[{"awards": "2332418 Zappa, Christopher", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163 -71,164.2 -71,165.4 -71,166.6 -71,167.8 -71,169 -71,170.2 -71,171.4 -71,172.6 -71,173.8 -71,175 -71,175 -71.5,175 -72,175 -72.5,175 -73,175 -73.5,175 -74,175 -74.5,175 -75,175 -75.5,175 -76,173.8 -76,172.6 -76,171.4 -76,170.2 -76,169 -76,167.8 -76,166.6 -76,165.4 -76,164.2 -76,163 -76,163 -75.5,163 -75,163 -74.5,163 -74,163 -73.5,163 -73,163 -72.5,163 -72,163 -71.5,163 -71))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-Technical Abstract The deep world ocean is flooded with near 0\u00b0C water, drawn from the margins of Antarctica. Antarctic Bottom Water, as it is referred to, is mainly derived from cold water formed the over the continental shelves of the Weddell and Ross Seas, where the coastal water is exposed to frigid polar air masses spreading off the Antarctic ice sheet. Antarctic Bottom Water is a key component of the global ocean overturning system, which is fundamental to the global ocean heat, carbon and nutrient inventories, and hence the climate and marine ecosystem. The processes producing the dense shelf waters involve small scale factors associated with ocean/atmosphere/sea and glacial ice interaction. What is lacking from previous work is a coordinated, synchronous observational study of the seaward spreading, from formation, to export across the continental shelf edge, to its descent into the deep ocean. This work fills the gap, by investigating the characteristics of dense shelf water formed within Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, its transformation, modification and northward spreading within the Drygalski Trough in the western Ross Sea, feeding into the spill-over at the continental slope into the deep boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The sequence of events will be observed with a series of instrumented moorings along the pathway from Terra Nova Bay, along the Drygalski Trough and onto the boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The project is an international collaboration that involves the USA (this proposal), S. Korea, New Zealand and Italy. Technical Abstract The lower kilometer or two of the world ocean is flooded with near 0\u00b0C water derived from the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). The cold end-member of AABW is formed over various sectors of the continental shelf of Antarctica, notable in the Weddell and Ross Seas. The governing processes producing the dense shelf waters involve small scale spatial and temporal factors associated with ocean/sea ice interaction, often related to coastal polynyas and katabatic winds, along with further modification by ocean-glacial ice interaction. There have been studies of the formation of dense shelf water, of export of shelf water over the shelf/slope, the descent of gravity currents into the AABW realm, and of flow paths of AABW spreading across the deep ocean well into the northern hemisphere. What is lacking is a coordinated, synchronous observational study of the seaward spreading, from formation of the dense shelf water to its spreading to the shelf/slope break and descent into the deep ocean. This program fills the gap, by investigating the characteristics of dense shelf water formed within Terra Nova Bay (TNB), Ross Sea, its transformation, modification and northward spreading within the Drygalski Trough in the western Ross Sea, feeding into the spill-over at the continental slope and the deep boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The team will deploy a series of moorings \u2013 two heavily instrumented full water column moorings within TNB to capture high-salinity shelf water (HSSW) production and a series of bottom-focused moorings to evaluate the transformation and northward spreading of the dense saline water. The broad science goals of the project will be addressed by this program through a coordinated analysis of these mooring measurements. The project is an international collaboration that involves the USA (this proposal), S. Korea, New Zealand and Italy. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 175.0, "geometry": "POINT(169 -73.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Terra Nova Bay; SALINITY/DENSITY; OCEAN CURRENTS; Ross Sea; POLYNYAS; TURBULENCE; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; WATER MASSES; OCEAN MIXED LAYER", "locations": "Ross Sea; Terra Nova Bay", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Zappa, Christopher; Gordon, Arnold", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "Formation, Transformation, and Northward Spreading of Dense Saline Water Derived from Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010506", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "1440435 Ducklow, Hugh; 0636696 DeVries, Arthur; None TBD; 1344502 Ducklow, Hugh; 2026045 Schofield, Oscar; 1142158 Cheng, Chi-Hing; 1543383 Postlethwait, John; 2224611 Schofield, Oscar", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Since 1990, Palmer LTER (PAL) research has been guided by the hypothesis that variability in the polar marine ecosystem is mechanistically coupled to changes in the annual advance, retreat and spatial extent of sea ice. Since that time, the hypothesis has been modified to incorporate climate migration, i.e. the displacement of a cold, dry polar climate by a warm, moist climate regime in the northern component of the PAL region, producing fundamental changes in food web structure and elemental cycling. The observed northern changes are affecting all trophic levels and elemental cycling, and the primary mechanism of change involves match-mismatch dynamics. The proposed research builds on previous findings, with a new emphasis on process studies and modeling to elucidate the mechanistic links between teleconnections, climate change, physical oceanographic forcing and ecosystem dynamics. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that regional warming and sea ice decline associated with historical and on-going climate migration in the northern part of the study area have altered key phenological relationships, leading to changes in species distributions, increasing trophic mismatches and changes in habitat, food availability, ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Through targeted process studies linked to numerical model simulations, the research also will test the hypothesis that deep cross-shelf canyons characterizing the core study region are focal areas for ecosystem processes that result in predictable, elevated food resources for top-predators. The effort includes the addition of 3 new PIs: a zooplankton ecologist with expertise in biogeochemical fluxes, a phytoplankton ecologist focusing on bio-optics and autonomous observations using gliders, and a numerical simulation modeler specializing in coupled global models of ocean circulation, plankton ecology and biogeochemical cycles. The program will add trace metal sampling and analysis, moored physical oceanographic sensors, a moored sediment trap in the south, drifting sediment traps and stable carbon (del 13C) and nitrogen (del 15N) isotope analyses. Missions lasting up to 45 days using gliders deployed before, during and after summer cruises will, along with moorings and satellite remote sensing of sea ice, ocean color, sea surface temperatures and wind fields, greatly extend the observational program in space and time. Since its inception, PAL has been a leader in Information Management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic and LTER communities. PAL has designed and deployed a new information infrastructure with a relational database architecture to facilitate data distribution and sharing. The Education and Outreach program capitalizes on the public\u0027s fascination with Antarctica to promote scientific literacy from kindergarten students to adult citizens concerned with climate change and environmental sustainability. Through communicating results to the public and working with scientific assessment bodies (e.g., IPCC) and Antarctic Treaty parties to protect Earth\u0027s last frontier, PAL researchers contribute to the national scientific agenda and the greater public benefit.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryonotothenioid; R/V LMG; Bellingshausen Sea; Southern Ocean; Notothenioid; FISHERIES", "locations": "Bellingshausen Sea; Southern Ocean; Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Corso, Andrew; Desvignes, Thomas; McDowell, Jan; Cheng, Chi-Hing; Biesack, Ellen; Steinberg, Deborah; Hilton, Eric", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repositories": null, "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -90.0, "title": "LTER Palmer, Antarctica (PAL): Land-Shelf-Ocean Connectivity, Ecosystem Resilience and Transformation in a Sea-Ice Influenced Pelagic Ecosystem", "uid": "p0010494", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744961 Olesik, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.711586 -77.75758,161.71322740000002 -77.75758,161.7148688 -77.75758,161.71651020000002 -77.75758,161.7181516 -77.75758,161.719793 -77.75758,161.72143440000002 -77.75758,161.7230758 -77.75758,161.72471720000001 -77.75758,161.7263586 -77.75758,161.728 -77.75758,161.728 -77.75784200000001,161.728 -77.758104,161.728 -77.758366,161.728 -77.758628,161.728 -77.75889000000001,161.728 -77.759152,161.728 -77.75941399999999,161.728 -77.759676,161.728 -77.759938,161.728 -77.7602,161.7263586 -77.7602,161.72471720000001 -77.7602,161.7230758 -77.7602,161.72143440000002 -77.7602,161.719793 -77.7602,161.7181516 -77.7602,161.71651020000002 -77.7602,161.7148688 -77.7602,161.71322740000002 -77.7602,161.711586 -77.7602,161.711586 -77.759938,161.711586 -77.759676,161.711586 -77.75941399999999,161.711586 -77.759152,161.711586 -77.75889000000001,161.711586 -77.758628,161.711586 -77.758366,161.711586 -77.758104,161.711586 -77.75784200000001,161.711586 -77.75758))", "dataset_titles": "Elemental composition of individual nanoparticles and fine particles in 28 Taylor Glacier ice core samples 9000 to 44000 yrs BP; Taylor Glacier Atmospheric Mineral Nanoparticles and Microparticles in Antarctic Ice during the last Climatic Cycle", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200426", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/bd1k-mv46", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NOAA\u0027s National Centers for Environmental Information World Data Service Paleo archive", "science_program": null, "title": "Taylor Glacier Atmospheric Mineral Nanoparticles and Microparticles in Antarctic Ice during the last Climatic Cycle", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/40380"}, {"dataset_uid": "601879", "doi": "10.15784/601879", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Particle Size; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Carter, Lucas; Olesik, John; Gabrielli, Paolo; Kutuzov, Stanislav; Lomax-Vogt, Madeleine; Sullivan, Ryan; Lowry, Greg", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Elemental composition of individual nanoparticles and fine particles in 28 Taylor Glacier ice core samples 9000 to 44000 yrs BP", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601879"}], "date_created": "Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The main goal of this project is to identify and geochemically characterize atmospheric mineral nanoparticles in pre-industrial Antarctic ice during the last climatic cycle. Recent technological and industrial development is introducing a large number of natural and engineered nanoparticles into Earth\u0027s atmosphere. These constitute a concern for human health, mainly due to their high chemical reactivity. While many atmospheric nanoparticle studies have been performed in modern urban environments, there is essentially no information about their occurrence in a pristine pre-industrial atmosphere. This information is critical, as it constitutes an important benchmark for comparison to the modern atmosphere. Information on nanoparticles from the pre-industrial atmosphere can be obtained from atmospheric mineral nanoparticles that are entrapped in remote pre-industrial Antarctic ice covering the last climatic cycles. Mineral nanoparticles can also affect several climatic processes. First, they directly influence the global energy balance by reflecting solar radiation and indirectly influence through changes in cloud formation (and clouds also reflect solar radiation). Second, atmospheric mineral nanoparticles such as iron oxides could have fertilized the oceans, causing blooms of marine phytoplankton that may have drawn part of the atmospheric carbon dioxide into the oceans during glacial ages (the \"biological pump\"). Third, a significant amount of extraterrestrial material entering the Earth atmosphere is thought to be transported to the poles as nanoparticles called \"meteoric smoke\" that form polar stratospheric clouds implicated in changes of the ozone hole. This project aims to establish the natural background of unknown classes of glacial particles whose size is below the detection limit of the conventional dust analyzers. The team will take advantage of ice samples from the \"horizontal ice core\", already extracted from the remote Taylor Glacier (coastal East Antarctica) covering the last ~44,000 years. These ancient samples are particularly suited to project scope because i) a large ice volume is available ii) the team expects to find a markedly different geochemistry between nanoparticles deposited during the last glacial age and during the current interglacial. A set of advanced techniques including Transmission Electron Microscopy, Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (spICP-MS), spICP-Time of Flight MS, and Field Flow Fractionation will be employed to determine mineral nanoparticle sizes, number/volume, and chemical composition. So far, the elemental composition of dust entrapped in polar ice has been mainly determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Sector Field Mass Spectrometry and it is generally assumed to be descriptive of the coarse aeolian dust fraction. However, project will test whether or not the determined elemental composition is instead mainly linked to the previously unobserved smaller mineral nanoparticle content. Results on nanoparticles will be compared with a set of new experiments of total dust composition measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Sector Field Mass Spectrometry, using the same ice samples from Taylor Glacier. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 161.728, "geometry": "POINT(161.719793 -77.75889000000001)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROPARTICLE CONCENTRATION; Taylor Glacier", "locations": "Taylor Glacier", "north": -77.75758, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Olesik, John", "platforms": null, "repo": "NOAA\u0027s National Centers for Environmental Information World Data Service Paleo archive", "repositories": "NOAA\u0027s National Centers for Environmental Information World Data Service Paleo archive; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7602, "title": "Atmospheric Mineral Nanoparticles in Antarctic Ice during the last Climatic Cycle", "uid": "p0010492", "west": 161.711586}, {"awards": "2317997 Keogh, Molly", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Climate change is disproportionately affecting polar regions, with the Arctic now warming nearly four times faster than the global average. Polar warming drives coastal erosion and increases sediment delivery to the coastal ocean, affecting ecosystem processes ranging from primary productivity to carbon sequestration. Tracking changes in sedimentation rate is urgently needed to determine current conditions and measure further change. In polar regions, however, two of the most globally reliable sediment tracers, the radioisotopes lead-210 (210Pb) and cesium-137 (137Cs), have yielded mixed results. To understand the distribution and usefulness of these radioisotopes at high latitudes, this research makes use of a wealth of polar sediment cores archived at the Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository combined with data synthesized from the literature. Results provide the first systematic study of Arctic and Antarctic sediment accretion. Improving the tools we use to track changes in sedimentation will help coastal managers and decisionmakers understand how climate change is impacting polar coastlines and marine environments, and what local communities should expect in the future. Sediment cores will be subsampled and analyzed for the activities of 210Pb (half-life = 22.3 years) and 137Cs (half-life = 30.1 years) using alpha and gamma spectroscopy, respectively. To provide context related to depositional environment, select subsamples will also be analyzed for sediment bulk density, grain size distribution, and organic content. A subset of samples with no measurable 210Pb or 137Cs activity will be analyzed for 14C to determine whether the lack of radioisotopes in a sample is because the core is simply too old, the true surface layer is missing, or because the shorter-lived radioisotopes did not accumulate. By undertaking comprehensive spatial analysis of the distribution of 210Pb and 137Cs in Arctic and Antarctic sediments, this research will achieve three goals: first, measure the activity of short-lived radioisotopes in archived sediment cores, a service to the science community that is urgently needed before the isotopes decay beyond detection; second, produce a comprehensive pole-wide atlas of sediment accretion rates; and finally, conduct a temporal analysis of sedimentation rate changes over the last ~60 to 125 years along the Beaufort Sea coast of northern Alaska, an ecologically and economically important region experiencing environmental transformation due to climate warming. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Alpha Spectrometry; Sediment Dynamics; Polar; SEDIMENTATION; MARINE SEDIMENTS; Pb-210; Geochronology; SEDIMENTS", "locations": "Polar", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Post Doc/Travel", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Keogh, Molly", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Postdoctoral Fellowship: OPP-PRF: Tracing Polar Sediments with Short-lived Radioisotopes in 75 years of Arctic and Antarctic Sediment Cores", "uid": "p0010484", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1841228 Lyons, W. Berry", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.37428 -77.558627,163.3922735 -77.558627,163.410267 -77.558627,163.4282605 -77.558627,163.446254 -77.558627,163.4642475 -77.558627,163.482241 -77.558627,163.5002345 -77.558627,163.518228 -77.558627,163.5362215 -77.558627,163.554215 -77.558627,163.554215 -77.56397510000001,163.554215 -77.5693232,163.554215 -77.5746713,163.554215 -77.5800194,163.554215 -77.5853675,163.554215 -77.59071560000001,163.554215 -77.5960637,163.554215 -77.60141180000001,163.554215 -77.6067599,163.554215 -77.612108,163.5362215 -77.612108,163.518228 -77.612108,163.5002345 -77.612108,163.482241 -77.612108,163.4642475 -77.612108,163.446254 -77.612108,163.4282605 -77.612108,163.410267 -77.612108,163.3922735 -77.612108,163.37428 -77.612108,163.37428 -77.6067599,163.37428 -77.60141180000001,163.37428 -77.5960637,163.37428 -77.59071560000001,163.37428 -77.5853675,163.37428 -77.5800194,163.37428 -77.5746713,163.37428 -77.5693232,163.37428 -77.56397510000001,163.37428 -77.558627))", "dataset_titles": "Commonwealth Stream Diel Water Chemistry; Hyporheic zone geochemistry of Wales Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica; isotopic signature of massive buried ice, eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601844", "doi": "10.15784/601844", "keywords": "Antarctica; Commonwealth Stream; Cryosphere; Diel; Inlandwaters; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Stream Chemistry; Water Chemisty", "people": "Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Commonwealth Stream Diel Water Chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601844"}, {"dataset_uid": "601847", "doi": "10.15784/601847", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Nutrients; Stable Isotopes; Taylor Valley; Trace Elements", "people": "Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hyporheic zone geochemistry of Wales Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601847"}, {"dataset_uid": "601848", "doi": "10.15784/601848", "keywords": "Antarctica; Buried Ice; Cryosphere; Stable Isotopes; Stable Water Isotopes; Taylor Valley", "people": "Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "isotopic signature of massive buried ice, eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601848"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phytoplankton, or microscopic marine algae, are an important part of the carbon cycle and can lower the rates of atmospheric carbon dioxide by transferring the atmospheric carbon into the oceans. The concentration of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean is regularly limited by the availability of marine iron. This in turn influences the rate of carbon transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean. The primary source of iron in the Southern Ocean is eroded continental rock. Understanding the current and future sources of iron to the Southern Ocean as a result of increased melting of terrestrial glaciers is necessary for predicting future concentrations of Southern Ocean phytoplankton and the subsequent influence on the carbon cycle. A poorly understood source of iron to the Southern Ocean is stream input from ice-free regions such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica. This source of iron is likely to become larger if glaciers retreat. This study investigates the sources and amount of iron transported by McMurdo Dry Valley streams directly into the Southern Ocean. Because not all forms of iron can be used by phytoplankton, experiments will be performed to determine how available iron is to phytoplankton and how iron mixes with seawater. Immersive 360-degree video, infographics, and educational videos of findings from this project will be shared on social media, at schools and science events, and in an urban science center. In the Southern Ocean (SO) there is an excess of macronutrients but regional primary production is limited or co-limited due to iron. An addition of iron to the ocean will affect biochemical cycles, increase primary production, and affect the structure and composition of phytoplankton communities in the SO. Iron flux to the SO is globally significant, as increased Fe fertilization leads to increased carbon sequestration which acts as a negative feedback to increased atmospheric pCO2. One source of potentially bioavailable iron to the coastal regions of the SO is from direct sub-aerial stream discharge in ice-free areas of Antarctica, a source that may become more important if terrestrial glaciers retreat. It is imperative to understand the source, nature, potential fate, and flux of iron to the SO if better predictive models for the carbon cycle and atmospheric chemistry are to be developed. This project will investigate in-stream processes and characteristics controlling dissolved iron draining into the Ross Sea including photoreduction, temperature, and complexation with organic matter. The novel study will quantify bioavailability of particulate iron and bioavailability of dissolved iron in Antarctic in streams draining into the SO. On-site speciation measurements will be performed on dissolved iron species, particulate iron speciation will be determined using high-resolution spectroscopy, mixing experiments will be performed with coastal marine water, and the bioavailability of Fe will be determined through marine bioassays. This project will provide two students with valuable Antarctic field experience and reach thousands of individuals through existing partnerships with K-12 schools, public STEM events, an urban science center, and a strong social media presence. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.554215, "geometry": "POINT(163.4642475 -77.5853675)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SURFACE WATER CHEMISTRY; Iron Fertilization; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Weathering", "locations": "McMurdo Dry Valleys", "north": -77.558627, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lyons, W. Berry; Gardner, Christopher B.", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.612108, "title": "Fe Behavior and Bioavailability in Sub-aerial Runoff into the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0010483", "west": 163.37428}, {"awards": "2332062 Kim, Heather", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -59,-76.8 -59,-73.6 -59,-70.4 -59,-67.2 -59,-64 -59,-60.8 -59,-57.599999999999994 -59,-54.4 -59,-51.2 -59,-48 -59,-48 -60.6,-48 -62.2,-48 -63.8,-48 -65.4,-48 -67,-48 -68.6,-48 -70.2,-48 -71.8,-48 -73.4,-48 -75,-51.2 -75,-54.4 -75,-57.6 -75,-60.8 -75,-64 -75,-67.2 -75,-70.4 -75,-73.6 -75,-76.8 -75,-80 -75,-80 -73.4,-80 -71.8,-80 -70.2,-80 -68.6,-80 -67,-80 -65.4,-80 -63.8,-80 -62.2,-80 -60.6,-80 -59))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is experiencing significant environmental changes, including warming temperatures, reduced sea ice, and glacier retreat. These changes could impact marine ecosystems and biological and chemical processes, particularly the biological pump, which is the process by which carbon is transported from the ocean surface to the deep sea, playing a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This project aims to understand how climate change affects the biological pump in the WAP region. Using a combination of advanced modeling techniques and data from long-term research programs, the project will investigate the processes governing the biological pump and its climate feedback. The findings will provide insights into the future dynamics of the WAP region and contribute to our understanding of climate change impacts on polar marine ecosystems. This research is important as it will enhance knowledge of how polar regions respond to climate change, which is vital for predicting global climate patterns and informing conservation efforts. Furthermore, the project supports the development of early-career researchers and promotes diversity in science through collaborations with educational programs and outreach to underrepresented communities. This project focuses on the WAP, a region undergoing rapid environmental changes. The goal is to investigate and quantify the factors controlling the biological pump and its feedback to climate change and variability. A novel hybrid modeling framework will be developed, integrating observational data from the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research program and the Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time-Series into a sophisticated one-dimensional mechanistic biogeochemical model. This framework will utilize Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques for data assimilation and parameter optimization. By incorporating complementary datasets and optimizing model parameters, the project aims to reduce uncertainties in modeling biological pump processes. The study will also use climate scenarios from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 to assess the impacts of future climate conditions on the biological pump. Additionally, the project will examine the role of vertical mixing of dissolved organic matter in total export production, providing a comprehensive understanding of the WAP carbon cycle. The outcomes will improve temporal resolution and data assimilation, advancing the mechanistic understanding of the interplay between ocean dynamics and biogeochemical processes in the changing polar environment. The project will also leverage unique datasets and make the model framework and source codes publicly available, facilitating collaboration and benefiting the broader scientific community. Outreach efforts include engaging with educational programs and promoting diversity in Polar Science through collaborations with institutions serving underrepresented groups. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -48.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -67)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "West Antarctic; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; PELAGIC; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS", "locations": "West Antarctic", "north": -59.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kim, Heather", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -75.0, "title": "Projecting the Biological Carbon Pump and Climate Feedback in the Rapidly Changing West Antarctic Peninsula: A Hybrid Modeling Study", "uid": "p0010474", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "2031121 Junge, Karen", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The ozone hole that develops over the Antarctic continent every spring is one of the features attributed to human activity, in particular production of the CFC (chlorofluorocarbons in refrigerants) released to the atmosphere. In spite of the CFC ban from the Montreal Protocol established in the year 1987, the recovery has been slower than predicted. Bromocarbons, known to produce the stratospheric ozone depletion, have recently been estimated to contribute to the pool of bromines in the lower atmosphere. What is the origin of the bromocarbons in Antarctic sea ice? Is this an additional source of chemicals creating the ozone hole? This project will test if bromocarbons in sea ice are produced and degraded by microalgae and bacteria found in sea ice, in snow and the interface between the two. The project will collect a suite of chemical and biological measurements of sea ice and snow to determine bromocarbon concentrations, microbial activity associated with them, and intra-cellular genes and proteins involved in bromocarbon metabolism. This project benefits NSF\u2019s goals of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes, and improving the understanding of interactions among the Antarctic systems, cryosphere and organisms. The work will be carried out at McMurdo Station in late austral spring, including sampling of snow and ice that will be concentrated in the laboratory, and 24-hour experiments to measure algal and bacterial activity. Genes controlling synthesis of enzymes involved in bromocarbon metabolism are of interest in biotechnology and bioremediation, including products that repair damaged skin from UltraViolet Radiation. The project will train undergraduate students on chemical and biological techniques. The Principal Investigators will be involved in the Pacific Science Center in Seattle with ~10,000 visitors per weekend where they will develop a project-specific exhibit. The microbial processes in snow and ice associated with bromocarbon synthesis and degradation have not been studied in Antarctica during winter and spring. This study will inform about microbial activity in relation to the release of bromocarbons compounds from the snow and ice surfaces, compounds known to degrade stratospheric ozone. The estimation of chemical bromocarbons will be combined with metagenomics and metaproteomics approaches for understanding the potential role of microbes in snow and sea ice. The environmental, chemical and biological data will be synthesized with multivariate analysis and significant differences between sites and experimental treatments with ANOVA. A collaborator from the University of Goteborg in Sweden will collaborate on bromocarbon analyses. The study will also address \u201csaline snow\u201d a new environment not previously studied for microbial life. In addition, this is the first study of meta-proteomics in snow and ice. The Principal Investigators expect their results will help inform ozone hole recovery in the 21st century. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "McMurdo Sound; COASTAL; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; SEA ICE; SNOW/ICE", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Junge, Karen; Nunn, Brook L", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Sea-ice Snow Microbial Communities\u2019 Impact on Antarctic Bromocarbon Budgets and Processes", "uid": "p0010472", "west": null}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Deuterium isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Dansgaard Oesgher Event 8, Talos Dome Ice Core, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601814", "doi": "10.15784/601814", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Deuterium isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Dansgaard Oesgher Event 8, Talos Dome Ice Core, Antarctica", "url": "http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601814"}], "date_created": "Tue, 23 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": null, "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Abrupt Climate Change; Antarctica; Biogeochemical Cycles; Carbon Cycle; Cryosphere; Ice Core Records; Talos Dome", "locations": "Talos Dome; Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Riddell-Young, Benjamin; Bauska, Thomas; Fischer, Hubertus; Menking, James; Brook, Edward J.; Clark, Reid; Schmitt, Jochen; Lee, James; Iseli, Rene", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": null, "uid": null, "west": null}, {"awards": "2336354 Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76.5,160.45 -76.5,160.9 -76.5,161.35 -76.5,161.8 -76.5,162.25 -76.5,162.7 -76.5,163.15 -76.5,163.6 -76.5,164.05 -76.5,164.5 -76.5,164.5 -76.7,164.5 -76.9,164.5 -77.1,164.5 -77.3,164.5 -77.5,164.5 -77.7,164.5 -77.9,164.5 -78.1,164.5 -78.3,164.5 -78.5,164.05 -78.5,163.6 -78.5,163.15 -78.5,162.7 -78.5,162.25 -78.5,161.8 -78.5,161.35 -78.5,160.9 -78.5,160.45 -78.5,160 -78.5,160 -78.3,160 -78.1,160 -77.9,160 -77.7,160 -77.5,160 -77.3,160 -77.1,160 -76.9,160 -76.7,160 -76.5))", "dataset_titles": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601839", "doi": "10.15784/601839", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Dry Valleys; Lake Fryxell; Laminae; Microbial Mat; Thickness", "people": "Juarez Rivera, Marisol; Mackey, Tyler; Paul, Ann; Hawes, Ian; Sumner, Dawn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601839"}], "date_created": "Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contain abundant microbial mats, and the export of this mat material can fertilize the surrounding polar desert ecosystems. These desert soils are one of the most organic-poor on earth yet host a community of microorganisms. Microbial mat material is exported from the shallow, gas-supersaturated regions of the lakes when gas bubbles form in the mats, lifting them to the ice cover; the perennial ice cover maintains gas supersaturation. These mats freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. The largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice cover in the history of Lake Fryxell was recorded during the 2022-2023 Austral summer. In this thin ice year, the water column dissolved oxygen increased over prior observations, and the lake bottom surface area with bubble-disrupted mat was more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007. This work will constrain mat mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning to understand how future changing regional climate and predicted seasonal loss of lake ice cover will affect nutrient transport in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Exceptional years of mat export are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on nutrient export to soil communities; variability in mat liftoff may thus play a role in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem response to changing climate. The perennial ice cover of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica modulates the transfer of gasses, organic and inorganic material, between the lakes and surrounding soils. The export of biomass in these lakes is driven by the supersaturation of atmospheric gasses in the shallow regions under perennial ice cover. Gas bubbles nucleate in the mats, producing buoyancy that lifts them to the bottom of the ice, where they freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. These mats represent a significant source of biomass and nutrients to the McMurdo Dry Valleys soils, which are among the most organic-poor on earth. Nevertheless, this biomass remains unaccounted for in organic carbon cycling models for the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Ice cover data from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project shows that the ice thickness has undergone cyclical variation over the last 40 years, reaching the largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice-cover in the recorded history of Lake Fryxell during the 2022-2023 austral summer. Preliminary work shows that the surface area with mat liftoff at Lake Fryxell is more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007, coinciding with this unprecedented thinning of the ice-cover and an increase in the water column dissolved O2. This research will constrain biomass mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning. The researchers hypothesize that a thinner ice cover promotes more biomass mobilization by 1) stimulating additional production of gas bubbles from the existing gas-supersaturated waters during summertime photosynthesis to create microbial mat liftoff and 2) promoting mat liftoff in deeper, thicker microbial mats, and 3) that this biomass can be traced into the soils by characterizing its chemistry and modeling the most likely depositional settings. This work will use microbial mat samples, lake dissolved oxygen and photosynthetically active radiation data and underwater drone footage documenting the depth distribution of liftoff mats in January 2023, and long-term ice cover thickness, photosynthetically active radiation, and lake level change data collected by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project to test hypotheses 1-3. The dispersal of the liftoff mat exposed at Lake Fryxell surface will be modeled using a Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Exceptional liftoff years like the present are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on the soil communities as the rates of soil respiration increase with the addition of carbon. However, continued warming in the next 10 - 40 years may result in seasonal loss of the ice cover and cessation of liftoff mat export. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.5, "geometry": "POINT(162.25 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Stable Isotopes; MINERALS; LAKE/POND; ISOTOPES; Organic Matter; McMurdo Dry Valleys; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS", "locations": "McMurdo Dry Valleys", "north": -76.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.5, "title": "RAPID: Is Biomass Mobilization at Ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica reaching a Critical Threshold?", "uid": "p0010467", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the ?Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean? (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; TRACE ELEMENTS", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": null, "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea", "uid": "p0010463", "west": null}, {"awards": "2423761 Blackburn, Terrence", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Thermogenic Methane Production in Antarctic Subglacial Hydrocarbon Seeps", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601918", "doi": "10.15784/601918", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Isotopes; Cryosphere; East Antarctica; Elephant Moraine; Geochronology; Isotope Data; Subglacial", "people": "Piccione, Gavin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Thermogenic Methane Production in Antarctic Subglacial Hydrocarbon Seeps", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601918"}], "date_created": "Tue, 14 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical abstract Earth\u2019s climatic changes have been recorded in the ice core collected from the Antarctic ice sheet. While these records provide a high resolution view of how polar temperatures changed through time, it is not always clear what Earth process influence Antarctic climate. One likely contributor to Antarctic temperature changes is the cyclic changes in Earth\u2019s orientation as it orbits the sun. These so-called Milankovitch cycles control the amount and pattern of sunlight reaching the polar regions, that in turn result in periods of climatic warming or cooling. While the orbital variations and control on incoming solar energy remain well understood, how they influence Antarctic climate remains unresolved. It is the goal of this project to determine how variations in Earth\u2019s orbit may be locally influencing Antarctic temperatures. The researchers on this project are pursing this goal by identifying periods of past ice melting on the surface of Antarctica using minerals that precipitate from the meltwaters that resulted from past warm periods. The timing of this past melting will be determined by radioisotopic dating of the minerals using the natural radioactive decay of uranium to thorium. By dating numerous samples, collected in past scientific expeditions throughout the Antarctic continent, these researchers aim to reconstruct the frequency and spatial pattern of past warming and in doing so, determine what aspect of Earth\u2019s orbital variations influences Antarctic ice loss. Technical abstract Antarctic ice cores provide high resolution records of Pleistocene Southern Hemisphere temperatures that show an overall coherence with Northern Hemisphere temperature variations. One explanation for this bi-hemispheric temperature covariance relies on changes in atmospheric CO2 that result from varying northern hemisphere insolation. An alternative posits that the apparent coherence of polar temperatures is due to the misleading covariance between northern hemisphere summer insolation and, the southern hemisphere summer duration. At present there is an insufficient understanding of the role that local insolation plays in Antarctic climate. The goal of this research project is to identify the temporal spatial patterns of solar forcing in Antarctica. To reach this goal, the project team will: 1) develop a way to identify periods of past surface melt production in Antarctica using U-Th dating of pedogenic carbonates; and 2) utilize the evidence of past surface melting to calibrate energy balance models and interrogate past Antarctic surface temperatures and; 3) compare the timing of Antarctic warm periods to potential solar forcing mechanisms such as peak summer insolation or summer duration. A means of identifying the spatial and temporal pattern at which local insolation influences Antarctic temperature would provide a transformative solution to the contradiction in current climate records. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blackburn, Terrence", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "EAGER: Pedogenic Carbonates Record Insolation Driven Surface Melting in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010459", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2325046 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 10 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This RAPID project aims to study a sporadic occurrence of sea star wasting disease in McMurdo sound by leveraging diving resources of a CAREER grant to Thurber. The disease was first noted in 2019, with a second occurrence documented by the group at their study site near a methane seep at Cinder Cone in McMurdo Sound in 2022. Sea stars are key species in many benthic ecosystems, including the Antarctic, and this disease has caused significant losses in populations worldwide. In the Southern Ocean, the sea star Odontaster validus preys upon Acodontaster conspicuous, a predator of Antarctic giant sponges. In 2022, about 30% of the O. validus at the methane seep were affected. The conditions associated with the disease in other areas are environmental hypoxia, warm temperatures, and organic enrichment. This recent outbreak provides the opportunity to study how the disease may progress in the SO, and test the hypothesis that oxygen dynamics play a key role in the development of SSWS. The investigators aim to measure oxygen concentrations on and off the Cinder Cone methane seep and at the surface of affected and unaffected sea stars and identify whether the disease causes and microbiome characteristics of SSWS are similar between Antarctic and non-Antarctic outbreaks. These findings can be used to understand the potential effects of future climate conditions on disease outbreaks of Southern Ocean marine organisms critical to ecosystem function and health. In addition to disease dynamics, the study will also help to understand how methane seepage impacts benthic oxygen dynamics. Other broader impacts include communicating the research through a student led YouTube documentary and facilitating the transition of an early career URM researcher from NSF postdoc to a faculty position (lead on viral component of the project). This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BENTHIC; Antarctica; Sea Star Wasting Disease", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew; Moran, Amy", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: RAPID: Sea Star Wasting Disease in the High Antarctic: Deciphering the Role of Shifting Carbon and Climate Cycles on a Keystone Predator", "uid": "p0010458", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "2200448 Simms, Alexander", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Constraining the Radiocarbon Reservoir Age for the Southern Ocean Using Whale Bones Salvaged from Early 20th Century Whaling Stations", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601784", "doi": "10.15784/601784", "keywords": "Antarctica; C-14; Cryosphere; Radiocarbon Dates; Whale Bone; Whales", "people": "Southon, John; Friedlaender, Ari; Baker, C. Scott; Sremba, Angela; Simms, Alexander; Divola, Claire", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Constraining the Radiocarbon Reservoir Age for the Southern Ocean Using Whale Bones Salvaged from Early 20th Century Whaling Stations", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601784"}], "date_created": "Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Much of our understanding of ice sheet behavior due to warming temperatures is based on how past ice sheets responded to warming associated with the end of the last ice age, 20,000 years ago. These studies rely on accurate dating of features left behind by the past ice sheets. The most commonly used method for determining the age of these features over the last ~40,000 years is radiocarbon dating. However, radiocarbon dating is not without its nuances, which are particularly pronounced around Antarctica. One of these nuances is determining the offset between the materials measured radiocarbon age and its true age. The purpose of this research is to use historically harvested whale bones from the Antarctic Peninsula, whose age is independently known, to determine that offset. A better understanding of that offset will allow more accurate estimates of past rates of ice sheet and sea-level changes across the Antarctic Peninsula over the last ~40,000 years. Much of our understanding of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet will respond to future climate changes is based on studies of its past behavior. Those studies often rely on reconstructing its evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating is the most commonly used method of dating Quaternary deposits for these reconstructions. However, the use of radiocarbon in Antarctica is hampered by some of the largest and least constrained radiocarbon reservoirs on the planet. The purpose of this research is to determine the radiocarbon reservoir for whale bones. This research will leverage an existing collection of 25 whale bones used for prior DNA research to determine the late Holocene radiocarbon reservoir for the Antarctic Peninsula. The whale bones are from specimens harvested at the turn of the 20th century prior to nuclear testing in the 1950s. Thus, their radiocarbon age will provide valuable new constraints on the radiocarbon reservoir for shallow waters around Antarctica. An added benefit of this approach is that given the DNA determination, we will also be able to determine if that radiocarbon reservoir varies across three species of whales, thus testing the common assumption that the radiocarbon reservoir does not vary significantly across different species. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ORGANIC CARBON; West Antarctica", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Simms, Alexander", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "New constraints on 14C reservoirs around the Antarctic Peninsula and the Southern Ocean based on historically-harvested whale bones", "uid": "p0010457", "west": null}, {"awards": "2044924 Barrett, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Hyperspectral reflectance values and biophysicochemical properties of biocrusts and soils in the Fryxell Basin, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601773", "doi": "10.15784/601773", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hyperspectral reflectance values and biophysicochemical properties of biocrusts and soils in the Fryxell Basin, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "url": "http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601773"}], "date_created": "Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": null, "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Cryosphere; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Snow", "locations": "McMurdo Dry Valleys; Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Barrett, John", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": null, "uid": null, "west": null}, {"awards": "2215771 Kreutz, Karl", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for acquisition of new instrumentation to support acquisition of the new LA-HR-ICPMS instrumentation for the trace-element analysis of various environmental samples. This instrumentation will replace the original (and heavily used over two decades) ThermoScientific Element2 ICP-MS installed at the University of Maine\u2019s Climate Change Institute (CCI). The new acquisition will significantly expand research capabilities of the CCI/ICP-MS Facility to improve the analysis of aqueous samples, supplemented with a laser ablation (LA) front end for ice, biological, and other solid materials. The current ICP-MS Facility was established in 2002 with an NSF/MRI award, which since then has served as a vital resource for climate, environmental, ecosystem, and engineering research and training at the U. Maine, across the state of Maine and beyond. The routine use and primary support of the Facility come from the Principal Investigators and their collaborators that group under three research areas: glaciochemistry and climate/environmental reconstruction; paleoceanography and marine biogeochemistry; and environmental sensor development and material science engineering. The U. Maine is the State\u2019s Land \u0026 Sea Grant university and only PhD granting institution, so the campus is the de facto academic research and research training hub of the state of Maine. The proposed advances of this research \u0026 training instrumentation will immediately impact current and future NSF-funded research projects that support extensive national and international collaborations. Specific to this proposal are collaborations with the University of Venice (Italy) and the University of Cambridge/British Antarctic Survey to develop laser ablation ICP-MS imaging of ice cores, and collaborations with New Zealand, Swiss, Chinese, Canadian, and Brazilian colleagues to analyze ice, thereby maintaining our leadership role in global ice core and climate change research. Likewise, the enhanced carbonate analysis capacity of the Element XR will have an immediate impact on NSF-funded research projects in the Gulf of Maine and in the South Pacific. The proposed instrumentation will facilitate new and important collaborations between academic colleges (College of Natural Science, Forestry, and Agriculture and the College of Engineering) and research units - the CCI and the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technology - across the campus, as well as enabling new and broader scientific collaborations with other academic and scientific institutions across Maine. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN CHEMISTRY; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kreutz, Karl; Mukhopadhyay, Sharmila M; Allen, Katherine A; Mayewski, Paul A.; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "MRI: Acquisition of LA-HR-ICPMS instrumentation for climate, environmental, ecosystem, and engineering research at the University of Maine", "uid": "p0010456", "west": null}, {"awards": "2325922 Couradeau, Estelle", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-73.783 4.679,-73.7827 4.679,-73.7824 4.679,-73.7821 4.679,-73.7818 4.679,-73.7815 4.679,-73.7812 4.679,-73.7809 4.679,-73.7806 4.679,-73.7803 4.679,-73.78 4.679,-73.78 4.6789,-73.78 4.6788,-73.78 4.6787,-73.78 4.6786,-73.78 4.6785,-73.78 4.6784,-73.78 4.6783,-73.78 4.6782,-73.78 4.6781,-73.78 4.678,-73.7803 4.678,-73.7806 4.678,-73.7809 4.678,-73.7812 4.678,-73.7815 4.678,-73.7818 4.678,-73.7821 4.678,-73.7824 4.678,-73.7827 4.678,-73.783 4.678,-73.783 4.6781,-73.783 4.6782,-73.783 4.6783,-73.783 4.6784,-73.783 4.6785,-73.783 4.6786,-73.783 4.6787,-73.783 4.6788,-73.783 4.6789,-73.783 4.679))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "P\u00e1ramos are high-altitude tundra ecosystems nested at the heart of the Andes mountains. These cold and humid environments are home to a multitude of plants, animals, and insects. P\u00e1ramos are a critical water source for downstream urban centers, including Colombia\u0027s capital city, Bogota. Additionally, the P\u00e1ramos soils contain substantial organic carbon reserves due to slow rates of organic matter decomposition. Beyond being a pool of carbon sequestered away from the atmosphere, this large reservoir of organic matter controls the soils\u2019 hydraulic and fertility properties. The P\u00e1ramos\u2019 unique geographic location, at an elevation above 2,800 m above sea level, makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In fact, these ecosystems\u2019 surface areas are projected to shrink by half within the next 50 years possibly causing loss of the essential services they provide. This project aims to characterize the microbial diversity in the P\u00e1ramos soils in Colombia and investigate how climate change will affect microbes\u2019 functions. The research is of high importance, considering that immediate and long-term changes in microbial metabolism could impact the ability of P\u00e1ramos soils to store organic carbon and regulate downstream water flow. To study the cascading effect of climate change on P\u00e1ramos ecosystems, this project will jumpstart collaborations among transdisciplinary experts that will integrate the research of below-ground microbial communities with above-ground vegetation functions. The project will also engage high school and undergraduate students that will work together to develop and deploy low-cost long-term soil monitoring data loggers in Chingaza National Natural Park, near the city of Bogota. This project will address the critical need to disentangle the effect of moisture and temperature on the fate of organic carbon in P\u00e1ramos soils while building a transdisciplinary team capable of expanding the scope of the research to an ecosystem level. The project includes establishing controlled soil mesocosms that will allow to independently vary moisture and temperature levels. Additionally, functions of the soil microbiome will be investigated using metagenomics and amplicon sequencing, and probes will be deployed to initiate long-term monitoring of the soil response to climate change in situ. This project will culminate in the organization of an international P\u00e1ramos symposium that will set up priorities for future systems research. The symposium will bring together scientists from diverse fields to discuss the linkages between above-ground and below-ground ecosystem functions and plan future collaborations in predicting P\u00e1ramos-wide effects of climate change. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -73.78, "geometry": "POINT(-73.7815 4.6785)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; Chingaza Paramos Colombia; ORGANIC MATTER; SOIL MECHANICS", "locations": "Chingaza Paramos Colombia", "north": 4.679, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Couradeau, Estelle; Maximova, Siela; Machado, Jose Luis", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": 4.678, "title": "Collaborative Research: BoCP-Design: Climate change alteration of soils functional biodiversity of the P\u00e1ramos, Colombia", "uid": "p0010445", "west": -73.783}, {"awards": "1443522 Wannamaker, Philip", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166 -77.15,166.34 -77.15,166.68 -77.15,167.02 -77.15,167.36 -77.15,167.7 -77.15,168.04 -77.15,168.38 -77.15,168.72 -77.15,169.06 -77.15,169.4 -77.15,169.4 -77.22500000000001,169.4 -77.30000000000001,169.4 -77.375,169.4 -77.45,169.4 -77.525,169.4 -77.60000000000001,169.4 -77.67500000000001,169.4 -77.75,169.4 -77.825,169.4 -77.9,169.06 -77.9,168.72 -77.9,168.38 -77.9,168.04 -77.9,167.7 -77.9,167.36 -77.9,167.02 -77.9,166.68 -77.9,166.34 -77.9,166 -77.9,166 -77.825,166 -77.75,166 -77.67500000000001,166 -77.60000000000001,166 -77.525,166 -77.45,166 -77.375,166 -77.30000000000001,166 -77.22500000000001,166 -77.15))", "dataset_titles": "Erebus volcano/Ross Island Magnetotelluric (MT) data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601493", "doi": "10.15784/601493", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mantle Melting; Mount Erebus", "people": "Wannamaker, Philip; Hill, Graham", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Erebus volcano/Ross Island Magnetotelluric (MT) data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601493"}], "date_created": "Mon, 05 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "General Description: This project is intended to reveal the magma source regions, staging areas, and eruptive pathways within the active volcano Mount Erebus. This volcano is an end-member type known as phonolitic, which refers to the lava composition, and is almost purely carbon-dioxide-bearing and occurs in continental rift settings. It is in contrast to the better known water-bearing volcanoes which occur at plate boundary settings (such as Mount St Helens or Mount Fuji). Phonolitic volcanic eruptions elsewhere such as Tamboro or Vesuvius have caused more than 50,000 eruption related fatalities. Phonolites are also associated with rare earth element deposits, giving them economic interest. To illuminate the inner workings of Mount Erebus, we will cover the volcano with a dense network of geophysical probes based on magnetotelluric (MT) measurements. MT makes use of naturally occurring electromagnetic (EM) waves generated mainly by the sun as sources to provide images of the electrical conductivity structure of the Earth\u0027s interior. Conductivity is sensitive to the presence of fluids and melts in the Earth and so is well suited to understanding volcanic processes. The project is a cooperative effort between scientists from the United States, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. It implements new technology developed by the lead investigator and associates that allows such measurements to be taken on snow-covered terrains. This has applicability for frozen environments generally, such as resource exploration in the Arctic. The project supports a new post-doctoral researcher, and leverages imaging and measurement methods developed through support by other agencies and interfaced with commercial platforms. Technical Description: The investigators propose to test magmatic evolution models for Mount Erebus volcano, Antarctica, using the magnetotelluric (MT) method. The phonolite lava flow compositions on Mount Erebus are uncommon, but provide a window into the range of upper mantle source compositions and melt differentiation paths. Explosive phonolite eruptions have been known worldwide for devastating eruptions such as Tambora and Vesuvius, and commonly host rare earth element deposits. In the MT method, temporal variations in the Earth\u0027s natural electromagnetic (EM) field are used as source fields to probe the electrical resistivity structure in the depth range of 1 to 100 kilometers. This effort will consist of approximately 100 MT sites, with some concentration in the summit area. Field acquisition will take place over two field seasons. The main goals are to 1) confirm the existence and the geometry of the uppermost magma chamber thought to reside at 5-10 kilometer depths; 2) attempt to identify, in the deeper resistivity structure, the magma staging area near the crust-mantle boundary; 3) image the steep, crustal-scale, near-vertical conduit carrying magma from the mantle; 4) infer the physical and chemical state from geophysical properties of a CO2-dominated mafic shield volcano; and 5) constrain the relationships between structural and magmatic/ hydrothermal activity related to the Terror Rift. Tomographic imaging of the interior resistivity will be performed using a new inversion platform developed at Utah, based on the deformable edge finite element method, that is the best available for accommodating the steep topography of the study area. The project is an international cooperation between University of Utah, GNS Science Wellington New Zealand (G. Hill, Co-I), and Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan (Y. Ogawa, Co-I), plus participation by University of Alberta (M. Unsworth) and Missouri State University (K. Mickus). Instrument deployments will be made exclusively by helicopter. The project implements new technology that allows MT measurements to be taken on snow-covered terrains. The project supports a new post-doctoral researcher, and leverages imaging and measurement methods developed through support by other agencies and interfaced with commercial platforms.", "east": 169.4, "geometry": "POINT(167.7 -77.525)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MAGNETIC FIELD; FIELD SURVEYS; Ross Island; Magnetotelluric; Mount Erebus", "locations": "Ross Island; Mount Erebus", "north": -77.15, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wannamaker, Philip", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.9, "title": "Magma Sources, Residence and Pathways of Mount Erebus Phonolitic Volcano, Antarctica, from Magnetotelluric Resistivity Structure", "uid": "p0010444", "west": 166.0}, {"awards": "2032328 Apel, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "A class of small molecules, very short-lived substances (VSLS; e.g. CHBr3,CH2Br2, and CH3I) are important components in the climate system where they act as tropospheric ozone destroyers as described in the multilateral environmental Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Southern Ocean represents a key component in the climate system and has a critical role in other global biogeochemical cycles. This project will use the NSF/NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) with a newly developed online air-sea exchange framework, to evaluate biogeochemical controls on the marine sources of VSLS in the Southern Ocean as well as the Southern Hemisphere. A machine-learning approach will be used to couple ocean biogeochemistry with air-sea exchange for these compounds. A variety of oceanic and atmospheric observations of VSLS will be used to evaluate a unique oceanic VSLS inventory. In particular, the recent ORCAS field campaign provides a unique opportunity to examine Southern Ocean VSLS emissions, and their impacts from ocean biogeochemistry, meteorology and sea ice cycles. The project will also support a postdoctoral early-career researcher, and a specific effort of this project is STEM education and public outreach activities. The research team will extend opportunities to high school and undergraduate students so they may gain experience in the coupled ocean and atmospheric sciences, including exposure to and experience in programming and modeling. