Best of CASE District IV Award
 

Institution: The University of Texas At Austin

Title of entry: Into the Glacial Abyss

About this entry: Greenland's glaciers are melting, but often in irregular ways that baffle scientists. In summer 2024, The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences embarked on a pioneering expedition to seek answers at the unexplored, underwater face of Greenland’s great glaciers. The mission gathered unprecedented data and samples from a region of these glaciers that was previously considered too treacherous to explore but whose scientific reward could rewrite scientists’ understanding of sea level rise.

The expedition was the cover story of the 2024 Jackson School alumni magazine — the Newsletter — which joined the scientists as they embarked on a world-first underwater exploration of two large glaciers. The story loosely covers 14 days of the expedition, during which the reader follows the scientists as they conduct field research, deploy sophisticated scientific instruments and respond to the drama and challenges of working in an extreme environment.

The story aimed to communicate the mission’s scientific urgency and underscore the Jackson School’s place (via its research unit the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics) as a leader of pioneering expeditionary research. The magazine’s primary audience is the Jackson School’s alumni, but it is also distributed to the school’s students, faculty, staff, friends and competitors.

Unlike news stories, the impact of alumni magazine stories is difficult to immediately assess, although the article has been very well received and the broader story has been covered in everything from top tier media outlets (The Guardian) to specialist magazines (Inside Unmanned Systems).