Archive for the ‘Antarctica 2011 Legacy Crossing’ Category

New findings: West Antarctic Ice Sheet is inherently vulnerable to change and creates “unstoppable” ocean rise.

This report on NASA’s new study, led by glaciologist Eric Rignot at NASA’s JPL and the  of UC Irvine, points to dramatic and “unstoppable” melting and contribution of the West Antarctica ice sheet to ocean levels. The gist is that the grounding line–the point at which ice and ocean meet below the waterline–is receding as it erodes the ice below the surface with warm water, essentially transforming glacial ice mass into ice shelves.

This finding, which represents decades of research from NASA, points to ice valleys around the Pine island glacier in West Antarctica among six others in the Amundsen Sea region which are below sea level for hundreds of kilometers inland. This sets a positive feedback of receding grounding line for that entire regions for six similar glaciers. With no hill below the ice to slow or stop the water from eroding the ice, there is no way of effectively stop the melting of the Antarctica ice over the next couple of centuries, which alone will contribute to four feet of global ocean rise.

To further this dramatic finding, the positive loop on other regions of the world such as the East Antarctic ice or the Greenland ice sheet will affect the configuration of other ice shelves further increasing ocean rise over the coming century.

The full recorded report including media questions can be heard here.

A digest of those findings can be read here.

“Unstoppable” ice melt from West Antarctica leads to unavoidable and dramatic rise of ocean levels.

Michael Kurcfeld profiled Sebastian for the latest LA Review of Books (March 2014). The interview was conducted during Sebastian’s solo Antarctica: A Million Faces Of Ice at the Munich Bernheimer Gallery last year. The profile also features a filmed segment which can be seen here.

“Following in the footsteps of Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley, Sebastian Copeland ventures into the blinding white expanses of both poles, often for weeks at a time, to seek out the wild sculpted beauty of places no human has seen before.” Michael Kurcfeld — LA Review of Books

Big New For Whales in the Southern Seas

Following the International Court of Justice’s ruling, Japan has officially cancelled all plans to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean in 2014. This will be the first year since 1904 that no whales will be hunted in Antarctic waters.

September 19, 2013 Munich, Germany. The Bernheimer Gallery in Munich unveils Platinum, the gallery’s new exhibit focusing on platinum prints from masters old and new. Exhibited are works by Herb Ritts, Horst P. Horst, Irvin Penn, Mark Seliger and Sebastian Copeland’s Greenland and Antarctica platinum prints. The show opens September 20th 2013 and runs through October 31st at Brienner Strasse 7, 80333 in Munich, Germany Displayed below: Sastrugi One, S72˚37 E010˚37, Antarctica 2011  Platinum Print Edition 1/6

Here is a free link to the Men’s Journal article of the Antarctica Legacy Crossing which was published last October 2012. It’s a riveting condensed account of the blog (which you can read here http://sebastiancopelandadventures.com/antarcticaexpedition). The article “81 Days on the Ice” retraces the first East/West transcontinental crossing of Antarctica from coast to coast that Sebastian led from November 2011 to February 2012 with partner Eric McNair Landry on the 100 year anniversary of the South Pole.

You can read it here: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/81-days-on-the-ice-20130704

                                 My new exhibition “A Million Faces Of Ice” has just premiered in Munich at the Bernheimer Gallery. The show is a retrospective of multiple trips to the poles, and features some of the new works from Antarctica. It will be up until the middle of April. If you cannot see it there, you can visit the show here:

http://www.bernheimer.com/photography/en/exhibition/371/antarctica-a-million-faces-of-ice-0

Sebastian and Eric at the Antarctica Pole of Inaccessibility on their way to complete the first crossing of the continent from east to west with nothing but skis and kites (note the bust of Lenin in the b/g!).

Sebastian and Eric are shortlisted for Epic TV’s Adventurer of the Year award 2012 for their epic 4000 kilometers, 81 day kite-skiing expedition in Antarctica. The trip netted the team three new polar records, among which the first transcontinental crossing linking the east coast to the west coast via the Pole of Inaccessibility and the South Pole, one hundred years after the conquest of the pole. All this with nothing but human and wind generated energy. Epic TV and adventure magazines across the globe shortlisted twelve teams. The rest was left to voters: one vote per day for one month. May the best, err, marketer win…?

You can vote here until January 23rd: http://daily.epictv.com/awards/people/copeland-mcnair/

This is the cover of the latest issue of Men’s Journal.  In it you’ll find, “81 Days on the Ice: Two men embark on an adventure alone across Antarctica, overcoming broken ribs, frostbite and storms – and setting world records in the coldest place on Earth.”, Sebastian’s 6-page article detailing his most recent expedition. Pick up your copy at newsstands today! The story can be read online here: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/81-days-on-the-ice-20130704