According to Mr. Williams two refrigerated trucks will be stationed in Talkeetna, Alaska for eighteen days, presumably with the refrigerator's diesels running, in order to receive core samples flow off the glacier by helicopter. These trucks will then drive across the continent to transport the samples to the lab for evaluation. Wouldn't the carbon footprint of the expedition be reduced if the samples were flown on a commercial airline that was going to make the journey anyway? Is there a specific reason, such as chemical or structural changes that might occur in the samples if they were to be subjected to the reduced air pressure in an aircraft cargo hold? It seems a research project centered on recording the climate records of the past 1000 years would inherently be concerned with minimizing it's impact on the environment.
Thanks for any info you can provide, Mike Schuster Jefferson, Maine