6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SCIENCE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4; 2009
CReSIS plans to research climate change with new radar
BY KEVIN HARDY
khardy@kansan.com
Students and professors at the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, or CRelIS, plan to measure the thickness of glacial ice sheets in Greenland this month with improved radar equipment.
Using the innovative radar Multi-Channel Radar Depth Sounder, researchers will measure the depth of ice sheets to better understand the speed at which they melt, a key consequence of global climate change.
The radar equipment will be shipped today to Calgary, Alberta, before being sent on to Greenland.
Vicky lytle associate director of education for CREIS, said dozens of undergraduate and graduate students worked year-round to help scientists better understand how climate change affected the melting of glaciers and rise in sea levels.
Researchers will fly over the glaciers in order to calculate their depths. Lytle described the depth sounder radar as a one-of-a-kind product designed specifically for this use.
"it's literally the only radar in the world that can see the bottom of these glaciers," Lytle said.
The researchers will survey the Jakobshavn, Helheim and Kangerlussuaq glaciers, which Lyle described as "key" fast-flowing glaciers that melted at much faster speeds than researchers originally thought.
Sivaprasad Gogineni, CRESIS director and professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, said this year's trip was similar to last year's. Researchers made last year's trip in July, but had trouble because of the sun melting the glaciers.
"When you are wanting to obtain ice thickness information," Gogineni said, "that really is the wrong
time to go."
Because sea levels are rising faster than models originally predicted. Goginent said sea level rise was an issue of all climate change discussions.
"This is one of the most important issues that the next few generations will face." Gogineni said.
Cameron Lewis, Roeland Park doctoral student, will make the trek to Greenland on March 22. Lewis said the CReSIS radar was the only radar capable of producing high-resolution images of ice bedrocks.
"There are a lot of people out there with radars, but were the best," Lewis said. "We're able to get very scientific results."
Lewis said he and other CReSIS researchers were trying to validate the hypothesis that lubrication at the base of ice sheets increased the speed of melting.
Ice sheets naturally flow from the
center to the edges of the land on which they sit. Large chunks then break off into the ocean and melt, Lewis said.
"If there's water down there, this process can happen much faster," Lewis said.
Researchers will travel to Illinois, Greenland, later this month to prepare for surveying. Lyle said students and faculty would travel back and forth between Greenland and the University.
CRESIS is funded by a five-year, $19 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Gogineni said the current grant would expire in May of 2010, and the foundation would decide whether to extend funding for the center.
To learn more about this and other research at CReSIS, visit www. cresis.ku.edu.
Edited by Grant Treaster
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
Glen Reeves, Kansas City, Kan., junior, assembles pieces for the Center for Remote Sensing of ice sheets' new radar in Nichols Hall on Friday afternoon. The CREIS team will pilot radar systems over the Jakobshavn, Heliheim and Kangerlussuaq glaciers in Greenland to obtain high resolution images of these fast-flowing ice sheets.
TANNING (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
by using an indoor, tanning lotion,
applying a post-tanning lotion and
drinking lots of water.
"If you don't use a lotion, you're wasting your time and money." Byrnes said. "We're not just peddling lotions."
He said using a lotion allowed the body to absorb the UV rays.
Lawrence said Mango Tanoffered tanning intensifiers, bronzers with tanning accelerators, and tingle lotions. She said the tingle lotions were meant to bring blood to the surface and assist with the production of melanin.
"I think the bronzer makes you
a lot darker," said Cara Lauster, Leawood sophomore. Lauster has been tanning for the past month in preparation for her spring break trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She said she didn't use tingle lotions because she heard they brought blood to the surface, which sounded dangerous.
Lawrence said someone shouldn't use a tingle lotion unless they had a base tan.
"I can't imagine that's helpful for your skin," said Lee Bittenbender, a dermatologist who has practiced in Lawrence for 32 years. He said he saw skin damage from artificial tanning and sun exposure on a daily
basis.
"If your skin is tanned, it's damaged," he said.
Bittenbender said that UV exposure not only burnt the top layers of skin but also that the damage penetrated into deeper layers in the skin's collagen. Collagen is one of the skin's essential fibrous proteins responsible for cell structure. Bittenbender said excessive sun exposure ruined skin elasticity, which caused visible aging.
"People wish they had known the effects of the sun," Bittenbender said, reflecting on patients he had seen throughout the years. "It's im-
important for people to know the consequences of what they do now"
Bittenbender said anyone traveling to a sunny location should use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 35.
"Enjoy all the stuff you want to do, but use a sunscreen and don't go out midday when the sun is most intense," he said.
Bittenbender said one ounce of sunscreen should be used and reapplied after sweating and swimming.
"About a shot glass," he said. "That should be a familiar measurement."
INSECTS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Falin said Short's research could eventually be expanded to more parts of Latin America and other nations to provide better water quality.
"Once you figure what's going on in Venezuela," Falin said, "you can move on to Columbia;
Ecuador and other countries."
Kelly Miller, assistant professor of biology and museum curator at the University of New Mexico, said he had worked closely with Short.
Miller said the two received a four-year, $500,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation to fund their research.
Miller said one of the most important pieces of his research was identifying new species and studying lesser-known aquatic species.
"There's a lot of species that are
known," Miller said, "but we don't know much about them."
Weston White/KANSAN
"The most important and fundamental thing that people should come away with — we know so little," Short said. "I hope to convince people that filling this knowledge gap is critical."
Tonight's lecture is part of the museum's monthly Wild Science series and is free and open to the public.
For more information on Short's research, visit his Web site at www.hydrophiloidea.org/lab/index.html.
Short said he hoped to shed light on relatively-unknown areas of study.
Edited by Brandy Entsminger
"it's kind of good for the most part because it keeps traffic from coming through," Schleicher said. "People who don't know where they're going used to circle around here."
Continuing construction in the Oread neighborhood will cause traffic detours until the end of this year.
Reysen bought a parking pass to avoid the problem.
"I just work around it," Reysen said. "I bought a pass and started parking down on Mississippi instead."
Werner said the Oread Inn was scheduled to open in December of this year.
OREAD (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Dustin Ward, a construction worker for Quality Electric, said
there hadn't been any problems with traffic or students around the construction site.
"At the beginning of the project there was a fire hydrant that opened up, flooded the basement," Ward said. "That's about it."
Edited by Chris Horn
"Sometimes they will have a big truck over here blocking the way," Reysen said. "The main problem is Indiana here being blocked off."
Street where the road has been blocked off and has experienced the same problem as Kohrs.