by Amy Wolf
杏吧原创 professor and undergraduate Andrew Grant are taking immersion to an extreme, trekking all the way to Antarctica.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hunting for the oldest ice that anyone鈥檚 ever found,鈥� said Grant.
A small crew spent more than a month living in tents far beyond Antarctica鈥檚 , in the remote trans-Antarctic mountains, studying ice and how it has changed over hundreds of thousands of years.
鈥淚’m really interested in climate change and how it actually impacts the ice,鈥� said Morgan, senior lecturer in earth and environmental sciences. 鈥淭hen we examine the record that that ice leaves on the landscape because it plays a really important role in how Earth’s systems function.鈥�
The researchers used a special tool to drill deep into the frozen tundra and bring back to campus samples of ice, rock, gas and possibly frozen creatures.
鈥淚ce is a really good record of what was happening on Earth in the past,” Morgan said. “It collects air bubbles of what the atmosphere was like and the chemistry of the water that makes up the ice changes due to temperature.鈥�
Ninety percent of the world鈥檚 ice is in Antarctica.
Once in a lifetime experience
Grant, a St. Paul, Minnesota, native and earth and environmental sciences major, said he was ready for an extreme hands-on experience.
鈥淭he more I thought about it, the more I wanted to kind of disconnect from technological society for a bit and do something that鈥檚 meaningful,鈥� said Grant.
Morgan has undergrads help plan the research trip, prepare for field work, collect samples and then analyze the samples back in the lab.
鈥淲e need the next generation to start thinking about Antarctica,鈥� Morgan said. 鈥淕et invested and care about how it fits in to the Earth’s system and what an important role it plays in shaping how our Earth may change in the next few hundred years.鈥�
Silent night
Beyond the research, Grant says the landscape of Antarctica itself and the unbelievable stillness will always stay with him.
鈥淲e were in austral summer, so the sun was up 24/7,鈥� said Grant. 鈥淚t was surreal if you woke up in the middle of the night.鈥�
But the absolute quiet definitely took him out of his comfort zone.
鈥淭he first couple of nights camping away from the larger base camp we were little freaky because it was so completely quiet and we鈥檙e so used to sound,” Grant said. “If it was windy and no one was walking around, it was so silent that you could just hear your heart beating in your ear. Definitely an experience I鈥檒l never forget.鈥�
