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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warehouse23" data-source="post: 3065813" data-attributes="member: 27941">In response to the requests in CarlZog's RI gameday thread, here is, at long last, a thread dedicated to my research in Antarctica (for which I'll be heading south again to continue from October 20 through January). A little background about me-- I am a third year PhD student at Brown University in the department of geological science, planetary group. I'm a little scatter-brained at the moment (quals on Tuesday!), so feel free to ask lots of questions if my explanations aren't clear. I study an area called the Antarctic Dry Valleys, which are part of the 0.3% of the continent which is not covered in ice sheets (basically, the mountains keep the ice back). Rather, the valleys are floored with small, debris-covered glaciers, and landslide detritus. Antarctica is a cold desert (in fact, as continents go, it is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest continent on Earth), which means that many of the landforms present there can be studied as analogs to features observed on Mars. In particular, I study thermal contraction crack polygons (the snow-filled troughs that make the valley floors look like bathroom tiles in some of the air photos), which are also observed on Mars. LINKS: (Here are some links to photos, maps, and papers about my field site)<a href="http://www.soils.wisc.edu/antarcticConf/images/Beacon%20Valley2.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.soils.wisc.edu/antarcticConf/images/Beacon Valley2.jpg</a>Nice panoramic view of Beacon Valley.<a href="http://archive.digitalglobe.com/archive/showBrowse.php?catID=10100100029E0E03" target="_blank">http://archive.digitalglobe.com/archive/showBrowse.php?catID=10100100029E0E03</a>Satelite map of Beacon Valley and environs (Beacon is the large valley all the little ones are feeding into).<a href="http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/atrs/web_photos/dryvals/beacon_polygons.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/atrs/web_photos/dryvals/beacon_polygons.jpg</a><a href="http://wmthemes.jessanderson.org/sht/beacon_valley_tn.jpg" target="_blank">http://wmthemes.jessanderson.org/sht/beacon_valley_tn.jpg</a>Thermal contraction crack polygons in Beacon Valley. <a href="http://www.mcmlter.org/images/pictures/meteorology/beacon_met.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.mcmlter.org/images/pictures/meteorology/beacon_met.jpg</a>A meteorological station in Beacon Valley used to monitor global climate change. <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=466921&jid=ANS&volumeId=18&issueId=03&aid=466920" target="_blank">http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=466921&jid=ANS&volumeId=18&issueId=03&aid=466920</a>A pdf of a paper I wrote for the journal Antarctic Science summarizing observations from the 2004-5 field season. <a href="http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/07/19/2003.07.19.M1900047.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/07/19/2003.07.19.M1900047.jpg</a><a href="http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/11_15_99_polygons/moc2_msss_southpoly100.gif" target="_blank">http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/11_15_99_polygons/moc2_msss_southpoly100.gif</a>Patterned ground on Mars</blockquote>

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