Antarctic Circumpolar Expedition(ACE) : Environment for UPSC Exams

• ACE is the first project of the newly-created Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) to "enhance international relations and collaboration between countries, as well as to spark the interest of a new generation of young scientists in polar research.

• More than 50 researchers from 30 countries are to carry out the first scientific full circumnavigation of Antarctica in an attempt to measure pollution and climate change.

• Organisers of ACE hope to foster collaboration in a bid to gain a deeper understanding of humankind’s effect on the Southern Ocean.

• Researchers will work on a number of interrelated fields, from biology to climatology to oceanography, for the future of this continent.

• Adopted projects include mapping whales, penguins and albatrosses in the Southern Ocean; measuring the effect of plastic pollution on the food chain; and logging the extent of phytoplankton—the base of the food chain—and its role in regulating climate.

• Scientists will also take ice core samples and study biodiversity on the continent in an attempt to reveal conditions before the onset of the Industrial Revolution,

• The journey will be divided into three legs, with Hobart in Australia and Punta Arenas in Chile serving as staging posts. Other stop-offs include the Crozet Islands, South Sandwich, South Georgia and the Mertz iceshelf on Antarctica itself.

• A better understanding of Antarctica is critical, not just for its preservation, but for the whole planet.

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