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Tuesday, February 28, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Courtesy photo
A rock formation pokes out of an ice field near the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. This picture was taken in 1992 by Bert Rowell, professor of geology. The two tents on the right served as a camp for Rowell and three other researchers for one month.
Scientists endure Antarctica
KU professors conduct research despite hazards preferring to study from November through January, which is summer there. The researchers study fossils solar activity and snow accumulation.
By Robert Allen
Kansan staff writer
During cold Kansas winters, when many people wish for warmer temperatures, Edward Zeller chooses to plunge into the deep freeze of Antarctica.
Zeller, professor emeritus of geology and physics, has been to Antarctica 18 times since 1958, conducting research from November through January, which is summer in the Southern Hemisphere. His last expedition was in 1991.
"When I get off the plane onto the ice, I've come home," he said. "I feel very comfortable."
Zeller is one of many KU professors who have traveled to the bottom of the earth to conduct research during the continent's summer months — which coincide with winter in the United States. The experience, they say, is unlike any other.
David Braaten, assistant professor of atmospheric science, returned last month from his second expedition.
"I can't describe how much I enjoy it," he said. "If you like science, it's the ultimate. It's all you do. You don't have to cook, dishies or go shopping. You just do science."
Most of the professors operate from McMurdo, an American base that is staffed year-round. But some research requires them to spend several days camped out on the barren ice plains, where the wind can reach 100 miles an hour, and blizzards block out the horizon.
Living conditions can vary, said Gisela Dreschhoff, adjunct associate professor of physics and astronomy. Zeller and Dreschhoff have worked together in Antarctica.
"At the main base it's very comfortable," she said. "You get a nice room, it is heated, and it has a nice bed and showers. Food is available 24 hours a day. It's all provided
for."
Dreschhoff said that in the field, where much of her research is conducted, the only shelter is a tent.
"Then it gets cold, of course," she said. "Food gets cold very fast. The wind is almost always blowing."
Dreschloff said that in the tents, moisture from breathing freezes into crystals on the ceiling. The wind sometimes shakes them
loose, and they fall back into the person's face.
The South Pole is immersed in darkness for six months of the year, from March through September. Most professors prefer to work during the summer, when daylight lasts 24 hours and the weather is warmer.
"You get used to being in the light," said Bert Rowell professor of geology. "When you come back to daylight and darkness, it makes
you almost apprehensive."
zontally. During that night, we all thought our tents would blow away."
"It's the wind that gets you.I've literally been blown off one of the hills...I've gone airborne."
The tents remained intact, but Dreschhoff and her companions returned to base several days early.
Summer temperatures in Antarctica typically range from 20 degrees to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but Zeller said the cold was easy to get used to.
Zeller said that the constant daylight made some people want to work continuously.
"You spend all of your time out in it," he
"Some people who live under these conditions get what is called the big eye," he said. "They think they can work all day, until they just fall over and collapse."
Edward Zeller professoremeritus of geology and physics
But big eye isn't the only danger on the continent.
Dreschloff once had to endure a particularly harrowing night while at a campsite.
"A blizzard was going on in the evening, and you could barely see the next tent," she said. "The wind was blowing the snow hori-
returning to Antarctica.
said. "Above zero degrees Fahrenheit, people are walking around without gloves and hats. It's the wind that gets you. I've literally been blown off one of the hills. It dumped me in a snow drift, fortunately. But I've gone airborne." Despite the cold, the wind, the snow and the danger, most professors look forward to
Rowell enjoys the remoteness of the area.
"It's probably the most beautiful continent I've ever seen," he said. "One of the really attractive things of Antarctica is the bleakness. I like remote mountain areas anyway. Mountain areas to me are just esthetically pleasing."
Dreschhoff said the terrain was serene and undisturbed.
"You have walked over ground that no human being has walked over before," she said. "The beauty of the land, the dark rocks and the white and blue ice — it's incredibly beautiful and incredibly different."
Brazilians celebrate this week
Far from home, students participate in carnival
By Eduardo A. Molina Kansan staff writer
The contagious rhythms of samba music spread to almost all streets to celebrate Brazilian Carnival, and Lawrence will hold a similar celebration.
The music, which represents a 100-degree Brazilian summer day, moves the bodies of joyful people dressed in costumes like clowns or pirates.
Problems are forgotten, and businesses are shut down. From Friday until today, Brazilians don't get much sleep.
Rubens Gomes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, graduate student, said the origin of the carnival wasn't clear.
And thinking of those wild celebrations makes some Brazilian students at the University of Kansas miss home.
"The carnival has been going on about 80 years," he said. "Most Brazilians don't know the origin of the carnival. They just want to have fun and be happy despite all the problems."
Gomes said one of the misconceptions about the carnival was to associate it with the samba schools' parade in Rio de Janeiro.
