Contents


Preface

*Antarctica* is the key to understanding the past and present status of Earth's systems, as well as predicting future facts about our planet as viewed from the polar region. Antarctica, composed of an ice-covered continent at its center and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, has been investigated during the last half century by researchers from a variety of scientific branches, including bioscience, the physical sciences, geoscience, oceanography, and environmental studies, together with the technological domain. This book covers recent developments in the scientific research in and around Antarctica, with a view to monitor current variations in the extreme environment, effects from the remarkable changes in temperature and sea-ice extent, the mass loss of ice sheets and glaciers, and variations in marine and

**Masaki Kanao**

Tokyo, Japan

**Genti Toyokuni**

Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

**Masa-yuki Yamamoto**

Kami-shi, Kochi, Japan

Kochi University of Technology,

Department of Geophysics,

National Institute of Polar Research,

terrestrial ecosystems, including human activities.
