Academic

We typically think of ice cores in the context of global climate. For instance, Antarctic ice cores demonstrate the link between greenhouse gases and temperature, both through glacial cycles (e.g. Dome C) and into the human era (e.

We are wrapping up our fourth* season at Hercules Dome, Antarctica. I use an asterisk because it hasn’t really been the fourth at all. For the first season, in ‘18-’19, we had a 4-person team who was meant to deploy a full field camp for a full month of work on the ground; instead, we spent ~6 weeks at South Pole Station for a handful of day trips commuting back and forth to Hercules Dome.

They say that the first time you go to Antarctica is for the adventure, the second for the science, and the third because you no longer belong anywhere else. I would hope that it is always for the science, but I do understand how people get attached to the community down here.

Yesterday, I came home from a week-long field trip to South Cascade Glacier in Washington. South Cascade is one of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) benchmark glaciers, along with Gulkana and Wolverine in Alaska as well as Sperry in Glacier National Park, Montana.

We study ice dynamics; namely, how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are moving, how they may have been moving in the past, and how they will move into the future.

We made it to South Pole Station. It turns out that getting around this continent necessitates a bit of patience. We spent nearly a week in Christchurch, NZ, waiting for the weather to clear so that we could fly to McMurdo (the primary American station).

I am in the process of deploying to Hercules Dome, Antarctica (‘Herc Dome’, named after the airplane above) and will be in the field for at least a month, likely longer.

Projections of sea-level rise from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report are daunting to say the least. Policy makers are most concerned about the changes coming in the next century, over which we could see up to a full meter of sea-level rise.

‘Now suppose,’ chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, ’that there were many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze. Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs–what we might call ice-one– is only one of several types of ice.

From 2015 to 2017 I was a graduate student at the University of Montana. While there, my research focused on heat transfer in Greenland’s ablation zone. I was fortunate in getting to experience this place, which up to now has been the most awe inspiring and the most intellectually fascinating place I have ever been.