iPads are cool. And you want a case that is as stylish and functional as the tablet it protects.
Iris + Lily iPad cases are custom-fit to your iPad, using traditional bookbinding techniques and designer fabrics for a case that reflects your personality and takes good care of your iPad. Our hardcover cases are made with sturdy acid-free bookboard that won?t warp or bend and paper-backed cotton fabrics for a soft surface against your tablet.
*** This listing is for an iPad case in Gray/Yellow Damask with Antique Writing***
With a slim notebook profile and a flap with hidden magnet close for extra protection, this iPad case easily convert to a sturdy stand for viewing or platform for playing/typing.
You almost never have to remove your iPad from its protective cover, which features a soft moleskin surface to rest your device against and secure elastic straps in white or black that don?t interfere with your viewing area. Iris + Lily cases are not padded and are designed in a sleek, contemporary style. Please let us know if you have an original iPad, iPad 2 or iPad 3 when you check out so we can ensure a perfect fit! All cases are custom-made by us when you order. Please allow10 days to 2 weeks for production and delivery. Superior quality takes time!
New Personalization. Metal initial anywhere on the book that you'd like. First initial is free. If you'd like more than one initial, please convo us.
iPad Cover Details in a Nutshell:
? Slim notebook style profile: Size: 8" x 10" with a 5/8 inch spine (3/4 inch spine for original iPads) ? Front flap closes with magnets for additional security ? iPad is secured in place with four 1/2-inch elastic corners (specify white or black when ordering to coordinate with your iPad) ? iPads rest on soft gray moleskin surface ? Entire case is made with fabric to provide soft surfaces ? Spine is reinforced for added durability ? Your iPad case can be personalized with initial and name. Please specify personalization at checkout. ? All Iris+ Lily iPad cases can be personalized at no extra charge! ? Other available add-ons include a stylus loop (free!) or a front cover pocket (an additional $5). Just ask at checkout or convo us for details. Thanks.
Every case comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Because all cases are custom-made, you can design your case in any of the fabrics shown in our shop. Or you can suggest something we don?t have!
Here's some cheery news to take your mind off the fiscal cliff curb. Posted at 6:00 pm Saturday on the Chicago Sun-Times, which they are calling an exclusive.
WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama is urging the Illinois General Assembly to legalize gay marriage in his home state as lawmakers are poised to take up the measure as early as this week in Springfield.
"While the president does not weigh in on every measure being considered by state legislatures, he believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect," White House spokesman Shin Inouye told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.
"As he has said, his personal view is that it's wrong to prevent couples who are in loving, committed relationships, and want to marry, from doing so. Were the President still in the Illinois State Legislature, he would support this measure that would treat all Illinois couples equally." Inouye said.
The bill is underway (more here), and enjoys good popular support, and Gov. Quinn will sign it, if it can get out of the legislature.
The toughest challenge for gay marriage backers will be winning passage in the Illinois House. Prospects for approval in the Illinois Senate--where Obama once served--are brighter.
The practical impact of Obama urging his home state to legalize gay marriage is to prod--and give political cover to--reluctant Democrats from conservative suburban and Downstate districts.
Both chambers in Springfield are controlled by Democrats. Republicans cannot be depended on for widespread gay marriage support. Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney has reported that Steans and Harris predicted there would be some Republican backing.
This is pretty amazing and awesome. I'm really glad to see this, and that the White House itself is going on record to the Sun-Times that they're engaged. (That is kind of tell too, isn't it? Would Inouye be talking to the Sun-Times if the bill was doomed?)
Illinois would be a nice win for the marriage equality movement. It's hard to get more middle America than Illinois, it certainly sends (another) signal it's not just a coastal liberal thing. And Chicago has been pretty successful gay mecca of the midwest (this I know first hand). They might displace Des Moines as a regional destination wedding spot.
And hopefully it can spur movement in the region, including Minnesota (would that be the cold splash of water that would finally melt away Michelle Bachmann forever?).
And ironically, adjacent Indiana is poised this year to vote on their second round of state constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. It's actually a "super-DOMA" bill, that bans not only marriage but civil unions and any other recognition. If it passes out of the Indiana legislation in 2013, the constitutional amendment will go to voters in 2014.
It will look even more retro by then if Illinois follows through. The president's help is greatly appreciated.
There are hundreds of wonderful sites on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. Here at Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.
So you planned to run today after work, but now you're just really not feeling it. FitSugar knows the feeling all too well, and paired every mood with its best-suited workout.
We're on a mission to stay sniffle-free for the entire winter, with the help of these six tips for staying healthy this season from SparkPeople.
If you overdid it a little in the past couple of weeks, don't beat yourself up. Just ask yourself these five questions from FitBottomed Girls and get back on track.
Take a trip down memory lane and relive the year's best fitness stories with this list from Well + Good.
Need some inspiration to get moving? Check out these motivational fitness quotes:
Equally as families really need to use a location to contact place, websites also need to have a ?residence.? As folks get housing, web-based entrepreneurs look for hosting for his or her web-sites. In today?s times there?s a great demand for website hosting expert services and getting to be an online web hosting reseller to test that will help meet up with that desire is generally a straightforward organization to work from your home.
One of the many primary components of an online hosting arrange is always that it provides an handle, and so the web site could in fact be found. Without a hosting regimen, a web site is actually not available to human beings who?re exploring web, whether or not you?ve gotten the most impressive browsing web site and many tremendous domain identify or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Regardless of no matter if anyone is known as a committed server reseller or is somebody that resells low price web hosting expertise, the fact is they can be ready to produce persons and companies, who really need to hire an area for his or her online site to reside, with practical and solid choices.
When somebody arranges for a website hosting reseller account, they are simply performing with one of the several truly major website server hosting providers, which sells the hosting service on the reseller in a wholesale price tag. The reseller can then repackage the sources available through their reseller account and may customize the packages they make available. Plenty occasions a web hosting reseller will personalized design and style web hosting deals that appeal to some niche marketplaces.
A web hosting reseller won?t have or operate the hardware, the internet servers or even the the web connections which are needed to provide you with internet hosting. The products is purchased and maintained by internet hosting agency, which also offers the technical aid and which happens to be accountable for throughout the clock overseeing for the products. The reseller basically has acquired rights to resell the companies of your hosting provider plus they make their wealth on the margin between what their reseller account charges and what they have the ability to make once they resell the online server hosting expertise.
In several circumstances, an internet web hosting reseller delivers improved plus much more responsive buyer services compared to the major web server internet hosting manufacturers will be able to do. It?s because a reseller sometimes has fewer visitors to cope with and will get treatment of client problems and worries added speedily. Although, the specialised service that involves the bodily checking belonging to the products remains performed in the amount whereby the internet servers are literally housed.
