READINGS
2014; American Meteorological Society; Volume: 95; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1175/1520-0477-95.2.297
ISSN1520-0477
ResumoNot long ago I saw my friend and colleague Amanda Byrd at a potluck near my home in interior Alaska.I wondered to myself if polar explorers Richard Byrd and Apsley Cherry-Garrard had ever shared a potluck.Amanda and I are both polar science and engineering researchers by profession, but suffer typical Alaska afflictions in our spare time: hers-dog mushing, mine-bush piloting.Together, we have speculated that our life trajectories or willingness to bear the Alaska winters might have something to do with our polar-exploring surnames.While neither Amanda nor I have been to the Antarctic, Veronika Meduna's new book, Secrets of the Ice, presents a vivid picture of the research in Antarctica and gave me a clear sense of the beauty and wonder that drives scientists to the Southern continent.Meduna's book reads like a documentary, and the reader hears the voice of a veteran science journalist.She frames the modern research in Antarctica, including climate physics, marine and terrestrial life sciences, and astrophysics, as a clear extension of the polar explorers and their own scientific focus.Meduna is not describing the physical duress of a team of men racing to the pole or charting the coastline but international cooperation and coordination that makes possible the phenomenal amount of research activity in this remote land.What makes Secrets of the Ice particularly pleasurable to read is the large number of photographs, both artful and utilitarian, that illustrate the Antarctic environment and the individuals working there.In fact, one might mistake the book for coffee table eye candy if not for the detailed descriptions of the objectives and methods employed by the research teams.Meduna's story starts with the drilling of the Lake Vostok core and the implications of penetrating four
Referência(s)