Imagine a giant meat locker. Now imagine three of them in a row. That's where several kilometers of ice from the deep drilling projects at Vostok and Dome C of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica are stored outside of Grenoble, France. For my thesis work, I'm using these ice core records to reconstruct past climate conditions going back to 800,000 years ago. Unfortunately, by the time I started my thesis, these deep drilling projects were completed or nearly, so I didn't get a chance to make it out onto the ice. That's where the meat lockers come in. Several times a year I get to suit up and make my way past pallets of meat and cheese (this is France...

You can track the Polarstern research vessel in a number of ways as it traverses Antarctic waters. You can view the raw coordinate data here on www.sailwx.info's tracking map. You can also track it in Google Earth by downloading this constantly updated file from the SCAR MarBIN portal. The file in turn accesses position data from this page on the Polar View website, which al...

ATTENTION: News, Education Editors CONTACT: Tom Simons, University Communications, (402) 472-8514 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 19, 2006 -- The Antarctic Geological Drilling (ANDRILL) Program drilled to a new record depth of 1,000 meters below the seafloor from the site on the Ross Ice Shelf near Scott Base in Antarctica Dec. 16. The depth made ANDRILL the most successful Antarctic drilling program in terms of depth and rock core recovered, breaking the previous record of 999.1 meters set in 2000 by the Ocean Drilling Program's drill ship, the Joides Resolution. The operations team of 25 drillers, engineers and support staff are justifiably thrilled, ANDRILL Project Manager Jim Cowie said. Antarctica New Ze...

ANDRILLs ARISE Program is seeking educators with a broad background in science activities and professional involvement indicating excellence in science education. All applicants must have at least 3 years science teaching experience in a K-16 school or institution, not including the current school year. ARISE (Antarctic Research Immersion for Science Educators) is a component of the ANtarctic geological DRILLing (ANDRILL) Program, which seeks to understand the geologic history of Antarctica through the study of core samples and data recovered from drilling below the seafloor at sites beneath the ice shelf and sea ice. The ARISE goal is to raise public awareness of Antarctic scientific drilling and integrate polar geosciences content into a wide range of learning environme...

Argentina Chair: Dr. Mariano Memolli Instituto Antarctico Argentino Secretary and Contact Point: Dr. Sergio Marenssi Instituto Antarctico Argentino Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ Buenos Aires ARGENTINA Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Australia Chair: Prof Amanda Lynch Room S317a Menzies Building, School of Geography & Environmental Science Monash University Victoria 3800 Australia Email: ...

The sea near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, is -2° C, but the water is not frozen at that temperature. Why? In this activity, students can explore some of the properties of water and ice by making their own ice cream. MATERIALS: (per pair of students) 2 heavy duty ziploc bags per student—1 large and 1 small ½ cup milk 1 Tablespoon sugar ½ teapoon vanilla Ice salt 2 spoons 2 bowls DIRECTIONS: 1. Place the milk, vanilla and sugar in the small Ziploc bag and carefully close it, being sure there are no leaks. 2. Place the small bag inside the larger one. 3. Surround the small bag with ice to ½ the large bag capacity. 4. Give each pair of students a differen...

Water is a phenomenal molecule, and the International Polar Year offers an opportunity for us to revisit this element of life that we often take for granted, especially its crystalized and frozen state. Water is both remarkably simple (two parts hydrogen-- the first element in the universe, one part oxygen-- the eighth element) and amazingly complex; its behavior at the "triple-point," where it flickers between liquid, solid and gaseous phases, amazes even atomic physicists. Unlike other molecules, water is more dense in its liquid than solid states, which allows ice to float. Therefore, lifeforms can survive, even thrive, beneath the ice. Scientists studying global climate change and the impact of human activities on the climate and ecosystems pay particula...

Photo from Baffin Bay Do one or several of these investigations and think about the results. • Measure the temperature in the snow and compare with the temperature in the air. • Mix ice or snow with water in a beaker and measure the temperature. What will happen if you change the proportions of the mix? Try to explain. • Put ice or snow in a beaker. Measure the temperature. Pour salt in the beaker and stir. Do the temperature change? Why or why not? • Measure the air temperature with a common thermometer. Wrap a thin kitchen paper around the thermometer and make the paper wet. Does the temperature change? Wave the wet thermometer and make a new reading. Try to explain. Imagine if you are living in the Arctic. ...

The IPY is ambitious in scope and in scale. The IPY Programme Office has endorsed 99 projects with Antarctic or bipolar focus for the IPY. These projects encompass at least 350 research activities, of which 82% plan to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica. Of these activities, 105 (37%) activities are planning to leave behind physical infrastructure. To date, only two have completed any environmental impact assessments. The Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is conducting a project to enhance the environmental legacy of the IPY through outreach efforts to scientists, tourists and other visitors of Antarctica. We presented a poster on this subject at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, USA in December 2006. Our goal was to ra...

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