Associate professor Amy Leventer has received another prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This time, she will travel to a relatively unexplored and inaccessible region of East Antarctica — the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf — to investigate the reasons for accelerated ice loss there.
The work is important in the context of climate-change research, as the Totten system contains a water volume equivalent to almost seven meters (more than 22 feet) of potential sea level rise.
Leventer will collect and study microscopic algae, or diatoms, whose shells are preserved in seafloor sediments. As scientists on land can study pollen to learn about vegetation over time, Leventer’s research of diatoms results in information about water temperature, the presence or absence of ice shelves, and the nutrient content of the water.
“Each species tells us something about the ocean and sea ice,” she said.
Two Colgate geology students will join the 46-day interdisciplinary ship-based expedition that will begin in January 2014.
Kara Vadman ’14 started working in Leventer’s micropaleontology lab as a first year student and has coauthored with Leventer two abstracts that were presented at international meetings. With two months at sea already under her belt, Leventer has put her in charge of Colgate’s portion of the marine geology research.
“While Kara’s senior research is focused on samples she helped collect during the 2012 research cruise, the skills she gained in the lab and on deck will be invaluable as she takes on greater responsibility with core deployment, recovery, and sampling during the 2014 cruise,” Leventer said.
Mikhaila Redovian ’15 will be learning the ropes while gathering data she needs for her senior research. To prepare for the trip, she worked in Leventer’s lab over the summer, learning to process marine sediment samples and identify diatoms under the microscope.
In the 15 years since joining Colgate’s faculty, Leventer has been awarded more than $800,000 in funding from the NSF and inspired dozens of young geologists.
Her current grant, in the amount of $157,752, will allow her to plan and collaborate with her fellow researchers Eugene Domack (Hamilton College), Bruce Huber (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), Alex Orsi (Texas A& M University), and Don Blankenship and Sean Gulick (University of Texas at Austin). The funding also will cover lab supplies and bringing team members to and from the field site.
Since 2000, Colgate’s geology faculty overall have received 21 NSF grants totaling nearly $2.5 million.
Story contributed by Alicia Klepeis