CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A research team at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is getting a rare chance to explore the impact of greenhouses gases in Antarctica.
3NEWS talked with TAMU-CC team leader Richard Coffin, Professor and Chair of the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences and the students who are leaving Wednesday.
Hannah Organ is one of three students who belong to the team, which is heading to Antarctica for a six-week project to find out what chemicals are under the southern polar ice cap. They'll be traveling aboard the U.S. Antarctic research ship, the Nathaniel B. Palmer.
"It's going to be just like an adventure," she said.
Coffin said the trip means a lot to him and that it's a chance to work with other like minded researchers.
"We are very excited about this. For our effort in it. There's four universities," she said.
Senior TAMU-CC admin Allesandro Garcia said the research trip is a great chance to promote the Island University.
"We can show students what our students are currently doing to encourage them to get into the research projects that we have here," he said.
According to NASA, Antarctica is losing ice through melting at an average rate of about 150 billion tons per year and many greenhouse gases are expected to be released as the ice cap melts.
"You can't even put it into words because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and for us it's twice in a lifetime," Organ said. "Because we get to go twice. But just the learning aspect of the entire project and the fact that I'll be able to use all this data we're collecting for my dissertations."
The research team is expected back by the end of January.
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