Typically, a hosting reseller is very thorough and individual about picking out the service from whom they may acquire server room. The firm for the reseller relies absolutely over the security, effectiveness and dependability for the internet hosting provider, so a reseller will go to extraordinary lengths to make sure which they are only doing work that has a web hosting specialist which could provide you with the right degree of condition and service.
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Internet Hosting A Guide For Rookies can give you most information for Varieties Of Web Hosting That You Must Know.You should have a look at the post for more facts!
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Ten years ago, websites were essentially electronic brochures. Generally built with very basic HTML, a website was an informative snapshot of one?s business or organization. How things have changed in such a short amount of time! We consume information differently today and websites are more than simply informative. A brochure may demonstrate an entity?s mission statement with a strategy to achieve that mission. The information does not change frequently so it makes perfect sense that a website, under an electronic brochure format, wouldn?t change much, either. Today, not only do most of us have websites, but we are also constantly bombarded with expectations to go above and beyond an informative site. We are told that we need mobile sites because by 2016, evidence points to more people viewing mobile sites than traditional websites. We are told that our content must be updated continuously or we will never be found on search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. In addition, we have witnessed a transition from brick-and-mortar business operations to online only or a combination of the two. In the past, we could get away with minimal Web development from a programmer or Web development company. However, as the Internet and visitors? consumption of online information grows exponentially, our Web development needs have changed. With the exception of fundamental types of Web development programs such as Microsoft?s Frontpage, individuals would hire developers using proprietary software. Proprietary software is software licensed with exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. In other words, if work needs to be updated on a site, only the proprietary software holder can make the change(s). Each time changes were requested, the software holder charges a substantial fee. From a free-market standpoint, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Also, in a free-market system, we can all relate to the importance of competition and how the consumer always wins in a competitive market environment. As a result, we experienced the birth of open-source software. Open-source software permits programmers/developers to use, change, improve and/or distribute openly. Two frustrations when working with businesses or organizations on digital products: They haven?t built a strong business plan and their digital strategy is tied to a family member or friend using proprietary software. Oh the horror stories I have heard over the years! Many times questions arise such as, ?Do I own my Web address (domain name)?? or comments like, ?I have been trying to get a hold of my developer for a change to my site, but she has moved away and I can?t track her down.? Another good one is, ?The developer who built my site says he will not make another change until I pay him $1,000.? About two years ago, we instituted a program using open-source programming. This enables our customers to have as little or as much control as they choose. Building sites with a Content Management System (CMS) and providing them training on how to run the site is in the best interest of our customers. In this scenario, unlimited changes can be made with no additional cost. In addition, if they want to do business with someone other than us, we turn everything over to them and the transition is almost seamless. Of course we want to retain our customers, but this is our first step in preventing programmers and Web developers from holding their customers hostage. Who says freedom isn?t free?
Mike Alexander is the Digital Advertising Director for The Coeur d?Alene Press and WSI Media One CDA (cdainternetmarketing.com). He can be reached at malexander@cdapress.com or (208) 664-8176 ext. 1013.
Nobody wants to spend more than they have to when getting a car or truck repaired. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to decide where to take a vehicle for auto, body, or collision repair in Bothell, WA, without first obtaining some type of written estimate. According to Jeff Odum of Evergreen Autoworks, it isn?t usually necessary to get three or more estimates when deciding where to take a vehicle for collision repair in Bothell, WA. On the body shop side, most vehicle owners only need one written estimate.
Of course, it hasn?t always been this way. In the past, Odum says most technicians would recommend getting a least three written estimates before getting any mechanical or collision repair work in Bothell, WA. The reality, however, is that written estimates don?t always tell the whole story anymore. It?s much smarter and more financially prudent for a driver to work with an auto body shop he can trust than it is to work with a shop strictly because it offers the lowest price.
If a driver trusts the people he is working with, then getting just one or two estimates is probably fine when dealing with either mechanical problems or collision repair in Bothell, WA. However, Odum says trust is an important element in this equation.
Any driver who wants to be sure his auto body repair shop is giving him a decent price can visit certain places on the web to find out the average prices for common vehicle repairs. For example, Odum frequently recommends that customers check out a website called RepairPal.com. Sites like RepairPal.com let drivers input their vehicle makes, the necessary repairs (for example: a water pump on a Subaru), and the location of the repair shop. In mere seconds, a driver can find out what the average price for those repairs in his or her market area.
No matter how many websites a person visits or estimates he requests, Odum says the issue really comes down to trust. If a person trusts the technicians he is dealing with, then he probably doesn?t need to run any Internet searches. If he thinks the repair company he is working with is being dishonest, then he probably shouldn?t be working with that company in the first place. If a driver doesn?t trust the auto shop he?s working with on the estimate side, then he?s definitely going to question the actual repairs they perform and the quality of the work in the end, says Odum.
The chic always rise to the top, which made pulling together the list of this year's best-dressed stars a cinch.
Solange Knowles mesmerized us with her bold ensembles and awesome au naturale locks; Rihanna's enviable body was only rivaled by the stunning clothes she covered herself in; Beyonce is always a vision and Kerry Washington was nearly flawless each time she stepped out. And that's just a few of our top picks.
While those ladies are best-dressed shoo-ins, there were a few wilds cards at earned top sartorial honors.
Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix making the list. While she definitely dazzled us on the track in London, her post Summer Games style moments also caught our eye. In addition, fashion stylist June Ambrose and fashion designer Rachel Roy may spend their time making others look amazing, but they didn't skimp on themselves--these two ladies also made the list.
Check out our selections for this year's best-dressed celebs and vote on your favorite in the slideshow below.
To provide all Americans with health insurance, premiums will have to rise to pay for it, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC?s ?Closing Bell? on Wednesday.
?If we?re going to insure all Americans, which is a worthy and appropriate cause, then somebody has to pay for it,? Bertolini said of the expected premium increases under Obamacare.
Bertolini said that insurance premiums could double in some places just on the basis of what types of policies people buy today.
He also said that when Obamacare is fully implemented, it won?t start the way people had hoped and it won?t be cheaper.
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(Reuters) - A record number of legal claims were filed against the New York City Police Department in fiscal year 2011, according to a report scheduled for release on Thursday.
In fiscal 2011, which ended June 30, 2011, a total of 8,882 claims were filed against the NYPD, up from the previous high of 8,110 filed in fiscal year 2010, New York City Comptroller John Liu said in the report.
The city also settled $185.6 million of personal injury and other tort claims that involved the NYPD, a 35 percent increase from fiscal 2010, the report said.
