Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 06:09
Forums
Antarctic Ice Sheet Studies

Mr. Gillette,

We are glad that we were able to talk to you yesterday.  We wish we could have had a video conference so we could have seen you there in Antarctica.

One thing we learned from yesterday is that Antarctica is known for its meteorites.  How often does Antarctica get one?

Would you rather be researching or teaching?  How much free time do you have?  Is it difficult to sleep on the ground with only a mat and your sleeping bag?

What type of explosives are you using?

We miss you and we hope you see penguins.

Reema, Dylan, Chad, Katie, Jacob, Maggie, Quinn, Tori, Erin, Matt, Alex, Taylor, Amber, Aaron, Dani, Parker, Paul, Abby, Brenna, Carli

P.S.  Did you eat your wheaties? (from Taylor)

Mon, 12/17/2007 - 17:06

Brandon Gillette

I'm glad I was able to answer some questions as well.  Video would have been nice, but from the field, that probably isn't going to be happening with anyone in the very near future.  For the question about meteorites, I did mention that the chances of us finding any are really quite slim.  As far as how often they hit, you have to think on a very large scale.  Thousands of tiny rocks, most the size of grains of sand, enter the atmosphere everyday.  Only larger ones, maybe the size of your thumbnail or larger actually make it to the ground.  Then you have to think how big Antarctica actually is, in surface area, roughly the size of the United States, maybe even a tad larger.  As far as a number, I can't provide one, and I'm not sure that anyone else can either.I really enjoy the research part and being down here has been a wonderful experience.  I do miss teaching though.  If I could somehow combine the two, and not teach college, I'd be all for it!  Any programs open to this sort of things, consider this my application!  :)  Free time is very dependent on the weather.  The last 3 days we've had quite a bit!  Usually at least an hour or two a day is pretty normal.  Then after dinner nobody does much work at all.  We socialize, play cards, read books, etc.
As far as sleeping is concerned, we are actually on cots, then two pads, then the sleeping bag.  Explosives are modern TNT, more to come on that.  I miss you all too and I'm hoping for some penguins as well!
Cheers,~Gillette