A team of seven geologists returned last month from a three-month trip in Antarctica after collecting more than two tons of rock samples. The group hopes to understand climate conditions and climate change in Antarctica and apply that knowledge to climate change on Mars after analyzing the samples.
The research team consisted of two groups, led by Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences Michael Wyatt and Professor of Geological Sciences James Head. Although the two groups used different research approaches, Wyatt said both groups were concerned with climate change.
Wyatt said his group focused on how climate change affects the mineralogy of rock composition while Head's team focused on the physical landscapes of this region, specifically the role water has played in creating its unique landscape.
"By understanding how all these things operate in Antarctica, we're not only trying to better understand Earth and Earth's climate, but also how all that can be applied to a better understanding of conditions on Mars," Wyatt said.
By using spectrometers, instruments that measure the reflected light that bounces off rocks, Wyatt and his team were able to analyze what most people would call a "bunch of squiggly lines." These samples will then be compared to those from geological libraries back at Brown in order to determine their mineralogy.
"It's a very rewarding experience just to be able to get there," Wyatt said. "Professionally and personally, it affects you in a very positive way."
Wyatt said safety was always the group's first priority. "It's a harsh place and can be difficult and stressful," he said, adding it was important that everyone had the proper training beforehand. The group used the Cave — the computer science department's immersive virtual reality facility — extensively during the year's planning of the trip.
The trip's location, the Antarctic Dry Valleys, was chosen because it is the "the coldest, most dry, windiest place on Earth," wrote James Dickson, a research analyst in the geology department, in an e-mail to The Herald. He wrote that the Valleys are the best and closest model scientists have for the surface on Mars. "There are specific processes that happen there that don't occur elsewhere on Earth," he wrote.
Dickson said his group built two time-lapse camera stations to monitor changes on the surface at the site and storms that pass through the Dry Valleys. He said the cameras were also able to monitor the flow of water on the surface through the course of the Antarctic summer, a phenomenon that scientists think might be similar to what is happening on Mars.
Mark Salvatore GS, one of the two graduate students who went on the trip, said he had no hesitations about going despite the expedition's remote location. "It was a no-brainer," he said. Salvatore said the support from the University and from professors for trips such as this was a major reason he chose Brown as the place to pursue his graduate degree.
"Going to Antarctica for three months is not a typical learning experience," Salvatore said. But he added that an opportunity like this rarely comes around, and when it does, "You just do it. You say yes, and you go."
