Antarctica's Secrets Revealed: Scientists Drill, Study, and Discover
Antarctica, the world's coldest, driest, and windiest continent, is currently hosting several research projects led by scholars from various institutions. Among them are Austin Carter and a team from the Scripps Polar Center at UC San Diego, studying Earth's climate history and atmospheric circulation patterns, as well as the stability of the Shackleton Ice Shelf and carbon cycling in Antarctic food webs.
Austin Carter is drilling ice cores in the Allan Hills region, aiming to unearth secrets of Earth's climate history and atmospheric circulation patterns. Meanwhile, in East Antarctica, Tyler Pelle and Briar Conger are part of the ICECAP-EAGLE project, focusing on the stability of the Shackleton Ice Shelf. Beth Connors, from an unspecified institution, is studying bacteria and carbon cycling from Palmer Station to understand Antarctic food webs.
Scholars from the Scripps Polar Center are also active in Antarctica during the 2023-24 season. Their projects include studying phytoplankton diversity, the impact of penguin guano on ecosystems, ice loss mechanisms, ancient ice, and the role of marine microbes in food webs. In West Antarctica, Jamin Greenbaum is collaborating with the Korean Polar Research Institute to study Thwaites Glacier using helicopters and a floating platform. Christian Johnson is exploring the impact of melting glaciers on phytoplankton and developing environmental DNA sequencing at sea.
These research projects, despite facing funding challenges and resource shortages within the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, continue to shed light on crucial aspects of Antarctica's environment and climate. The findings will contribute to our understanding of global climate change and help inform future conservation efforts.
