News Release

Texas researchers and educators head for Antarctica

Expedition to Admundsen Sea which hasn't been explored at this time in 100 years

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Texas at San Antonio

PolarTREC Participants

image: Photo left to right: PolarTREC Program Manager Janet Warburton, UTSA Research Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Stephen Ackley and Boerne, Texas High School Science Teacher Sarah Anderson. view more 

Credit: Kris Edward Rodriguez

(San Antonio)—It’s been more than 100 years since anyone has journeyed to this section of Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, but that is about to change. Next month five UTSA researchers and a Boerne High School science teacher will join a crew of 22 researchers from several countries to set sail on a two month expedition.

The trip, funded by a $533,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant to UTSA, is designed to study the relationship of sea ice and the Antarctic environment. UTSA’s research team will depart Sept. 1 from Punta Arenas, Chile.

The expedition, sponsored by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS), is one of 20 annual trips planned involving a teacher accompanying a research expedition. ARCUS coordinates NSF’s PolarTREC educational program, designed to bring educators and researchers together to explore, collaborate and experience life in the Polar Regions.

“We hope that once these teachers get this hands-on experience they will be better equipped to teach science in the classroom and convey their sense of excitement to their students, especially after going through this amazing experience,” said Janet Warburton, PolarTREC program manager.

Leading UTSA’s efforts is world-renowned sea ice expert Stephen Ackley, research associate professor of earth and environmental science, who has made more than a dozen trips to the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Ackley’s outstanding contributions to sea ice research were recognized in 2004 when the Antarctic geographic feature, Ackley Point, was named after him by the U.S. Board of Geographical Names.

“We are going to investigate the processes of how sea ice forms, moves, decays and interacts with the environment, said Ackley. “It’s highly exploratory and since the ice is so tightly packed this time of year, no one has attempted to travel this deep into the Amundsen Sea during winter since 1899 when the Belgica was trapped there. The sea was named after one of the explorers to survive that expedition, Roald Amundsen, who later made the first trip to the South Pole in 1911.”

Accompanying Ackley on the trip aboard the U.S. icebreaker N.B. Palmer will be four UTSA undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree students. The UTSA researchers will conduct numerous investigations including observing marine and mammalian life on and under the ice and determining how the sea ice interacts with the ocean and atmosphere. Joining the UTSA team will be 43-year-old Boerne High School science teacher Sarah Anderson. Anderson was chosen from among 150 educators that submitted applications to the PolarTREC program.

“I’ll be interacting regularly by phone and e-mail with my students so they will know about all the research we are conducting aboard the ship,” said Anderson. “I also plan on posting a journal online so teachers and students will be able log on and see notes and photos from Antarctica.”

The trip to Antarctica is the second one in less then a year involving UTSA researchers, last December UTSA assistant professor of earth and environmental science Hongjie Xie and doctoral student Burcu Cicek were part of a three-week international expedition of scientists and educators trying to determine if global warming was affecting the South Pole.

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UTSA’ s Antarctica research teams are a part of the Department of Earth and Environmental Science’s Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics. The department hopes to develop a program of researchers that will be able to accompany future NSF-funded trips to conduct sea ice observations.

PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating in the Arctic and Antarctic) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation in which K-12 teachers participate in polar research, working closely with scientists as a pathway to improving science education. PolarTREC builds on the outstanding scientific and cultural opportunities in the Arctic and Antarctic to link research and education through intriguing topics that will engage students and the wider public.

For more information, visit http://www.polartrec.com/

The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the premier institutions of higher education in South Texas and one of the fastest growing universities in the state. One of nine academic universities and six health institutions that comprise the UT System, UTSA is the second largest institution in the system. Celebrating its 38th anniversary, UTSA serves more than 28,300 students enrolled in 62 bachelor's, 43 master's and 20 doctoral degree programs.

Programs are offered through the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, and Sciences, and the Graduate School. A Top 100 Hispanic-serving institution, UTSA is ranked among the top 10. A university of access and excellence, UTSA is committed to research and discovery, teaching and learning, and public service.


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