Follow information about this Center at the COLDEX webpage University of Washington press release here Continue reading
Category Archives: Antarctica
SPICE ice
The next major US-led drilling program is going to be at the South Pole for an intermediate-depth ice core (to ~1500 meters depth and ~40 ka). The drilling will start this southern hemisphere summer — progress will be posted as the drilling begins. Low annual average temperature (-50˚C) and relatively high accumulation rate (8 cm … Continue reading
2013-2014 season synopsis
We arrived to CTAM by LC-130 on December 9, 2013 after a few days on hold in McMurdo. The put-in to action came as a surprised as we started the day listed in red on the flight board, but we came ready quick when it went green. We had to wait three nights at CTAM … Continue reading
Ground-based radar
The ground-based radar system we used is a coherent system; it records a time-domain voltage induced in the receiving antennas, and thus preserves both the phase and the amplitude of the echoes. The transmitted pulse is +/- 2000 volts and the center frequency of the mono-pulse depends on the lengths chosen for the antennas, which … Continue reading
Ice-shelf seismics
During the 2012 season we conducted active and passive seismics on Beardmore Glacier, about 30 km upstream from the grounding line. During this season (2013-2014), we conducted seismic experiments on the Ross Ice Shelf a few km downstream of the Beardmore Glacier. Paul installs GPS receiver (background) and Max installs a passive … Continue reading
Transantarctic outlet glacier dynamics
Work on Beardmore Glacier, an outlet glacier in the Transantarctic mountains, has been funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs. I am part of this research project, led by Twit Conway (UW) and Paul Winberry (Central Washington University). Recent observations of rapid changes in discharge of fast-flowing outlet glaciers and ice streams … Continue reading
Put in: soon
I was optimistic for a timely put-in to our field work, but not unexpectedly we are waiting a few days for weather, planes, and destiny to cooperate. This gives time to reminisce about last year’s put in. First we will go to a location called “Central Transantarctic Mountains”, or CTAM. This was a base of … Continue reading
Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica… nearly there (again)
Our team is ready and waiting in McMurdo for our second field season on the Beardmore Glacier. Last year we were about 30 km from the grounding line of this massive glacier moving East Antarctic ice through the Transantarctic Mountains and into the Ross Ice Shelf. This year we will be positioned near the grounding … Continue reading
McMurdo Station and surroundings
We have been and are still waiting in McMurdo Station for our flight to Beardmore Glacier. While waiting, I have a chance to put together some blog posts! The station has some highlights: interesting walks, interesting people, and interesting history. We went to visit Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery hut near the station. Built in … Continue reading