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; HALOCARBONS AND HALOGENS", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Apel, Eric", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry Control on Short-Lived Ozone-Depleting Substances and Impacts on the Climate System", "uid": "p0010427", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2142491 Young, Jodi", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 26 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Sea ice in Antarctic coastal waters shape ecosystems, both in the surface waters and at the bottom of the ocean, environments that depend on algae living in sea ice for their productivity. With high variability in sea ice formation and melt between years and as a response to climate change, it is of importance to obtain better understanding of the interaction of sea ice with algae, as well as provide better data for global climate models. This project will accomplish those goals by measuring phytoplankton growth and cellular properties in sea ice with experiments performed using an ice tank. Laboratory experiments will be based on previous observations in the Antarctic Peninsula coastal waters, providing realistic conditions to emulate. The scientific importance of the proposed work aligns with the National Science Foundation goals to understand the biological and chemical properties of sea ice bio-geo-chemistry and its feedbacks with seasonal sea ice dynamics and climate. The finding from this project will be of interest to a broad scientific community, including oceanographers, biologists, chemists, and ecosystem and ocean modelers. To address the scarcity of data on sea ice microbes that limits our ability to predict future Antarctic climate with accuracy, the principal investigator will develop an Antarctic Science Minor in order to train future scientists with an environmental perspective and prepare the future US workforce with a strong scientific background on Earth and Biological Sciences. There is a paucity of data to understand the processes underlying observed patters in sea ice quality and their interaction with the sea-ice microbial community. This project will provide a mechanistic understanding of primary production and physiology of sympagic algae over the seasonal cycle of formation and melt of Antarctic sea ice. Although sea ice is central to the Antarctic coastal ecosystems, little is known of how they affect, and are in turn affected, by sea-ice algae. This project concentrates on first-year sea ice, forming and melting each year, creating unique and very dynamic habitats. The study will be structured by 4 main objectives: 1) how different algal species adapt to the seasonal changes in sea ice conditions, 2) how different methods to measure primary production (carbon dioxide drawdown, oxygen production and variable fluorescence) relate in sea ice and differ from sea water measurements, 3) how sympagic algae influence the physical structure of sea ice, 4) how sympagic algae contribute to organic matter cycling during ice melt. Due to expected changes in sea ice due to climate change, this study is uniquely positioned to provide needed data on short-term and seasonal processes. Results from this study will be useful to refine models of algal production in Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems, data not available to date as sea ice and its biogeochemistry are often poorly represented in earth system models. This project will also provide education for graduate and undergraduate students as well as material to develop class curriculum for middle-school students. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MARINE ECOSYSTEMS", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Young, Jodi", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "CAREER: Experimentally Testing the Role of Sympagic Algae in Sea-ice Environments using a Laboratory Scale Ice-tank.", "uid": "p0010425", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1745078 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Atmospheric methane across the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation from the GISP2, NEEM and WAIS Divide ice cores ; Atmospheric methane interpolar difference and four-box troposphere model output across the Last Glacial Maximum and Deglaciation; Carbon-13 and Deuterium isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Heinrich Stadial 4, and Dansgaard Oesgher Event 8, WAIS Divide Replicate Ice Core, Antarctica; Carbon-13 isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Heinrich Stadials 1 and 5, and Dansgaard Oesgher Event 12, WAIS Divide Ice Core, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601737", "doi": "10.15784/601737", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Greenland; Ice Core Records; Methane; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Martin, Kaden; Edwards, Jon S.; Lee, James; Brook, Edward J.; Rosen, Julia; Riddell-Young, Benjamin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Atmospheric methane across the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation from the GISP2, NEEM and WAIS Divide ice cores ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601737"}, {"dataset_uid": "601736", "doi": "10.15784/601736", "keywords": "Antarctica; Greenland; Methane; Paleoclimate; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Fischer, Hubertus; Blunier, Thomas; Schmitt, Jochen; M\u00fchl, Michaela; Edwards, Jon S.; Lee, James; Martin, Kaden; Brook, Edward J.; Buizert, Christo; Rosen, Julia; Riddell-Young, Benjamin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Atmospheric methane interpolar difference and four-box troposphere model output across the Last Glacial Maximum and Deglaciation", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601736"}, {"dataset_uid": "601813", "doi": "10.15784/601813", "keywords": "Abrupt Climate Change; Antarctica; Atmospheric Gases; Biogeochemical Cycles; Carbon Cycle; Cryosphere; Greenhouse Gas; Methane; West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide", "people": "Clark, Reid; Bauska, Thomas; Riddell-Young, Benjamin; Lee, James; Brook, Edward J.; Iseli, Rene; Schmitt, Jochen; Menking, Andy; Fischer, Hubertus", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Carbon-13 and Deuterium isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Heinrich Stadial 4, and Dansgaard Oesgher Event 8, WAIS Divide Replicate Ice Core, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601813"}, {"dataset_uid": "601683", "doi": "10.15784/601683", "keywords": "Antarctica; Methane; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Riddell-Young, Benjamin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Carbon-13 isotopic composition of atmospheric methane across Heinrich Stadials 1 and 5, and Dansgaard Oesgher Event 12, WAIS Divide Ice Core, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601683"}], "date_created": "Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will develop methods to measure the ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12, and heavy to light hydrogen in methane in air trapped in ice cores. The ratios of the different forms of carbon and hydrogen are \"fingerprints\" of different sources of this gas in the past--for example wetlands in the tropics versus methane frozen in the sea floor. Once the analysis method is developed, the measurements will be used to examine why methane changed abruptly in the past, both during the last ice age, and during previous warm periods. The data will be used to understand how methane sources like wildfires, methane hydrates, and wetlands respond to climate change. This information is needed to understand future risks of large changes in methane in the atmosphere as Earth warms. The project involves two tasks. First, the investigators will build and test a gas extraction system for methane isotopic measurements using continuous flow methods, with the goal of equaling or bettering the precision attained by the few other laboratories that make these measurements. The system will be interfaced with existing mass spectrometers at Oregon State University. The system consists of a vacuum chamber and sequence of traps, purification columns, and furnaces that separate methane from other gases and convert it to carbon dioxide or hydrogen for mass spectrometry. Second, the team will measure the isotopic composition of methane across large changes in concentration associated with two past interglacial periods and during abrupt methane changes of the last ice age. These measurements will be used to understand if the main reason for these concentration changes is climate-driven changes in emissions from wetlands, or whether other sources are involved, for example methane hydrates or wildfires. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; METHANE", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Tracing Past Methane Variations with Stable Isotopes in Antarctic Ice Cores", "uid": "p0010416", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2149070 Hawco, Nicholas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The current understanding of what controls productivity in the Southern Ocean is based mostly on the scarcity of a metal compound needed for algal growth, Dissolved Iron in seawater. There is growing evidence that Manganese also plays a critical role in maintaining algal growth and if found in low concentrations can play a role in limiting primary productivity. As algal growth is a major player in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, understanding what controls productivity increases our understanding of what role the Southern Ocean plays in the global carbon cycle. This study proposes to study the algal processes that take up Manganese in Antarctic diatoms, one of the main primary producers in the region. Another aspect will be to understand how Zinc, a micronutrient with similar dynamics than Manganese, can inhibit its uptake. The PIs propose lab experiments with cultured diatoms isolated from the Southern Ocean to obtain answers to their questions on micronutrient dynamics and will compare results from those obtained with a diatom species isolated from temperate waters. The proposed research will benefit NSF\u2019s goals of understanding life in cold environments and how they differ from other parts of the ocean. This project will support two first-time early career scientists and a female researcher in Earth Sciences. Two graduate students will also be supported, and scientific techniques used in this research will be shared at open houses sponsored by the academic institutions and with local summer schools. This proposal represents collaborative research to explore manganese (Mn) limitation in Antarctic diatoms by two early career investigators. Diatoms are central players in the Southern Ocean carbon cycle, where the micronutrient chemistry is fundamentally different from other oceans. The Southern Ocean is characterized by widespread low Mn, coupled with high zinc (Zn). High Zn levels are potentially toxic to diatoms as Zn can competitively inhibit Mn uptake and metabolism, compromising the ability of building critical cellular components, thus impacting the biological pump. Using culture experiments with a matrix of micronutrient treatments (Mn, Zn, Fe) and irradiances, and using physiological and transcriptomic approaches, along with biochemical principles, the Principal Investigators will address the central hypothesis (diatoms from the Southern Ocean possess physiological mechanisms to low Mn/high Zn) to quantify rates of uptake and transporter binding constants. The transcriptomics approach will help to identify candidate genes that may provide Antarctic diatoms physiological mechanisms in low Mn/high Zn environment. The project does not require fieldwork but instead would make use of culture experiments with 4 diatom species (3 Antarctic, and 1 temperate). The proposed approach will also enable the goal of developing biomarker(s) for assessing Mn stress or Zn toxicity and results from the physiological experiments will help parameterize models of micronutrient limitation in the Southern Ocean. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; TRACE ELEMENTS; DIATOMS; Iron; Phytoplankton", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hawco, Nicholas; Cohen, Natalie", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "ANT LIA: Collaborative Research: Adaptations of Southern Ocean Diatoms to Manganese Scarcity: Can Physiological Ingenuity Overcome Unfavorable Chemistry?", "uid": "p0010412", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2240780 Cohen, Natalie", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Mixotrophs are essential components of the Antarctic planktonic community able to photosynthesize and also ingest small particles like bacteria to meet their nutritional needs. This project aims to understand the physiological response of mixotrophs exposed to micronutrient limitation in the Southern Ocean, specifically iron, manganese and simultaneous limitation of more than one trace metal, or colimitation. Such environmental conditions are characteristic of the Southern Ocean and can only be tested with local algae. The Principal Investigators hypothesize that under trace metal colimitation, some mixotrophs will have a competitive advantage by increasing their ability to consume particles to obtain energy and trace metals from their prey. Given the lack of understanding of how mixotrophs have adapted to the micronutrient limitation, the researchers propose studies with microalgal cultures isolated from the Southern Ocean; they will measure growth responses, consumption behavior, changes in cellular chemistry and transcription of genetic material in response to iron and manganese limitation. This project benefits the National Science Foundation goals of understanding Life in Antarctica and adaptation of organisms to this extreme environment. Society will benefit from the training proposed, whereby students from rural colleges will be instructed in computer coding and scientific data analyses. Furthermore, this work will support one graduate student, two undergraduate summer interns, and two early career scientists. The Principal Investigators hypothesize that under Fe-Mn colimitation, some mixotrophs will have a competitive advantage by increasing their grazing rates to obtain energy, Fe, and Mn from their prey. Given the lack of understanding of how mixotrophs have adapted to seasonal changes in the availability of these micronutrients and how they influence mixotrophic growth dynamics, the PIs propose culture studies to measure growth responses, grazing behavior, and changes in elemental stoichiometry in response to Fe and Mn limitation. Transcriptomic analyses will reveal the metabolic underpinnings of trophic behavior and micronutrient stress responses, with implications for key biogeochemical processes such as carbon fixation, remineralization, and nutrient cycling. Results are expected to clarify the ecological roles of Antarctic mixotrophs and elucidate the adaptations of Southern Ocean organisms to their unique polar ecosystem following the 2015 Strategic Vision for Polar Programs. This work will support one graduate student, two undergraduate summer interns, and two early career scientists. A series of virtual coding and bioinformatic workshops will be organized, in which basic principles of coding, and data processing used in the proposed analysis will be taught to undergraduate students. Small colleges in rural areas will be targeted for 8 modules on bioinformatics training. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "PLANKTON; Georgia; PHYTOPLANKTON", "locations": "Georgia", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cohen, Natalie; Millette, Nicole", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "ANT LIA: Collaborative Research: Mixotrophic Grazing as a Strategy to meet Nutritional Requirements in the Iron and Manganese Deficient Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010411", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2224680 Prothro, Lindsay; 2224679 Miller, Lauren; 2224681 Venturelli, Ryan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Sediments that collect on the seafloor provide a wealth of information about past and present environmental change. Around Antarctica, these seafloor sediments are influenced by an ice sheet that grinds and transports sediments from the continent\u2019s interior into the surrounding ocean. Since the Last Glacial Maximum (about 20,000 years ago) when the ice sheet extended hundreds to thousands of kilometers seaward, ice has retreated inland to the configuration we observe today and left behind signatures of its growth and decline, as well as indicators of ocean change, in the seafloor sediments. Ongoing glacial and ocean processes are reflected in the characteristics of contemporary sediments, whereas older sediments beneath the seafloor offer a longer temporal perspective of changes to the ice sheet and surrounding ocean. Using data generated from archived sediment cores that are predominantly housed in the Antarctic Core Collection at Oregon State University, we aim to confirm if recent sediments clearly reflect the specific instrumental and historical field-based observations of ocean and glacial change seen in different regions of Antarctica. These modern changes will be placed into context with those recorded by sediments deposited on the seafloor hundreds to thousands of years ago. This project will explore interlinked physical, biological, and geochemical properties of seafloor sediments to address the influence of glacial and oceanographic processes on ice-proximal marine sedimentation during the 20th and 21st centuries and since the Last Glacial Maximum, with a focus on sediment fluxes, meltwater drainage, ice-rafted debris deposition, and radiocarbon chronologies. We will integrate multi-proxy analyses to interrogate the seafloor sediment record around Antarctica, targeting regions offshore of relatively fast-flowing and fast-changing glacial systems today and regions offshore of slower flowing, more stable (i.e., unchanging or relatively minimally changing) parts of the ice sheet. This work will leverage the application of new techniques and knowledge to legacy sediment cores that NSF has invested greatly in collecting and archiving. This project is led by three early-career women project investigators who seek to foster collaborative and open research practices and professional growth of the project team which will include three graduate students, numerous undergraduate students, and a postdoctoral research associate. The project team will co-produce educational materials with Math4Science, an organization that connects STEM professionals with public secondary education students and their math and science teachers through curricula; and develop and implement best practices in working with marine sediment core data through a collaboration with the Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository and the United States Antarctic Program - Data Center. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MARINE SEDIMENTS; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Antarctica; Geochemistry; Stratigraphy; Glacial Processes; SEDIMENTS; Last Glacial Maximum", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Prothro, Lindsay; Venturelli, Ryan A; Miller, Lauren", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Circum-Antarctic Processes from Archived Marine Sediment Cores (ANTS)", "uid": "p0010406", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1543457 Munro, David; 1543511 Stephens, Britton", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-73 -53,-71.2 -53,-69.4 -53,-67.6 -53,-65.8 -53,-64 -53,-62.2 -53,-60.4 -53,-58.6 -53,-56.8 -53,-55 -53,-55 -54.4,-55 -55.8,-55 -57.2,-55 -58.6,-55 -60,-55 -61.4,-55 -62.8,-55 -64.2,-55 -65.6,-55 -67,-56.8 -67,-58.6 -67,-60.4 -67,-62.2 -67,-64 -67,-65.8 -67,-67.6 -67,-69.4 -67,-71.2 -67,-73 -67,-73 -65.6,-73 -64.2,-73 -62.8,-73 -61.4,-73 -60,-73 -58.6,-73 -57.2,-73 -55.8,-73 -54.4,-73 -53))", "dataset_titles": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the Southern Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean in 2018, processed by NOAA (NCEI Accession 0184338); Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, Drake Passage, South Atlantic Ocean in 2022 (NCEI Accession 0276577); Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean in 2021 (NCEI Accession 0246983); Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean from 2019-02-16 to 2020-02-11 (NCEI Accession 0208838); Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean in 2020 (NCEI Accession 0225445); Underway measurements of pCO2 in the Surface Waters and the Atmosphere During the ARSV Laurence M. Gould 2017 Expeditions processed by NOAA (NCEI Accession 0170337)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200349", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/b4jn-ef56", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the Southern Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean in 2018, processed by NOAA (NCEI Accession 0184338)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "200348", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.7289/v5tq5zt1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Underway measurements of pCO2 in the Surface Waters and the Atmosphere During the ARSV Laurence M. Gould 2017 Expeditions processed by NOAA (NCEI Accession 0170337)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "200350", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/3ysc-pm11", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean from 2019-02-16 to 2020-02-11 (NCEI Accession 0208838)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "200353", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/fq0a-7y11", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, Drake Passage, South Atlantic Ocean in 2022 (NCEI Accession 0276577)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "200352", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/f94g-zp40", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean in 2021 (NCEI Accession 0246983)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "200351", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.25921/z0pk-pv81", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) during the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould expeditions in the the Southern Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Drake Passage and South Atlantic Ocean in 2020 (NCEI Accession 0225445)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-carbon-acidification-data-system/oceans/VOS_Program/LM_gould.html"}], "date_created": "Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean plays a key role in modulating the global carbon cycle, but the size and even the sign of the global ocean flux terms of the atmospheric burden of man-made CO2 are still uncertain. This is in part due to the lack of measurements in this remote region of the world ocean. This project continues a multi-year time series of shipboard chemical measurements in the Drake Passage to detect changes in the ocean carbon cycle and to improve the understanding of mechanisms driving natural variability and long-term change in the Southern Ocean. This project is a continuation of collection of upper ocean measurements of the underway surface partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), using frequent ferry crossings of the Drake Passage by the RV/AS LMGould, the USAP supply ship. Overall, more than 200 transects over the past decade (since 2002) have now been accumulated of pCO2 profiles, along with discrete samples for other parameters of interest in studying the ocean carbonate system such as total CO2 (TCO2) values, isotopic (13C/12C and 14C/12C) ratios in surface TCO2. The Drake Passage data are made readily available to the international science community and serve as both validation and constraints of remotely sensed observations and numerical coupled earth systems models.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -60)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Drake Passage; NUTRIENTS; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; DISSOLVED GASES; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES", "locations": "Drake Passage", "north": -53.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Munro, David; Sweeney, Colm; Lovenduski, Nicole S; Stephens, Britton", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Biogeochemical Fluxes and Linkages To Climate Change With Multi-Scale Observations In The Drake Passage", "uid": "p0010407", "west": -73.0}, {"awards": "2135695 Emslie, Steven; 2135696 Polito, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70,-180 -70.8,-180 -71.6,-180 -72.4,-180 -73.2,-180 -74,-180 -74.8,-180 -75.6,-180 -76.4,-180 -77.2,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,-180 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -77.2,160 -76.4,160 -75.6,160 -74.8,160 -74,160 -73.2,160 -72.4,160 -71.6,160 -70.8,160 -70,162 -70,164 -70,166 -70,168 -70,170 -70,172 -70,174 -70,176 -70,178 -70,-180 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601913", "doi": "10.15784/601913", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Foraging; Polynya; Pygoscelis Adeliae; Ross Sea; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Powers, Shannon; Emslie, Steven D.; Reaves, Megan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601913"}], "date_created": "Fri, 28 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Ad\u00e9lie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) is the most abundant penguin in Antarctica, though its populations are currently facing threats from climate change, loss of sea ice habitat and food supplies. In the Ross Sea region, the cold, dry environment has allowed preservation of Ad\u00e9lie penguin bones, feathers, eggshell and even mummified remains, at active and abandoned colonies that date from before the Last Glacial Maximum (more than 45,000 years ago) to the present. A warming period at 4,000-2,000 years ago, known as the penguin \u2018optimum\u2019, reduced sea ice extent and allowed this species to access and reproduce in the southern Ross Sea. This coastline likely will be reoccupied in the future as marine conditions change with current warming trends. This project will investigate ecological responses in diet and foraging behavior of the Ad\u00e9lie penguin using well-preserved bones and other tissues that date from before, during and after the penguin \u2018optimum\u2019. The Principal investigators will collect and analyze bones, feathers and eggshells from colonies in the Ross Sea to determine changes in population size and feeding locations over millennia. Most of these colonies are associated with highly productive areas of open water surrounded by sea ice. Current warming trends are causing relatively rapid ecological responses by this species and some of the largest colonies in the Ross Sea are likely to be abandoned in the next 50 years from rising sea level. The recently established Ross Sea Marine Protected Area aims to protect Ad\u00e9lie penguins and their foraging grounds in this region from human impacts and knowledge on how this species has responded to climate change in the past will support this goal. This project benefits NSF\u2019s mission to expand fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes. In association with their research program, the Principal Investigators will create undergraduate opportunities for research-driven coursework, will design K-12 curriculum and assess the effectiveness of these activities. Two graduate students will be supported by this project to update and refine the curricula working with K-12 teachers. There is also training and partial support included for one doctorate, two master and eight undergraduate students. General public will be reached through social media and YouTube channel productions. A suite of three stable isotopes (carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) will be analyzed in Adelie penguin bones and feathers from active and abandoned colonies to assess ecological shifts through time. Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen (\u03b413C and \u03b415N) are commonly used to investigate animal migration, foraging locations and diet, especially in marine species that can travel over great distances. Sulfur (\u03b434S) is not as commonly used but is increasingly being applied to refine and corroborate data obtained from carbon and nitrogen analyses. Collagen is one of the best tissues for these analyses as it is abundant in bone, preserves well, and can be easily extracted for analysis. Using these three isotopes from collagen, ancient and modern penguin colonies will be investigated in the southern, central and northern Ross Sea to determine changes in populations and foraging locations over millennia. Most of these colonies are associated with one of three polynyas in the Ross Sea. This study will be the first of its kind to apply multiple stable isotope analyses to investigate a living species of seabird over millennia in a region where it still exists today. Results from this project will also inform management on best practices for Adelie penguin conservation affected by climate change. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -180.0, "geometry": "POINT(170 -74)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Climate Change; Adelie Penguin; Foraging Ecology; Ross Sea; PENGUINS; Holocene; Stable Isotopes", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Lane, Chad S; Polito, Michael", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Using Multiple Stable Isotopes to Investigate Middle to Late Holocene Ecological Responses by Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0010388", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "2135184 Arrigo, Kevin; 2135186 Baumberger, Tamara; 2135185 Resing, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((155 -61,156.5 -61,158 -61,159.5 -61,161 -61,162.5 -61,164 -61,165.5 -61,167 -61,168.5 -61,170 -61,170 -61.2,170 -61.4,170 -61.6,170 -61.8,170 -62,170 -62.2,170 -62.4,170 -62.6,170 -62.8,170 -63,168.5 -63,167 -63,165.5 -63,164 -63,162.5 -63,161 -63,159.5 -63,158 -63,156.5 -63,155 -63,155 -62.8,155 -62.6,155 -62.4,155 -62.2,155 -62,155 -61.8,155 -61.6,155 -61.4,155 -61.2,155 -61))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phytoplankton blooms throughout the world\u2019s oceans support critical marine ecosystems and help remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Traditionally, it has been assumed that phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean are stimulated by iron from either nearby land or sea-ice. However, recent work demonstrates that hydrothermal vents may be an additional iron source for phytoplankton blooms. This enhancement of phytoplankton productivity by different iron sources supports rich marine ecosystems and leads to the sequestration of carbon in the deep ocean. Our proposed work will uncover the importance of hydrothermal activity in stimulating a large phytoplankton bloom along the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current just north of the Ross Sea. It will also lead towards a better understanding of the overall impact of hydrothermal activity on the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean, which appears to trigger local hotspots of biological activity which are a potential sink for atmospheric CO2. This project will encourage the participation of underrepresented groups in ocean sciences, as well as providing educational opportunities for high school and undergraduate students, through three different programs. Stanford University\u2019s Summer Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering (SURGE) program provides undergraduates from different US universities and diverse cultural backgrounds the opportunity to spend a summer doing a research project at Stanford. The Stanford Earth Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SESUR) is for Stanford undergraduates who want to learn more about environmental science by performing original research. Finally, Stanford\u2019s School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences High School Internship Program enables young scientists to serve as mentors, prepares high school students for college, and serves to strengthen the partnership between Stanford and local schools. Students present their results at the Fall AGU meeting as part of the AGU Bright STaRS program. This project will form the basis of at least two PhD dissertations. The Stanford student will participate in Stanford\u2019s Woods Institute Rising Environmental Leaders Program (RELP), a year-round program that helps graduate students hone their leadership and communication skills to maximize the impact of their research. The graduate student will also participate in Stanford\u2019s Grant Writing Academy where they will receive training in developing and articulating research strategies to tackle important scientific questions. This interdisciplinary program combines satellite and ship-based measurements of a large poorly understood phytoplankton bloom (the AAR bloom) in the northwestern Ross Sea sector of the Southern Ocean with a detailed modeling study of the physical processes linking deep dissolved iron (DFe) reservoirs to the surface phytoplankton bloom. Prior to the cruise, we will implement a numerical model (CROCO) for our study region so that we can better understand the circulation, plumes, turbulence, fronts, and eddy field around the AAR bloom and how they transport and mix hydrothermally produced DFe vertically. Post cruise, observations of the vertical distribution of 3He (combined with DMn and DFe), will be used as initial conditions for a passive tracer in the model, and tracer dispersal will be assessed to better quantify the role of the various turbulent processes in upwelling DFe-rich waters to the upper ocean. The satellite-based component of the program will characterize the broader sampling region before, during, and after our cruise. During the cruise, our automated software system at Stanford University will download and process images of sea ice concentration, Chl-a concentration, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height (SSH) and send them electronically to the ship. Operationally, our goal is to use all available satellite data and preliminary model results to target shipboard sampling both geographically and temporally to optimize sampling of the AAR bloom. We will use available BGC-Argo float data to help characterize the AAR bloom. In collaboration with SOCCOM, we will deploy additional BGC-Argo floats (if available) during our transit through the study area to allow us to better characterize the bloom. The centerpiece of our program will be a 40-day process study cruise in austral summer. The cruise will consist of an initial \u201cradiator\u201d pattern of hydrographic surveys/sections along the AAR followed by CTDs to selected submarine volcanoes. When/if eddies are identified, they will be sampled either during or after the initial surveys. The radiator pattern, or parts thereof, will be repeated 2-3 times. Hydrographic survey stations will include vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, oxygen, oxidation-reduction potential, light scatter, and PAR (400-700 nm). Samples will be collected for trace metals, ligands, 3He, and total suspended matter. Where intense hydrothermal activity is identified, samples for pH and total CO2 will also be collected to characterize the hydrothermal system. Water samples will be collected for characterization of macronutrients, and phytoplankton physiology, abundance, species composition, and size. During transits, we will continuously measure atmospheric conditions, current speed and direction, and surface SST, salinity, pCO2, and fluorescence from the ship\u2019s systems to provide detailed maps of these parameters. The ship will be used as a platform for conducting phytoplankton DFe bioassay experiments at key stations throughout the study region both inside and outside the bloom. We will also perform detailed comparisons of algal taxonomic composition, physiology, and size structure inside and outside the bloom to determine the potential importance of each community on local biogeochemistry. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -62)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Antarctica; TRACE ELEMENTS; Hydrothermal Vent; Phytoplankton; Primary Production", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -61.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Arrigo, Kevin; Thomas, Leif N; Baumberger, Tamara; Resing, Joseph", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -63.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Understanding the Massive Phytoplankton Blooms over the Australian-Antarctic Ridge", "uid": "p0010381", "west": 155.0}, {"awards": "1744562 Loose, Brice", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -71,-179.9 -71,-179.8 -71,-179.7 -71,-179.6 -71,-179.5 -71,-179.4 -71,-179.3 -71,-179.2 -71,-179.1 -71,-179 -71,-179 -71.7,-179 -72.4,-179 -73.1,-179 -73.8,-179 -74.5,-179 -75.2,-179 -75.9,-179 -76.6,-179 -77.3,-179 -78,-179.1 -78,-179.2 -78,-179.3 -78,-179.4 -78,-179.5 -78,-179.6 -78,-179.7 -78,-179.8 -78,-179.9 -78,180 -78,177.5 -78,175 -78,172.5 -78,170 -78,167.5 -78,165 -78,162.5 -78,160 -78,157.5 -78,155 -78,155 -77.3,155 -76.6,155 -75.9,155 -75.2,155 -74.5,155 -73.8,155 -73.1,155 -72.4,155 -71.7,155 -71,157.5 -71,160 -71,162.5 -71,165 -71,167.5 -71,170 -71,172.5 -71,175 -71,177.5 -71,-180 -71))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data of NBP1704; NBP1704 Expedition Data; PIPERS Noble Gases", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001363", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1704 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1704"}, {"dataset_uid": "601609", "doi": "10.15784/601609", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Mass Spectrometer; NBP1704; Noble Gas; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Loose, Brice", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "PIPERS Noble Gases", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601609"}, {"dataset_uid": "200329", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "MGDS", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1704", "url": "https://www.marine-geo.org/tools/entry/NBP1704"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Near the Antarctic coast, polynyas are open-water regions where extreme heat loss in winter causes seawater to become cold, salty, and dense enough to sink into the deep sea. The formation of this dense water has regional and global importance because it influences the ocean current system. Polynya processes are also tied to the amount of sea ice formed, ocean heat lost to atmosphere, and atmospheric CO2 absorbed by the Southern Ocean. Unfortunately, the ocean-atmosphere interactions that influence the deep ocean water properties are difficult to observe directly during the Antarctic winter. This project will combine field measurements and laboratory experiments to investigate whether differences in the concentration of noble gasses (helium, neon, argon, xenon, and krypton) dissolved in ocean waters can be linked to environmental conditions at the time of their formation. If so, noble gas concentrations could provide insight into the mechanisms controlling shelf and bottom-water properties, and be used to reconstruct past climate conditions. Project results will contribute to the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) theme of The Future and Consequences of Carbon Uptake in the Southern Ocean. The project will also train undergraduate and graduate students in environmental monitoring, and earth and ocean sciences methods. Understanding the causal links between Antarctic coastal processes and changes in the deep ocean system requires study of winter polynya processes. The winter period of intense ocean heat loss and sea ice production impacts two important Antarctic water masses: High-Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW), and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), which then influence the strength of the ocean solubility pump and meridional overturning circulation. To better characterize how sea ice cover, ocean-atmosphere exchange, brine rejection, and glacial melt influence the physical properties of AABW and HSSW, this project will analyze samples and data collected from two Ross Sea polynyas during the 2017 PIPERS winter cruise. Gas concentrations will be measured in seawater samples collected by a CTD rosette, from an underwater mass-spectrometer, and from a benchtop Membrane Inlet Mass Spectrometer. Noble gas concentrations will reveal the ocean-atmosphere (dis)equilibrium that exists at the time that surface water is transformed into HSSW and AABW, and provide a fingerprint of past conditions. In addition, nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), argon, and CO2 concentration will be used to determine the net metabolic balance, and to evaluate the efficacy of N2 as an alternative to O2 as glacial meltwater tracer. Laboratory experiments will determine the gas partitioning ratios during sea ice formation. Findings will be synthesized with PIPERS and related projects, and so provide an integrated view of the role of the wintertime Antarctic coastal system on deep water composition. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -179.0, "geometry": "POINT(168 -74.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Helium Isotopes; R/V NBP; DISSOLVED GASES; POLYNYAS; Ross Sea", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Loose, Brice", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "MGDS; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Measuring Dissolved Gases to Reveal the Processes that Drive the Solubility Pump and Determine Gas Concentration in Antarctic Bottom Water", "uid": "p0010376", "west": 155.0}, {"awards": "2123333 Fitzsimmons, Jessica; 2123354 Conway, Timothy; 2123491 John, Seth", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-135 -66,-131.5 -66,-128 -66,-124.5 -66,-121 -66,-117.5 -66,-114 -66,-110.5 -66,-107 -66,-103.5 -66,-100 -66,-100 -67,-100 -68,-100 -69,-100 -70,-100 -71,-100 -72,-100 -73,-100 -74,-100 -75,-100 -76,-103.5 -76,-107 -76,-110.5 -76,-114 -76,-117.5 -76,-121 -76,-124.5 -76,-128 -76,-131.5 -76,-135 -76,-135 -75,-135 -74,-135 -73,-135 -72,-135 -71,-135 -70,-135 -69,-135 -68,-135 -67,-135 -66))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The goal of the international GEOTRACES program is to understand the distributions of trace chemical elements and their isotopes (TEIs) in the oceans. Many trace metals such as iron are essential for life and thus considered nutrients for phytoplankton growth, with trace metal cycling being especially important for influencing carbon cycling in the iron-limited Southern Ocean, where episodic supply of iron from a range of different external sources is important. The primary goal of this project is to measure the dissolved concentrations, size partitioning, and dissolved isotope signature of Fe on a transect of water-column stations throughout the Amundsen Sea and surrounding region of the Antarctic Margin, as part of the GP17-ANT Expedition. The secondary goal of this project is to analyze the concentrations and size partitioning of the trace metals manganese, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, and lead in all water-column samples, measure the isotope ratios of zinc, cadmium, nickel, and copper in a subset of water column samples, and measure the Fe isotopic signature of aerosols, porewaters, and particles. Observations from this project will be incorporated into regional and global biogeochemistry models to assess TEI cycling within the Amundsen Sea and implications for the wider Southern Ocean. This project spans three institutions, four graduate students, undergraduate students, and will provide ultrafiltered samples and data to other PIs as service. The US GEOTRACES GP17 ANT expedition, planned for austral summer 2023/2024 aims to determine the distribution and cycling of trace elements and their isotopes in the Amundsen Sea Sector (100-135\u00b0W) of the Antarctic Margin. The cruise will follow the Amundsen Sea \u2018conveyor belt\u2019 by sampling waters coming from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current onto the continental shelf, including near the Dotson and Pine Island ice shelves, the productive Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP), and outflowing waters. Episodic addition of dissolved Fe and other TEIs from dust, ice-shelves, melting ice, and sediments drive seasonal primary productivity and carbon export over the Antarctic shelf and offshore into Southern Ocean. Seasonal coastal polynyas such as the highly productive ASP thus act as key levers on global carbon cycling. However, field observations of TEIs in such regions remain scarce, and biogeochemical cycling processes are poorly captured in models of ocean biogeochemistry. The investigators will use their combined analytical toolbox, in collaboration with the diagnostic chemical tracers and regional models of other funded groups to address four main objectives: 1) What is the relative importance of different sources in supplying Fe and other TEIs to the ASP? 2) What is the physiochemical speciation of this Fe, and its potential for transport? 3) How do biological uptake, scavenging and regeneration in the ASP influence TEI distributions, stoichiometry, and nutrient limitation? 4) What is the flux and signature of TEIs transported offshore to the ACC and Southern Ocean? This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-117.5 -71)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Amundsen Sea; TRACE ELEMENTS; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Chemical Oceanography; Chemical Oceanography; Chemical Oceanography", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Conway, Timothy; Fitzsimmons, Jessica; John, Seth", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: US GEOTRACES GP17-ANT: Dissolved concentrations, isotopes, and colloids of the bioactive trace metals", "uid": "p0010374", "west": -135.0}, {"awards": "2147045 Learman, Deric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-168 -60,-156 -60,-144 -60,-132 -60,-120 -60,-108 -60,-96 -60,-84 -60,-72 -60,-60 -60,-60 -62,-60 -64,-60 -66,-60 -68,-60 -70,-60 -72,-60 -74,-60 -76,-60 -78,-60 -80,-72 -80,-84 -80,-96 -80,-108 -80,-120 -80,-132 -80,-144 -80,-156 -80,-168 -80,180 -80,171 -80,162 -80,153 -80,144 -80,135 -80,126 -80,117 -80,108 -80,99 -80,90 -80,90 -78,90 -76,90 -74,90 -72,90 -70,90 -68,90 -66,90 -64,90 -62,90 -60,99 -60,108 -60,117 -60,126 -60,135 -60,144 -60,153 -60,162 -60,171 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments eastern Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601876", "doi": "10.15784/601876", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Learman, Deric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments eastern Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601876"}], "date_created": "Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Microbes in Antarctic surface marine sediments have an important role in degrading organic matter and releasing nutrients to the ocean. Organic matter degradation is at the center of the carbon cycle in the ocean, providing valuable information on nutrient recycling, food availability to animals and carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere. The functionality of these microbes has been inferred by their genomics, however these methods only address the possible function, not their actual rates. In this project the PIs plan to combine genomics methods with cellular estimates of enzyme abundance and activity as a way to determine the rates of carbon degradation. This project aims to sample in several regions of Antarctica to provide a large-scale picture of the processes under study and understand the importance of microbial community composition and environmental factors, such as primary productivity, have on microbial activity. The proposed work will combine research tools such as metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with chemical data and enzyme assays to establish degradation of organic matter in Antarctic sediments. This project benefits NSFs goals of understanding the adaptation of Antarctic organisms to the cold and isolated environment, critical to predict effects of climate change to polar organisms, as well as contribute to our knowledge of how Antarctic organisms have adapted to this environment. Society will benefit from this project by education of 2 graduate students, undergraduates and K-12 students as well as increase public literacy through short videos production shared in YouTube. The PIs propose to advance understanding of polar microbial community function, by measuring enzyme and gene function of complex organic matter degradation in several ocean regions, providing a circum-Antarctic description of sediment processes. Two hypotheses are proposed. The first hypothesis states that many genes for the degradation of complex organic matter will be shared in sediments throughout a sampling transect and that where variations in gene content occur, it will reflect differences in the quantity and quality of organic matter, not regional variability. The second hypothesis states that a fraction of gene transcripts for organic matter degradation will not result in measurable enzyme activity due to post-translational modification or rapid degradation of the enzymes. The PIs will analyze sediment cores already collected in a 2020 cruise to the western Antarctic Peninsula with the additional request of participating in a cruise in 2023 to East Antarctica. The PIs will analyze sediments for metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with geochemical data and enzyme assays to establish microbial degradation of complex organic matter in Antarctic sediments. Organic carbon concentrations and content in sediments will be measured with \u03b413C, \u03b415N, TOC porewater fluorescence in bulk organic carbon. Combined with determination of geographical variability as well as dependence on carbon sources, results from this study could provide the basis for new hypotheses on how climate variability, with increased water temperature, affects geochemistry in the Southern Ocean. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 90.0, "geometry": "POINT(-165 -70)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BENTHIC; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; Weddell Sea; Antarctic Peninsula; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; R/V NBP", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Learman, Deric", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Connecting Metagenome Potential to Microbial Function: Investigating Microbial Degradation of Complex Organic Matter Antarctic Benthic Sediments", "uid": "p0010373", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "2212904 Herbert, Lisa; 2407093 Herbert, Lisa", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sun, 07 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. This project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the \u201cAccelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean\u201d (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-110 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "TRACE ELEMENTS; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amundsen Sea", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Post Doc/Travel", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Herbert, Lisa", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -75.0, "title": "OPP-PRF: Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea", "uid": "p0010362", "west": -120.0}, {"awards": "1937546 Morgan-Kiss, Rachael; 1937595 Briggs, Brandon", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77.616667,162.1 -77.616667,162.2 -77.616667,162.3 -77.616667,162.4 -77.616667,162.5 -77.616667,162.6 -77.616667,162.7 -77.616667,162.8 -77.616667,162.9 -77.616667,163 -77.616667,163 -77.6283336,163 -77.6400002,163 -77.6516668,163 -77.6633334,163 -77.67500000000001,163 -77.68666660000001,163 -77.69833320000001,163 -77.7099998,163 -77.7216664,163 -77.733333,162.9 -77.733333,162.8 -77.733333,162.7 -77.733333,162.6 -77.733333,162.5 -77.733333,162.4 -77.733333,162.3 -77.733333,162.2 -77.733333,162.1 -77.733333,162 -77.733333,162 -77.7216664,162 -77.7099998,162 -77.69833320000001,162 -77.68666660000001,162 -77.67500000000001,162 -77.6633334,162 -77.6516668,162 -77.6400002,162 -77.6283336,162 -77.616667))", "dataset_titles": "18S rRNA from McMurdo Dry Valley lakes", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200436", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "18S rRNA from McMurdo Dry Valley lakes", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1125919/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 27 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Microbial communities are of more than just a scientific curiosity. Microbes represent the single largest source of evolutionary and biochemical diversity on the planet. They are the major agents for cycling carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements through the ecosystem. Despite their importance in ecosystem function, microbes are still generally overlooked in food web models and nutrient cycles. Moreover, microbes do not live in isolation: their growth and metabolism are influenced by complex interactions with other microorganisms. This project will focus on the ecology, activity and roles of microbial communities in Antarctic Lake ecosystems. The team will characterize the genetic underpinnings of microbial interactions and the influence of environmental gradients (e.g. light, nutrients, oxygen, sulfur) and seasons (e.g. summer vs. winter) on microbial networks in Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley within the McMurdo Dry Valley region. Finally, the project furthers the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists by including undergraduate and graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher and a middle school teacher in both lab and field research activities. This partnership will involve a number of other outreach training activities, including visits to classrooms and community events, participation in social media platforms, and webinars. Part II: Technical description: Ecosystem function in the extreme Antarctic Dry Valleys ecosystem is dependent on complex biogeochemical interactions between physiochemical environmental factors (e.g. light, nutrients, oxygen, sulfur), time of year (e.g. summer vs. winter) and microbes. Microbial network complexity can vary in relation to specific abiotic factors, which has important implications on the fragility and resilience of ecosystems under threat of environmental change. This project will evaluate the influence of biogeochemical factors on microbial interactions and network complexity in two Antarctic ice-covered lakes. The study will be structured by three main objectives: 1) infer positive and negative interactions from rich spatial and temporal datasets and investigate the influence of biogeochemical gradients on microbial network complexity using a variety of molecular approaches; 2) directly observe interactions among microbial eukaryotes and their partners using flow cytometry, single-cell sorting and microscopy; and 3) develop metabolic models of specific interactions using metagenomics. Outcomes from amplicon sequencing, meta-omics, and single-cell genomic approaches will be integrated to map specific microbial network complexity and define the role of interactions and metabolic activity onto trends in limnological biogeochemistry in different seasons. These studies will be essential to determine the relationship between network complexity and future climate conditions. Undergraduate researchers will be recruited from both an REU program with a track record of attracting underrepresented minorities and two minority-serving institutions. To further increase polar literacy training and educational impacts, the field team will include a teacher as part of a collaboration with the successful NSF-funded PolarTREC program and participation in activities designed for public outreach. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.67500000000001)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROALGAE; AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS; Antarctica; LAKE/POND; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.616667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Morgan-Kiss, Rachael; Briggs, Brandon", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCBI SRA", "repositories": "NCBI SRA", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.733333, "title": "ANT LIA: Collaborative Research: Genetic Underpinnings of Microbial Interactions in Chemically Stratified Antarctic Lakes", "uid": "p0010355", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1744767 Sanders, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68 -64,-67.4 -64,-66.8 -64,-66.2 -64,-65.6 -64,-65 -64,-64.4 -64,-63.8 -64,-63.2 -64,-62.6 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.5,-62 -65,-62 -65.5,-62 -66,-62 -66.5,-62 -67,-62 -67.5,-62 -68,-62 -68.5,-62 -69,-62.6 -69,-63.2 -69,-63.8 -69,-64.4 -69,-65 -69,-65.6 -69,-66.2 -69,-66.8 -69,-67.4 -69,-68 -69,-68 -68.5,-68 -68,-68 -67.5,-68 -67,-68 -66.5,-68 -66,-68 -65.5,-68 -65,-68 -64.5,-68 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Companion datasets to Diversity of microbial eukaryotes along the West Antarctic peninsula in austral spring.; Expedition Data of NBP1910; Expedition Data of NBP 2205; LMG1904 expedition data; NBP1910_protist_community_RNA Raw sequence reads; NBP2205_protist_community_RNA Raw sequence reads will be made available here after processing is completed", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200147", "doi": "10.7284/908260", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG1904 expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1904"}, {"dataset_uid": "200320", "doi": "10.6084/m9.figshare.19514110.v3", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Figshare", "science_program": null, "title": "Companion datasets to Diversity of microbial eukaryotes along the West Antarctic peninsula in austral spring.", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19514110.v3"}, {"dataset_uid": "200325", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1910", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1910"}, {"dataset_uid": "200365", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1910_protist_community_RNA Raw sequence reads; NBP2205_protist_community_RNA Raw sequence reads will be made available here after processing is completed", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/all/?term=PRJNA807326"}, {"dataset_uid": "200366", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP 2205", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP2205"}], "date_created": "Wed, 27 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Traditional models of oceanic food chains have consisted of photosynthetic algae (phytoplankton) being ingested by small animals (zooplankton), which were ingested by larger animals (fish). These traditional models changed as new methods allowed recognition of the importance of bacteria and other non-photosynthetic protozoa in more complex food webs. More recently, the wide-spread existence of mixotrophs (organisms that can both photosynthesize and ingest food particles) and their importance as microbial predators has been recognized in many oceanographic areas. In the Southern Ocean, the only two surveys of mixotrophs have suggested that there may be seasonal differences in their importance as predators. During the long polar night (winter), the ability of mixotrophs to ingest particulate food may aid in their survival thus ensuring a sufficient population in spring to support a phytoplankton bloom once photosynthesis rates can increase. Thus mixotrophs may provide a critical early food source upon which zooplankton and larger animals depend on for growth and reproduction. This project will advance understanding of mixotroph diversity and their ecological impact within the Southern Ocean microbial food web. Specifically, efforts will be focused on mixotrophy in the western Antarctica peninsula region during the austral spring and autumn when there are likely to be changes in the relative importance of photosynthesis and ingestion to mixotrophs. The project will provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher. There will be real-time outreach from the Southern Ocean to the public via blogs and interviews, and to high school art students through an established program that blends science and art education. Despite traditional views of protists as either \"phototrophic\" or \"heterotrophic,\" there are many photosynthetic protists that consume prey (mixotrophy). Mixotrophy is a widespread phenomenon in aquatic systems and phytoplankton groups with known mixotrophic species, notably chrysophytes, cryptophytes, prymnesiophytes, prasinophytes and dinoflagellates, are present and often abundant in Antarctic waters. However, in the Southern Ocean, the presence of mixotrophic phytoflagellates has been surveyed only twice: in the Ross Sea during Austral spring 2008 and summer 2011. The primary goals of the project are to gain better understanding of mixotroph diversity and their ecological impact with respect to the Southern Ocean microbial food web. The contribution of mixotrophs to primary production and bacterial consumption is likely linked to the taxonomic composition of the community and the abundance of particular species. Abundances of novel mixotrophic species will be evaluated via qPCR, which will be coupled with assessments of rates of feeding and photosynthesis with the goal of describing how active mixotrophs direct the movement of carbon through food webs. These experiments will help the determination of how viable and widespread mixotrophy is as a nutritional strategy in polar waters and give direct information on the currently unknown diversity of mixotrophic taxa under different environmental conditions occurring in austral spring and autumn. Furthermore, the methods will simultaneously yield information on the whole communities of protists - mixotrophic, phototrophic and heterotrophic. In addition, a method to examine aspects of the taxonomic and functional diversities of the bacterivorous/mixotrophic community will be employed. A thymidine analog (BrdU) will be used to label DNA of eukaryotes feeding on bacteria. The BrdU-labeled eukaryotic DNA will be isolated using immunoprecipitation. High-throughput sequencing of the labeled DNA (bacterivores) versus unlabeled community DNA will determine the diversity of bacterivorous mixotrophs relative to other microeukaryotes. Flow cytometric sorting based on chlorophyll to focus on mixotrophic species. These approaches will elucidate a gap in current knowledge of the influence of microbial interactions in the Southern Ocean under different conditions. