In the second of three blogs appearing in the online version of the journal Discover, Iowa State scientist Alan Wanamaker hopes to collect Arctica islandica clams farther north and from deeper waters than ever before. The blog is from a boat far north off the coast of Norway.
Wanamaker, a paleoclimatologist and assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, hopes these clams will shed more light on past weather events. “One intent of our study," he said in the blog, "is to estimate the past behavior of the North Atlantic Current so that we can better understand the potential influence this system has on Arctic climate change.”
The shells on the clams, which can grow to be hundreds of years old, hold chemicals that can be analyzed and tell about the history of the ocean, including temperatures and circulation patterns.
Wanamaker holds the David Morehouse Faculty Fellowship in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
See the second blog First blog