USAP-DC

This award supports a small grant for exploratory research to study the processes that contribute to the melting and break-up of tabular polar icebergs as they drift north. This work will enable the participation of a group of U.S. scientists in this international project which is collaborative with the Instituto Antartico Argentino. The field team will place weather instruments, firn sensors, and a video camera on the iceberg to measure the processes that affect it as it drifts north. In contrast to icebergs in other sectors of Antarctica, icebergs in the northwestern Weddell Sea drift northward along relatively predictable paths, and reach climate and ocean conditions that lead to break-up within a few years. The timing of this study is critical due to the anticipated presence of iceberg A43A, which broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf in February 2000 and which is expected to be accessible from Marambio Station in early 2006. It has recently been recognized that the end stages of break-up of these icebergs can imitate the rapid disintegrations due to melt ponding and surface fracturing observed for the Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves. However, in some cases, basal melting may play a significant role in shelf break-up. Resolving the processes (surface ponding/ fracturing versus basal melt) and observing other processes of iceberg drift and break up in-situ are of high scientific interest. An understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the distintegration of icebergs as they drift north may enable scientists to use icebergs as proxies for understanding the processes that could cause ice shelves to disintegrate in a warming climate. A broader impact would thus be an ability to predict ice shelf disintegration in a warming world. Glacier mass balance and ice shelf stability are of critical importance to sea level change, which also has broader societal relevance.

Person	Role
Scambos, Ted	Investigator
Bohlander, Jennifer	Co-Investigator
Bauer, Rob	Co-Investigator
Yermolin, Yevgeny	Co-Investigator
Thom, Jonathan	Co-Investigator

Antarctic Glaciology

Award # 0540915

scambos_0540915
NSIDC-0466_1

None in the Database

Repository	Title (link)	Format(s)	Status
NSIDC	Atlas of the Cryosphere - View dynamic maps of snow, sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost, and more.	JPEG	exist
NSIDC	MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA)	JPEG	bad_url
USAP-DC	Climate, Drift, and Image Data from Antarctic Icebergs A22A and UK211, 2006-2007	JPEG	exist