Journal

Well, we leave in two days, and I have to tell you, things are getting busy. It's a little tough trying to keep everything straight (what to print, pack, leave behind, etc.). So while I'm trying to figure all that out, why don't you read a little excerpt from 'The Antarctic Sun' about our upcoming trip. . .

From 'The Antarctic Sun':

Finding a glaciologist excited to talk about the weird and puzzling behavior of a glacier during a meeting of scientists focused on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet isn’t very hard.

Except the conversation is about Byrd GlacierA mass of ice that persists for many years and notably deforms and flows under the influence of gravity., a massive river of ice that cuts through the Transantarctic Mountains and drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Ross Ice Shelf.

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is the higher and colder cousin of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which many researchers see as more vulnerable to changes in climate that could send more ice into the ocean, raising sea level. Nothing all that interesting happens in East Antarctica, right?

Read the full story (http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/science/contenthandler.cfm?id=2286)

Helheim Glacier in Greenland
Glaciologist Leigh Stearns lands on Helheim Glacier in Greenland by helicopter in 2008. She and a team of researchers will employ similar methods to study Byrd Glacier in East Antarctica, which has displayed interesting behavior in the past. Photo by Gordon Hamilton.

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