NSM Faculty and Students Conduct Research in Antarctica
In late January of this year, Julia Wellner, associate professor of geology, along with two students, Laura Taylor, a geology undergraduate, and Rachel Clark, a Ph.D. student in geology, set sail for a two-month Antarctic research cruise.
The cruise, funded by both the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Natural Environment Research Council in the U.K., was part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, which studies the stability of the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.
鈥淎s ice melts, the sea level rises,鈥� said Wellner. 鈥淭hwaites is the most rapidly changing large glacier on the planet. So we were there to learn from it.鈥�
鈥淚n many ways it was very different than what I thought it was going to be,鈥� said Taylor, the only undergraduate on the cruise.
鈥淲hile we鈥檙e there, we鈥檙e just constantly working as long as there isn鈥檛 bad weather,鈥� said Clark, who was on her third research cruise. 鈥淲e had a lot of surprises.鈥�
It turns out, their research team discovered a small, previously unrecorded island.
鈥淲e checked the charts and the nautical guides and we weren鈥檛 able to find any record of that island,鈥� said Wellner of the team鈥檚 discovery.
The team decided to name their new discovery, 鈥淪if Island,鈥� after the Norse goddess of Earth.
The research cruise will be featured in a documentary series entitled 鈥淏ig Ice,鈥� produced by Natural History New Zealand which will air in 2021.
Read more and of their expedition.
Lastly, we hope you鈥檒l join Dr. Wellner on Friday, September 18. She鈥檒l be hosting the first ever NSM Movie Night, and it鈥檚 sure to be an exciting and educational event.