The city should "explore a unified method to track individual officers named in claim suits and the payouts," Liu's report said.
The claims against police don't include those filed in conjunction with the Occupy Wall Street protests that took place in lower Manhattan in September 2011.
Overall, the total number of new personal injury and property damage claims against all city departments dropped to 29,313 in fiscal 2011 from 34,768 in 2010, a 19 percent decrease.
However, the cost of settling claims rose 5 percent to $550.4 million - or about $70 per resident - from $522 million in 2010, the report said. Among the reasons for the claims: falls, police actions, medical malpractice and motor vehicle damage.
The city's sanitation department had the highest increase in the number of filings, with 3,539 in fiscal 2011, compared with 2,204 in fiscal 2010 - a rise of 61 percent. The increase was largely because of claims following severe snowstorms that hit New York City in late 2010.
Aside from tort claims, the city also paid out $135.9 million in other claims, including claims stemming from contract disputes, employment and tuition reimbursement, the report said.
(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Jan Paschal)
New Years Eve can get a little crazy, and if you try to wish everyone you know luck for 2013 just as as the ball drops, you will fail. Hammering out dozens of messages on your phone with your clumsy midnight fingers over clogged data airwaves will not work. Sorry. More »
SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead two Yemeni army officers in the country's capital Tuesday, and clashes between the military and tribal fighters loyal to al-Qaida in a northeastern province killed three soldiers and 11 tribesmen, officials said.
The violence came as al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen, which the United States considers the most dangerous branch of the terror network, released a new video message calling on Yemeni Muslims to join jihad, or holy war, against America.
The two army officers were gunned down in separate parts of the capital, Sanaa, security officials said. The two were identified as Col. Fadhl Mohammed Jaber, who was shot outside his home, and Col. Saleem al-Gharbani, who was killed near a Sanaa military facility.
Similar attacks have killed several senior Yemeni military and intelligence officials this year. The government has blamed al-Qaida, saying the militants are waging a retaliation campaign over a U.S.-backed military offensive last summer that managed to push militants out of strongholds in several southern towns.
Military officials said clashes between the army and a tribe affiliated with al-Qaida in the northeastern province of Marib killed at least 11 tribesmen and three soldiers over the past 24 hours. The officials said a tribal chief, supported by al-Qaida elements and disenchanted over money allegedly owed to him by the government, has been leading the attacks on the army.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The province of Marib has seen a spate of clashes recently, mostly between the army and some tribesmen who maintain ties with al-Qaida. The tribesmen have also attacked oil pipelines and power stations in the province.
Two months ago, tribesmen blew up main electricity pylons and sabotaged an oil pipeline, protesting a death sentence against one of their members convicted of belonging to al-Qaida and killing security agents.
Some tribal chiefs are also suspected of being allied with former longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Their attacks appeared to be aimed at undermining the new government.
Al-Qaida's Yemen branch, also known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, released a video denouncing the United States for what it described as aggressive political and social policies against Islam.
In the video, reported Tuesday by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant activities, three Yemeni al-Qaida leaders ? including deputy leader Said al-Shihri and military commander Qassim al-Rimi ? urge Yemenis to join the jihad against an alleged American "occupation" of their country.
The video was produced by al-Qaida's local media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation.
___
Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.
TODAY'S TOP PICKS ConAgra Foods Ice Rink 1 p.m. - 10 p.m. ConAgra Foods Campus 10th & Harney Streets Costs: $5 including skate rental. All proceeds go to Food Bank for the Heartland as a component of the Shine the Light on Hunger campaign. Skate until midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Momaha's Evening Children's Story Time 7 p.m. Dec. 28 The Bookworm Bookstore, 87th and Pacific Streets. Children encouraged to wear pajamas and bring a small stuffed animal. Ring in the New Year with a milk toast and munching on cookies.
MOMAHA BOOK CLUB Jan. 13 1 p.m. The Bookworm, 8702 Pacific St. The book: The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer RSVP: jloza@owh.com
EVERY THURSDAY Momaha on the radio 7:30 a.m. Bloggers Melissa Cruickshank and Heidi Woodard on the Pat and J.T. Show on Q98.5 FM. Call 402-962-9898 to join the conversation.
EVERY FRIDAY Momaha live chat 2 p.m. Visit with momaha editor Josie Loza and other moms.
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Win tickets to Sesame Street Live by clicking here or visiting omaha.com/contests
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Families across the United States will have to rely on other sources of entertainment after Netflix's video streaming service was hit by a Christmas Eve outage.
The company based in Los Gatos, Calif., apologized in a company tweet for the outage Monday night.
The company says on its Twitter page that the outage was caused by "some of Amazon's cloud infrastructure." Netflix says it was working with Amazon engineers to restore the outage, which a company spokesman told the Wall Street Journal stretched "across the Americas."
Attempts to reach Netflix by The Associated Press were unsuccessful.
We haven't gotten a white Christmas in the Northeast, but winter weather is upon us. If you're trudging through the snow, Hunter Boots are a great way to keep your feet warm and dry. More »
If you follow the rules your insurance company sets out, and follow these few tips, you?ll be able to obtain affordable auto insurance with no problems. It pays to know the criteria that providers use to determine what rates to give drivers.
One of the best tips you can find regarding auto insurance is to keep your driving record clean. A car accident will raise your rates quicker than almost anything else. You need to be aware of your own limitations. Knowing this can help you avoid situations in which you are at greater risk. If you have poor night-vision, then avoid driving at night.
Moving to a different city or state can have a big impact on your insurance costs. It?s because premium amounts differ from city to city, as well as state to state. In other words, car insurance can be cheaper when you live somewhere else.
Choosing proper insurance is the key to saving money should an accident occur. On top of your insurance premiums, you will have a deductible that needs to be met before the insurance company will cover any of your costs.
Many companies give discounts to people who drive less. If you are aiming to save some cash on your auto insurance, cutting back on the number of miles you drive could be a good idea.
Conscientious driving is the main factor in reducing your insurance premiums. Many companies offer discounts for good drivers who don?t get tickets or have accidents. You will save a significant amount of money if you manage to obtain these discounts. Additionally, the size of the discount will continue to rise over time as long as you continue to avoid accidents. A clean driving record will make sure that your premiums are low.
You should understand that when you buy auto insurance, the basic policy only covers the driver who is named in the policy. Often times, what can happen is this; a person will allow someone else to drive their car. If an accident occurs, the insurance company won?t pay the claim. You can alter your car insurance policy to cover other drivers that use your car, although you will need to pay an additional charge.
