NSIDC Scientists in the Field

NSIDC scientists travel to Antarctica, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, and the Arctic tundra to conduct field work in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. They drill ice cores, study the lay of the land beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and explore first-hand how climate change is affecting the polar regions. Below, find information on upcoming expeditions and summaries of recent field work.

Upcoming expeditions

LARISSA brings together a diverse group of scientists to study the Larsen Ice Shelf.
—Credit: LARISSA project

Antarctica: Winter 2009-2010

Ted Scambos will travel to Antarctica to study the Larsen Ice Shelf system as part of the Larsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica (LARISSA) Project. LARISSA is an NSF-funded project that will examine the biology, glaciology, geology, and oceanography of the Larsen Ice Shelf system. Since the 1970s, a number of Antarctic ice shelves have broken up. In 2002, a huge section of the Larsen Ice Shelf disintegrated in the largest such event ever recorded. This had a major impact on the region, in all aspects of the Earth system. The LARISSA project researchers hope to gain insight into the factors that lead to ice shelf collapse, as well as the environmental impact of such break-up events, which may become more frequent as climate change progresses.

More information

Scientist Web page: Ted Scambos
Project Web Page: LARISSA Project
Larsen Ice Shelf News

Shari Gearheard shows off one of her sled dog pups.
—Credit: S. Gearheard

Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada: ongoing

NSIDC scientist Shari Gearheard lives and works in Clyde River, Nunavut, in northern Canada. She studies Inuit knowledge of climate change and works to strengthen the connections between indigenous knowledge and scientific research. Shari's current projects include the Igliinit Project, which outfits Inuit hunters with specialized GPS units for recording wildlife and environmental observations, and the Siku-Inuit-Hila Project, which examines the relationships between people and changing sea ice.

More information

Scientist Web page: Shari Gearheard
Project Web pages: Igliinit Project, Siku-Inuit-Hila Project
Contact: Shari Gearheard

Recent field work

Water flows through a moulin on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
—Credit: NASA

Greenland: August, 2009

Julienne Stroeve traveled to the Kangerlussuaq glacier in Greenland in August, 2009. Stroeve and Asa Rennermalm, a geographer from the University of California, Los Angeles, measured the amount of water being discharged from the Kangerlussuaq glacier in south western Greenland. The research may help elucidate how climate change is affecting the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

More information

Scientist Web page: Julienne Stroeve

Tim Schaefer, Lin Liu, and Tingjun Zhang drill a permafrost core near Deadhorse, Alaska. –Credit: K. Schaefer

Alaska Permafrost Expedition: July, 2009

In July 2009, Tingjun Zhang and Kevin Schaefer traveled to the North Slope of Alaska to study the carbon content in permafrost. Team members included Lin Liu, from CU Boulder and Tim Schaefer of Schaefer Tec Consultants, Chicago. The team drilled permafrost cores near Fairbanks and six cores in a transect from Prudhoe Bay to Toolik Lake.

The researchers are now working with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Boulder, Colorado to analyze the samples for carbon, ice, and mineral content. Permafrost contains a large amount of organic matter that has been frozen since the last ice age. If it thaws, the organic matter will decay, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.

More information

Scientist Web pages: Tingjun Zhang, Kevin Schaefer

Matthew Sturm and Mark Serreze set up magna-probes to measure snow depth.
—Credit: A. Slater, NSIDC

Alaska, SnowNet Project: June, 2009

In June, 2009, Mark Serreze and Drew Slater traveled to northern Alaska as part of the SnowNet Project. The researchers sampled snow depth and water content using a variety of different methods including manual probing, lidar, snow pits, and snow cores. The researchers hope that the data will help them improve models of climate change in the Arctic. Matthew Sturm of CRREL led the project.

More Information

Scientist Web pages: Drew Slater, Mark Serreze

The traverse team traveled more than 1000 miles across Antarctica.
—Credit: T. Scambos, NSIDC

Norway-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica, Winter 2008-2009

In November, 2008, NSIDC Lead Scientist Ted Scambos participated in the Norway-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica. The team of scientists from the United States and Norway began their journey at the South Pole in November of 2008, and traveled about 1,000 miles to the Norwegian base at Troll Station. The year before, University of Colorado graduate student Atsuhiro Muto participated in the first leg of the traverse, which went from Troll Station to the South Pole.. The project mapped the ice sheet elevation and thickness in never-before-visited regions, extracted ice cores to look at the past 2000 years of climate, and investigated ongoing ice motion and climate change effects in East Antarctica.

More information

Scientist Web pages: Ted Scambos
Project Web page: Norway-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica

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