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-65 -66.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; PLANKTON; COASTAL", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sanders, Robert; Gast, Rebecca; Jeffrey, Wade H.", "platforms": null, "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "Figshare; NCBI; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Diversity and ecological impacts of Antarctic mixotrophic phytoplankton", "uid": "p0010357", "west": -68.0}, {"awards": "2012247 Groff, Dulcinea; 2012444 Cimino, Megan; 2012365 Johnston, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -64.5,-64.8 -64.5,-64.6 -64.5,-64.4 -64.5,-64.2 -64.5,-64 -64.5,-63.8 -64.5,-63.6 -64.5,-63.4 -64.5,-63.2 -64.5,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.55,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.65,-63 -64.7,-63 -64.75,-63 -64.8,-63 -64.85,-63 -64.9,-63 -64.95,-63 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.8 -65,-64 -65,-64.2 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.8 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.95,-65 -64.9,-65 -64.85,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.75,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.65,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.55,-65 -64.5))", "dataset_titles": "Aerial data from drone surveys of coastal habitats on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral summer (January\u2013March 2020 and February\u2013March 2019); Data from: Terrestrial spatial distribution and summer abundance of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from drone surveys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200471", "doi": "10.7924/r4sf2xs2w", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Duke Research Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "Aerial data from drone surveys of coastal habitats on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral summer (January\u2013March 2020 and February\u2013March 2019)", "url": "https://research.repository.duke.edu/concern/datasets/r207tq370?locale=en"}, {"dataset_uid": "200472", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwp0", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from: Terrestrial spatial distribution and summer abundance of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from drone surveys", "url": "https://datadryad.org/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwp0"}], "date_created": "Sun, 24 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded in whole or part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Part I: Non-technical description: Ad\u00e9lie penguin colonies are declining and disappearing from the western Antarctic Peninsula. However, not all colonies in a certain area decline or disappear at the same rate. This research project will evaluate the influence of terrestrial surface properties on Ad\u00e9lie penguin colonies, leveraging five decades of research on seabirds near Palmer Station where an Ad\u00e9lie colony on Litchfield Island became extinct in 2007 while other colonies nearby are still present. The researchers will combine information obtained from remote sensing, UAS (Unoccupied Aircraft System, or drones) high-resolution maps, reconstruction of past moss banks and modeling with machine learning tools to define suitable penguin and peatbank moss habitats and explore the influence of microclimate on their distributions. In particular, the researchers are asking if guano from penguin colonies could act as fertilizers of moss banks in the presence of localized wind patters that can carry airborne nitrogen to the mosses. Modeling will relate penguin and peatbank moss spatial patterns to environmental variables and provide a greater understanding of how continued environmental change could impact these communities. The project allows for documentation of terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems in support of seabirds and provisioning of such information to the broader science community that seeks to study penguins, educating graduate and undergraduate students and a post-doctoral researcher. The research team includes two young women as Principal Investigators, one of them from an under-represented ethnic minority, first time Antarctic Principal Investigator, from an EPSCoR state (Wyoming), broadening participation in Antarctic research. Researchers will serve as student mentors through the Duke Bass Connections program entitled Biogeographic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats. This program supports an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students collaborating with project faculty and experts on cutting-edge research bridging the classroom and the real world. Part II: Technical description: This research aims to understand the changes at the microclimate scale (meters) by analyzing present and past Ad\u00e9lie penguin colonies and moss peatbanks in islands around Palmer Station in the western Antarctic Peninsula \u2013 interlinked systems that are typically considered in isolation. By integrating in situ and remote data, this project will synthesize the drivers of biogeomorphology on small islands of the Antarctic Peninsula, a region of rapid change where plants and animals often co-occur and animal presence often determines the habitation of plants. A multi-disciplinary approach combine field measurements, remote sensing, UAS (Unoccupied Aircraft Systems) maps, paleoecology and modeling with machine learning to define suitable habitats and the influence of microclimates on penguin and peatbank distributions. The link between the two aspects of this study, peatbanks and penguins, is the potential source of nutrients for peat mosses from penguin guano. Peatbank and penguin distribution will be modeled and all models will be validated using in situ information from moss samples that will identify mechanistic processes. This project leverages 5 decades of seabird research in the area and high-definition remote sensing provided by the Polar Geospatial center to study the microclimate of Litchfield Island where an Ad\u00e9lie colony became extinct in 2007 when other colonies nearby are still present. The research team includes two early career women as Principal Investigators, one of them from an under-represented ethnic minority, first time Antarctic Principal Investigator, from an EPSCoR state (Wyoming). Researchers will serve as mentors for students through the Duke Bass Connections program entitled Biogeogrpahic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats which bridges the classroom and the real world. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Palmer Station; Antarctic Peninsula; COASTAL; STABLE ISOTOPES; TOPOGRAPHIC EFFECTS; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; MACROFOSSILS; PLANTS; PENGUINS; ISOTOPES; VISIBLE IMAGERY; RADIOCARBON; Anvers Island", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island; Palmer Station", "north": -64.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Groff, Dulcinea; Cimino, Megan; Johnston, David", "platforms": null, "repo": "Duke Research Repository", "repositories": "Dryad; Duke Research Repository", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Common Environmental Drivers Determine the Occupation Chronology of Ad\u00e9lie Penguins and Moss Peatbanks on the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010354", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1643669 Petrenko, Vasilii; 1643664 Severinghaus, Jeffrey; 1643716 Buizert, Christo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((112 -66,112.2 -66,112.4 -66,112.6 -66,112.8 -66,113 -66,113.2 -66,113.4 -66,113.6 -66,113.8 -66,114 -66,114 -66.1,114 -66.2,114 -66.3,114 -66.4,114 -66.5,114 -66.6,114 -66.7,114 -66.8,114 -66.9,114 -67,113.8 -67,113.6 -67,113.4 -67,113.2 -67,113 -67,112.8 -67,112.6 -67,112.4 -67,112.2 -67,112 -67,112 -66.9,112 -66.8,112 -66.7,112 -66.6,112 -66.5,112 -66.4,112 -66.3,112 -66.2,112 -66.1,112 -66))", "dataset_titles": "Concentration and isotopic composition of atmospheric N2O over the last century; Law Dome DE08-OH firn air 15N, O2/N2, Ar/N2, 18O of O2; Law Dome DE08-OH site noble gases in ice: testing the 86Krexcess proxy; Law Dome firn air and ice core 14CO concentration", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601597", "doi": "10.15784/601597", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ice Core; Law Dome; Noble Gas", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Law Dome DE08-OH site noble gases in ice: testing the 86Krexcess proxy", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601597"}, {"dataset_uid": "601598", "doi": "10.15784/601598", "keywords": "Antarctica; Firn; Firn Density; Gravitational Settling; Inert Gases; Law Dome", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Law Dome DE08-OH firn air 15N, O2/N2, Ar/N2, 18O of O2", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601598"}, {"dataset_uid": "601693", "doi": "10.15784/601693", "keywords": "Antarctic; Antarctica; Anthropogenic Emission; Atmosphere; Greenhouse Gas; Greenland; Ice Core Data; Nitrification And Denitrification Processes; Nitrous Oxide; Site-Specific 15N Isotopomer; Styx Glacier", "people": "Yoshida, Naohiro ; Etheridge, David; Ghosh, Sambit; Toyoda, Sakae ; Buizert, Christo ; Ahn, Jinho ; Joong Kim, Seong; Langenfelds, Ray L ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Concentration and isotopic composition of atmospheric N2O over the last century", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601693"}, {"dataset_uid": "601846", "doi": "10.15784/601846", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Cryosphere; Firn Air; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Law Dome; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Petrenko, Vasilii", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Law Dome firn air and ice core 14CO concentration", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601846"}], "date_created": "Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Hydroxyl radicals are responsible for removal of most atmospheric trace gases, including pollutants and important greenhouse gases. They have been called the \"detergent of the atmosphere\". Changes in hydroxyl radical concentration in response to large changes in reactive trace gas emissions, which may happen in the future, are uncertain. This project aims to provide the first estimates of the variability of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals since about 1880 AD when anthropogenic emissions of reactive trace gases were minimal. This will improve understanding of their stability in response to large changes in emissions. The project will also investigate whether ice cores record past changes in Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. These winds are a key component of the global climate system, and have an important influence on ocean circulation and possibly on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The project team will include three early career scientists, a postdoctoral researcher, and graduate and undergraduate students, working in collaboration with senior scientists and Australian collaborators. Firn air and shallow ice to a depth of about 233 m will be sampled at the Law Dome high-accumulation coastal site in East Antarctica. Trapped air will be extracted from the ice cores on site immediately after drilling. Carbon-14 of carbon monoxide (14CO) will be analyzed in firn and ice-core air samples. Corrections will be made for the in situ cosmogenic 14CO component in the ice, allowing for the atmospheric 14CO history to be reconstructed. This 14CO history will be interpreted with the aid of a chemistry-transport model to place the first observational constraints on the variability of Southern Hemisphere hydroxyl radical concentration after about 1880 AD. An additional component of the project will analyze Krypton-86 in the firn-air and ice-core samples. These measurements will explore whether ice-core Krypton-86 acts as a proxy for barometric pressure variability, and whether this proxy can be used in Antarctic ice cores to infer past movement of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 114.0, "geometry": "POINT(113 -66.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; Law Dome; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; LABORATORY; ICE CORE AIR BUBBLES; USA/NSF", "locations": "Law Dome", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Petrenko, Vasilii; Murray, Lee T; Buizert, Christo; Petrenko, Vasilii; Murray, Lee T", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Reconstructing Carbon-14 of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide from Law Dome, Antarctica to Constrain Long-Term Hydroxyl Radical Variability", "uid": "p0010341", "west": 112.0}, {"awards": "1745082 Beilman, David; 1745068 Booth, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.4 -62.4,-63.910000000000004 -62.4,-63.42 -62.4,-62.93000000000001 -62.4,-62.440000000000005 -62.4,-61.95 -62.4,-61.46 -62.4,-60.97 -62.4,-60.480000000000004 -62.4,-59.99 -62.4,-59.5 -62.4,-59.5 -62.7,-59.5 -63,-59.5 -63.3,-59.5 -63.6,-59.5 -63.900000000000006,-59.5 -64.2,-59.5 -64.5,-59.5 -64.80000000000001,-59.5 -65.10000000000001,-59.5 -65.4,-59.99 -65.4,-60.480000000000004 -65.4,-60.97 -65.4,-61.46 -65.4,-61.95 -65.4,-62.440000000000005 -65.4,-62.93000000000001 -65.4,-63.42 -65.4,-63.910000000000004 -65.4,-64.4 -65.4,-64.4 -65.10000000000001,-64.4 -64.80000000000001,-64.4 -64.5,-64.4 -64.2,-64.4 -63.900000000000006,-64.4 -63.6,-64.4 -63.3,-64.4 -63,-64.4 -62.7,-64.4 -62.4))", "dataset_titles": "LMG2002 Expedtition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200222", "doi": "10.7284/908802", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG2002 Expedtition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG2002"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Warming on the western Antarctic Peninsula in the later 20th century has caused widespread changes in the cryosphere (ice and snow) and terrestrial ecosystems. These recent changes along with longer-term climate and ecosystem histories will be deciphered using peat deposits. Peat accumulation can be used to assess the rate of glacial retreat and provide insight into ecological processes on newly deglaciated landscapes in the Antarctic Peninsula. This project builds on data suggesting recent ecosystem transformations that are linked to past climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide a timeline to assess the extent and rate of recent glacial change. The study will produce a climate record for the coastal low-elevation terrestrial region, which will refine the major climate shifts of up to 6 degrees C in the recent past (last 12,000 years). A novel terrestrial record of the recent glacial history will provide insight into observed changes in climate and sea-ice dynamics in the western Antarctic Peninsula and allow for comparison with off-shore climate records captured in sediments. Observations and discoveries from this project will be disseminated to local schools and science centers. The project provides training and career development for a postdoctoral scientist as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The research presents a new systematic survey to reconstruct ecosystem and climate change for the coastal low-elevation areas on the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) using proxy records preserved in late Holocene peat deposits. Moss and peat samples will be collected and analyzed to generate a comprehensive data set of late-Holocene climate change and ecosystem dynamics. The goal is to document and understand the transformations of landscape and terrestrial ecosystems on the western AP during the late Holocene. The testable hypothesis is that coastal regions have experienced greater climate variability than evidenced in ice-core records and that past warmth has facilitated dramatic ecosystem and cryosphere response. A primary product of the project is a robust reconstruction of late Holocene climate changes for coastal low-elevation terrestrial areas using multiple lines of evidence from peat-based biological and geochemical proxies, which will be used to compare with climate records derived from marine sediments and ice cores from the AP region. These data will be used to test several ideas related to novel peat-forming ecosystems (such as Antarctic hairgrass bogs) in past warmer climates and climate controls over ecosystem establishment and migration to help assess the nature of the Little Ice Age cooling and cryosphere response. The chronology of peat cores will be established by radiocarbon dating of macrofossils and Bayesian modeling. The high-resolution time series of ecosystem and climate changes will help put the observed recent changes into a long-term context to bridge climate dynamics over different time scales. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -59.5, "geometry": "POINT(-61.95 -63.900000000000006)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; ISOTOPES; USAP-DC; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEDIMENTS; Amd/Us; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctic Peninsula; AMD; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; USA/NSF; RADIOCARBON", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -62.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Beilman, David; Booth, Robert", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.4, "title": "Collaborative Research: Reconstructing Late Holocene Ecosystem and Climate Shifts from Peat Records in the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010337", "west": -64.4}, {"awards": "1947558 Leckie, Robert; 1947657 Dodd, Justin; 1947646 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -72.5,-177.6 -72.5,-175.2 -72.5,-172.8 -72.5,-170.4 -72.5,-168 -72.5,-165.6 -72.5,-163.2 -72.5,-160.8 -72.5,-158.4 -72.5,-156 -72.5,-156 -73.15,-156 -73.8,-156 -74.45,-156 -75.1,-156 -75.75,-156 -76.4,-156 -77.05,-156 -77.7,-156 -78.35,-156 -79,-158.4 -79,-160.8 -79,-163.2 -79,-165.6 -79,-168 -79,-170.4 -79,-172.8 -79,-175.2 -79,-177.6 -79,180 -79,178.4 -79,176.8 -79,175.2 -79,173.6 -79,172 -79,170.4 -79,168.8 -79,167.2 -79,165.6 -79,164 -79,164 -78.35,164 -77.7,164 -77.05,164 -76.4,164 -75.75,164 -75.1,164 -74.45,164 -73.8,164 -73.15,164 -72.5,165.6 -72.5,167.2 -72.5,168.8 -72.5,170.4 -72.5,172 -72.5,173.6 -72.5,175.2 -72.5,176.8 -72.5,178.4 -72.5,-180 -72.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 08 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Nontechnical abstract Presently, Antarctica\u2019s glaciers are melting as Earth\u2019s atmosphere and the Southern Ocean warm. Not much is known about how Antarctica\u2019s ice sheets might respond to ongoing and future warming, but such knowledge is important because Antarctica\u2019s ice sheets might raise global sea levels significantly with continued melting. Over time, mud accumulates on the sea floor around Antarctica that is composed of the skeletons and debris of microscopic marine organisms and sediment from the adjacent continent. As this mud is deposited, it creates a record of past environmental and ecological changes, including ocean depth, glacier advance and retreat, ocean temperature, ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, ocean chemistry, and continental weathering. Scientists interested in understanding how Antarctica\u2019s glaciers and ice sheets might respond to ongoing warming can use a variety of physical, biological, and chemical analyses of these mud archives to determine how long ago the mud was deposited and how the ice sheets, oceans, and marine ecosystems responded during intervals in the past when Earth\u2019s climate was warmer. In this project, researchers from the University of South Florida, University of Massachusetts, and Northern Illinois University will reconstruct the depth, ocean temperature, weathering and nutrient input, and marine ecosystems in the central Ross Sea from ~17 to 13 million years ago, when the warm Miocene Climate Optimum transitioned to a cooler interval with more extensive ice sheets. Record will be generated from new sediments recovered during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 and legacy sequences recovered in the 1970\u2019s during the Deep Sea Drilling Program. Results will be integrated into ice sheet and climate models to improve the accuracy of predictions. The research provides experience for three graduate students and seven undergraduate students via a multi-institutional REU program focused on increasing diversity in Antarctic Earth Sciences. Technical Abstract Deep-sea sediments reveal that the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) was the warmest climate interval of the last ~20 Ma, was associated with global carbon cycle changes and ice growth, and immediately preceded the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT; ~14 Ma), one of three major intervals of Antarctic ice expansion and global cooling. Ice-proximal studies are required to assess: where and when ice grew, ice sheet extent, continental shelf geometry, high-latitude heat and moisture supply, oceanic and/or atmospheric temperature influence on ice dynamics, regional sea ice extent, meltwater input, and regions of bottom water formation. Existing studies indicate that ice expanded beyond the Transantarctic Mountains and onto the prograding Ross Sea continental shelf multiple times between ~17 and 13.5 Ma. However, these records are either too ice-proximal/terrestrial to adequately assess ocean-ice interactions or under-studied. To address this data gap, this work will: 1) generate micropaleontologic and geochemical records of oceanic and atmospheric temperature, water depth, ocean circulation, and paleoproductivity from existing Ross Sea marine sedimentary sequences, and 2) use these proxy records to test the hypothesis that dynamic glacial expansion in the Ross Sea sector during the MCO was driven by heat and moisture transport to the high latitudes during an interval of enhanced climate sensitivity. Downcore geochemical and micropaleontologic studies will focus on an expanded (120 m/my) early to middle Miocene (~17-16 Ma) diatom-bearing/rich mudstone/diatomite unit from IODP Site U1521, drilled on the Ross Sea continental shelf. A hiatus (~16-14.6 Ma) suggests ice expansion during the MCO, followed by diamictite to mudstone unit indicative of slight retreat (14.6 -14 Ma) immediately preceding the MMCT. Data from Site U1521 will be integrated with foraminiferal geochemical and micropaleontologic data from DSDP Leg 28 (1972/73) and RISP J-9 (1978-79) to develop a MCO to late Miocene regional view of ocean-ice sheet interactions using legacy core material previously processed for foraminifera. This integrated record will: 1) document the timing and extent of glacial advances and retreats across the prograding Ross Sea shelf during the middle and late Miocene, 2) provide orbital-scale paleotemperature reconstructions (TEX86, Mg/Ca, \u03b418O, MBT/CBT) to establish atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions during an extreme high-latitude warm interval, and 3) provide orbital-scale nutrient/paleoproductivity, ocean circulation, and paleoenvironmental data required to assess climate feedbacks associated with Miocene Antarctic ice sheet and global climate system development. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -156.0, "geometry": "POINT(-176 -75.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; LABORATORY; AMD; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; Ross Sea; USAP-DC; USA/NSF", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -72.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: Miocene Climate Extremes: A Ross Sea Perspective from IODP Expedition 374 and DSDP Leg 28 Marine Sediments", "uid": "p0010335", "west": 164.0}, {"awards": "1951090 Stukel, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -63,-78.2 -63,-76.4 -63,-74.6 -63,-72.8 -63,-71 -63,-69.2 -63,-67.4 -63,-65.6 -63,-63.8 -63,-62 -63,-62 -63.7,-62 -64.4,-62 -65.1,-62 -65.8,-62 -66.5,-62 -67.2,-62 -67.9,-62 -68.6,-62 -69.3,-62 -70,-63.8 -70,-65.6 -70,-67.4 -70,-69.2 -70,-71 -70,-72.8 -70,-74.6 -70,-76.4 -70,-78.2 -70,-80 -70,-80 -69.3,-80 -68.6,-80 -67.9,-80 -67.2,-80 -66.5,-80 -65.8,-80 -65.1,-80 -64.4,-80 -63.7,-80 -63))", "dataset_titles": "BCO-DMO Project Page", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200294", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "BCO-DMO Project Page", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/838048"}], "date_created": "Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Algae in the surface ocean convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon through photosynthesis. The biological carbon pump transports this organic carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean where it can be stored for tens to hundreds of years. Annually, the amount transported is similar to that humans are currently emitting by burning fossil fuels. However, at present we cannot predict how this important process will change with a warming ocean. These investigators plan to develop a 15+ year time-series of vertical carbon transfer for the Western Antarctic Peninsula; a highly productive Antarctic ecosystem. This region is also rapid transition to warmer temperatures leading to reduced sea ice coverage. This work will help researchers better understand how the carbon cycle in the Western Antarctic Peninsula will respond to climate change. The researchers will develop the first large-scale time-series of carbon flux anywhere in the ocean. This research will also support the education and training of a graduate student and support the integration of concepts in Antarctic research into two undergraduate courses designed for non-science majors and advanced earth science students. The researchers will also develop educational modules for introducing elementary and middle-school age students to important concepts such as gross and net primary productivity, feedbacks in the marine and atmospheric systems, and the differences between correlation and causation. Results from this proposal will also be incorporated into a children\u2019s book, \u201cPlankton do the Strangest Things\u201d, that is targeted at 5-7 year olds and is designed to introduce them to the incredible diversity and fascinating adaptations of microscopic marine organisms. This research seeks to leverage 6 years (2015-2020) of 234Th samples collected on Palmer LTER program, 5 years of prior measurements (2009-2010, 2012-2014), and upcoming cruises (2021-2023) to develop a time-series of summertime particle flux in the WAP that stretches for 15 years. The 238U-234Th disequilibrium approach utilizes changes in the activity of the particle-active radio-isotope 234Th relative to its parent nuclide 238U to quantify the flux of sinking carbon out of the surface ocean (over a time-scale of ~one month). This proposal will fund 234Th analyses from nine years\u2019 worth of cruises (2015-2023) and extensive analyses designed to investigate the processes driving inter-annual variability in the BCP. These include: 1) physical modeling to quantify the importance of advection and diffusion in the 234Th budget, 2) time-series analyses of particle flux, and 3) statistical modeling of the relationships between particle flux and multiple presumed drivers (biological, chemical, physical, and climate indices) measured by collaborators in the Palmer LTER program. This multi-faceted approach is critical for linking the measurements to models and for predicting responses to climate change. It will also test the hypothesis that export flux is decreasing in the northern WAP, increasing in the southern WAP, and increasing when integrated over the entire region as a result of earlier sea ice retreat and a larger ice-free zone. The project will also investigate relationships between carbon export and multiple potentially controlling factors including: primary productivity, algal biomass and taxonomic composition, biological oxygen saturation, zooplankton biomass and taxonomic composition, bacterial production, temperature, wintertime sea ice extent, date of sea ice retreat, and climate modes. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-71 -66.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Palmer Station; USAP-DC; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; USA/NSF", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Stukel, Michael", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "Quantifying Processes Driving Interannual Variability in the Biological Carbon Pump in the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010332", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "2055455 Duhaime, Melissa", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description: It is well known that the Southern Ocean plays an important role in global carbon cycling and also receives a disproportionately large influence of climate change. The role of marine viruses on ocean productivity is largely understudied, especially in this global region. This team proposes to use combination of genomics, flow cytometry, and network modeling to test the hypothesis that viral biogeography, infection networks, and viral impacts on microbial metabolism can explain variations in net community production (NCP) and carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. The project includes the training of a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and undergraduate students. It also includes the development of a new Polar Sci ReachOut program in partnership with the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History especially targeted to middle-school students and teachers and the general public. The team will also produce a Science for Tomorrow (SFT) program for use in middle schools in metro-Detroit communities and lead a summer Research Experience for Teachers (RET) fellows. Part 2: Technical description: The study will leverage hundreds of existing samples collected for microbes and viruses from the Antarctic Circumpolar Expedition (ACE). These samples provide the first contiguous survey of viral diversity and microbial communities around Antarctica. Viral networks are being studied in the context of biogeochemical data to model community networks and predict net community production (NCP), which will provide a way to evaluate the role of viruses in Southern Ocean carbon cycling. Using cutting edge molecular and flow cytometry approaches, this project addresses the following questions: 1) How/why are Southern Ocean viral populations distributed across environmental gradients? 2a) Do viruses interfere with \"keystone\" metabolic pathways and biogeochemical processes of microbial communities in the Southern Ocean? 2b) Does nutrient availability or other environmental variables drive changes in virus-microbe infection networks in the Southern Ocean? Results will be used to develop and evaluate generative models of NCP predictions that incorporate the importance of viral traits and virus-host interactions. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; Amd/Us; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; AQUATIC SCIENCES; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; VIRUSES; USAP-DC", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Duhaime, Melissa; Zaman, Luis", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "ANT LIA - Viral Ecogenomics of the Southern Ocean: Unifying Omics and Ecological Networks to Advance our Understanding of Antarctic Microbial Ecosystem Function", "uid": "p0010333", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2141555 Brooks, Cassandra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -71.5,-177.1 -71.5,-174.2 -71.5,-171.3 -71.5,-168.4 -71.5,-165.5 -71.5,-162.6 -71.5,-159.7 -71.5,-156.8 -71.5,-153.9 -71.5,-151 -71.5,-151 -72.25,-151 -73,-151 -73.75,-151 -74.5,-151 -75.25,-151 -76,-151 -76.75,-151 -77.5,-151 -78.25,-151 -79,-153.9 -79,-156.8 -79,-159.7 -79,-162.6 -79,-165.5 -79,-168.4 -79,-171.3 -79,-174.2 -79,-177.1 -79,180 -79,178.1 -79,176.2 -79,174.3 -79,172.4 -79,170.5 -79,168.6 -79,166.7 -79,164.8 -79,162.9 -79,161 -79,161 -78.25,161 -77.5,161 -76.75,161 -76,161 -75.25,161 -74.5,161 -73.75,161 -73,161 -72.25,161 -71.5,162.9 -71.5,164.8 -71.5,166.7 -71.5,168.6 -71.5,170.5 -71.5,172.4 -71.5,174.3 -71.5,176.2 -71.5,178.1 -71.5,-180 -71.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Ross Sea, Antarctica, is one of the last large intact marine ecosystems left in the world, yet is facing increasing pressure from commercial fisheries and environmental change. It is the most productive stretch of the Southern Ocean, supporting an array of marine life, including Antarctic toothfish \u2013 the region\u2019s top fish predator. While a commercial fishery for toothfish continues to grow in the Ross Sea, fundamental knowledge gaps remain regarding toothfish ecology and the impacts of toothfish fishing on the broader Ross Sea ecosystem. Recognizing the global value of the Ross Sea, a large (\u003e2 million km2) marine protected area was adopted by the multi-national Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 2016. This research will fill a critical gap in the knowledge of Antarctic toothfish and deepen understanding of biological-physical interactions for fish ecology, while contributing to knowledge of impacts of fishing and environmental change on the Ross Sea system. This work will further provide innovative tools for studying connectivity among geographically distinct fish populations and for synthesizing and assessing the efficacy of a large-scale marine protected area. In developing an integrated research and education program in engaged scholarship, this project seeks to train the next generation of scholars to engage across the science-policy-public interface, engage with Southern Ocean stakeholders throughout the research process, and to deepen the public\u2019s appreciation of the Antarctic. A major research priority among Ross Sea scientists is to better understand the life history of the Antarctic toothfish and test the efficacy of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) in protecting against the impacts of overfishing and climate change. Like growth rings of a tree, fish ear bones, called otoliths, develop annual layers of calcium carbonate that incorporates elements from their environment. Otoliths offer information on the fish\u2019s growth and the surrounding ocean conditions. Hypothesizing that much of the Antarctic toothfish life cycle is structured by ocean circulation, this research employs a multi-disciplinary approach combining age and growth work with otolith chemistry testing, while also utilizing GIS mapping. The project will measure life history parameters as well as trace elements and stable isotopes in otoliths in three distinct sets collected over the last four decades in the Ross Sea. The information will be used to quantify the transport pathways Antarctic toothfish use across their life history, and across time, in the Ross Sea. The project will assess if toothfish populations from the Ross Sea are connected more widely across the Antarctic. By comparing life history and otolith chemistry data across time, the researchers will assess change in life history parameters and spatial dynamics and seek to infer if these changes are driven by fishing or climate change. Spatially mapping of these data will allow an assessment of the efficacy of the Ross Sea MPA in protecting toothfish and where further protections might be needed. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -151.0, "geometry": "POINT(-175 -75.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC; AMD; FISHERIES; Ross Sea", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -71.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brooks, Cassandra", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "CAREER: Using Otolith Chemistry to Reveal the Life History of Antarctic Toothfish in the Ross Sea, Antarctica: Testing Fisheries and Climate Change Impacts on a Top Fish Predator", "uid": "p0010329", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "2019719 Brook, Edward", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "2019-2020 Allan Hills Field Report; 2022-23 Allan Hills Intermediate Ice Core Site Selection Field Report; 2023-2024 Allan Hills End-of-Season Science Report; Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) flight based HDF5/matlab format data; Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) transect based (science organized) unfocused data; Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) flight based data HDF5/matlab format; Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) transect based (science organized) unfocused data; ALHIC2201 and ALHIC2302 3D ECM and Layer Orientations; Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report; Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022; Allan Hills I-188 Field Season Report 2022-2023; Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O; Basal Ice Unit Thickness Mapped by the NSF COLDEX MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar; CO2 and CH4 from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; COLDEX VHF MARFA Open Polar Radar radargrams; Concentration and flux of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020; MOT data (Xe/Kr) from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles; NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets; NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles; NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets; NSF COLDEX Ice Penetrating Radar Derived Grids of the Southern Flank of Dome C; NSF COLDEX/Open Polar Radar Example Delay Doppler Classification of Englacial Reflectors; NSF COLDEX Raw MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar data; Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions and associated d-excess of ice from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Rare earth elemental concentrations of leached ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Replicate O-17-excess by continuous flow laser spectroscopy for an ice core section at Summit, Greenland; Rising Seas: Representations of Antarctica, Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise in U.S. Newspaper Coverage; Snapshot record of CO2 and CH4 from the Allan Hills, Antarctica, ranging from 400,000 to 3 million years old; Social network analysis to understand participant engagement in transdisciplinary team science: a large U.S. science and technology center case study; Strontium and neodymium isotope compositions of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Brook, Edward; Introne, Douglas; Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601896", "doi": "10.15784/601896", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Ch4; CO2; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "CO2 and CH4 from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601896"}, {"dataset_uid": "601897", "doi": "10.15784/601897", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; MOT; Ocean Temperature; Paleoclimate; Xe/Kr", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "MOT data (Xe/Kr) from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601897"}, {"dataset_uid": "601878", "doi": "10.15784/601878", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Carbon Dioxide; Cryosphere; Methane", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah; Marks Peterson, Julia; Brook, Edward; Kalk, Michael; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Hishamunda, Valens", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Snapshot record of CO2 and CH4 from the Allan Hills, Antarctica, ranging from 400,000 to 3 million years old", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601878"}, {"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Introne, Douglas; Mayewski, Paul A.; Brook, Edward; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601912", "doi": "10.15784/601912", "keywords": "Antarctica; Coldex; Cryosphere; East Antarctica; East Antarctic Plateau; Glaciology; Radar Echo Sounder", "people": "Singh, Shivangini; Vega Gonzalez, Alejandra; Young, Duncan A.; Yan, Shuai; Blankenship, Donald D.; Kerr, Megan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Basal Ice Unit Thickness Mapped by the NSF COLDEX MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601912"}, {"dataset_uid": "601697", "doi": "10.15784/601697", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Apres; Ice Core; Ice Penetrating Radar; Temperature Profiles", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Conway, Howard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2022-23 Allan Hills Intermediate Ice Core Site Selection Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601697"}, {"dataset_uid": "601854", "doi": "10.15784/601854", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah; Kirkpatrick, Liam; Carter, Austin; Fudge, T. J.; Marks Peterson, Julia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "ALHIC2201 and ALHIC2302 3D ECM and Layer Orientations", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601854"}, {"dataset_uid": "200419", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "University Digital Conservancy", "science_program": null, "title": "Rising Seas: Representations of Antarctica, Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise in U.S. Newspaper Coverage", "url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11299/265195"}, {"dataset_uid": "200420", "doi": "10.18738/T8/J38CO5", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OPR", "science_program": null, "title": "Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) flight based HDF5/matlab format data", "url": "https://data.cresis.ku.edu/data/rds/2022_Antarctica_BaslerMKB/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200421", "doi": "10.18738/T8/J38CO5", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OPR", "science_program": null, "title": "Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) flight based data HDF5/matlab format", "url": "https://data.cresis.ku.edu/data/rds/2023_Antarctica_BaslerMKB/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601826", "doi": "10.15784/601826", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Manos, John-Morgan; Epifanio, Jenna; Conway, Howard; Shaya, Margot; Horlings, Annika", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Allan Hills I-188 Field Season Report 2022-2023", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601826"}, {"dataset_uid": "601824", "doi": "10.15784/601824", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Coldex; Cryosphere", "people": "Epifanio, Jenna; Marks Peterson, Julia; Higgins, John; Brook, Edward J.; Shackleton, Sarah; Carter, Austin; Manos, John-Morgan; Hudak, Abigail; Banerjee, Asmita; Morton, Elizabeth; Jayred, Michael; Goverman, Ashley; Mayo, Emalia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2023-2024 Allan Hills End-of-Season Science Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601824"}, {"dataset_uid": "601819", "doi": "10.15784/601819", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Nesbitt, Ian; Carter, Austin; Higgins, John; Shackleton, Sarah; Morgan, Jacob; Epifanio, Jenna; Kuhl, Tanner; Morton, Elizabeth; Zajicek, Anna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2019-2020 Allan Hills Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601819"}, {"dataset_uid": "200432", "doi": "10.18738/T8/XPMLCC", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) transect based (science organized) unfocused data", "url": "https://dataverse.tdl.org/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.18738/T8/XPMLCC"}, {"dataset_uid": "200433", "doi": "10.18738/T8/FV6VNT", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) transect based (science organized) unfocused data", "url": "https://dataverse.tdl.org/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.18738/T8/FV6VNT"}, {"dataset_uid": "200434", "doi": "10.18738/T8/99IEOG", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/99IEOG"}, {"dataset_uid": "200435", "doi": "10.18738/T8/PNBFOL", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/PNBFOL"}, {"dataset_uid": "601768", "doi": "10.15784/601768", "keywords": "Antarctica; Coldex; East Antarctic Plateau; Glaciology; Radar Echo Sounder", "people": "Ng, Gregory; Kempf, Scott D.; Chan, Kristian; Kerr, Megan; Greenbaum, Jamin; Blankenship, Donald D.; Young, Duncan A.; Buhl, Dillon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "NSF COLDEX Raw MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601768"}, {"dataset_uid": "200452", "doi": "https://hdl.handle.net/11299/270020", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UMN University Digital Conservancy", "science_program": null, "title": "Social network analysis to understand participant engagement in transdisciplinary team science: a large U.S. science and technology center case study", "url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11299/270020"}, {"dataset_uid": "200470", "doi": "doi:10.15784/601822", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions and associated d-excess of ice from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601822"}, {"dataset_uid": "200469", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.15784/601821", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Rare earth elemental concentrations of leached ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601821"}, {"dataset_uid": "601620", "doi": "10.15784/601620", "keywords": "18O; Allan Hills; Allan Hills Blue Ice; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Delta 15N; Delta 18O; Dole Effect; Firn Thickness; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Chronology; Ice Core Records", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601620"}, {"dataset_uid": "601696", "doi": "10.15784/601696", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601696"}, {"dataset_uid": "601669", "doi": "10.15784/601669", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; GPR; Ice Core; Report", "people": "Nesbitt, Ian; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601669"}, {"dataset_uid": "200468", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.15784/601820", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Strontium and neodymium isotope compositions of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601820"}, {"dataset_uid": "601895", "doi": "10.15784/601895", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Noble Gas", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601895"}, {"dataset_uid": "200461", "doi": "10.18738/T8/6T5JS6", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/6T5JS6"}, {"dataset_uid": "200467", "doi": "doi:10.15784/601825", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Concentration and flux of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601825"}, {"dataset_uid": "601659", "doi": "10.15784/601659", "keywords": "Antarctica; Continuous Flow; Glaciology; Greenland; Ice Core Data; Laser Spectroscopy; Oxygen Isotope; Triple Oxygen Isotopes", "people": "Davidge, Lindsey", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Hercules Dome Ice Core", "title": "Replicate O-17-excess by continuous flow laser spectroscopy for an ice core section at Summit, Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601659"}, {"dataset_uid": "200465", "doi": "10.18738/T8/DM10IG", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "COLDEX VHF MARFA Open Polar Radar radargrams", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/DM10IG"}, {"dataset_uid": "200464", "doi": "10.18738/T8/DM10IG", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX/Open Polar Radar Example Delay Doppler Classification of Englacial Reflectors", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/DM10IG"}, {"dataset_uid": "200463", "doi": "10.18738/T8/M77ANK", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX Ice Penetrating Radar Derived Grids of the Southern Flank of Dome C", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/M77ANK"}, {"dataset_uid": "200462", "doi": "10.18738/T8/KHUT1U", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/KHUT1U"}], "date_created": "Sat, 21 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cores drilled through the Antarctic ice sheet provide a remarkable window on the evolution of Earth\u2019s climate and unique samples of the ancient atmosphere. The clear link between greenhouse gases and climate revealed by ice cores underpins much of the scientific understanding of climate change. Unfortunately, the existing data do not extend far enough back in time to reveal key features of climates warmer than today. COLDEX, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, will solve this problem by exploring Antarctica for sites to collect the oldest possible record of past climate recorded in the ice sheet. COLDEX will provide critical information for understanding how Earth\u2019s near-future climate may evolve and why climate varies over geologic time. New technologies will be developed for exploration and analysis that will have a long legacy for future research. An archive of old ice will stimulate new research for the next generations of polar scientists. COLDEX programs will galvanize that next generation of polar researchers, bring new results to other scientific disciplines and the public, and help to create a more inclusive and diverse scientific community. Knowledge of Earth\u2019s climate history is grounded in the geologic record. This knowledge is gained by measuring chemical, biological and physical properties of geologic materials that reflect elements of climate. Ice cores retrieved from polar ice sheets play a central role in this science and provide the best evidence for a strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate on geologic timescales. The goal of COLDEX is to extend the ice-core record of past climate to at least 1.5 million years by drilling and analyzing a continuous ice core in East Antarctica, and to much older times using discontinuous ice sections at the base and margin of the ice sheet. COLDEX will develop and deploy novel radar and melt-probe tools to rapidly explore the ice, use ice-sheet models to constrain where old ice is preserved, conduct ice coring, develop new analytical systems, and produce novel paleoclimate records from locations across East Antarctica. The search for Earth\u2019s oldest ice also provides a compelling narrative for disseminating information about past and future climate change and polar science to students, teachers, the media, policy makers and the public. COLDEX will engage and incorporate these groups through targeted professional development workshops, undergraduate research experiences, a comprehensive communication program, annual scientific meetings, scholarships, and broad collaboration nationally and internationally. COLDEX will provide a focal point for efforts to increase diversity in polar science by providing field, laboratory, mentoring and networking experiences for students and early career scientists from groups underrepresented in STEM, and by continuous engagement of the entire COLDEX community in developing a more inclusive scientific culture. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; AMD; Antarctica; Amd/Us; Coldex; USAP-DC; FIELD SURVEYS; ICE DEPTH/THICKNESS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Polar Special Initiatives; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.; Neff, Peter", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "OPR; Texas Data Repository; UMN University Digital Conservancy; University Digital Conservancy; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "COLDEX", "south": -90.0, "title": "Center for Oldest Ice Exploration", "uid": "p0010321", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2053726 Hofmann, Gretchen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163 -77,163.4 -77,163.8 -77,164.2 -77,164.6 -77,165 -77,165.4 -77,165.8 -77,166.2 -77,166.6 -77,167 -77,167 -77.1,167 -77.2,167 -77.3,167 -77.4,167 -77.5,167 -77.6,167 -77.7,167 -77.8,167 -77.9,167 -78,166.6 -78,166.2 -78,165.8 -78,165.4 -78,165 -78,164.6 -78,164.2 -78,163.8 -78,163.4 -78,163 -78,163 -77.9,163 -77.8,163 -77.7,163 -77.6,163 -77.5,163 -77.4,163 -77.3,163 -77.2,163 -77.1,163 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Analyses combining ATAC-seq, RRBS, and RNA-seq data for purple urchins", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200288", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Analyses combining ATAC-seq, RRBS, and RNA-seq data for purple urchins", "url": "https://github.com/snbogan/Sp_RRBS_ATAC"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description: With support from the Office of Polar Programs, this project will evaluate how an important part of the food web in the coastal ocean of Antarctica will respond to climate change. The focal study organism in the plankton is a shelled mollusk, the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica, an Southern Ocean organism that this known to respond to climate driven changes in ocean acidification and ocean warming. Ocean acidification, the lowering of ocean pH via the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the surface of the ocean, is a change in the ocean that is expected to cross deleterious thresholds of pH within decades. This study will improve understanding of how pteropods will respond, which will provide insight into predicting the resilience of the Antarctic marine ecosystem during future changes, one of the planet\u2019s last marine wildernesses. The project will use tools of molecular biology to examine specifically how gene expression is modulated in the pteropods, and further, how the changes and regulation of genes act to resist the stress of low pH and high temperature. In addition, this project supports the training of Ph.D. graduate students and advances the goal of inclusive excellence in STEM and in marine sciences, in particular. The students involved in this project are from groups traditionally under-represented in marine science including first-generation college students. Overall, the project contributes to the development of the U.S. work force and contributes to diversity and inclusive excellence in the geosciences. Part 2: Technical description: The overarching goal of this project is to investigate the molecular response of the Antarctic thecosome pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica to ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming. The project will investigate changes in the epigenome of juvenile L. h. antarctica, by assessing the dynamics of DNA methylation in response to three scenarios of environmental conditions that were simulated in laboratory mesocosm CO2 experiments: (1) present-day pCO2 conditions for summer and winter, (2) future ocean acidification expected within 10-15 years, and (3) a multiple stressor experiment to investigate synergistic interaction of OA and high temperature stress. Recent lab-based mesocosm experiment research showed significant changes in the dynamics of global DNA methylation in the pteropod genome, along with variation in gene expression in response to abiotic changes. Thus, it is clear that juvenile L. h. antarctica are capable of mounting a substantial epigenetic response to ocean acidification. However, it is not known how DNA methylation, as an epigenetic process, is modulating changes in the transcriptome. In order to address this gap in the epigenetic knowledge regarding pteropods, the project will use next-generation sequencing approaches (e.g., RNA sequencing and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing) to integrate changes in methylation status with changes in gene expression in juvenile pteropods. Overall, this investigation is an important step in exploring environmental transcriptomics and phenotypic plasticity of an ecologically important member of Southern Ocean macrozoooplankton in response to anthropogenic climate change. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 167.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; McMurdo Sound; Amd/Us; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; AMD; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hofmann, Gretchen", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "GitHub", "repositories": "GitHub", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "The Role of the Epigenetic Mechanism, DNA Methylation, in the Tolerance and Resistance of Antarctic Pteropods to Ocean Acidification and Warming", "uid": "p0010313", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "2148517 Hancock, Cathrine", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 -55,-51 -55,-42 -55,-33 -55,-24 -55,-15 -55,-6 -55,3 -55,12 -55,21 -55,30 -55,30 -57,30 -59,30 -61,30 -63,30 -65,30 -67,30 -69,30 -71,30 -73,30 -75,21 -75,12 -75,3 -75,-6 -75,-15 -75,-24 -75,-33 -75,-42 -75,-51 -75,-60 -75,-60 -73,-60 -71,-60 -69,-60 -67,-60 -65,-60 -63,-60 -61,-60 -59,-60 -57,-60 -55))", "dataset_titles": "Trajectories for APEX floats 9223 and 9224 from acoustic tracking using artoa4argo, Mar 2022-Feb 2023; Under ice trajectories for RAFOS enabled profiling floats in the Weddell Gyre", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601652", "doi": "10.15784/601652", "keywords": "Antarctica; ANTXXIV/3; Argo Float; Artoa4argo; GPS Data; RAFOS; US Argo Program; Weddell Sea", "people": "Hancock, Cathrine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Under ice trajectories for RAFOS enabled profiling floats in the Weddell Gyre", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601652"}, {"dataset_uid": "601852", "doi": "10.15784/601852", "keywords": "Antarctica; Continental Slope; Cryosphere; Eddy; Float Trajectory; HAFOS; Weddell Sea", "people": "Boebel, Olaf; Hancock, Cathrine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Trajectories for APEX floats 9223 and 9224 from acoustic tracking using artoa4argo, Mar 2022-Feb 2023", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601852"}], "date_created": "Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Weddell Gyre is one of the major components of the Southern Ocean circulation system, linking heat and carbon fluxes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the continental margins. Water masses entering the Weddell Gyre are modified as they move in a great circular route around the gyre margin and change through processes involving air-sea-cryosphere interactions as well as through ocean eddies that mix properties across the gyre boundaries. Some of the denser water masses exit the gyre through pathways along the northern boundary, and ultimately ventilate the global deep ocean as Antarctic Bottom Water. While in-situ and satellite observations, as well as computer modeling efforts, provide estimates of the large-scale average flow within the gyre, details of the smaller-scale, or \"mesoscale\" eddy flow remain elusive. The proposed research will quantify mixing due to mesoscale eddies within the Weddell Gyre, as well as the transport of incoming deep water from the northeast, thought to be a result of transient eddies. Since the Weddell Gyre produces source water for about 40% of Antarctic Bottom Water formation, understanding the dynamics in this region helps to identify causes of documented changes in global bottom waters. This in turn, will give insight into how climate change is affecting global oceans, through modification of dense polar waters and Antarctic Bottom Water characteristics. This project aims to track 153 RAFOS-enabled Argo floats in the ice-covered regions of the Weddell Gyre. The resultant tracks along with all available Argo and earlier float data will be used to calculate Eulerian and Lagrangian means and eddy statistics for the Weddell Gyre. The study will link RAFOS tracks with Argo profiles under ice, allowing one to characterize the importance of eddies in water column modification at critical ice-edge boundaries and leads. With RAFOS tracks near the northeastern limit of the gyre, the project will investigate the eddy-driven processes of incoming Circumpolar Deep Water, to understand better the mechanisms and volume fluxes involved. Previous work shows that a large fraction of the mean circulation in the southern and western limits of the gyre, where it contacts the Antarctic continent, occurs in a narrow boundary layer above the slope. The research here will integrate this flow structure into a complete interior and boundary layer mean circulation synthesis. The findings and products from the proposed work will improve the positioning of Argo profiles in the polar regions, which would allow for more accurate climatological maps and derived quantities. Estimates of meso-scale mixing may serve as a foundation for the development of new parameterization schemes employed in climate models, as well as local and global ocean circulation models in polar regions. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 30.0, "geometry": "POINT(-15 -65)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN CURRENTS; WATER MASSES; BUOYS; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea; AMD; USAP-DC; Amd/Us", "locations": "Weddell Sea", "north": -55.