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Synergy
Peter James Smith
My paintings gather together phases of scientific endeavour and
images of nature. The Polar Front is an attempt to present
scientific aspects truthfully from science’s perspective. The
painting is therefore designed, not to critique science, but to
bring the viewer on board to reveal the sense of wonder scientists
carry with them. The evident diagram is of the ocean currents south
of Tasmania and New Zealand. This chart with its associated notations
is taken directly from Steve Rintoul’s published paper, which
advances our understanding of the classifications, depths, flow
and directions of the ocean currents that comprise the vast reaches
of the Great Southern Ocean.
The title, The Polar Front, is an oceanographer’s term
for one of the currents of the Great Southern Ocean. More widely,
it refers to the edge of the inhospitable, to an understanding within
darkness, to a barrier that must be traversed — like the boundary
at the science/art interface.
Steve Rintoul
Peter’s painting captures the magic of the soft light illuminating
this isolated rock surrounded by the fierce Southern Ocean. His
work also conveys the wonder of scientists trying to understand
these remote and spectacular places. The Balleny group lies on the
imaginary boundary line of the Antarctic Circle, but also coincides
with a real oceanographic boundary between the permanently ice-covered
Antarctic waters to the south and the vast, stormy Southern Ocean
to the north. South of the islands, currents carry cold, dense water
westward from the Ross Sea. North of the islands, the Antarctic
Circumpolar Current carries huge amounts of water (150 million cubic
metres per second, equivalent to 2.5 million Derwent Rivers) eastwards
through the deep channel between the Ballenys and New Zealand.
The Circumpolar Current is made up of a number of individual current
streams, as shown in the sketch on the painting. One of these is
the Polar Front, from which the painting takes its name. The massive
flow of the Circumpolar Current is a key link in a global pattern
of ocean currents that controls the Earth’s climate. The goal
of our research is to understand the links between Southern Ocean
currents and climate, so that we are able to make reliable predictions
of future climate change and its impacts.
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The polar front, 2002 (detail).
Click on image for full view.
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