UW Faces of Current Events: Sub-zero Science

Snow in L.A., temperature fluctuations in New York and the Midwest [HTML_REMOVED] before we know it polar bears will be drowning. But is the Earth really warming up at a deadly rate or is the threat of global warming exaggerated by the media?

Questions such as these are exactly what geology major Peter Neff and Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) associate professor Eric Steig are trying to answer.

The Quaternary Isotope Laboratory uses ice cores, or cylinders of ice that have been drilled out from meters below ground level, to obtain information about changes in temperature from the past [HTML_REMOVED] a research method pioneered by the French and Danish in the 1970s. The ice cores serve as means of obtaining temperature records from as far back as 100,000 - 150,000 years ago.

"My research involves ice coring. We drill into glaciers and ice sheets from British Columbia, then bring them here for the research," Steig said. "Basically, by drilling into the glaciers and ice sheets, we're drilling back into time. It's very much like tree [rings]."

Once the ice cores are brought to the UW, they are placed in the cold labs where the cutting takes place.

"We slice up the ice and put it in a vial. We then melt the [ice sample] and put it in the mass spectrometer, which determines the isotopic makeup of the content" he said. "The ratio of [oxygen-18 isotope] to [oxygen-16 isotope] or [those respective isotopes in water] is what relates to the actual temperature."

The relationship between these ice cores and past temperature records is very complex. For simplicity's sake, consider former vice president Al Gore. Gore's summary really generalizes the nature of the research in a simple but precise manner:

"When the snow falls, it traps little bubbles of atmosphere and [scientists] can go in and measure how much CO2 is in the atmosphere the year that that snow fell. What's more interesting, I think, is they can measure the different isotopes of oxygen and figure out the very precise thermometer and tell you what the temperature was the year that that bubble was trapped in the snow as it fell."

The actual process of determining the isotope makeup is very strenuous and time-consuming. Neff, however, finds time to balance schoolwork with his research, although he would much rather spend his time doing the latter.

"The goal of this research would be threefold: to increase understanding of what governs climate, clarify the resolution of current data that we have [HTML_REMOVED] especially about the past [HTML_REMOVED] and increasing the accuracies for climate predictions for the future" he said.

Neff is now slicing up a Mount Waddington ice core from 33 meters down.

"I cut it lengthwise about a centimeter thick. I have to melt all the pieces and put it into vials" Neff said.

Once all the ice is bottled, the mass spectrometer gives the scientists a readout of the per mil (parts per thousand) isotopic levels.

"Usually there is a pattern of more change in O-18 in the summer and less change in O-18 in the winter. That's how we can tell the date of the temperatures," he said.

This brings back the ratio of O-18 to O-16, or O-18 levels divided by O-16 levels. The more negative the change in temperature, which is determined by the ratio, the colder the temperature was. The less negative the ratio, the warmer the temperature was.

Because there are no records of temperature from centuries ago, the research results from the ice cores serve as baseline records for past temperatures. In turn, these results can help determine whether global warming is cyclic or really a problem caused by human activities.

A major breakthrough in the field of ice core research was in 1998 with the Vostok Ice Core.

"They released data of carbon dioxide levels from as far back as 160,000 years ago. The ice core record shows what the environment does on its own compared to what we do to it and the respective carbon dioxide levels. Currently, the CO2 is off the scale," Steig said.

It would seem that the high levels of carbon dioxide would be a direct link to global warming and the idea that global warming is in fact as great of a threat as the media lays it out to be.

"The media does an amazing job at overstating the seriousness of global warming. But some people also say that global warming is not a problem. Both extremes are wrong," Steig said. "When people make predictions about future climates, they use calculations, state-of-the-art-computers and the like. But the only way to determine the future is by going into the past."

Steig and Neff's research will most likely contribute to the global effort to solve the global warming issue, but not directly.

"It's hard to make a direct connection with global warming" Neff said. "The rest of the global science community will probably use the results from ice core research, but anybody who is researching is part of the bigger picture."

Seems like quite a load for a sophomore undergraduate student to carry, but Neff has always been interested in geologic science.

"I've always been really interested in geology and glaciology," he said. "It would be a lot harder if I didn't like it and wasn't interested in this field. It's been tough at times because I have a lot of work, so sometimes I come in on the weekend to set things up for the upcoming week."

What really seems to have caught his interest, though, was the fieldwork

"When you declare your major as geology, we get e-mails about lab assistances," he explained. "I saw that this research involved possible fieldwork, and I was up here over the summer for summer school so I met with Eric."

Neff plans to go to Greenland this summer for his first field research. As Steig puts it, "All he's got to do is cut up ice."

If only it were that easy.

Reach Ae Jung Yoon at features@thedaily.washington.edu.