glanced at the pool. “This is only about four hundred feet from the surface and a lot younger, about five to seven thousand years.”
“Still sounds old to me.”
“The age of the ice is similar to counting the rings on a tree to determine its age. The depth of ice is governed by the amount of snow that has fallen in any particular year. Some years there may have been very little snow fall, and other years, much more. This turns to ice and is gradually compressed when more snow fall's freeze and are in turn compressed by the following cycles, and on and on it goes. The deeper you look in the ice the more compressed it is, making it extremely difficult to count the individual layers.” Jane pointed her torch at the nearest wall. “You can see bands in the ice here. Each of them marks a particular year of snowfall that collected on top of the glacier and compressed into ice over time to increase the thickness of the glacier.” Her beam moved to highlight another detail in the ice. “Dirty grey bands in the ice like those seen here contain ash from volcanic eruptions. Probably from Mount Erebus on Ross Island, the second highest volcano in Antarctica after Mount Sidley, or perhaps Mount Terror, Mount Bird or Mount Terra Nova, but all three are now inactive.”
“Are you sure this is safe?”
The two women looked toward the sound of Henry's voice; his legs dangled through the hole in the cavern roof.
Max's face appeared in the hole. “Yes, Henry, I assure you its safe and the rope is secure.”
“That's what he said about my rope, Henry,” called out Jane, jokingly.
Henry's face peered at the women below, his headlight barely penetrating the darkness. “Get ready to catch me if I fall,” he joked. “I'm coming down.”
Henry lowered himself into the hole and for a moment just swung there.
Max leaned in and pointed. “You have to squeeze the lever on your descender to move.”
“I'm not a complete idiot.” Suddenly, Henry shot down the rope. Just as those watching thought he was going to crash into the ground, he slowed his pace and lightly touched down.
The two girls smiled and clapped.
“Nice entrance, Mr. Sandberg,” said Lucy.
Henry unhitched the rope and gave a little bow. He glanced at the hole far above. “The coming down's easy. It's the getting back up I find hard.” He glanced around the gloom-filled cavern. “Even from the little I can see, the cavern's bigger than I'd imagined.”
“When we get the brighter lights down here, we'll be able to get a measure of its true size and what's down here,” said Jane.
“Everything we need is on its way.” Henry walked over to join them. “Have you done much exploring yet?”
“Not yet,” said Lucy. “Though we were keen to, we thought we'd wait for the rest of the team so we can explore it together.”
Henry smiled at them. “That was very unselfish of you both. Many of my colleagues wouldn't have been so generous. They would've wanted to be the first to find anything waiting to be discovered down here and give it a name.”
“As you said in your pep talk, Henry, this is a team effort and we all share equally in the knowledge and any discoveries we make.”
“Thank you, Jane, and you Lucy. It's nice to know some people actually listen to what I have to say.” He glanced up at the opening. “Which is more than I can say for everyone on the team. Eli and Max should have started lowering down the supplies by now.”
Eli tied the last crate of supplies to the rope, pushed it over to the edge of the rift a short distance from where Jane and Lucy had climbed down, to avoid the ice shelf a few yards below. He grabbed the walkie-talkie from the top of the box and pressed the talk button to communicate with Theo at the bottom of the rift. “Final crate coming down. Over.”
“Okay. I'll let Henry know. Over.” Theo replied.
Eli slipped the radio into his pocket, grabbed tight hold of the rope and nudged the supply crate
“Still sounds old to me.”
“The age of the ice is similar to counting the rings on a tree to determine its age. The depth of ice is governed by the amount of snow that has fallen in any particular year. Some years there may have been very little snow fall, and other years, much more. This turns to ice and is gradually compressed when more snow fall's freeze and are in turn compressed by the following cycles, and on and on it goes. The deeper you look in the ice the more compressed it is, making it extremely difficult to count the individual layers.” Jane pointed her torch at the nearest wall. “You can see bands in the ice here. Each of them marks a particular year of snowfall that collected on top of the glacier and compressed into ice over time to increase the thickness of the glacier.” Her beam moved to highlight another detail in the ice. “Dirty grey bands in the ice like those seen here contain ash from volcanic eruptions. Probably from Mount Erebus on Ross Island, the second highest volcano in Antarctica after Mount Sidley, or perhaps Mount Terror, Mount Bird or Mount Terra Nova, but all three are now inactive.”
“Are you sure this is safe?”
The two women looked toward the sound of Henry's voice; his legs dangled through the hole in the cavern roof.
Max's face appeared in the hole. “Yes, Henry, I assure you its safe and the rope is secure.”
“That's what he said about my rope, Henry,” called out Jane, jokingly.
Henry's face peered at the women below, his headlight barely penetrating the darkness. “Get ready to catch me if I fall,” he joked. “I'm coming down.”
Henry lowered himself into the hole and for a moment just swung there.
Max leaned in and pointed. “You have to squeeze the lever on your descender to move.”
“I'm not a complete idiot.” Suddenly, Henry shot down the rope. Just as those watching thought he was going to crash into the ground, he slowed his pace and lightly touched down.
The two girls smiled and clapped.
“Nice entrance, Mr. Sandberg,” said Lucy.
Henry unhitched the rope and gave a little bow. He glanced at the hole far above. “The coming down's easy. It's the getting back up I find hard.” He glanced around the gloom-filled cavern. “Even from the little I can see, the cavern's bigger than I'd imagined.”
“When we get the brighter lights down here, we'll be able to get a measure of its true size and what's down here,” said Jane.
“Everything we need is on its way.” Henry walked over to join them. “Have you done much exploring yet?”
“Not yet,” said Lucy. “Though we were keen to, we thought we'd wait for the rest of the team so we can explore it together.”
Henry smiled at them. “That was very unselfish of you both. Many of my colleagues wouldn't have been so generous. They would've wanted to be the first to find anything waiting to be discovered down here and give it a name.”
“As you said in your pep talk, Henry, this is a team effort and we all share equally in the knowledge and any discoveries we make.”
“Thank you, Jane, and you Lucy. It's nice to know some people actually listen to what I have to say.” He glanced up at the opening. “Which is more than I can say for everyone on the team. Eli and Max should have started lowering down the supplies by now.”
Eli tied the last crate of supplies to the rope, pushed it over to the edge of the rift a short distance from where Jane and Lucy had climbed down, to avoid the ice shelf a few yards below. He grabbed the walkie-talkie from the top of the box and pressed the talk button to communicate with Theo at the bottom of the rift. “Final crate coming down. Over.”
“Okay. I'll let Henry know. Over.” Theo replied.
Eli slipped the radio into his pocket, grabbed tight hold of the rope and nudged the supply crate
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