The silent racers of Racetrack Playa
Decades of wild guesses
The great 2014 breakthrough
The science of ice sails
For how long did the GPS trackers record a single continuous sailing stone movement?
artiteacher Slide stones along their desert trails to discover how wind and ice move them.
artiteacher On December 20, 2013, the researchers became the first humans in history to witness the stones actually moving.
On what exact date did humans first witness the sailing stones move in Death Valley?
artiteacher Sailing Stones of Death Valley
Thin ice and a gentle breeze slide the heavy rocks across the clay.
artiteacher The breakthrough revealed that the stones do not move on mud alone, but are pushed by incredibly thin ice sheets.
What was the top speed of the moving sailing stones recorded by the GPS trackers?
What was the name of the research project started by the Norris cousins in 2011?
Slow motion racers: The sailing stones move so slowly—just a few inches per second—that you could easily outwalk them without even trying!
Who were the two researchers who finally solved the sailing stones mystery in 2013?
What did the Norris researchers install on Racetrack Playa alongside their cameras?
An area of flat, dried-up land in a desert basin that is sometimes temporarily covered with water. In 2014, scientists first witnessed ice sheets pushing rocks across the muddy surface of Racetrack Playa.