By Monica Kortsha Earlier this week, I watched a core sample slide into the processing lab for the first time, the drill crew pushing it through a hole cut into the side of the shipping container that houses the lab. Surrounded by a clear plastic tube, the core offered a first look at sediment about… Continue Reading Cutting Core, Seeing Signposts
Progress from Delay
By Monica Kortsha Over the past four days at sea, the science team has faced the following issues: Thankfully, each obstacle has been overcome to different degrees. Pressure readings aren’t available but a probe on the coring tool is taking temperatures. The pressure-valve sealed on the second attempt, capturing a beautiful pressurized core sample, which… Continue Reading Progress from Delay
The Stuff of Life at Sea
By Monica Kortsha The mission to recover methane hydrates has scientists set on recovering core samples of the substance from over 1,000 feet beneath the seafloor. To actually reach these samples requires the science team to live and work aboard a specialized vessel named Helix Q4000. I took the helicopter out to the Q4000 on… Continue Reading The Stuff of Life at Sea
Methane Hydrate: The Mission Continues
The University of Texas at Austin has returned to the Gulf of Mexico to lead a Department of Energy-funded mission to sample and study methane hydrate, an ice-like solid composed of water and methane that forms at high pressure and low temperature. This difficult to reach and poorly understood substance has potentially wide-ranging effects on… Continue Reading Methane Hydrate: The Mission Continues
New Radar Technique Lets Scientists Probe Invisible Ice Sheet Region on Earth and Icy Worlds
Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have developed a radar technique that lets them image hidden features within the upper few feet of ice sheets. The researchers behind the technique said that it can be used to investigate melting glaciers on Earth as well as detect potentially habitable environments on Jupiter’s… Continue Reading New Radar Technique Lets Scientists Probe Invisible Ice Sheet Region on Earth and Icy Worlds
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 41
- Next Page »