Carly Peltier, a doctoral student in Columbia University’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Ph.D. program, is spending nine months in Chile as a Fulbright scholar. She is working as part of Esteban Sagredo’s research team at Universidad Católica’s Geography Institute studying geological deposits to identify past advances of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. Their goal is to determine when and why major climate changes have occurred in the Southern Hemisphere. Glaciers are very sensitive to changes in climate, so records of glacier change can provide information about the climate of the past and help put modern climate change into its historical context.
She will initially be based in Santiago but will then travel south as part of a field-trip to collect rock samples. She will be at Ñirehuao Glacial Valley, located 30 km north of the city of Coyhaique, and also at Tierra del Fuego, by the Strait of Magellan, in an area around the town of Porvenir. “I’ve been studying Patagonia’s glacial geology from afar for so long so I’m very grateful to have an opportunity to spend an extended period here and to collaborate with the scientists who know the area best!” says Carly.
