Ed Brook College of Science
Logan Mitchell Student | College of Science
In winter 2008-09, Logan Mitchell will spend two months working at the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide research station in Antarctica, along with 45 other scientists, students and technicians from across the United States. Mitchell will be helping collect a 3.5 kilometer ice core, some of which will end up in Brook's lab at OSU. Mitchell will be blogging about his experiences working in Antarctica and the day-to-day life of a scientist in a remote place. You can keep up with Mitchell at his blog, Transmissions from the Ice Sheet.
Connecting in Cold Places
For most, a polar landscape conjures a feeling of otherworldly barrenness and unrelenting cold. But for geosciences professor Ed Brook and Ph.D. student Logan Mitchell, the most far-flung, inhospitable places on the planet – the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Siple Coast of Antarctica, to name a few – are fruitful grounds for research. They hold the keys to understanding the history of the Earth’s climate, as well as its future.
Brook and Mitchell study the tiny air bubbles that are trapped in
ancient polar ice. Measuring greenhouse gases — methane and carbon
dioxide — in those bubbles helps them reconstruct climate changes
throughout the past 800,000 years. “Ice cores are unique,” says
Mitchell. “The bubbles in the ice core are the actual atmosphere from
that time. It’s not a proxy. We’re studying the real deal.” Brook’s lab
is one of the few throughout the world that can work with a high
quantity of ice core samples, enabling his team to continually draw
more refined pictures of past climate changes. As a mentor, Brook helps Mitchell make connections in other ways, as
well. “He’s really good about letting me take ownership of ideas,”
says Mitchell. “He lets me struggle and come to conclusions myself and
provides feedback that’s constructive. He doesn’t just tell me the
answers.”
Not only that, Brook encourages students like Mitchell to take
advantage of as many opportunities to engage in their field as
possible. Brook wants his students to branch out, to go to meetings and
contact researchers at other universities, which is essential in an
interdisciplinary field like ice-core research. Brook and Mitchell need
to know, for example, how droughts and fires are related to greenhouse
gases on a global scale. They need to understand hydrology and
glaciology to help put their research into context.
“For me, the most important thing is that students should be
colleagues,” says Brook. “This was done for me when I was a student. It
helps them get involved in the field, and it gives them responsibility.
It can be hard work. Logan was one of the most responsible students I
taught. He took things a little further than most.”
Mitchell’s focus on ice-core research emerged from a longstanding love
of the outdoors, hiking and colder environments. When he started
thinking of the places he visited with a scientific perspective, he
realized he had the potential to work in a relevant and valuable field.
Brook was available when Mitchell needed advice about applying to OSU
and choosing a lab, and the work piqued Mitchell’s interest.
“The science is exciting,” says Mitchell, “And Ed really has a gift for making me motivated about the research.”
OSU, Brook says, is a good place to be for anyone interested in climate
change research. “There’s a lot happening here,” he says. “We all gain
a lot – the students in particular – because of what’s happening on
this campus.”
