A triangular rock formation and a whale skeleton assembled by French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau in 1972 mark the location of this changing landscape. Photographs taken in late spring (November 2023) and summer (the following December and January) make it clear that Antarctica is not always covered in ice. Since 2020, the CARBMET project (The multiple faces of organic CARBon and METals in the sub-Antarctic ecosystem) has been monitoring how compounds transported by melting snow affect seawater, the air, and sediments in this coastal environment of Admiralty Bay, home to Brazil’s Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station. The objective is to understand the environmental impact of significant seasonal changes.
Images submitted by Gabrielle Vieira Lube (a master’s student) and Amanda Camara de Souza (a PhD student) from the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (IO-USP)
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