Dispatches from the Bottom of the Earth: An Antarctic Expedition in Search of Lost Mountains Encased in Ice

November 12, 2008

Marine geophysicist Robin Bell is leading an expedition to Antarctica to explore a mysterious mountain range beneath the ice sheet and will be updating Scientific American readers regularly. Following are her initial thoughts as she–and her team–prepare to set off.

International Polar Year–Why?
When I first heard of the concept of an International Polar Year (IPY), I rolled my eyes and gave one off those stupid "this is a boring idea" looks I had learned from my teenage son. How could an idea hatched by a military officer in the 1880s have any use in our age of hyper connectivity? The images from previous IPYs were filled with grimy men wrapped in parkas launching balloons, recording numbers in notebooks in small shacks and shooting off explosives. I simply could not see past the frost edges of the IPY parkas.

But then, something changed. It was July and I was sitting in the back of a steamy conference room in Shanghai, having just given a talk about lakes beneath two miles of ice. I was eager to see more of Shanghai on my first trip to China and had thought I might sneak out early until, that is, I heard Heinz Miller, a German glaciologist with a large mustache and an elflike twinkle in his eye, outline a bold concept for studying the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the International Polar Year in 2007. I listened intently, like a teenager who suddenly realizes that calculus has some redeeming value. I began to see past the grimy faces and appreciate how global collaboration in the polar regions may produce remarkable insights that would otherwise be impossible. The only way we were ever going to understand the subglacial lakes was with an improved framework for international science in the polar regions. The IPY had the potential to provide this framework.

MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS?: The hidden Gamburtsev Mountains, buried beneath the Antarctic ice sheet and imaged here, have inspired scientists and science fiction writers, like H. P. Lovecraft.
Courtesy of Robin Bell

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Posted in Earth Sciences, Science and Technology