There is some great content online about how to tackle the challenge of inferring climate history on Mars from polar ice deposits, and what future missions may be required to get the data needed to do this: http://kiss.caltech.edu/workshops/polar/polar2.html (Check out great videos from first workshop) It was a very interesting and enriching experience to be … Continue reading
This is the first season of a new collaborative research project on Characterization of upstream ice and firn dynamics affecting the South Pole Ice Core (SPICE). Details about the SPICE core can be found here: http://spicecore.org/ Our team from University of Washington includes Howard Conway, T.J. Fudge, Ed Waddington, and Max Stevens, and team members … Continue reading
Here is a link to an Eos article about a recent workshop on Instruments for Polar Studies: https://eos.org/meeting-reports/what-instruments-are-available-for-polar-studies Here are links to information about some of this equipment, and some other useful instruments: Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS): ground-based scanning LiDAR to characterize cm to meter-scale topography. http://www.riegl.com/products/terrestrial-scanning/ Gamma Portable (aka Terrestrial) Radar Interferometry … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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