Greetings! Some of you may recognize me from my trip to Antarctica in
January 1998. You may check out my journal and studies on my cruise to the
Peninsula by using the link given below.
I grew up and began my teaching career in West Virginia for about 30 years.
I taught briefly in Virginia and Georgia and now I teach Aquatic Science and
Biology at Pearland High School in Pearland, Texas (just Southeast of
Houston). I lived on a sailboat for awhile, but now live in a condo
overlooking Clear Lake with my husband, Bob, my Tibetan terrier, Godfrey,
and the fat orange tabby, Max. My daughter, Malinda, is getting married
this summer so we'll be adding another member to the family - Steven Fields!
Hobbies that interest me are traveling (bet you'd never guess!), bird
watching, sailing, hiking and camping, and playing the guitar (played bass
in a rock band about 16 years ago for a brief while).
I earned my masters degree in Biology by doing a thesis on a little parasite
of carp, so research has always been a passion of mine. Curiosity,
perseverance, a bit of creativity, and a drive to see it through to
completion are the main ingredients to successful research. My wish is to
bring the real story of science - excitement, discovery, hard work and
dedication - to students so that they may parcticipate and appreciate all
that it is and has been.
Research at the poles is harsh, many times quite difficult, but it reveals
so much about our planet. Unencumbered by the industrialization of the rest
of the world, the poles have much to offer in clues to the past. I hope you
enjoy following along with teachers in the field, past and present. I want
you to be curious, to share our many discoveries, and be a part of polar
research!! On to Greenland....
Seasonal Differences in Air - Snow Chemical
Relationships
Dr. Jack Dibb, University of
New Hampshire.
Measurements of stable isotopes, accumulation rates and concentrations
of different chemicals in ice coring projects are being used
to study the precise nature and timing of rapid climate change
events. These have important implications for understanding
Earth's climate system. But there are some uncertainties in
connecting the chemical concentrations in ice cores to the original
concentrations in the atmosphere.
The main purpose of this project is to get precise measurements
of the air - snow exchange process so that when Greenland ice
cores are studied, scientists can reconstruct the past climates
and their atmospheric "signatures" more accurately. In the 1997
- 1998 phase of this project, a crew stayed at Summit during
the winter to get a complete year's data. That was so successful
that two more years have been funded to continue the work.
What I will be doing is helping Dr. Dibb and his team to collect
and analyze samples of the air just above and within the pore
spaces of the snow pack with a focus on the photochemical processes
of nitrogen oxides. We will also be looking at the ionic composition
of surface, and near-surface, snow samples. We will collect
samples of organic compounds in the snow pack for another team
at Purdue University and University of California Davis.
Interestingly, the upper meter of the snow is also considered
to be part of the atmosphere. The dividing line between the
snow and the air is very fuzzy. The atmosphere components are
greatly interacting where the two meet (their interface). Studying
the interaction of the air and snow and its energy balance considerations
is called micro-meteorology.
Polar Activities:
Effects of Phytoplankton on Water and Air
Secret Agents of Dissolved Oxygen
Carbon Dioxide: The Heat is On
Smog
Be Gone
What's in a Name?
Grant Proposal
