Ice Stories: Dispatches From Polar Scientists » Trans Fat, Algae and Arctic Climate Change http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:40:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Diamond Hunters Stole Our Helicopter! http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/diamond-hunters-stole-our-helicopter/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/diamond-hunters-stole-our-helicopter/#comments Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:11:08 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=525 KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– A Canadian resource exploration company, Hudson Resources Inc., has been searching for diamonds in Greenland for years. Unfortunately, they found some not far from Kangerlussuaq. This is a big problem for scientists who had planned on chartering helicopter time to conduct their research. There is only one helicopter in Kangerlussuaq this summer and it has been effectively grounded by the diamond company, leaving scientists and logistics coordinators to frantically rearrange their field plans.

We were scheduled to use the helicopter (for less than one hour!) to bring our field equipment into our study sites. Hudson Resources said NO (repeatedly) while the helicopter sat unused in the airport hangar for days at a time. Nobody is quite sure why Hudson was willing to pay to keep the helicopter grounded rather than letting scientists pick up part of the tab. The helicopter grounding has once again proven that flexibility is key to a successful field season in Greenland. Check out this video to see how we managed to get all our science and camp gear out to our sites.



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Thanks to Jonathan Nichols for the footage from our 2006 coring trip of the helicopter taking off from an ice-covered lake.

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Limno Toolkit http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/limno-toolkit/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/limno-toolkit/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:36:05 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=462 KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– Limnology is the study of freshwater systems, like lakes.

We’ve been doing modern limnological sampling to better understand why the haptophyte algae (the producers of biological thermometers) fare so well in our Greenlandic study lakes… it’s still a mystery.

We sit on a rubber boat (a Zodiac) making measurements and taking different kinds of samples. Have a look at this video to see us recover sediment samples from last season, and get introduced to some of the equipment we use to sample water, algae and sediment.



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Peregrine Falcons http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/peregrine-falcons/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/peregrine-falcons/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:03:00 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=442 NEAR KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– My spirits were high hiking out from the back lakes, a solo half-day walk. We’d found more suspicious algae in a lake where I hadn’t expected them to be and this find throws a curveball into my ideas of what the algae need in order to bloom. Slowing your pace, exploring new places and taking a closer look at things always helps you learn something new in the field.

Already feeling good, I happened upon a Peregrine Falcon scrape. Two falcons, not too thrilled that I was passing by their cliff-side nest, began circling and screaming to chase me off. These amazing birds of prey were once endangered due to the use of pesticides like DDT. After the ban on DDT, and with the aid of protection and reintroduction efforts by people, Peregrine numbers have rebounded. This is a nice example of how people can change simple practices to protect other members of the Earth System.

In this video, listen for the sound of Wheatears (songbirds) chirping and yipping in the foreground.



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Getting to the Back Lakes: Crossing LimnaeaSo http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/getting-to-the-back-lakes-crossing-limneaso/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/getting-to-the-back-lakes-crossing-limneaso/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:43:43 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=429 KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– For the first few days of field work, I was joined by collaborators N. John Anderson and Chris Barry from the UK. I took advantage of the extra muscle to get to some lakes I wouldn’t have otherwise.

You learn the most about a region by exploring new places, and our trip to the “back lakes” was extremely enlightening. Watch us begin our walkabout by boating across a lake called LimnaeaSo.



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Alkenones: Natural Thermometers http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/alkenones-natural-thermometers/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/alkenones-natural-thermometers/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:23:12 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=419 KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– To understand how Earth’s climate system has changed over time, we need to find, develop and use natural recorders of temperature and precipitation.

One natural thermometer comes in the form of alkenones: trans-fats produced by certain algae. The alkenone thermometer is already used to reconstruct sea surface temperatures from ocean sediments. My research aims to extend their use to lakes, so we can reconstruct continental temperatures as well.

Watch this video to see how this biological thermometer works.



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Getting to Greenland http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/getting-to-greenland/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/getting-to-greenland/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:43:34 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=415 KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– We start our Greenland field season with the 109th wing of the Air National Guard, who pack us along with our gear into C-130 cargo planes. Come fly the friendly skies.


