Walking in a Real Winter Wonderland

---

November 1, 2007

Penguins sing, are you listening? Lava flows, snow is glistening. Through the use of the Web and satellite technology, researchers and communicators from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are bringing the sights, sounds, and smells of the season that is, the summer season in Antarctica to students and museum-goers across America. In the third installment of WHOI’s Polar Discovery project, photographer Chris Linder and science writer Hugh Powell will accompany researchers who are continuing a 55-year-long study of Adélie penguins in the Ross Sea. They will then hitch a helicopter ride to the interior of the continent, camping with WHOI geologists and chemists on Mount Morning to study how ice and rock shape and carve each other over time. They will send photos, audio clips, and daily dispatches from the field to the Polar Discovery Website from November 26 to December 23, while also talking to students and museum visitors via satellite phone during a series of “Live from the Poles” events. Funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the International Polar Year (March 2007 to March 2009), Polar Discovery takes the public on a virtual expedition to observe how polar exploration is conducted and to learn what real scientists are like what excites them, how they cope with their environment, and what challenges they face as they try to gain a better understanding of our planet.

Related Links

• Polar Discovery
• Students, Museum Visitors, and Web Surfers Can Join First Search for Life on the Arctic Ocean Floor