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National Public Radio science reporter Richard Harris interviewed Eugene Domack, the Joel W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences, for a segment on All Things Considered on Aug. 22 titled “Humans’ Role In Antarctic Ice Melt Is Unclear.”  Domack’s research, published in the journal Nature in 2005, provided evidence that the break-up of Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf was caused by a combination of long-term thinning over thousands of years and short term cumulative increases in surface air temperature that have exceeded the natural variation of regional climate during the Holocene period.

A review of the research conducted in the last decade by Eugene Domack, the Joel W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences, comprises a notable portion of Antarctica, An Intimate Portrait of the World’s Most Mysterious Continent, published recently by Bloombury Press, UK. The book was written by Gabrielle Walker, a consultant to New Scientist and a regular BBC contributor who has taught at both Princeton and Cambridge Universities. She has been on five Antarctic assignments for Nature magazine and the BBC.

Joel W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences Eugene Domack presented “LARISSA: LARsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica; an Interdisciplinary/International Observing and Monitoring Study of a Critical Antarctic Region” on July 19 at the SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) and Open Science Conference in Portland, Ore.

"Witness to an Antarctic Meltdown - Scientists Trek to Collapsing Glaciers to Assess Antarctica’s Meltdown and Sea-Level Rise," an article that appeared in the Scientific American’s July issue, focused on research performed during the 2010 LARISSA (LARsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica) expedition for which Hamilton Geosciences Professor Eugene Domack served as Principal Investigator. Writer Douglas Fox, who accompanied the 30 scientists on the two-month expedition, described the researchers’ efforts to determine how fast the continent is melting and what that might mean for sea-level rise.

Eugene Domack, the Joel W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant of $182,453 for the project “Continuation of the LARISSA Continuous GPS Network in View of Observed Dynamic Response to Antarctic Peninsula Ice Mass Balance and Required Geologic Constraints.”  The award is effective July 1, 2012 and expires June 30, 2017.

The Sedimentology Lab in the Taylor Science Center is busy this summer with eight summer students who are doing research on various aspects of Antarctica sediments as well as the geographically-closer Oneida Lake. 

The Antarctic Sun, a publication of the U.S. Antarctic Program, featured research performed by Eugene Domack, the J.W. Johnson Family Professor of Environmental Studies, and Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick as part of the LARISSA (LARsen Ice Shelf System Research, Antarctica) Project.  Domack is the principal investigator on the LARISSA program and, while at Hamilton, has conducted marine geology expeditions to Antarctica for the last 25 years.

Eugene Domack, the J.W. Johnson Professor of Environmental Studies, attended a planning meeting for the Araon cruise on May 21-24.  The LARISSA Antarctic team will participate in the Araon cruise during the next Antarctic season with 20 Korean marine scientists. Hamilton students will also be aboard the RVIB Araon, the new Korean research icebreaker.

What does one pack for a trip to an Antarctic island?  Items not found on a typical packing checklist, as some Hamilton students learned this week when they prepared for an expedition to Robertson Island.  It’s week two of the Antarctica 2012 research expedition, aboard the ship Nathaniel B. Palmer for Natalie Elking ’12, Manique Talaia-Murray ’12, Andrew Seraichick ’13, Elizabeth Bucceri ’11 and Associate Professor of Biology Mike McCormick. 

An international team of scientists - including Associate Professor of Biology Mike McCormick, alumna Elizabeth Bucceri ’11 and students Natalie Elking ’12, Manique Talaia-Murray ’12 and Andrew Seraichick ’13 - have embarked on the third cruise of the LARISSA program aboard the U.S. Antarctic Program ship Nathaniel B. Palmer.