Event - Antarctic explorer’s watch to go on show (Upton)

A pocket watch used by Antarctic explorer Robert Scott on his doomed expedition to the South Pole will be on show at the British Horological Institute, Upton, to mark 100 years since his death.

The curator at the British Horological Institute, Mr Alan Midleton, with the display about Scott of the Antarctic featuring his pocket watch.

It is believed the watch, which has an alarm, was used by Scott during expeditions to wake him at two-hourly intervals to ensure he moved his hands and feet to reduce the risk of frostbite.

It features in a picture of Scott in his cabin in the Antarctic in 1911.

Scott and his team died of cold and hunger on the return trip from the South Pole having unsuccessfully tried to be the first to reach it. They were beaten by Roald Amundsen and his team from Norway.

The watch is believed to have been donated to the institute in 1947 by Scott’s family although official records of its handover have been lost.

The watch will be part of a specially-made display replicating the inside of Scott’s hut.

Visitors can see it during an open day, from 10am to 4pm, on Sunday, March 25 — the day the clocks go forward — and during a talk by the museum curator, Mr Alan Midleton, on Wednesday, March 28, at 7.30pm.

He said although the watch had been at the institute for some time they decided to display it because of the increased interest in Scott on the 100th anniversary of his death, believed to be March 29.

Mr Midleton said: “The watch would have been critically important and it would have left the hut and gone out on expeditions.”

Mr Midleton said some people had expressed doubt over whether the watch was genuine, but it had a bootlace and safety pin still attached that Scott would have used to pin it to his clothes.

He said: “People have said, quite rightly, that it is not an explorer’s watch, which it isn’t, but it would have been used for a different purpose.”

A chronometer clock, an extremely precise and accurate clock, similar to one Scott would have used, which had been used by other explorers, is also on display.

For tickets for the explorer talk by Mr Midleton, email briony@bhi.co.uk

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Antarctic-explorers-watch-to-go-on-show

News – Researchers Map Out Ice Sheets Shrinking During Ice Age

A set of maps created by the University of Sheffield have illustrated, for the first time, how our last British ice sheet shrunk during the Ice Age. 

Led by Professor Chris Clark from the University's Department of Geography, a team of experts developed the maps to understand what effect the current shrinking of ice sheets in parts of the Antarctic and Greenland will have on the speed of sea level rise. 

The unique maps record the pattern and speed of shrinkage of the large ice sheet that covered the British Isles during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 years ago. The sheet, which subsumed most of Britain, Ireland and the North Sea, had an ice volume sufficient to raise global sea level by around 2.5 metres when it melted. 

Using the maps, researchers will be able to understand the mechanisms and rate of change of ice sheet retreat, allowing them to make predictions for our polar regions, whose ice sheets appear to be melting as a result of temperature increases in the air and oceans.

The maps are based on new information on glacial landforms, such as moraines and drumlins, which were discovered using new technology such as remote sensing data that is able to image the land surface and seafloor at unprecedented resolutions. 

Experts combined this new information with that from fieldwork, some of it dating back to the nineteenth century, to produce the final maps of retreat. 

It is also possible to use the maps to reveal exactly when land became exposed from beneath the ice and was available for colonisation and use by plants, animals and humans. This provides the opportunity for viewers to pinpoint when their town/region emerged. 

Professor Chris Clark, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, said: "It took us over 10 years to gather all the information in order to produce these maps, and we are delighted with the results. 

"It is great to be able to visualise the ice sheet and notice that retreat speeds up and slows down, and it is vital of course that we learn exactly why. With such understanding we will be able to better predict ice losses in Greenland and Antarctica. 

"In our next phase of work we hope to really tighten up on the timing and rates of retreat in more detail, by dropping tethered corers from a ship to extract seafloor sediments that can be radiocarbon dated."

From: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Researchers_Map_Out_Ice_Sheets_Shrinking_During_Ice_Age_999.html