Can engineering save Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier?

abstract: Something that exists as an idea or thought but not concrete or tangible (touchable) in the real world. Beauty, love and memory are abstractions; cars, trees and water are concrete and tangible. (in publishing) A short summary of a scientific paper, a poster or a scientist’s talk. Abstracts are useful to determine whether delving into the details of the whole scientific paper will yield the information you seek.

Antarctica: A continent mostly covered in ice, which sits in the southernmost part of the world.

Arctic: A region that falls within the Arctic Circle. The edge of that circle is defined as the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice. The high Arctic is that most northerly third of this region. It’s a region dominated by snow cover much of the year.

bedrock: The thick, solid rock layer than underlies the soil and other broken, rocky materials on Earth’s surface.

buoyant: (n. buoyancy) An adjective for something that can float on or rise above some liquid or gas.

carbon dioxide: (or CO₂) A colorless, odorless gas produced by all animals when the oxygen they inhale reacts with the carbon-rich foods that they’ve eaten. Carbon dioxide also is released when organic matter burns (including fossil fuels like oil or gas).

circumpolar: An adjective to describe something that surrounds or is in the general vicinity of Earth’s North Pole or South Pole.

civil engineer: An engineer who creates buildings, tunnels, water systems and other large projects that improve everyday life.

climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.

climate change: Long-term, significant change in the climate of Earth. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests.

coral: Marine animals that often produce a hard and stony exoskeleton and tend to live on reefs (the exoskeletons of dead ancestor corals).

current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction.

develop: To emerge or to make come into being, either naturally or through human intervention, such as by manufacturing.

engineering: The field of research that uses math and science to solve practical problems. Someone who works in this field is known as an engineer.

entrepreneur: Someone who takes the initiative to create a business or other venture. It can be a risky thing to do, but these people gamble that the effort is worth the potential gain — which may come in money, satisfaction or creating/achieving something novel or important.

environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).

field: An area of study, as in: Her field of research is biology. Also a term to describe a real-world environment in which some research is conducted, such as at sea, in a forest, on a mountaintop or on a city street. It is the opposite of an artificial setting, such as a research laboratory.

fjord: A long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.

football field: The field on which athletes play American football. Owing to its size and familiarity, many people use this field as a measure of how big something is. A regulation field (including its end zones) runs 360 feet (almost 110 meters) long and 160 feet (almost 49 meters) wide.

friction: The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over or through another material (such as a fluid or a gas). Friction generally causes a heating, which can damage a surface of some material as it rubs against another.

glacier: A slow-moving river of ice hundreds or thousands of meters deep. Glaciers are found in mountain valleys and also form parts of ice sheets.

glaciology: A field of science that deals with the glaciers and their impacts on Earth and the environment. People who work in this field are known as glaciologists.

graduate student: Someone working toward an advanced degree by taking classes and performing research. This work is done after the student has already graduated from college (usually with a four-year degree).

ice sheet: A broad blanket of ice, often kilometers deep. Ice sheets currently cover most of Antarctica. An ice sheet also blankets most of Greenland. During the last glaciation, ice sheets also covered much of North America and Europe.

icebreaker: A large and powerful ship designed to plow into pack ice or major ice floes in polar regions so that other ships can get through without damaging their hulls.

kelp: A type of large seaweed that is usually a type of brown algae. They grow underwater and form large forests, providing habitat for many organisms. Some kelp forests are so large they can be seen from space.

krill: Tiny shrimplike crustaceans that live in the ocean and are the main food source of some whales.

marine: Having to do with the ocean world or environment.

microplastic: A small piece of plastic, 5 millimeters (0.2 inch) or smaller in size. Microplastics may have been produced at that small size, or their size may be the result of the breakdown of water bottles, plastic bags or other things that started out larger.

mollusks: Soft-bodied invertebrate animals that usually live in water and develop a hard protective shell. Examples include snails, shellfish (like clams and oysters), slugs, octopuses and squids.

novel: Something that is clever or unusual and new, as in never seen before. (in literature) A work of fiction.

nuclear power: Energy derived from processes that produce heat by splitting apart the nuclei of atoms (fission) or forcing atomic nuclei to merge (fusion). A nuclear power plant uses that heat to drive turbines that create electricity.

peer: (noun) Someone who is an equal, based on age, education, status, training or some other features.

penguin: A flightless black-and-white bird native to the far Southern Hemisphere, especially Antarctica and its nearby islands.

permafrost: Soil that remains frozen for at least two consecutive years. Such conditions typically occur in polar climates, where average annual temperatures remain close to or below freezing.

physicist: A scientist who studies the nature and properties of matter and energy.

plankton: (sing. plankter) Small organisms that largely drift or float in the sea. Depending on the species, plankton range from microscopic sizes to organisms about the size of a flea. Some are tiny animals. Others are plant-like organisms. Although an individual plankter is very small, these organisms often form massive colonies, numbering in the billions. The largest animal in the world, the blue whale, lives on plankton.

power plant: An industrial facility for generating electricity.

pristine: An adjective referring to something that is in original or near-original condition. It means something is somewhat old but in a seemingly “untouched” or unaltered condition.

recall: To remember.

salt: A compound made by combining an acid with a base (in a reaction that also creates water). The ocean contains many different salts — collectively called “sea salt.” Common table salt is a made of sodium and chlorine.

satellite: A moon orbiting a planet or a vehicle or other manufactured object that orbits some celestial body in space.

sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.

seawater: The salty water found in oceans.

side effects: Unintended problems or harm caused by a procedure or treatment.

sponge: Something that sops up liquids or other materials and holds them until squeezed out or removed in some other way. (in biology) A primitive aquatic animal with a soft, porous body.

standards: (in research) The values or materials used as benchmarks against which other things can be compared.

strategy: A thoughtful and clever plan for achieving some difficult or challenging goal.

subglacial: Adjective meaning beneath a glacier.

trough: A channel, gully or depression in the land that can collect liquids. Or a container with a U-shaped bottom from which animals may feed or drink. (in physics) the bottom or low point in a wave.

turbulence: A chaotic, flowing mass of swirling air. Airplanes that run into turbulence high above ground can give passengers a bumpy ride.