How is the Antarctic like a living laboratory that helps us learn about the past, present and the future?
Antarctica is indeed like a living laboratory that helps us learn about the past, present and future. We learn about the past by studying how the continents were formed six hundred and fifty million years ago. We learn about Gondwana and how things were different then. We also learn about how the climate was warmer, and how there was a huge variety of flora and fauna. Additionally, we get to learn about the formation of the continents, the rocks, the significance of Cordilleran folds, and pre-Cambrian granite shields; the ozone and carbon; evolution and extinction of species. An examination of ice-core samples can provide us with half a million-year-old records of carbon deposits which in turn tell us about the annual global temperature corresponding to each sample.
Antarctica is a living laboratory because it is pristine, untouched by pollution, industries and even man. By studying Antarctica we can see how 'unmitigated burning of fossil fuels has...created a blanket of carbon dioxide around the world, which is slowly but surely increasing the average global temperature. Thus Antarctica can tell us about the present and how healthy it is. The prognosis is not good!
A study of Antartica can give us a glimpse into the future. Study of ice core samples can to a great extent provide us with data that can help us predict future temperature spikes. Moreover, increasing global warming could cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to melt, this could cause a disruption of the Gulf stream ocean current. Should this happen, it could result in the end of the world.
Clearly, therefore, Antarctica is a living laboratory from which we can learn about the Earth's past, present and future.
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