FEAST OR FAMINE

Temperatures at the North Pole are unusually high for the second year in a row. The North Pole (also called the Arctic Circle) is set to be 50 degrees warmer than normal , with temperatures approaching 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). Winter temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −58F to 9F,   (−50C to −13C), averaging around −24 °F (−31 °C). However, a freak storm caused the temperature to reach 33F (0.7C) for a time at a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) buoy at a station located at 87.45°N, on 30 December 2015. So last winter was the warmest ever at the North Pole, and it’s happening again this winter. Summer temperatures (June, July, and August) average around the freezing point at 32F (0C). So the temperatures right now are summer conditions, rather than the usual winter temperatures. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author ...

At the South Australian Museum is the permanent exhibit called The Mawson Gallery, which focuses on the achievements of Sir Douglas Mawson. Mawson travelled to the Antarctic Region – known as the South Pole – and extensively explored its flora and fauna. His legacy is the scientific knowledge of the Antarctic Region. The Mawson Gallery contains many of Mawson’s personal belongings – such as his sled, scientific tools, boots, camel-hair sleeping bag, mittens, and balaclavas – as well as other artefacts and specimens. There are also specimens of letters, papers, photographs, and a model hut where Mawson and his team lived while in the Antarctic. Mawson’s half sled and knife, which are on display in The Mawson Gallery, were included in the BankSA Heritage Icons list in 2005. Mawson first went the Antarctic with the British Antarctic Expedition in 1907-09 led by Ernest Shackleton. Mawson returned to lead the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-14) to King George V Land a...

The Australian National University’s exhibition, Antarctica, at ANU Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra, from 24 May to 1 July 2012, is a contrast of images: from white to dark, ice to snow, pure to contaminated, virgin to discovered, hidden to exposed, inhuman to humane, fear to astonishment, fragile to forceful, humanity’s insignificance to nature’s magnificence, and inhospitable desolation to astounding beauty. A range of artists including Sidney Nolan, Jan Senbergs, Bea Maddock, Jorj Schmeissser, Anne Noble, Philip Hughes and Chris Drury give the vastness of the landscape amazing life. All seven artists have visited Antarctica, from 1964 to 2006, describing it as a crystal desert, a frozen sea, and a melting landscape. The Drill Hall Gallery continues to celebrate the centenary of Douglas Mawson’s scientific expedition of 1911-1914 to the Antarctic and the Antarctic Treaty signed by 12 nations, commencing in July 1961, that the Norwegian delegation declared “might be the ...