WEBVTT

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- I'm Matt Covington from
the University of Arkansas

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and I also study and map caves.

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One of the types of caves I've
gotten interested in recently

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is a cave in glaciers.

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We went to the Arctic, up to Svalbard,

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and went inside of caves
that form in the ice.

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And there we were using
some new mapping techniques

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that we're developing.

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Actually creating a full
3-D scan of the cave

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instead of just making
measurements and surveying

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a line and sketching the
features, we create a full model.

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And we've been doing that,
initially, with a video game

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controller, the X-Box Kinect,
which is not very expensive

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compared to most science equipment,

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but basically it's a
really cheap 3-D scanner

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that we don't have to worry
about destroying in the cave

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in all the mud and the water.

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So there's still a lot
of things that we don't

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understand about how caves form.

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And creating these 3-D
models allows us to make

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really precise measurements
of the shapes of the caves.

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And as a cave scientist, we
actually use those shapes to

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read the story of the
formation of the cave.

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There's certain types
of cave features that

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their size, for example,
relates to how fast the

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water was flowing when the cave formed.

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And so we can read those
stories off the walls

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and start to learn more
about some of the mysteries

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of cave formation that scientists
haven't yet figured out.

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- Wow. Mapping caves
is really interesting.

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Hey does the water look kinda
green to you from there?

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That means the water
from above the ground,

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where we started this morning,
flows right through here.

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- That's right.

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- So where does all of this water go

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as it continues on its journey?

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- [Narrator] Well it
continues to the underground

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cavern and resurfaces
at springs and wells.

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And like we said, that's
the water the people use

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to drink , and for
agriculture, and recreation.

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And it's important to know
where this water flows.

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- Wow, that is pretty interesting.

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This whole geologic tour you
took us on totally rocked.

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Alright, hey John. Let's
get back and see what

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direction in rest of the
research team have been doing.

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- Yeah?

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- Hey cool.

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- Bye guys.

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- Later. Thank you.