• Issue 1

Can you imagine how cold minus 54.1 degrees is? That is today’s temperature at the South Pole. Ice Station Antarctica, a new exhibition at Natural History Museum in London  shows how extreme the amazing continent is and makes it clear why we should save it from climate change.

Visitors learn about the extraordinary challenges and conditions scientists face everday researching the fragile continent. You can test your fortitude by being subjected to minus 10 degrees environment or by smelling penguin vomit as a would-be scientist working in animal colonies in Antarctica.

The exhibition is part of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08 series of events all over the world to address the serious global threat of climate change. The programme will involve more than 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics. A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasises the uncertainties on how much the polar regions will be influenced sea-levels rising due to climate change.  

Professor Chris Rapley, Director of British Antarctic Survey, says “The change of phase from snow and ice to water is the biggest tipping point in the Earth’s system, and so the big issue is climate change and the impact that it’s having here. I’m looking forward to major progress on key issues, such as the trillion dollar question from the point of view of sea-level rise, ‘How much, how quickly?’”

The exhibition will run until 20 April next year.

image: Natural History Museum