Hello, Jeff!
What a great couple of videos of the penguins and the whales! You obviously had a blast!
I was amazed at the idea of testing the Antarctic ice for soot from pollution. The experiment seems so simple and elegant! My question is, how will they know the soot (if that's what they find) is from pollution, and not, say, from nearby Mt. Erebus? I would think the combination of things might be determined to match, say, some sort of biochemical "fingerprint"?
I can't remember off the top of my head which direction the polar winds circulate in the south. I'm guessing the opposite of the polar easterlies here in the north? Would your fellow scientists be sampling ice from either direction of the volcanic steam, or is that a question for another trip?
I know I'll be disappointed when you're done there, but not nearly so much as I know you will be. Thanks for your sense of wonder and amazement. It so much adds to your journals and videos!
Keep making all the memories you can,
Ann Daignault.