July 10, 2006

Subglacial Lake Sampled

Researchers monitor the progress of hot-water drilling through a 300-meter thick glacier in Iceland.

Scientists from Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and Icelandic research institutes, successfully drilled into and sampled a lake deep beneath a glacier in Iceland. The lake is buried under 300 meters (984 feet) of ice and was 100 meters (328 feet) deep at the sampling location. A lake sample was retrieved using a water and gas tight sampler designed and built by SOEST. The UH team included Eric Gaidos, Brian Glazer and Mary Miller.

The researchers will study the lake’s temperature profile and the retrieved water sample to determine whether microbial life is present and thriving in its perennially dark, near-freezing waters. The subglacial lakes are the focus of studies of life in extreme environments, and may resemble potential habitats on Mars. Read more.

Telescope Dedicated on Haleakala

Blessing the new PS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala. Photo by Rob Ratkowski, HAA Maui.

UH's newest telescope PS1 was dedicated on June 30 in a ceremony on the summit of Haleakala. The telescope is a prototype for the larger Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS, telescope scheduled to start scanning the skies for killer asteroids in 2010.

PS1 will be equipped with the world's largest digital camera, which is currently under construction at UH’s Institute for Astronomy. This camera will contain 1.4 billion pixels—about 300 times more than is found in a typical commercial digital camera. Once the telescope is operational, PS1 will survey the whole sky every few days to find celestial objects that change or move. Read the news release.

Lyon Arboretum Finalists Selected

Candidates for the director’s position at Lyon Arboretum will be on the Manoa campus for interviews and public presentations. All sessions will be in St. John Plant Science Lab at 5 p.m.

The finalists

• Tues, July 11—Clifford W. Morden, interim director, Lyon Arboretum
• Thurs., July 13—Stephen Weller, professor, department of ecology and evolutionary biology, University of California at Irvine
• Mon., July 17—Christopher Dunn, executive director for research programs, Chicago Botanic Garden (Update: This presentation has been postponed)

To learn more about the candidates, read the news release or visit the search website.

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