Destination Antarctica: Ohio Scientists

The answers to some of science's most profound questions are tucked away in vast ice sheets floating on the Ross Sea and a mosaic of mountains with glaciers flowing from them.

Ohioans have trekked thousands of miles, some dedicating years of research, to learn about nature's mysteries.

"Ohio State has a long history of work down here," said National Science Foundation Glaciology Program Director and Ohio State University graduate Julie Palais.

Ohio based researchers are testing hundreds of water samples with bottles filled to the brim, then set under a scrutinizing eye.

"We're interested in how the ecosystem changes, how it responds to disturbance, and the climate change," Ohio State Professor Dr. Berry Lyons explained.

Those water samples are carefully plucked from the coldest desert on earth in Antarctica's Dry Valleys.

"It's indescribable in words, and I feel extremely blessed to be one of the few hundreds of people probably to have been able to work in this environment over the last 100 years or so," added Lyons.

Dedicated graduate students sleep in the bubbles of yellow, reported ONN's Harrison Hove. Their tents sit amongst some of the world's most beautiful scenery.

"There is no place like it in the world," said Lyons.

The mammoth glaciers melt, creating the only water found in the valleys. 

Lyons and his team are studying the micro organisms and algae to determine how they've evolved over millions of years.

Researchers think this region is the closest resemblance to Mars on planet Earth.

"If there were life on Mars now, it would be an environment like the Dry Valleys," explained Long Term Ecological Research Director Dr. Diane McKnight.

Continuing studies about changing penguin colonies, seals, and glaciers will unlock even more closely guarded scientific secrets that will have a far reaching effect on us all.

"There are close interconnections between changes that are going on in Ohio and what's going on around the world so we're trying to understand how they are all connected and how they relate on a larger scale to the planet as a whole," said Lyons.

Watch continuing coverage on Harrison Hove's journey to Antarctica, including the special report on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on ONN-TV.