Detonation
WHILLANS ICE STREAM, ANTARCTICA-- These two videos show the detonation of our excess explosives, used for seismic surveys of the base of the glacier...
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Under the Glaciers Dispatches
Measuring a Glacier’s Motion
WHILLANS ICE STREAM, ANTARCTICA-- There are two basic projects that we are working on through our field work in Antarctica. One is looking at changes in the ice surface motion through time. To do this we make three types of GPS measurement...
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Setting Up Camp
WHILLANS ICE STREAM, ANTARCTICA-- The first order of business was to set up camp. First we collected all our gear at our chosen site and pitched our cook tent...
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Field Deployment
WHILLANS ICE STREAM, ANTARCTICA-- We landed at our field site after a three hour flight from McMurdo Station. Climbing out of the plane we were in a white flat expanse...
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On the Menu
MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- One of the necessary steps once arriving in McMurdo is going to the Food Room and collect all the food you will be bringing with you to the field...
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An Auspicious Start
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-- The adventure begins with shuttle ride to SFO (San Francisco International Airport). Already the interest and excitement for the work being done in the Antarctic has helped me along the way...
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One Month in the Deep Field, Part 5
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- For about a month, we worked every single day, taking turns cooking for each other (some meals more agreeable than others – there were some complaints about my dishes being too spicy!), sleeping in individual mountain tents...
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One Month in the Deep Field, Part 4
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- The other science component of the project is to image the subglacial lake underneath Whillans Ice Stream. To do this, we set off a series of explosions...
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One Month in the Deep Field, Part 3
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- We had fairly windy weather the whole time we were out, but were left tent-bound by a storm that lasted about three days. This was the coldest time out on the ice...
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One Month in the Deep Field, Part 2
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- We spent the first week or so in the deep field visiting GPS stations that were left out on the ice over-winter and setting out passive seismometers. Whillans Ice Stream behaves in a unique way – it slips twice a day in episodes that are linked to the tidal cycle...
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