Peering into a pit

WHOI scientists set up an isolated research camp in the cold Dry Valleys in Antarctica in December 2007 on a monthlong expedition to explore how the volcanic landscape formed and evolved. Part of the work involved digging pits in the lava to look for clues beneath the surface. Peering into a pit (counterclockwise from left) are geochemist Mark Kurz, volcanologist Adam Soule, photographer Chris Linder, graduate student Andrea Burke, and writer Hugh Powell, who filed dispatches with Linder for the WHOI Polar Discovery Web site.
(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)