Icebreakers Aff

1AC
Plan: The Unites States federal government should substantially increase the
National Science Foundations Antarctic icebreaking capabilities.

Climate Change
The federal oceanographic fleets needs ship modernization now or faces
inability to research
Cressey 13 (Daniel, Reporter, London. Daniel joined Nature in 2007. He reports on chemistry, nanoscience,
materials, business, US science fleet's future is far from ship-shape pg online at http://www.nature.com/news/usscience-fleet-s-future-is-far-from-ship-shape-1.13164//sd)

The icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer of the US Antarctic Program is part of a rapidly shrinking
fleet. They already have to contend with cruel seas and crueler grant reviewers, but American
marine scientists may face an even bigger problem: barring major investment, the federal
oceanographic fleet is going to be down to half its current size by 2026. At the end of May, the
White House released an assessment of the vessels run by its various agencies for research and
survey work. It shows a fleet battered by multiple issues. Government pressure on budgets has
led to a number of ships being sold or mothballed, staffing costs have increased and fuel costs
for research ships have risen fourfold since 2003. The community is deeply concerned that the
ability to go to sea will be significantly reduced in the next decade, as research ships are retired
or laid up, says Mark Abbott, dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at
Oregon State University in Corvallis. The average age of the ships is more than 23 years, and
many are scheduled to retire in the coming years. Unless new vessels are built, the total number
of vessels available to scientists will plummet (see graph). Abbott, who is president of the
Oceanography Society based in Rockville, Maryland, says that the community is also concerned
by the rising costs of operating ocean facilities, which restrict the money available for science.
Not all news about the fleet is bad. The Sikuliaq, a new vessel for use in polar regions, has been
funded, and two research ships are being built by the US Navy. The Neil Armstrong and the Sally
Ride will be operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, respectively. But these vessels,
even if they enter service as scheduled, will not be sufficient to stem the decline of the fleet.
More help could come from the National Science Foundation, which is looking into
commissioning another three ships, currently called the Regional Class Research Vessels. But no
decision on whether these will actually be built has yet been taken. Fleet renewal efforts cant
stop with these acquisitions, says Clare Reimers, a marine biochemist at Oregon State
University and chair of the Fleet Improvement Committee run by the University-National
Oceanographic Laboratory System, which coordinates ship schedules and research. Reimers says
that the community is is quite concerned about the lack of growth in support for the core
disciplinary research and facilities but that some decrease in fleet capacity is viewed as
necessary to make way for more capable, modern vessels. The more aged parts of the fleet lack
features crucial for much research, such as the ability to stay exactly in position at sea. So a
decline in numbers may be in part offset by an increase in the capabilities of those vessels in
service. The report states that modernization efforts mean that there will be nine retirements
and six additional ships in the fleet up to 2022. With the introduction of highly advanced ships
and the retirement of older, less-capable vessels, the Fleet will become more efficient and
capable of supporting stakeholders demands over the next decade, it says. However, after
2022, the Fleet will experience a reduction in size and capacity due to several vessels nearing
their projected end of service life. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the number of
requests for ship time on the academic fleet also seems to be declining. However, demand still

outstrips supply, and this disparity is likely to worsen. I foresee a continued demand for ships,
consistent with what its been in the past several decades, says David Checkley, a marine
scientist at Scripps. The decline in fleets thats projected is worrisome. We need an investment
that is congruent with very large projects that governments undertake if were to continue to
study the oceans.

NSF Icebreakers are key to research

Bement 6 (ARDEN L. BEMENT JR., DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, U.S.
REPRESENTATIVE FRANK LOBIONDO (R-NJ) HOLDS A HEARING ON THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF
SCIENCE ICEBREAKER REPORT pg online at proquestsd)
The Arctic and Antarctic are premier natural laboratories. Their extreme environments and
geographically unique ANDof polar icebreaker and ice-strengthened vessel services for
scientific research purposes.

Well isolate two impacts

Antarctic research is necessary to understand climate change and adopt best
mitigation and adaptation strategies
NRC 11 (Committee on Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean;
National Research Council, Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern
Ocean, The National Academies Press, 2011. Pg online at
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13169//sd)
Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean remains one of the worlds last frontiers.
Covering
AND
, an important step toward understanding present climate and predicting future climate change.

Antarctica is a biodiversity hotspot

Griffith 2010, (Huw Griffiths created and manages SOMBASE, the Southern Ocean Molluscan
Database. He represents BAS on the SCAR-MarBIN steering committee and is an active
participant in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life. His interests include large-scale biogeographic
and ecological patterns in space and time. His focus has been on molluscs, bryozoans and
pycnogonids as model groups to investigate trends at high southern latitudes. He completed a
PhD in Southern Ocean marine biogeography with the British Antarctic Survey and Open
University, Antarctic Marine Biodiversity What Do We Know About the Distribution of Life in
the Southern
Ocean?, http://www.plosone.org/article/info3Adoi2F10.13712Fjournal.pone.0011683#s3 ,hss
-RJ)Groups that are clearly underrepresented in existing databases include the species-rich
nematodes, ANDshow the highest levels of benthic sampling and the highest numbers of
species.

Damaging hotspots risks global extinction.

