The Juneau Icefield is a group of interconnected glaciers just north of Juneau, Alaska that extends into British Columbia, Canada and covers an area the size of Rhode Island. Maybe you’ve heard of the Mendenhall Glacier? It is part of the Juneau Icefield! The Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) has been collecting data on the icefield since 1948.
The South Pole Telescope and Event Horizon Telescope
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10 meter microwave telescope located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. It primarily observes the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is a thermal remnant or “heat echo” from the Big Bang. In addition to the primary CMB camera in the SPT, there is also a secondary specialized sub-millimeter camera which allows the SPT to participate in the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global array of radio telescopes which work together to act as one earth-sized “synthetic telescope” in order to image and study nearby supermassive black holes. By combining data taken simultaneously with the SPT and the other telescopes in the EHT array, we can learn about the gravitational dynamics of black holes, better understand high-energy jets, strong astrophysical magnetic fields, and other astrophysical phenomena that happen in the unique environment around black holes.
More Information About This Project
Participants Involved in This Project
Amy Lowitz | Researcher Fellow
University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ
Laurie Orth | Educator Fellow
Jessye Norman School of the Arts | Augusta, GA
From the Blog
An Unforgettable Adventure Begins As a high school science teacher, the invitation to join Macall Hock on an expedition to study the effects of a warming Arctic ecosystem on stream carbon cycling in Utqiagvik, Alaska, felt like stepping into a thrilling adventure. The beauty of the Arctic wilderness was a sight to behold, but the
Drs. Peter Ungar, Mary Heskel, and Aleksey Sheshukov explained (patiently) their areas of expertise, Arctic research projects, and provided me with a virtual mountain of photographs from their fieldwork. We talked about what projects would be suitable and appropriate for a variety of audiences. What would be engaging to different ages, interests and levels of scientific knowledge? I knew that I wanted my Photoshop class to be involved with this project, so I suggested creating a comic book.
Today we got set up and met the local 8th graders out on the ice! For some of them it was the first time they had been on the land-fast sea ice (which is ice that is "fastened" to the coastline). For some, it was old news. It was quite cold (-30F with the windchill), so many students hid in the tents we had set up. The previous days had been relatively warm, hovering around 0-10F degrees. The students were split into groups and rotated between the stations.
Made possible with funding by the National Science Foundation Award #2221990. The information contained here is those of the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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