Polar scientists to reveal 50 million years of climate history
Three icebreakers are carrying an international team of scientists to the Arctic Ocean to study its geological history. One of the chief scientists on this groundbreaking expedition is Kate Moran, associate professor of oceanography and ocean engineering.
The primary objective of the Arctic Coring Expedition is to drill several hundred meters into the sediments of the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain. This operation is the most ambitious of its kind ever attempted in such a hostile environment.
By analyzing samples from the 500-meter-thick sediment on top of the ridge, scientists will reconstruct the climatic and environmental history of the Arctic over the past 50 million years. The Arctic plays a fundamental role in regulating Earth’s climate, and scientists hope to gain significant information about ancient climate that may provide insight into the effects of future climate change.
The Lomonosov Ridge lies approximately 1,000 meters under the sea-surface, 250 kilometers from the North Pole. The expedition began Aug. 8 and will run through mid-September. Analysis of the core samples will begin in November at Bremen University in Germany.
The three icebreakers include the Swedish-registered Vidar Viking, which is serving as the coring vessel, the Swedish icebreaker Oden, serving as a “protection shield” as well as the operational headquarters, and the nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz, the main icebreaker. Because the Arctic weather and ice conditions can be very harsh, the challenge for the icebreakers is to keep the vessel-mounted rig stationary while retrieving cores from the seabed below.
Other University of Rhode Island oceanographers taking part in the expedition are geologists John Farrell and Matthew O’Regan and microbiologist David Smith. In addition, Kathy Couchon, a middle-school teacher from Narragansett will participate in the expedition as part of the ARMADA Project, a research and mentoring program for teachers based at GSO.
