A collaboration with Alan Bennett (http://alandbennett.com).
What do ancient volcanoes, polar ice, modern storms and a Texan all have in common?
A lot more than you might think.
Donna “Teye” Kalteyer, a University of Maine graduate student and research assistant who is researching the cryptotephra particles trapped in the ice at our planet’s poles, is trying to make the connection.
Tephra are the organic particles in volcanic ash released into the air during an eruption. Cryptotephra are very small volcanic ash particles that become trapped in ice after large volcanic eruptions. Kalteyer explains that, because the atmosphere is thinner at the equator, volcanic tephra particles, especially cryptotephra, can float above the Earth for upward of three years while simultaneously travelling great distances by wind.
Their destination? Anywhere, but Kalteyer focuses on the cryptotephra found in ice. This cryptotephra can be radiocarbon dated to refine dates on major volcanic eruptions throughout the planet’s history.
By looking at ice core samples taken at the poles, Kalteyer hopes to identify major storm events over the last 800,000 years. Climatologists can observe how the Earth responded in these past events by looking at the paleoclimate record, which can help them better predict future climate change scenarios, according to Kalteyer.
“Humans have only been recording climate events for the past, at most, 500 years,” she said. “But we can actually look physically at the chemicals in an ice core and figure out what happened with the weather and with the climate.”
She hopes her research will be used to further understand past weather events so we can better understand today’s, bridging the gap in knowledge over the last 800,000 years.
“[Tephra] creates a time-linked layer, globally or regionally,” she said. “I just think it’s really cool.”
Correction: Kalteyer meant to say the equator is thicker in the middle rather than thinner. She said, “her enthusiasm outpaced her editor.”
Amanda Curtis' 