Research on Sea Ice Conditions around Horseshoe Island, Marguerite Bay, Antarctica

Climate change and many other environmental issues cause to retreat of sea ice in Polar Regions. Even, increasing global heat budget affects influence the temperatures, which recently reached a record high above twenty degrees Celsius in Antarctica. Sea ice is an important keystone in maintaining the heat balance of the World. Tracking the dynamic sea ice conditions in Arctic and Antarctic water is important for many reasons including but not limited with, sea ice related ecosystems at the Polar Regions and sea ice extents effects on the maritime routes. The study area of the research covers the sea ice around Horseshoe Island located within the Antarctic Circle in Marguerite Bay. This region became the interest of many countries due to obvious effects of climate change such as retreating glaciers, changing ecosystem. Turkey has been conducting National Antarctic Expeditions to Horseshoe Island since 2017. In this context, more than thirty scientific projects have been carried out in different disciplines such as earth sciences, life sciences and physical sciences. Due to the fact that the maritime charts and sea ice conditions are quite dynamic and not predictable in terms of the thickness and extend, a study is required to provide information for the project preparation stages and field planning. For the reason, this study aims to collect and combine data from different satellite remote sensing products to provide the appropriate months/periods for ship operations in Marguerite Bay.