Team Lead, Seismologist

Marianne Karplus

Marianne Karplus, Ph.D., is a seismologist and professor at The University of Texas at El Paso. She is a co-PI of the TIME project, using seismology to study the structure and dynamics at the eastern shear margin of Thwaites Glacier and better understand its potential contribution to sea level rise. She is very excited about collecting seismic data this season that will give us a 3-D picture of the base of Thwaites Glacier. She also brought a 175g Discraft Ultrastar and is looking forward to throwing a frisbee with other team members at a new location on Thwaites Glacier.

Radar Geophysicist

Tun Jan Young

TJ Young is a radioglaciologist that applies innovative field-based geophysical and geospatial techniques to investigate the dynamics of ice sheets. He is employed as a postdoc on the TIME project to use radar, in conjunction with GNSS and seismic techniques, to characterise the fabric of the Eastern Shear Margin. 

He is really excited to be a part of an amazingly diverse team to show that anyone can be a polar scientist! He also brought running shoes to be able to run up and down the runway at WAIS Divide! 

Director, Seismic Source Facility

Galen Kaip

Galen Kaip is the Director of Seismic Source Facility (SSF) at the University of Texas, El Paso, with 5 years Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering. He has 24 Years working with UTEP conducting geophysical surveys.  75% of his funding is related to supporting small and large scale seismic surveys as an IRIS facility.

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He is most excited this year about getting out to the field to start work. He is also enjoying the trails around McMurdo and meeting people here on station. He's also looking forward to the WAIS Skiway!​

Seismologist

Lucia Gonzalez

Lucia Gonzalez is currently a PhD student in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas. She's been working with the TIME passive seismic data retrieved during the past field season (2021-2022) and this year she is helping with the 980-node deployment around the Eastern Shear Margin in Thwaites Glacier.

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She's really excited to go out on the field and start working on this big project and get the whole experience of camping on the ice and snowbiling on the glacier.

During her free time, she likes watching movies and drawing. This year she brought some movies, a book to read called "The Woman in the Mirror", and a logic puzzle book to keep herself entertained.

Seismologist

Andrew Pretorius

Andrew Pretorius is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Leeds interested in what icequakes can tell us about how a glacier is flowing. He joined the TIME Team for the incredible opportunity to study a glacier in Antarctica. He is most excited for being in Antarctica for the first time, and he has brought too many books with him into the field!

Radar Geophysicist

Anna Broome

Anna Broome is an electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate in the Stanford Radio Glaciology Lab. She designs and builds multi-frequency joint radar-radiometer systems optimized for measuring ice sheet basal and englacial conditions. She joined TIME to learn about other geophysical techniques used for studying ice sheets and to test the radar systems she has been building. 

She is excited to be a part of a team conducting extensive research and data collection on the Thwaites Glacier! In her free time, she likes to trail run, backpack, ski, and generally anything that involves spending time outdoors. 

Glaciologist and Ice Sheet Modeler

Meghana Ranganathan

Meghana Ranganathan is a glaciologist and a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She joined the TIME Team this year to assist in the collection of seismic data, and for the opportunity to see a shear margin, which she spent her PhD modeling! 

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She is most excited to finally see in person the ice sheet she has been staring at on QGIS for the last 5 years. She also loves to write and read and plans to do quite a bit of writing and journaling while in the field.

Seismologist

Ronan Agnew

Ronan Agnew is a PhD student working at Leeds University/the British Antarctic Survey, and he looks at how we can use seismology to find out what materials are beneath glaciers. He was part of last year’s TIME field team and just had to come back for more! He is really excited to go out to Thwaites. Last season he learned how to crochet, so this year he thought he would give knitting a try - he's also brought a harmonica, so whoever is sharing a tent with him is in for a treat (?!)

Ice Drilling Engineer

Robin Bolsey

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Seismologist

Emma Pearce

Emma Pearce is a Post-doc researcher at the University of Strasbourg in France. She was rallied onto the TIME project a little late in the day as an extra seismologist. 

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She is most excited to spend time in the field getting to switch off from the digital world, and crack on with all of the hobbies she's brought with her (knitting, crochet cross stitch, reading),  although possibly she might do none of them, and just do lots of sleeping!

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In her free time she loves spending time exploring the outside, so a 2 week delay in New Zealand really has been the best blessing in disguise! Her photo is from on top of Avalanche Peak, an adventure she went on whilst they are making the most of waiting for their flight down south! 

Planetary Geologist

Tara Sweeney

Tara Sweeney is pursuing her PhD at the University of Texas at El Paso with interests in lunar geology, seismology, medical geology, remote sensing, and field geology.

Being a field scientist in Antarctica is a dream come true, one that has been many decades in the making. As a lunar geologist, she is focused on the return of humans to the surface of our Moon through the Artemis program. She hopes to help these wicked awesome explorers become specialists in lunar geology and she hopes her research will help them deploy a seismic array on the lunar surface, much like we are doing on Thwaites Glacier here in Antarctica. 

She is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of a team that is accomplishing important science for our global population. She is also excited to feel like an explorer in this remote, austere, and enchanting environment.

She enjoys carving time out each day to share her Antarctic experience with family, friends, and colleagues back home. It's such a privilege to be here and she hopes to bring as many of them as possible along for the journey. She also loves to go for a hike at every opportunity so she can be present in this unique landscape and breathe it all in while she can.

PASSCAL Geophysicist and Polar Engineer

Madeline Hunt

Madeline Hunt graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2020, majoring in physics and geophysics, and she's worked as a Polar Field Engineer at PASSCAL since then.

At PASSCAL, she helps support various seismic experiments in the Arctic and Antarctic. PASSCAL is providing a lot of equipment for TIME this season, and she's on the team as an extra set of hands and to help with technical support of the instruments.

She is most excited for camping in a tent in West Antarctica!! She is also super excited to learn about the other equipment that we'll be using this season, from radar systems to a hot water drill.

She brought so many books on her Kindle, with all the book recommendations she's been given over the past year that she hasn't had time to read yet. And her sketchpad -- she's hoping to have some time to draw!

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Also, she has her own blog at  mhunt.xyz!

Field Safety Coordinator

Chris Simmons

Chris Simmons is a Field Safety Coordinator and professional Mountain Guide from the Pacific Northwest in the United States. He has 17 seasons in Antarctica, and has worked with 11 other science and technical groups across 9 seasons in the past 12 years. Chris is excited about traveling into the deep field with the logistical complexities of such a big group and ambitious science objectives requiring flexibility for operational changes. That was a lot of big words for me. In Chris' free time this season, he's been a bit of a gym rat and has taken full advantage of McMurdo's weight room.

Field Safety Coordinator

Kirah Solomon

Kirah Solomon, Field Safety Coordinator, brings to her role 19 years of guiding groups in cold, inhospitable places.

When offered a chance to work with scientists in the Deep Field, she jumped at the chance to see new places on the southern-most continent.

This season she's most excited about working with seismic nodes and explosives on the Thwaites Glacier. It's an extra treat that she'll be working alongside her fiancé.

For the small amounts of free time in the tent between work and sleep each day, she brought crossword puzzles, new music, and books including historical accounts of explorers and science fiction.