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Mark Twickler
Hi, I'm Mark Twickler and will be participating on the US ITASE traverse trip this season as co-field leader. I work at the University of New Hampshire where I am the Associate Director of the Climate Change Research Center. My work with US ITASE involves several roles. Paul Mayewski and I operate the Science Management Office for US ITASE. This role involves the coordination between the individual US ITASE projects on both the scientific and logistical levels. We gather the logistical needs of the investigators and combine all the information and submit it to Antarctic Support Associates who manage the logistics for the NSF Antarctic Program. Another role I am involved in is the collection and interpretation of snow pit and ice core data.
This trip to Antarctica will be my 7th expedition. My first time to the "ice" was in 1984 when I worked in the Dominion Range in the Trans-Antarctic mountains. It was there that I achieved a life goal that I had almost given up on... to step foot where no person had before! In 1993-94 I was the sole US investigator on the Swedish ITASE traverse in Dronning Maud Land. Apart from research in Antarctica I have participated in 11 expeditions in the Arctic. Most notably was the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 which recovered a 10,000 foot (3,050 m) ice core representing a continuous 110,000 year climate record from the summit of Greenland.
People often ask me if I prefer going to the Antarctic or Arctic for expeditions. It's always a tough question since both are unique but one definite advantage are the seasons. For Antarctic trips we usually are gone late October into December or January. New England during this time can be somewhat bleak as the leaves are off the trees and winter snows are few. In the Arctic we usually go during the Northern Hemisphere summer and living in Maine I prefer to spend summers on the coast!
When not working I enjoy playing most sports especially ice hockey. I have always said I wanted to make my living on the "ice" and I guess I kind of am, although not the way I intended! Other personal interests include travel, sea kayaking, sailing, gardening, and just about anything else that takes place outside.