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hancock, Cathrine; Speer, Kevin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e BUOYS \u003e MOORED \u003e BUOYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -75.0, "title": "Weddell Gyre Mean Circulation and Eddy Statistics from Floats", "uid": "p0010310", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "2149500 Chambers, Don", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -30,-144 -30,-108 -30,-72 -30,-36 -30,0 -30,36 -30,72 -30,108 -30,144 -30,180 -30,180 -36,180 -42,180 -48,180 -54,180 -60,180 -66,180 -72,180 -78,180 -84,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -84,-180 -78,-180 -72,-180 -66,-180 -60,-180 -54,-180 -48,-180 -42,-180 -36,-180 -30))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean accounts for ~40% of the total ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide despite covering only 20% of the global ocean surface, and is particularly rich in long-lived eddies. These eddies, or large ocean whirlpools which can be observed from space, can alter air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide in ways that are not yet fully understood. New observations from autonomous platforms measuring ocean carbon content suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in ocean carbon fluxes which can be linked to these dynamic eddy features. Due to computational and time limitations, ocean eddies are not explicitly represented in most global climate simulations, limiting our ability to understand the role eddies play in the ocean carbon cycle. This study will explore the impact of eddies on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean using both simulated- and observation-based strategies and the findings will improve our understanding of the ocean\u2019s role in the carbon cycle and in global climate. While this work will primarily be focused on the Southern Ocean, the results will be globally applicable. The researchers will also broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography among middle school-age girls in the University of South Florida\u2019s Oceanography Camp for Girls by augmenting existing lessons with computational methods in oceanography. This project aims to quantify the impacts of mesoscale eddy processes on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the Southern Ocean. For the modeling component, the investigators will explore relationships between eddies, ocean carbon content, and air-sea CO2 fluxes within the 1/6-degree resolution Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate (B-SOSE). They investigators will produce high-resolution composites of the carbon content and physical structure within both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies by region, quantify the influence of these eddies on the overall simulated air-sea CO2 flux, and diagnose the physical mechanisms driving this influence. For the observational component, the investigators will match eddies observed via satellite altimetry to ocean carbon observations and characterize observed relationships between eddies and ocean carbon content with a focus on Southern Ocean winter observations where light limits biological processes, allowing isolation of the contribution of physical processes. This work will also provide motivation for higher resolution and better eddy parameterizations in climate models, more mesoscale biogeochemical observations, and integration of satellite sea surface height data into efforts to map air-sea fluxes of CO2. Each summer, the PI delivers a lab lesson at the University of South Florida Oceanography Camp for Girls, recognized by NSF as a \u201cModel STEM Program for Women and Girls\u201d focused on broadening participation by placing emphasis on recruiting a diverse group of young women. As part of this project, the existing interactive Jupyter Notebook-based Python coding Lab lesson will be augmented with a B-SOSE-themed modeling component, which will broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography and data science, and expose campers to computational methods in oceanography. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; Southern Ocean; PH; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; AMD; OCEAN CHEMISTRY; OCEAN MIXED LAYER; USA/NSF; NITROGEN; OCEAN CURRENTS; SALINITY/DENSITY; USAP-DC; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; MODELS; CHLOROPHYLL; DISSOLVED GASES; NUTRIENTS", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -30.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Williams, Nancy; Chambers, Don; Tamsitt, Veronica", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Diagnosing the Role of Ocean Eddies in Carbon Cycling from a High-resolution Data Assimilating Ocean Biogeochemical Model", "uid": "p0010309", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2149501 Mazloff, Matthew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean accounts for ~40% of the total ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide despite covering only 20% of the global ocean surface, and is particularly rich in long-lived eddies. These eddies, or large ocean whirlpools which can be observed from space, can alter air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide in ways that are not yet fully understood. New observations from autonomous platforms measuring ocean carbon content suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in ocean carbon fluxes which can be linked to these dynamic eddy features. Due to computational and time limitations, ocean eddies are not explicitly represented in most global climate simulations, limiting our ability to understand the role eddies play in the ocean carbon cycle. This study will explore the impact of eddies on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean using both simulated- and observation-based strategies and the findings will improve our understanding of the ocean\u2019s role in the carbon cycle and in global climate. While this work will primarily be focused on the Southern Ocean, the results will be globally applicable. The researchers will also broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography among middle school-age girls in the University of South Florida\u2019s Oceanography Camp for Girls by augmenting existing lessons with computational methods in oceanography. This project aims to quantify the impacts of mesoscale eddy processes on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the Southern Ocean. For the modeling component, the investigators will explore relationships between eddies, ocean carbon content, and air-sea CO2 fluxes within the 1/6-degree resolution Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate (B-SOSE). They investigators will produce high-resolution composites of the carbon content and physical structure within both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies by region, quantify the influence of these eddies on the overall simulated air-sea CO2 flux, and diagnose the physical mechanisms driving this influence. For the observational component, the investigators will match eddies observed via satellite altimetry to ocean carbon observations and characterize observed relationships between eddies and ocean carbon content with a focus on Southern Ocean winter observations where light limits biological processes, allowing isolation of the contribution of physical processes. This work will also provide motivation for higher resolution and better eddy parameterizations in climate models, more mesoscale biogeochemical observations, and integration of satellite sea surface height data into efforts to map air-sea fluxes of CO2. Each summer, the PI delivers a lab lesson at the University of South Florida Oceanography Camp for Girls, recognized by NSF as a \u201cModel STEM Program for Women and Girls\u201d focused on broadening participation by placing emphasis on recruiting a diverse group of young women. As part of this project, the existing interactive Jupyter Notebook-based Python coding Lab lesson will be augmented with a B-SOSE-themed modeling component, which will broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography and data science, and expose campers to computational methods in oceanography. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; AMD; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; MODELS; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Amd/Us", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mazloff, Matthew", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Diagnosing the role of ocean eddies in carbon cycling from a high- resolution data assimilating ocean biogeochemical model", "uid": "p0010304", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1643534 Cassar, Nicolas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-83 -62,-80.3 -62,-77.6 -62,-74.9 -62,-72.2 -62,-69.5 -62,-66.8 -62,-64.1 -62,-61.4 -62,-58.7 -62,-56 -62,-56 -63.1,-56 -64.2,-56 -65.3,-56 -66.4,-56 -67.5,-56 -68.6,-56 -69.7,-56 -70.8,-56 -71.9,-56 -73,-58.7 -73,-61.4 -73,-64.1 -73,-66.8 -73,-69.5 -73,-72.2 -73,-74.9 -73,-77.6 -73,-80.3 -73,-83 -73,-83 -71.9,-83 -70.8,-83 -69.7,-83 -68.6,-83 -67.5,-83 -66.4,-83 -65.3,-83 -64.2,-83 -63.1,-83 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Palmer LTER 18S rRNA gene metabarcodin; rDNA amplicon sequencing of WAP microbial community", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200285", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Palmer LTER 18S rRNA gene metabarcodin", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA508517"}, {"dataset_uid": "200286", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "rDNA amplicon sequencing of WAP microbial community", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRR6162326/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project seeks to make detailed measurements of the oxygen content of the surface ocean along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Detailed maps of changes in net oxygen content will be combined with measurements of the surface water chemistry and phytoplankton distributions. The project will determine the extent to which on-shore or offshore phytoplankton blooms along the peninsula are likely to lead to different amounts of carbon being exported to the deeper ocean. The project team members will participate in the development of new learning tools at the Museum of Life and Science. They will also teach secondary school students about aquatic biogeochemistry and climate, drawing directly from the active science supported by this grant. The project will analyze oxygen in relation to argon that will allow determination of the physical and biological contributions to surface ocean oxygen dynamics. These assessments will be combined with spatial and temporal distributions of nutrients (iron and macronutrients) and irradiances. This will allow the investigators to unravel the complex interplay between ice dynamics, iron and physical mixing dynamics as they relate to Net Community Production (NCP) in the region. NCP measurements will be normalized to Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) and be used to help identify area of \"High Biomass and Low NCP\" and those with \"Low Biomass and High NCP\" as a function of microbial plankton community composition. The team will use machine learning methods- including decision tree assemblages and genetic programming- to identify plankton groups key to facilitating biological carbon fluxes. Decomposing the oxygen signal along the West Antarctic Peninsula will also help elucidate biotic and abiotic drivers of the O2 saturation to further contextualize the growing inventory of oxygen measurements (e.g. by Argo floats) throughout the global oceans.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-69.5 -67.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "West Antarctica; USAP-DC; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; AMD; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; Amd/Us", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cassar, Nicolas", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "NCBI", "repositories": "NCBI", "science_programs": null, "south": -73.0, "title": "Biological and Physical Drivers of Oxygen Saturation and Net Community Production Variability along the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010303", "west": -83.0}, {"awards": "0944150 Hall, Brenda", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.6 -77.5,163.7 -77.5,163.8 -77.5,163.9 -77.5,164 -77.5,164.1 -77.5,164.2 -77.5,164.3 -77.5,164.4 -77.5,164.5 -77.5,164.6 -77.5,164.6 -77.57,164.6 -77.64,164.6 -77.71,164.6 -77.78,164.6 -77.85,164.6 -77.92,164.6 -77.99,164.6 -78.06,164.6 -78.13,164.6 -78.2,164.5 -78.2,164.4 -78.2,164.3 -78.2,164.2 -78.2,164.1 -78.2,164 -78.2,163.9 -78.2,163.8 -78.2,163.7 -78.2,163.6 -78.2,163.6 -78.13,163.6 -78.06,163.6 -77.99,163.6 -77.92,163.6 -77.85,163.6 -77.78,163.6 -77.71,163.6 -77.64,163.6 -77.57,163.6 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data; Marshall Valley U-Series Data; Royal Society Range Headland Moraine Belt Radiocarbon Data; Salmon Valley Radiocarbon Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601529", "doi": "10.15784/601529", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marshall Valley; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601529"}, {"dataset_uid": "601556", "doi": "10.15784/601556", "keywords": "Antarctica; Last Glacial Maximum; McMurdo Sound; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Salmon Valley Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601556"}, {"dataset_uid": "601528", "doi": "10.15784/601528", "keywords": "234U/230Th Dating; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Last Glacial Maximum; Marshall Drift; Marshall Valley; MIS 6; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley U-Series Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601528"}, {"dataset_uid": "601555", "doi": "10.15784/601555", "keywords": "Antarctica; Last Glacial Maximum; McMurdo Sound; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Royal Society Range Headland Moraine Belt Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601555"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to investigate the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) to global climate change over the last two Glacial/Interglacial cycles. The intellectual merit of the project is that despite its importance to Earth\u0027s climate system, we currently lack a full understanding of AIS sensitivity to global climate change. This project will reconstruct and precisely date the history of marine-based ice in the Ross Sea sector over the last two glacial/interglacial cycles, which will enable a better understanding of the potential driving mechanisms (i.e., sea-level rise, ice dynamics, ocean temperature variations) for ice fluctuations. This will also help to place present ice?]sheet behavior in a long-term context. During the last glacial maximum (LGM), the AIS is known to have filled the Ross Embayment and although much has been done both in the marine and terrestrial settings to constrain its extent, the chronology of the ice sheet, particularly the timing and duration of the maximum and the pattern of initial recession, remains uncertain. In addition, virtually nothing is known of the penultimate glaciation, other than it is presumed to have been generally similar to the LGM. These shortcomings greatly limit our ability to understand AIS evolution and the driving mechanisms behind ice sheet fluctuations. This project will develop a detailed record of ice extent and chronology in the western Ross Embayment for not only the LGM, but also for the penultimate glaciation (Stage 6), from well-dated glacial geologic data in the Royal Society Range. Chronology will come primarily from high-precision Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Carbon-14 (14C) and multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)-Mass Spectrometry (MS) 234Uranium/230Thorium dating of lake algae and carbonates known to be widespread in the proposed field area. ", "east": 164.6, "geometry": "POINT(164.1 -77.85)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; GLACIAL LANDFORMS; USAP-DC; Royal Society Range; GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION", "locations": "Royal Society Range", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Denton, George", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.2, "title": "Sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to Climate Change over the Last Two Glacial/Interglacial Cycles", "uid": "p0010302", "west": 163.6}, {"awards": "1643248 Hall, Brenda", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.3 -77.8,163.43 -77.8,163.56 -77.8,163.69 -77.8,163.82 -77.8,163.95 -77.8,164.08 -77.8,164.21 -77.8,164.34 -77.8,164.47 -77.8,164.6 -77.8,164.6 -77.85,164.6 -77.9,164.6 -77.95,164.6 -78,164.6 -78.05,164.6 -78.1,164.6 -78.15,164.6 -78.2,164.6 -78.25,164.6 -78.3,164.47 -78.3,164.34 -78.3,164.21 -78.3,164.08 -78.3,163.95 -78.3,163.82 -78.3,163.69 -78.3,163.56 -78.3,163.43 -78.3,163.3 -78.3,163.3 -78.25,163.3 -78.2,163.3 -78.15,163.3 -78.1,163.3 -78.05,163.3 -78,163.3 -77.95,163.3 -77.9,163.3 -77.85,163.3 -77.8))", "dataset_titles": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data; Marshall Valley U-Series Data; Pyramid Trough Radiocarbon Data; Walcott Glacier area radiocarbon data; Walcott Glacier Exposure Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601615", "doi": "10.15784/601615", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Howchin Glacier; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range; Walcott Glacier", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Walcott Glacier area radiocarbon data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601615"}, {"dataset_uid": "601528", "doi": "10.15784/601528", "keywords": "234U/230Th Dating; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Last Glacial Maximum; Marshall Drift; Marshall Valley; MIS 6; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley U-Series Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601528"}, {"dataset_uid": "601529", "doi": "10.15784/601529", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marshall Valley; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601529"}, {"dataset_uid": "601616", "doi": "10.15784/601616", "keywords": "Antarctica; Beryllium-10; Exposure Age; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; McMurdo Sound; Royal Society Range; Walcott Glacier", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Walcott Glacier Exposure Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601616"}, {"dataset_uid": "601614", "doi": "10.15784/601614", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Pyramid Trough; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Pyramid Trough Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601614"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Hall/1643248 This award supports a project to reconstruct the behavior of a portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (the Ross Ice Sheet), using glacial geologic mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits contained in glacial moraines, at the end of the last glacial period. The results will be compared with other dating methods that will be used on alpine glaciers that terminated in the mountains of the Royal Society Range in East Antarctica during the last glacial maximum and whose landforms intersect with those of the Ross Ice Sheet. Results from this comparison will contribute to a better understanding of the Antarctic ice sheet during the most recent global warming that ended the last ice age. This period is of interest since it will help inform our understanding of Antarctic ice sheet behavior in a future climate warming. Such data also will help inform models that attempt to simulate not only the behavior of the ice sheet during the end of the last ice age, but also its future response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. The work will contribute to the education and training of both graduate and undergraduate students and results from the work will be incorporated in classes at the University of Maine. Results derived from the research will be disseminated to the public through lectures and visits to K-12 classrooms and data from this project will be downloadable from a University of Maine web site, as well as from public data repositories. The Antarctic Ice Sheet exerts a key control on global sea levels, both past and future, and strongly influences Southern Hemisphere and even global climate and ocean circulation. And yet a complete understanding of the evolution of the ice sheet over the last glacial cycle and of the mechanisms that caused it to advance and retreat is still lacking. Of particular interest is the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the global warming that ended the last ice age, because it yields important clues about likely future ice-sheet behavior under a warming climate. In this project, scientists will reconstruct the thinning history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross Sea sector during the last glacial/interglacial transition on the headlands of the southern Royal Society Range. They will use a combination of glacial geomorphological mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits enclosed within recessional moraines. Finally, this record will be compared with a beryllium- and radiocarbon-dated chronology that will be produced of adjacent independent alpine glaciers that terminated on land during the last glacial maximum and whose deposits show cross-cutting relationships with those of the ice sheet. Results from this comparison will bear on the behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the termination of the last ice age. This work will support six students, including at least three undergraduates, and involves field work in the Antarctic.", "east": 164.6, "geometry": "POINT(163.95 -78.05)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; Royal Society Range; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; AMD; LABORATORY; GLACIAL LANDFORMS", "locations": "Royal Society Range", "north": -77.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Denton, George", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.3, "title": "Response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the last great global warming", "uid": "p0010301", "west": 163.3}, {"awards": "1946326 Doran, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77.4,161.3 -77.4,161.6 -77.4,161.9 -77.4,162.2 -77.4,162.5 -77.4,162.8 -77.4,163.1 -77.4,163.4 -77.4,163.7 -77.4,164 -77.4,164 -77.46,164 -77.52,164 -77.58,164 -77.64,164 -77.7,164 -77.76,164 -77.82,164 -77.88,164 -77.94,164 -78,163.7 -78,163.4 -78,163.1 -78,162.8 -78,162.5 -78,162.2 -78,161.9 -78,161.6 -78,161.3 -78,161 -78,161 -77.94,161 -77.88,161 -77.82,161 -77.76,161 -77.7,161 -77.64,161 -77.58,161 -77.52,161 -77.46,161 -77.4))", "dataset_titles": "EAGER: Refining glacial lake history in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica with alternative geochronometers: Infrared Stimulated Luminescence data; EAGER: Refining glacial lake history in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica with alternative geochronometers: in situ 14C data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601520", "doi": "10.15784/601520", "keywords": "Antarctica; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sample Location; Taylor Valley", "people": "Doran, Peter; Stone, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "EAGER: Refining glacial lake history in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica with alternative geochronometers: Infrared Stimulated Luminescence data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601520"}, {"dataset_uid": "601521", "doi": "10.15784/601521", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sample Location; Taylor Valley", "people": "Doran, Peter; Stone, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "EAGER: Refining glacial lake history in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica with alternative geochronometers: in situ 14C data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601521"}], "date_created": "Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Correlating ecosystem responses to past climate forcing is highly dependent on the use of reliable techniques for establishing the age of events (dating techniques). In Antarctic dry regions (land areas without glaciers), carbon-14 dating has been used to assess the ages of organic deposits left behind by ancient lakes. However, the reliability of the ages is debatable because of possible contamination with \"old carbon\" from the surrounding landscape. The proposed research will attempt to establish two alternate dating techniques, in situ carbon-14 cosmogenic radionuclide exposure dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), as reliable alternate dating methods for lake history in Antarctic dry areas that are not contaminated by the old carbon. The end goal will be to increase scientific understanding of lake level fluctuation in the lakes of Taylor Valley, Antarctica so that inference about past climate, glacier, and ecosystem response can be inferred. The results of this study will provide a coarse-scale absolute chronology for lake level history in Taylor Valley, demonstrate that exposure dating and OSL are effective means to understand the physical dynamics of ancient water bodies, and increase the current understanding of polar lacustrine and ice sheet responses to past and present climatic changes. These chronologies will allow polar lake level fluctuations to be correlated with past changes in global and regional climate, providing information critical for understanding and modeling the physical responses of these environments to modern change. This research supports a PhD student; the student will highlight this work with grade school classes in the United States. This research aims to establish in situ carbon-14 exposure dating and OSL as reliable alternate (to carbon-14 of organic lake deposits) geochronometers that can be used to settle the long-disputed lacustrine history and chronology of Taylor Valley, Antarctica and elsewhere. Improved lake level history will have significant impacts for the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) site as the legacy of fluctuating lake levels of the past affects the distribution of organic matter and nutrients, and impacts biological connectivity valley-wide. This work will provide insight into the carbon reservoir of large glacial lakes in the late Holocene and have implications for previously reported radiocarbon chronologies. OSL samples will be analyzed in the Desert Research Institute Luminescence Laboratory in Reno, NV. For the in situ carbon-14 work, rock samples extracted from boulders and bedrock surfaces will be prepared at Tulane University. The prepared in situ carbon-14 samples will be analyzed at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The two datasets will be combined to produce a reliable, coarse scale chronology for late Quaternary lake level fluctuations in Taylor Valley. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.7)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; Taylor Valley; AGE DETERMINATIONS; USA/NSF; AMD; USAP-DC", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": -77.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Doran, Peter", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -78.0, "title": "EAGER: Refining glacial lake history in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica with alternative geochronometers", "uid": "p0010294", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1847067 Levy, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -76,161.35 -76,161.7 -76,162.05 -76,162.4 -76,162.75 -76,163.1 -76,163.45 -76,163.8 -76,164.15 -76,164.5 -76,164.5 -76.2,164.5 -76.4,164.5 -76.6,164.5 -76.8,164.5 -77,164.5 -77.2,164.5 -77.4,164.5 -77.6,164.5 -77.8,164.5 -78,164.15 -78,163.8 -78,163.45 -78,163.1 -78,162.75 -78,162.4 -78,162.05 -78,161.7 -78,161.35 -78,161 -78,161 -77.8,161 -77.6,161 -77.4,161 -77.2,161 -77,161 -76.8,161 -76.6,161 -76.4,161 -76.2,161 -76))", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemical measurements of water tracks and adjacent dry soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys; Surface Water Geochemistry from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601684", "doi": "10.15784/601684", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cation Exchange; Chemistry:soil; Chemistry:Soil; Dry Valleys; Organic Matter; Salt; Soil", "people": "Levy, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemical measurements of water tracks and adjacent dry soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601684"}, {"dataset_uid": "601703", "doi": "10.15784/601703", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys", "people": "Levy, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface Water Geochemistry from the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601703"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic groundwater drives the regional carbon cycle and can accelerate permafrost thaw shaping Antarctic surface features. However, groundwater extent, flow, and processes on a continent virtually locked in ice are poorly understood. The proposed work investigates the interplay between groundwater, sediment, and ice in Antarctica\u0027s cold desert landscape to determine when, where, and why Antarctic groundwater is flowing, and how it may evolve Antarctic frozen deserts from dry and stable to wet and dynamic. Mapping the changing extent of Antarctic near-surface groundwater requires the ability to measure soil moisture rapidly and repeatedly over large areas. The research will capture changes in near-surface groundwater distribution through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mapping approach. The project integrates a diverse range of sensors with new UAV technologies to provide a higher-resolution and more frequent assessment of Antarctic groundwater extent and composition than can be accomplished using satellite observations alone. To complement the research objectives, the PI will develop a new UAV summer field school, the Geosciences UAV Academy, focused on training undergraduate-level UAV pilots in conducting novel earth sciences research using cutting edge imaging tools. The integration of research and technology will prepare students for careers in UAV-related industries and research. The project will deliver new UAV tools and workflows for soil moisture mapping relevant to arid regions including Antarctica as well as temperate desert and dryland systems and will train student research pilots to tackle next generation airborne challenges. Water tracks are the basic hydrological unit that currently feeds the rapidly-changing permafrost and wetlands in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Despite the importance of water tracks in the MDV hydrologic cycle and their influence on biogeochemistry, little is known about how these water tracks control the unique brine processes operating in Antarctic ice-free areas. Both groundwater availability and geochemistry shape Antarctic microbial communities, connecting soil geology and hydrology to carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. The objectives of this CAREER proposal are to 1) map water tracks to determine the spatial distribution and seasonal magnitude of groundwater impacts on the MDV near-surface environment to determine how near-surface groundwater drives permafrost thaw and enhances chemical weathering and biogeochemical cycling; 2) establish a UAV academy training earth sciences students to answer geoscience questions using drone-based platforms and remote sensing techniques; and 3) provide a formative step in the development of the PI as a teacher-scholar. UAV-borne hyperspectral imaging complemented with field soil sampling will determine the aerial extent and timing of inundation, water level, and water budget of representative water tracks in the MDV. Soil moisture will be measured via near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy while bulk chemistry of soils and groundwater will be analyzed via ion chromatography and soil x-ray fluorescence. Sedimentological and hydrological properties will be determined via analysis of intact core samples. These data will be used to test competing hypotheses regarding the origin of water track solutions and water movement through seasonal wetlands. The work will provide a regional understanding of groundwater sources, shallow groundwater flux, and the influence of regional hydrogeology on solute export to the Southern Ocean and on soil/atmosphere linkages in earth\u0027s carbon budget. The UAV school will 1) provide comprehensive instruction at the undergraduate level in both how and why UAVs can advance geoscience research and learning; and 2) provide educational infrastructure for an eventual self-sustaining summer program for undergraduate UAV education. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.5, "geometry": "POINT(162.75 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; AMD; USAP-DC; FROZEN GROUND; Taylor Valley", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Levy, Joseph", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Linking Antarctic Cold Desert Groundwater to Thermokarst \u0026 Chemical Weathering in Partnership with the Geoscience UAV Academy", "uid": "p0010286", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1744785 Barrett, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -77.62,-145.683 -77.62,-111.366 -77.62,-77.049 -77.62,-42.732 -77.62,-8.415 -77.62,25.902 -77.62,60.219 -77.62,94.536 -77.62,128.853 -77.62,163.17 -77.62,163.17 -77.618,163.17 -77.616,163.17 -77.614,163.17 -77.612,163.17 -77.61,163.17 -77.608,163.17 -77.606,163.17 -77.604,163.17 -77.602,163.17 -77.6,128.853 -77.6,94.536 -77.6,60.219 -77.6,25.902 -77.6,-8.415 -77.6,-42.732 -77.6,-77.049 -77.6,-111.366 -77.6,-145.683 -77.6,180 -77.6,178.319 -77.6,176.638 -77.6,174.957 -77.6,173.276 -77.6,171.595 -77.6,169.914 -77.6,168.233 -77.6,166.552 -77.6,164.871 -77.6,163.19 -77.6,163.19 -77.602,163.19 -77.604,163.19 -77.606,163.19 -77.608,163.19 -77.61,163.19 -77.612,163.19 -77.614,163.19 -77.616,163.19 -77.618,163.19 -77.62,164.871 -77.62,166.552 -77.62,168.233 -77.62,169.914 -77.62,171.595 -77.62,173.276 -77.62,174.957 -77.62,176.638 -77.62,178.319 -77.62,-180 -77.62))", "dataset_titles": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Microbial mat biomass and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from Lake Fryxell Basin, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200260", "doi": "doi:10.6073/pasta/9acbbde9abc1e013f8c9fd9c383327f4", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EDI", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Microbial mat biomass and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from Lake Fryxell Basin, Antarctica", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/9acbbde9abc1e013f8c9fd9c383327f4"}], "date_created": "Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Microbial mats are found throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys where summer snowmelt provides liquid water that allows these mats to flourish. Researchers have long studied the environmental conditions microbial mats need to grow. Despite these efforts, it has been difficult to develop a broad picture of these unique ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology now provide researchers an exciting new tool to study these special Antarctic ecosystems from space using the unique spectral signatures associated with microbial mats. This new technology not only offers the promise that microbial mats can be mapped and studied from space, this research will also help protect these delicate environments from potentially harmful human impacts that can occur when studying them from the ground. This project will use satellite imagery and spectroscopic techniques to identify and map microbial mat communities and relate their properties and distributions to both field and lab-based measurements. This research provides an exciting new tool to help document and understand the distribution of a major component of the Antarctic ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal of this project is to establish quantitative relationships between spectral signatures derived from orbit and the physiological status and biogeochemical properties of microbial mat communities in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as measured by field and laboratory analyses on collected samples. The goal wioll be met by (1) refining atmospheric correction techniques using in situ radiometric rectification to derive accurate surface spectra; (2) collecting multispectral orbital images concurrent with in situ sampling and spectral measurements in the field to ensure temporal comparability; (3) measuring sediment, water, and microbial mat samples for organic and inorganic carbon content, essential biogeochemical nutrients, and chlorophyll-a to determine relevant mat characteristics; and (4) quantitatively associating these laboratory-derived characteristics with field-derived and orbital spectral signatures and parameters. The result of this work will be a more robust quantitative link between the distribution of microbial mat communities and their biogeochemical properties to landscape-scale spectral signatures. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.19, "geometry": "POINT(-16.82 -77.61)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; FIELD SURVEYS; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; Taylor Valley; Amd/Us", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": -77.6, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Barrett, John; Salvatore, Mark", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "EDI", "repositories": "EDI", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.62, "title": "Collaborative Research: Remote characterization of microbial mats in Taylor Valley, Antarctica through in situ sampling and spectral validation", "uid": "p0010281", "west": 163.17}, {"awards": "1643394 Buizert, Christo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -65,-144 -65,-108 -65,-72 -65,-36 -65,0 -65,36 -65,72 -65,108 -65,144 -65,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,180 -72.5,180 -75,180 -77.5,180 -80,180 -82.5,180 -85,180 -87.5,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87.5,-180 -85,-180 -82.5,-180 -80,-180 -77.5,-180 -75,-180 -72.5,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions; GISP2 and WAIS Divide Ice Cores 60,000 Year Surface Temperature Reconstructions; WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200257", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "GISP2 and WAIS Divide Ice Cores 60,000 Year Surface Temperature Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/34133"}, {"dataset_uid": "200255", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/32632"}, {"dataset_uid": "200256", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/24530"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ISOTOPES; Antarctica; USA/NSF; AMD; ICE CORE RECORDS; USAP-DC; VOLCANIC DEPOSITS; MODELS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -65.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Buizert, Christo; Wettstein, Justin", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Timing and Spatial Expression of the Bipolar Seesaw in Antarctica from Synchronized Ice Cores", "uid": "p0010279", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2139051 Guitard, Michelle", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-45 -57,-44.3 -57,-43.6 -57,-42.9 -57,-42.2 -57,-41.5 -57,-40.8 -57,-40.1 -57,-39.4 -57,-38.7 -57,-38 -57,-38 -57.5,-38 -58,-38 -58.5,-38 -59,-38 -59.5,-38 -60,-38 -60.5,-38 -61,-38 -61.5,-38 -62,-38.7 -62,-39.4 -62,-40.1 -62,-40.8 -62,-41.5 -62,-42.2 -62,-42.9 -62,-43.6 -62,-44.3 -62,-45 -62,-45 -61.5,-45 -61,-45 -60.5,-45 -60,-45 -59.5,-45 -59,-45 -58.5,-45 -58,-45 -57.5,-45 -57))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic Ice Sheet stability remains a large uncertainty in predicting future sea level. Presently, the greatest ice mass loss is observed in locations where relatively warm water comes into contact with glaciers and ice shelves, melting them from below. This has led researchers to hypothesize that the interactions that occur between the ocean and the ice are important for determining ice sheet stability and that increased warm water presence will accelerate Antarctic ice mass loss and lead to greater sea level rise in the coming century. To better predict future ice sheet behavior, it is critical to understand past ice-ocean interactions around Antarctica, especially during warm periods and at times when Earth\u2019s climate was undergoing major changes. Past Antarctic ice mass and environmental conditions like ocean temperature can be reconstructed using sediments, which capture an environmental record as they accumulate on the ocean floor. By looking at sediment composition and by analyzing geochemical signatures within the sediment, it is possible to piece together a record of climate change on hundred- to million-year timescales. This project will reconstruct upper ocean temperatures and Antarctic ice retreat/advance cycles from 2.6 to 0.7 million years ago, which encompasses the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a time in Earth\u2019s history that marks the shift from 41-thousand year glacial cycles to 100-thousand year glacial cycles. A record will be generated from existing sediment cores collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382. The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; ~1.25\u20130.7 Ma) marks the shift from glacial-interglacial cycles paced by obliquity (~41 kyr cycles) to those paced by eccentricity (~100-kyr cycles). This transition occurred despite little variation in Earth\u2019s orbital parameters, suggesting a role for internal climate feedbacks. The MPT was accompanied by decreasing atmospheric pCO2, increasing deep ocean carbon storage, and changes in deep water formation and distribution, all of which are linked to Antarctic margin atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions. However, Pleistocene records that document such interactions are rarely preserved on the shelf due to repeated Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) advance; instead, they are preserved in deep Southern Ocean basins. This project takes advantage of the excellent preservation and recovery of continuous Pleistocene sediment sequences collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382 to test the following hypotheses: 1) Southern Ocean upper ocean temperatures vary on orbital timescales during the early to middle Pleistocene (2.6\u20130.7 Ma), and 2) Southern Ocean temperatures co-vary with AIS advance/retreat cycles. Paleotemperatures will be reconstructed using the TetraEther indeX of 86 carbons (TEX86), a proxy that utilizes marine archaeal biomarkers. The Scotia Sea TEX86-based paleotemperature record will be compared to records of AIS variability, including ice rafted debris. Expedition 382 records will be compared to orbitally paced climatic time series and the benthic oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and bottom water temperature to determine if a correlation exists between upper ocean temperature, AIS retreat/advance, and orbital climate forcing. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -38.0, "geometry": "POINT(-41.5 -59.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; AMD; Scotia Sea", "locations": "Scotia Sea", "north": -57.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Post Doc/Travel", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Michelle, Guitard", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -62.0, "title": "Investigating the influence of ocean temperature on Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution during the early to middle Pleistocene ", "uid": "p0010275", "west": -45.0}, {"awards": "2046240 Khan, Alia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-75 -62,-73.5 -62,-72 -62,-70.5 -62,-69 -62,-67.5 -62,-66 -62,-64.5 -62,-63 -62,-61.5 -62,-60 -62,-60 -62.85,-60 -63.7,-60 -64.55,-60 -65.4,-60 -66.25,-60 -67.1,-60 -67.95,-60 -68.8,-60 -69.65,-60 -70.5,-61.5 -70.5,-63 -70.5,-64.5 -70.5,-66 -70.5,-67.5 -70.5,-69 -70.5,-70.5 -70.5,-72 -70.5,-73.5 -70.5,-75 -70.5,-75 -69.65,-75 -68.8,-75 -67.95,-75 -67.1,-75 -66.25,-75 -65.4,-75 -64.55,-75 -63.7,-75 -62.85,-75 -62))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Non-technical Summary The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on the planet. This 5-yr time-series program will build on an ongoing international collaboration with scientists from the Chilean Antarctic Program to evaluate the role of temperature, light absorbing particles, snow-algae growth, and their radiative forcing effects on snow and ice melt in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. There is strong evidence that these effects may be intensifying due to a warming climate. Rising temperatures can increase the growth rate of coastal snow algae as well as enhance the input of particles from sources such as the long-range transport of black carbon to the Antarctic continent from intensifying Southern Hemisphere wildfire seasons. Particle and algae feedbacks can have immediate local impacts on snow melt and long-term regional impacts on climate because reduced snow cover alters how the Antarctic continent interacts with the rest of the global climate. A variety of ground-based and remote sensing data collected across multiple spatial scales will be used. Ground measurements will be compared to satellite imagery to develop novel computer algorithms to map ice algal bloom effects under changing climates. The project is expected to fundamentally advance knowledge of the spatial and temporal snow algae growing season, which is needed to quantify impacts on regional snow and ice melt. The program also has a strong partnership with the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators to involve cruise passengers as citizen scientists for sample collection. Antarctic research results will be integrated into undergraduate curricula and research opportunities through studies to LAPs and snow algae in the Pacific Northwest. The PI will recruit and train a diverse pool of students in cryosphere climate related research methods on Mt. Baker in Western Washington. Trained undergraduate will then serve as instructors for a local Snow School that takes middle school students to Mt. Baker to learn about snow science. Resulting datasets from Antarctica and Mt. Baker will be used in University classes to explore regional effects of climate change. Along with enhancing cryosphere-oriented place-based undergraduate field courses in the Pacific Northwest, the PI will recruit and train a diverse pool of undergraduate students to serve as instructors for the Mt. Baker Snow School program. This award will advance our understanding of cryosphere-climate feedbacks, which are likely changing and will continue to evolve in a warming world, while also increasing under-represented student engagement in the polar geosciences. Part 2: Technical Summary Rapid and persistent climate warming in the Western Antarctic Peninsula is likely resulting in intensified snow-algae growth and an extended bloom season in coastal areas. Similarly, deposition of light absorbing particles (LAPs) onto Antarctica cryosphere surfaces, such as black carbon from intensifying Southern Hemisphere wildfire seasons, and dust from the expansion of ice-free regions in the Antarctic Peninsula, may be increasing. The presence of snow algae blooms and LAPs enhance the absorption of solar radiation by snow and ice surfaces. This positive feedback creates a measurable radiative forcing, which can have immediate local and long-term regional impacts on albedo, snow melt and downstream ecosystems. This project will investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of snow algae, black carbon and dust across the Western Antarctica Peninsula region, their response to climate warming, and their role in regional snow and ice melt. Data will be collected across multiple spatial scales from in situ field measurements and sample collection to imagery from ground-based photos and high resolution multi-spectral satellite sensors. Ground measurements will inform development and application of novel algorithms to map algal bloom extent through time using 0.5-3m spatial resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery. Results will be used to improve snow algae parameterization in a new version of the Snow Ice Aerosol Radiation model (SNICARv3) that includes bio-albedo feedbacks, eventually informing models of ice-free area expansion through incorporation of SNICARv3 in the Community Earth System Model. Citizen scientists will be mentored and engaged in the research through an active partnership with the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators that frequently visits the region. The cruise ship association will facilitate sampling to develop a unique snow algae observing network to validate remote sensing algorithms that map snow algae with high-resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery from space. These time-series will inform instantaneous and interannual radiative forcing calculations to assess impacts of snow algae and LAPs on regional snow melt. Quantifying the spatio-temporal growing season of snow algae and impacts from black carbon and dust will increase our ability to model their impact on snow melt, regional climate warming and ice-free expansion in the Antarctic Peninsula region. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -60.0, "geometry": "POINT(-67.5 -66.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctic Peninsula; Amd/Us; AMD; SNOW/ICE CHEMISTRY; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; SNOW", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Khan, Alia", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -70.5, "title": "CAREER: Coastal Antarctic Snow Algae and Light Absorbing Particles: Snowmelt, Climate and Ecosystem Impacts", "uid": "p0010263", "west": -75.0}, {"awards": "2103032 Schmittner, Andreas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 09 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project investigates Antarctic ice-ocean interactions of the last 20,000 years. The Antarctic ice sheet is an important component of Earth\u2019s climate system, as it interacts with the atmosphere, the surrounding Southern Ocean, and the underlaying solid Earth. The ice sheet is also the largest potential contributor to future sea-level rise and a major uncertainty in climate projections. Climate change may trigger instabilities that may lead to fast and irreversible collapse of parts of the ice sheet. However, little is known about how interactions between the Antarctic ice sheet and the rest of the climate system affect its behavior, climate, and sea level, partly because most climate models currently do not have fully-interactive ice-sheet components. The project team will construct a numerical climate model that includes an interactive Antarctic ice sheet, improving computational infrastructure for research. The model code will be made freely available to the public on a code-sharing site. In addition, the team will synthesize paleoclimate data and compare these with model simulations. This model-data comparison will test three scientific hypotheses regarding past changes in deep-ocean circulation, ice sheet, carbon, and sea level. The project will contribute to a better understanding of ice-ocean interactions and past climate variability. The project will test ideas that ice-ocean interactions have been important for setting deep ocean circulation and carbon storage during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. The new model will consist of three existing and well-tested components: (1) an isotope-enabled climate-carbon cycle model of intermediate complexity; (2) a model of the combined Antarctic ice sheet, solid Earth, and sea level; and (3) an iceberg model. The coupling will include ocean-temperature effects on basal melting of ice shelves; freshwater fluxes from the ice sheet to the ocean; and calving, transport and melting of icebergs. Once constructed and optimized, the model will be applied to simulate the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. Differences between model versions with full, partial, or no coupling will be used to investigate the effects of ice-ocean interactions on the Meridional Overturning Circulation, deep ocean carbon storage, and ice-sheet fluctuations. Paleoclimate data synthesis will include temperature, carbon and nitrogen isotopes, radiocarbon ages, protactinium-thorium ratios, neodymium isotopes, carbonate ion, dissolved oxygen, relative sea level, and terrestrial cosmogenic ages into one multi-proxy database with a consistent updated chronology. The project will support an early-career scientist, one graduate student, undergraduate students, and new and ongoing national and international collaborations. Outreach activities in collaboration with a local science museum will benefit rural communities in Oregon by improving their climate literacy. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ICE CORE RECORDS; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; MODELS; AMD; United States Of America; OCEAN CURRENTS; ICEBERGS; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS", "locations": "United States Of America", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schmittner, Andreas; Haight, Andrew ; Clark, Peter", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Investigating Antarctic Ice Sheet-Ocean-Carbon Cycle Interactions During the Last Deglaciation", "uid": "p0010256", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1542936 Goehring, Brent; 1542976 Balco, Gregory", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-145.7 -64.195,-113.988 -64.195,-82.276 -64.195,-50.564 -64.195,-18.852 -64.195,12.86 -64.195,44.572 -64.195,76.284 -64.195,107.996 -64.195,139.708 -64.195,171.42 -64.195,171.42 -66.2096,171.42 -68.2242,171.42 -70.2388,171.42 -72.2534,171.42 -74.268,171.42 -76.2826,171.42 -78.2972,171.42 -80.3118,171.42 -82.3264,171.42 -84.341,139.708 -84.341,107.996 -84.341,76.284 -84.341,44.572 -84.341,12.86 -84.341,-18.852 -84.341,-50.564 -84.341,-82.276 -84.341,-113.988 -84.341,-145.7 -84.341,-145.7 -82.3264,-145.7 -80.3118,-145.7 -78.2972,-145.7 -76.2826,-145.7 -74.268,-145.7 -72.2534,-145.7 -70.2388,-145.7 -68.2242,-145.7 -66.2096,-145.7 -64.195))", "dataset_titles": "Interface for viewing observational data related to exposure ages measurements and calculated geologic ages derived therefrom", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200199", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Interface for viewing observational data related to exposure ages measurements and calculated geologic ages derived therefrom", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 03 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The overall goal of this project is to determine the effect of past changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet on global sea level. At the peak of the last ice age 25,000 years ago, sea level was 120 meters (400 feet) lower than it is at present because water that is now part of the ocean was instead part of expanded glaciers and ice sheets in North America, Eurasia, and Antarctica. Between then and now, melting and retreat of this land ice caused sea level to rise. In this project, we aim to improve our understanding of how changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet contributed to this process. The overall strategy to accomplish this involves (i) visiting areas in Antarctica that are not now covered by ice; (ii) looking for geological evidence, specifically rock surface and sediment deposits, that indicates that these areas were covered by thicker ice in the past; and (iii) determining the age of these geological surfaces and deposits. This project addresses the final part of this strategy -- determining the age of Antarctic glacial rock surfaces or sediment deposits -- using a relatively new technique that involves measuring trace elements in rock surfaces that are produced by cosmic-ray bombardment after the rock surfaces are exposed by ice retreat. By applying this method to rock samples collected in previous visits to Antarctica, the timing of past expansion and contraction of the ice sheet can be determined. The main scientific outcomes expected from this project are (i) improved understanding of how Antarctic Ice Sheet changes contributed to past global sea level rise; and (ii) improved understanding of modern observed Antarctic Ice Sheet changes in a longer-term context. This second outcome will potentially improve predictions of future ice sheet behavior. Other outcomes of the project include training of individual undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the development of a new course on sea level change to be taught at Tulane University in New Orleans, a city that is being affected by sea level change today. This project will use measurements of in-situ-produced cosmogenic carbon-14 in quartz from existing samples collected at several sites in Antarctica to resolve major ambiguities in existing Last Glacial Maximum to present ice sheet reconstructions. This project is important because of the critical nature of accurate reconstructions of ice sheet change in constraining reconstructions of past sea level change. Although carbon-14 is most commonly exploited as a geochronometer through its production in the upper atmosphere and incorporation into organic materials, it is also produced within the crystal lattice of rocks and minerals that are exposed to the cosmic-ray flux at the Earth\u0027s surface. In this latter case, its concentration is proportional to the duration of surface exposure, and measurements of in-situ-produced carbon-14 can be used to date geological events that form or expose rock surfaces, for example, ice sheet expansion and retreat. Although carbon-14 is one of several trace radionuclides that can be used for this purpose, it is unique among them in that its half-life is short relative to the time scale of glacial-interglacial variations. Thus, in cases where rock surfaces in polar regions have been repeatedly covered and uncovered by ice sheet change during many glacial-interglacial cycles, carbon-14 measurements are uniquely suited to accurately dating the most recent episode of ice sheet advance and retreat. We aim to use this property to improve our understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet change at a number of critically located sites at which other surface exposure dating methods have yielded ambiguous results. Geographically, these are focused in the Weddell Sea embayment of Antarctica, which is an area where the geometry of the Antarctic continent potentially permits large glacial-interglacial changes in ice volume but where existing geologic records of ice sheet change are particularly ambiguous. In addition, in-situ carbon-14 measurements, applied where independently constrained deglaciation chronologies already exist, can potentially allow us to date the last period of ice sheet advance as well as the most recent retreat.", "east": 171.42, "geometry": "POINT(12.86 -74.268)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; Cosmogenic Dating; GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESS; AMD; USAP-DC; GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Carbon-14; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea Embayment; LABORATORY; FIELD SURVEYS; GLACIATION", "locations": "Weddell Sea Embayment", "north": -64.195, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Goehring, Brent; Balco, Gregory", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "ICE-D", "repositories": "ICE-D", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.341, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Resolving Ambiguous Exposure-Age Chronologies of Antarctic Deglaciation with Measurements of In-Situ-Produced Cosmogenic Carbon-14", "uid": "p0010254", "west": -145.7}, {"awards": "0838843 Kurbatov, Andrei; 1745006 Brook, Edward J.; 1744993 Higgins, John; 1744832 Severinghaus, Jeffrey; 1745007 Mayewski, Paul", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((159.16667 -76.66667,159.19167 -76.66667,159.21667 -76.66667,159.24167 -76.66667,159.26667 -76.66667,159.29167 -76.66667,159.31667 -76.66667,159.34167 -76.66667,159.36667 -76.66667,159.39167 -76.66667,159.41667 -76.66667,159.41667 -76.673336,159.41667 -76.680002,159.41667 -76.686668,159.41667 -76.693334,159.41667 -76.7,159.41667 -76.706666,159.41667 -76.713332,159.41667 -76.719998,159.41667 -76.726664,159.41667 -76.73333,159.39167 -76.73333,159.36667 -76.73333,159.34167 -76.73333,159.31667 -76.73333,159.29167 -76.73333,159.26667 -76.73333,159.24167 -76.73333,159.21667 -76.73333,159.19167 -76.73333,159.16667 -76.73333,159.16667 -76.726664,159.16667 -76.719998,159.16667 -76.713332,159.16667 -76.706666,159.16667 -76.7,159.16667 -76.693334,159.16667 -76.686668,159.16667 -76.680002,159.16667 -76.673336,159.16667 -76.66667))", "dataset_titles": "Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report; Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022; Allan Hills Stable Water Isotopes; CO2 and CH4 from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020; MOT data (Xe/Kr) from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; Snapshot record of CO2 and CH4 from the Allan Hills, Antarctica, ranging from 400,000 to 3 million years old", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601696", "doi": "10.15784/601696", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601696"}, {"dataset_uid": "601620", "doi": "10.15784/601620", "keywords": "18O; Allan Hills; Allan Hills Blue Ice; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Delta 15N; Delta 18O; Dole Effect; Firn Thickness; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Chronology; Ice Core Records", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601620"}, {"dataset_uid": "601896", "doi": "10.15784/601896", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Ch4; CO2; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "CO2 and CH4 from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601896"}, {"dataset_uid": "601895", "doi": "10.15784/601895", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Noble Gas", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601895"}, {"dataset_uid": "601878", "doi": "10.15784/601878", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Carbon Dioxide; Cryosphere; Methane", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah; Marks Peterson, Julia; Brook, Edward; Kalk, Michael; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Hishamunda, Valens", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Snapshot record of CO2 and CH4 from the Allan Hills, Antarctica, ranging from 400,000 to 3 million years old", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601878"}, {"dataset_uid": "609541", "doi": "10.7265/N5NP22DF", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Isotope", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Introne, Douglas; Mayewski, Paul A.; Spaulding, Nicole", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills Stable Water Isotopes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609541"}, {"dataset_uid": "601669", "doi": "10.15784/601669", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; GPR; Ice Core; Report", "people": "Nesbitt, Ian; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601669"}, {"dataset_uid": "601897", "doi": "10.15784/601897", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; MOT; Ocean Temperature; Paleoclimate; Xe/Kr", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "MOT data (Xe/Kr) from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601897"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice cores have been used to directly reconstruct atmospheric composition, and its links to Antarctic and global climate, over the last 800,000 years. Previous field expeditions to the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, Antarctica, have recovered ice cores that extend as far back as 2.7 million years, by far the oldest polar ice samples yet recovered. These ice cores extend direct observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and indirect records of Antarctic climate into a period of Earth\u0027s climate history that represents a plausible geologic analogue to future anthropogenic climate change. The results demonstrate a smaller glacial-interglacial variability of climate and greenhouse gases, and a persistent linkage between Antarctic climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide, between 1 and 2 million years ago. Through this project, the team will return to the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area to recover additional ice cores that date to 2 million years or older. The climate records developed from these ice cores will provide new insights into the chemical composition of the atmosphere and Antarctic climate during times of comparable or even greater warmth than the present day. Project results will help answer questions about issues associated with anthropogenic change including the relationship between temperature change and the mass balance of Antarctic ice and the relationship between atmospheric greenhouse gases and global climate change. Earth has been cooling, and ice sheets expanding, over the past ~52 million years. Superimposed on this cooling are periodic changes in Earth\u0027s climate system driven by variations in the eccentricity, precession, and obliquity of Earth\u0027s orbit around the Sun. Climate reconstructions based on measurements of oxygen isotopes in foraminiferal calcite indicate that, from ~2.8 to 1.2 million years before present (Ma), Earth\u0027s climate system oscillated between glacial and interglacial states every ~40,000 years (the \"40k world\"). Between 1.2-0.8 Ma and continuing to the present, the period of glacial cycles increased in amplitude and lengthened to ~100,000 years (the \"100k world\"). Ice cores preserve ancient air that allows direct reconstructions of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane. They also archive proxy records of regional climate, mean ocean temperature, global oxygen cycling, and the aridity of nearby continents. Studies of stratigraphically continuous ice cores, extending to 800,000 years before present, have demonstrated that atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly linked to climate, and it is of great interest to extend the ice-core record into the 40k world. Recent discoveries of well-preserved ice dating from 1.0 to 2.7 Ma from ice cores drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area (BIA), Antarctica, demonstrate the potential to retrieve stratigraphically discontinuous old ice at shallow depths (\u003c200 meters). This project will continue this work by retrieving new large-volume ice cores and measuring paleoclimate properties in both new and existing ice from the Allan Hills BIA. The experimental objectives are to more fully characterize fundamental properties of the climate system and the carbon cycle during the 40k world. Project results will have implications for Pleistocene climate change, and will provide new constraints on the processes that regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, and oxygen on geologic timescales. Given a demonstrated age of the ice at the Allan Hills BIA of at least 2 million years, the team will drill additional cores to prospect for ice that predates the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at the Plio-Pleistocene transition (~2.8 Ma). This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 159.41667, "geometry": "POINT(159.29167 -76.7)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; USAP-DC; SNOW/ICE; Allan Hills; FIELD SURVEYS; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; LABORATORY", "locations": "Allan Hills", "north": -76.66667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mayewski, Paul A.; Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Brook, Edward J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Higgins, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Allan Hills", "south": -76.73333, "title": "Collaborative research: Snapshots of Early and Mid-Pleistocene Climate and Atmospheric Composition from the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area ", "uid": "p0010253", "west": 159.16667}, {"awards": "2046800 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Methane is one of the more effective atmospheric gases at retaining heat in the lower atmosphere and the earth\u2019s crust contains large quantities of methane. Research that identifies the factors that control methane\u2019s release into the atmosphere is critical to understanding and mitigating climate change. One of the most effective natural processes that inhibits the release of methane from aquatic habitats is a community of bacteria and Archaea (microbes) that use the chemical energy stored in methane, transforming methane into less-climate-sensitive compounds. The amount of methane that may be released in Antarctica is unknown, and it is unclear which microbes consume the methane before it is released from the ocean in Antarctica. This project will study one of the few methane seeps known in Antarctica to advance our understanding of which microbes inhibit the release of methane in marine environments. The research will also identify if methane is a source of energy for other Antarctic organisms. The researchers will analyze the microbial species associated with methane consumption over several years of field and laboratory research based at an Antarctic US station, McMurdo. This project clearly expands the fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes outlined as a goal in the Antarctic solicitation. This research communicates and produces educational material for K-12, college, and graduate students to inspire and inform the public about the role Antarctic ecosystems play in the global environment. This project also provides a young professor an opportunity to establish himself as an expert in the field of Antarctic microbial ecology to help solidify his academic career. Part II: Technical description: Microbes act as filter to methane release from the ocean into the atmosphere, where microbial chemosynthetic production harvests the chemical energy stored in this greenhouse gas. In spite of methane reservoirs in Antarctica being as large as Arctic permafrost, we know only a little about the taxa or dominant processes involved in methane consumption in Antarctica. The principal investigator will undertake a genomic and transcriptomic study of microbial communities developed and still developing after initiation of methane seepage in McMurdo Sound. An Antarctic methane seep was discovered at this location in 2012 after it began seeping in 2011. Five years after it began releasing methane, the methane-oxidizing microbial community was underdeveloped and methane was still escaping from the seafloor. This project will be essential in elucidating the response of microbial communities to methane release and identify how methane oxidation occurs within the constraints of the low polar temperatures. This investigation is based on 4 years of field sampling and will establish a time series of the development of cold seep microbial communities in Antarctica. A genome-to-ecosystem approach will establish how the Southern Ocean microbial community is adapted to prevent methane release into the ocean. As methane is an organic carbon source, results from this study will have implications for the Southern Ocean carbon cycle. Two graduate students will be trained and supported with undergraduates participating in laboratory activities. The researcher aims to educate, inspire and communicate about Antarctic methane seeps to a broad community. A mixed-media approach, with videos, art and education in schools will be supported in collaboration with a filmmaker, teachers and a visual artist. Students will be trained in filmmaking and K-12 students from under-represented communities will be introduced to Antarctic science through visual arts. