Gig Harbor, Washington is my home. Our community is located on a peninsula
in Puget Sound. We have tall firs, salt water and, on clear days, a view of
Mt. Rainier. I have been teaching here for 22 years. I am currently
exploring astronomy, geology, meteorology, polar science and other topics
with my 8th grade students at Goodman Middle School.
My wife, Denise, is also an educator. We have twin 7 year-olds, Evan and
Maureen, who are excited about daddy going to Antarctica. Some of my
favorite activities are bicycling, star gazing, reading, and skiing.
Previous adventures have included digging dinosaur bones in Montana and
pedaling my bicycle across the United States.
My interest in Antarctica began as a result of reading Endurance, an account
of the Shackleton expedition. This interest has developed into a
fascination, which I have enjoyed sharing with my students. The opportunity
to visit Antarctica and parcticipate in research is a dream come true!
High-Precision Borehole Temperature Measurements at Siple Dome
Gary Clow, U.S. Geological Survey
Robert Hawley, University of Washington
Ed Waddington, University of Washington
I will be accompanying scientists Gary Clow and Robert Hawley to Siple
Dome, a remote camp on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This will be the
second field season of a three-year research project. The primary goal this
field season is to obtain precise temperature measurements from within the
ice sheet.
Data will be collected from a 1000-meter deep borehole that penetrates to
the underlying bedrock. Temperatures will also be recorded from an array of
shallower holes in the vicinity. The research team will spend about four
weeks at Siple Dome.
The data will be used to reconstruct the climate history at Siple Dome for
the last 5000 years. The data will also be used to place constraints on:
a) the magnitude of the warming at the termination of the last ice age (the
Wisconsin Ice Age) in this region of Antarctica, b) the change in thickness
of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at the end of the Wisconsin, and c) the
local geothermal heat flux from the earth's crust into the base of the ice
sheet.
Polar Classroom Activities:
The Shape of the Ice: Using Maps to
Learn About Antarctic Topography
The Frozen Desert
Getting to the Core of Climate Change
