College of Arts and Sciences

The beginning of 2020 brought great weather for meteorite hunting to the Davis Ward ANSMET field camp. For the past 6 days, the skies have been clear, the temperatures mild (-5 to 5 degrees F) and the winds light, giving us the opportunity to engage in systematic searches on...

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  Boy am I good at finding “meteorWRONGS”. These are boring old Earth rocks (sorry geologists...) that look like meteorites. We identify meteorites based on their black color, glassy shiny surface (fusion crust that formed when they entered Earth’s atmosphere), and rounded shape. Common meteorwrongs we find around Davis Ward...

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We’ve had two more successful days out hunting for meteorites; our total count is now up to 114! Systematically searching a blue ice field by snow machine is great fun because we come across lots of larger meteorites. Pictured here is our largest yet found, estimated to be about...

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Good news! Wind has blown away most of the snow sitting on the ice; now we can spot meteorites! Unfortunately, the wind has also brought the cold. Everyone on the team managed to stay warm and happy (except for Lauren’s left foot) in about -10 to 0 degree F...

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It has been snowing here in the Davis-Ward Nunataks area! Even just a light coating makes identifying meteorites against a background of thousands of terrestrial pebbles almost impossible. But this is Antarctica so the winds will pick up and blow the snow away. Until then we are busying ourselves...

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Happy New Year! The ANSMET team is so happy to be in Davis Ward for the start of 2020. Here in Antarctica, we were among the first in the world to experience the new year and we witnessed a midnight Sun (pictured above)! We have had a productive few...

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Over the past few days, it has been snowing in the Davis Ward region. The beautiful glittering ice crystals floating gracefully past us, though, eventually fall and cover rocks laying on the ground. This is a big problem for us, because it is very difficult to look for meteorites...

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The gang is all here! Brian and Marc arrived this morning, even with grey clouds threatening to turn the plane around inflight (a “boomerang flight” in McMurdo terminology). We’re all thrilled to be officially beginning our work exactly one month since the start of this adventure. Nicole, Alex, and...

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Hello from Davis Ward! Boy has it been a long day. Cindy and I woke up at about 5:30 am to catch a shuttle from McMurdo to Willie field (a 1 hour very bumpy ride in a Delta). After the gear was loaded, including 3 snow machines, into the...

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This morning (Dec. 28th), Nicole, Lauren, and Alex caught a flight south to join Johnny at Davis Ward! The Basler returned to McMurdo yesterday, so the 7 of us enjoyed our last meal together in McMurdo. Unfortunately, the weather at the fuel cache today does not look good, so...

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