Historical Antarctic photos used for climate change study

UK scientists are using aerial photos from the 1940s and 1950s to study Antarctic’s climate history. These historical images are from the pioneering days of polar exploration and are held by the British Antarctic Survey and the US Geological Survey.  

Scientists are comparing old and new data to analyse the changes that occurred in the continent of Antarctic over the past decades. They are extracting the 3D data from these pictures by creating a new elevation model of the area, using the latest optical satellite data and current aerial photos.

This study is being conduct by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Newcastle University and University of Gloucestershire and is yet to be completed. However, they have already found very interesting facts; such as how some glaciers seem to have thickened at the rear as their fronts have dramatically retreated.                                                                 

Stadium glacier 1957-2003: Blue line shows the old ice front and blue dots show thickening at higher elevations (photo and text from BBC website)

 

 

 

 

The Antarctic Peninsula - the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica - has experienced significant warming in recent decades. That is why this study is so important, by understanding the climate changes that has occurred in that area in the past, scientists will be able to create new models to estimate the contribution of ice loss to processes such as sea level rise.

"We need to understand what's happened in the past, going back over multiple decades, to give us the foundation to anchor these models and, in so doing, reduce the uncertainties associated with them”, says Dr Pauline Miller from Newcastle University.

I personally think this is an incredible study and of such vital importance for the environment. If these scientists are able to map the patterns of climate change in Antarctic and understand why and how the glaciers are retreating so rapidly, they may be able to come up with some ideas to slow down this process. They may also be able to present to government and business leaders around the world a more accurate forecast on global warming and how fast and severely this will impact the environment and humanity. Perhaps then, these leaders may come up with a real plan to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions around the world. One can only hope…

 

 

Antarctic photo science archive unlocked (2014, December 20)
Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30471542#

The things I think are most important for writing in science

 

This week we had to submit our first assignment, the Position Paper. It was hard work, but in my opinion the toughest challenge still lies ahead of us: The team report.

 

Writing the position paper was daunting at times. Trying to be clear and concise and in the same time being consistent to the information from my researches, as well as being fair to both sides of the argument; proved to be difficult. However, it was a massive learning curve for me and opened my eyes to a whole different world in writing.

I am very passionate about my point of view when taking a side in an argument and trying to prove it right, and therefore sometimes is hard to give the opposition the credit it deserves. So, I tried to use the 7 steps from the “Thinking and Arguing objectively” video that was posted on week 1, which by the way, was very informative and really good advice. The tips helped me to take a different approach when defending an idea in an argument.

Verifying the credibility of researched information was another new thing for me, so was using different search engines, such as Google Scholar. Another essential learning from the lessons was to learn how to read a scientific paper and how to make the most of its contents.

So far, I identified that efficient researching, selective reading, using verifiable data and detaching yourself from the subject are imperative to prepare yourself for writing about a scientific subject. That is the base. Then, you must organise your ideas and present them in a clear order, making it easy for the reader to understand it. You also need to demonstrate your understanding of the subject fairly but succinctly, and last but not least: check, double check, and triple check your work before publishing it!

All learnings that I will take with me throughout my journey completing my BSc and beyond that. For me, I believe that organisation, clarity, brevity, and proof reading are the most important elements in writing in science. I hope I will be able to use these elements efficiently to help my team write an outstanding report for assignment 2.

 

Happy writing everyone!

 

Summarising the debate

I am writing my position paper on the topic: “Fruit and vegetables should be government subsidized”. One piece of information that I am using a lot to back up my arguments is the “Food Prices Strategies” paper that was published in 2012. The authors in this paper studied how food pricing strategies can encourage healthy eating habits. They have statistical data that clearly shows how food prices impact on consumption and therefore they recommended that a mix of taxes and subsidies should be used to help lower the cost of healthy food items. I believe that the authors have taken this position because they are experienced professionals in the Health Sector looking to improve the general health of the New Zealand population. Also, the findings of their research show how important it is to make healthy food more affordable in New Zealand. They understand that this can not only help to improve the health of the population, but also to alleviate the costs with obesity related diseases.

