Feb. 26- “Why are glaciers in Antarctica important to people who live in Virginia?” A storytelling session led by Dr. Ellen Cowan

February 26, 2011
“Why are glaciers in Antarctica important to people who live in Virginia?”

A storytelling session led by Dr. Ellen Cowan

Professor of Geology, Appalachian State University

Geologists know that Virginia wasn’t covered by glaciers even at the peak of the last Ice Age in North America, approximately 20,000 years ago. Yet there are many reasons that we can appreciate glaciers and the work that they do on Earth. Glaciers sculpt beautiful and distinctive landscapes that we see around the world in mountains and in Polar Regions. Antarctica is a vast continent almost completely covered by ice. How has the Antarctic ice sheet responded to past changes in climate? We can use clues from rock layers, fossils and gas bubbles in ice to study the history of Antarctica’s glaciers. With this information we can estimate the affects of a warmer world on Antarctica’s ice and determine the affects far away in Virginia.

Dr. Ellen Cowan is a Professor of Geology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Her research involves the study of the sedimentary record of glaciers that reach the sea. She participated in two Antarctic research expeditions as part of the ANDRILL Project (ANarctic geological DRILLing) and the Ocean Drilling Program and has conducted research on glaciers in the bays and fjords of Alaska.