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; McMurdo Sound; BENTHIC; FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "CAREER: Ecosystem Impacts of Microbial Succession and Production at Antarctic Methane Seeps", "uid": "p0010250", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1643871 van Gestel, Natasja; 1947562 van Gestel, Natasja", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -64.5,-64.8 -64.5,-64.6 -64.5,-64.4 -64.5,-64.2 -64.5,-64 -64.5,-63.8 -64.5,-63.6 -64.5,-63.4 -64.5,-63.2 -64.5,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.55,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.65,-63 -64.7,-63 -64.75,-63 -64.8,-63 -64.85,-63 -64.9,-63 -64.95,-63 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.8 -65,-64 -65,-64.2 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.8 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.95,-65 -64.9,-65 -64.85,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.75,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.65,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.55,-65 -64.5))", "dataset_titles": "2022-2023 Palmer Station terrestrial carbon fluxes - field warming experiment; Soil moisture and soil temperature data (0-5 cm) near Palmer Station, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601877", "doi": "10.15784/601877", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Conductivity; Cryosphere; Palmer Station; Soil; Temperature", "people": "van Gestel, Natasja", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Soil moisture and soil temperature data (0-5 cm) near Palmer Station, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601877"}, {"dataset_uid": "601853", "doi": "10.15784/601853", "keywords": "Antarctica; CO2; Cryosphere; Field Investigations; Palmer Station", "people": "van Gestel, Natasja", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2022-2023 Palmer Station terrestrial carbon fluxes - field warming experiment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601853"}], "date_created": "Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Earth\u2019s terrestrial ecosystems have the potential to either slow down or hasten the pace of climate change. The direction depends in part on both plant and microbial responses to warming. This study uses Antarctica as a model ecosystem to study the carbon balance of a simplified ecosystem (simplified compared to terrestrial ecosystems elsewhere) in response to a warming treatment. Carbon balance is dictated by sequestered carbon (through photosynthesis) and released carbon (plant and microbial respiration). Hence, to best assess plant and microbial responses to warming, this study uses a plant gradient that starts at the glacier (no plants, only soil microbes) to an old site entirely covered by plants. Experimental warming in the field is achieved by open-top chambers that warm the air and soil inside. The net ecosystem carbon exchange, the net result of sequestered and released carbon, will be measured in warmed and control plots with a state-of-the art gas exchange machine. Laboratory temperature incubation studies will supplement field work to attribute changes in carbon fluxes to individual plant species and soil microbial taxa (i.e., \u201cspecies\u201d). Data from this study will feed into earth system climate change models. The importance of this study will be shared with the broader community through the production of a video series created by an award-winning science media production company, an Antarctic blog, and through interactions with schools in the United States (on-site through Skype and in-person visits). Part II: Technical description: Responses of the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems to warming will feed back to the pace of climate change, but the size and direction of this feedback are poorly constrained. Least known are the effects of warming on carbon losses from soil, and clarifying the major microbial controls is an important research frontier. This study uses a series of experiments and observations to investigate microbial, including autotrophic taxa, and plant controls of net ecosystem productivity in response to warming in intact ecosystems. Field warming is achieved using open-top chambers paired with control plots, arrayed along a productivity gradient. Along this gradient, incoming and outgoing carbon fluxes will be measured at the ecosystem-level. The goal is to tie warming-induced shifts in net ecosystem carbon balance to warming effects on soil microbes and plants. The field study will be supplemented with lab temperature incubations. Because soil microbes dominate biogeochemical cycles in Antarctica, a major focus of this study is to determine warming responses of bacteria, fungi and archaea. This is achieved using a cutting-edge stable isotope technique, quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) developed by the proposing research team, that can identify the taxa that are active and involved in processing new carbon. This technique can identify individual microbial taxa that are actively participating in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients (through combined use of 18O-water and 13C-bicarbonate) and thus can be distinguished from those that are simply present (cold-preserved). The study further assesses photosynthetic uptake of carbon by the vegetation and their sensitivity to warming. Results will advance research in climate change, plant and soil microbial ecology, and ecosystem modeling. Science communication will be achieved through an informative video series, a daily Antarctic blog, and online- and in-person visits to schools in the United States. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Palmer Station; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; USA/NSF; AMD; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "van Gestel, Natasja", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Antarctica as a Model System for Responses of Terrestrial Carbon Balance to Warming", "uid": "p0010251", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1941292 St-Laurent, Pierre; 1941304 Sherrell, Robert; 1941327 Stammerjohn, Sharon; 1941483 Yager, Patricia; 1941308 Fitzsimmons, Jessica", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71))", "dataset_titles": "Dataset: A numerical simulation of the ocean, sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) over the period 2006-2022 and its associated code and input files; Expedition Data of NBP2202; Numerical experiments examining the response of onshore oceanic heat supply to yearly changes in the Amundsen Sea icescape (Antarctica); Vertical ocean profiles collected by a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) package in the Amundsen Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200400", "doi": "10.17882/99231", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "SEANOE", "science_program": null, "title": "Numerical experiments examining the response of onshore oceanic heat supply to yearly changes in the Amundsen Sea icescape (Antarctica)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.17882/99231"}, {"dataset_uid": "601785", "doi": "10.15784/601785", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Cryosphere; CTD; NBP2202; Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Stammerjohn, Sharon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Vertical ocean profiles collected by a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) package in the Amundsen Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601785"}, {"dataset_uid": "200399", "doi": "10.25773/bt54-sj65", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "William \u0026 Mary ScholarWorks", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: A numerical simulation of the ocean, sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) over the period 2006-2022 and its associated code and input files", "url": "https://doi.org/10.25773/bt54-sj65"}, {"dataset_uid": "200311", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP2202", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP2202"}], "date_created": "Fri, 20 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical summary: The Amundsen Sea is adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and hosts the most productive coastal ecosystem in all of Antarctica, with vibrant green waters visible from space and an atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake rate ten times higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is also an area highly impacted by climate change and glacier ice loss. Upwelling of warm deep water is causing melt under the ice sheet, which is contributing to sea level rise and added nutrient inputs to the region. This is a project that is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation\u2019s Directorate of Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget and the investigators associated with its own country. In this collaboration, the US team will undertake biogeochemical sampling alongside a UK-funded physical oceanographic program to evaluate the contribution of micronutrients such as iron from glacial meltwater to ecosystem productivity and carbon cycling. Measurements will be incorporated into computer simulations to examine ecosystem responses to further glacial melting. Results will help predict future impacts on the region and determine whether the climate sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea ecosystem represents the front line of processes generalizable to the greater Antarctic. This study is aligned with the large International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) and will make data available to the full scientific community. The program will provide training for undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral, and early-career scientists in both science and communication. The team will also develop out-of-school science experiences for middle and high schoolers related to climate change and Antarctica. Part II: Technical summary: The Amundsen Sea hosts the most productive polynya in all of Antarctica, with atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake rates ten times higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is vulnerable to climate change, experiencing rapid losses in sea ice, a changing icescape and some of the fastest melting glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a process being studied by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. The biogeochemical composition of the outflow from the glaciers surrounding the Amundsen Sea is largely unstudied. In collaboration with a UK-funded physical oceanographic program, ARTEMIS is using shipboard sampling for trace metals, carbonate system, nutrients, organic matter, and microorganisms, with biogeochemical sensors on autonomous vehicles to gather data needed to understand the impact of the melting ice sheet on both the coastal ecosystem and the regional carbon cycle. These measurements, along with access to the advanced physical oceanographic measurements will allow this team to 1) bridge the gap between biogeochemistry and physics by adding estimates of fluxes and transport of limiting micronutrients; 2) provide biogeochemical context to broaden understanding of the global significance of ocean-ice shelf interactions; 3) determine processes and scales of variability in micronutrient supply that drive the ten-fold increase in carbon dioxide uptake, and 4) identify small-scale processes key to iron and carbon cycling using optimized field sampling. Observations will be integrated into an ocean model to enhance predictive capabilities of regional ocean function. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-110 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; AMD; Amundsen Sea; Amd/Us; SHIPS", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yager, Patricia; Medeiros, Patricia; Sherrell, Robert; St-Laurent, Pierre; Fitzsimmons, Jessica; Stammerjohn, Sharon", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "SEANOE", "repositories": "R2R; SEANOE; USAP-DC; William \u0026 Mary ScholarWorks", "science_programs": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "south": -75.0, "title": "NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean (ARTEMIS)", "uid": "p0010249", "west": -120.0}, {"awards": "1745057 Walker, Sally; 1745080 Gillikin, David; 1745064 Perez-Huerta, Alberto", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Analysis of striae groups and interstrial increments from Adamussium colbecki valves from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails; Annual growth of Adamussium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails; Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores; Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.; Stable isotopes of Oxygen and Carbon in Adamissium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601469", "doi": "10.15784/601469", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; McMurdo", "people": "Walker, Sally; Cronin, Kelly", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Analysis of striae groups and interstrial increments from Adamussium colbecki valves from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601469"}, {"dataset_uid": "601764", "doi": "10.15784/601764", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Explorers Cove; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen Isotope; Scallop", "people": "Walker, Sally; Camarra, Steve; Verheyden, Anouk; Puhalski, Emma; Gillikin, David; Cronin, Kelly", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601764"}, {"dataset_uid": "601761", "doi": "10.15784/601761", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Bay Of Sails; Carbon; Explorers Cove; McMurdo Sound; Oxygen; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Cronin, Kelly; Perez-Huerta, Alberto; Bowser, Samuel S.; Verheyden, Anouk; Camarra, Steve; Puhalski, Emma; Andrus, Fred; Walker, Sally; Gillikin, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotopes of Oxygen and Carbon in Adamissium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601761"}, {"dataset_uid": "601468", "doi": "10.15784/601468", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Growth; McMurdo Sound; Shell Fish", "people": "Cronin, Kelly; Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Annual growth of Adamussium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601468"}, {"dataset_uid": "600077", "doi": "10.15784/600077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description", "people": "Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600077"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The goal of this project is to discover whether the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, provides a guide to sea-ice conditions in nearshore Antarctica today and in the past. Scallops may grow slower and live longer in habitats where sea ice persists for many years, limited by food, compared to habitats where sea ice melts out annually. Also, the chemicals retained in the shell during growth may provide crucial habitat information related to not only changing sea-ice conditions but also the type of food, whether it is recycled from the seafloor or produced by algae blooming when sea ice has melted. Unlocking the ecological imprint captured within the shell of the Antarctic Scallop will increase our understanding of changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica. Further, because the Antarctic scallop had relatives living at the time when the Antarctic ice sheet first appeared, the scallop shell record may contain information on the stability of the ice sheet and the history of Antarctic shallow seas. Funding will also be integral for training a new generation of geoscientists in fossil and chemical forensics related to shallow sea habitats in Antarctica. Scallops are worldwide in distribution, are integral for structuring marine communities have an extensive fossil record dating to the late Devonian, and are increasingly recognized as important paleoenvironmental proxies because they are generally well preserved in the sediment and rock record. The primary goal of this project is to assess the differences in growth, lifespan, and chemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) archived in the shell of the Antarctic scallop that may be indicative of two ice states: persistent (multiannual) sea ice at Explorers Cove (EC) and annual sea ice (that melts out every year) at Bay of Sails (BOS), western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. This project will investigate growth and lifespan proxies (physical and geochemical) and will use high-resolution records of stable oxygen isotopes to determine if a melt-water signal is archived in A. colbecki shells and whether that signal captures the differing ice behavior at two sites (EC versus BOS). Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in association with trace elements will be used to examine subannual productivity spikes indicative of phytoplankton blooms, which are predicted to be more pronounced during open ocean conditions. Small growth increments in the outer calcite layer will be assessed to determine if they represent fortnightly growth, if so, they could provide a high-resolution proxy for monthly environmental processes. Unlocking the environmental archive preserved in A. colbecki shells may prove to be an important proxy for understanding changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica\u0027s past. Funding will support a Ph.D. student and undergraduates from multiple institutions working on independent research projects. Web content focused on Antarctic marine communities will be designed for museum outreach, reaching thousands of middle-school children each year. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; AMD; Dry Valleys; USAP-DC; LABORATORY; USA/NSF", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Walker, Sally; Gillikin, David; Perez-Huerta, Alberto; Andrus, Fred", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative research: The Antarctic Scallop as Key to Paleoenvironments and Sea Ice Conditions: Understanding the Modern to Predict the Past", "uid": "p0010238", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1644155 Twining, Benjamin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((78 -68.4,78.05 -68.4,78.1 -68.4,78.15 -68.4,78.2 -68.4,78.25 -68.4,78.3 -68.4,78.35 -68.4,78.4 -68.4,78.45 -68.4,78.5 -68.4,78.5 -68.419,78.5 -68.438,78.5 -68.457,78.5 -68.476,78.5 -68.495,78.5 -68.514,78.5 -68.533,78.5 -68.552,78.5 -68.571,78.5 -68.59,78.45 -68.59,78.4 -68.59,78.35 -68.59,78.3 -68.59,78.25 -68.59,78.2 -68.59,78.15 -68.59,78.1 -68.59,78.05 -68.59,78 -68.59,78 -68.571,78 -68.552,78 -68.533,78 -68.514,78 -68.495,78 -68.476,78 -68.457,78 -68.438,78 -68.419,78 -68.4))", "dataset_titles": "Flow cytometry enumeration of virus-like and bacteria-like abundance in Ace, Deep, \u0026 Organic lakes (Antarctica)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601626", "doi": "10.15784/601626", "keywords": "Ace Lake; Antarctica; Deep Lake; Organic Lake; Vestfold Hills", "people": "Martinez-Martinez, Joaquin; Twining, Benjamin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Flow cytometry enumeration of virus-like and bacteria-like abundance in Ace, Deep, \u0026 Organic lakes (Antarctica)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601626"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Viruses are prevalent in aquatic environments where they reach up to five hundred million virus particles in a teaspoon of water. Ongoing discovery of viruses seems to confirm current understanding that all forms of life can host and be infected by viruses and that viruses are one of the largest reservoirs of unexplored genetic diversity on Earth. This study aims to better understand interactions between specific viruses and phytoplankton hosts and determine how these viruses may affect different algal groups present within lakes of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. These lakes (Ace, Organic and Deep)were originally derived from the ocean and contain a broad range of saline conditions with a similarly broad range of physicochemical characteristics resulting from isolation and low external influence for thousands of years. These natural laboratories allow examination of microbial processes and interactions that would be difficult to characterize elsewhere on earth. The project will generate extensive genomic information that will be made freely available. The project will also leverage the study of viruses and the genomic approaches employed to advance the training of undergraduate students and to engage and foster an understanding of Antarctic science and studies of microbes during a structured informal education program in Maine for the benefit of high school students. By establishing the dynamics and interactions of (primarily) specific dsDNA virus groups in different habitats with different redox conditions throughout seasonal and inter annual cycles the project will learn about the biotic and abiotic factors that influence microbial community dynamics. This project does not require fieldwork in Antarctica. Instead, the investigators will leverage already collected and archived samples from three lakes that have concurrent measures of physicochemical information. Approximately 2 terabyte of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) (including metagenomes, SSU rRNA amplicons and single virus genomes) will be generated from selected available samples through a Community Science Program (CSP) funded by the Joint Genome Institute. The investigators will employ bioinformatics to interrogate those sequence databases. In particular, they will focus on investigating the presence, phylogeny and co-occurrence of polintons, polinton-like viruses, virophages and large dsDNA phytoplankton viruses as well as of their putative eukaryotic microbial hosts. Bioinformatic analyses will be complemented with quantitative digital PCR and microbial association network analysis to detect specific virus?virus?host interactions from co-occurrence spatial and temporal patterns. Multivariate analysis and network analyses will also be performed to investigate which abiotic factors most closely correlate with phytoplankton and virus abundances, temporal dynamics, and observed virus-phytoplankton associations within the three lakes. The results of this project will improve understanding of phytoplankton and their viruses as vital components of the carbon cycle in Antarctic, marine-derived aquatic environments, and likely in any other aquatic environment. Overall, this work will advance understanding of the genetic underpinnings of adaptations in unique Antarctic environments.", "east": 78.5, "geometry": "POINT(78.25 -68.495)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; AMD; USAP-DC; VIRUSES; Vestfold Hills; Amd/Us; FIELD SURVEYS; USA/NSF", "locations": "Vestfold Hills", "north": -68.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Twining, Benjamin; Martinez-Martinez, Joaquin", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.59, "title": "Viral control of microbial communities in Antarctic lakes", "uid": "p0010237", "west": 78.0}, {"awards": "1744871 Robinson, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblage from IODP Site U1357; Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary N isotopes from ODP Site 1098, Western Antarctic Peninsula; Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotopes from IODP Site U1357; Dissolved nutrients, cell counts, and nitrogen isotope measurements from Chaetoceros socialis culture experiments; ODP Site 1098 deglacial diatom assemblage; Sediment chemistry of ODP Site 1098", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601818", "doi": "10.15784/601818", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Geochemistry; Sediment; Wilkes Land", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblage from IODP Site U1357", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601818"}, {"dataset_uid": "601727", "doi": "10.15784/601727", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved nutrients, cell counts, and nitrogen isotope measurements from Chaetoceros socialis culture experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601727"}, {"dataset_uid": "601816", "doi": "10.15784/601816", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Geochemistry; Sediment", "people": "Dove, Isabel; Jones, Colin; Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary N isotopes from ODP Site 1098, Western Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601816"}, {"dataset_uid": "601778", "doi": "10.15784/601778", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment chemistry of ODP Site 1098", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601778"}, {"dataset_uid": "601817", "doi": "10.15784/601817", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Wilkes Land", "people": "Dove, Isabel; Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotopes from IODP Site U1357", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601817"}, {"dataset_uid": "601777", "doi": "10.15784/601777", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ODP Site 1098 deglacial diatom assemblage", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601777"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The chemical composition of diatom fossils in the Southern Ocean provides information about the environmental history of Antarctica, including sea ice extent, biological production, and ocean nutrient distribution. The sea ice zone is an important habitat for a group of diatoms, largely from the genus Chaetoceros, that have a unique life cycle stage under environmental stress, when they produce a structure called a resting spore. Resting spores are meant to reseed the surface ocean when conditions are more favorable. The production of these heavy resting spores tends to remove significant amounts of carbon and silicon, essential nutrients, out of the surface ocean. As a result, this group has the potential to remove carbon from the surface ocean and can impact the sedimentary record scientists use to reconstruct environmental change. This project explores the role of resting spores in the sedimentary record using the nitrogen isotopic signature of these fossils and how those measurements are used to estimate carbon cycle changes. The work will include laboratory incubations of these organisms to answer if and how the chemistry of the resting spores differs from that of a typical diatom cell. The incubation results will be used to evaluate nutrient drawdown in sea ice environments during two contrasting intervals in earth history, the last ice age and the warm Pliocene. This work should have significant impact on how the scientific community considers the impact of seasonal sea ice cover in the Southern Ocean in terms of how it responds to and regulates global climate. The project provides training and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Ongoing research efforts in Antarctic earth sciences will be disseminated through an interactive display at the home institution. The work proposed here will address uncertainties in how Chaetoceros resting spores record surface nutrient conditions in their nitrogen stable isotopic composition, the relative impact of their specific signal with respect to the full sedimentary assemblage, and their potential to bias or enhance environmental reconstructions in the sea ice zone. Measurements of nitrogen stable isotopes of nitrate, biomass, and diatom-bound nitrogen and silicon-to-nitrogen ratios of individual species grown in the laboratory will be used to quantify how resting spores record nutrient drawdown in the water column and to what degree their signature is biased toward low nutrient conditions. These relationships will be used to inform diatom-bound nitrogen isotope reconstructions of nutrient drawdown from a Pliocene coastal polyna and an open ocean core that spans the last glacial maximum. This proposal capitalizes on the availability of Southern Ocean isolates of Chaetoceros spp. collected in 2017 for the proposed culture work and archived sediment cores and/or existing data. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; USAP-DC; Antarctica; ISOTOPES; MARINE SEDIMENTS; LABORATORY; USA/NSF; NITROGEN; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Rebecca", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "The nitrogen isotopic composition of diatom resting spores in Southern Ocean sediments: A source of bias and/or paleoenvironmental information?", "uid": "p0010234", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2031442 Learman, Deric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-167.5 -60,-155 -60,-142.5 -60,-130 -60,-117.5 -60,-105 -60,-92.5 -60,-80 -60,-67.5 -60,-55 -60,-55 -62,-55 -64,-55 -66,-55 -68,-55 -70,-55 -72,-55 -74,-55 -76,-55 -78,-55 -80,-67.5 -80,-80 -80,-92.5 -80,-105 -80,-117.5 -80,-130 -80,-142.5 -80,-155 -80,-167.5 -80,180 -80,178 -80,176 -80,174 -80,172 -80,170 -80,168 -80,166 -80,164 -80,162 -80,160 -80,160 -78,160 -76,160 -74,160 -72,160 -70,160 -68,160 -66,160 -64,160 -62,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments near the Antartic Pennisula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601607", "doi": "10.15784/601607", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Grain Size; Grain Size Analysis; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; Organic Matter Geochemistry; Sediment Core Data; Shelf Sediments; Weddell Sea", "people": "Learman, Deric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments near the Antartic Pennisula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601607"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Western Antarctica is one of the fastest warming locations on Earth. Its changing climate will lead to an increase in sea-level and will also alter regional water temperature and chemistry. These changes will directly alter the microbes that inhabit the ecosystem. Microbes are the smallest forms of life on Earth, but they are also the most abundant. They drive cycling of essential nutrients, such as carbon and nitrogen that are found in ocean sediments. In this way they form the foundation of the food chain that supports larger and more complex life. However, we do not know much about how different communities of microbes break down sediments in Antarctica and this will influence the chemistry of those waters. This research will determine how communities of microbes on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic sediments using genetic and chemical data. This data will identify the species in the community, what enzymes they are producing and what chemical reactions they are driving. This research will create broader impacts as the data will be used to create in-class activities that improve a student\u2019s data analysis and critical thinking skills. The data will be used in graduate, undergraduate and K-12 classrooms. This research will provide genetic and enzymatic insight into how microbial communities in benthic sediments on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic matter. The current understanding of how benthic microbial communities respond to and then degrade complex organic matter in Antarctica is fragmented. Recent work suggests benthic microbial communities are shaped by organic matter availability. However, those studies were observational and did not directly examine community function. A preliminary study of metagenomic data from western Antarctic marine sediments, indicates a genetic potential for organic matter degradation but functional data was not been collected. Other studies have examined either enzyme activity or metagenomic potential, but few have been able to directly connect the two. To address this gap in knowledge, this study will utilize metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, coupled with microcosm experiments, enzyme assays, and geochemical data. It will examine Antarctic microbial communities from the Ross Sea, the Bransfield Strait and Weddell Sea to document how the relationship between a communities\u2019 enzymatic activity and the genes used to degrade complex organic matter is related to sediment breakdown. The data will expand our current knowledge of microbial genetic potential and provide a solid understanding of enzyme function as it relates to degradation of complex organic matter in those marine sediments. It will thereby improve our understanding of temperature change on the chemistry of Antarctic seawater. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-127.5 -70)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; USAP-DC; Antarctic Peninsula; BENTHIC; SHIPS; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Learman, Deric", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "RAPID: Meta-genomic and Transcriptomic Investigation of Complex Organic Matter Degradation in Antarctic Benthic Sediments", "uid": "p0010235", "west": -55.0}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Common-era black carbon deposition and atmospheric modeling for 6 Antarctic ice cores", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601464", "doi": "10.15784/601464", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Common-era black carbon deposition and atmospheric modeling for 6 Antarctic ice cores", "url": "http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601464"}], "date_created": "Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": null, "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biomass Burning; Black Carbon; Dronning Maud Land; East Antarctic Plateau; Ice Core", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Dronning Maud Land; East Antarctic Plateau", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McConnell, Joseph; Chellman, Nathan", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": null, "uid": null, "west": null}, {"awards": "2000992 Romans, Brian", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-172.873074 -74.274008)", "dataset_titles": "Grain size of Plio-Pleistocene continental slope and rise sediments, Hillary Canyon, Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601807", "doi": "10.15784/601807", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Grain Size; Ross Sea", "people": "Romans, Brian W.; Varela, Natalia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Grain size of Plio-Pleistocene continental slope and rise sediments, Hillary Canyon, Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601807"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Non-technical description: Predicting how polar ice sheets will respond to future global warming is difficult because all the processes that contribute to their melting are not well understood. This is important because the more ice on land that melts, the higher sea levels will rise. The most significant uncertainty in current estimates of sea-level rise in the coming decades is the potential contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One way to increase our knowledge about how large ice sheets respond to climate change in response to natural factors is to examine the geologic past. Natural global warming (and cooling) events in Earth\u2019s history provide examples that we can use to better understand processes, interactions, and responses we can\u2019t directly observe today. One such time period, approximately three million years ago (known as the Pliocene), was the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as high as they are today and, therefore, represents a time period to study to better understand the ice sheet response to a warming climate. Specifically, this project is interested in understanding how ocean currents near Antarctica, which transport heat and store carbon, behaved during these past climate events. The history of past ice sheet-ocean interactions are recorded in sediments that were deposited, layer upon layer, in the deep sea offshore Antarctica. In January-February 2018, a team of scientists and crew set sail to the Ross Sea, offshore west Antarctica, on the scientific ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution to recover such sediment archives. This project focuses on a sediment core from that expedition, which captures the relatively warm Pliocene time interval, as well as the subsequent transition into cooler climates typical of the past two million years. The researchers will analyze the sediment with multiple complementary measurements, including: grain size, composition, chemistry of organic matter, physical structures, microfossil type and abundance, and more. These analyses will be done by the research team, including several students, at their respective laboratories and will then integrated into a unified record of ice sheet-ocean interactions. Ultimately, the results will be used to improve modeled projections of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet could respond to future climate change. Part II: Technical description: Geological records from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) margin demonstrate that the ice sheet oscillated in response to orbital variations in insolation (i.e., ~400, 100, 41, and 20 kyr), and it appears to be more sensitive to specific frequencies that regulate mean annual insolation (i.e., 41-kyr obliquity), particularly when the ice sheet extends into marine environments and is impacted by ocean circulation. However, the relationship between orbital forcing and the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is unconstrained. Thus, a knowledge gap exists in understanding how changing insolation impacts ice marginal and Southern Ocean conditions that directly influence ventilation of the global ocean. The researchers hypothesize that insolation-driven changes directly affected the production and export of AABW to the Southern Ocean from the Pliocene through the Pleistocene. For example, obliquity amplification during the warmer Pliocene may have led to enhanced production and export of dense waters from the shelf due to reduced AIS extent, which, in turn, led to greater AABW outflow. To determine the relationship of AABW production to orbital regime, they plan to reconstruct both from a single, continuous record from the levee of Hillary Canyon, a major conduit of AABW outflow, on the Ross Sea continental rise. To test their hypothesis, they will analyze sediment from IODP Site U1524 (recovered in 2018 during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374) and focus on three data sets. (1) They will use the occurrence, frequency, and character of mm-scale turbidite beds as a proxy of dense-shelf-water cascading outflow and AABW production. They will estimate the down-slope flux via numerical modeling of turbidity current properties using morphology, grain size, and bed thickness as input parameters. (2) They will use grain-size data, physical properties, XRF core scanning, CT imaging, and hyperspectral imaging to guide lithofacies analysis to infer processes occurring during glacial, deglacial, and interglacial periods. Statistical techniques and optimization methods will be applied to test for astronomical forcing of sedimentary packages in order to provide a cyclostratigraphic framework and interpret the orbital-forcing regime. (3) They will use bulk sedimentary carbon and nitrogen abundance and isotope data to determine how relative contributions of terrigenous and marine organic matter change in response to orbital forcing. All of these data will be integrated with sedimentological records to deconvolve organic matter production from its deposition or remobilization due to AABW outflow as a function of the oscillating extent of the AIS. These data sets will be integrated into a unified chronostratigraphy to determine the relationship between AABW outflow and orbital-forcing scenarios under the varying climate regimes of the Plio-Pleistocene. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -172.873074, "geometry": "POINT(-172.873074 -74.274008)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; LABORATORY; AMD; USA/NSF; SEDIMENTS; Amd/Us; Ross Sea", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -74.274008, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Patterson, Molly; Ash, Jeanine; Kulhanek, Denise; Ash, Jeannie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.274008, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Orbital-scale Variability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Formation of Bottom Water in the Ross Sea during the Pliocene-Pleistocene", "uid": "p0010227", "west": -172.873074}, {"awards": "1341475 Smith, Nathan; 1341304 Sidor, Christian; 1341645 Makovicky, Peter; 2001033 Makovicky, Peter; 1341376 Tabor, Neil", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -84,-178 -84,-176 -84,-174 -84,-172 -84,-170 -84,-168 -84,-166 -84,-164 -84,-162 -84,-160 -84,-160 -84.3,-160 -84.6,-160 -84.9,-160 -85.2,-160 -85.5,-160 -85.8,-160 -86.1,-160 -86.4,-160 -86.7,-160 -87,-162 -87,-164 -87,-166 -87,-168 -87,-170 -87,-172 -87,-174 -87,-176 -87,-178 -87,180 -87,178.5 -87,177 -87,175.5 -87,174 -87,172.5 -87,171 -87,169.5 -87,168 -87,166.5 -87,165 -87,165 -86.7,165 -86.4,165 -86.1,165 -85.8,165 -85.5,165 -85.2,165 -84.9,165 -84.6,165 -84.3,165 -84,166.5 -84,168 -84,169.5 -84,171 -84,172.5 -84,174 -84,175.5 -84,177 -84,178.5 -84,-180 -84))", "dataset_titles": "Lower Triassic Antarctic vertebrate fossils at Field Museum, Chicago, IL", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601511", "doi": "10.15784/601511", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Fremouw Formation; Lystrosaurus; Permo-Triassic Extinction; Prolacerta; Sample Location; Thrinaxofon; Triassic", "people": "Makovicky, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Lower Triassic Antarctic vertebrate fossils at Field Museum, Chicago, IL", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601511"}], "date_created": "Tue, 29 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Around 252 million years ago, a major mass extinction wiped out upwards of 90% of species on Earth. Coincident with this extinction, the Antarctic portion of the supercontinent of Pangea transitioned to a warmer climatic regime and became devoid of glaciers. Little is known about the survivors of the extinction in Antarctica, although it has been hypothesized that the continent\u0027s high latitude location shielded it from the worst of the extinction\u0027s effects. The Shackleton Glacier region is the best place to study this extinction in Antarctica because it exposes an abundance of correct age rocks and relevant fossils were found there in the 1960s and 1980s. For this research, paleontologists will study fossil vertebrates that span from about 260 to 240 million years ago to understand how life evolved at high latitudes in the face of massive climate change. In addition, geologists will use fossil soils and fossil plant matter to more precisely reconstruct the climate of Antarctica across this extinction boundary. These data will allow for a more complete understanding of ancient climates and how Antarctic life compared to that at lower latitudes. Undergraduate and graduate students will be actively involved in this research. Public engagement in Antarctic science will be accomplished at several natural history museums. This three-year project will examine the evolution of Permo-Triassic paleoenvironments and their vertebrate communities by conducting fieldwork in the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica. The team will characterize the Permo-Triassic boundary within Shackleton area strata and correlate it to other stratigraphic successions in the region (e.g. via stable carbon isotope stratigraphy of fossilized plant organic matter). The researchers will use multiple types of data to assess the paleoenvironment, including: 1) paleosol morphology; 2) paleosol geochemistry; 3) pedogenic organic matter; and 4) fossil wood chronology and stable isotopes. The Fremouw Formation of Antarctica preserves the highest paleolatitude (~70\u00b0 S) tetrapod fauna of the entire Triassic and thus has the potential to shed important light on the evolution of polar life during the early Mesozoic. The biology of Triassic vertebrates from Antarctica will be compared to conspecifics from lower paleolatitudes through analysis of growth in bone and tusk histology. An interdisciplinary approach will be used to address relationships between environmental change, faunal composition, and biogeographic patterns in the context of the high-latitude strata preserved in the Buckley and Fremouw formations in the Shackleton Glacier region.", "east": -160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-177.5 -85.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "REPTILES; FIELD SURVEYS; USA/NSF; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; Triassic; USAP-DC; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; MACROFOSSILS; Amd/Us; Fossils; Shackleton Glacier; LAND RECORDS; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; AMD", "locations": "Shackleton Glacier", "north": -84.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sidor, Christian; Smith, Nathan; Makovicky, Peter; Tabor, Neil", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -87.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Understanding the evolution of high-latitude Permo-Triassic paleoenvironments and their vertebrate communities", "uid": "p0010213", "west": 165.0}, {"awards": "1846837 Bowman, Jeff", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The coastal Antarctic is undergoing great environmental change. Physical changes in the environment, such as altered sea ice duration and extent, have a direct impact on the phytoplankton and bacteria species which form the base of the marine foodweb. Photosynthetic phytoplankton are the ocean\u0027s primary producers, transforming (fixing) CO2 into organic carbon molecules and providing a source of food for zooplankton and larger predators. When phytoplankton are consumed by zooplankton, or killed by viral attack, they release large amounts of organic carbon and nutrients into the environment. Heterotrophic bacteria must eat other things, and function as \"master recyclers\", consuming these materials and converting them to bacterial biomass which can feed larger organisms such as protists. Some protists are heterotrophs, but others are mixotrophs, able to grow by photosynthesis or heterotrophy. Previous work suggests that by killing and eating bacteria, protists and viruses may regulate bacterial populations, but how these processes are regulated in Antarctic waters is poorly understood. This project will use experiments to determine the rate at which Antarctic protists consume bacteria, and field studies to identify the major bacterial taxa involved in carbon uptake and recycling. In addition, this project will use new sequencing technology to obtain completed genomes for many Antarctic marine bacteria. To place this work in an ecosystem context this project will use microbial diversity data to inform rates associated with key microbial processes within the PALMER ecosystem model. This project addresses critical unknowns regarding the ecological role of heterotrophic marine bacteria in the coastal Antarctic and the top-down controls on bacterial populations. Previous work suggests that at certain times of the year grazing by heterotrophic and mixotrophic protists may meet or exceed bacterial production rates. Similarly, in more temperate waters bacteriophages (viruses) are thought to contribute significantly to bacterial mortality during the spring and summer. These different top-down controls have implications for carbon flow through the marine foodweb, because protists are grazed more efficiently by higher trophic levels than are bacteria. This project will use a combination of grazing experiments and field observations to assess the temporal dynamics of mortality due to temperate bacteriophage and protists. Although many heterotrophic bacterial strains observed in the coastal Antarctic are taxonomically similar to strains from other regions, recent work suggest that they are phylogenetically and genetically distinct. To better understand the ecological function and evolutionary trajectories of key Antarctic marine bacteria, their genomes will be isolated and sequenced. Then, these genomes will be used to improve the predictions of the paprica metabolic inference pipeline, and our understanding of the relationship between heterotrophic bacteria and their major predators in the Antarctic marine environment. Finally, researchers will modify the Regional Test-Bed Model model to enable microbial diversity data to be used to optimize the starting conditions of key parameters, and to constrain the model\u0027s data assimilation methods. There is an extensive education and outreach component to this project that is designed to engage students and the public in diverse activities centered on Antarctic microbiota and marine sciences. A new module on Antarctic marine science will be developed for the popular Sally Ride Science program, and two existing undergraduate courses at UC San Diego will be strengthened with laboratory modules introducing emerging technology, and with cutting-edge polar science. A PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher will be supported by this project. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Magmatic Volatiles; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; VIRUSES; USA/NSF; Palmer Station; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; LABORATORY; Amd/Us; PROTISTS; AMD; USAP-DC", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bowman, Jeff; Connors, Elizabeth", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "CAREER: Understanding microbial heterotrophic processes in coastal Antarctic waters", "uid": "p0010201", "west": null}, {"awards": "1644159 Jacobs, Stanley", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -72.5,-177 -72.5,-174 -72.5,-171 -72.5,-168 -72.5,-165 -72.5,-162 -72.5,-159 -72.5,-156 -72.5,-153 -72.5,-150 -72.5,-150 -73.15,-150 -73.8,-150 -74.45,-150 -75.1,-150 -75.75,-150 -76.4,-150 -77.05,-150 -77.7,-150 -78.35,-150 -79,-153 -79,-156 -79,-159 -79,-162 -79,-165 -79,-168 -79,-171 -79,-174 -79,-177 -79,180 -79,178.2 -79,176.4 -79,174.6 -79,172.8 -79,171 -79,169.2 -79,167.4 -79,165.6 -79,163.8 -79,162 -79,162 -78.35,162 -77.7,162 -77.05,162 -76.4,162 -75.75,162 -75.1,162 -74.45,162 -73.8,162 -73.15,162 -72.5,163.8 -72.5,165.6 -72.5,167.4 -72.5,169.2 -72.5,171 -72.5,172.8 -72.5,174.6 -72.5,176.4 -72.5,178.2 -72.5,-180 -72.5))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic Seawater d18O isotope data from SE Amundsen Sea: 2000, 2007, 2009, 2019, 2020; Ross Island area salinity and temperature records 1956 to 2020", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601611", "doi": "10.15784/601611", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Chemistry:Water; CTD; D18O; NBP0001; NBP0702; NBP0901; NBP1901; NBP2002; Oceans; Oxygen Isotope; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seawater Isotope; Southern Ocean", "people": "Hennig, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Seawater d18O isotope data from SE Amundsen Sea: 2000, 2007, 2009, 2019, 2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601611"}, {"dataset_uid": "601458", "doi": "10.15784/601458", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Ross Island; Ross Sea; Salinity; Temperature", "people": "Jacobs, Stanley; Giulivi, Claudia F.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ross Island area salinity and temperature records 1956 to 2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601458"}], "date_created": "Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Overview and Intellectual merit: This project extends and combines historical and recent ocean data sets to investigate ice-ocean-interactions along the Pacific continental margin of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The synthesis focuses on the strikingly different environments on and near the cold Ross Sea and warm Amundsen Sea continental shelves, where available measurements reach back to ~1958 and 1994, respectively. On the more extensively covered Ross Sea continental shelf, multiple reoccupations of ocean stations and transects are used to extend our knowledge of long-term ocean freshening and the mass balance of the world?s largest ice shelf. On the more rugged Amundsen Sea continental shelf, which contains the earth?s fastest melting ice shelves, continuing research on observed thermohaline variability also pursues connections between outer shelf shoals and vulnerable ice shelf grounding zones. This interdisciplinary work updates a prior study of ice shelf response to ocean thermal forcing, and uses chemical tracers to measure changes in shelf, deep and bottom water transformations and production rates. Broader Impacts : Recent and potential future rates of sea level rise are the primary broad-scale impacts of the ice and ocean changes revealed by observations in the study area. The overriding question is whether global and regional sea levels will accelerate gradually, allowing carbon usage reductions to head off the worst consequences, or so rapidly that they will contribute to major social and economic upheavals. Collaborations and data acquired by foreign vessels are also utilized to better understand the causes of rapid change in these shelf seas and ice shelves, along with associated wider implications. Data that are re-gridded, re-edited or newly collated will be archived, and results made available via presentations, publications, and press releases if warranted. This proposal does not require fieldwork in the Antarctic This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-174 -75.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; COMPUTERS; Ross Sea; SHIPS; USAP-DC; SALINITY/DENSITY; OCEAN TEMPERATURE", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -72.