You may be able to get a lower rate if you feel the rate you received based on your record was unfair. Certain companies may lower your insurance if you take successfully complete driving classes. Some companies, like Progressive, offer their customers the option to temporarily add a chip to their car which will monitor their driving habits everyday, and if those habits show responsible driving, they will lower your rate.
Remember to think about coverage if an uninsured person hits you before choosing an auto insurance policy. This is something you will really want to consider since it increases the price that you will pay. This also covers you in the unfortunate event that you are hit by an uninsured driver.
Lots of people hold the false belief that insurance rates magically drop at 25. However, the truth is that rates slowly decrease from the time a driver turns 18 years old, as long as he or she maintains a clean driving record.
By having security features on your car, such as an immobilizer, tracker or alarm, your premium will be lower. Theft associated with your car plays a huge role in calculating your insurance coverage. Your policy will cost less if you have a safer car.
It?s common for auto insurance companies to give a nice family discount for having all family members who drive covered on the same plan. Your monthly premium savings can be huge if you insure all the drivers in your family together.
Reasonably priced auto insurance rates are not the rare occurrence they may seem to be. You may be able to lower your insurance premiums by using the advice given in this article.
If your prior experience with smart stocks is limited, after you read the ideas in this article, you will be moving forward with a good base foundation. You?re very fortunate because not everyone will have this chance. Use the information here to your benefit.
Crafting is having quite a resurgence, and many are forgoing TV time to work on homespun projects. If you?re looking for a new hobby, check out this list of crafts that offer productive and fun ways to spend your leisure time.
-??????? Knitting is one of the most popular craft hobbies today. The supplies are inexpensive and very portable ? you can easily carry your yarn and needles in your purse and take them out whenever you have time. You can also work on projects in short periods of time, like during a commute or while in a waiting room.
-??????? Origami is an ancient and lovely crafting choice. The Japanese art of folded paper can make some awesome shapes if you keep at it. An inexpensive hobby, all you really need are square sheets and instructions.?
-??????? Quilting has become increasingly recent years, as people are recognizing the artistic expression possible in these traditional blankets. Though it's not portable, the end product can be spectacular and very useful.
-??????? Screen printing is now easier than ever to do at home. You can purchase a one-piece kit at a craft store that lets you expose an image, burn a screen, and print on paper, fabric, or other materials quickly and easily. This simple?method is loads of fun and makes great gifts for family and friends.
New meteorite suggests that asteroid surfaces more complex than previously thought
Friday, December 21, 2012
Meteorites that had fallen from an asteroid impact that lit up the skies over California and Nevada in April are showing scientists just how complex an asteroid surface can be. A new study published in Science this week by an international team of researchers describes the speedy recovery of the meteorites and reports that this space rock is an unusual example from a rare group known as carbonaceous chondrites, which contain some of the oldest material in the solar system. The study of these meteorites and others like them could hold answers to unsolved mysteries about the origin of life on Earth as they contain molecules such as water and amino acids.
"We found that this meteorite is a 'breccia,' a mixture of different rocks that accumulated at the surface of a larger asteroid, and those surfaces can be more diverse than we thought before," said co-author Denton Ebel, chair of the Division of Physical Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History.
About eight months ago, several Doppler weather radars detected a hail of rocks following a fireball traveling at a record-breaking 28.6 kilometers per second (about 64,000 miles per hour) over the Sierra Nevada in northern California. An immediate search-and-recover mission, led by NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute, and the University of California, Davis, resulted in the retrieval of 77 meteorites. The fragments, which were in pristine shape despite entering the atmosphere at a speed twice as fast as a typical meteorite fall, were collectively called the Sutter's Mill meteorite after the nearby historical site that started the California Gold Rush.
"From the loud sonic boom, we quickly realized that this was an asteroid several meters in size, the biggest object to hit over land since the impact of asteroid 2008 TC3 in the north of Sudan in 2008," said lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of NASA Ames and SETI. "That asteroid proved to be a mixed bag of different types of meteorites, and we realized it would be very interesting to find out how diverse the Sutter's Mill meteorites were."
Several fragments were sent to laboratories around the world for simultaneous analysis of the meteorite's mineralogy and structure. The Sutter's Mill meteorite was classified as a CM chondrite, C standing for carbonaceous?high in carbon content?and M standing for the group's type specimen, the Mighei meteorite that fell in Ukraine in the late 1800s.
Ebel received five Sutter's Mill meteorites to study using x-ray computed tomography (CT), an imaging technique that takes pictures of the inside of a specimen without destroying it. The Museum's scanner takes more than 1,000 x-ray images of the object as it rotates inside of the machine. The data collected from these x-rays are then converted by computers to form a 3-D image of the specimen's interior, one slice at a time, to understand the components of the meteorite.
"In the same way that medical tomography, called CAT scanning, is used to image the interior of the human body, CT scanning in a research laboratory allows us to obtain images of the interiors of solid objects, but with a much higher resolution," Ebel said. "This is a fundamentally important tool not just for looking at rocks but for curating them and figuring out whether anything interesting is inside."
CT scans at the Museum, and at the University of California, Davis in an effort led by cosmochemist Qing-Zhu Yin, revealed that no two Sutter's Mill meteorites are the same. The meteorites contained angular pieces of different composition and density. They showed diversity on millimeter scale.
"This was the first time that a CM chondrite was found to be clearly a breccia," Yin said. "The rocky fragments came together following impacts on the parent asteroid, which implies that this meteorite originated from near its surface."
Analyses performed using different techniques at other institutions were in agreement: the mineralogy and other geochemical features of these fragments are unexpectedly diverse and complex. This suggests that the surface of the asteroid that spawned the CM chondrites, their "parent body," is more complex than previously thought.
"This meteorite is special because it records many collisional processes and mixing that we, oddly, don't see very often," Ebel said. "Maybe the real question is 'why don't we see more of this?' It could be that most of the samples we've worked with in the past didn't hold up very well as they entered the atmosphere. Or that we're just seeing a small segment of what's really out there because we don't have meteorite records of what fell to the Earth thousands or millions of years ago. We still have a lot of work to do to figure out what's really going on in the asteroid belt."
###
American Museum of Natural History: http://www.amnh.org
Thanks to American Museum of Natural History for this article.
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(Reuters) - Four people including the shooter were killed and three Pennsylvania state troopers were wounded on Friday during a shooting in Frankstown Township, Pennsylvania, the Altoona Mirror reported, citing the county prosecutor.
The gunman, two other men and a woman were killed, the newspaper said, citing Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio. The troopers were wounded in a shootout with the suspect, the newspaper said.