C.I. 14
(Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in
Arlington, Virginia. FWIW, it is right near the Georgetown camp and we may visit them. CI is one
of the largest conservation organizations headquartered in the United States, though its field
work is done in other countries. It has 900+ employees, more than 30 global offices, and more
than 1,000 partners around the world. CI has evolved into an international organization with
influence among governments, scientists, charitable foundations, and business Hotspots
http://www.conservation.org/How/Pages/Hotspots.aspx)
To stem this crisis, we must protect the places where biodiversity lives. But
AND
of the ecosystem services that vulnerable human populations depend on.,

Adaptation strategies create resilience to prevent ecosystem collapse

Doney, 8-(Senior Scientist Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution) Scott Doney, The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and
Monitoring Act: H.R. 4174 Written testimony presented to the Committee on Science and
Technology, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, United States House of Representatives
6/ 5/08, http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8916andtid=282andcid=43766,{seakitten} Major
gaps exist in our current scientific understanding, limiting our ability to forecast the AND) to
increase ecosystem resiliency as well as local-scale mitigation efforts.

Second- Antarctic research unlocks resistant species for new medicinal

genomics
NRC 11
(Committee on Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean; National
Research Council, Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, The
National Academies Press, 2011. Pg online at
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13169//sd)
Organisms native to Antarctica have evolved characteristics that allow them to thrive in the
regions
AND
survive and prosper in the frigid and inhospitable Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments.

Mutating viruses coming. We should maximize knowledge from medicinal

biodiversity to lower the risks.
McNeely 6 Jeffrey A McNeely Chief Scientist IUCN. Gland. Switzerland from the chapter
Risks to People of Losing Medicinal Species from the book Conserving medicinal species :
securing a healthy future p. 22-24
Human diseases, and the species to treat them, are influenced profoundly by the
AND
biodiversity would seem a sound risk-adverse strategy in maintaining future options.

Those outbreaks risk extinction.

Yule 13 (et al; Jeffrey V. Yule Herbert McElveen Professor of Applied and Natural
Sciences At the School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, Published April 2nd
Humanities 2013, 2, 147159; doi:10.3390/h2020147)
Since the 1940s, humans in industrialized nations have been relatively sheltered from the threat
AND
not, and the potential failure of our species has considerable biological implications.

We have the tech for research, its a matter of accessibilitymore icebreakers

are key
NRC 11 (Committee on Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean;
National Research Council, Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern
Ocean, The National Academies Press, 2011. Pg online at
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13169//sd)
Advances related to energy and technology have the potential to facilitate scientific research in
Antarctica
AND
fuel and materials, can be met by secure and reliable icebreaking capacity.

ATS
Presently the US is reliant on non-US icebreakers, this puts the US commitment
to Antarctica in jeopardy
USAP= US Antarctic Program
Augustine, 12- (Chair of the U.S. Antarctic program Blue Ribbon Panel, compiled report)
Norman Augustine, More and Better Science in Antarctica Through Increased Logistical
Effectiveness, p. July 2012
http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/usap_special_review/usap_brp/rpt/antarctica_07232012.pdf,{seak
itten} The U.S. inventory of icebreakers relevant to McMurdo resupply operations is effectively
ANDS. government, preferably an icebreaker owned and operated by the USCG.

That threatens Antarctic Treaty stability.

Augustine, 12- (Chair of the U.S. Antarctic program Blue Ribbon Panel, compiled report)
Norman Augustine, More and Better Science in Antarctica Through Increased Logistical
Effectiveness, p. July 2012
http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/usap_special_review/usap_brp/rpt/antarctica_07232012.pdf,{seak
itten} Setting aside the ambiguities associated with the federal budgeting process, logistics
planning in Antarctica ANDrunway and ice pier construction and thereby impact both air and
sea operations.

The Treaty is key to providing a framework to solve the South China Sea
conflict.
Shicun and Hong, 14- (Shicun is President of the China National Institute for the South China
Sea Studies, a sole national-level think-tank in China specializing in South China Sea studies. His
research focuses on history and geography on the South China Sea, ocean boundary
delimitation, international relations and regional security issues. Nong Hong is Assistant
President at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), with responsibility for
the NISCSS Beijing Office, Hong has a PhD, Deputy Director. Research Center for Oceans Law
and Policy. National Institute for South China Sea Studies) Wu Shicun and Nong Hong, Recent
Developments in the South China Sea Dispute: The Prospect of a Joint Development Regime, p.
237, 2014, Routledge Publisher-Google Books,{seakitten}In the Baltic Sea, marine scientists
have been involved in various forms of cooperation ANDThus, the Antarctic Treaty guarantees
the collective governance of the Antarctic Ocean.

Military escalation and miscalc in the SCS is likely

Glaser, 12- (senior fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies and a senior associate with
the Pacific Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies) Bonnie S. Glaser, Armed Clash
in the South China Sea Contingency Planning Memorandum No. 14 Council on Foreign
Relations , April 2012, http://www.cfr.org/world/armed-clash-south-chinasea/p27883,{seakitten}The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is significant. China,

TaiwanANDintensifying bilateral strategic competition would likely make managing such a

crisis more difficult.

Extinction
Wittner, 11-( Emeritus Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany)
Lawrence S. Wittner, "Is a Nuclear War With China Possible?", Huntington News, 11/18/11,
www.huntingtonnews.net/14446,{seakitten }While nuclear weapons exist, there remains a
danger that they will be used. ANDdestroying agriculture, creating worldwide famine, and
generating chaos and destruction.

Ice breakers are key to year-round polar presence thats key to future
Antarctic cooperative initiatives
Spotts 5
(Peter, staff writer for Christian Science Monitor, Icebreakers - on thin ice ; It is a priority to
shore up the old US fleet as research demands grow, scientists say pg online at
proquestsd)Yet the ships' importance is expected to grow as climate change turns the ocean at
ANDUS researchers to take part in international work, researchers say.