Greg's trip to Antarctica
WWF-Australia's CEO Greg Bourne travelled to Antarctica to see for himself how one of the Earth's most beautiful environments is adapting to the changing climate.
Post three - Sunbaking with Seals and dodging Icebergs
In the La Mer channel - about seven kilometres long and kilometre wide - we pass by 1000 metre high mountains on each side; behind those are mountains twice their size again. The bangs and crashes of glacial avalanches are enormous, waves from huge chunks of ice hitting the water near us wash towards us. Minke and humpback whales drift near the boat.
Leopard seals loll on the ice not too far from shore - they're very photogenic and you've got to remember to pull back from the viewfinder once in a while to see all the other shots you are missing.
Weddel seals are lazy buggers. They wait for the tide to come in to hitch a ride out for more food and hardly move from their sunbaking spots.
We moored the boat and walked through thigh-deep snow. We could hear water trickling underneath and we tested each foot step on the look out for crevasses - 'the place is melting you know' we reminded ourselves.
Scientists forecast significant warming and reduction of sea ice over Antarctica over the 21st century. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current - the world's largest ocean current - is forecasted to continue warming and shifting southward.
Humpback and blue whales will have to travel further to reach the food-rich areas at the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. These longer trips will take energy, and reduce the time available for the whales to feed.
Icebergs the size of city buildings would carve of the side of the mountains, tipping over slowly, melting and tipping over some more. We could have watched them flip and bob up all day. The intensity of the Antarctic light, the stillness and mirror calm was unforgettable that amazing day.
