News Releases

Robotic submarine makes media splash
January 4, 2011

They haven’t put NIU’s new 28-foot-long, 2,200-pound robotic submarine in the water yet, but geologists Ross Powell and Reed Scherer have already made a big splash.
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NIU, DOER Marine unveil robotic submarine to explore beneath Antarctic ice shelf
December 14, 2010

Northern Illinois University and DOER Marine today unveiled a new 28-foot long, cigar-shaped robotic submarine to be used in exploration beneath the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. FULL STORY > 

NIU will use robotic submarine to explore melting occurring below Antarctic ice 
October 5, 2009 

NIU geologists are helping to lead a multi-million-dollar, five-year investigation of melting near the base of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) using a 24-foot-long robotic submarine that will be lowered through more than a half-mile of ice into ocean water. FULL STORY >

New scientific evidence fills in an important missing piece of the puzzle as scientists wrestle to determine how global warming will affect the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). FULL STORY >

From beneath Antarctica’s Ross Sea, scientists retrieve pristine record of the continent’s climate cycles
April 16, 2007

Frequent climate fluctuations on the world’s southernmost continent have been so extreme over the past 5 million years that Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, a floating slab of ice the size of France, oscillated in size dramatically, and perhaps even disappeared for periods of time when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been smaller, according to scientists engaged in an unprecedented international geologic drilling project.
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Crystal Lake 4th-grade teacher selected to participate in Antarctic research program
August 31, 2006

Fourth-grade teacher Betty Trummel is willing to go to the ends of the earth to make learning an adventure for her students. Toward that end, she’s headed to the Antarctic this fall—again.
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More NIU scientists named to Antarctic geologic drilling program
November 2, 2005

Two additional Northern Illinois University professors have been selected to participate in the $30 million drilling project known as ANDRILL, an international effort to recover geologic records buried beneath the Antarctic sea in order to gain a better understanding of contemporary global warming trends.
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$12.9 million ANDRILL grant to fund U.S. Antarctic research efforts
August 9, 2005

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $12.9 million Antarctic research grant to a consortium of five U.S. universities headed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. The grant supports an ambitious international effort to probe deeper than ever before into geological strata buried beneath the frozen sea to help scientists better understand contemporary global warming trends.
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Getting to the Bottom of Global Warming
Northern Now - Winter 2006

With global warming now recognized by most scientists as one of the top threats facing our planet, researchers are turning their attention to determining its causes, the rate of warming and its ramifications for our future. Few efforts in coming years will be more ambitious and larger in scale than a $30 million project led in part by Northern Illinois University geologist Ross Powell.
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