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Jacobel lands cover story in Nature

By David Gonnerman '90
February 9, 2005

St. Olaf Professor of Physics Robert Jacobel has co-authored "Fractures As the Main Pathways of Water Flow in Temperate Glaciers," the cover story of the Feb. 10 issue of Nature magazine. The work outlines the research that Jacobel and his co-authors (including Andrew Fountain of Portland State University, Oregon, and Peter Jansson of Stockholm University, Sweden) conducted at Tarfala, the University of Stockholm's glacier research station located within the Arctic Circle at the foot of Mount Kebnekaise, a longtime world center for the science of glaciology.

"As with our other projects in Antarctica and elsewhere, this one involves the use of ice-penetrating radar to sense remotely into the interior of the glacier," says Jacobel, who also shot the cover photo for the article. "In this case, we were interested in tracing the paths taken by water from snow melting at the surface to the bed. Our radar was used in conjunction with bore hole drilling and a video camera to make the discoveries." Jacobel included four St. Olaf students in the fieldwork for the project and several others on campus. During the project he also met Rickard Pettersson, a Swedish glaciologist who has since come to St. Olaf, where he teaches in the Environmental Studies Department.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.