ANDRILL to return to Antarctica

It'll be another cold fall for scientists at ANDRILL as they prepare to make....

  It'll be another cold fall for scientists at ANDRILL as they prepare to make another expedition to Antarctica.ANDRILL, short for Antarctic geological drilling, is a collaborative project between the United States, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to recover rock and sediment samples from the Antarctic. ANDRILL's Science Management Office, which administers and coordinates all of ANDRILL's scientific research, is located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Data obtained from the samples will show the effects of past climate changes. Scientists can use the data as a template to predict the effects of future changes."We're drilling back to see the future," said David Harwood, research director for ANDRILL and a professor of geosciences at UNL.Some of the researchers, including several from UNL, will leave for the drilling site in two weeks and will stay until early December. An advance team is already in Antarctica working on roads and setting up equipment."It's active already," Harwood said. The team will be based at the McMurdo Base, an American outpost in the southern part of Ross Island. While previous ANDRILL operations have taken place on ice shelves, the upcoming expedition will drill on sea ice, large pieces that have broken off ice shelves." Sea ice is a more seasonal feature," said Frank Rack, executive director of ANDRILL.Drilling on sea ice instead of the ice shelf will allow scientists to reach older sediment samples and build a more complete record of Antarctica's geological past. "The different location will allow us to reach older sediment at a shallower depth," Rack said. The oldest samples previous operations have recovered were 10 to 13 million years old, but the new location will allow scientists to reach back 17 million years and get higher quality samples from periods they've already studied." It should link with our previous drilling operations and give a more integrated view of the area," Rack said. The drilling rig being used on the expedition is capable of bringing up 20 to 30 meters of core sediment every day at a rate of six meters every two hours. Harwood said the team expects to drill up 13,000 meters of core sediment, 98 percent of which will be recoverable. "We're trying to get as much core as we can," Harwood said. About 60 scientists from around the world will go on the upcoming expedition, including experts in paleontology and geochemistry." They'll cover everything the geological sciences have to offer," Harwood said. Harwood said the data collected from the expedition will eventually be used to improve climate models predicting the effects of global warming." It allows us to play a key role in climate study," Harwood said.