Minnesota scientists heading to Antarctica to survey challenging region

Robert S. Boyd, McClatchy

Antarctica's Dry Valleys region is desert-like, with valleys twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and a landscape resembling Mars. Researchers will be airlifted by helicopter into the valleys, where they’ll be able to communicate by radio but won’t be able to use cell phones or e-mail.

Minnesota scientists are heading to Antarctica to take part in a mapping survey of an important and challenging region.

By ALLIE SHAH, Star Tribune

Last update: January 4, 2009 - 11:46 PM

When talking about his upcoming trip to Antarctica, Patrick Hamilton likes to joke that he's heading south to escape a frigid January in Minnesota.

That's because Hamilton, the environmental sciences director at the Science Museum of Minnesota, is traveling to the Dry Valleys, the largest part of the continent that's snow-free, ice-free, and where temperatures can climb to 40 degrees in the summer.

It's a landmark expedition for Hamilton and the rest of the research team. Their quest: to collect GPS measurements to create three-dimensional maps of the Dry Valleys that scientists will use for decades to come.

"No one has actually gone into the Valleys with GPS equipment and actually measured the elevation of points," said Hamilton, who leaves next week for Antarctica. "The lack of accurate maps is hindering the science that's going on in these Valleys and elsewhere in the continent."

Hamilton is one of six researchers making the trek, which is led by the Antarctic Geospacial Information Center (AGIC) at the University of Minnesota.

The groundbreaking map project is funded by a $1.5 million grant awarded over three years to the center by the National Science Foundation.

Scientists have always been interested in Antarctica, but there's more urgency behind their research now, Hamilton said. "There certainly is increasing interest in Antarctica because it has 90 percent of the world's fresh water locked up in the ice and we want to keep it that way," he said. "So a lot of global change research is taking place in Antarctica in an effort to know how the continent and its enormous ice fields will respond as the atmosphere and oceans both continue to warm."

Having accurate maps of the Dry Valleys region is especially important, researchers say.

Paul Morin, director of the AGIC, said existing maps of the area were made during the Nixon era.

Fifty years ago there was a push for "polar science," he said. That's when officials established the McMurdo research station in Antarctica, and there was a huge influx of money devoted to mapping the unmapped continent.

Hundreds of thousands of aerial photos were taken and legions of cartographers created paper maps, Morin said.

In today's digital age, it takes much less effort to collect satellite images and create a map.

"Everybody uses Google Earth now," Morin said. "We're trying to make that switch now too in Antarctica, from paper to electronic data, and we're doing it in an area that's hostile to electronics."

The Dry Valleys region is desert-like, with some valleys twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, Morin said. Its landscape resembles Mars.

Researchers will be based at McMurdo Station and will be airlifted by helicopter into the Valleys.

Though they'll be able to communicate by radio with McMurdo, the researchers won't be able to use their cell phones or e-mail while they're in the Valleys.

"When we camp there's no wood to burn," Morin said. "We're there with just the insulation we have and eating candy bars."

It's extremely dry, he added, "so your nose cracks and your skin dries out. On top of that, you're in the Ozone hole and you're wearing glacier glasses. You're slopping on as much sunscreen as you can on your face."

As for Hamilton, he's looking forward to his winter getaway.

After all, they don't call the Dry Valleys the Tahiti of Antarctica for nothing.

Allie Shah • 651-298-1550

øANTARCTICA FROM B1

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