CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- We’ve made three trips, by helicopter, to Beaufort Island this season. Usually we can’t do this until the end of the season, because the McMurdo helos don’t fly over open water and a ship is not available until the end. It’s a 40 minute helo ride and a 6 hour boat ride. This year, though, fast ice extends out to Beaufort... {Read More »}

Carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless gas that makes up .04 percent of the earth’s atmosphere. It’s released by the breakdown of organic materials, by animals when they respire, and by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide isn't toxic—after all, we exhale it with every breath and use it to make our drinks fizzy. However, as a greenhouse gas, it’s a significant contributor to global warming. {Read More »}

Maria Vernet is a marine scientist from Scripps Oceanographic Institute who studies plankton off the Antarctic Peninsula of West Antarctica. As one of the project leaders for the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research project, Maria has participated in many of the projects’ 14 yearly research cruises. {Read More »}

One of the largest questions in northern archaeology concerns the Thule people, ancestors to modern Iñupiaq people. How did the Thule people come to be in Alaska? Why did they spread rapidly to Greenland and Canada? {Read More »}