First Thoughts About Being Outside In The Very Cold Land: Did We Get Rocks That Will Let Us Study How Warm And Wet It Was In The Past?

Abstract:

In the very cold land at the bottom of the world, ice lives under ground. How old is the ice? In some places, the ice is very old, but in other places, it's pretty young. If the ice is old, that must mean that it was always cold there. Old ice is interesting because it tells a story about old air and water. And, it means that even if the air were much warmer, the old ice could probably live. But, young ice is interesting, too. When a place has young ice, it means that it wasn't too long ago that ice could be made there. And, both kinds of under ground ice are interesting because if they turn to water, they can go into small bodies of water. There, tiny living things grow. The living things eat food brought by the water, so the ice-turned-to-water is important to their families. In this talk, we will think about a part of the very cold land at the bottom of the world, and about how old the ice is there. What ice and rocks can we use to figure this out? What does the ice look like when it's hiding under ground? These are only first thoughts, because we will only just be back from the very cold land!