By Stowell Watters

Staff Writer

In his quest for ice, Dr.Paul Mayewski braves barren tundra, thundering avalanches and temperatures coldenough to freeze a water balloon before it hits the ground.

 Hestudies the history of the Earth’s climate by scrutinizing ice cores; longtubes of ice typically five inches in diameter and 150 feet long, removed fromglaciers. Once drilled out of glaciers, the cores are carried with Mayewski’sresearch team until they can be shipped to a facility at the University ofMaine in Orono (UMO).

“More recently the ice cores have been able totell us an awful lot about greenhouse gases, and the human impact upon theclimate,” he says.

Mayewski will expand on this topic April 22 duringhis Earth Day lecture at Saco’s First Parish Congregational Church. The eventwill also feature “green” exhibits by local organizations, businesses andschools as well as a talk by Saco Mayor Roland Michaud.

In Mayewski’s eyes the slender tubes of ice arethe keys to unlocking unknowns in the Earth’s history.

“Particles found in the ice can give us tellinginformation as to how our natural climate system operates, and I don’t justmean changes in temperature,” he says.

Mayewski says researching the ice gives scientistsa snapshot into the past; a look at the strength of winds, precipitation,forest fires, volcanic activity and sea ice levels. Mayewski says he has foundthe past is never silent.

To obtain the cores, this UMO explorer, professorand scientist says he drills into glaciers, weathering average temperatures ofminus 50 degrees Celsius – without wind – and hiking in areas with 45 percentof the amount of oxygen people are exposed to at sea-level.

“I have most likely explored and traversed more ofthe South Pole than anyone who has ever lived,” Mayewski says.

In more than 50 expeditions he estimates he hastraveled more than 13,000 miles of the vast ice sheet that tops the Antarcticland mass.

With an area approximately one and a half timesthat of the United States and a seasonal population of roughly 5,000, Mayewskicompares walking over the ice sheet of the South Pole to visiting anotherplanet. He says the continent is home to 90 percent of all the ice in the worldand 70 percent of all freshwater – making it a unique laboratory for studyingEarth science.

Before oil prices spiked above $100 a barrel andnations began focusing on the possible effects of global warming, and beforeMayewski co-founded the Climate Change Institute at UMO, he was a sophomore atthe University of Buffalo, New York, fascinated by a poster on the wall of hisGeology class.

“I saw this poster of Antarctica, and it reallyjust grabbed me. By the time I was a senior I was there, and I haven’t stoppedexploring since,” he says.

Mayewski has led expeditions to many of theworld’s most remote areas including Tierra Del Fuego off the southernmost tipof South America, the Himalayas, Greenland, Antarctica – and many more. He sayshe has spoken at more than 300 events around the world, appeared on newsprograms and was the first ever recipient of the Medal for Excellence inAntarctic Research. Prior to his 2000 move to UMO, Mayewski started a centerfor the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University ofNew Hampshire – where he taught for 25 years.

Mayewski holds honorary doctorates and researchpositions at academic institutions from New York to China. During his travelshe says there is one thing shrinking more and more in his studies of climatechange, and it isn’t just the ice: doubt.

“People are beginning to stop doubting and to startworking,” he says. “I have first-hand seen the disappearance of glaciers. Ihave seen the coral reefs in Australia die and change dramatically over thelast 10 years and I have seen changes in animals, like the penguins inAntarctica, as they struggle to cope with a melting world.”

While these are examples of indicator signs ofabrupt climate change, Mayewski says the Earth’s climate has been changing fordecades.

“In the mid 1980s people used ice cores to showhow acid rain was impacting the environment, which led to the Clean Air Act –something that actually worked,” he says. “Ice cores also show us more andmore, how little we know about the actual composition of the Earth’s atmosphereas we see changes going back 300, 500 years.”

Mayewski says doubt can be quieted by a documentfrom the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to their mostrecent assessment, a vast majority of scientists believe  humans have increased greenhouse gasesand  the presence of these gasseshas spurred climate change, both abrupt and steady.

At his upcoming Saco appearance, Mayewski says heintends to address the varied public approaches to climate change.

“One approach people take is to doubt it and sayit doesn’t exist, I will demonstrate, through the work we have done at theinstitute, how humans have impacted global temperatures and the chemistry ofthe atmosphere as it relates to human and animal health,” he says. “I will showrecords that demonstrate how warming will be getting worse before it gets better,and how much of our future largely depends on our ability to reduce emissions.”

Making change for the future is the goal ofMayewski’s Climate Change Institute in Orono where students work alongsideresearchers and faculty to tackle the big questions concerning climate change.

But ice is not the only item on the agenda.

“We are looking for resources to develop regionalclimate modeling, we have a member who is bringing in new techniques for radarholography and we are becoming more heavily involved in environmental policy –anything to put us in a better position to transfer science to policy,” hesays.

Mayewski says changes must be made, both at apersonal and business level. Individually, people can turn lights off, growtheir own produce and never – ever – leave their car on idle, Mayewski says. Healso encourages all Saco Earth Day lecture attendees to carpool or ride bikes.

“Anything you can do for our environment, whetherit is learning more or acting, do it,” he says.

The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m., April 22 at theFirst Parish Congregational Church in Saco. For more information or ticketscall 282-3771.

To contact Stowell P. Watters call 282-4337,ext. 219 or email news@inthecourier.com.