NIU Today

Using a specially designed hot-water drill to cleanly bore through a half mile of ice, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded team of researchers, led by NIU’s Ross Powell and including other faculty and students, has become the first ever to reach and investigate the “grounding zone” along the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where ice, land...

It’s a continent of extremes, boasting arguably the harshest environment on the planet. And it will become a research laboratory for three NIU geology students who will arrive in Antarctica in early January. They’re taking part in an important, collaborative research project that is funded by the National Science Foundation and being led by NIU...

[vsw id=”oVtlIB-EbXg” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”] The coastline, or grounding zone, where the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet atop land meets the Ross Sea, is considered an important piece of the puzzle for scientists working to predict the effect of climate change on rising seawaters, which threaten coastal cities worldwide. Yet researchers have never laid...

The government shutdown was resolved last week, but it wasn’t soon enough to save a multimillion-dollar NIU research project in the Antarctic. The National Science Foundation, which was funding the research, has notified NIU scientists and two participating graduate students that their planned Antarctic research season to begin in January has been canceled. Earlier this...

The government shutdown has put in jeopardy the upcoming field season for the U.S. Antarctic Program – a potentially major blow to dozens of research projects nationwide, including a large-scale expedition investigating ice sheet dynamics and climate change and to be led by NIU geologist Ross Powell. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is likely to cancel...

You can check an app on your phone to see what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, but what about 10 or even 100 years from now? To predict climate change, geologists are drilling into the heart of Antarctic ice and studying the effects of millions of years of weather. Chill out with...

You can check an app on your phone to see what the weather will be tomorrow, but what about 10 or even 100 years from now? To predict climate changes, geologists are drilling into the heart of Antarctic ice and studying the effects of millions of years of weather. Join NIU STEM Outreach at 6:30...

Brian Guthrie, a senior NIU geology major, says his recent experience in the Antarctic as part of a major research team was, well, out of this world. The icy desert continent “was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” says the 23-year-old St. Charles native, who spent more than a month in Antarctica. At one point,...

A lounging Weddell seal, wandering Adelie penguin, stark white landscapes, the Transantarctic Mountains and lots of scientists in action. All of that and more can be found on this micro-blog created by NIU Board of Trustees Professor Reed Scherer in geology. Scherer just recently returned from a historic research expedition in the Antarctic. He was...

A team of scientists that includes Northern Illinois University researchers has successfully drilled through the overlying Antarctic ice sheet and sampled directly the waters and sediments of Subglacial Lake Whillans. The effort is making headlines today: It marks the first successful retrieval of clean whole samples from an Antarctic subglacial lake, according to a statement...

For someone who isn’t fond of cold weather, Brian Guthrie sure seems excited about the prospect of working in one of the coldest, driest and most remote environments on the planet. A senior geology major at Northern Illinois University, Guthrie definitely has an adventurous side. He sports a Mohawk, zips to classes via skateboard and...

The plan sounds like something from an adventure novel. Just after Christmas this year, a team of scientists that includes NIU’s Ross Powell and Reed Scherer, with colleagues from nine other major universities, will begin a major research project in the Antarctic. The operations team will use Giant Caterpillar tractors to pull sleds loaded with...