Two NIU professors of geology, Ross Powell and Reed Scherer, are helping lead an investigation at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with the assistance of a robotic submarine.

The investigation will determine if the melting is caused by global warming. If the melting is confirmed, scientists will be able to predict the future potential sea levels, which is crucial for climate modelers.

“We’re trying to understand how fast the ice is melting,” Powell said. “And if the ice is going to melt, we will have a better feel for it.”

Powell added that no one knows if the ice has melted. In order to collect the data, the scientists will drill a hole into the ice and submerge the robotic submarine into and underneath the ice shelf. Not only will the submarine measure the amount of melting, but it will also be released to investigate the sea floor and the sediment beneath that.

“[Getting sediment samples] gives us an idea of what’s happened in the past,” Powell said. “If there has been melting, and how it’s different now.”

The technological device is 24 feet long and two feet wide. The width makes it possible for the submarine to fit through the melted drill hole. There will be five cameras, along with “fingers” which allow the robot to collect samples from the ice and floor sediment.

“It’s being built by DOER Marine in California. The building started in 2005. It’s being built now and and going through until 2011,” Powell said. DOER Marine, which stands for Deep Ocean
Exploration and Research, is a marine consulting firm based in California.

NIU is not the only university to be involved in WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling). NIU is teaming up with Montana State University and the University of California at Santa Cruz in taking the leading roles of this complex project.

Powell said there are a number of other universities attached to the project, including New York University, Dartmouth College and Louisiana State University.

The National Science Foundation has financed $10 million to aid in the investigation of the West Atlantic Ice Sheet. A grant of $2.5 million was awarded to Powell due to his lead role and to also help advance his project.

It is not Powell’s first grant. He has been awarded about $2 million, which funded the building of the robotic submarine which was given to him in 2004.

“Before we got funding, its been 10 years, and we are looking at another [10 years],” Powell said.

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