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Lake Coring in Greenland & NYC http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/lake-coring-in-greenland-and-nyc/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/lake-coring-in-greenland-and-nyc/#comments Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:32:38 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=280 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND– Lake sediments are perfect for investigating past environments and climate change. But when your study lake is frozen over and the sediments lie more than 100 feet down, extracting them takes some ingenuity. Here’s how we do it and what it might look like on 5th Avenue.


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IPY: The Next Generation, Pt. 2 http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ipy-the-next-generation-pt-2/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ipy-the-next-generation-pt-2/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:38:04 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=261 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND– In May 2008, I attended the Next Generation of Polar Researchers Symposium : an IPY workshop for young polar scientists.

Early career researchers involved with different types of research in the Arctic and Antarctic were able to discuss research ideas with one another and form partnerships for future scientific collaboration.

We are the polar scientists of tomorrow (and today) and we all have ideas we’d like to put into action.

To get a feel for some of the questions motivating young polar scientists, have a look at this video. I simply asked each workshop participant to tell me (in one sentence!) what they hope to understand through their research.



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IPY: The Next Generation http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ipy-the-next-generation/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ipy-the-next-generation/#comments Sat, 31 May 2008 22:09:03 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=209 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND– You might not know this (most people don’t,) but 2007-2008 is an International Polar Year (IPY). More than 60 countries, including the U.S., have developed large-scale polar research projects that rely heavily on international coordination and collaboration.


The IPY 2007-2008 logo.

This is the fourth IPY. The first was in 1882-83, the second 1932-33, and the last– 50 years ago in the height of the Cold War– was called the IGY, or International Geophysical Year. Because of the momentum and scope of the International Polar Year (think Olympics of Earth Science, but with all the countries on the same team,) IPY research tends to be big, bold, creative and transformative. That is, IPY research tends to fundamentally change the way we understand our planet.


Sgt. Winfield Jewell reading meteorological observations at Fort Conger, Greenland, during the first IPY. Taken August, 1882.

Maybe you’ve heard of the ‘Keeling Curve’? It’s the graph that shows continuous measurements of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere since 1957. This is a graph that everyone should see, because it represents actual measurements which clearly show the rapid increase in CO2 concentrations in our atmosphere over the past 50 years.


The Keeling Curve.

In 1957, during the last International Polar Year, a young postdoctoral researcher named Charles David Keeling proposed to measure the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Fifty years later, the Keeling Curve is a major piece of the scientific puzzle which shows us that burning fossil fuels increases atmospheric CO2 concentrations.


Dr. Keeling reading his graphs at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The CO2 measurements, in Keeling’s words, also showed “for the first time nature’s withdrawing CO2 from the air for plant growth during summer and returning it each succeeding winter.” He was talking about the annual ups and downs seen in the graph (the little zig-zags on the red line, and the “s” shape of the inset graph.) Atmospheric CO2 dips as trees put on leaves (Earth breathes in) and rises again after they fall off (Earth breathes out.)

Those of us who want to better understand the Earth have tremendous respect for Dr. Keeling’s legacy and for the scientific foresight that can fundamentally change the way we understand our planet.

In May 2008, I attended the Next Generation of Polar Researchers Symposium – an IPY workshop for young polar scientists. Early career researchers (just like Charles David Keeling during the last IPY) involved with different types of research in the Arctic and Antarctic were able to discuss research ideas with one another and form partnerships for future scientific collaboration. We are the polar scientists of tomorrow (and today) and we all have ideas we’d like to put into action just as Keeling did 50 years ago.


A 1958 U.S. Postage stamp commemorating the International Geophysical Year.

To get a feel for some of the questions motivating young polar scientists, I asked each workshop participant to tell me (in one sentence!) what they hope to understand through their research. Look for that video clip in my next dispatch.

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Why Paleoclimate? http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/why-paleoclimate/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/why-paleoclimate/#comments Mon, 19 May 2008 17:31:09 +0000 Billy D'Andrea http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches-new/?p=155 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND– Here’s an example of something that inspires me to try to reconstruct past climate.

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