The shooting took place one week after a gunman killed 20 school children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Newtown held a moment of silence in remembrance on Friday, while the pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, issued a statement in response to the Newtown shooting, urging armed guards at the nation's schools.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Sandra Maler)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California city of San Bernardino paid $2 million in cash-outs to employees for unused vacation and sick time in the three months before declaring bankruptcy on August 1, data reviewed by Reuters show.
City officials chalked up the payment spurt to coincidence and other factors. Still, the payments may run afoul of a core provision of the bankruptcy code that imposes strict rules on the types of payments that can be made immediately prior to a bankruptcy, according to bankruptcy lawyers who are not involved in the case.
In a court hearing scheduled for Friday, the city is expected to argue that it is so penniless that it needs bankruptcy protection and relief from payments owed to the California Public Employees Retirement System and other creditors.
Yet in July alone, the city paid $1.2 million to 33 employees for unused sick and vacation time, with more than half of that paid out the day before the bankruptcy filing. The next highest similar total for a recent July was $471,149, in 2010. Reuters analyzed city data from 2008 to this year obtained through a public-records request.
In the three months before the bankruptcy, 51 city workers received sick and vacation time payouts totaling $2 million. Most of the workers received the payments as part of their retirement, as provided for in union contracts, city officials said.
Rhonda Haynes, the city's acting human-resources director, said the timing of the payouts was a coincidence. July 31 is the normal cash-out payment date for employees who retired and received their final wage check on July 15, she said. Other city officials also suggested that general anxiety among older workers over the city's finances led to a blip in retirements.
Legal analysts said the cash-outs immediately prior to bankruptcy filing were troubling and could be a breach of the federal bankruptcy code. Payments made by a debtor 90 days prior to a filing can be subject to clawback if they are found to be "preferential." Preference payments violate the bankruptcy code, a civil statute that does not provide for criminal sanctions.
"It looks really bad and it needs to be investigated," said Karol Denniston, an expert in municipal bankruptcy at Schiff Hardin law firm in San Francisco who is not involved in the San Bernardino case.
"If you want to say you can't make payroll, but can pay $2 million to your employees while not paying other creditors, those are questions all creditors will be asking," Denniston said.
Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney with Fox Rothschild who is not involved in the San Bernardino case, said: "This looks like they are were trying to take care of certain employees, and that is precisely what the bankruptcy code is designed to protect - preferring one creditor over another."
OTHER EXPLANATIONS
City officials said there were good reasons for the spike. Asked why the number of cash-out payments in May, June and July were abnormally high, acting HR director Haynes said in an email provided by the city clerk's office: "My guess is because you have a lot of retirements at the end of the fiscal year."
Haynes said the city has no formal written policy governing cash-outs. "Normal practice" was that once an employee retired and received their final paycheck, the retiree would automatically receive a cash-out payment for unused sick and vacation time under the terms of their employment with the city, she said.
The retirement spike could also have been a result of some older employees' choosing to retire in light of the city's well-known financial woes.
"People were sensitive to how the city's finances could affect them," said Gigi Hanna, the city clerk. "There were certainly discussions in my department over whether it was better to retire now or wait it out."
The city was trying to reduce its workforce to cut costs. City attorney James Penman told the city council on November 5 that in his department, "we urged several people to retire, which they did and weren't necessarily ready to do so."
Penman was arguing in that council session for the re-hiring of Henry Empeno Jr.
Empeno, senior deputy in the city attorney's office, retired from the workforce with cash-out payments of $89,583 shortly before August 1 bankruptcy filing. On November 5, the city council approved Empeno's re-hiring on a monthly salary of $11,307 a month, and total annual salary and benefits of $161,140. The effective date for his reinstatement is December 26, according to the city clerk's office.
San Bernardino's acting city manager and the city's finance director did not respond to emails asking who authorized the cash-outs.
TOP RECIPIENTS
Haynes said cash-outs can only be paid when a city employee retires from the workforce. The city data reviewed by Reuters, however, showed that seven employees who received cash-out payments in the three months prior to the filing also received wage checks afterward.
Gigi Hanna, the city clerk, said some retired workers - such as Empeno - had been hired back as contractors, but could not provide further detail.
The city council voted to suspend cash-outs to its workers shortly after it filed for bankruptcy and to award them on a case-by-case basis.
Hanna, the city clerk, said in an email: "The city manager has the ultimate authority to approve cash-outs for all employees. As for the large number of retirements during that three month period...the budget discussions began in April and it was clear from what was being discussed in open session that the city was in serious financial straits."
The city of 210,000, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection citing a $46 million deficit for this fiscal year.
The amount of cash-outs in May, June and July of this year was the highest for any three-month period in the data reviewed by Reuters.
The pre-bankruptcy cash-outs included David Harp, a police lieutenant, who walked away with $123,156, the third-highest amount during the period. Theodis Henson Jr, a police captain, left with $234,907, while Brian Boom, another lieutenant, departed with $171,110.
Harp, 58, left after 35 years with the San Bernardino Police Department and said it was "time to go." He'd been planning to retire for two years, he said, and gave city officials two weeks' notice.
"People knew I was going to leave," he said. The bankruptcy had no effect on his decision, he said. He noted that San Bernardino's financial troubles were not new, and "you'd have to be a blind man not to see what was going on."
Empeno did not respond to a message left with the city attorney's office or an email sent to his work account. Attempts to contact Boom were not successful.
COURT SHOWDOWN
Friday's hearing will be the first time San Bernardino's biggest creditors - the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), and Wall Street bondholders and insurers - will meet to argue their case before the judge overseeing the city's bankruptcy application.
The case is emerging as a landmark legal battle over whether the pensions of government workers take precedence over other payments in a municipal bankruptcy, which could have ramifications for municipal creditors, including Wall Street bondholders, as more cities and towns have trouble meeting their obligations.
Calpers, San Bernardino's biggest creditor and America's biggest pension fund, is arguing that under California law it has primacy as a creditor and must continue to be paid in full, even in a bankruptcy. In its original bankruptcy filing, the city said its unfunded obligations to Calpers totaled $143.3 million.
Last week Calpers, which is opposing the city's request for protection, filed court papers denouncing what it called a "sham" bankruptcy. It accused the city of "criminal behavior" in withholding payments to the pension plan.
The city has failed to make its twice-monthly $1.2 million payments to Calpers since it filed for bankruptcy on August 1. City officials traveled to Calpers headquarters on December 5 to plead for more time to pay.
Calpers officials told Reuters they have little latitude to allow San Bernardino - or any other city that pays into its pension fund - to alter the payment schedule.
In its court filing last week, Calpers said the city had "buried its head in the sand", rather than deal with a long-standing financial crisis.
A Calpers spokesman said the cash-out payments were "something we will look at."
