Innovation requires a keen mind, and a unique way of assessing a problem. Innovation can
be realized in a variety of forms. Things we take for granted today were yesterday's
innovations. The Byrd Polar Research Center has been and continues to be on the cutting
edge of innovative science. Who knows what future scientists will develop and invent?
Ohio State University glaciologist Lonnie Thopmson had this article written about his
work drilling ice cores with his team. The article was published in Time Magazine in
the August 20th 2001 issue.
This mock-up of an ice core was made by Michelle Croft, a Master’s student from the School
of Natural Resources. She used epoxy and white paint to simulate the layers that are sometimes
visible in an ice core.
Dave Lape, Victor Zaagorodnov and Frank Huffman with the mechanical drill designed and fabricated
at the Byrd Center for use in the field by the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group.
Four members of the first all-woman Antarctic Scientific team, from The Ohio State University,
Institute of Polar Studies, 1969. From left: Eileen McSaveney, Terry Tickhill, Kay Lindsay,
and Lois Jones.
They arrived at the geographic South Pole, November 12, 1969. From left: Pam Young, Jean
Pearson, Terry Tickhill, Lois Jones, Eileen McSaveney, and Kay Lindsay. Image courtesy
U.S. Navy.
Byrd Polar Research Center scientist also work around the globe, beyond the poles. Qori
Kalis is the largest outlet glacier from the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru. This image was
taken by Bryan Mark in 1998, when he was living in Peru as a Fulbright scholar. Dr. Mark is
now a member of the Byrd Polar Research Center, Glacier Environmental Change group. He and
his research team incorporate a number of methods and techniques, including geo-spatial
analysis with GPS, GIS, and remote sensing; glacial geology; lake coring; hydrochemistry
and modeling.
This photo features Jason Box maintaining time lapse cameras and meteorological equipment
at Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, July 2009.
Shrouded in darkness during the austral winter and often obscured from view by persistent
cloud cover, Antarctica has remained one of the most poorly mapped parts of our planet.
That situation changed in 1997 when RADARSAT-1 began to scan Antarctica from space. The goal
of the project was to create the first, high resolution, radar image of the continent.
The resulting map was intended to serve as a benchmark for gauging future changes in
the polar ice sheet, to understand more about the behavior of the glacier and its interaction
with the polar atmosphere and coastal ocean, and to simply expand our ability to explore
the vast, remote and often beautiful southernmost continent.