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jacobs, Stanley", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e COMPUTERS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "West Antarctic Ice Shelf- Ocean Interactions ", "uid": "p0010208", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1643494 Saal, Alberto", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.074 -57.345,-66.6033 -57.345,-65.1326 -57.345,-63.6619 -57.345,-62.1912 -57.345,-60.7205 -57.345,-59.2498 -57.345,-57.7791 -57.345,-56.3084 -57.345,-54.8377 -57.345,-53.367 -57.345,-53.367 -58.12517,-53.367 -58.90534,-53.367 -59.68551,-53.367 -60.46568,-53.367 -61.24585,-53.367 -62.02602,-53.367 -62.80619,-53.367 -63.58636,-53.367 -64.36653,-53.367 -65.1467,-54.8377 -65.1467,-56.3084 -65.1467,-57.7791 -65.1467,-59.2498 -65.1467,-60.7205 -65.1467,-62.1912 -65.1467,-63.6619 -65.1467,-65.1326 -65.1467,-66.6033 -65.1467,-68.074 -65.1467,-68.074 -64.36653,-68.074 -63.58636,-68.074 -62.80619,-68.074 -62.02602,-68.074 -61.24585,-68.074 -60.46568,-68.074 -59.68551,-68.074 -58.90534,-68.074 -58.12517,-68.074 -57.345))", "dataset_titles": "Major, trace elements contents and radiogenic isotopes of erupted lavas Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix Ridge", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601519", "doi": "10.15784/601519", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Chemical Composition; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Isotope Data; Trace Elements", "people": "Saal, Alberto", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Major, trace elements contents and radiogenic isotopes of erupted lavas Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix Ridge", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601519"}], "date_created": "Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Earth\u0027s mantle influences the movement of tectonic plates and volcanism on the surface. One way to understand the composition and nature of the Earth\u0027s mantle is by studying the chemistry of basalts, which originate by volcanic eruptions of partially melting mantle rocks. This study will establish the budget and distribution of volatile elements (hydrogen, carbon, fluorine, chlorine, sulfur) in volcanic basalts to better understand the composition of the Earth\u0027s interior. Volatiles influence mantle melting, magma crystallization, magma migration and volcanic eruptions. Their abundances and spatial distribution provide important constraints on models of mantle flow and temperature. Moreover, volatiles are key constituents of the Earth\u0027s atmosphere and oceans. Establishing the cycles of volatiles between the Earth\u0027s interior and surface is of fundamental importance to understand the long-term evolution of our planet. This project supports a graduate student and research scientist at Brown University. It promotes the collaboration with geochemists from eleven institutions representing six different countries: USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Argentina, South Korea and Japan, and utilizes several NSF-funded USA analytical facilities. Communication of results will occur through: 1) peer-reviewed journals, presentations at conferences and invited university lectures, 2) hands-on science learning activities for local elementary and high school classes, and 3) outreach to the general audience through public lectures. Over the last 60 years of funded research, the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby ocean ridges have been extensively investigated providing information on the origin of the magmatism, and the composition, structure, temperature and evolution of the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle. Diverse hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of the magmatism in the Antarctic Peninsula, from flux melting of the mantle wedge during devolatilization of the subducted Phoenix plate, to adiabatic decompression melting of a carbonated and hydrous asthenosphere, to melting of a volatile-rich metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle. All proposed hypotheses invoke the role of volatiles. Surprisingly, data on the volatile contents of basalts and mantle from this region are non-existent. This is a significant omission from the geochemical data set, given the important role volatile elements play in the generation and composition of magmas and their sources. The focus of our research is to examine the regional variations in volatile contents (C, H, F, S, Cl) in geochemically well-characterized Pliocene-recent basalts from the Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix ridge. Our goal is to establish the budget and distribution of volatiles in the mantle to understand 1) the processes responsible for the generation of chemically diverse basalts in close spatial and temporal proximity and 2) the nature (lithology, composition and temperature) of the heterogeneous mantle source beneath the Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix ridge.", "east": -53.367, "geometry": "POINT(-60.7205 -61.24585)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; TRACE ELEMENTS; MAJOR ELEMENTS; Amd/Us; LABORATORY; ROCKS/MINERALS/CRYSTALS; Magmatic Volatiles; AMD", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -57.345, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Saal, Alberto", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.1467, "title": "Magmatic Volatiles, Unraveling the Reservoirs and Processes of the Volcanism in the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010196", "west": -68.074}, {"awards": "1848887 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "dataset_titles": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data; 2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; 2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment; Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments; Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601787", "doi": "10.15784/601787", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Cryosphere; Species Abundance; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601787"}, {"dataset_uid": "601791", "doi": "10.15784/601791", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601791"}, {"dataset_uid": "601792", "doi": "10.15784/601792", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601792"}, {"dataset_uid": "601793", "doi": "10.15784/601793", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601793"}, {"dataset_uid": "601796", "doi": "10.15784/601796", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cryosphere; Oceans; Southern Ocean; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601796"}, {"dataset_uid": "601700", "doi": "10.15784/601700", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601700"}, {"dataset_uid": "601702", "doi": "10.15784/601702", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601701", "doi": "10.15784/601701", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601701"}], "date_created": "Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification and ocean warming will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient), carbon dioxide enriched, and elevated temperature seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative \"winners\" and some will be relative \"losers\" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod \"winners\" and two key amphipod \"losers\". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -64.0527, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Amd/Us; AMD; COASTAL; BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Palmer Station; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS)", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.77423, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.77423, "title": "Assemblage-wide effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming on ecologically important macroalgal-associated crustaceans in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010193", "west": -64.0527}, {"awards": "2045611 Rasbury, Emma; 2042495 Blackburn, Terrence", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": " Subglacial Precipitates Record Antarctic Ice Sheet Response to Pleistocene Millennial Climate Cycles; Subglacial precipitates record Antarctic ice sheet response to Southern Ocean warming ; Thermogenic Methane Production in Antarctic Subglacial Hydrocarbon Seeps; U-Th isotopes and major elements in sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601918", "doi": "10.15784/601918", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Isotopes; Cryosphere; East Antarctica; Elephant Moraine; Geochronology; Isotope Data; Subglacial", "people": "Piccione, Gavin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Thermogenic Methane Production in Antarctic Subglacial Hydrocarbon Seeps", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601918"}, {"dataset_uid": "601594", "doi": "10.15784/601594", "keywords": "Antarctica; East Antarctica", "people": "Piccione, Gavin; Blackburn, Terrence", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " Subglacial Precipitates Record Antarctic Ice Sheet Response to Pleistocene Millennial Climate Cycles", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601594"}, {"dataset_uid": "601911", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Gagliardi, Jessica", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Subglacial precipitates record Antarctic ice sheet response to Southern Ocean warming ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601911"}, {"dataset_uid": "601806", "doi": "10.15784/601806", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Erosion; Isotope Data; Major Elements; Soil; Taylor Glacier; Taylor Valley", "people": "Piccione, Gavin; Tulaczyk, Slawek; Blackburn, Terrence; Edwards, Graham", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "U-Th isotopes and major elements in sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601806"}], "date_created": "Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Over the past century, climate science has constructed an extensive record of Earth\u2019s ice age cycles through the chemical and isotopic characterization of various geologic archives such as polar ice cores, deep-ocean sediments, and cave speleothems. These climatic archives provide an insightful picture of ice age cycles and of the related large global sea level fluctuations triggered by these significant climate rhythms. However, such records still provide limited insight as to how or which of Earth\u2019s ice sheets contributed to higher sea levels during past warm climate periods. This is of particular importance for our modern world: the Antarctic ice sheet is currently the world\u2019s largest freshwater reservoir, which, if completely melted, would raise the global sea level by over 60 meters (200 feet). Yet, geologic records of Antarctic ice sheet sensitivity to warm climates are particularly limited and difficult to obtain, because the direct records of ice sheet geometry smaller than the modern one are still buried beneath the mile-thick ice covering the continent. Therefore, it remains unclear how much this ice sheet contributed to past sea level rise during warm climate periods or how it will respond to the anticipated near-future climate warming. In the proposed research we seek to develop sub-ice chemical precipitates\u2014minerals that form in lakes found beneath the ice sheet\u2014as a climatic archive, one that records how the Antarctic ice sheet responded to past climatic change. These sub-ice mineral formations accumulated beneath the ice for over a hundred thousand years, recording the changes in chemical and isotopic subglacial properties that occur in response to climate change. Eventually these samples were eroded by the ice sheet and moved to the Antarctic ice margin where they were collected and made available to study. This research will utilize advanced geochemical, isotopic and geochronologic techniques to develop record of the Antarctica ice sheet\u2019s past response to warm climate periods, directly informing efforts to understand how Antarctica will response to future warming. Efforts to improve sea level forecasting on a warming planet have focused on determining the temperature, sea level and extent of polar ice sheets during Earth\u2019s past warm periods. Large uncertainties, however, in reconstructions of past and future sea levels, result from the poorly constrained climate sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice sheet (AIS). This research project aims to develop the use of subglacial precipitates as an archive the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) past response to climate change. The subglacial precipitates from East Antarctica form in water bodies beneath Antarctic ice and in doing so provide an entirely new and unique measure of how the AIS responds to climate change. In preliminary examination of these precipitates, we identified multiple samples consisting of cyclic opal and calcite that spans hundreds of thousands of years in duration. Our preliminary geochemical characterization of these samples indicates that the observed mineralogic changes result from a cyclic change in subglacial water compositions between isotopically and chemically distinct waters. Opal-forming waters are reduced (Ce* \u003c1 and high Fe/Mn) and exhibit elevated 234U/238U compositions similar to the saline groundwater brines found at the periphery of the AIS. Calcite-forming waters, are rather, oxidized and exhibit \u03b418O compositions consistent with derivation from the depleted polar plateau (\u003c -50 \u2030). 234U-230Th dates permit construction of a robust timeseries describing these mineralogic and compositional changes through time. Comparisons of these time series with other Antarctic climate records (e.g., ice core records) reveal that calcite forming events align with millennial scale changes in local temperature or \u201cAntarctic isotopic maximums\u201d, which represent Southern Hemisphere warm periods resulting in increased Atlantic Meridional overturing circulation. Ultimately, this project seeks to develop a comprehensive model as to how changes in the thermohaline cycle induce a glaciologic response which in turn induces a change in the composition of subglacial waters and the mineralogic phase recorded within the precipitate archive. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; East Antarctica", "locations": "East Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blackburn, Terrence; Tulaczyk, Slawek; Hain, Mathis; Rasbury, Troy", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Reconstructing East Antarctica\u2019s Past Response to Climate using Subglacial Precipitates", "uid": "p0010192", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2048840 Chambers, Don", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((13.3 -37.9,22.160000000000004 -37.9,31.020000000000003 -37.9,39.88000000000001 -37.9,48.74000000000001 -37.9,57.60000000000001 -37.9,66.46000000000001 -37.9,75.32000000000001 -37.9,84.18 -37.9,93.04 -37.9,101.9 -37.9,101.9 -39.56,101.9 -41.22,101.9 -42.879999999999995,101.9 -44.54,101.9 -46.2,101.9 -47.86,101.9 -49.519999999999996,101.9 -51.18,101.9 -52.84,101.9 -54.5,93.04 -54.5,84.18 -54.5,75.32 -54.5,66.46000000000001 -54.5,57.6 -54.5,48.739999999999995 -54.5,39.879999999999995 -54.5,31.019999999999996 -54.5,22.159999999999997 -54.5,13.3 -54.5,13.3 -52.84,13.3 -51.18,13.3 -49.519999999999996,13.3 -47.86,13.3 -46.2,13.3 -44.54,13.3 -42.879999999999995,13.3 -41.22,13.3 -39.56,13.3 -37.9))", "dataset_titles": "Physical and chemical surface observations in the South Indian Ocean from two uncrewed sailing vehicles.; Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and other parameters from Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone 1038 (EXPOCODE 316420220616) in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean from 2022-06-16 to 2022-07-26; Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and other parameters from Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone 1039 (EXPOCODE 316420220901) in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean from 2022-09-01 to 2023-04-27 (NCEI Accession 0300658)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200474", "doi": "10.25921/r2mt-t398", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and other parameters from Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone 1038 (EXPOCODE 316420220616) in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean from 2022-06-16 to 2022-07-26", "url": "https://data.noaa.gov/onestop/collections/details/b785fea0-e9db-49c0-b0bf-18ac90a452bc"}, {"dataset_uid": "200475", "doi": "10.17632/9ymsjsyhhp.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "University of South Florida (via DigitalCommons)", "science_program": null, "title": "Physical and chemical surface observations in the South Indian Ocean from two uncrewed sailing vehicles.", "url": "https://digitalcommonsdata.usf.edu/preview/9ymsjsyhhp?a=1482edaf-e430-4f65-9b94-f615defb6ed6"}, {"dataset_uid": "200439", "doi": "10.25921/6b0k-r665", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface underway measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and other parameters from Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone 1039 (EXPOCODE 316420220901) in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean from 2022-09-01 to 2023-04-27 (NCEI Accession 0300658)", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0300658"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Between Sept. 1, 2022 and April 27, 2023, a Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone collected underway chemical, meteorological and physical data in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean. Measurements were made at high spatial and temporal resolution ( ~ 5-km and 1 hour) and include observations of ocean and atmosphere pCO2, air temperature and humidity, wind, ocean skin temperature, SST, salinity, ocean color (Chlorophyll \u03b1, CDOM), dissolved oxygen, and ocean current velocity between roughly 13.5\u00b0E and 82\u00b0E and between the Sub Tropical Front (STF) and the Subantarctic Front (SAF). The mission track spanned from the Agulhas Return Current south of South Africa to the northern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current downstream of the Kerguelen Plateau. The primary goal of the mission was to collect data within cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies to quantify CO2 fluxes to better understand physical processes (upwelling and downwelling) that that can contribute to carbon cycling in addition to the biological pump.", "east": 101.9, "geometry": "POINT(57.60000000000001 -46.2)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; OCEAN MIXED LAYER; Southern Ocean; SHIPS; PH; OCEAN CHEMISTRY; CO2; Argo Float; DISSOLVED GASES; USAP-DC; Saildrone; AMD; Amd/Us", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -37.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Williams, Nancy; Lindstrom, Eric; Carter, Brendan; Chambers, Don", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; University of South Florida (via DigitalCommons)", "science_programs": null, "south": -54.5, "title": "The Role of Cyclonic Upwelling Eddies in Southern Ocean CO2 Flux", "uid": "p0010191", "west": 13.3}, {"awards": "1643355 Steig, Eric; 1643394 Buizert, Christo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions; Layer and Thinning based Accumulation Rate Reconstructions; WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200220", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/24530"}, {"dataset_uid": "200219", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/32632"}, {"dataset_uid": "601448", "doi": "10.15784/601448", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Layer and Thinning based Accumulation Rate Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601448"}], "date_created": "Fri, 28 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fudge, T. J.; Steig, Eric J.; Buizert, Christo", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Timing and Spatial Expression of the Bipolar Seesaw", "uid": "p0010183", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1543344 Soreghan, Gerilyn", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601599", "doi": "10.15784/601599", "keywords": "Antarctica; Anza Borrego; Iceland; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Norway; Peru; Puerto Rico; Taylor Valley; Washington; Wright Valley", "people": "Demirel-Floyd, Cansu", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601599"}], "date_created": "Tue, 18 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "As glaciers creep across the landscape, they can act as earthmovers, plucking up rocks and grinding them into fine sediments. Glaciers have moved across the Antarctic landscape over thousands to millions of years, leaving these ground-up sediments in their wake. This study builds on pilot discoveries by the investigators that revealed remarkably large and variable measurements of surface area in glacially-derived fine-grained sediments found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), one of the few landscapes on the Antarctic continent not currently covered by ice. Surface area is key to chemical weathering, the process by which rock is converted to soils as ions are carried away in streams and groundwater. These chemical weathering processes are also one of the primary means by which the Earth system naturally removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hence, high surface areas observed in sediments implies high \"weatherability\" which in turn translates to more potential carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, chemical weathering in high surface area glacial sediments may have significant impacts on Earth\u0027s carbon cycle. The researchers will measure the chemical and physical properties of sediments previously collected from the Dry Valleys to understand what factors lead to production of sediment with high-surface area and potential \"weather ability\" and investigate how sediment produced in these glacial systems could ultimately impact Earth\u0027s carbon budget. Results from this research will help scientists (including modelers) refine predictions of the effects of melting glaciers- and attendant exposure of glacial sediment? on atmospheric carbon levels. These results may also contribute to applied research efforts on development of carbon-dioxide removal technologies utilizing principles of rock weathering. In addition to the scientific benefits, this research will involve several students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, including science education undergraduates, thus contributing to training of the next-generation STEM workforce. Physical weathering produces fresh surfaces, greatly enhancing specific surface area (SSA) and reactive surface area (RSA) of primary minerals. Quantifying SSA and RSA of sediments is key to determining dissolution and leaching rates during natural weathering, but few data exist on distribution of sediment SA, particularly in glacial and fluvial systems. Pilot data from glacial stream systems in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley (located in the MDV) exhibit remarkably high and variable values in both SSA and RSA, values that in some cases greatly exceed values from muds in temperate glacial systems. This discovery motivates the current research, which aims to investigate the hypothesis that high and variable SAs of muds within Wright and Taylor Valleys reflect textural and/or compositional inheritance from the differing depositional settings within the MDV, biologic controls, dust additions, and/or pedogenic processes. These hypotheses will be tested by sedimentologically, mineralogically, and geochemically characterizing muds from glacially derived sediment deposited in various environments (cold vs. wet based glaciation; fluvial, lacustrine, dust, and drift deposits) and of varying age (Miocene to Modern) from the MDV and quantifying variation of SA and reactivity. Comparisons with analyzed muds from temperate glacial systems will enable polar-temperate comparisons. Analyses will focus on muds of previously collected sediment from the MDVs. Grain size and SSA will be measured by Laser Analysis and N2 adsorption BET, respectively. After carbonate removal, samples will be re-analyzed for SSA, and muds characterized geochemically. Mineralogy and bulk chemistry will also be assessed on co-occurring sand fractions, and textural attributes documented. SSA-normalized dissolution experiments will be used to compare solutes released from sediments to determine RSAs. Results will be integrated with the various sedimentologic and geochemical analyses to test the posed hypotheses. Ultimately, this research should shed light on how weathering in Antarctic systems contributes to global carbon cycling.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; Dry Valleys; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amd/Us; Antarctica; Weathering", "locations": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Soreghan, Gerilyn; Elwood Madden, Megan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems", "uid": "p0010181", "west": null}, {"awards": "1744755 Ito, Takamitsu", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -45,-75 -45,-70 -45,-65 -45,-60 -45,-55 -45,-50 -45,-45 -45,-40 -45,-35 -45,-30 -45,-30 -47.5,-30 -50,-30 -52.5,-30 -55,-30 -57.5,-30 -60,-30 -62.5,-30 -65,-30 -67.5,-30 -70,-35 -70,-40 -70,-45 -70,-50 -70,-55 -70,-60 -70,-65 -70,-70 -70,-75 -70,-80 -70,-80 -67.5,-80 -65,-80 -62.5,-80 -60,-80 -57.5,-80 -55,-80 -52.5,-80 -50,-80 -47.5,-80 -45))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean serves as the planet\u0027s major uptake region for the oceanic uptake of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The current generation of coupled climate models (atmosphere-ocean-land) are used to make future climate projections, but are known to exhibit significant biases in observed ocean carbon uptake. These numerical models are known to lack the resolution (space and time) to adequately represent many of the mesoscale processes and features known to effect important roles in air-sea exchange. To account for the ocean mesoscale (10km - 100km) phenomena, such as jets, fronts, meanders and eddies known to be crucial for bio-physical interactions of CO2 fluxes, this project will progressively increase model resolution from coarse to finer grid spacing, furthering our understanding of mesoscale processes. The study will focus on regions of interest, the austral South Pacific, and the Drake Passage. Both regions are to some extent well observed. These two regions are topographically constrained pathways constituent pathways of the Atlantic Circumpolar Current, and exhibit enhanced eddy activity. The numerical output will be compared with observations and a suite of bio-geochemical tracers will be used to examine biophysical interaction processes, occurring at fronts and eddies. The results from the study can provide process and specific metrics and diagnostics to assess and calibrate the global climate carbon models. A Ph.D. and an undergraduate intern will be trained and gain research insight. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -30.0, "geometry": "POINT(-55 -57.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COMPUTERS; OCEAN CHEMISTRY; Drake Passage; AMD; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Air-Sea Carbon Transfer; Amd/Us", "locations": "Drake Passage", "north": -45.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ito, Takamitsu", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e COMPUTERS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "A mechanistic study of bio-physical interaction and air-sea carbon transfer in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010166", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "2317097 Venturelli, Ryan; 1738989 Venturelli, Ryan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-114 -74,-112.2 -74,-110.4 -74,-108.6 -74,-106.8 -74,-105 -74,-103.2 -74,-101.4 -74,-99.6 -74,-97.8 -74,-96 -74,-96 -74.2,-96 -74.4,-96 -74.6,-96 -74.8,-96 -75,-96 -75.2,-96 -75.4,-96 -75.6,-96 -75.8,-96 -76,-97.8 -76,-99.6 -76,-101.4 -76,-103.2 -76,-105 -76,-106.8 -76,-108.6 -76,-110.4 -76,-112.2 -76,-114 -76,-114 -75.8,-114 -75.6,-114 -75.4,-114 -75.2,-114 -75,-114 -74.8,-114 -74.6,-114 -74.4,-114 -74.2,-114 -74))", "dataset_titles": "200 MHz ground-penetrating radar from Winkie Nunatak, West Antarctica; Cosmogenic-Nuclide data at ICE-D; Firn and Ice Density at Winkie Nunatak; Ice-penetrating radar data from the northern embayment of the Mt. Murphy massif; Ice-penetrating radar data from the Thwaites Glacier grounding zone; In situ 14C data from a subglacial bedrock core near Pope and Thwaites glaciers; NBP1902 Expedition data; Pine Island Bay Relative Sea-Level Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601860", "doi": "10.15784/601860", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Grounding Zone; Ice Penetrating Radar; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Goehring, Brent; Balco, Greg; Campbell, Seth", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Ice-penetrating radar data from the Thwaites Glacier grounding zone", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601860"}, {"dataset_uid": "601677", "doi": "10.15784/601677", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ice Penetrating Radar; Pine Island Glacier; Subglacial Bedrock", "people": "Braddock, Scott", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "200 MHz ground-penetrating radar from Winkie Nunatak, West Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601677"}, {"dataset_uid": "601554", "doi": "10.15784/601554", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pine Island Bay; Radiocarbon; Raised Beaches", "people": "Braddock, Scott; Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Pine Island Bay Relative Sea-Level Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601554"}, {"dataset_uid": "601834", "doi": "10.15784/601834", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Mount Murphy", "people": "Campbell, Seth; Balco, Greg; Goehring, Brent", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Ice-penetrating radar data from the northern embayment of the Mt. Murphy massif", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601834"}, {"dataset_uid": "601838", "doi": "10.15784/601838", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Density; Firn; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Density; Ice Core Records; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Venturelli, Ryan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Firn and Ice Density at Winkie Nunatak", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601838"}, {"dataset_uid": "200296", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Cosmogenic-Nuclide data at ICE-D", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601705", "doi": "10.15784/601705", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Mount Murphy; Subglacial Bedrock", "people": "Balco, Gregory; Venturelli, Ryan; Goehring, Brent", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "In situ 14C data from a subglacial bedrock core near Pope and Thwaites glaciers", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601705"}, {"dataset_uid": "200083", "doi": "10.7284/908147", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1902 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1902"}], "date_created": "Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project contributes to the joint initiative launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to substantially improve decadal and longer-term projections of ice loss and sea-level rise originating from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. The Thwaites Glacier system dominates the contribution to sea-level rise from Antarctica. Predicting how this system will evolve in coming decades, and thereby its likely contribution to sea level, requires detailed understanding of how it has responded to changes in climate and oceanographic conditions in the past. This project will provide a record of regional sea-level change by establishing chronologies for raised marine beaches as well as the timing and duration of periods of retreat of Thwaites Glacier during the past 10,000 years by sampling and dating bedrock presently covered by Thwaites Glacier via subglacial drilling. Together with climatic and oceanographic conditions from other records, these will provide boundary conditions for past-to-present model simulations as well as those used to predict future glacier changes under a range of climate scenarios. Specifically, the project will test the hypothesis--implied by existing geological evidence from the region--that present rapid retreat of the Thwaites Glacier system is reversible. The team aims to utilize two approaches: 1. To reconstruct relative sea level during the Holocene, it will map and date raised marine and shoreline deposits throughout Pine Island Bay. Chronological constraints on sea-level change will be provided by radiocarbon dating of organic material in landforms and sediments that are genetically related to past sea level, such as shell fragments, bones of marine fauna, and penguin guano. 2. To obtain geological evidence for past episodes of grounding-line retreat, the team will apply cosmogenic-nuclide exposure-dating of subglacial bedrock. Using drill systems recently developed for subglacial bedrock recovery, the team will obtain subglacial bedrock from sites where ice thickness is dynamically linked to grounding-line position in the Thwaites system (specifically in the Hudson Mountains, and near Mount Murphy). Observation of significant cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations--the team will primarily measure Beryllium-10 and in situ Carbon-14--in these samples would provide direct, unambiguous evidence for past episodes of thinning linked to grounding-line retreat as well as constraints on their timing and duration. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -96.0, "geometry": "POINT(-105 -75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; GLACIAL LANDFORMS; LABORATORY; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; GLACIATION; Amundsen Sea; USA/NSF", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -74.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Goehring, Brent; Hall, Brenda; Campbell, Seth; Venturelli, Ryan A; Balco, Gregory", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "ICE-D; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "south": -76.0, "title": "NSF-NERC: Geological History Constraints on the Magnitude of Grounding Line Retreat in the Thwaites Glacier System", "uid": "p0010165", "west": -114.0}, {"awards": "1643466 Hollibaugh, James; 1643345 Popp, Brian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-78.20206667 -64.03195833,-76.785055836 -64.03195833,-75.368045002 -64.03195833,-73.951034168 -64.03195833,-72.534023334 -64.03195833,-71.1170125 -64.03195833,-69.700001666 -64.03195833,-68.282990832 -64.03195833,-66.865979998 -64.03195833,-65.448969164 -64.03195833,-64.03195833 -64.03195833,-64.03195833 -64.554377497,-64.03195833 -65.076796664,-64.03195833 -65.599215831,-64.03195833 -66.121634998,-64.03195833 -66.644054165,-64.03195833 -67.166473332,-64.03195833 -67.688892499,-64.03195833 -68.211311666,-64.03195833 -68.733730833,-64.03195833 -69.25615,-65.448969164 -69.25615,-66.865979998 -69.25615,-68.282990832 -69.25615,-69.700001666 -69.25615,-71.1170125 -69.25615,-72.534023334 -69.25615,-73.951034168 -69.25615,-75.368045002 -69.25615,-76.785055836 -69.25615,-78.20206667 -69.25615,-78.20206667 -68.733730833,-78.20206667 -68.211311666,-78.20206667 -67.688892499,-78.20206667 -67.166473332,-78.20206667 -66.644054165,-78.20206667 -66.121634998,-78.20206667 -65.599215831,-78.20206667 -65.076796664,-78.20206667 -64.554377497,-78.20206667 -64.03195833))", "dataset_titles": "\"Collaborative research: Chemoautotrophy in Antarctic bacterioplankton communities supported by the oxidation of urea-derived nitrogen\"; Expedition data of LMG1801", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200124", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1801", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1801"}, {"dataset_uid": "200193", "doi": "Not yet assigned", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "\"Collaborative research: Chemoautotrophy in Antarctic bacterioplankton communities supported by the oxidation of urea-derived nitrogen\"", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/775717"}], "date_created": "Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Nitrification is the conversion of ammonium to nitrate by a two-step process involving two different guilds of microorganisms: ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizers. The process is central to the global nitrogen cycle, affecting everything from retention of fertilizer on croplands to removal of excess nitrogen from coastal waters before it can cause blooms of harmful algae. It also produces nitrous oxide, an ozone-destroying, greenhouse gas. The energy derived from both steps of nitrification is used to convert inorganic carbon into microbial biomass. The biomass produced contributes to the overall food web production of the Southern Ocean and may be a particularly important subsidy during winter when low light levels restrict the other major source of biomass, primary production by single-celled plants. This project addresses three fundamental questions about the biology and geochemistry of polar oceans, with a focus on the process of nitrification. The first question the project will address concerns the contribution of chemoautotrophy (based on nitrification) to the overall supply of organic carbon to the food web of the Southern Ocean. Previous measurements indicate that it contributes about 9% to the Antarctic food web on an annual basis, but those measurements did not include the additional production associated with nitrite oxidation. The second question to be addressed is related to the first and concerns the coupling between the steps of the process. The third seeks to determine the significance of the contribution of other sources of nitrogen, (specifically organic nitrogen and urea released by other organisms) to nitrification because these contributions may not be assessed by standard protocols. Measurements made by others suggest that urea in particular might be as important as ammonium to nitrification in polar regions. This project will result in training a postdoctoral researcher and provide undergraduate students opportunities to gain hand-on experience with research on microbial geochemistry. The Palmer LTER (PAL) activities have focused largely on the interaction between ocean climate and the marine food web affecting top predators. Relatively little effort has been devoted to studying processes related to the microbial geochemistry of nitrogen cycling as part of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, yet these are a major themes at other sites. This work will contribute substantially to understanding an important aspect of nitrogen cycling and bacterioplankton production in the PAL-LTER study area. The team will be working synergistically and be participating fully in the education and outreach efforts of the Palmer LTER, including making highlights of the findings available for posting to their project web site and participating in any special efforts they have in the area of outreach. Part 2: The proposed work will quantify oxidation rates of 15N supplied as ammonium, urea and nitrite, allowing us to estimate the contribution of urea-derived N and complete nitrification (ammonia to nitrate) to chemoautotrophy and bacterioplankton production in Antarctic coastal waters. The project will compare these estimates to direct measurements of the incorporation of 14C into organic matter the dark for an independent estimate of chemoautotrophy. The team aims to collect samples spanning the water column: from surface water (~10 m), winter water (50-100 m) and circumpolar deep water (\u003e150 m); on a cruise surveying the continental shelf and slope west of the Antarctic Peninsula in the austral summer of 2018. Other samples will be taken to measure the concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and urea, for qPCR analysis of the abundance of relevant microorganisms, and for studies of related processes. The project will rely on collaboration with the existing Palmer LTER to ensure that ancillary data (bacterioplankton abundance and production, chlorophyll, physical and chemical variables) will be available. The synergistic activities of this project along with the LTER activities will provide a unique opportunity to assess chemoautotrophy in context of the overall ecosystem?s dynamics- including both primary and secondary production processes.", "east": -64.03195833, "geometry": "POINT(-71.1170125 -66.644054165)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Pal-Lter; NITROGEN; SHIPS; USAP-DC; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Amd/Us; West Antarctic Shelf; USA/NSF; AMD", "locations": "West Antarctic Shelf; Pal-Lter", "north": -64.03195833, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hollibaugh, James T.; Popp, Brian", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.25615, "title": "Collaborative Research: Chemoautotrophy in Antarctic Bacterioplankton Communities Supported by the Oxidation of Urea-derived Nitrogen", "uid": "p0010150", "west": -78.20206667}, {"awards": "1842049 Kim, Sora; 1842059 Huber, Matthew; 1842176 Bizimis, Michael; 1842115 Jahn, Alexandra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-56.693516 -64.209061,-56.6823452 -64.209061,-56.6711744 -64.209061,-56.6600036 -64.209061,-56.6488328 -64.209061,-56.637662 -64.209061,-56.6264912 -64.209061,-56.6153204 -64.209061,-56.6041496 -64.209061,-56.5929788 -64.209061,-56.581808 -64.209061,-56.581808 -64.2143344,-56.581808 -64.2196078,-56.581808 -64.2248812,-56.581808 -64.2301546,-56.581808 -64.235428,-56.581808 -64.2407014,-56.581808 -64.2459748,-56.581808 -64.2512482,-56.581808 -64.2565216,-56.581808 -64.261795,-56.5929788 -64.261795,-56.6041496 -64.261795,-56.6153204 -64.261795,-56.6264912 -64.261795,-56.637662 -64.261795,-56.6488328 -64.261795,-56.6600036 -64.261795,-56.6711744 -64.261795,-56.6823452 -64.261795,-56.693516 -64.261795,-56.693516 -64.2565216,-56.693516 -64.2512482,-56.693516 -64.2459748,-56.693516 -64.2407014,-56.693516 -64.235428,-56.693516 -64.2301546,-56.693516 -64.2248812,-56.693516 -64.2196078,-56.693516 -64.2143344,-56.693516 -64.209061))", "dataset_titles": "Data from: Probing the ecology and climate of the Eocene Southern Ocean with sand tiger sharks Striatolamia macrota", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200183", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.6071/M34T1Z", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from: Probing the ecology and climate of the Eocene Southern Ocean with sand tiger sharks Striatolamia macrota", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.6071/M34T1Z"}], "date_created": "Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Earth\u0027s climate has changed through time and during the Eocene Epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) there was a transition from \u0027greenhouse\u0027 to \u0027icehouse\u0027 conditions. During the Eocene, a shift to cooler temperatures at high latitudes resulted in the inception of polar glaciation. This in turn affected the environment for living organisms. This project looks to uncover the interaction between biological, oceanographic, and climate systems for the Eocene in Antarctica using chemical analysis of fossil shark teeth collected during past expeditions. The combination of paleontological and geochemical analyses will provide insight to the past ecology and ocean conditions; climate models will be applied to test the role of tectonics, greenhouse gas concentration and ocean circulation on environmental change during this time period. The study contributes to understanding the interaction of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean circulation. This project also seeks to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the geosciences workforce with efforts targeted to undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and early career faculty. The research goal is to elucidate the processes leading from the Eocene greenhouse to Oligocene icehouse conditions. Previous explanations for this climate shift centers on Antarctica, where tectonic configurations influenced oceanic gateways, ocean circulation reduced heat transport, and/or greenhouse gas declines prompted glaciation. The team will reconstruct watermass, current, and climate fluctuations proximal to the Antarctic Peninsula using geochemical indicators (oxygen and neodymium isotope composition) from fossil shark teeth collected from Seymour Island. The approach builds on previous shark paleontological studies, incorporates geochemical analyses for environmental reconstruction (i.e., temperature gradients and ocean circulation), and tests hypotheses on Earth System dynamics using novel global climate model simulations with geochemical tracers. This project will advance global climate modeling capabilities with experiments that consider Eocene tectonic configuration within isotope-enabled climate model simulations. A comparison of geochemical results from Eocene climate simulations and empirical records of shark teeth will reveal processes and mechanisms central to the Eocene Antarctic climatic shift. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -56.581808, "geometry": "POINT(-56.637662 -64.235428)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FISH; USA/NSF; OXYGEN ISOTOPE ANALYSIS; WATER MASSES; Amd/Us; AMD; USAP-DC; OXYGEN ISOTOPES; LABORATORY; Seymour Island; Sharks; Striatolamia Macrota", "locations": "Seymour Island", "north": -64.209061, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e PALEOGENE \u003e EOCENE", "persons": "Kim, Sora; Scher, Howard; Huber, Matthew; Jahn, Alexandra", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "Dryad", "repositories": "Dryad", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.261795, "title": "Collaborative Research: Integrating Eocene Shark Paleoecology and Climate Modeling to reveal Southern Ocean Circulation and Antarctic Glaciation", "uid": "p0010146", "west": -56.693516}, {"awards": "1908399 Bizimis, Michael; 1908548 Feakins, Sarah", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((74.787 -67.27617,74.816483 -67.27617,74.845966 -67.27617,74.875449 -67.27617,74.904932 -67.27617,74.934415 -67.27617,74.963898 -67.27617,74.993381 -67.27617,75.022864 -67.27617,75.052347 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.31817,75.08183 -67.36017,75.08183 -67.40217,75.08183 -67.44417,75.08183 -67.48617,75.08183 -67.52817,75.08183 -67.57017,75.08183 -67.61217,75.08183 -67.65417,75.08183 -67.69617,75.052347 -67.69617,75.022864 -67.69617,74.993381 -67.69617,74.963898 -67.69617,74.934415 -67.69617,74.904932 -67.69617,74.875449 -67.69617,74.845966 -67.69617,74.816483 -67.69617,74.787 -67.69617,74.787 -67.65417,74.787 -67.61217,74.787 -67.57017,74.787 -67.52817,74.787 -67.48617,74.787 -67.44417,74.787 -67.40217,74.787 -67.36017,74.787 -67.31817,74.787 -67.27617))", "dataset_titles": "Ejtibbett/EOTproxymodel: Proxy Model Comparison for the Eocene-Oligocene Transition [Computational Notebook]; Paleoceanography and biomarker data from the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 37-3 million years; Prydz Bay East Antarctica, biomarkers and pollen, 36-33 million years; Sabrina Coast East Antarctica, Pollen and Biomarker Data from 59-38 million years ago; Southern High Latitude Temperature Proxies from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene [Dataset]", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200317", "doi": "10.25921/n9kg-yw91", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Paleoceanography and biomarker data from the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 37-3 million years", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/35613"}, {"dataset_uid": "200335", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.7254536", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern High Latitude Temperature Proxies from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene [Dataset]", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/7254536#.Y2BLgOTMI2w"}, {"dataset_uid": "200334", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.7254786", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Ejtibbett/EOTproxymodel: Proxy Model Comparison for the Eocene-Oligocene Transition [Computational Notebook]", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/7254786#.Y2BLAeTMI2w"}, {"dataset_uid": "200206", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Prydz Bay East Antarctica, biomarkers and pollen, 36-33 million years", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/32052"}, {"dataset_uid": "200259", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Sabrina Coast East Antarctica, Pollen and Biomarker Data from 59-38 million years ago", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/34772"}], "date_created": "Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds the largest volume of freshwater on the planet, in total enough to raise sea level by almost two hundred feet. Even minor adjustments in the volume of ice stored have major implications for coastlines and climates around the world. The question motivating this project is how did the ice grow to cover the continent over thirty million years ago when Antarctica changed from a warmer environment to an ice-covered southern continent? The seafloor of Prydz Bay, a major drainage basin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), has been drilled previously to recover sediments dating from millions of years prior to and across the time when inception of continental ice sheets occurred in Antarctica. The last remnants of plant material found as \u0027biomarkers\u0027 in the ocean sediments record the chemical signatures of rain and snowfall that fed the plants and later the expanding glaciers. Sediment carried by glaciers was also deposited on the seafloor and can be analyzed to discover how glaciers flowed across the landscape. Here, the researchers will identify precipitation changes that result from, and drive, ice sheet growth. This study will gather data and further analyze samples from the seafloor sediment archives of the International Ocean Discovery Program\u0027s (IODP) core repositories. Ultimately these findings can help inform temperature-precipitation-ice linkages within climate and ice sheet models. The project will support the training of three female, early career scientists (PhD \u0026 MS students, and research technician) and both PIs and the PhD student will continue their engagement with broadening participation efforts (e.g., Women in Science and Engineering Program; local chapters of Society for the advancement of Native Americans and Chicanos in Science and other access programs) to recruit undergraduate student participants from underrepresented minorities at both campuses and from local community colleges. Antarctic earth science education materials will be assisted by professional illustrations to be open access and used in public education and communication efforts to engage local communities in Los Angeles CA and Columbia SC. The researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of South Carolina will together study the penultimate moment of the early Cenozoic greenhouse climate state: the ~4 million years of global cooling that culminated in the Eocene/Oligocene transition (~34 Ma). Significant gaps remain in the understanding of the conditions that preceded ice expansion on Antarctica. In particular, the supply of raw material for ice sheets (i.e., moisture) and the timing, frequency, and duration of precursor glaciations is poorly constrained. This collaborative proposal combines organic and inorganic proxies to examine how Antarctic hydroclimate changed during the greenhouse to icehouse transition. The central hypothesis is that the hydrological cycle weakened as cooling proceeded. Plant-wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes (hydroclimate proxies) and Hf-Nd isotopes of lithogenous and hydrogenous sediments (mechanical weathering proxies) respond strongly and rapidly to precipitation and glacial advance. This detailed and sensitive combined approach will test whether there were hidden glaciations (and/or warm events) that punctuated the pre-icehouse interval. Studies will be conducted on Prydz Bay marine sediment cores in a depositional area for products of weathering and erosion that were (and are) transported through Lambert Graben from the center of Antarctica. The project will yield proxy information about the presence of plants and the hydroclimate of Antarctica and the timing of glacial advance, and is expected to show drying associated with cooling and ice-sheet growth. The dual approach will untangle climate signals from changes in fluvial versus glacial erosion of plant biomarkers. This proposal is potentially transformative because the combination of organic and inorganic proxies can reveal rapid transitions in aridity and glacial expansion, that may have been missed in slower-response proxies and more distal archives. The research is significant as hydroclimate seems to be a key player in the temperature-cryosphere hysteresis. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 75.08183, "geometry": "POINT(74.934415 -67.48617)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROFOSSILS; Prydz Bay; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; Sabrina Coast; DROUGHT/PRECIPITATION RECONSTRUCTION; ISOTOPES; AIR TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTION", "locations": "Prydz Bay; Sabrina Coast", "north": -67.27617, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Feakins, Sarah; Scher, Howard", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; Zenodo", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.69617, "title": "Collaborative Research: Organic and Inorganic Geochemical Investigation of Hydrologic Change in East Antarctica in the 4 Million Years Before Full Glaciation", "uid": "p0010143", "west": 74.787}, {"awards": "1043623 Miller, Scott", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((117.5 -47,120.35 -47,123.2 -47,126.05 -47,128.9 -47,131.75 -47,134.6 -47,137.45 -47,140.3 -47,143.15 -47,146 -47,146 -49.04,146 -51.08,146 -53.12,146 -55.16,146 -57.2,146 -59.24,146 -61.28,146 -63.32,146 -65.36,146 -67.4,143.15 -67.4,140.3 -67.4,137.45 -67.4,134.6 -67.4,131.75 -67.4,128.9 -67.4,126.05 -67.4,123.2 -67.4,120.35 -67.4,117.5 -67.4,117.5 -65.36,117.5 -63.32,117.5 -61.28,117.5 -59.24,117.5 -57.2,117.5 -55.16,117.5 -53.12,117.5 -51.08,117.5 -49.04,117.5 -47))", "dataset_titles": "Eddy covariance air-sea momentum, heat, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean from the N.B. Palmer cruise NBP1210; Eddy covariance air-sea momentum, heat, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean from the N.B. Palmer cruise NBP1402; Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001427", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1210"}, {"dataset_uid": "001414", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1402"}, {"dataset_uid": "601308", "doi": null, "keywords": "Air-Sea Flux; Air Temperature; Antarctica; Atmosphere; CO2; CO2 Concentrations; East Antarctica; Flux; Meteorology; NBP1402; Oceans; Relative Humidity; Salinity; Totten Glacier; Water Measurements; Water Temperature; Weather Station Data; Wind Direction; Wind Speed", "people": "Miller, Scott; Butterworth, Brian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Eddy covariance air-sea momentum, heat, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean from the N.B. Palmer cruise NBP1402", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601308"}, {"dataset_uid": "601309", "doi": "10.15784/601309", "keywords": "Air-Sea Flux; Air Temperature; Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Atmosphere; CO2; Flux; Meteorology; NBP1210; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Water Temperature; Wind Direction; Wind Speed", "people": "Miller, Scott; Butterworth, Brian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Eddy covariance air-sea momentum, heat, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean from the N.B. Palmer cruise NBP1210", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601309"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Accurate parameterizations of the air-sea fluxes of CO2 into the Southern Ocean, in particular at high wind velocity, are needed to better assess how projections of global climate warming in a windier world could affect the ocean carbon uptake, and alter the ocean heat budget at high latitudes. Air-sea fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat (water vapor) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are to be measured continuously underway on cruises using micrometeorological eddy covariance techniques adapted to ship-board use. The measured gas transfer velocity (K) is then to be related to other parameters known to affect air-sea-fluxes. A stated goal of this work is the collection of a set of direct air-sea flux measurements at high wind speeds, conditions where parameterization of the relationship of gas exchange to wind-speed remains contentious. The studies will be carried out at sites in the Southern Ocean using the USAP RV Nathaniel B Palmer as measurment platform. Co-located pCO2 data, to be used in the overall analysis and enabling internal consistency checks, are being collected from existing underway systems aboard the USAP research vessel under other NSF awards.", "east": 146.0, "geometry": "POINT(131.75 -57.2)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "HEAT FLUX; DISSOLVED GASES; Antarctica; USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -47.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Miller, Scott", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.4, "title": "Air-Sea Fluxes of Momentum, Heat, and Carbon Dioxide at High Wind Speeds in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010137", "west": 117.5}, {"awards": "1644197 Simms, Alexander", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -61,-64 -61,-63 -61,-62 -61,-61 -61,-60 -61,-59 -61,-58 -61,-57 -61,-56 -61,-55 -61,-55 -61.4,-55 -61.8,-55 -62.2,-55 -62.6,-55 -63,-55 -63.4,-55 -63.8,-55 -64.2,-55 -64.6,-55 -65,-56 -65,-57 -65,-58 -65,-59 -65,-60 -65,-61 -65,-62 -65,-63 -65,-64 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.2,-65 -63.8,-65 -63.4,-65 -63,-65 -62.6,-65 -62.2,-65 -61.8,-65 -61.4,-65 -61))", "dataset_titles": "Electron Microprobe Analysis of feldspar separates from rock and sediment OSL samples from Joinville and Livingston Island Beaches; Granulometry of Joinville and Livingston Island beaches; Ground-Penetrating Radar data from Livingston Island in the Antarctic Peninsula; Ground Penetrating Radar Profiles from Beaches on Joinville Island, Antarctic Peninsula; Joinville and Livingston Islands - rock and sediment OSL ages; OSL data - Joinville and Livingston Islands - Raw data; Radiocarbon Ages from Beaches on Joinville Island, Antarctic Peninsula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601634", "doi": "10.15784/601634", "keywords": "Antarctica; Joinville Island; Raised Beaches; Sea Level", "people": "Simms, Alexander", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiocarbon Ages from Beaches on Joinville Island, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601634"}, {"dataset_uid": "601632", "doi": "10.15784/601632", "keywords": "Antarctica; Joinville Island", "people": "Simms, Alexander", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ground Penetrating Radar Profiles from Beaches on Joinville Island, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601632"}, {"dataset_uid": "601633", "doi": "10.15784/601633", "keywords": "Antarctica; Joinville Island", "people": "Simms, Alexander", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ground-Penetrating Radar data from Livingston Island in the Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601633"}, {"dataset_uid": "601531", "doi": "10.15784/601531", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Joinville Island; Livingston Island; OSL dating; Raised Beaches", "people": "DeWitt, Regina", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Electron Microprobe Analysis of feldspar separates from rock and sediment OSL samples from Joinville and Livingston Island Beaches", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601531"}, {"dataset_uid": "601534", "doi": "10.15784/601534", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Joinville Island; Livingston Island; OSL dating; Raised Beaches", "people": "DeWitt, Regina", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Joinville and Livingston Islands - rock and sediment OSL ages", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601534"}, {"dataset_uid": "601532", "doi": "10.15784/601532", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Joinville Island; Livingston Island; OSL dating; Raised Beaches", "people": "DeWitt, Regina", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "OSL data - Joinville and Livingston Islands - Raw data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601532"}, {"dataset_uid": "601400", "doi": "10.15784/601400", "keywords": "Antarctica; Grain Size; Granulometry; Joinville Island; Livingston Island; LMG0412; Raised Beaches", "people": "Simms, Alexander; Theilen, Brittany", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Granulometry of Joinville and Livingston Island beaches", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601400"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Nontechnical Description Glacier ice loss from Antarctica has the potential to lead to a significant rise in global sea level. One line of evidence for accelerated glacier ice loss has been an increase in the rate at which the land has been rising across the Antarctic Peninsula as measured by GPS receivers. However, GPS observations of uplift are limited to the last two decades. One goal of this study is to determine how these newly observed rates of uplift compare to average rates of uplift across the Antarctic Peninsula over a longer time interval. Researchers will reconstruct past sea levels using the age and elevation of ancient beaches now stranded above sea level on the low-lying coastal hills of the Antarctica Peninsula to determine the rate of uplift over the last 5,000 years. The researchers will also analyze the structure of the beaches using ground-penetrating radar and the characteristics of beach sediments to understand how sea-level rise and past climate changes are recorded in beach deposits. The benefits of these new records will be threefold: (1) they will help determine the natural variability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and relative sea level (2) they will provide new insight about uplift and the structure of the Earth\u0027s interior; and 3) they will help researchers refine the methods used to determine the age of geologic deposits. The study results will be shared in outreach events at K-12 schools and with visitors of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. Three graduate students will be supported through this project. Technical description Paleo sea-level data is critical for reconstructing the size and extent of past ice sheets, documenting increased uplift following glacial retreat, and correcting gravity-based measurements of ice-mass loss for the impacts of post-glacial rebound. However, there are only 14 sites with relative sea-level data for Antarctica compared to over 500 sites used in a recent study of the North American Ice-Sheet complex. The purpose of this project is to use optically stimulated luminescence to date a series of newly discovered raised beaches along the eastern Antarctic Peninsula and an already known, but only preliminarily dated, series of raised beaches in the South Shetland Islands. Data to be collected at the raised beaches include the age and elevation, ground-penetrating radar profiles, and the roundness of cobbles and the lithology of ice-rafted debris. The study will test three hypotheses: (1) uplift rates have increased in modern times relative to the late Holocene across the Antarctic Peninsula, (2) the sea-level history at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is distinctly different than that of the South Shetland Islands, and (3) cobble roundness and the source of ice-rafted debris on raised beaches varied systematically through time reflecting the climate history of the northern Antarctic Peninsula.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-60 -63)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; COASTAL LANDFORMS/PROCESSES; USAP-DC; SEA LEVEL RECONSTRUCTION; South Shetland Islands; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us; USA/NSF", "locations": "South Shetland Islands; Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -61.