Ice Stories: Dispatches From Polar Scientists » Exploratorium Crew

Pure as the Driven Snow

Exploratorium Crew — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:44:30 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — (By Lisa Strong-Aufhauser) Even the snow on top of the Greenland ice sheet is not as pure as you’d think. Dr. Joe McConnell from the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, studies the impurities in the ice. He’s been able to identify and relate changes in the amount of pollutants in Greenland ice cores with changes in human technology – and environmental regulations.

I interviewed Joe at Summit Camp last July, on top of the Greenland ice sheet. We stood right next to an ice core bore hole that produced an important core in 1993. The Greenland Ice Sheet Project Two (GISP2) core gives science an ice record back 100,000 years. Joe’s team has done additional, higher resolution cores that go back 500 years to see how changes in pollutants might have affected climate and human health.

Joe’s research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in 2008. Click here to see the paper: http://www.pnas.org/content/105/34/12140.full

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The Sound of Ice

Exploratorium Crew — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:52:50 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA– (By Dia Felix and Wayne Grim) Terje Isungset is one of Europe’s most accomplished and innovative percussionists. With over two decades experience in jazz and Scandinavian music his work travels far beyond traditional boundaries. He’s become more like a cross between a sound artist and a shaman. Isungset crafts his own instruments from natural elements found in Norway such as arctic birch, granite, slate and even ice. We interviewed Terje as part of the Exploratorium Audio Salon series. Click below to listen.

Precision-carved ice wind chimes, drum, and rattlers. Photo courtesy of Terje Isungset.

Clockwise

Exploratorium Crew — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:38:49 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Why do the hands on clocks go “clockwise?” Seems like a circular definition, but if you looked closely at sundials in the northern hemisphere, you’d notice that the shadow of the sun moves around the sundial in a “clockwise” direction. This was adopted by clock-makers and became the standard we know today.

In the southern hemisphere, the sun’s shadow moves around the dial in the opposite direction, so if clocks had been invented there, our watches would move the other way.

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Black Island Panorama

Exploratorium Crew — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:40:42 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Black Island acts as the communication center for Antarctica. All Radio (HF and VHF), data (internet) and TV goes through this island before reaching the main U.S. base, McMurdo Station, a short 20-minute helicopter ride away. The two radomes (golfball like structures) each contain a large parabolic communications dish. The smaller contains a 7.2 meter dish and the larger contains an 11 meter dish that will be put into operation soon. The entire operation can be powered by the four wind generators and solar cells on the living quarter roof, but they also have diesel generator backups. Two people live here in the austral summer months to keep things running.

Click on the image below to open up the interactive, 360-degree panorama of Black Island.

Black Island panorama

Panoramic View of the South Pole

Exploratorium Crew — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:47:40 +0000

SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Both the new South Pole Station (the large grey building), and the old South Pole Station (the half-buried geodesic dome) can be seen in this panorama. You can see the ceremonial pole surrounded by flags and the true geographic South Pole about 100 yards away.

Click on the image below to open up the interactive, 360 degree panorama of the South Pole.

South Pole panorama

The Elves of McMurdo

Exploratorium Crew — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:59:48 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Mary Miller and John Weller) In the middle of an interview last Sunday, we were distracted by a mob of elves and Santas making the rounds at McMurdo station. John caught it all on video…

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McMurdo Studio Tour

Exploratorium Crew — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:47:29 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Lisa Strong-Aufhauser) You’ve seen parts of it during our live webcasts, but Mary and Ron give us a full tour of the Exploratorium webcast studio here at McMurdo Station. This won’t take long!

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Beneath the Bridge

Exploratorium Crew — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:16:30 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Sometimes, when walking around McMurdo Station, one can encounter some interesting things. When we walk from the cafeteria to our office in Crary Lab, we take a little bridge to get over some pipes. In over a week of crossing that bridge many times a day, I never noticed what was lurking beneath.

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Gorpmatic

Exploratorium Crew — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:56:06 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Solomon helps remote field camps with food. Today we found him making up one of the most important foods – gorp. Check out the cool tool he uses to mix the tasty treat.

For those who are unfamiliar, gorp – often called “trail mix” – is a combination of nuts, dried fruit, and M&M’s or chocolate chips. High energy and high calorie is just what the doctor orders for hard-working field workers.

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Foodstores

Exploratorium Crew — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:56:54 +0000

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– (By Ron Hipschman) Peggy Malloy is THE person you want to be friends with if you are going out into the field with decent food. She is responsible for the field camp food stores. People who are out in the field need to be supplied with food. LOTS of food! For short stays, this may mean pre-packaged things, but often these camps are out there for months. It would be cruel and unusual punishment to make these world-renowned researchers and their teams exist on beef jerky and melted snow (though you can get the jerky…), and they often rely an a well-stocked pantry to cook their own meals. Soups, seasonings, snacks and raw ingredients are often shipped into the field to be cooked into delicious meals. It’s extra important to have good meals in the field because the hard work and cold temperatures require lots of calorie replenishment and that won’t happen if the food doesn’t taste good.

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