ANDRILL
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ANDRILL (ANtarctic DRILLing Project)[1] is a scientific drilling project in Antarctica gathering paleoclimatological information about past periods of global warming and cooling. The goal of the project is to drill through the ice, into the sea (McMurdo Sound in 2007-2008), and into the sediment at the ocean floor, to obtain new information about the Neogene Antarctic cryosphere and evolution of Antarctic rift basins. It is based at McMurdo Station in Antarctica[2] The summer 2007-2008 project is an international collaboration between the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy and Germany.[3]
The project's goal is to significantly improve the understanding of Antarctica's impact on the world's oceans currents and the atmosphere by reviewing the behavior of Antarctic sea-ice, ice-shelves, glaciers and sea currents over the past 65 million years.[4]
During the initial season (summer 2006-2007), ANDRILL pulled out an Antarctic-record 1,285 m (4,216 ft) of rock core, representing geologic time to about 13 million years ago. On December 16, 2006 ANDRILL broke the previous record of 999.1 m (3,277.9 ft) set in 2000 by the Ocean Drilling Program's drill ship, the Joides Resolution.[5] One goal in 2006 was to look at a period of around 3 to 5 million years ago in the Pliocene, which scientists know to be warmer. The team’s sedimentologists, identified more than 60 cycles when ice sheets or glaciers advanced and retreated across McMurdo Sound.[2]
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[edit] Objective of ANDRILL
Scientists on the ANDRILL project will be looking for evidence in their sediment cores that will tie together decades of paleoclimate research to get a more complete picture of how the Antarctic ice sheets acted in past times of global warmth. The target is the warmest part of the middle Miocene, a time between 14 million and 15 million years ago, when the Earth was much warmer than today.
The geological target for 2007-2008 is the past 17 million years of Earth history, including the 4 million-year gap between the earlier projects, especially during the warm middle Miocene period.
According to geologist David Harwood of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, understanding what happened in the warm period is especially important as Earth's climate continues to warm. In the past, scientists working in different parts of the world noted changes in their data, they often deduced that these must be due to changes in the ice on Antarctica. with this seasons drilling scientists will be able to make those connections with more certainty.
"If we can identify time periods in Antarctica when we had minimal ice and minimal ocean freezing, we can then look at that particular interval of time -- and hopefully several examples from those intervals of time — and see how the rest of the world responded. This will provide evidence to confirm or reject a lot of interpretations that have been suggested and linked to Antarctica," he said.
When sea ice forms, it pushes the salt out, creating a mass of cold, salty, dense water that sinks to the bottom of the ocean, creating deep ocean currents that affect ocean circulation and the distribution of heat worldwide.[6]
[edit] Virtual Field Trip
The New Zealand online education programme, LEARNZ, conducted a virtual field trip to the Ross Sea drill site in late 2007. Over 3500 New Zealand school students joined LEARNZ teacher Darren on this trip. Telephone conferences were held between students and ANDRILL scientists from the drill site and the Crary Laboratory at McMurdo station.[7]
[edit] Media coverage
NBC's news anchor Ann Curry reported from the ANDRILL camp at the U.S. McMurdo Base beginning October 2, 2007. [8] The Today Show with anchor Ann Curry, reporting for a series called "Ends of the Earth," had hoped to tape at the South Pole, was held up at McMurdo due to severe weather conditions. The weather broke and about 1 a.m. local time on Friday, Nov. 9, Curry and crew finally touched down at the South Pole. It is not unusual for there to be Flight delays to South Pole in the early part of the austral summer. [9]
[edit] References
- ^ Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) (2007-09-27). What is ANDRILL? (Web). Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ a b Rejcek, Peter (2007-11-01). ANDRILL returns to Antarctica (Web). News article. The Antarctic Sun. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ ANDRILL (Web). Joint Oceanographic Institutions. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Andrill From Greenhouse to Icehouse (Web). A Science, Technology, Social Studies virtual field trip to Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. LEARNZ (New Zealand Ministry of Education) (November 2006). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Office of University Communications; University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2006-12-19). ANDRILL project breaks Antarctic drilling record, reaches 1,000 meters (Web). News Release. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Office of University Communications; University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2007-10-01). 2nd ANDRILL season seeking 'Rosetta Stone' for climate history. News Release. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Andrill - Term 4, 2007 (web). A Science, Technology, Social Studies virtual field trip to Antarctica 26 Oct - 6 Nov 2007. The LEARNZ programme is provided by Heurisko Ltd (2007). Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Ziegler, Adam (2007-11-07). NBC's 'Today' visits ANDRILL station in Antarctica (Web). News article. Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Rejcek, Peter (2007-11-08). Weather delays Pole flights: Last effort to reach 90 degrees south for report on climate change pays off for Today Show crew (Web). News Article. The Antarctic Sun. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
