Antarctica Ice Education
Much value can only be given to what is inside the plastic vials and bags by someone who has been intensively trained. With such specimens originating from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica the scientists will truly be kept busy for long. One mud sample, according to a college senior, can lead to a multitude of information. Antarctica was visited by people belonging to one college and a university that received funding from the National Science Foundation and this college senior was part of it. For these schools, traveling for research is something ordinarily done. Go to this site for further information on travel to antarctica.
It was in early February when the group left on a research vessel from Punta Arenas Chile. It was on the east of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen Ice Shelf, where they first stopped and it was an unfamiliar place. No one had ever been in those waters said another senior student. Using sonar to measure the depth of the ocean, the boat moved slowly. Water and sediment samples not to mention video footage were all gathered by the students and researchers from the deck. Decades may pass before the samples are analyzed completely.
Considering modern global warming, they will be evaluating mud from its water content to the overall composition to make a possible correlation. Students said the trip was the opportunity of a lifetime. Such a trip offers a face to face encounter with life, according to a student. This student, who is a native of Scotland, plans to study global warming in graduate school. There is no problem with her having to spend the rest of her life on a ship says one student who will be at one university’s school of Oceanography next year.
The group did well even when they experienced harsh weather conditions in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s like Upstate New York really. Never mind the cold days if the sun rose and set at 430 am and 930 pm respectively. When you look out the window, the brightness can make it rather painful. No day passed without science even with the lacking civilization. For the students, shifts ran from midnight to noon or the other way around. When they are on off days, students could either watch movies in the group lounge or sleep on the bunk beds. You will find that further information on antarctica trip is on that site.
This does not mean that there were no rules. If something big happens, wake the rest of the seniors. Not only did one senior student need to go to an emperor penguin but she also needed to check out a surface volcano. Instead of sleeping you want to be on your toes, said the Dryden native. You’d want to encounter everything. One of her best experiences here involved a trip to Vega Island. What she said was that being able to go to where only 10 people have been to is unbelievable.
Resulting in five weeks of missed classes for the students was the trip. The hectic schedules they were given plus the environmental safety conditions in their vessel prevented them from getting all of their schoolwork done. There is a bigger challenge when the ship is constantly moving. There was not much communication allowed for the people back home. Still a closeness was established with the students and faculty due to the absence of distractions and close quarters. A student saw it as the lack of an escape. Not only the desolate area but also the extreme environment will really make you close.
When they returned to the United States, they carried the samples in coolers with each of the mud and rock specimens having documents for the customs officials. Carried by a student were 323 digital pictures plus five rolls of film. Experiencing the surroundings was what another student who participated in last year’s exploration chose to do. You have to live the experience. Awareness is best when it comes to your environment.
