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Happy Summer!

Yes, this is summer—austral summer—in Antarctica, where the air conditioning is natural. WHOI glaciologist Sarah Das and MIT/WHOI Joint Program graduate student Ali Criscitiello, shown here, conducted research on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in December 2010 to study whether climate change is affecting the formation of sea ice in the waters around the continent and speeding the flow of glacial ice to the sea (see video). Das wouldn’t consider going to Antarctica during the northern, or boreal summer, when the sun never rises and temperatures are far more frigid. Instead, she is currently studying the ice sheet atop Greenland.(Photo By Sarah Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)