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Dissolved Organic Matter in Antarctica

Hi Ms Diers, The students in Mrs. Peterson's 4th grade class would like to ask about the salt water lake in the Dry Valleys: How did the salt water get there? Does it ever freeze? We know water freezes at 0 degrees C. At what temperature does salt water freeze? We hope your trip goes well. We will look forward to reading your journal. And from Mrs. Peterson: Have a great trip. Enjoy every moment of it and plan on coming to share with us when you get back. Barney and the class.

Thu, 11/19/2009 - 19:03

Sarah Diers

Hello Mrs. Peterson and class!
Thanks for the great questions! I actually do not know the answer, but I am going to ask Dr. Christine Foreman, the principal researcher on my team just as soon as I see her again (she is out exploring Christchurch, New Zealand at the moment.) I will get back to you shortly. 
Thanks for helping me learn new information, too! I look forward to visiting your class when I return to the States.
Keep cool, Sarah

Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:59

Sarah Diers

Hello again Mrs. Peterson's class, We are pretty busy around here right now so I have not had a chance to pick the brain of my researcher, Christine, for an amazing answer to you question. Instead I did a bit of a Google search this morning and this is what I discovered as an answer to why the lakes in the Dry Valleys are saltwater:  "The water in the Dry Valleys can be very salty -- it's full of calcium chloride, the same kind of salt we sprinkle on roadways to melt ice. That's why the water doesn't freeze. Natural springs form from melted ground ice or buried glacier ice, and the saltwater percolates to the surface."
As far as the freezing point of saltwater, it is below that of freshwater, but how far below depends on the concentration of salts in the water. 
Hmmmmm, do I sense a classroom experiment?
Keep cool, Sarah

Tue, 11/24/2009 - 15:58

Nancy Dickerson

How do you get fresh drinking water in Antarctica?

Tue, 11/24/2009 - 23:01

Sarah Diers

Great question! At McMurdo Station there is a desalinization plant that takes water from the Ross Sea (the large body of water that surrounds Ross Island upon which McMurdo sits) and removes the salts and minerals to turn it into fresh water. It is pretty darn tasty water, too! Most of the time out at the field camp we will chip off pieces of a glacier and melting that for drinking, cooking, and (very rarely) bathing water.
Keep cool, Sarah