Why is Antarctic research important? What is the value of Antarctic science? What have Antarctic scientists achieved? These are fundamental questions, asked increasingly by the controllers of purse-strings. Without convincing answers, scientists will inevitably find their credibility compromised and their funding at risk. The questions were addressed at the Antarctic Science Conference held in Bremen in September 1991, and this book contains the revised and updated texts of 18 key lectures presented at the conference. Each chapter takes the from of a fully referenced scholarly review and each is clear, concise and up-to-date.
Antarctic Science-Global Concerns reviews the work of Antarctic scientists in the past few decades and also explains the need for scientific understanding of the Antarctic continent and surrounding waters in respect of commercial exploitation, environmental issues, and international politics. The book spans a broad spectrum of Antarctic science, from the so-called 'ozone hole' to the microbiology of seaice, with the main focus upon the role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the world climate system. Lacking only in its coverage of terrestrial ecology, the geophysics of the Antarctic continent and the biology of seals, whales and birds, the book is remarkably comprehensive.
In his extended preface, called 'International Science and the Antarctic Treaty System', Richard Laws explores the role of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research as a