USAP-DC

This project constructs POLENET a network of GPS and seismic stations in West Antarctica to understand how the mass of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) changes with time. The information is ultimately used to predict sea level rise accompanying global warming and interpret climate change records. The GPS (global positioning system) stations measure vertical and horizontal movements of bedrock, while the seismic stations characterize physical properties of the ice/rock interface, lithosphere, and mantle. Combined with satellite data, this project offers a more complete picture of the ice sheet's current state, its likely change in the near future, and its overall size during the last glacial maximum. This data will also be used to infer sub-ice sheet geology and the terrestrial heat flux, critical inputs to models of glacier movement. As well, this project improves tomographic models of the earth's deep interior and core through its location in the Earth's poorly instrumented southern hemisphere.



Broader impacts of this project are varied. The work is relevant to society for improving our understanding of the impacts of global warming on sea level rise. It also supports education at the postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate levels, and outreach to groups underrepresented in the sciences. As an International Polar Year contribution, this project establishes a legacy of infrastructure for polar measurements. It also involves an international collaboration of twenty four countries. For more information see IPY Project #185 at IPY.org. NSF is supporting a complementary Arctic POLENET array being constructed in Greenland under NSF Award #0632320.

Person	Role
Wilson, Terry	Investigator
Bevis, Michael	Co-Investigator
Anandakrishnan, Sridhar	Investigator
Wiens, Douglas	Co-Investigator
Aster, Richard	Co-Investigator
Smalley, Robert	Co-Investigator
Nyblade, Andrew	Co-Investigator
Winberry, Paul	Co-Investigator
Hothem, Larry	Co-Investigator
Dalziel, Ian W.	Co-Investigator
Huerta, Audrey D.	Co-Investigator

Antarctic Earth Sciences	Award # 0632322
Antarctic Glaciology	Award # 0632322
Antarctic Earth Sciences	Award # 0632136

polenet_IPY
NSF-ANT06-32322

None in the Database

Repository	Title (link)	Format(s)	Status
UNAVCO	University NAVSTAR Consortium (UNAVCO)	None	exist
IRIS	Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)	None	exist

1. Aster, R.C. and J P Winberry (2017). Glacial seismology. Reports on Progress in Physics, 80. (doi:10.1088/1361-6633/aa8473)
2. O'Donnell, J.P., Stuart, G.W., Brisbourne, A.M., Selway, K., Yang, Y., Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., Nyblade, A., Wiens, D., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R.C., Huerta, A., Wilson, T., Winberry, J.P., The uppermost mantle seismic velocity structure of West Antarctica from Rayleigh wave tomography: Insights into tectonic structure and geothermal heat flow, EPSL, 522, 219-233, 10.1016/j.epsl.2019.06.024, 2019. (doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.06.024)
3. O'Donnell, J.P., Selway, K., Nyblade, A., Brazier, R., Wiens, D., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R.C., Huerta, A., Wilson, T., Winberry, J.P., The uppermost mantle velocity and viscosity structure of central West Antarctica, EPSL, 472, 38-49, 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.05.016, 2017. (doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.05.016)
4. Emry, E. L., Nyblade, A. A., Julià, J., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R. C., Wiens, D. A., … Wilson, T. J. (2015). The mantle transition zone beneath West Antarctica: Seismic evidence for hydration and thermal upwellings. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 16(1), 40–58. (doi:10.1002/2014gc005588)
5. Lloyd, A. J., Wiens, D. A., Nyblade, A. A., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R. C., Huerta, A. D., … Zhao, D. (2015). A seismic transect across West Antarctica: Evidence for mantle thermal anomalies beneath the Bentley Subglacial Trench and the Marie Byrd Land Dome. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 120(12), 8439–8460. (doi:10.1002/2015jb012455)
6. Dunham, C. K., O’Donnell, J. P., Stuart, G. W., Brisbourne, A. M., Rost, S., Jordan, T. A., … Aster, R. C. (2020). A joint inversion of receiver function and Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion data to estimate crustal structure in West Antarctica. Geophysical Journal International, 223(3), 1644–1657. (doi:10.1093/gji/ggaa398)
7. Hansen, S. E., Graw, J. H., Kenyon, L. M., Nyblade, A. A., Wiens, D. A., Aster, R. C., … Wilson, T. (2014). Imaging the Antarctic mantle using adaptively parameterized P-wave tomography: Evidence for heterogeneous structure beneath West Antarctica. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 408, 66–78. (doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.09.043)