ງານມະຫະກຳ ການຄົ້ນຄວ້າ ຢູ່ຂົ້ວໂລກໃຕ້
Scientists travel to and from the field in a LC-130 Hercules cargo plane that can land on ice. The study is part of the WISSARD project funded by the National Science Foundation. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
Northern Illinois University (NIU) geology professor Ross Powell (center) heads the 40-person team, which includes engineers, mechanics and drill operators, alongside the scientists. (WISSARD)
Tractors pulled equipment and supplies 1,000 km from McMurdo station to the field site, where NIU geology professor Reed Scherer (left) and graduate student Jason Coenen welcome the start of the project. (NIU)
Sleeping quarters are in tents and Antarctic has the coldest, driest and windiest weather on the planet. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
A drilling site is built on the grounding zone, a location where the Antarctic ice, land and sea come together. (WISSARD)
A suite of physical oceanographic instruments is lowered into the borehole. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
A filtration pump is used to collect particulates suspended in the water column. (WISSARD)
The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) called Deep SCINI is set for deployment down the 740 meter borehole. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
Deep SCINI (Submersible Capable of Underwater Navigation) explored a marine cavity deep under the ice. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
A fish discovered deep in the grounding zone surprised scientists. (Deep SCINI/ UNL/Andrill SMO)
NIU’s Reed Scherer collects a sample from the multi-sediment corer. (WISSARD)
Sediment and ice cores offer clues to the ice sheet ecology and history and how they change over time. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
This fossilized single-celled alga found in a sediment core lived at a time when the area was open ocean. (Reed Scherer/NIU)
NIU graduate student Rebecca Puttkammer examines sand recovered from the sea floor. (Reed Scherer/NIU)