Even his stateside ice research finds him and Dreschhoff standing in sub-zero lockers at the National Ice Core Laboratories in Denver, swaddled in long underwear and parkas, determining the nitrate content of ice cores that have been flown from Antarctica to the United States, by way of New Zealand. This southern record will complement the 415-year record they've recorded in Greenland's ice. The Air Force, Dreschhoff says, is interested in their nitrate record because it reflects solar activity. The data help determine when solar flares might be the most active, and, therefore, the most dangerous for astronauts and satellites. Dreschhoff thinks she's been to Antarctica about 14 times.
Ice crystals hang in the air like diamond dust.
Her arms rush upward as she describes the Royal Society Range shooting 14,000 feet straight out of the ocean. Wakefield Dort Zeller and Dreschhoff go south to learn about sun-spot cycles. Dort went to study the geomorphology. He hasn't been back since January 1970. His first field research fell in the 1965-66 season in southern Victoria Land.