The city's second-largest creditor is Wells Fargo Bank, the trustee for nearly $50 million in pension-obligation bonds the city issued in 2005 to reduce its debt to Calpers.
(Reporting By Tim Reid.; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Michael Williams.)
By Spider Rybaak Central New York played a key role in the economic development of our nation. Today, the original routes that carried the Industrial Revolution to every corner of the country have been covered over by pavement, submerged under the Empire State?s canal system, or left to nature. Fortunately, the builders of this massive ancient infrastructure did their jobs well--so well, in fact, it?s gonna take natural succession a long time to hide the evidence in the portions that were simply abandoned.
And while that might goad the sensibilities of purist environmentalists who feel smug sitting around thinking and talking a lot, it?s a God-send for average folks looking for cheap ways to recreate and exercise in the open air. You see, nowadays these forgotten routes etch the state in a web of paths lined in natural splendor, offering folks scenic avenues through the historical record.
Take the Oswego County Recreation Trail, for instance. ?Running the bed of the New York Ontario & Western Railroad (abandoned in 1957), it?s the easiest, most convenient path you can take through our past. Stretching for roughly 26 miles, from Maple Avenue in Fulton to a little east of North Street in Cleveland, its gentle grade is ideal for hiking, biking and snowmobiling.
The OCRT is actually two trails: the western arm reaches from Fulton to Central Square, where it?s blocked by Interstate 81 (the highway was built after the railroad was abandoned, and no one thought of tunneling the trail under it); the eastern stem picks up on the other side of the interstate, about 1000 feet west of CR 37, and runs all the way to the county line in Cleveland, beyond which it becomes rutted and beat as it continues for a short distance into Oneida County.
In Oswego County, the well-maintained path slices through a patchwork of developed and natural areas. And while the scenery along its entire length is worth the trip, the eastern section is longest and offers the most diverse habitats.
Spawned on its west end at a dented guardrail preventing vehicles from going over the edge of the demolished railroad bridge over Little Big Bay Creek, the east branch cuts through agricultural fields and pastures, skirts woods and small parks and crosses creeks and brooks, offering a menu of splendid scenery, including golf courses, Toad Harbor Swamp, the dam on Scriba Creek, (just upstream of the Oneida Lake Fish Hatchery), thick, dark forests, scenic back-country beaver meadows, even a backyard pond in Cleveland that sports its own bridge over a feeder brook, and a cannon protecting it.
Access is easy. From CR 37 to the edge of Constantia, roads heading south off NY 49 cross the OCRT; and there?s parking at the shoulder of Toad Harbor Road. On the east side of the village, the trail crosses NY 49 and, from here to its end, is accessible by all roads heading north from the highway.
In Constantia, shoulder parking for about 10 cars is off Hatchery Road, a few hundred feet north of the NY 49 intersection. East of the hamlet, parking is allowed on the shoulder of some cross-roads and North Street.
The trail gets a little tricky in Cleveland. On the east side of its junction with Center Street, the OCRT widens, turning into Sand Street. But a few hundred feet later, on the other side of North Street, it assumes the charm of a trail agaiin.
Snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and horseback riding are also allowed on the trail. ?Motor vehicles, other than snowmobiles, trail groomers, Oswego County highway equipment, and authorized emergency vehicles, are prohibited from the trail. ATVs are only allowed on the eastern-most section of the trail between Toad Harbor Road and the Oswego-Oneida county line.
At press time, coils of gray and white rolled over the barren, late autumn landscape lining the OCRT. Soon, hopefully before Christmas, winter will shroud this natural canvas in sparkling snow
Twins Amelia and Allison Tucker started life joined at the chest, but have enjoyed the last month apart. A seven-hour surgery separated them, and now doctors say the girls should enjoy healthy, and independent, lives.
Contact: Peter West pwest@nsf.gov 703-292-7530 National Science Foundation
Drilling-related breakthroughs funded by NSF expected to advance 'frontier science' in a variety of disciplines
A trio of very large-scale, National Science Foundation-funded Antarctic science projects--investigating scientifically significant subjects as varied as life in extreme ecosystems, the fate of one of the world's largest ice sheets and the nature of abrupt global climate-change events--have recently each reached important technological milestones that will advance cutting-edge research.
In the past week, researchers with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) project, the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project and the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) project each announced they had achieved these various milestones. In each case, the successes were based on innovative drilling technologies and promise to open new scientific vistas for Antarctic research.
All three projects are supported by the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). Through the USAP, NSF coordinates all U.S. scientific research and related logistical support on the southernmost continent and in the surrounding Southern Ocean.
"Although additional challenges doubtless lie ahead for these projects in the harsh Antarctic environment, these successes are a testament to both scientific and engineering ingenuity and the logistical support needed to mount such ambitious and scientifically promising programs," said Scott Borg, who heads Antarctic Sciences in NSF's Division of Polar Programs.
Pine Island Glacier
On December 17, researchers with the PIG project announced that they had successfully drilled through the remote Pine Island Glacier ice shelf.
The successful drilling will help to reach the project's ultimate objective: to study the physical processes that are causing a rapid melting of the 60-kilometer-long (37 miles) ice shelf that extends into Pine Island Bay. One cause is suspected to be the circulation of relatively warmer ocean waters under the floating ice shelf that are undercutting the shelf.
Results from PIG will be used to improve the physics of numerical models that are used to predict future melt rates of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Increased melting of the ice sheet could contribute significantly to global sea-level rise, with wide-ranging consequences for the Earth's temperate regions.
The stability of the polar ice sheets and their reaction to rising global temperatures remain one of the variables in the models used to predict climate trends. Analysis of satellite imagery and altimetry has shown that this part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has the highest thinning rates in Antarctica.
PIG is also funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and includes collaborating scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). High-resolution imagery analyzed by NASA Emeritus and project lead scientist Bob Bindschadler was used to locate a suitable site for the PIG camp on the ice.
The international PIG project is comprised of scientists and engineers with specialized expertise in analyzing satellite imagery deploying the hot-water drill; seismic and radar surveys of the ice shelf; and sea-bed structure and development and deployment of custom-built ocean instrumentation that will be left in the ocean cavity below the ice shelf to measure circulation and ocean-ice interactions over the coming years.
The PIG team faces the challenges of working not only in one of the most remote areas of the continent but also on a heavily crevassed region of the ice shelf where ice-sheet and weather conditions make it extremely difficult to deploy the personnel needed to conduct science, particularly for a large-scale project such as PIG. The project was initially launched as an initiative of the international Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009 but has had to overcome numerous natural obstacles to deploy this season.
