it was easy to get to In Mawson being a helicopter Transport there ison the coast. landing pad but it is very rarely used. They jus from boat, t recently got an aircraft carrier. The wharf is where cargo is unloaded during re-supply and where boats are launched when the harbour is free of ice. All wast e that is not burnable is returned to Australia (RTA) in containers such as thes At Mawson ScientificStation there rubbish, sorted glass, tin and and program. The e. This includes generalis many scientific key buildingsaluminium cans. Mawson Cosmic Ray observatory (Cosray) contains telescopes which detect and measure co smic rays coming from outside our solar system.The Bureau of Meterology Officers The sun recorder twice everymeasure the hours of sunlight received every day. Wh release a sonde is used to day all year round. en the sun shines it burns a line on the paper behind the glass ball. The main s The Mawson Cosmic is observatory (Cosray) contains telescopes which detect Other Amenities cientific buildingRay called Wombat and holds the research of geophysics. and measure cosmic rays coming from outside our solar system. The incinerator buildi

ng contains "Warren" a high temperature fuel fired incinerator which is used to burn all non-RTA or recycleable waste such as kitchen scraps. The Main Power Hou se is where all the electricity for the station is generated. Waste heat from th e generators is piped around the station and used to heat the buildings. ----------------------------------------------------------------5. Q. What are the four main priority programs of Australian scientists in Antarcti ca? Read the overviews on each of the programs to get an idea of the importance of this research and explain this importance. During your field trip to Antarctica you will visit scientists working in severa l of these areas of research. A. Past climate and atmospheric changes such as from Antarctic ice core and ocean sediment records Sea-ice extent and duration, which is critical to the support o Changes food ecosystem, especially those ocean circulation The process of ice f marineto thewebs formation, which affectsaffecting fauna. around the globe ----------------------------------------------------------------6. Q. What type of transport would you use to visit a penguin colony 90 kilometres from the station and what type of clothing would you wear? "Each would use a is kitted with survival clothing. This blizzard is on. A. Youexpeditioner VH-VHA plane, making sure that no majorclothing is to be stor ed in the red survival kit bag provided by the AAD. All expeditioners must keep this clothing available when travelling on AAD managed ships and planes. The clo thing would kit us with warmth."-Quoted from Clothing-Australian Antarctic Divis ion. We would need to wear things to protect our face and ears, also hands and n ose. These are the most likely victims to frostbite. We would wear a balaclava, some sort of ear muffs and goggles to protect the facial features and neck. For our chest and legs we would wear a thermal, then a thick layer, then a jacket or jumper of some sort; the thermals ect. would be long-sleeved. You would then we ar two gloves on each hand or one thick glove. ----------------------------------------------------------------7. Q. By how much does the sea ice change the area of Antarctica over the year? How does the sea ice change typically over a 12 month period? Why is this so? What technology do you think scientists use to research these changes? One of the most important scientific studies involves extracting ice cores. What is an ice core and what can scientists learn from analysing them? A. The Sea ice increases by about 13 million square kilometres from lowest amoun The highest amount. t tosea ice usually doubles or triples in winter as Antarctica experiences littl Each winter e sunlight. the surface of a large area of the Southern Ocean freezes, forming a sea ice cover that surrounds Antarctica. This ice, with its expansive maximum e xtent and large annual variability has a major influence on the global climate s Scientists observe and measure the changing in sea ice by using lookouts such as ystem Information from ice cores one.be used to detect major environmental changes as the recently appointed US can well as variations in the chemistry and circulation of the atmosphere. More Info rmation obtained from ice cores comes from bubbles in the glacier ice. More inf ormation obtained from ice cores comes from the frozen water itself. ----------------------------------------------------------------8. Q. Find out about Antarctica's emperor penguins and what makes them unique in An tarctica. What physical and behavioural adaptations have they made in order to s urvive in Antarctica? What are scientists finding out about emperor penguins and what methods do they use to undertake this research?

Their brood pouch helps them to keep the chicks warm during A. They huddle together to escape wind and conserve warmth. the maternity period .hey have a milky bile-like liquid in their throuat that can be used as a source T Theyfood for the chicks.ice for aeasier toway to transport. Another special adap of have webbed feet to make it quicker swim. also dive onto the tation of the emperor penguin is the ability to 'recycle' its own body heat. The emperor's arteries and veins lie close together so that blood is pre-cooled on the way to the bird's feet, wings and bill and warmed on the way back to the hea The rt. research aims to learn more about the penguins themselves (how they live, wh ere they go, what they do, and what they need to survive), and how human activit ies may impact on their lives and survival chances. ----------------------------------------------------------------9. Q. Why do tourists visit Antarctica? Describe a tourist's journey to Antarctica including the activities that tourists can undertake. What might be some of the impacts of tourism on Antarctica? A. Tourists visit antarctica to enjoy the wonders of wildlife and the elevation. Tourists can travel around in kayaks weaving through mazes of floating ice. Tou rs are takine during the summer period where it is warmest and there is little s Tourists ea ice. by their nature will want to visit the most picturesque and wildlife ri ch areas of Antarctica, and they tend to do so in numbers far greater than the e This compliment horrible effect on the wildlife as it will probably disrupt the ntirewill have a of many Antarctic bases. ir way of life. Tourists could also destroy the ecosystems around them as well. There have been accidents with ships being grounded on uncharted rocks and ther e have been oil-spills. With the best safe-guards in the world (and it has to be said that marine regulations for Antarctic ships, both statuary and self-impose d are as good as they get) the more ships there are, the more accidents there wi ll be.