Collecting Micrometeorites from the South Pole Water Well
Abstract
A collector was designed and built to retrieve micrometeorites from the floor of the South Pole Water Well. The large volume of firn and ice being melted for the well and the low component of terrestrial material in Antarctic ice make the South Pole Water Well an ideal place to collect micrometeorites. Because the age of the ice being melted is known, yearly or periodic collections provide large numbers of micrometeorites of known terrestrial age. The collector was designed to pose no threat to the well's water quality, to be reliable and easy to operate, and to collect particles larger than 50 micrometers. This report details how this collector was built and tested and documents the rationale behind some of the design choices. It also includes preliminary findings from the first deployment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA327829
Entities
People
- James H. Lever
- John Govoni
- Ralph P. Harvey
- Susan Taylor
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory