Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 12/25/2007 - 09:34
Forums
Antarctic Ice Sheet Studies

Aloha Branon!


Merry Christmas and warm wishes for a successful research mission to you and your scientists! I am always bragging on scientists, saying that they have to be exceedingly creative in order to do science, especially when they are out in the field with limited supplies and resourcces. Have you observed your scientists in hyper-creative mode yet and if so what did they fix, invent, or create?

And, is there any evidence that life once flourished at your research site? Any knowledge of the natural history of the place that you now call home?

with warm aloha,

Mrs. P (et all)

ps Silly me, I forgot to log-in. It's ME Brandon! Maggie, from Maui. I wanted to wish you Merry Christmas from the Hawaiian Archipelago and challenge others to wish you a Merry Christmas in as many different languages as are out there reading Polartrec blogs!
Wed, 12/26/2007 - 02:14

Brandon Gillette

I'm not a master of foreign languages, so that's all I got for you!  I would also encourage those following along to with Merry Christmas in other languages, it's never to late to learn!OK, to the questions.  Scientists are no doubt creative.  I wouldn't say I've seen these guys in hyper-creative mode so much as hyper-problem solving mode.  And even then, I'm not sure I could put hyper in front of that description.  While at WAIS we had more than enough down time to figure things out and decide what steps to take next since the weather didn't really help us out much.  I will say as far as creativity goes, I'd like to meet the people that think some of this stuff up.  I understand a lot of the science that is going on down here, but some of the data collection methods and instruments themselves are beyond me!
As far as evidence of life, WAIS looks almost like it sounds, WASTE.  It takes a special person to really be able to see the beauty of such a barren landscape, but it is certainly there to be found!  I was in total awe when we first stepped foot off the C-130 at the camp to look around and literally see nothing as far as the horizon!  AMAZING!  To my knowledge, in the ice itself there is little to no evidence that we have found.  There is an ice coring project just beginning that may find something else.  Likewise, the ANDRILL Program was actually coring into some sediments down here and are likely to find something.  It may be a while before that information is analyzed and released.
I hope I answered your questions.  Thank you for the kind note and Merry Christmas to you as well!
Login next time!  ;-)
Cheers,~Brandon