HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – A graduate student at Dartmouth College is on a mission to find the oldest ice on the planet. To do that, he had to pack his bags for the trip of a lifetime to the frozen continent.
With temperatures in the mid-30s ′s, it’s a relatively pleasant day in Hanover. However, it pales in comparison to 40 mph average wind and temperatures topping out below zero at the Allan Hills camp in Antarctica, where Jacob Chalif is spending the Austral summer.
“It’s really high winds at this site. It is kind of notorious for its high winds,” Chalif said.
The barren terrain is part of the reason it’s a perfect spot to look for old ice. Chaliff is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, or COLDEX. “What COLDEX’s mission is is to push back the ice core record in Antarctica older than we’ve ever gotten it,” Chalif said.
They are searching for ice that’s millions of years old. Every day, the 12-member team travels by snowmobile to the work site and drills for core samples. Air bubbles in the ice give a glimpse into the past that can help scientists predict future weather patterns. “Ice cores provide an unparalleled archive of past atmospheric air. There is no other way to get in a time machine and get air that is a million years old,” Chalif said.
The ice will be packaged and eventually sent by plane, then boat, back to the U.S. “It’s been kind of spiritual. Think about how small we are and yet how large of an impact we are having on the environment. That is kind of why we are here — is to understand our impact on the environment,” Chalif said. Job number one in his current environment is staying warm. “You can imagine that everything we are doing — unless it is in this communal heated tent — is frozen. So, if I want to brush my teeth, I have to figure out how to thaw my toothpaste.”
Chalif plans to be on the continent until the end of January. His team hopes to bring back several thousand pounds of ice. Some of it will end up on campus in Hanover to be studied.