One of the primary tasks for the team has been to use a hot-water drill run by Martin Truffer, of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to make two 500-meter-deep (1,600 feet), 20-centimeter-diameter (approximately 8 inches) "skinny holes" through the ice shelf at each measurement site.
Researcher Tim Stanton's group, at the Naval Postgraduate School, developed specialized long-term instrument systems to fit down the 20-centimeter holes. A surface-powered instrument package lowered through the first bore hole to hang two meters (6.5 feet) below the ice measures the boundary layer currents and rate of mixing of ocean water right below the ice, allowing the local ice-melt to be calculated.
Sridhar Anandakrishnan and Leo Peters, geophysicists with Penn State University, meanwhile, are creating tiny "earthquakes" to study the shape of the ocean cavity and the properties of the bedrock under the PIG ice shelf. Leo and Penn State student Kiya Wilson have been doing seismic measurements around the first and second drill camp sites, then, with helicopter support, they will sample about 40 locations across the ice shelf to determine the larger-scale sea-bed shape and ice-shelf structure.
WISSARD
In the same week, meanwhile, researchers with WISSARD successfully tested a new hot-water drill that they will use to access a subglacial lake for clean microbiological sampling and glaciological measurements. This interdisciplinary project is set to explore a portion of a vast hydrological system that exists under the Antarctic ice.
The WISSARD team includes nearly 20 researchers and is divided into three scientific components: microbiology, led by John Priscu, of Montana State University; geology, led by Ross Powell, of Northern Illinois University; and glaciology, led by Slawek Tulaczyk, of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The team announced earlier this week that a test hole was drilled through the Ross Ice Shelf, a geographical feature the size of the state of Texas, into the seawater cavity below, which is over 900 meters (3000 feet) deep.
Once testing of the hot-water drill and the integrated filtration systems is completed on the ice shelf, all of the drilling equipment--including the drill, specialized filters and electrical generating equipment--will be moved, by means of an over-ice traverse, to the actual research drill site overlying Subglacial Lake Whillans.
Over the last several decades, ground-penetrating radar and other remote-sensing have revealed a vast system of rivers and lakes beneath the miles-thick Antarctic ice sheets. Geothermal heat from below, coupled with the pressure of the ice from above and the insulation provided by the ice sheet, cause some areas at the base of the ice sheet to remain above the freezing point, even in the extreme cold of Antarctica.
In order to explore one of these hydrological systems at the edge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on the southeastern edge of the Ross Sea, WISSARD proposes to use a variety of tools and techniques to explore this unique subglacial environment.
WISSARD will lower a variety of sampling tools and sensors into the Subglacial Lake Whillans. These tools will cleanly sample subglacial lake water and sediments, provide video of lake bottom, and characterize chemical and physical properties of the lake and its environs.
The custom-built WISSARD hot-water drill, developed at University of Nebraska - Lincoln under the leadership of Frank Rack, is designed to melt a 30-centimeter (11-inch) hole through 800 meters (2,600 feet) of ice at the actual research site, providing clean access to Subglacial Lake Whillans.
A variety of sophisticated tools will be sent down the borehole to collect data and samples, supported by equipment and laboratories on the surface. All are designed not to contaminate this previously unexplored environment and to maintain the pristine nature of this part of Antarctica.
WAIS
Researchers with the WAIS Divide project, meanwhile, have announced that an innovative technique, called Replicate Coring, will allow them to retrieve additional ice cores from specific depths in an existing borehole, a development that researcher Charles Bentley, at the NSF-funded Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) group at the University of Wisconsin said opens "a new door for the future of ice-core drilling."
The replicate drilling technique is a key advance, because it allows scientists to take samples from specific levels of a main borehole without impeding the hole itself, leaving the main borehole open for future logging of information. Previously, it would have been necessary to physically block off the main borehole to sample along the sides.
NSF supports innovations in ice-core drilling through a cooperative partnership between the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) led by Dartmouth College, in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and IDDO.
The Replicate Coring technique, which was developed and tested by the IDDO engineers as part of the DISC drill, was put into service at WAIS Divide during the 2007-2008 Antarctic field season. The design of the DISC Drill was started by the Wisconsin group in 2002 in response to the desire of the U.S. researchers for a deep-coring drill that would incorporate the ability to retrieve additional cores from the sides of the main borehole. The DISC drill completed the main WAIS borehole during the 2011-2012 season, reaching a depth of 3,405 meters (more than 11,000 feet). Testing of the replicate coring system at WAIS began at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
Unlike the drilling at PIG and WISSARD, the drilling at WAIS is designed to obtain cores of ice. These cores, or cylinders of ice, contain, frozen within them, samples of gases from the atmosphere as it was, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Previously, ice cores have yielded unexpected scientific discoveries, including, for example, evidence that climate can change abruptly in less than ten years, far less time than previously suspected. Analysis of ice cores also indicates that the level of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere is presently higher than in the past 800,000 years.
At the WAIS Divide site--an extremely cold area of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where the abundant snowfall rarely melts--the ice contains many tens of thousands of years of annual information about past climate. The cores obtained by replicate drilling will allow researchers to obtain samples from specific depths in the ice sheet, including from times of past abrupt climate change, allowing them to better understand how and why abrupt changes occur.
###
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Contact: Peter West pwest@nsf.gov 703-292-7530 National Science Foundation
Drilling-related breakthroughs funded by NSF expected to advance 'frontier science' in a variety of disciplines
A trio of very large-scale, National Science Foundation-funded Antarctic science projects--investigating scientifically significant subjects as varied as life in extreme ecosystems, the fate of one of the world's largest ice sheets and the nature of abrupt global climate-change events--have recently each reached important technological milestones that will advance cutting-edge research.
In the past week, researchers with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) project, the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project and the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) project each announced they had achieved these various milestones. In each case, the successes were based on innovative drilling technologies and promise to open new scientific vistas for Antarctic research.
All three projects are supported by the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). Through the USAP, NSF coordinates all U.S. scientific research and related logistical support on the southernmost continent and in the surrounding Southern Ocean.
"Although additional challenges doubtless lie ahead for these projects in the harsh Antarctic environment, these successes are a testament to both scientific and engineering ingenuity and the logistical support needed to mount such ambitious and scientifically promising programs," said Scott Borg, who heads Antarctic Sciences in NSF's Division of Polar Programs.
Pine Island Glacier
On December 17, researchers with the PIG project announced that they had successfully drilled through the remote Pine Island Glacier ice shelf.
The successful drilling will help to reach the project's ultimate objective: to study the physical processes that are causing a rapid melting of the 60-kilometer-long (37 miles) ice shelf that extends into Pine Island Bay. One cause is suspected to be the circulation of relatively warmer ocean waters under the floating ice shelf that are undercutting the shelf.
