Frozen in Time
April 2012
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Frigid temperatures, constant daylight and complete isolation from civilization—it doesn’t sound like a model camping trip. Welcome to Antarctica, home to the research of Jane Willenbring, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science. In her quest to understand long-term climate change, Willenbring charts the fluctuation of ice sheets. Using a method called “cosmogenic nuclide dating,” she is able to measure isotopic traces of radiation levels in rocks that have been exposed by receding glaciers. These findings help explain the consequences of increased deglaciation and its relation to global warming.
“The radiation process we study is kind of like a sun tan, except it is supernova radiation instead of sun radiation,” Willenbring says. “As something is exposed, it builds up a kind of cosmic ray tan you can use to figure out how long a rock or a boulder has been exposed.”
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