The bedrock beneath West Antarctica is rising rapidly in response to the ongoing ice melt of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, according to an international team of researchers, who indicated that their results have important implications for estimating future ice sheet stability and projections of ice mass losses.
Don Voigt knows something about extremes. As a longtime research associate for Penn State’s Ice and Climate Exploration group, he spent a good bit of his working life in proximity to the North and South Poles. In all, Voigt logged 18 seasons in Antarctica, seven in Greenland and two on the Juneau Ice Field in Alaska. Shortly before he retired in September, Voigt shared some reflections from a career on ice.
A Penn State scientist is creating numerical models to predict how the Antarctic ice sheets may change in the future and affect the Earth's climate.
A team at the South Pole is using GPU technology to research neutrinos submerged deep in the ice.
A new type of wireless seismometer is being developed to help Penn State scientists better understand climate change in Antarctica.
Antarctica's recent summer season was a success for the Penn State researchers who camped out on the ice for nearly two months. Their efforts are part of a National Science Foundation-funded project to better understand melting that is happening on the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, an extension of the Antarctic ice sheet. The Penn State team is in charge of mapping the ocean cavity beneath the ice shelf.
Photos from the Antarctic expedition of the 15-member TAMSEIS team, led by Penn State researchers Sridhar Anandakrishnan and Andy Nyblade, and Doug Wiens of Washington University in St. Louis. For more information see www.rps.psu.edu/antarctica/index.html
Geography professor Derrick Lampkin will do fieldwork in Antarctica this month (December) to study the unique and isolated ecosystem of the Dry Valleys and how it is affected by climate change. Historically, there has been little melt, but in recent years, scientists have seen melting on the surface, "which they suspect comes from three sources: glaciers, melt from permafrost, and snow that melts instead of turning into water vapor," he said.
"Although they are vastly different today, millions of years ago, Antarctica and Australia had very similar ecosystems because they used to be connected."
--Peter Wilf, associate professor of geosciences, at the Research Unplugged discussion on Wednesday, April 7. Research Unplugged is an informal lecture series hosted by Penn State's Office of Research Publications and held at noon Wednesdays in Penn State's Downtown Theatre Center. The afternoon begins with a brief introduction of the topic, followed by an open floor for questions, comments and discussion. The event is free to the public. Complimentary coffee and light refreshments are served. For information, visit http://www.rps.psu.edu/unplugged/.
The massive ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica are shrinking: According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, summer melt on the Greenland ice increased by 30 percent from 1979 to 2006. Though the situation in Antarctica is less clear, scientists are also seeing loss of mass there, particularly in the fragile West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
One major threat of planetary warming is the melting of the great polar ice sheets. Particularly worrisome to researchers is the fragility of the West Antarctic ice sheet, or WAIS. David Pollard, a senior research scientist at Penn State, and Robert M. DeConto, professor of climatology at the University of Massachusetts, have created a computer model of WAIS's last 5 million years. "One of the next steps is to determine if human activity will make it warm enough to start the collapse," said Pollard.
Christine Olarte, an environmental resource management major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, spent the ultimate white Christmas in the far southern latitudes last winter. For three weeks -- from Dec. 21, 2008, to Jan. 11 -- the current senior from Harrisburg enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime Yuletide experience in the land of ice and snow.
How did you first become interested in your specialty?
I had just finished my MS in Electrical Engineering and was working on a PhD in EE when I saw a job advertised to go to Antarctica and work on a glacier. I immediately applied and took a year's leave from my studies. When I got back I was so excited about Antarctica that I switched my studies to Geosciences.
What is the most exciting or fascinating part of your job?