Results from PIG will be used to improve the physics of numerical models that are used to predict future melt rates of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Increased melting of the ice sheet could contribute significantly to global sea-level rise, with wide-ranging consequences for the Earth's temperate regions.
The stability of the polar ice sheets and their reaction to rising global temperatures remain one of the variables in the models used to predict climate trends. Analysis of satellite imagery and altimetry has shown that this part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has the highest thinning rates in Antarctica.
PIG is also funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and includes collaborating scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). High-resolution imagery analyzed by NASA Emeritus and project lead scientist Bob Bindschadler was used to locate a suitable site for the PIG camp on the ice.
The international PIG project is comprised of scientists and engineers with specialized expertise in analyzing satellite imagery deploying the hot-water drill; seismic and radar surveys of the ice shelf; and sea-bed structure and development and deployment of custom-built ocean instrumentation that will be left in the ocean cavity below the ice shelf to measure circulation and ocean-ice interactions over the coming years.
The PIG team faces the challenges of working not only in one of the most remote areas of the continent but also on a heavily crevassed region of the ice shelf where ice-sheet and weather conditions make it extremely difficult to deploy the personnel needed to conduct science, particularly for a large-scale project such as PIG. The project was initially launched as an initiative of the international Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009 but has had to overcome numerous natural obstacles to deploy this season.
One of the primary tasks for the team has been to use a hot-water drill run by Martin Truffer, of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to make two 500-meter-deep (1,600 feet), 20-centimeter-diameter (approximately 8 inches) "skinny holes" through the ice shelf at each measurement site.
Researcher Tim Stanton's group, at the Naval Postgraduate School, developed specialized long-term instrument systems to fit down the 20-centimeter holes. A surface-powered instrument package lowered through the first bore hole to hang two meters (6.5 feet) below the ice measures the boundary layer currents and rate of mixing of ocean water right below the ice, allowing the local ice-melt to be calculated.
Sridhar Anandakrishnan and Leo Peters, geophysicists with Penn State University, meanwhile, are creating tiny "earthquakes" to study the shape of the ocean cavity and the properties of the bedrock under the PIG ice shelf. Leo and Penn State student Kiya Wilson have been doing seismic measurements around the first and second drill camp sites, then, with helicopter support, they will sample about 40 locations across the ice shelf to determine the larger-scale sea-bed shape and ice-shelf structure.
WISSARD
In the same week, meanwhile, researchers with WISSARD successfully tested a new hot-water drill that they will use to access a subglacial lake for clean microbiological sampling and glaciological measurements. This interdisciplinary project is set to explore a portion of a vast hydrological system that exists under the Antarctic ice.
The WISSARD team includes nearly 20 researchers and is divided into three scientific components: microbiology, led by John Priscu, of Montana State University; geology, led by Ross Powell, of Northern Illinois University; and glaciology, led by Slawek Tulaczyk, of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The team announced earlier this week that a test hole was drilled through the Ross Ice Shelf, a geographical feature the size of the state of Texas, into the seawater cavity below, which is over 900 meters (3000 feet) deep.
Once testing of the hot-water drill and the integrated filtration systems is completed on the ice shelf, all of the drilling equipment--including the drill, specialized filters and electrical generating equipment--will be moved, by means of an over-ice traverse, to the actual research drill site overlying Subglacial Lake Whillans.
Over the last several decades, ground-penetrating radar and other remote-sensing have revealed a vast system of rivers and lakes beneath the miles-thick Antarctic ice sheets. Geothermal heat from below, coupled with the pressure of the ice from above and the insulation provided by the ice sheet, cause some areas at the base of the ice sheet to remain above the freezing point, even in the extreme cold of Antarctica.
In order to explore one of these hydrological systems at the edge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on the southeastern edge of the Ross Sea, WISSARD proposes to use a variety of tools and techniques to explore this unique subglacial environment.
WISSARD will lower a variety of sampling tools and sensors into the Subglacial Lake Whillans. These tools will cleanly sample subglacial lake water and sediments, provide video of lake bottom, and characterize chemical and physical properties of the lake and its environs.
The custom-built WISSARD hot-water drill, developed at University of Nebraska - Lincoln under the leadership of Frank Rack, is designed to melt a 30-centimeter (11-inch) hole through 800 meters (2,600 feet) of ice at the actual research site, providing clean access to Subglacial Lake Whillans.
A variety of sophisticated tools will be sent down the borehole to collect data and samples, supported by equipment and laboratories on the surface. All are designed not to contaminate this previously unexplored environment and to maintain the pristine nature of this part of Antarctica.
WAIS
Researchers with the WAIS Divide project, meanwhile, have announced that an innovative technique, called Replicate Coring, will allow them to retrieve additional ice cores from specific depths in an existing borehole, a development that researcher Charles Bentley, at the NSF-funded Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) group at the University of Wisconsin said opens "a new door for the future of ice-core drilling."
The replicate drilling technique is a key advance, because it allows scientists to take samples from specific levels of a main borehole without impeding the hole itself, leaving the main borehole open for future logging of information. Previously, it would have been necessary to physically block off the main borehole to sample along the sides.
NSF supports innovations in ice-core drilling through a cooperative partnership between the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) led by Dartmouth College, in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and IDDO.
The Replicate Coring technique, which was developed and tested by the IDDO engineers as part of the DISC drill, was put into service at WAIS Divide during the 2007-2008 Antarctic field season. The design of the DISC Drill was started by the Wisconsin group in 2002 in response to the desire of the U.S. researchers for a deep-coring drill that would incorporate the ability to retrieve additional cores from the sides of the main borehole. The DISC drill completed the main WAIS borehole during the 2011-2012 season, reaching a depth of 3,405 meters (more than 11,000 feet). Testing of the replicate coring system at WAIS began at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
Unlike the drilling at PIG and WISSARD, the drilling at WAIS is designed to obtain cores of ice. These cores, or cylinders of ice, contain, frozen within them, samples of gases from the atmosphere as it was, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Previously, ice cores have yielded unexpected scientific discoveries, including, for example, evidence that climate can change abruptly in less than ten years, far less time than previously suspected. Analysis of ice cores also indicates that the level of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere is presently higher than in the past 800,000 years.
At the WAIS Divide site--an extremely cold area of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where the abundant snowfall rarely melts--the ice contains many tens of thousands of years of annual information about past climate. The cores obtained by replicate drilling will allow researchers to obtain samples from specific depths in the ice sheet, including from times of past abrupt climate change, allowing them to better understand how and why abrupt changes occur.
###
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Public release date: 20-Dec-2012
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