"The samba schools' parade is one of the best shows in the world, but the carnival is more than that," he said. "The whole country celebrates on the streets with beer and cachaca, a traditional alcoholic beverage similar to teenula."
Gomes said that an important element of the carnival was the live music
Most Brazilians don't know the origin of the carnival. They just want to have fun and be happy despite all the problems."
Rubens Gomes
Rio de Janeiro graduate
student
"There are bands playing while walking on the streets," he said. "People, wearing costumes, sing and follow the band in a celebration that lasts from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day. There is a break in the morning because people have to sleep."
Gustavo Graf, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, senior, and president of the Brazil-Portugal Student Association, said besides the music, costumes were a part of the Brazilian Carnival.
"There is not a theme for the costumes like in Halloween here," he said. "Because of the hot weather people wear light costumes and not heavy masks."
Graf said this four-day celebration, which preceded Ash Wednesday, allowed him to have fun with family and friends.
"One night I go to a club with my family, and other nights I go out with my friends," he said. "Some university students travel together to places like Rio de Janeiro or Bahia where there are big celebrations."
Despite being far away from Brazil, the Lawrence community also will have a chance to celebrate Brazilian Carnival at 8 p.m. Saturday at Liberty Hall, Gomes said.
"We have celebrated the carnival in Lawrence the last 17 years," he said. "This year, we will have music, a costume contest, a big screen showing images from the carnival and people will have a chance to win an airline ticket to Brazil."
Graf said this event had been sold out in recent years because people knew they would have fun at the party.
"A lot of people show up every year," he said. "People who have gone once always come back next year. If you are thinking about it, you should try this year."
Local columnist gives voice to threatened wildlife
Animal, plant views strike green chord
By Sarah Morrison Kansan staff writer
Francis Kelly's goal may be a bit lofty. After all, saving the world takes some doing. But with a little help from his friends, the wildlife of the world, he may have a shot.
"About five years ago, when we had Earth Day 20, I was looking for some way to contribute to environmental awareness," Kelly said. "I noticed that there was a lot of environmental writing in newspapers and magazines, but most of it was very dismal."
Don't worry about Kelly's mental health, though. He knows exactly what he's doing. By giving wildlife a "voice," Kelly hopes to evoke an emotional response from readers and sensitize them to environmental problems.
In his column "It Takes All Kinds," Kelly, under the pen name Frank Lingo, writes about his imaginary conversations with plants and animals. Kelly has lived in Lawrence for 20 years.
Environmental writing, he decided, needed a spark of creativity. The imaginary interview idea fit the bill.
"I like the dialogue format because I think that it helps people to understand situations when they get a dichotomy in points of view," he said.
In one column, Kelly wrote about a conversation with a dragonfly named Damon who lived in the wetlands outside of Lawrence, where county officials had planned to build the South Lawrence Trafficway.
"Wrong, asphalt breath," snapped Damon. "Multiply this short stretch of road by thousands of projects and and we've got a planet of highway, not habitats."
"When I do my interviews with plants and animals, I try to take questions that are things that people might say who might not be particularly environmentally sensitive, or sympathetic," he said. "That way, I can let the plant or animal defend their view point."
The conversation went like this: "There are billions of you bugs and animals around, right, so this short stretch of road is only going to displace a relatively small number of you, right?"
Kelly said his favorite column was one in which he talked with the HIV virus. The virus was trying to convince Kelly to let him inside his body. The answer: No.
The format allows Kelly to play "developer's advocate."
"To me, social issues, health issues and
environment issues are very intermingled," he said. "Until we take care of each other, I don't think we're going to take care of the Earth."
"I think it strikes a deep chord in a lot of people," he said. "I am not under the illusion that everyone loves it. I think there are people who think it is crap."
Kelly hopes his column, which periodically runs in the Kansas City Star, will be picked up by other newspapers around the country.
Rich Hood, editorial editor of the Star, said Kelly's approach got people involved.
"I think that Frank (Kelly) has a unique view on the threats to the environment," he said. "Whether or not readers agree with his point of view, I think it is valuable for us, as an editorial and opinion page, to provide a variety of viewpoints."
But Kelly has had trouble finding other newspapers interested in running his column.
"I definitely would like to go national," he said. "The problem is editors are very conservative and conventional. I think people like it more than editors do."
Meanwhile, Kelly continues to chat with local wildlife and spread his unique message of environmental awareness.
"The response I hope for is to get people involved emotionally, even spiritually, in their feeling for the Earth," he said.
Lisa Perrv / KANSAN
Frank Lingo, Lawrence resident, spends time outside to find inspiration for his column, "It Takes All Kinds," which periodically runs in the Kansas City Star. In his column, Lingo addresses different aspects of nature.