BLAUVELT - It makes 9-year-old Erin Di Santo shiver just hearing about a trip to the Antarctic.

But it warms her heart to hear that the voyage, planned to start at Thanksgiving and undertaken by scientists from the U.S. and Sweden, is about investigating global warming.

"I always thought about global warming, but now I think of it in a lot bigger way and I can see what it could do to our world if we don't stop doing the things we're doing," the South Orangetown fourth-grader said.

The nearly two dozen students in Kottie Christie-Blick's class at Cottage Lane Elementary School took an hour from their day yesterday to hear oceanographer Xiaojun Yuan talk about her upcoming trip on the icebreaker Oden from the tip of South America to the ice beds of Antarctica.

Last year, when her daughter was a student in Christie-Blick's class, Yuan visited to explain the project she was helping coordinate long-distance from her job at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

This year, with a second trip planned, she returned to explain the project and her more hands-on part in it. Like a similar expedition to the world's bottom now under way by other Lamont scientists, Yuan's trip is part of the International Polar Year observation.

She and biologist Ray Sambrotto, another South Orangetown parent, will study currents and nutrients in the sea between the two southern continents. There is a warming trend, she said, that is worrisome because the temperature difference is enough to melt glaciers. Scientists will study the waters to find out why it is warmer and how it affects the plant and animal life in the area.

"It's really exciting, and we have a group of nice people to collaborate with," Yuan said.

"Mrs. Christie-Blick invited me to come over ... to talk to children about science," she said. "I hope to interest them in science and (to) realize how important global warming is to our life. I'm hoping they realize there are so many things needed to be done in the world, and hope they're interested in science and become our scientists of the future."

Yuan showed them gear she is taking on her trip: extra-heavy wool socks, glove liners, a bottle for hot water to keep inside her coat and a blanket that can double as a tent.

"I was becoming a little chilly myself," Erin admitted after holding Yuan's gear and watching slides of last year's expedition on the icebreaker and the polar ice.

Classmate Matt McCleary, 9, said he thought the whole project and having Yuan come to explain it was a good way to bring science to students like himself.

"It made me get more interested in how global warming is a problem to the Earth and that I could try to help get more people to (talk about) the problem," he said.

The students will follow the expedition via the official blog of high school science teacher Jeff Peneston, who is joining the crew on board ship to connect with schoolchildren. To access the site, visit www.polartrec.com/oden-antarctic-expedition-08.

Reach Randi Weiner at 845-578-2468 or rcweiner@lohud.com.