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Simms, Alexander; DeWitt, Regina", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: New Constraints on Post-Glacial Rebound and Holocene Environmental History along the Northern Antarctic Peninsula from Raised Beaches", "uid": "p0010132", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1542962 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-171 -57,-170.8 -57,-170.6 -57,-170.4 -57,-170.2 -57,-170 -57,-169.8 -57,-169.6 -57,-169.4 -57,-169.2 -57,-169 -57,-169 -57.72,-169 -58.44,-169 -59.16,-169 -59.88,-169 -60.6,-169 -61.32,-169 -62.04,-169 -62.76,-169 -63.48,-169 -64.2,-169.2 -64.2,-169.4 -64.2,-169.6 -64.2,-169.8 -64.2,-170 -64.2,-170.2 -64.2,-170.4 -64.2,-170.6 -64.2,-170.8 -64.2,-171 -64.2,-171 -63.48,-171 -62.76,-171 -62.04,-171 -61.32,-171 -60.6,-171 -59.88,-171 -59.16,-171 -58.44,-171 -57.72,-171 -57))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data of NBP1702; Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean ; Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean (SNOWBIRDS)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200126", "doi": "10.7284/907211", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "200166", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean ", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/31312"}, {"dataset_uid": "200165", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean (SNOWBIRDS)", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/813379/data"}], "date_created": "Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Scientists established more than 30 years ago that the climate-related variability of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over Earth\u0027s ice-age cycles was regulated by the ocean. Hypotheses to explain how the ocean regulates atmospheric carbon dioxide have long been debated, but they have proven to be difficult to test. Work proposed here will test one leading hypothesis, specifically that the ocean experienced greater density stratification during the ice ages. That is, with greater stratification during the ice ages and slower replacement of deep water by cold dense water formed near the poles, the deep ocean would have held more carbon dioxide, which is produced by biological respiration of the organic carbon that constantly rains to the abyss in the form of dead organisms and organic debris that sink from the sunlit surface ocean. To test this hypothesis, the degree of ocean stratification during the last ice age and the rate of deep-water replacement will be constrained by comparing the radiocarbon ages of organisms that grew in the surface ocean and at the sea floor within a critical region around Antarctica, where most of the replacement of deep waters occurs. Completing this work will contribute toward improved models of future climate change. Climate scientists rely on models to estimate the amount of fossil fuel carbon dioxide that will be absorbed by the ocean in the future. Currently the ocean absorbs about 25% of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. Most of this carbon is absorbed in the Southern Ocean (the region around Antarctica). How this will change in the future is poorly known. Models have difficulty representing physical conditions in the Southern Ocean accurately, thereby adding substantial uncertainty to projections of future ocean uptake of carbon dioxide. Results of the proposed study will provide a benchmark to test the ability of models to simulate ocean processes under climate conditions distinctly different from those that occur today, ultimately leading to improvement of the models and to more reliable projections of future absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean. The proposed work will add a research component to an existing scientific expedition to the Southern Ocean, in the region between the Ross Sea and New Zealand, that will collect sediment cores at three to five locations down the northern flank of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at approximately 170\u00b0W. The goal is to collect sediments at each location deposited since early in the peak of the last ice age. This region is unusual in the Southern Ocean in that sediments deposited during the last ice age contain foraminifera, tiny organisms with calcium carbonate shells, in much greater abundance than in other regions of the Southern Ocean. Foraminifera are widely used as an archive of several geochemical tracers of past ocean conditions. In the proposed work the radiocarbon age of foraminifera that inhabited the surface ocean will be compared with the age of contemporary specimens that grew on the seabed. The difference in age between surface and deep-swelling organisms will be used to discriminate between two proposed mechanisms of deep water renewal during the ice age: formation in coastal polynyas around the edge of Antarctica, much as occurs today, versus formation by open-ocean convection in deep-water regions far from the continent. If the latter mechanism prevails, then it is expected that surface and deep-dwelling foraminifera will exhibit similar radiocarbon ages. In the case of dominance of deep-water formation in coastal polynyas, one expects to find very different radiocarbon ages in the two populations of foraminifera. In the extreme case of greater ocean stratification during the last ice age, one even expects the surface dwellers to appear to be older than contemporary bottom dwellers because the targeted core sites lie directly under the region where the oldest deep waters return to the surface following their long circuitous transit through the deep ocean. The primary objective of the proposed work is to reconstruct the water mass age structure of the Southern Ocean during the last ice age, which, in turn, is a primary factor that controls the amount of carbon dioxide stored in the deep sea. In addition, the presence of foraminifera in the cores to be recovered provides a valuable resource for many other paleoceanographic applications, such as: 1) the application of nitrogen isotopes to constrain the level of nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean and, thus, the efficiency of the ocean?s biological pump, 2) the application of neodymium isotopes to constrain the transport history of deep water masses, 3) the application of boron isotopes and boron/calcium ratios to constrain the pH and inorganic carbon system parameters of ice-age seawater, and 4) the exploitation of metal/calcium ratios in foraminifera to reconstruct the temperature (Mg/Ca) and nutrient content (Cd/Ca) of deep waters during the last ice age at a location near their source near Antarcitca.", "east": -169.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170 -60.6)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; South Pacific Ocean; SHIPS", "locations": "South Pacific Ocean", "north": -57.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Fleisher, Martin; Pavia, Frank", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; NCEI; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.2, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010130", "west": -171.0}, {"awards": "1753101 Bernard, Kim", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -64,-64.7 -64,-64.4 -64,-64.1 -64,-63.8 -64,-63.5 -64,-63.2 -64,-62.9 -64,-62.6 -64,-62.3 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.2,-62 -64.3,-62 -64.4,-62 -64.5,-62 -64.6,-62 -64.7,-62 -64.8,-62 -64.9,-62 -65,-62.3 -65,-62.6 -65,-62.9 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.5 -65,-63.8 -65,-64.1 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.7 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.9,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.5,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.3,-65 -64.2,-65 -64.1,-65 -64))", "dataset_titles": "2019 Krill Carbon Content; 2019 Krill Morphometrics; CAREER: \"The Omnivores Dilemma\": The Effect of Autumn Diet on Winter Physiology and Condition of Juvenile Antarctic Krill; Expedition of NBP2205; Feeding Experiment - Krill Lipid Classes; Gerlache Strait Krill Demographics", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601708", "doi": "10.15784/601708", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Krill; Palmer Station; Winter", "people": "Bernard, Kim", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2019 Krill Morphometrics", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601708"}, {"dataset_uid": "601707", "doi": "10.15784/601707", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Krill; Palmer Station; Winter", "people": "Bernard, Kim", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Feeding Experiment - Krill Lipid Classes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601707"}, {"dataset_uid": "601706", "doi": "10.15784/601706", "keywords": "Abundance; Antarctica; Antarctic Krill", "people": "Bernard, Kim", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Gerlache Strait Krill Demographics", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601706"}, {"dataset_uid": "601709", "doi": "10.15784/601709", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Krill; Palmer Station; Winter", "people": "Bernard, Kim", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2019 Krill Carbon Content", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601709"}, {"dataset_uid": "200369", "doi": "10.7284/909918", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition of NBP2205", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP2205"}, {"dataset_uid": "200368", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "CAREER: \"The Omnivores Dilemma\": The Effect of Autumn Diet on Winter Physiology and Condition of Juvenile Antarctic Krill", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/824760"}], "date_created": "Mon, 31 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic krill are essential in the Southern Ocean as they support vast numbers of marine mammals, seabirds and fishes, some of which feed almost exclusively on krill. Antarctic krill also constitute a target species for industrial fisheries in the Southern Ocean. The success of Antarctic krill populations is largely determined by the ability of their young to survive the long, dark winter, where food is extremely scarce. To survive the long-dark winter, young Antarctic krill must have a high-quality diet in autumn. However, warming in certain parts of Antarctica is changing the dynamics and quality of the polar food web, resulting in a shift in the type of food available to young krill in autumn. It is not yet clear how these dynamic changes are affecting the ability of krill to survive the winter. This project aims to fill an important gap in current knowledge on an understudied stage of the Antarctic krill life cycle, the 1-year old juveniles. The results derived from this work will contribute to the development of improved bioenergetic, population and ecosystem models, and will advance current scientific understanding of this critical Antarctic species. This CAREER project\u0027s core education and outreach objectives seek to enhance education and increase diversity within STEM fields. An undergraduate course will be developed that will integrate undergraduate research and writing in way that promotes authentic scientific inquiry and analysis of original research data by the students, and that enhances their communication skills. A graduate course will be developed that will promote students\u0027 skills in communicating their own research to a non-scientific audience. Graduate students will be supported through the proposed study and will gain valuable research experience. Traditionally underserved undergraduate students will be recruited to conduct independent research under the umbrella of the larger project. Throughout each field season, the research team will maintain a weekly blog that will include short videos, photographs and text highlighting the research, as well as their experiences living and working in Antarctica. The aim of the blog will be to engage the public and increase awareness and understanding of Antarctic ecosystems and the impact of warming, and of the scientific process of research and discovery. In this 5-year CAREER project, the investigator will use a combination of empirical and theoretical techniques to assess the effects of diet on 1-year old krill in autumn-winter. The research is centered on four hypotheses: (H1) autumn diet affects 1-year old krill physiology and condition at the onset of winter; (H2) autumn diet has an effect on winter physiology and condition of 1-year old krill under variable winter food conditions; (H3) the rate of change in physiology and condition of 1-year old krill from autumn to winter is dependent on autumn diet; and (H4) the winter energy budget of 1-year old krill will vary between years and will be dependent on autumn diet. Long-term feeding experiments and in situ sampling will be used to measure changes in the physiology and condition of krill in relation to their diet and feeding environment. Empirically-derived data will be used to develop theoretical models of growth rates and energy budgets to determine how diet will influence the overwinter survival of 1-year old krill. The research will be integrated with an education and outreach plan to (1) develop engaging undergraduate and graduate courses, (2) train and develop young scientists for careers in polar research, and (3) engage the public and increase their awareness and understanding. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-63.5 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; PELAGIC; Anvers Island; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; NSF/USA", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bernard, Kim", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "CAREER: \"The Omnivore\u0027s Dilemma\": The Effect of Autumn Diet on Winter Physiology and Condition of Juvenile Antarctic Krill", "uid": "p0010124", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1935755 Lamp, Jennifer; 1935907 Balco, Gregory; 1935945 Tremblay, Marissa", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -77.25,160.4 -77.25,160.8 -77.25,161.2 -77.25,161.6 -77.25,162 -77.25,162.4 -77.25,162.8 -77.25,163.2 -77.25,163.6 -77.25,164 -77.25,164 -77.325,164 -77.4,164 -77.475,164 -77.55,164 -77.625,164 -77.7,164 -77.775,164 -77.85,164 -77.925,164 -78,163.6 -78,163.2 -78,162.8 -78,162.4 -78,162 -78,161.6 -78,161.2 -78,160.8 -78,160.4 -78,160 -78,160 -77.925,160 -77.85,160 -77.775,160 -77.7,160 -77.625,160 -77.55,160 -77.475,160 -77.4,160 -77.325,160 -77.25))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": ". ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Nontechnical Description Scientists study the Earth\u0027s past climate in order to understand how the climate will respond to ongoing global change in the future. One of the best analogs for future climate might the period that occurred approximately 3 million years ago, during an interval known as the mid-Pliocene Warm Period. During this period, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was similar to today\u0027s and sea level was 15 or more meters higher, due primarily to warming and consequent ice sheet melting in polar regions. However, the temperatures in polar regions during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are not well determined, in part because we do not have records like ice cores that extend this far back in time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a new type of climate substitute, known as cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry. This project focuses on an area of Antarctica called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In this area, climate models suggest that temperatures were more than 10 C warmer during the mid-Pliocene than they are today, but indirect geologic observations suggest that temperatures may have been similar to today. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are also a place where rocks have been exposed to Earth surface conditions for several million years, and where this new climate substitute can be readily applied. The team will reconstruct temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period in order to resolve the discrepancy between models and indirect geologic observations and provide much-needed constraints on the sensitivity of Antarctic ice sheets to warming temperatures. The temperature reconstructions generated in this project will have scientific impact in multiple disciplines, including climate science, glaciology, geomorphology, and planetary science. In addition, the project will (1) broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by supporting two early-career female principal investigators, (2) build STEM talent through the education and training of a graduate student, (3) enhance infrastructure for research via publication of a publicly-accessible, open-source code library, and (4) be broadly disseminated via social media, blog posts, publications, and conference presentations. Part II: Technical Description The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3-3.3 million years ago) is the most recent interval of the geologic past when atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 400 ppm and is widely considered an analog for how Earth\u2019s climate system will respond to current global change. Climate models predict polar amplification - the occurrence of larger changes in temperatures at high latitudes than the global average due to a radiative forcing - both during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and due to current climate warming. However, the predicted magnitude of polar amplification is highly uncertain in both cases. The magnitude of polar amplification has important implications for the sensitivity of ice sheets to warming and the contribution of ice sheet melting to sea level change. Proxy-based constraints on polar surface air temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are sparse to non-existent. In Antarctica, there is only indirect evidence for the magnitude of warming during this time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a newly developed technique called cosmogenic noble gas (CNG) paleothermometry. CNG paleothermometry utilizes the diffusive behavior of cosmogenic 3He in quartz to quantify the temperatures rocks experience while exposed to cosmic-ray particles within a few meters of the Earth\u2019s surface. The very low erosion rates and subzero temperatures characterizing the McMurdo Dry Valleys make this region uniquely suited for the application of CNG paleothermometry for addressing the question: what temperatures characterized the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period? To address this question, the team will collect bedrock samples at several locations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys where erosion rates are known to be low enough that cosmic ray exposure extends into the mid-Pliocene or earlier. They will pair cosmogenic 3He measurements, which will record the thermal histories of our samples, with measurements of cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne, which record samples exposure and erosion histories. We will also make in situ measurements of rock and air temperatures at sample sites in order to quantify the effect of radiative heating and develop a statistical relationship between rock and air temperatures, as well as conduct diffusion experiments to quantify the kinetics of 3He diffusion specific to each sample. This suite of observations will be used to model permissible thermal histories and place constraints on temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period interval of cosmic-ray exposure. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162 -77.625)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; LABORATORY; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; ISOTOPES; Dry Valleys; AIR TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTION; GEOCHEMISTRY; USAP-DC", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.25, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tremblay, Marissa; Granger, Darryl; Balco, Gregory; Lamp, Jennifer", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative \r\nResearch: Reconstructing Temperatures during the Mid-Pliocene Warm \r\nPeriod in the McMurdo Dry Valleys with Cosmogenic Noble Gases", "uid": "p0010123", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1543450 Countway, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-66 -63,-65.7 -63,-65.4 -63,-65.1 -63,-64.8 -63,-64.5 -63,-64.2 -63,-63.9 -63,-63.6 -63,-63.3 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.3,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.9,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.8,-63 -65.1,-63 -65.4,-63 -65.7,-63 -66,-63.3 -66,-63.6 -66,-63.9 -66,-64.2 -66,-64.5 -66,-64.8 -66,-65.1 -66,-65.4 -66,-65.7 -66,-66 -66,-66 -65.7,-66 -65.4,-66 -65.1,-66 -64.8,-66 -64.5,-66 -64.2,-66 -63.9,-66 -63.6,-66 -63.3,-66 -63))", "dataset_titles": "Biogenic Sulfur Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Dissolved Inorganic Nutrient Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments ; Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Flow Cytometry Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Heterotrophic Bacterial Production Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Western Antarctic Peninsula plankton raw sequence reads", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601644", "doi": "10.15784/601644", "keywords": "3H-Leu; Antarctica; Bacteria; Biota; DMSP; Heterotrophic Bacterial Production; Palmer Station", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Heterotrophic Bacterial Production Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601644"}, {"dataset_uid": "200337", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Western Antarctic Peninsula plankton raw sequence reads", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA870587?reviewer=bmud2tbbrqbus79i2n2hb83uio"}, {"dataset_uid": "601645", "doi": "10.15784/601645", "keywords": "Antarctica; Nitrate; Nitrite; Palmer Station; Phosphate", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved Inorganic Nutrient Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601645"}, {"dataset_uid": "601648", "doi": "10.15784/601648", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Dimethyl Sulfide; Dimethylsulfoniopropionate; Dimethylsulfoxide; DMSP; DMSP Lyase; Palmer Station", "people": "Matrai, Patricia; Countway, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogenic Sulfur Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601648"}, {"dataset_uid": "601646", "doi": "10.15784/601646", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Dissolved Organic Carbon; Nitrogen; Palmer Station; TDN; Total Dissolved Nitrogen", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601646"}, {"dataset_uid": "601647", "doi": "10.15784/601647", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station; Phytoplankton", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Flow Cytometry Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601647"}], "date_created": "Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean in the vicinity of Antarctica is a region characterized by seasonally-driven marine phytoplankton blooms that are often dominated by microalgal species which produce large amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). DMSP can be converted to the compound dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is a molecule that can escape into the atmosphere where it is known to have strong condensation properties that are involved in regional cloud formation. Production of DMSP can influence the diversity and composition of microbial assemblages in seawater and the types and activities of microbes in the seawater will likely affect the magnitude of DMSP\\DMS production. The proposal aims to examine the role of DMSP in structuring the microbial communities in Antarctic waters and how this structuring may influence DMSP cycling. The project will leverage the Antarctic research to introduce concepts and data linking microbial diversity and biogeochemistry to a range of audiences (including high school and undergraduate students in Maine). The project will also engage teacher and students in rural K-8 schools and will allow a collaboration with a science writer and illustrator who will join the team in the field. The writer will use the southern ocean experience as the setting for a poster and a book about the proposed research and the scientists studying extreme environments. The project will examine (1) the extent to which the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters influences the composition and diversity of bacterial and protistan assemblages; (2) conversely, whether the composition and diversity of southern ocean protistan and bacterial assemblages influence the magnitude and rates of DMSP cycling; (3) the expression of DMSP degradation genes by marine bacteria seasonally and in response to additions of DMSP; and, to synthesize these results by quantifying (4) the microbial networks resulting from the presence of DMSP-producers and DMSP-consumers along with their predators, all involved in the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters. The work will be accomplished by conducting continuous growth experiments with DMSP-amended natural samples during field sampling of different microbial communities present in summer and fall. Data from the molecular (such as 16S/ 18S tag sequences, DMSP-cycle gene transcripts) and biogeochemical (such as biogenic sulfur cycling, bacterial production, microbial biomass) investigations will be integrated via network analysis.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64.5 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; PLANKTON; Amd/Us; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Palmer Station; USA/NSF", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Countway, Peter", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.0, "title": "Microbial Community Structure and Expression of Functional Genes Involved in the Seasonal Cycling of DMSP in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010120", "west": -66.0}, {"awards": "1543347 Rosenheim, Brad; 1543396 Christner, Brent; 1543405 Leventer, Amy; 1543453 Lyons, W. Berry; 1543537 Priscu, John; 1543441 Fricker, Helen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-163.611 -84.33543,-162.200034 -84.33543,-160.789068 -84.33543,-159.378102 -84.33543,-157.967136 -84.33543,-156.55617 -84.33543,-155.145204 -84.33543,-153.734238 -84.33543,-152.323272 -84.33543,-150.912306 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.3659157,-149.50134 -84.3964014,-149.50134 -84.4268871,-149.50134 -84.4573728,-149.50134 -84.4878585,-149.50134 -84.5183442,-149.50134 -84.5488299,-149.50134 -84.5793156,-149.50134 -84.6098013,-149.50134 -84.640287,-150.912306 -84.640287,-152.323272 -84.640287,-153.734238 -84.640287,-155.145204 -84.640287,-156.55617 -84.640287,-157.967136 -84.640287,-159.378102 -84.640287,-160.789068 -84.640287,-162.200034 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.6098013,-163.611 -84.5793156,-163.611 -84.5488299,-163.611 -84.5183442,-163.611 -84.4878585,-163.611 -84.4573728,-163.611 -84.4268871,-163.611 -84.3964014,-163.611 -84.3659157,-163.611 -84.33543))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland; CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole; Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ; Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995); Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data; Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing; Salsa sediment cores; Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200342", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/32811410"}, {"dataset_uid": "200214", "doi": "10.7283/YW8Z-TK03", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/YW8Z-TK03"}, {"dataset_uid": "200246", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OSU-MGR", "science_program": null, "title": "Salsa sediment cores", "url": "https://osu-mgr.org"}, {"dataset_uid": "200215", "doi": "10.7283/C503-KS23", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/C503-KS23"}, {"dataset_uid": "601663", "doi": "10.15784/601663", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Cell Counts; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Microbes; Nutrients; SALSA; Stable Isotopes; Trace Elements; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Priscu, John; Dore, John; Skidmore, Mark; Hawkings, Jon; Steigmeyer, August; Li, Wei; Barker, Joel; Tranter, Martyn; Science Team, SALSA", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601663"}, {"dataset_uid": "200216", "doi": "10.7283/F8NH-CV04", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F8NH-CV04"}, {"dataset_uid": "601672", "doi": "10.15784/601672", "keywords": "Antarctica; Isotope; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Radiocarbon; Subglacial Lake", "people": "Rosenheim, Brad; Venturelli, Ryan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601672"}, {"dataset_uid": "200213", "doi": "10.7283/F7BB-JH05", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F7BB-JH05"}, {"dataset_uid": "200282", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA790995"}, {"dataset_uid": "601661", "doi": "10.15784/601661", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Iron; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Mineralogy; Particle Size; Physical Properties; SALSA; Sediment Core; Sulfur; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Campbell, Timothy; Michaud, Alexander; Hawkings, Jon; Skidmore, Mark; Tranter, Martyn; Venturelli, Ryan A; Dore, John; Science Team, SALSA", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601661"}, {"dataset_uid": "200212", "doi": "10.7283/PT0Q-JB95", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/PT0Q-JB95"}, {"dataset_uid": "601360", "doi": "10.15784/601360", "keywords": "Antarctica; Radiocarbon; Sediment; Whillans Ice Stream", "people": "Venturelli, Ryan A", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601360"}, {"dataset_uid": "601472", "doi": "10.15784/601472", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bistatic Radar; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPS Data; Greenland; Lake Whillans; Radar; Store Glacier; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Schroeder, Dustin; Siegfried, Matthew; Peters, Sean; MacKie, Emma; Dawson, Eliza; Christoffersen, Poul; Bienert, Nicole", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601472"}, {"dataset_uid": "601498", "doi": "10.15784/601498", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Noble Gas", "people": "Lyons, W. Berry; Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601498"}, {"dataset_uid": "601657", "doi": "10.15784/601657", "keywords": "Antarctica; Conductivity; CTD; Depth; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Hot Water Drill; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Physical Properties; SALSA; Subglacial Lake; Temperature", "people": "Leventer, Amy; Dore, John; Priscu, John; Rosenheim, Brad", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601657"}, {"dataset_uid": "200217", "doi": "10.7283/3JMY-Y504", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/3JMY-Y504"}, {"dataset_uid": "601664", "doi": "10.15784/601664", "keywords": "Antarctica; Gas; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciology; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Methane; SALSA; Sediment Core; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Skidmore, Mark; Science Team, SALSA; Steigmeyer, August; Tranter, Martyn; Michaud, Alexander; Dore, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601664"}], "date_created": "Thu, 16 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis \"Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments\". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.", "east": -149.50134, "geometry": "POINT(-156.55617 -84.4878585)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENTS; Antarctica; ISOTOPES; Subglacial Lake; USAP-DC; VIRUSES; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; LABORATORY; Radiocarbon; Whillans Ice Stream; AMD; SALSA; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; RADIOCARBON; FIELD INVESTIGATION; ICE MOTION; Mercer Ice Stream; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": "Antarctica; Mercer Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream", "north": -84.33543, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rosenheim, Brad; Fricker, Helen; Priscu, John; Leventer, Amy; Dore, John; Lyons, W. Berry; Christner, Brent", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "GenBank", "repositories": "GenBank; NCBI GenBank; OSU-MGR; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.640287, "title": "Collaborative Research: Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA): Integrated Study of Carbon Cycling in Hydrologically-active Subglacial Environments", "uid": "p0010119", "west": -163.611}, {"awards": "1443482 Mak, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon monoxide mixing ratios and stable isotopic values, SPICE", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601356", "doi": "10.15784/601356", "keywords": "Antarctica; CO; Delta 13C; Delta 18O; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Mak, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Carbon monoxide mixing ratios and stable isotopic values, SPICE", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601356"}], "date_created": "Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Mak/1443482 This project will compare current atmospheric conditions with those of the remote past prior to human influence. This is important in order to understand the impact of human activities on Earth\u0027s atmosphere, and to determine the stability of the composition of the atmosphere in the past. How humans have impacted Earth?s atmospheric composition is important for developing accurate predictions of future global atmospheric conditions. In addition to training students, the investigators will support continuing education of high school science teachers on Long Island through specifically tailored, interactive seminars on various topics in earth science, atmospheric sciences, physics and biology. A pilot program at Mount Sinai School District, near Stony Brook University will be the first implementation of this program. The investigators plan to reconstruct historical variations in the sources of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) from measurements of the concentration and stable isotopic abundance of carbon monoxide ([CO], 13CO and C18O) in the South Pole Ice Core, which is being drilled in 2014-2016. The goal is to strategically sample and reconstruct the relative variations in CO source strengths over the past 20,000 years. These will be the first measurements to extend the CO record beyond 650 years before present, back to the last glacial maximum. Both atmospheric chemical processes and variations in CO sources can impact the CO budget, and variations in the CO budget are useful in identifying and quantifying chemistry-climate interactions.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; South Pole", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mak, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Using Stable Isotopes to Constrain the Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide Budget over the Last 20,000 Years", "uid": "p0010117", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1543483 Sedwick, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -66,-179.5 -66,-179 -66,-178.5 -66,-178 -66,-177.5 -66,-177 -66,-176.5 -66,-176 -66,-175.5 -66,-175 -66,-175 -67.2,-175 -68.4,-175 -69.6,-175 -70.8,-175 -72,-175 -73.2,-175 -74.4,-175 -75.6,-175 -76.8,-175 -78,-175.5 -78,-176 -78,-176.5 -78,-177 -78,-177.5 -78,-178 -78,-178.5 -78,-179 -78,-179.5 -78,180 -78,178.5 -78,177 -78,175.5 -78,174 -78,172.5 -78,171 -78,169.5 -78,168 -78,166.5 -78,165 -78,165 -76.8,165 -75.6,165 -74.4,165 -73.2,165 -72,165 -70.8,165 -69.6,165 -68.4,165 -67.2,165 -66,166.5 -66,168 -66,169.5 -66,171 -66,172.5 -66,174 -66,175.5 -66,177 -66,178.5 -66,-180 -66))", "dataset_titles": "Impact of Convective Processes and Sea Ice Formation on the Distribution of Iron in the Ross Sea: Closing the Seasonal Cycle; NBP1704 Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001363", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1704 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1704"}, {"dataset_uid": "200150", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Impact of Convective Processes and Sea Ice Formation on the Distribution of Iron in the Ross Sea: Closing the Seasonal Cycle", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/815403"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The waters of the Ross Sea continental shelf are among the most productive in the Southern Ocean, and may comprise a significant regional oceanic sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this region, primary production can be limited by the supply of dissolved iron to surface waters during the growing season. Water-column observations, sampling and measurements are to be carried out in the late autumn-early winter time frame on the Ross Sea continental shelf and coastal polynyas (Terra Nova Bay and Ross Ice Shelf polynyas), in order to better understand what drives the biogeochemical redistribution of micronutrient iron species during the onset of convective mixing and sea-ice formation at this time of year, thereby setting conditions for primary production during the following spring. The spectacular field setting and remote, hostile conditions that accompany the proposed field study present exciting possibilities for STEM education and training. At the K-12 level, the project seeks to support the development of educational outreach materials targeting elementary and middle school students, pre-service science teachers, and in-service science teachers.", "east": 165.0, "geometry": "POINT(175 -72)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "POLYNYAS; USAP-DC; NBP1704; Iron; Ross Sea; TRACE ELEMENTS; SALINITY/DENSITY; R/V NBP; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sedwick, Peter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Impact of Convective Processes and Sea Ice Formation on the Distribution of Iron in the Ross Sea: Closing the Seasonal Cycle", "uid": "p0010111", "west": -175.0}, {"awards": "1246465 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "dataset_titles": "WAIS Divide Ice Core Marine Isotope Stage 3 CO2 record", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601337", "doi": "10.15784/601337", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Cycle; CO2; Gas Chromatograph; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide", "people": "Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice Core Marine Isotope Stage 3 CO2 record", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601337"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Brook/1246465 This award supports a project to measure the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the WAIS Divide ice core covering the time period 25,000 to 60,000 years before present, and to analyze the isotopic composition of CO2 in selected time intervals. The research will improve understanding of how and why atmospheric CO2 varied during the last ice age, focusing particularly on abrupt transitions in the concentration record that are associated with abrupt climate change. These events represents large perturbations to the global climate system and better information about the CO2 response should inform our understanding of carbon cycle-climate feedbacks and radiative forcing of climate. The research will also improve analytical methods in support of these goals, including completing development of sublimation methods to replace laborious mechanical crushing of ice to release air for analysis. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that it will increase knowledge about the magnitude and timing of atmospheric CO2 variations during the last ice age, and their relationship to regional climate in Antarctica, global climate history, and the history of abrupt climate change in the Northern Hemisphere. The temporal resolution of the proposed record will in most intervals be ~ 4 x higher than previous data sets for this time period, and for selected intervals up to 8-10 times higher. Broader impacts of the proposed work include a significant addition to the amount of data documenting the history of the most important long-lived greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and more information about carbon cycle-climate feedbacks - important parameters for predicting future climate change. The project will contribute to training a postdoctoral researcher, research experience for an undergraduate and a high school student, and outreach to local middle school and other students. It will also improve the analytical infrastructure at OSU, which will be available for future projects.", "east": -112.1115, "geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Carbon Cycle; Ice Core Records; USAP-DC; CO2; FIELD INVESTIGATION; CARBON DIOXIDE; LABORATORY; WAIS Divide", "locations": "WAIS Divide", "north": -79.481, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.481, "title": "Completing the WAIS Divide Ice Core CO2 record", "uid": "p0010110", "west": -112.1115}, {"awards": "1543328 Van Mooy, Benjamin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Lipidomics of Antarctic waters. (TBD)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200149", "doi": "TBD", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Lipidomics of Antarctic waters. (TBD)", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/data"}], "date_created": "Fri, 19 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The depletion of stratospheric ozone over Antarctica leads to abnormally high levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from the sun reaching the surface of the ocean. This phenomenon is predicted to continue for the next half century, despite bans on ozone-destroying pollutants. Phytoplankton in the near surface ocean are subjected to variable amounts of UVR and contain a lot of lipids (fats). Because phytoplankton are at the base of the food chain their lipids makes their way into the Antarctic marine ecosystem\u0027s food web. The molecular structures of phytoplankton lipids are easily altered by UVR. When this happens, their lipids can be transformed from healthy molecules into potentially harmful molecules(oxylipins) known to be disruptive to reproductive and developmental processes. This project will use state-of-the-art molecular methods to answer questions about extent to which UVR damages lipid molecules in phytoplankton, and how these resultant molecules might effect the food chain in the ocean near Antarctica. Lipid peroxidation is often invoked as consequence of increased exposure of phytoplankton to UVR-produced reactive oxygen species (ROS), but the literature is practically silent on peroxidized lipids and their byproducts (i.e. oxylipins) in the ocean. In waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), spring-time blooms of diatoms contribute significantly to overall marine primary production. Oxylipins from diatoms can be highly bioactive; their impact on zooplankton grazers, bacteria, and other phytoplankton has been the subject of intense study. However, almost all of this work has focused on the production of oxylipins via enzymatic pathways, not by pathways involving UVR and/or ROS. Furthermore, rigorous experimental work on the effects of oxylipins has been confined almost exclusively to pure cultures and artificial communities. Thus, the true potential of these molecules to disrupt carbon cycling is very poorly-constrained, and is entirely unknown in the waters of the WAP. Armed with new highly-sensitive, state-of-the-art analytical techniques based on high-mass-resolution mass spectrometry, the principal investigator and his research group have begun to uncover an exquisite diversity of oxylipins in natural WAP planktonic communities. These techniques will be applied to understand the connections between UVR, ROS, oxylipins, and carbon cycling. The project will answer the question of how UVR, via ROS, affects oxylipin production by diatoms in WAP surface waters in controlled experiments conducted at a field station. With the answer to this question in hand, the project will also seek to answer how this phenomenon impacts the flow of carbon, particularly the export of organic carbon from the system, during a research cruise. The level of UVR-induced stresses experienced by oxylipin-rich planktonic communities in the WAP is unique, making Antarctica the only location for answering these fundamental questions. Major activities will include laboratory experiments with artificial membranes and diatom cultures, as well field experiments with phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacteria in WAP waters.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Oxylipins; Palmer Station; UV Radiation; USAP-DC; West Antarctic Shelf; NOT APPLICABLE; AQUATIC SCIENCES; Phytoplankton", "locations": "West Antarctic Shelf; Palmer Station", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Van Mooy, Benjamin", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Production and Fate of Oxylipins in Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula: Linkages Between UV Radiation, Lipid Peroxidation, and Carbon Cycling", "uid": "p0010109", "west": null}, {"awards": "1551195 Burdige, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-71 -64,-70.1 -64,-69.2 -64,-68.3 -64,-67.4 -64,-66.5 -64,-65.6 -64,-64.7 -64,-63.8 -64,-62.9 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.4,-62 -64.8,-62 -65.2,-62 -65.6,-62 -66,-62 -66.4,-62 -66.8,-62 -67.2,-62 -67.6,-62 -68,-62.9 -68,-63.8 -68,-64.7 -68,-65.6 -68,-66.5 -68,-67.4 -68,-68.3 -68,-69.2 -68,-70.1 -68,-71 -68,-71 -67.6,-71 -67.2,-71 -66.8,-71 -66.4,-71 -66,-71 -65.6,-71 -65.2,-71 -64.8,-71 -64.4,-71 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1601; Project: Organic Carbon Oxidation and Iron Remobilization by West Antarctic Shelf Sediments", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200148", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Project: Organic Carbon Oxidation and Iron Remobilization by West Antarctic Shelf Sediments", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/806864"}, {"dataset_uid": "002665", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1601", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1601"}], "date_created": "Tue, 16 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "General Statement: The continental shelf region west of the Antarctic Peninsula has recently undergone dramatic changes and ecosystem shifts, and the community of organisms that live in, or feed off, the sea floor sediments is being impacted by species invasions from the north. Previous studies of these sediments indicate that this community may consume much more of the regional productivity than previously estimated, suggesting that sediments are a rich and important component of this ecosystem and one that may be ripe for dramatic change. Furthermore, under richer sediment conditions, iron is mobilized and released back to the water column. Since productivity in this ecosystem is thought to be limited by the availability of iron, increased rates of iron release from these sediments could stimulate productivity and promote greater overall ecosystem change. In this research, a variety of sites across the shelf region will be sampled to accurately evaluate the role of sediments in consuming ecosystem productivity and to estimate the current level of iron release from the sediments. This project will provide a baseline set of sediment results that will present a more complete picture of the west Antarctic shelf ecosystem, will allow for comparison with water column measurements and for evaluation of the fundamental workings of this important ecosystem. This is particularly important since high latitude systems may be vulnerable to the effects of climate fluctuations. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be trained. Presentations will be made at scientific meetings, at other universities, and at outreach events. A project web site will present key results to the public and explain how this new information improves understanding of Antarctic ecosystems. Technical Description of Project: In order to determine the role of sediments within the west Antarctic shelf ecosystem, this project will determine the rates of sediment organic matter oxidation at a variety of sites across the Palmer Long Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) study region. To estimate the rates of release of iron and manganese from the sediments, these same sites will be sampled for detailed vertical distributions of the concentrations of these metals both in the porewaters and in important mineral phases. Since sediment sampling will be done at LTER sites, the sediment data can be correlated with the rich productivity data set from the LTER. In detail, the project: a) will determine the rates of oxygen consumption, organic carbon oxidation, nutrient release, and iron mobilization by shelf sediments west of the Antarctic Peninsula; b) will investigate the vertical distribution of diagenetic reactions within the sediments; and c) will assess the regional importance of these sediment rates. Sediment cores will be used to determine sediment-water fluxes of dissolved oxygen, total carbon dioxide, nutrients, and the vertical distributions of these dissolved compounds, as well as iron and manganese in the pore waters. Bulk sediment properties of porosity, organic carbon and nitrogen content, carbonate content, biogenic silica content, and multiple species of solid-phase iron, manganese, and sulfur species will also be determined. These measurements will allow determination of total organic carbon oxidation and denitrification rates, and the proportion of aerobic versus anaerobic respiration at each site. Sediment diagenetic modeling will link the processes of organic matter oxidation to metal mobilization. Pore water and solid phase iron and manganese distributions will be used to model iron diagenesis in these sediments and to estimate the iron flux from the sediments to the overlying waters. Finally, the overall regional average and distribution of the sediment processes will be compared with the distributions of seasonally averaged chlorophyll biomass and productivity.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-66.5 -66)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Iron Remobilization; R/V NBP; NBP1601; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; USAP-DC; West Antarctic Shelf", "locations": "West Antarctic Shelf", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Burdige, David; Christensen, John", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.0, "title": "Organic carbon oxidation and iron remobilization by West Antarctic shelf sediments ", "uid": "p0010108", "west": -71.0}, {"awards": "1744550 Amsler, Charles; 1744570 Galloway, Aaron; 1744602 Iken, Katrin; 1744584 Klein, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -61,-69 -61,-68 -61,-67 -61,-66 -61,-65 -61,-64 -61,-63 -61,-62 -61,-61 -61,-60 -61,-60 -61.772,-60 -62.544,-60 -63.316,-60 -64.088,-60 -64.86,-60 -65.632,-60 -66.404,-60 -67.176,-60 -67.948,-60 -68.72,-61 -68.72,-62 -68.72,-63 -68.72,-64 -68.72,-65 -68.72,-66 -68.72,-67 -68.72,-68 -68.72,-69 -68.72,-70 -68.72,-70 -67.948,-70 -67.176,-70 -66.404,-70 -65.632,-70 -64.86,-70 -64.088,-70 -63.316,-70 -62.544,-70 -61.772,-70 -61))", "dataset_titles": "Average global horizontal solar irradiance at study sites; Carbon and nitrogen isotope data along a gradient at the Antarctic Peninsula; Chemical composition data for Desmarestia menziesii; Chemical composition data for Himantothallus grandifolius; Chemical composition data for Iridaea ; Chemical composition data for Sarcopeltis antarctica ; Computed fetch for project study sites; Five year mean annual and summer sea ice concentration grids for the Western Antarctic Peninsula from AMSR2, National Ice Center Charts and the Sea Ice Index ; Gridded sea ice concentrations from National Ice Center (NIC) Charts 2014-2019 for Western Antarctic Peninsula ; Initial release of code and data associated with Whippo et al. (2024) Fatty acid profiles and stable isotope composition of Antarctic macroalgae: A baseline for a combined biomarker approach in food web studies.; Landsat Sea Ice/Cloud classifications surrounding project study sites; Latitude and longitude data for project study sites; LMG1904 expedition data; Macroalgal species collected along horizontal transect components ; Modelled Solar Irradiance for Western Antarctic Pennisula; Sea Ice Concentration Timeseries for study sites; Underwater transect videos used for community analyses; Underwater video transect community analysis data; VIIRS KD(490) diffuse attenuation coefficients for study sites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601642", "doi": "10.15784/601642", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea Ice Concentration Timeseries for study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601642"}, {"dataset_uid": "601654", "doi": "10.15784/601654", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; GIS; LANDSAT; LMG1904; Remote Sensing; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landsat Sea Ice/Cloud classifications surrounding project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601654"}, {"dataset_uid": "601883", "doi": "10.15784/601883", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Macroalgae", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Chemical composition data for Himantothallus grandifolius", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601883"}, {"dataset_uid": "601882", "doi": "10.15784/601882", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Macroalgae", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Chemical composition data for Desmarestia menziesii", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601882"}, {"dataset_uid": "601619", "doi": "10.15784/601619", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Communities; Biota; Macroalgae; Macroinvertebrates; Oceans; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater video transect community analysis data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601619"}, {"dataset_uid": "200402", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.10524919", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zendo", "science_program": null, "title": "Initial release of code and data associated with Whippo et al. (2024) Fatty acid profiles and stable isotope composition of Antarctic macroalgae: A baseline for a combined biomarker approach in food web studies.", "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/10524920"}, {"dataset_uid": "601653", "doi": "10.15784/601653", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Carbon; Carbon Isotopes; LMG1904; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans", "people": "Iken, Katrin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon and nitrogen isotope data along a gradient at the Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601653"}, {"dataset_uid": "601610", "doi": "10.15784/601610", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Communities; Biota; Macroalgae; Macroinvertebrates; Oceans; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater transect videos used for community analyses", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601610"}, {"dataset_uid": "601641", "doi": "10.15784/601641", "keywords": "Antarctica; Average Global Horizontal Solar Irradiance; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Average global horizontal solar irradiance at study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601641"}, {"dataset_uid": "601643", "doi": "10.15784/601643", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; LMG1904; National Ice Center Charts; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Gridded sea ice concentrations from National Ice Center (NIC) Charts 2014-2019 for Western Antarctic Peninsula ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601643"}, {"dataset_uid": "601330", "doi": "10.15784/601330", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sample Location", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Latitude and longitude data for project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601330"}, {"dataset_uid": "601639", "doi": "10.15784/601639", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Fetch; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Computed fetch for project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601639"}, {"dataset_uid": "601725", "doi": "10.15784/601725", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Macroalgal species collected along horizontal transect components ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601725"}, {"dataset_uid": "200147", "doi": "10.7284/908260", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG1904 expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1904"}, {"dataset_uid": "601640", "doi": "10.15784/601640", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Turbidity", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "VIIRS KD(490) diffuse attenuation coefficients for study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601640"}, {"dataset_uid": "601885", "doi": "10.15784/601885", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Macroalgae", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Chemical composition data for Sarcopeltis antarctica ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601885"}, {"dataset_uid": "601884", "doi": "10.15784/601884", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Macroalgae", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Chemical composition data for Iridaea ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601884"}, {"dataset_uid": "601651", "doi": "10.15784/601651", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; GIS; GIS Data; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Solar Radiation", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Modelled Solar Irradiance for Western Antarctic Pennisula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601651"}, {"dataset_uid": "601649", "doi": "10.15784/601649", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; LMG1904; National Ice Center Charts; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Five year mean annual and summer sea ice concentration grids for the Western Antarctic Peninsula from AMSR2, National Ice Center Charts and the Sea Ice Index ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601649"}], "date_created": "Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The western Antarctic Peninsula has become a model for understanding cold water communities and how they may be changing in Antarctica and elsewhere. Brown macroalgae (seaweeds) form extensive undersea forests in the northern portion of this region where they play a key role in providing both physical structure and a food (carbon) source for shallow water communities. Yet between Anvers Island (64 degrees S latitude) and Adelaide Island (67 S latitude) these macroalgae become markedly less abundant and diverse. This is probably because the habitat to the south is covered by more sea ice for a longer period, and the sea ice reduces the amount of light that reaches the algae. The reduced macroalgal cover undoubtedly impacts other organisms in the food web, but the ways in which it alters sea-floor community processes and organization is unknown. This project will quantitatively document the macroalgal communities at multiple sites between Anvers and Adelaide Islands using a combination of SCUBA diving, video surveys, and algal collections. Sea ice cover, light levels, and other environmental parameters on community structure will be modelled to determine which factors have the largest influence. Impacts on community structure, food webs, and carbon flow will be assessed through a mixture of SCUBA diving and video surveys. Broader impacts include the training of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, as well as numerous informal public education activities including lectures, presentations to K-12 groups, and a variety of social media-based outreach. Macroalgal communities are more abundance and diverse to the north along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, perhaps due to the greater light availability that is associated with shorter period of sea-ice cover. This project will determine the causes and community level consequence of this variation in algal community structure. First, satellite data on sea ice extent and water turbidity will be used to select study sites between 64 S and 69 S where the extent of annual sea ice cover is the primary factor influencing subsurface light levels. Then, variations in macroalgal cover across these study sites will be determined by video line-transect surveys conducted by SCUBA divers. The health, growth, and physiological status of species found at the different sites will be determined by quadrat sampling. The relative importance of macroalgal-derived carbon to the common invertebrate consumers in the foodweb will be assessed with stable isotope and fatty acid biomarker techniques. This will reveal how variation in macroalgal abundance and species composition across the sea ice cover gradient impacts sea floor community composition and carbon flow throughout the food web. In combination, this work will facilitate predictions of how the ongoing reductions in extent and duration of sea ice cover that is occurring in the region as a result of global climate change will impact the structure of nearshore benthic communities. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -60.0, "geometry": "POINT(-65 -64.86)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COASTAL; R/V LMG; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS); BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Antarctic Peninsula", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -61.