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my winters (which are really summers...) |
Classes I teachFall 2005 Spring 2005
Fall 2004
Spring 2004 Fall 2003
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The Onset Project
The goal of the ONSET project is to gain a better understanding
of the physical processes governing ice stream flow, particuarly near the
onset region. This project is collaborative with colleagues at the University
of Texas at Austin and the British Antarctic Survey.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is a marine ice sheet, grounded below sea level and potentially unstable in reponse to sea-level rise and/or climate warming. The flowof this ice sheet is variable on timescales ranging from centuries to millenia. The future of this ice sheet is a topic of cosiderable debate.
The ice streams of the Ross Sea Embayment (A--F) drain the interior West Antarctic Ice Sheet by rapidly moving vast quantities of ice to the calving front of the Ross Ice Shelf. These ice streams are keyfactors in any discussion of WAIS stability because they are strongly out of balance.Understanding the role of the ice streams as buffers between the interior ice and the floating ice shelves; the reasons for their fast flow; the factors controlling their current grounding-line-, margin-, and head-positions are crucial to any attempt at modeling the WAIS system and predicting the future of the ice sheet.
The TAMSeis Project
A new project to study the structure of the Trans Antarctic Mountains (TAM) and the East Antarctic craton. We (Doug Wiens of Washington University in St. Louis, Andy Nyblade of Penn State Univ. and myself) will install three arrays of seismometers in the TAM (about 100 km North and South of McMurdo) and on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (a line about half way to Dome C and another line to the Gamburtsev Mountains) to record local and teleseismic earthquakes. These data will be used to determine the crust and mantle structure beneath the arrays..
We have installed eight stations (in 2000-01) and will install the remaining 42 in 2001-02. The stations will be active until Jan, 2004. The instrumentation is on loan from PASSCAL.
The International Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year (1957-58) was conceived as an attempt to coordinate globe-wide measurements of the Earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, and the Sun. Such a large undertaking required and successfully acheived international cooperation in a time of increasing geopolitical tension. The 50th anniversary of the IGY is in 2007-08 and could and should herald in a new wave of geophysical exploration of Antarctica to answer many outstanding questions of the role of the continent in global environmental change, and of its structure and history.
The ANUBIS Project
A project to install a network of seismic stations in Antarctica that will plug a hole in the global seismic dataset. These stations are something of an engineering challenge because of the cold and remoteness of the continent. Some of the stations will be powered and heated by propane tanks and some by wind (during the winter) and solar power during the summer.
Here is the terminator for today (the line separating night and day) in Antarctica, at local noon at Byrd Surface Camp. The dark shading is night.
Antarctic Digital Database
I have converted the ADD continent coastline, the Ross Ice Shelf outline, Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, some islands/ice-rises in these ice shelves, and the Larsen, Risser and Amery Ice Shelves to geographic coordinates. A test GMT script ADDtest.gmt will produce this Postscript image. I have `tar'-ed and `gzip'-ed the six files and made them available for download.
The ADD copyright:
The text in this manual and the data provided on the CD are copyright. Reproduction for scientific research, environmental conservation, educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior permission from the copyright holder. Reproduction for resale or any other commercial purpose is prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
Thanks to Michael Studinger for pointing out a problem in the original conversion that I had posted to the GMT mailing list. Which, of course, brings up the next disclaimer: caveat emptor!
Recent publications
Tidal forcing of basal seismicity
These are in PDF format and you need a viewer (Adobe Acrobat Reader) to look at it. I can mail it to you if you prefer. Send email to me at the address below.
SEAP2003 Workshop
REVEAL Workshop
SOAR Workshop
The SOAR workshop of March 18-19, 1996 was held at the National Science Foundation headquarters.
The SOAR
homepage
McMurdo Area Users Committee
South Pole Traverse
[Summer 2001] The McMurdo Area Users
Science Justification for an Overland Traverse to Resupply S. Pole.
Gravity Pier
[2001] The Thiel gravity base station is complete. The facilities include an inside pier (1m square), and an outside pad (2.5m square).
[23 Dec 2000] The Thiel gravity base station is nearly completed. Here are the ties between Hugo's Hut and other sites.
[02 Dec 1998] The latest plan is to convert the pumphouse that used to service the buildings up the hill behind science cargo (the nuclear reactor) into the new Gravity Hut.
[Jan 1998] A new location for the gravity pier is being considered. This map of proposed pier locations around the Crary Lab is a starting point for further discussion. Please contact me with comments and suggestions.
Go to the PSU Geophysics home page.
Personal Stuff
- International Friendship House offers accomodation for students, faculty, and researchers with international interests. This non-profit, shared-housing organization has year-long or semester leases available. IFH is close to campus and downtown State College.
- A glacier named for me. :)
- My Vita (PDF format)
