Mallika Dureja
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Washington, [United States], January 21 (ANI): Antarctica is a difficult area to operate due to its extreme temperature, isolation, and wildness. However, it is one of the best locations in the world for meteorite hunting. This is partially due to the fact that Antarctica is a desert and its dry climate restricts the amount of weathering meteorites undergo. In addition to the dry circumstances, the terrain is ideal for meteorite searching, as the meteorites show out against the white plains. Even when meteorites descend under the ice, the churning motion of the glaciers against the rock below helps to re-expose them near the surface of the continent’s blue ice fields.
A team of international scientists who have just returned from Antarctica can witness to the continent’s friendliness to meteorite hunters: they brought back five new meteorites, including one that weighs 16.7 pounds (7.6 kg).
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Maria Valdes, a research scientist at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago, estimates that, among the approximately 45,000 meteorites recovered from Antarctica in the past century, just a few hundred are of this size or greater. “Size does not necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites, and even microscopic micrometeorites can be immensely scientifically significant,” adds Valdes. “However, the discovery of a large meteorite like this one is quite rare and very exciting.”
Valdes was one of four scientists on the trip, which was led by Vinciane Debaille of the Université libre de Bruxelles (FNRS-ULB); Maria Schonbachler (ETH-Zurich) and Ryoga Maeda rounded out the study team (VUB-ULB). The researchers were the first to investigate potential new meteorite locations mapped by ULB glaciology graduate student Veronica Tollenaar using satellite images.
Scientists have found meteorites from the depths of Antarctica Blue Ice, an area with strong winds where the glaciers get ablated, with one of them weighing 7.6 kg. Read more here#Antartica #Meteorite #CelestialObjects https://t.co/hqnpg1R2Xv
— The Telegraph (@ttindia) January 19, 2023
“Exploring unfamiliar regions is a thrilling adventure,” says Debaille, “but we had to deal with the fact that the reality on the ground is considerably more challenging than the beauty of satellite photographs.” Despite planning their journey for Antarctica’s summer in late December, the average temperature was 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius). Valdes writes that on several days of their tour, Chicago was colder than Antarctica. However, spending days riding snowmobiles, trudging across ice fields, and sleeping in a tent made the Antarctic weather seem more harsh.
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The five meteorites collected by the team will be investigated at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; in the meantime, micrometeorite-containing silt was divided among the researchers for examination at their respective universities.
Valdes is excited to see the results of the meteorite analyses because “studying meteorites helps us better comprehend our role in the universe. When we have a larger sample size of meteorites, we can better comprehend our Solar System and ourselves.
