UMass Climate Researchers Returning To Bolivian Mountaintops

Collecting the samples is no small task. Despite the tropical South American location, the altitude and heavy winds will require the team to bring along Arctic survival gear. Temperatures may fall to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit at night, and will hover at 10 degrees Fahrenheit during daylight hours. The ascents are expected to take about four days, and will be followed by approximately three days of work on the summit.

In the Andes, snow may fall at the rate of about 2½ meters (about 7 feet) a year. Researchers must dig through the snow to the ground, examine the vertical edge of the pit, called the snow-wall, and then take samples every three centimeters. Sophisticated chemical analyses of the snow samples may provide detailed information about climate conditions during the past two years. Scientists are particularly interested in learning what effects El Nino and La Nina have had on precipitation. Past expeditions have had the team drilling through a 400-foot-thick ice cap, garnering clues to weather conditions 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. The team's most recent trip to Bolivia was in the spring of 1998.

Researchers will also examine weather station records and service the weather monitoring equipment on the two peaks. The equipment is designed to feed weather information back to the Amherst campus via a satellite located 24,000 miles above the Earth.