1. Barrow, Alaska: Outward Bound
While the thermometer climbed into the 100s in early May 2006 and most people headed for the refrigerator or grocery store to get ice, Brian Eddie, a Microbiology graduate student in the Neuer lab, traveled a little farther afield for his ice supply. In mid-May Brian left Phoenix Sky Harbor airport for Barrow, northern Alaska to collect ice core samples from the Arctic ice pack.
Brian is working in collaboration with Christopher Krembs (U. of Washington) and Andrew Juhl (Columbia U.); all of them interested in the micro-organisms that get trapped in the brine channels of Arctic Ocean sea ice. These brine channels occur when the ice pack forms and creates a network of high saline water pockets that do not completely freeze, providing a haven for the algae, plankton and bacteria that are trapped in the ice.
