The Land Beneath the Ice
eBook - ePub

The Land Beneath the Ice

The Pioneering Years of Radar Exploration in Antarctica

  1. 416 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Land Beneath the Ice

The Pioneering Years of Radar Exploration in Antarctica

About this book

A wondrous story of scientific endeavor—probing the great ice sheets of Antarctica

From the moment explorers set foot on the ice of Antarctica in the early nineteenth century, they desired to learn what lay beneath. David J. Drewry provides an insider’s account of the ambitious and often hazardous radar mapping expeditions that he and fellow glaciologists undertook during the height of the Cold War, when concerns about global climate change were first emerging and scientists were finally able to peer into the Antarctic ice and take its measure.

In this panoramic book, Drewry charts the history and breakthrough science of radio-echo sounding, a revolutionary technique that has enabled researchers to measure the thickness and properties of ice continuously from the air—transforming our understanding of the world’s great ice sheets. To those involved in this epic fieldwork, it was evident that our planet is rapidly changing, and its future depends on the stability and behavior of these colossal ice masses. Drewry describes how bad weather, downed aircraft, and human frailty disrupt the most meticulously laid plans, and how success, built on remarkable international cooperation, can spawn institutional rivalries.

The Land Beneath the Ice captures the excitement and innovative spirit of a pioneering era in Antarctic geophysical exploration, recounting its perils and scientific challenges, and showing how its discoveries are helping us to tackle environmental challenges of global significance.

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Yes, you can access The Land Beneath the Ice by David J. Drewry in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Scienze biologiche & Storia militare e marittima. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. List of Illustrations
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgements
  9. 1. The Antarctic Ice Sheet Puzzle
  10. 2. Sounding through the Ice
  11. 3. The Advent of Radio-Echo Sounding
  12. 4. Flight into the Unknown: Long-Range Antarctic Campaigns Commence
  13. 5. The Second Antarctic Season 1969–70: A Task for Hercules
  14. 6. Review and New Plans
  15. 7. The Continental Survey Begins: A Land Emerges
  16. 8. New Impetus
  17. Color Plates
  18. 9. 1974–75: Radio-Echo Sounding Comes of Age
  19. 10. Data, Research, and Politics
  20. 11. Changing Planes
  21. 12. The Final Season, 1978–79
  22. 13. The Axe Falls
  23. 14. The Antarctic Folio
  24. 15. The Last Push
  25. 16. The Aftermath
  26. 17. Reflections
  27. Appendix 1: Display and Recording of RES Data
  28. Appendix 2: SPRI Research Students in the Radio-Echo Sounding Programme
  29. Abbreviations
  30. Glossary
  31. Index