Newswise — North Dakota State University researchers Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis are scheduled to appear in a live webcast from McMurdo Station in Antarctica on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 3:00 p.m. CST to discuss major scientific discoveries made during the filming of the documentary "Ice People." In addition, the film will be screened at the San Francisco Exploratorium in the McBean Theater at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. PST. Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion will be present at both screenings. The live webcast is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PST in the Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio at the Exploratorium. The live webcast will also be available at http://www.exploratorium.edu/webcasts/index.php at 3:00 p.m. CST by clicking on Ice Stories: Conversations with Ice People Scientists.
An international team of scientists headed up by NDSU geoscientists Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis and David Marchant, an earth scientist at Boston University, combined evidence from glacial geology, paleoecology, dating of volcanic ashes and computer modeling, to report a major climate change centered on 14 million years ago. The scientists often spend months living in tents in the Transantarctic Mountains' Dry Valleys doing their research. Ashworth, a university distinguished professor of geosciences; Lewis, assistant professor of geosciences, and NDSU student Spencer Salmon are currently conducting field research in Antarctica.
According to Lewis, the discovery of lake deposits with perfectly preserved fossils of mosses, diatoms and ostracods is particularly exciting to scientists. "They are the first to be found even though scientific expeditions have been visiting the Dry Valleys since their discovery during the first Scott expedition in 1902-03," said Lewis. For Ashworth, the fossils are a paleoecological treasure trove.
Documentary filmmaker Aghion spent four months at the U.S. research station McMurdo, and camped out for seven weeks with Dr. Ashworth and his research crew as they studied fossilized vegetation in Antarctic lakebeds. The film "Ice People" has been screened at science museums and film festivals in Australia, Vancouver, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Jerusalem. "The movie"¦gives viewers a glimpse of a side of science that is rarely seen," according to Edyta Zielinska, The Scientist.com. The film is featured in "Hollywood in Antarctica" in the Oct. 17, 2008, online issue of The Scientist.
Note: The research of Dr. Allan Ashworth described here is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs. The film "Ice People" is a co-production of Dry Valleys Productions, ARTE France, ITVS International, in association with Sundance Channel and is produced with a grant from the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
For more information:Ice Stories: Conversations with "Ice People" scientistsLive webcast Dec. 14, 2008 at 3 p.m. CSThttp://www.exploratorium.edu/webcasts/index.php
Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienceshttp://www.pnas.org/content/105/31/10676
Dr. Allan Ashworth, North Dakota State Universitywww.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/ashworth/
Ice Peoplehttp://www.icepeople.com
The Scientist"Hollywood in Antarctica" http://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/display/news.jsp?type=news&o_url=news/display/55097&id=55097
Science Magazine"Freeze-Dried Findings Support a Tale of Two Ancient Climates" http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5880/1152
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