Ancient Antarctic air and trending TikToks

January 27, 2022

Glaciologist Dr. Peter Neff, known as “Icy Pete” on social media, connects a new generation to climate research. 

A landscape photo of Law Dome in Antarctica, surrounded by flags and flanked by tents; photo by Peter Neff.
Law Dome, Antarctica; photo by Dr. Peter Neff

What sound does a piece of ice dropped down a 90 meter ice borehole make? Glaciologist Dr. Peter Neff asked this question while he was on a research expedition in Antarctica, and captured the answer on film. The sound—the ricochet of the ice bouncing against the walls on the way down, then an unexpected pew like a laser beam when it reaches the bottom—seemed like science fiction. When he uploaded the video to Twitter in 2018, people stopped scrolling for a moment to listen: “It makes this fantastic sound and that went mega viral totally organically, a couple million views in a few days.” 

Known as “Icy Pete” to his nearly 200,000 followers across Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram, Neff is a glaciologist and Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate. Since that viral tweet, Neff has continued to share engaging stories and science from Antarctica with his followers. Today, he was recognized as one of the top climate educators using social media to combat misinformation and inspire people to take action by Pique Action and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE). The inaugural list features 16 Climate Creators to Watch in 2022.

A glaciologist who measures ancient air trapped in ice to study changes in the atmosphere, Peter has participated in four research expeditions to Antarctica, each time gaining more responsibility for the science conducted. “There are moments to be a tourist and take pictures, but there are also mostly moments to be very focused and pay attention to the science.” A few seconds of video captured on his iPhone of each step of the process—setting up camp, drilling a bore hole, melting the ice to release the trapped gasses—translates well to TikTok’s format of short-form mobile videos.

The message is clear

Neff hooks his audience with insights into life as a scientist studying Antarctica, from the adventurous—helicopter rides and heavy machinery drilling into ice—to the practical—where do you go to the bathroom?  His “ice nerd edition” of the popular “What’s in my bag?” prompt elaborates on the tools he uses when drilling ice cores. He also manages to get across the science that drives the fieldwork: “Ice cores give us context for the current change that we're seeing and how we know that what we're doing today is totally different from any past natural climate change,” says Neff.

The overarching climate science message he’s trying to get across is clear: Climate change is here now; we caused it; it’s bad; there’s not a lot of time left, but we can act. “We still have a lot of control over future warming, because our emissions are so impactful,” says Neff.

Most climate change communication is not trying to convince skeptics or deniers, but about engaging and informing the majority of Americans who are alarmed or concerned about climate change. “Those simple messages can be really effective for the people who are willing to listen,” says Neff.

Creating content and community 

He signed up for Twitter nearly a decade ago, but in 2017 when he started a postdoc in a small research group, Neff found that the platform was a productive space to connect with peers in the broader research community. “People share thoughts about where the research fields are going, about the challenges of academia,” says Neff.

A photo of Dr. Peter Neff standing next to a large vacuum chamber
Neff introduces himself to new followers on Instagram.

Alongside Twitter, Instagram’s visual medium became a way to share the photos and videos he captured during his field work: “they just sit on hard drives if I don't share them,” says Neff. Sharing the video that became viral captured an audience beyond his professional network, extending to the many curious people interested in cool science, and it’s been growing ever since.

Having built a reputation for authentically sharing science, Neff had created followings on Twitter and Instagram. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was invited to share on TikTok as well. In response to school closures around the world, TikTok made a commitment to increase the creative, educational content on the platform by providing grants to experts and creators like Neff. He began creating short videos of Antarctic research for TikTok, and soon his following–now more than 160,000–surpassed those on Twitter and Instagram. “It's that combination of interesting videos from Antarctica and then trying to attach a little bit of science to it.”

A new normal 

Neff hopes that academics sharing their knowledge in creative, entertaining ways becomes the norm: “One thing I hope my social media use does for our research community is normalizes it as an appropriate way to communicate with a certain audience, especially younger folks.” 

In particular, the National Science Foundation (NSF) values the “broader impacts” of research it funds, and encourages scientists to communicate their findings. “We tend to do pretty traditional things to communicate our science,” says Neff, like speaking to journalists, partnering with K-12 schools, and leveraging science museums. Neff sees TikTok as one more tool for science communication and outreach–with an even larger potential audience. 

The pandemic postponed his field work, but Neff plans to resume as soon as possible. He is leading an NSF-funded project to collect an ice core in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia this summer, and he plans to bring his TikTok followers along for the ride.