Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/06/2006 - 10:59
Forums
Oden Antarctic Expedition 06

Hello Mr. Miller, we are the 5th grade class from Redd school, Houston Tx. It is amazing that you are getting to go to Antarctica. We hope you have a good trip.It sounds like a cool trip, but we hope you don't get too cold!Laughing We have questions about the icebreaker:

Michael: How does the Oden break the ice?

Lollie: How big is the ship, we see that it has a helicopter on it.

CJ: When do you use the helicopter?

Esteban: Do you have pictures of the clothing and equipment you will use?

Megan: How risky is it going through the ice?

Matt D. How do you keep water and food from freezing on the boat?

Brandon: How long will it take to get to the edge of Antarctica?

Eitan: What kind of wildlife will you see from the boat- take pictures!

Armand: Willl you stop along the way to McMurdo, and if you do, where will you sleep?

Thu, 12/07/2006 - 04:37

Allan Miller

Hello Lollie and Redd School 5th grade!  Good morning from Salt Lake City Utah!  The first leg of my trip involving flying here to talk with science teachers from all over the west coast at the National Science Teachers Association Regional Conference - I'll be sharing a session about the International Polar Year and everything that the National Science Foundation has planned for this exciting period of focus on Arctic and Antarctic research -then tomorrow it's a four hour symposium with colleagues from NASA looking specifically at the role Ice plays in our global system - which is espedially intriguing for these space scientists as they become more convinced that there is ice (and possibly even running water according to the new data from the Mars Global surveyor).  Then tomorrow afternoon the real journey begins when I fly to Punta Arenas Chile where I'll meet my fellow PolarTREC teacher and Texan Ute Kaden in preparation for our trip to begin Sunday. Great questions - I'm going to put together a specific post for Redd School in my forum - where I can add in some pictures to visualize the answers. I'm so happy that your school will be participating in our trip - your teacher - Mrs. Garay - is one of my teaching heros (i'm sure I don't need to tell you how great she is!).  Welcome on-board with PolarTREC.