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Frozen History Dispatches


To the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA--- Today we go! Both McMurdo and WAIS Divide weather are permitting us to fly! Soon I will board a C-130 Hercules and fly for four hours (about 1,000 miles) to the middle of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet....



The Power of the Wind and Tides

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- The pressure ridges we explored here form where a large mass of sea ice buckles under pressure as it makes contact with land (in this case, Ross Island where McMurdo Station and Scott Base are located). It was like walking through a park of ice sculptures!...



The Best of the Seven Continents!

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- On November 18th, we actually got the go ahead to head south! Our C-17 airplane was ready and the weather at McMurdo had finally cleared...



Pack Those Bags…Tomorrow We Go!

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- We got all of gear organized and we are scheduled to fly to McMurdo Station, Antarctica tomorrow! This video gives you an idea of what we will be wearing...



New Zealand Adventures

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- Bad weather and a lack of flights to get camp set up, caused a week-long delay for five of us in Christchurch, New Zealand. We visited beaches, rainforest, and mountains...



9,000 Miles Down and 2,000 to Go

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- After long hours on the plane, crossing the international dateline, and lots of security checkpoints, I have finally traveled the first leg of my long journey!...



The Duffel Shuffle

FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA— We had our first day of snow here in Flagstaff, AZ and it was -5 °C, so I got a small reminder of what it is like to be cold! Not feeling my fingers was a gentle reminder that I better be well prepared for the temperatures at WAIS (West Antarctica Ice Sheet)...



Frozen History

Heidi Roop is part of a team more than 100 scientists collecting and analyzing a 2-mile-long (3.5-km-long) ice core from the West Antarctica Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide. The WAIS team estimates that this ice core will reveal climate changes that have happened as far back as 100,000 years, a time when woolly mammoths still walked the earth.