text by Linda Welzenbach and Becky Minzoni; images by Linda Welzenbach “Where’s the mud, people?” asks marine technician Joee Patterson from the doorway of the E-lab the morning of 6 March. If all goes to plan, THOR’s Hammer would deliver 8 cores of mud from the deep sea in front of Thwaites over the next […]
A Research Spotlight highlighting their paper, “Pacific Plate Apparent Polar Wander, Hot Spot Fixity, and True Polar Wander During the Formation of the Hawaiian Island and Seamount Chain From an Analysis of the Skewness of Magnetic Anomaly 20r (44 Ma)” has been published on Eos.org.
On the afternoon of the 21st, The Palmer began its 13-knot transit from Rothera to Thwaites Glacier. All our fingers were crossed that the ice would not prevent the Palmer from getting close to the ice shelf. The captain maintained that weather and ice conditions would determine just how close we would get to the […]
By Peter Sheehan and Linda Welzenbach The Nathaniel B Palmer is, without a doubt, one of most amazing places I can say I call home. It is taking us places that even those of us who are “Old Antarctic Explorers” have never seen. The Palmer can manage Southern Ocean tempests, dodge amazing icebergs, glide […]
text and images by Linda Welzenbach On the 15th of February, the Palmer had to make an emergency transit to the closest base for a medical evacuation. Although EMT trained ASC staff can work remotely with doctors to solve many issues, some ailments require higher order facilities and care. So off to the British […]
text and images by Linda Welzenbach Science advances in many ways, with enhancements in methods and instruments that improve the quality of the data we collect and enable the exploration of new frontiers. Yet despite all we know about our ocean, it arguably remains one of Earth’s greatest remaining frontiers. Add in icebergs, sea ice, […]
text and images by Victoria Fitzgerald As I face the glossy orange wall of the Louisiana born ship, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, I prepare to step off the deck and take my first step down the iced over rope ladder. I am getting off the ship to provide technical assistance and optically stimulated luminescence […]
text and images by Linda Welzenbach Since leaving the Chilean coastline, the THOR team has been exploring the sea floor… with sound. Similar to the way that sea mammals communicate with each other over long distances and submarines avoid obstacles, scientists use sound to “see” the bed surface and ultimately map the ocean bottom. […]
text and images by Linda Welzenbach All field-based science conducted on board and beyond the Nathaniel B. Palmer would not be possible without the support of the Marine technicians. They are in charge of on-board deck operations, ship to shore operations, and the safe deployment and recovery of scientists, scientific tools and equipment. Within a day after leaving Punta […]
text and images by Linda Welzenbach Waves approaching 15 feet are regularly inundating both the lower and the main deck (where our berth is located). Viewing the maelstrom from the large windows of the aft winch control room where I’m sitting, I can forget the sea sickness for a bit as I watch the incredible power and beauty of the […]
Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
Rice University
MS-126
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005 USA
Phone: 713.348.4880
Fax: 713.348.5214
Email: geol@rice.edu
