QUESTION: 

In the January/February issue of Dragonfly magazine, I read an 
interesting article on searching for volcanic eruptions in glacial ice.  
Does Palmer Station take any samples of ice cores?  If so, do you store 
them in an "ice core bank"?  Are you near any volcanoes?  Looking at 
layers in the ice core, one can find tiny things such as volcanic ash 
and sulfuric acid ash.  Do you have a scanning electron microscope at 
Palmer Station?  Do you by any chance know Julie Palais, a famous 
glaciologist?

        From Michael R., Grade 5, Holland Elementary
        Ft. Wayne, IN



ANSWER from POLLY PENHALE, Palmer Station, Antarctica
            Sat, 1 Feb 1997 00:09:13 -0500

We don't take any ice cores in the vicinity of Palmer 
Station. Most of our glaciology work is conducted on the main 
continent; we set up our field camps out of McMurdo Station. We did 
support one project here in which the melting rate of the glacier's 
edge at the glacier-seawater interface was studied. Although we don't 
have a scanning electron microscope on station, we could certainly 
use one for our marine biology studies. And yes, I do know Julie 
Palais. She is one of my colleagues; we work together in the same 
office at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC.