Drilling Below Antarctica to Learn About Climates of the Past
Science educators on a research immersion experience with the Antarctic Geological Drilling Project (ANDRILL) will be sending in postcards while they are in Antarctica from October 2007 until January 2008. The project team is drilling into sedimentary rocks below the ice of the Ross ice shelf to help us learn more about the environmental changes that have affected the continent in the past.
Antarctica is unique. It is the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on Earth. The land is barren and mostly covered with a thick sheet of ice. Antarctica is almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle...more
Ice shelves are a part of the Earth's cryosphere. Ice shelves are usually extensions of glaciers or ice sheets that cover the land. An ice shelf is a part of an ice sheet that extends from land out over...more
I'm a New Zealand teacher. I teach geography to high school students before some of them go on to university. We try to teach as much geology and earth science as we can, and we go on lots of field trips....more
Robin Frisch-Gleason brings a background in both geology and teaching to the ANDRILL Project. Robin's first career was geology. She received her B.A. in Geology from Oberlin College in 1982, and her M.S....more
This is my 10th year with the Anchorage School District as a science teacher, currently working with K-12 teachers around the district rather than in a classroom. My most recent classroom time was as a...more
How Do We Know What's Underneath the Ice in Antarctica? After I sent my last postcard, someone asked me "How do you know what is underneath the ice in Antarctica?" I got the question just before I had...more
Imagine being in a remote field camp in Antarctica, set up on sea ice just two meters thick. What could scientists possibly be doing there? Well, a group of researchers just returned from such a project:...more