The opposing argument is, of course, from the government. I have not found any published research paper stating their opinions and the reasons why they have not created a fruit and vegetable subsidy to this date, or any food pricing strategies that could reduce the cost of healthy foodstuff for that matter. However, I am using the debates section from the New Zealand Parliament website, with a debate from 2010 between parliament members on a proposition for the removal of GST on healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables. The idea was rejected in the basis that New Zealand GST system has been relatively unchanged since it was created. Therefore, no exemptions should be made and such exemptions would just increase costs to the government. In my opinion, I think they have taken this approach because they haven’t fully analyzed costs of new policies against current costs of obesity in New Zealand.

 

 

Eyles, Helen; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona; Nghiem, Nhung; Blakely, Tony (2012). Food Pricing Strategies, Population Diets, and Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review of Simulation Studies. PLoS Medicine. Dec2012, Vol. 9 Issue 12. Retrieved from PLOS Medicine: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001353

 

 

Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill - First Reading [Volume:666;Page:13803] (2010, September 8)

Retrieved from Hansard (debates): http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/49HansD_20100908_00001000/goods-and-services-tax-exemption-of-healthy-food-amendment

 

 

 

 

 

Literature. “The Truth Is Out There”…

As soon as the requirements for the assignments were posted on Stream, I picked a topic for my position paper and started doing research for it. However, after completing some of the lessons, especially from week 2; I realized that the information I collected so far may not be valuable at all. I only used “Google” up until last week, so I had to go through the material I had in hand to check for veracity. It turned out that I had a lot of tertiary literature and some papers that weren’t actually published scientific papers. It wasn’t all a waste though, I did find some useful information, and as mentioned in lesson 1 from week 1, “tertiary literature gives you a good overview on the topic and it can be a good starting point”.

After learning about “Google Scholar” and the “Massey Library” I was able to find more reliable data for my research. To be honest, I did have some difficulties finding the information I wanted using these tools. I think I wasn’t using very clear terms for the search, so I went back to the papers I found on Google and noted any references to the authors that I could find. I then did a search using the authors’ names and was able to find some publications related to my topic. Also, from the tertiary literature, I found the names of some scientific journals, so I went straight to their websites to look for more information.

Another thing I found to be very useful was looking at the Reference lists on the first papers I had in hand; it led me to other very good sources of information. There are still a couple of papers that I cannot verify the authenticity just yet though. One is a paper that was presented in a conference in 2009, so I am trying to find more recent data from this presentation or if it was actually published in any journal after 2009… but I will get there!

The researching methods presented in the lessons, the importance of distinguishing the different types of sources when doing a research, and how and where to find these sources are all very interesting topics. I had never used “Google Scholar” before and had no idea on how scientific information was published. Very interesting indeed! I am so glad I started my BSc with this communication paper. I am sure I will be much more prepared for future research assignments!

“The important thing is to never stop questioning.”

                                                             -Albert Einstein

 

Introduction

Hi everyone and welcome! My name is Ana Thornton and this is my weekly blog for the ‘Communication in the Sciences’ paper with Massey University. I am looking forward to writing and discussing about topics related to this paper and also to explore other science related themes and I hope that we can exchange some exciting and useful information.

I am 33 years old, originally from Brazil, and just recently relocated back to New Zealand with my husband and son after living in Australia for seven years. For over ten years I have worked in the Food Manufacturing Industry in Supply Chain and Customer Service. However, for quite some time, I have been contemplating a career change and also the idea of going back to university to do a Bachelor of Science. After doing some research of New Zealand’s universities, I found out that Massey University has very good programs via distance learning which is ideal for me. So, I decided to take on the challenge and so I enrolled myself with Massey.

I have just started my Bachelor of Science, with Biological Sciences as my major and Environmental Sciences as my minor. For many years I have wanted to study a program in biology and I have a genuine interest in the environment and conservation. For that reason, I want to pursue a career in this area and will be doing my best to complete my degree with good results and to absorb as much knowledge and skills as I can from my studies.

Communication in the Sciences is the very first paper of my program with Massey. I believe it will be of great benefit to me and an excellent start to my studies. I have good communication skills that I acquired over the years from working experiences, but since English is my second language, I do not dominate the grammar completely. Therefore, I expect that this course will give me the tools to help me improve my writing skills and also to develop the abilities of writing and communicating efficiently, concisely, and correctly in the Science world.