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James; Iken, Katrin; Galloway, Aaron; Klein, Andrew", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC; Zendo", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.72, "title": "Collaborative Research: Sea ice as a driver of Antarctic benthic macroalgal community composition and nearshore trophic connectivity", "uid": "p0010104", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "1744883 Wiens, Douglas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "ANT-20: A 3D seismic model of the upper mantle and transition zone structure beneath Antarctica and the surrounding southern oceans; CWANT-PSP: A 3-D shear velocity model from a joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave dispersion derived from ambient noise and teleseismic earthquakes.", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200178", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "CWANT-PSP: A 3-D shear velocity model from a joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave dispersion derived from ambient noise and teleseismic earthquakes.", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/ds/products/emc-cwant-psp/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200179", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "ANT-20: A 3D seismic model of the upper mantle and transition zone structure beneath Antarctica and the surrounding southern oceans", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/ds/products/emc-ant-20/"}], "date_created": "Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The geological structure and history of Antarctica remains poorly understood because much of the continental crust is covered by ice. Here, the PIs will analyze over 15 years of seismic data recorded by numerous projects in Antarctica to develop seismic structural models of the continent. The seismic velocity models will reveal features including crustal thinning due to rifting in West Antarctica, the structures associated with mountain building, and the boundaries between different tectonic blocks. The models will be compared to continents that are better understood geologically to constrain the tectonic evolution of Antarctica. In addition, the work will provide better insight into how the solid earth interacts with and influences the development of the ice sheet. Surface heat flow will be mapped and used to identify regions in Antarctica with potential melting at the base of the ice sheet. This melt can lead to reduced friction and lower resistance to ice sheet movement. The models will help to determine whether the earth response to ice mass changes occurs over decades, hundreds, or thousands of years. Estimates of mantle viscosity calculated from the seismic data will be used to better understand the pattern and timescales of the response of the solid earth to changes in ice mass in various parts of Antarctica. The study will advance our knowledge of the structure of Antarctica by constructing two new seismic models and a thermal model using different but complementary methodologies. Because of the limitations of different seismic analysis methods, efforts will be divided between a model seeking the highest possible resolution within the upper 200 km depth in the well instrumented region (Bayesian Monte-Carlo joint inversion), and another model determining the structure of the entire continent and surrounding oceans extending through the mantle transition zone (adjoint full waveform inversion). The Monte-Carlo inversion will jointly invert Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities from earthquakes and ambient noise correlation along with P-wave receiver functions and Rayleigh H/V ratios. The inversion will be done in a Bayesian framework that provides uncertainty estimates for the structural model. Azimuthal anisotropy will be determined from Rayleigh wave velocities, providing constraints on mantle fabric and flow patterns. The seismic data will also be inverted for temperature structure, providing estimates of lithospheric thickness and surface heat flow. The larger-scale model will cover the entire continent as well as the surrounding oceans, and will be constructed using an adjoint inversion of phase differences between three component seismograms and synthetic seismograms calculated in a 3D earth model using the spectral element method. This model will fit the entire waveforms, including body waves and both fundamental and higher mode surface waves. Higher resolution results will be obtained by using double-difference methods and by incorporating Green\u0027s functions from ambient noise cross-correlation, and solving for both radial and azimuthal anisotropy. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Carbon Cycle; SEISMIC PROFILE; Seismology; Southern Ocean; Amd/Us; Antarctica; West Antarctica; MODELS; SEISMIC SURFACE WAVES; AMD; TECTONICS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica; West Antarctica; Southern Ocean", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wiens, Douglas; Shen, Weisen", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Comprehensive Seismic and Thermal Models for Antarctica and the Southern Oceans: A Synthesis of 15-years of Seismic Exploration", "uid": "p0010103", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1643722 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "dataset_titles": "South Pole Ice Core Methane Data and Gas Age Time Scale; South Pole ice core (SPC14) total air content (TAC)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601546", "doi": "10.15784/601546", "keywords": "Antarctica; South Pole", "people": "Epifanio, Jenna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice core (SPC14) total air content (TAC)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601546"}, {"dataset_uid": "601329", "doi": "10.15784/601329", "keywords": "Antarctica; Gas Chromatography; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; South Pole", "people": "Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole Ice Core Methane Data and Gas Age Time Scale", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601329"}], "date_created": "Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Brook/1643722 This award supports a project to measure the concentration of the gas methane in air trapped in an ice core collected from the South Pole. The data will provide an age scale (age as a function of depth) by matching the South Pole methane changes with similar data from other ice cores for which the age vs. depth relationship is well known. The ages provided will allow all other gas measurements made on the South Pole core (by the PI and other NSF supported investigators) to be interpreted accurately as a function of time. This is critical because a major goal of the South Pole coring project is to understand the history of rare gases in the atmosphere like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ethane, propane, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide. Relatively little is known about what controls these gases in the atmosphere despite their importance to atmospheric chemistry and climate. Undergraduate assistants will work on the project and be introduced to independent research through their work. The PI will continue visits to local middle schools to introduce students to polar science, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) as part of the project. Methane concentrations from a major portion (2 depth intervals, excluding the brittle ice-zone which is being measured at Penn State University) of the new South Pole ice core will be used to create a gas chronology by matching the new South Pole ice core record with that from the well-dated WAIS Divide ice core record. In combination with measurements made at Penn State, this will provide gas dating for the entire 50,000-year record. Correlation will be made using a simple but powerful mid-point method that has been previously demonstrated, and other methods of matching records will be explored. The intellectual merit of this work is that the gas chronology will be a fundamental component of this ice core project, and will be used by the PI and other investigators for dating records of atmospheric composition, and determining the gas age-ice age difference independently of glaciological models, which will constrain processes that affected firn densification in the past. The methane data will also provide direct stratigraphic markers of important perturbations to global biogeochemical cycles (e.g., rapid methane variations synchronous with abrupt warming and cooling in the Northern Hemisphere) that will tie other ice core gas records directly to those perturbations. A record of the total air content will also be produced as a by-product of the methane measurements and will contribute to understanding of this parameter. The broader impacts include that the work will provide a fundamental data set for the South Pole ice core project and the age scale (or variants of it) will be used by all other investigators working on gas records from the core. The project will employ an undergraduate assistant(s) in both years who will conduct an undergraduate research project which will be part of the student\u0027s senior thesis or other research paper. The project will also offer at least one research position for the Oregon State University Summer REU site program. Visits to local middle schools, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) will also be part of the project.", "east": 0.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; LABORATORY; METHANE; ICE CORE RECORDS; Gas Chromatography; South Pole; USAP-DC", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "A High Resolution Atmospheric Methane Record from the South Pole Ice Core", "uid": "p0010102", "west": 0.0}, {"awards": "9978236 Bell, Robin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((101 -75.5,101.9 -75.5,102.8 -75.5,103.7 -75.5,104.6 -75.5,105.5 -75.5,106.4 -75.5,107.3 -75.5,108.2 -75.5,109.1 -75.5,110 -75.5,110 -75.85,110 -76.2,110 -76.55,110 -76.9,110 -77.25,110 -77.6,110 -77.95,110 -78.3,110 -78.65,110 -79,109.1 -79,108.2 -79,107.3 -79,106.4 -79,105.5 -79,104.6 -79,103.7 -79,102.8 -79,101.9 -79,101 -79,101 -78.65,101 -78.3,101 -77.95,101 -77.6,101 -77.25,101 -76.9,101 -76.55,101 -76.2,101 -75.85,101 -75.5))", "dataset_titles": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey airborne radar data; SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey bed elevation data; SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey Gravity data; SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey ice thickness data; SOAR-Lake Vostok survey magnetic anomaly data; SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey surface elevation data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601296", "doi": " 10.1594/IEDA/306564", "keywords": "Airborne Magnetic; Airplane; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Lake Vostok; Magnetic; Magnetic Anomaly; Magnetometer; Potential Field; SOAR; Solid Earth", "people": "Studinger, Michael S.; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok survey magnetic anomaly data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601296"}, {"dataset_uid": "601299", "doi": "10.1594/IEDA/306565", "keywords": "Airborne Laser Altimeters; Airborne Laser Altimetry; Airborne Radar; Airplane; Antarctica; Bed Elevation; Bedrock Elevation; Digital Elevation Model; East Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Sheet; Lake Vostok; Radar; Radar Echo Sounder; SOAR", "people": "Studinger, Michael S.; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey bed elevation data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601299"}, {"dataset_uid": "601300", "doi": "10.1594/IEDA/306568", "keywords": "Airborne Radar; Airplane; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Lake Vostok; Navigation; Radar; SOAR; Subglacial Lakes", "people": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey airborne radar data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601300"}, {"dataset_uid": "601295", "doi": "10.1594/IEDA/306563", "keywords": "Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Lake Vostok; Potential Field; Solid Earth", "people": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey Gravity data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601295"}, {"dataset_uid": "601298", "doi": "10.1594/IEDA/306566", "keywords": "Airborne Altimetry; Airborne Laser Altimeters; Airborne Radar; Airplane; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Sheet; Ice Sheet Elevation; Ice Surface; Lake Vostok; Radar Echo Sounder; SOAR; Surface Elevation", "people": "Studinger, Michael S.; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey surface elevation data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601298"}, {"dataset_uid": "601297", "doi": "10.1594/IEDA/306567", "keywords": "Airborne Laser Altimeters; Airborne Radar; Airplane; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Sheet; Ice Stratigraphy; Ice Thickness; Ice Thickness Distribution; Lake Vostok; Radar; Radar Altimetry; Radar Echo Sounder; SOAR; Subglacial Lake", "people": "Studinger, Michael S.; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey ice thickness data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601297"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9978236 Bell Abstract This award, provided by the Office of Polar Programs under the Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Program, supports a geophysical study of Lake Vostok, a large lake beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Subglacial ecosystems, in particular subglacial lake ecosystems are extreme oligotrophic environments. These environments, and the ecosystems which may exist within them, should provide key insights into a range of fundamental questions about the development of Earth and other bodies in the Solar System including: 1) the processes associated with rapid evolutionary radiation after the extensive Neoproterozoic glaciations; 2) the overall carbon cycle through glacial and interglacial periods; and 3) the possible adaptations organisms may require to thrive in environments such as on Europa, the ice covered moon of Jupiter. Over 70 subglacial lakes have been identified beneath the 3-4 kilometer thick ice of Antarctica. One lake, Lake Vostok, is sufficiently large to be clearly identified from space with satellite altimetry. Lake Vostok is similar to Lake Ontario in area but with a much larger volume including measured water depths of 600 meters. The overlying ice sheet is acting as a conveyer belt continually delivering new water, nutrients, gas hydrates, sediments and microbes as the ice sheet flows across the lake. The goal of this program is to determine the fundamental boundary conditions for this subglacial lake as an essential first step toward understanding the physical processes within the lake. An aerogeophysical survey over the lake and into the surrounding regions will be acquired to meet this goal. This data set includes gravity, magnetic, laser altimetry and ice penetrating radar data and will be used to compile a basic set of ice surface elevation, subglacial topography, gravity and magnetic anomaly maps. Potential field methods widely used in the oil industry will be modified to estimate the subglacial topography from gravity data where the ice penetrating radar will be unable to recover the depth of the lake. A similar method can be modified to estimate the thickness of the sediments beneath the lake from magnetic data. These methods will be tested and applied to subglacial lakes near South Pole prior to the Lake Vostok field campaign and will provide valuable comparisons to the planned survey. Once the methods have been adjusted for the Lake Vostok application, maps of the water cavity and sediment thickness beneath the lake will be produced. These maps will become tools to explore the geologic origin of the lake. The two endmember models are, first, that the lake is an active tectonic rift such as Lake Baikal and, second, the lake is the result of glacial scouring. The distinct characteristics of an extensional rift can be easily identified with our aerogeophysical survey. The geological interpretation of the airborne geophysical survey will provide the first geological constraints of the interior of the East Antarctic continent based on modern data. In addition, the underlying geology will influence the ecosystem within the lake. One of the critical issues for the ecosystem within the lake will be the flux of nutrients. A preliminary estimation of the regions of freezing and melting based on the distance between distinctive internal layers observed on the radar data will be made. These basic boundary conditions will provide guidance for a potential international effort aimed at in situ exploration of the lake and improve the understanding of East Antarctic geologic structures.", "east": 110.0, "geometry": "POINT(105.5 -77.25)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR ECHO SOUNDERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e MAGNETIC FIELD/ELECTRIC FIELD INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETOMETERS \u003e MGF; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e AIRGRAV", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Gravity; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; East Antarctica; USAP-DC; Lake Vostok; Airborne Radar; Subglacial Lake; MAGNETIC FIELD; GRAVITY", "locations": "East Antarctica; Lake Vostok", "north": -75.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Understanding the Boundary Conditions of the Lake Vostok Environment: A Site Survey for Future Work\r\n", "uid": "p0010097", "west": 101.0}, {"awards": "1443470 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data; SP19 Gas Chronology; SPC14 carbonyl sulfide, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide measurements from South Pole, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601270", "doi": "10.15784/601270", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPC14 carbonyl sulfide, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide measurements from South Pole, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601270"}, {"dataset_uid": "601380", "doi": "10.15784/601380", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Ice Core Stratigraphy; Methane; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Epifanio, Jenna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SP19 Gas Chronology", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601380"}, {"dataset_uid": "601381", "doi": "10.15784/601381", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Methane; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Kennedy, Joshua A.; Ferris, David G.; Kalk, Michael; Hood, Ekaterina; Fudge, T. J.; Osterberg, Erich; Winski, Dominic A.; Steig, Eric J.; Kahle, Emma; Sowers, Todd A.; Edwards, Jon S.; Kreutz, Karl; Buizert, Christo; Brook, Edward J.; Epifanio, Jenna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601381"}], "date_created": "Thu, 26 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In the past, Earth\u0027s climate underwent dramatic changes that influenced physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes on a global scale. Such changes left an imprint in Earth\u0027s atmosphere, as shown by the variability in abundances of trace gases like carbon dioxide and methane. In return, changes in the atmospheric trace gas composition affected Earth\u0027s climate. Studying compositional variations of the past atmosphere helps us understand the history of interactions between global biogeochemical cycles and Earth?s climate. The most reliable information on past atmospheric composition comes from analysis of air entrapped in polar ice cores. This project aims to generate ice-core records of relatively short-lived, very-low-abundance trace gases to determine the range of past variability in their atmospheric levels and investigate the changes in global biogeochemical cycles that caused this variability. This project measures three such gases: carbonyl sulfide, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide. Changes in carbonyl sulfide can indicate changes in primary productivity and photosynthetic update of carbon dioxide. Changes in methyl chloride and methyl bromide significantly impact natural variability in stratospheric ozone. In addition, the processes that control atmospheric levels of methyl chloride and methyl bromide are shared with those controlling levels of atmospheric methane. The measurements will be made in the new ice core from the South Pole, which is expected to provide a 40,000-year record. The primary focus of this project is to develop high-quality trace gas records for the entire Holocene period (the past 11,000 years), with additional, more exploratory measurements from the last glacial period including the period from 29,000-36,000 years ago when there were large changes in atmospheric methane. Due to the cold temperatures of the South Pole ice, the proposed carbonyl sulfide measurements are expected to provide a direct measure of the past atmospheric variability of this gas without the large hydrolysis corrections that are necessary for interpretation of measurements from ice cores in warmer settings. Furthermore, we will test the expectation that contemporaneous measurements from the last glacial period in the deep West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core will not require hydrolysis loss corrections. With respect to methyl chloride, we aim to verify and improve the existing Holocene atmospheric history from the Taylor Dome ice core in Antarctica. The higher resolution of our measurements compared with those from Taylor Dome will allow us to derive a more statistically significant relationship between methyl chloride and methane. With respect to methyl bromide, we plan to extend the existing 2,000-year database to 11,000 years. Together, the methyl bromide and methyl chloride records will provide strong measurement-based constraints on the natural variability of stratospheric halogens during the Holocene period. In addition, the methyl bromide record will provide insight into the correlation between methyl chloride and methane during the Holocene period due to common sources and sinks.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; CARBONYL SULFIDE; HALOCARBONS AND HALOGENS; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; Antarctic; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctic", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Carbonyl Sulfide, Methyl Chloride, and Methyl Bromide Measurements in the New Intermediate-depth South Pole Ice Core", "uid": "p0010089", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1341432 Brzezinski, Mark; 1341464 Robinson, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-175 -54,-174 -54,-173 -54,-172 -54,-171 -54,-170 -54,-169 -54,-168 -54,-167 -54,-166 -54,-165 -54,-165 -55.3,-165 -56.6,-165 -57.9,-165 -59.2,-165 -60.5,-165 -61.8,-165 -63.1,-165 -64.4,-165 -65.7,-165 -67,-166 -67,-167 -67,-168 -67,-169 -67,-170 -67,-171 -67,-172 -67,-173 -67,-174 -67,-175 -67,-175 -65.7,-175 -64.4,-175 -63.1,-175 -61.8,-175 -60.5,-175 -59.2,-175 -57.9,-175 -56.6,-175 -55.3,-175 -54))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblage counts from NBP17-02 shipboard carboy experiments; Dissolved nutrient profiles from along 170\u00b0W between 67 and 54\u00b0S; Expedition Data of NBP1702; Particle composition measurements from along 170\u00b0W between 67-54\u00b0S; Particulate silicon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopic composition measurements in McLane pump profiles from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean; Silicon concentration and isotopic composition measurements in pore waters and sediments from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean; Surface Southern Ocean community growouts to evaluate the diatom bound N isotope proxy", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601522", "doi": "10.15784/601522", "keywords": "Antarctica; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Paleoproxies; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jones, Colin; Riesselman, Christina; Robinson, Rebecca; Closset, Ivia; Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca ; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface Southern Ocean community growouts to evaluate the diatom bound N isotope proxy", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601522"}, {"dataset_uid": "601523", "doi": "10.15784/601523", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Carboy Growouts; Diatom; Diatom Assemblage Data; NBP1702; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Southern Ocean Summer", "people": "Jones, Colin; Robinson, Rebecca; Riesselman, Christina; Robinson, Rebecca ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblage counts from NBP17-02 shipboard carboy experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601523"}, {"dataset_uid": "601562", "doi": "10.15784/601562", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Lithogenic Silica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1702; Pore Water Biogeochemistry; Sediment; Silicon Cycle; Silicon Stable Isotope; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jones, Janice L.; Closset, Ivia; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Silicon concentration and isotopic composition measurements in pore waters and sediments from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601562"}, {"dataset_uid": "601276", "doi": "10.15784/601276", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Nitrogen Isotopes; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Particle composition measurements from along 170\u00b0W between 67-54\u00b0S", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601276"}, {"dataset_uid": "200126", "doi": "10.7284/907211", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601269", "doi": "10.15784/601269", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chlorophyll; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved nutrient profiles from along 170\u00b0W between 67 and 54\u00b0S", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601269"}, {"dataset_uid": "601576", "doi": "10.15784/601576", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Diatom; Diatom Bound; Lithogenic Silica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1702; Nitrogen Isotopes; Silicon Cycle; Silicon Stable Isotope; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark; Jones, Janice L.; Closset, Ivia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " Particulate silicon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopic composition measurements in McLane pump profiles from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601576"}], "date_created": "Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Collaborative Proposal: A field and laboratory examination of the diatom N and Si isotope proxies: Implications for assessing the Southern Ocean biological pump The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and associated climate changes make understanding the role of the ocean in large scale carbon cycle a priority. Geologic samples allow exploration of potential mechanisms for carbon dioxide drawdown during glacial periods through the use of geochemical proxies. Nitrogen and silicon isotope signatures from fossil diatoms (microscopic plants) are used to investigate changes in the physical supply and biological demand for nutrients (like nitrogen and silicon and carbon) in the Southern Ocean. The project will evaluate the use the nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies through a series of laboratory experiments and Southern Ocean field sampling. The results will provide quantification of real relationships between nitrogen and silicon isotopes and nutrient usage in the Southern Ocean and allow exploration of the role of other factors, including biological diversity, ice cover, and mixing, in altering the chemical signatures recorded by diatoms. Seafloor sediment samples will be used to evaluate how well the signal created in the water column is recorded by fossil diatoms buried in the seafloor. Improving the nutrient isotope proxies will allow for a more quantitative understanding of the role of polar biology in regulating natural variation in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The project will also result in the training of a graduate student and development of outreach materials targeting a broad popular audience. This project seeks to test the fidelity of the diatom nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies, two commonly used paleoceanographic tools for investigating the role of the Southern Ocean biological pump in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial-interglacial timescales. Existing ground-truthing data, including culture experiments, surface sediment data and downcore reconstructions, all suggest that nutrient utilization is the primary driver of isotopic variation in the Southern Ocean. However, strong contribution of interspecific variation is implied by recent culture results. Moreover, field and laboratory studies present some contradictory results in terms of the relative importance of interspecific variation and of inferred post-depositional alteration of the nutrient isotope signals. Here, a first order test of the N and Si diatom nutrient isotope paleo-proxies, involving water column dissolved and particulate sampling and laboratory culturing of field-isolates, is proposed. Southern Ocean water, biomass, live diatoms and fossil diatom sampling will be conducted to investigate species and assemblage related variability in diatom nitrogen and silicon isotopes and their relationship to surface nutrient fields and early diagenesis. Access to fresh materials produced in an analogous environmental context to the sediments of primary interest is critical for making robust paleoceanographic reconstructions. Field sampling will occur along 175\u00b0W, transecting the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from the subtropics to the marginal ice edge. Collection of water, sinking/suspended particles and multi-core samples from 13 stations and 3 shipboard incubation experiments will be used to test four proposed hypotheses that together evaluate the significance of existing culture results and seek to allow the best use of diatom nutrient isotope proxies in evaluating the biological pump.", "east": -165.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170 -60.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; AMD; NITROGEN ISOTOPES; R/V NBP; NSF/USA; NUTRIENTS; USAP-DC; Amd/Us", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -54.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: A Field and Laboratory Examination of the Diatom N and Si Isotope Proxies: Implications for Assessing the Southern Ocean Biological Pump", "uid": "p0010083", "west": -175.0}, {"awards": "1341494 Gao, Yuan", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-64.05 -64.77)", "dataset_titles": "Concentrations and Particle Size Distributions of Aerosol Trace Elements; Particle sizes of aerosol iron", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601257", "doi": "10.15784/601257", "keywords": "Aerosol Concentration; Antarctica; Chemistry:gas; Chemistry:Gas; Iron; Palmer Station; Particle Size", "people": "Gao, Yuan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Particle sizes of aerosol iron", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601257"}, {"dataset_uid": "601370", "doi": "10.15784/601370", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Palmer Station; Trace Elements", "people": "Gao, Yuan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Concentrations and Particle Size Distributions of Aerosol Trace Elements", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601370"}], "date_created": "Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research seeks to further quantify the input of atmospheric Fe into the sparsely sampled Southern Ocean (SO), specifically in the vicinity of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and adjacent continental shelf waters in the Drake Passage. This is typically a high nutrient low chlorophyll region where surface trace metal and primary productivity data are suggestive of Fe limitation. The WAP is characterized by high productivity in the austral summer, and at this time may be in the path of northern dust (aeolian Fe) input or subject to melt influx of elevated Fe accumulated from glacial and present-day sea ice sources. Primary scientific questions are: (1) to what extent does atmospheric Fe contribute to nutrient cycles and ecosystem dynamics in the SO? (2) How is warming climate occurring in the WAP affecting the aerosol composition of the maritime atmosphere. The primary productivity of the Southern Ocean is key to understanding oceanic uptake of anthropogenic greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.", "east": -64.05, "geometry": "POINT(-64.05 -64.77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Aerosol Concentration; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; Particle Size; Palmer Station; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Trace Elements; Iron; AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.77, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gao, Yuan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.77, "title": "Quantifying Atmospheric Iron Properties over West Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010082", "west": -64.05}, {"awards": "1644020 Sims, Kenneth W.; 1644027 Wallace, Paul; 1644013 Gaetani, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((164.1 -77.1,164.65 -77.1,165.2 -77.1,165.75 -77.1,166.3 -77.1,166.85 -77.1,167.4 -77.1,167.95 -77.1,168.5 -77.1,169.05 -77.1,169.6 -77.1,169.6 -77.235,169.6 -77.37,169.6 -77.505,169.6 -77.64,169.6 -77.775,169.6 -77.91,169.6 -78.045,169.6 -78.18,169.6 -78.315,169.6 -78.45,169.05 -78.45,168.5 -78.45,167.95 -78.45,167.4 -78.45,166.85 -78.45,166.3 -78.45,165.75 -78.45,165.2 -78.45,164.65 -78.45,164.1 -78.45,164.1 -78.315,164.1 -78.18,164.1 -78.045,164.1 -77.91,164.1 -77.775,164.1 -77.64,164.1 -77.505,164.1 -77.37,164.1 -77.235,164.1 -77.1))", "dataset_titles": "G170 Electron Microprobe Analyses of Melt Inclusions and Host Olivines; G170 Raman Spectroscopy \u0026 Tomography Volumes of Melt Inclusions and Vapor Bubbles; G170 Sample Locations Ross Island \u0026 Discovery Province; G170 Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analses of Melt Inclusion Volatiles; G170 Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analyses of Melt Inclusion Hydrogen Isotopes; Location and Description of Tephra Samples from the Erebus and Discovery Sub-provinces", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601505", "doi": "10.15784/601505", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Electron Microprobe Analyses; Olivine; Petrography; Ross Island", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "G170 Electron Microprobe Analyses of Melt Inclusions and Host Olivines", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601505"}, {"dataset_uid": "601506", "doi": "10.15784/601506", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ion Mass Spectrometry; Ross Island; Volatiles", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "G170 Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analses of Melt Inclusion Volatiles", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601506"}, {"dataset_uid": "601507", "doi": "10.15784/601507", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Hydrogen; Ion Mass Spectrometry; Ross Island", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "G170 Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analyses of Melt Inclusion Hydrogen Isotopes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601507"}, {"dataset_uid": "601250", "doi": "10.15784/601250", "keywords": "Antarctica; Hut Point Peninsula; Mt. Bird; Mt. Morning; Mt. Terror; Ross Island; Turks Head; Turtle Rock", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn; Pamukcu, Ayla", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Location and Description of Tephra Samples from the Erebus and Discovery Sub-provinces", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601250"}, {"dataset_uid": "601508", "doi": "10.15784/601508", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Melt Inclusions; Raman Spectroscopy; Ross Island; Vapor Bubbles; Volcanic", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "G170 Raman Spectroscopy \u0026 Tomography Volumes of Melt Inclusions and Vapor Bubbles", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601508"}, {"dataset_uid": "601504", "doi": "10.15784/601504", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ross Island; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sample Location", "people": "Gaetani, Glenn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "G170 Sample Locations Ross Island \u0026 Discovery Province", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601504"}], "date_created": "Sat, 08 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Nontechnical project description Globally, 500 million people live near and are threatened by active volcanoes. An important step in mitigating volcanic hazards is understanding the variables that influence the explosivity of eruptions. The rate at which a magma ascends from the reservoir within the Earth to the surface is one such variable. However, magma ascent rates are particularly difficult to determine because of the lack of reliable methods for investigating the process. This research applies a new approach to study magma storage depths and ascent rates at the Erebus volcanic province of Antarctica, one of Earth\u0027s largest alkaline volcanic centers. Small pockets of magma that become trapped within growing olivine crystals are called melt inclusions. The concentrations of water and carbon dioxide in these melt inclusions preserve information on the depth of magma reservoirs. Changes to the concentration and isotopic composition of water in the inclusions provide information on how long it took for the host magma to rise to the surface. In combination, these data from samples of olivine-rich volcanic deposits in the Erebus volcanic province will be used to determine the depths at which magmas are stored and their ascent rates. The project results will provide a framework for understanding volcanic hazards associated with alkaline volcanism worldwide. In addition, this project facilitates collaboration among three institutions, and provides an important educational opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher. Technical project description The depths at which magmas are stored, their pre-eruptive volatile contents, and the rates at which they ascend to the Earth\u0027s surface are important controls on the dynamics of volcanic eruptions. Basaltic magmas are likely to be vapor undersaturated as they begin their ascent from the mantle through the crust, but volatile solubility drops with decreasing pressure. Once vapor saturation is achieved and the magma begins to degas, its pre-eruptive volatile content is determined largely by the depth at which it resides within the crust. Magma stored in deeper reservoirs tend to experience less pre-eruptive degassing and to be richer in volatiles than magma shallower reservoirs. Eruptive style is influenced by the rate at which a magma ascends from the reservoir to the surface through its effect on the efficiency of vapor bubble nucleation, growth, and coalescence. The proposed work will advance our understanding of pre-eruptive storage conditions and syn-eruptive ascent rates through a combined field and analytical research program. Volatile measurements from olivine-hosted melt inclusions will be used to systematically investigate magma storage depths and ascent rates associated with alkaline volcanism in the Erebus volcanic province. A central goal of the project is to provide a spatial and temporal framework for interpreting results from studies of present-day volcanic processes at Mt Erebus volcano. The Erebus volcanic province of Antarctica is especially well suited to this type of investigation because: (1) there are many exposed mafic scoria cones, fissure vents, and hyaloclastites (exposed in sea cliffs) that produced rapidly quenched, olivine-rich tephra; (2) existing volatile data for Ross Island MIs show that magma storage was relatively deep compared to many mafic volcanic systems; (3) some of the eruptive centers ejected mantle xenoliths, allowing for comparison of ascent rates for xenolith-bearing and xenolith-free eruptions, and comparison of ascent rates for those bearing xenoliths with times estimated from settling velocities; and (4) the cold, dry conditions in Antarctica result in excellent tephra preservation compared to tropical and even many temperate localities. The project provides new tools for assessing volcanic hazards, facilitates collaboration involving researchers from three different institutions (WHOI, U Wyoming, and U Oregon), supports the researchers\u0027 involvement in teaching, advising, and outreach, and provides an educational opportunity for a promising young postdoctoral researcher. Understanding the interrelationships among magma volatile contents, reservoir depths, and ascent rates is vital for assessing volcanic hazards associated with alkaline volcanism across the globe.", "east": 169.6, "geometry": "POINT(166.85 -77.775)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Tephra; Turtle Rock; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; LABORATORY; AMD; Ross Island; Turks Head; Hut Point Peninsula; LAVA SPEED/FLOW; USAP-DC; Mt. Morning; Mt. Terror; ROCKS/MINERALS/CRYSTALS; Mt. Bird; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Ross Island; Mt. Morning; Mt. Bird; Mt. Terror; Hut Point Peninsula; Turtle Rock; Turks Head", "north": -77.1, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gaetani, Glenn; Le Roux, Veronique; Sims, Kenneth; Wallace, Paul", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.45, "title": "Collaborative Research: Determining Magma Storage Depths and Ascent Rates for the Erebus Volcanic Province, Antarctica Using Diffusive Water Loss from Olivine-hosted Melt Inclusion", "uid": "p0010081", "west": 164.1}, {"awards": "1443346 Stone, John; 1443248 Hall, Brenda", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-174 -84.2,-172.4 -84.2,-170.8 -84.2,-169.2 -84.2,-167.6 -84.2,-166 -84.2,-164.4 -84.2,-162.8 -84.2,-161.2 -84.2,-159.6 -84.2,-158 -84.2,-158 -84.36,-158 -84.52,-158 -84.68,-158 -84.84,-158 -85,-158 -85.16,-158 -85.32,-158 -85.48,-158 -85.64,-158 -85.8,-159.6 -85.8,-161.2 -85.8,-162.8 -85.8,-164.4 -85.8,-166 -85.8,-167.6 -85.8,-169.2 -85.8,-170.8 -85.8,-172.4 -85.8,-174 -85.8,-174 -85.64,-174 -85.48,-174 -85.32,-174 -85.16,-174 -85,-174 -84.84,-174 -84.68,-174 -84.52,-174 -84.36,-174 -84.2))", "dataset_titles": "Cosmogenic nuclide data from glacial deposits along the Liv Glacier coast; Ice-D Antarctic Cosmogenic Nuclide database - site DUNCAN; Ice-D Antarctic Cosmogenic Nuclide database - site MAASON; Liv and Amundsen Glacier Radiocarbon Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200087", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice-D Antarctic Cosmogenic Nuclide database - site MAASON", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200088", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice-D Antarctic Cosmogenic Nuclide database - site DUNCAN", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601226", "doi": "10.15784/601226", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Beryllium-10; Cosmogenic; Cosmogenic Dating; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Deglaciation; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Liv Glacier; Rocks; Ross Ice Sheet; Surface Exposure Dates; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Stone, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Cosmogenic nuclide data from glacial deposits along the Liv Glacier coast", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601226"}, {"dataset_uid": "601208", "doi": "10.15784/601208", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Glaciology; Holocene; Radiocarbon; Ross Embayment; Ross Sea; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Liv and Amundsen Glacier Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601208"}], "date_created": "Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to future climatic changes is recognized as the greatest uncertainty in projections of future sea level. An understanding of past ice fluctuations affords insight into ice-sheet response to climate and sea-level change and thus is critical for improving sea-level predictions. This project will examine deglaciation of the southern Ross Sea over the past few thousand years to document oscillations in Antarctic ice volume during a period of relatively stable climate and sea level. We will help quantify changes in ice volume, improve understanding of the ice dynamics responsible, and examine the implications for future sea-level change. The project will train future scientists through participation of graduate students, as well as undergraduates who will develop research projects in our laboratories. Previous research indicates rapid Ross Sea deglaciation as far south as Beardmore Glacier early in the Holocene epoch (which began approximately 11,700 years before present), followed by more gradual recession. However, deglaciation in the later half of the Holocene remains poorly constrained, with no chronological control on grounding-line migration between Beardmore and Scott Glaciers. Thus, we do not know if mid-Holocene recession drove the grounding line rapidly back to its present position at Scott Glacier, or if the ice sheet withdrew gradually in the absence of significant climate forcing or eustatic sea level change. The latter possibility raises concerns for future stability of the Ross Sea grounding line. To address this question, we will map and date glacial deposits on coastal mountains that constrain the thinning history of Liv and Amundsen Glaciers. By extending our chronology down to the level of floating ice at the mouths of these glaciers, we will date their thinning history from glacial maximum to present, as well as migration of the Ross Sea grounding line southwards along the Transantarctic Mountains. High-resolution dating will come from Beryllium-10 surface-exposure ages of erratics collected along elevation transects, as well as Carbon-14 dates of algae within shorelines from former ice-dammed ponds. Sites have been chosen specifically to allow close comparison of these two dating methods, which will afford constraints on Antarctic Beryllium-10 production rates.", "east": -158.0, "geometry": "POINT(-166 -85)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; ICE SHEETS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -84.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Stone, John", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "ICE-D", "repositories": "ICE-D; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: High-resolution Reconstruction of Holocene Deglaciation in the Southern Ross Embayment", "uid": "p0010053", "west": -174.0}, {"awards": "1826712 McMahon, Kelton; 1443386 Emslie, Steven; 1443585 Polito, Michael; 1443424 McMahon, Kelton", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-166 -60,-152 -60,-138 -60,-124 -60,-110 -60,-96 -60,-82 -60,-68 -60,-54 -60,-40 -60,-40 -61.8,-40 -63.6,-40 -65.4,-40 -67.2,-40 -69,-40 -70.8,-40 -72.6,-40 -74.4,-40 -76.2,-40 -78,-54 -78,-68 -78,-82 -78,-96 -78,-110 -78,-124 -78,-138 -78,-152 -78,-166 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -76.2,160 -74.4,160 -72.6,160 -70.8,160 -69,160 -67.2,160 -65.4,160 -63.6,160 -61.8,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of modern and ancient Ad\u00e9lie penguin eggshells from the Ross Sea and Antarctic Peninsula regions; Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula region 1930s to 2010s; Ancient Adelie penguin colony revealed by snowmelt at Cape Irizar, Ross Sea, Antarctica; Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of Antarctic Krill from the South Shetland Islands and the northern Antarctic Peninsula 2007 and 2009; Radiocarbon dates from pygoscelid penguin tissues excavated at Stranger Point, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula; Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope values of penguin and seal tissues recovered from ornithogenic soils on Platter Island, Danger Islands Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula in December 2015.; Radioisotope dates and carbon (\u03b413C) and nitrogen (\u03b415N) stable isotope values from modern and mummified Ad\u00e9lie Penguin chick carcasses and tissue from the Ross Sea, Antarctica; Radiometric dating, geochemical proxies, and predator biological remains obtained from aquatic sediment cores on South Georgia Island.; Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguin; SNP data from \"Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguins\".; Stable isotope analysis of multiple tissues from chick carcasses of three pygoscelid penguins in Antarctica; Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen; The rise and fall of an ancient Adelie penguin \u0027supercolony\u0027 at Cape Adare, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601327", "doi": "10.15784/601327", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biota; Cape Adare; East Antarctica; Population Movement; Pygoscelis Adeliae; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea; Sea Level Rise; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Patterson, William; McKenzie, Ashley; Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The rise and fall of an ancient Adelie penguin \u0027supercolony\u0027 at Cape Adare, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601327"}, {"dataset_uid": "601212", "doi": "10.15784/601212", "keywords": "Abandoned Colonies; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Beach Deposit; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Holocene; Penguin; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Stranger Point", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiocarbon dates from pygoscelid penguin tissues excavated at Stranger Point, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601212"}, {"dataset_uid": "601210", "doi": "10.15784/601210", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Krill; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Isotope Data; Krill; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Southern Ocean; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of Antarctic Krill from the South Shetland Islands and the northern Antarctic Peninsula 2007 and 2009", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601210"}, {"dataset_uid": "601232", "doi": "10.15784/601232", "keywords": "Amino Acids; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Isotope Data; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Penguin; Southern Ocean; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "Polito, Michael; McMahon, Kelton", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula region 1930s to 2010s", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601232"}, {"dataset_uid": "601374", "doi": "10.15784/601374", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Cape Irizar; Drygalski Ice Tongue; Ross Sea; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ancient Adelie penguin colony revealed by snowmelt at Cape Irizar, Ross Sea, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601374"}, {"dataset_uid": "601382", "doi": "10.15784/601382", "keywords": "25 De Mayo/King George Island; Antarctica; Biota; Delta 13C; Delta 15N; Dietary Shifts; Opportunistic Sampling; Penguin; Pygoscelis Penguins; Stranger Point", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.; Ciriani, Yanina", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotope analysis of multiple tissues from chick carcasses of three pygoscelid penguins in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601382"}, {"dataset_uid": "601913", "doi": "10.15784/601913", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Foraging; Polynya; Pygoscelis Adeliae; Ross Sea; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Powers, Shannon; Emslie, Steven D.; Reaves, Megan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotopes of Adelie Penguin chick bone collagen", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601913"}, {"dataset_uid": "601509", "doi": "10.15784/601509", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Fur Seal; Elemental Concentrations; King Penguin; Population Dynamics; South Atlantic Ocean; South Georgia Island; Stable Isotope Analysis; Sub-Antarctic", "people": "Polito, Michael; McMahon, Kelton; Maiti, Kanchan; Kristan, Allyson", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiometric dating, geochemical proxies, and predator biological remains obtained from aquatic sediment cores on South Georgia Island.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601509"}, {"dataset_uid": "601760", "doi": "10.15784/601760", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Amino Acids; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Ross Sea; Stable Isotope Analysis; Trophic Position", "people": "Patterson, William; Emslie, Steven D.; Michelson, Chantel; Polito, Michael; Wonder, Michael; McCarthy, Matthew; McMahon, Kelton", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amino acid nitrogen isotope values of modern and ancient Ad\u00e9lie penguin eggshells from the Ross Sea and Antarctic Peninsula regions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601760"}, {"dataset_uid": "200181", "doi": "10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4475300.v1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Figshare", "science_program": null, "title": "SNP data from \"Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguins\".", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4475300.v1"}, {"dataset_uid": "601263", "doi": "10.15784/601263", "keywords": "Abandoned Colonies; Antarctica; Holocene; Penguin; Ross Sea; Stable Isotope Analysis", "people": "Patterson, William; Emslie, Steven D.; Kristan, Allyson", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radioisotope dates and carbon (\u03b413C) and nitrogen (\u03b415N) stable isotope values from modern and mummified Ad\u00e9lie Penguin chick carcasses and tissue from the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601263"}, {"dataset_uid": "601364", "doi": "10.15784/601364", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Arctocephalus Gazella; Carbon; Holocene; Nitrogen; Paleoecology; Penguin; Pygoscelis Spp.; Stable Isotope Analysis; Weddell Sea", "people": "Herman, Rachael; Kalvakaalva, Rohit; Clucas, Gemma; Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope values of penguin and seal tissues recovered from ornithogenic soils on Platter Island, Danger Islands Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula in December 2015.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601364"}, {"dataset_uid": "200180", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "Receding ice drove parallel expansions in Southern Ocean penguin", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA589336"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic marine ecosystem is highly productive and supports a diverse range of ecologically and commercially important species. A key species in this ecosystem is Antarctic krill, which in addition to being commercially harvested, is the principle prey of a wide range of marine organisms including penguins, seals and whales. The aim of this study is to use penguins and other krill predators as sensitive indicators of past changes in the Antarctic marine food web resulting from climate variability and the historic harvesting of seals and whales by humans. Specifically this study will recover and analyze modern (\u003c20 year old), historic (20-200 year old) and ancient (200-10,000 year old) penguin and other krill predator tissues to track their past diets and population movements relative to shifts in climate and the availability of Antarctic krill. Understanding how krill predators were affected by these factors in the past will allow us to better understand how these predators, the krill they depend on, and the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole will respond to current challenges such as global climate change and an expanding commercial fishery for Antarctic krill. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This project will support the cross-institutional training of undergraduate and graduate students in advanced analytical techniques in the fields of ecology and biogeochemistry. In addition, this project includes educational outreach aimed encouraging participation in science careers by engaging K-12 students in scientific issues related to Antarctica, penguins, marine ecology, biogeochemistry, and global climate change. This research will help place recent ecological changes in the Southern Ocean into a larger historical context by examining decadal and millennial-scale shifts in the diets and population movements of Antarctic krill predators (penguins, seals, and squid) in concert with climate variability and commercial harvesting. This will be achieved by coupling advanced stable and radio isotope techniques, particularly compound-specific stable isotope analysis, with unprecedented access to modern, historical, and well-preserved paleo-archives of Antarctic predator tissues dating throughout the Holocene. This approach will allow the project to empirically test if observed shifts in Antarctic predator bulk tissue stable isotope values over the past millennia were caused by climate-driven shifts at the base of the food web in addition to, or rather than, shifts in predator diets due to a competitive release following the historic harvesting of krill eating whale and seals. In addition, this project will track the large-scale abandonment and reoccupation of penguin colonies around Antarctica in response to changes in climate and sea ice conditions over the past several millennia. These integrated field studies and laboratory analyses will provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms that influenced past shifts in the diets and population movements of charismatic krill predators such as penguins. This will allow for improved projections of the ecosystem consequences of future climate change and anthropogenic harvesting scenarios in the Antarctica that are likely to affect the availability of Antarctic krill.", "east": -40.0, "geometry": "POINT(-120 -69)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR; South Shetland Islands; Penguin; Stable Isotopes; Polar; Ross Sea; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea; AMD; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; Antarctica; PENGUINS; Southern Hemisphere; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us; Krill; MACROFOSSILS", "locations": "Southern Hemisphere; Ross Sea; South Shetland Islands; Weddell Sea; Polar; Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Polito, Michael; Kelton, McMahon; Patterson, William; McCarthy, Matthew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Figshare; NCBI BioProject; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Holocene Shifts in the Diets and Paleohistory of Antarctic Krill Predators", "uid": "p0010047", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1643684 Saito, Mak; 1644073 DiTullio, Giacomo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -72,-173.6 -72,-167.2 -72,-160.8 -72,-154.4 -72,-148 -72,-141.6 -72,-135.2 -72,-128.8 -72,-122.4 -72,-116 -72,-116 -72.7,-116 -73.4,-116 -74.1,-116 -74.8,-116 -75.5,-116 -76.2,-116 -76.9,-116 -77.6,-116 -78.3,-116 -79,-122.4 -79,-128.8 -79,-135.2 -79,-141.6 -79,-148 -79,-154.4 -79,-160.8 -79,-167.2 -79,-173.6 -79,180 -79,178 -79,176 -79,174 -79,172 -79,170 -79,168 -79,166 -79,164 -79,162 -79,160 -79,160 -78.3,160 -77.6,160 -76.9,160 -76.2,160 -75.5,160 -74.8,160 -74.1,160 -73.4,160 -72.7,160 -72,162 -72,164 -72,166 -72,168 -72,170 -72,172 -72,174 -72,176 -72,178 -72,-180 -72))", "dataset_titles": "Algal pigment concentrations from the Ross Sea; Biogenic silica concentrations from the Ross Sea; NBP1801 Expedition data; Nutrients from NBP18-01 CICLOPS", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601225", "doi": "10.15784/601225", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Biogenic Silica Concentrations; Chemistry:Water; Geochemistry; NBP1801; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sea Water; Southern Ocean; Spectroscopy; Water Measurements; Water Samples", "people": "Ditullio, Giacomo; Schanke, Nicole", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogenic silica concentrations from the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601225"}, {"dataset_uid": "601428", "doi": "10.15784/601428", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; NBP1801; Nitrate; Nitrite; Nutrients; Phosphate; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Silicic Acid; Terra Nova Bay", "people": "Saito, Mak", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Nutrients from NBP18-01 CICLOPS", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601428"}, {"dataset_uid": "200056", "doi": "10.7284/907753", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1801 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1801"}, {"dataset_uid": "601205", "doi": "10.15784/601205", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Chlorophyll; Chromatography; Liquid Chromatograph; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sea Water; Seawater Measurements; Southern Ocean; Water Measurements; Water Samples", "people": "Ditullio, Giacomo", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Algal pigment concentrations from the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601205"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phytoplankton blooms in the coastal waters of the Ross Sea, Antarctica are typically dominated by either diatoms or Phaeocystis Antarctica (a flagellated algae that often can form large colonies in a gelatinous matrix). The project seeks to determine if an association of bacterial populations with Phaeocystis antarctica colonies can directly supply Phaeocystis with Vitamin B12, which can be an important co-limiting micronutrient in the Ross Sea. The supply of an essential vitamin coupled with the ability to grow at lower iron concentrations may put Phaeocystis at a competitive advantage over diatoms. Because Phaeocystis cells can fix more carbon than diatoms and Phaeocystis are not grazed as efficiently as diatoms, the project will help in refining understanding of carbon dynamics in the region as well as the basis of the food web webs. Such understanding also has the potential to help refine predictive ecological models for the region. The project will conduct public outreach activities and will contribute to undergraduate and graduate research. Engagement of underrepresented students will occur during summer student internships. A collaboration with Italian Antarctic researchers, who have been studying the Terra Nova Bay ecosystem since the 1980s, aims to enhance the project and promote international scientific collaborations. The study will test whether a mutualistic symbioses between attached bacteria and Phaeocystis provides colonial cells a mechanism for alleviating chronic Vitamin B12 co-limitation effects thereby conferring them with a competitive advantage over diatom communities. The use of drifters in a time series study will provide the opportunity to track in both space and time a developing algal bloom in Terra Nova Bay and to determine community structure and the physiological nutrient status of microbial populations. A combination of flow cytometry, proteomics, metatranscriptomics, radioisotopic and stable isotopic labeling experiments will determine carbon and nutrient uptake rates and the role of bacteria in mitigating potential vitamin B12 and iron limitation. Membrane inlet and proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry will also be used to estimate net community production and release of volatile organic carbon compounds that are climatically active. Understanding how environmental parameters can influence microbial community dynamics in Antarctic coastal waters will advance an understanding of how changes in ocean stratification and chemistry could impact the biogeochemistry and food web dynamics of Southern Ocean ecosystems.", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-158 -75.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; NBP1801; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; NUTRIENTS; PIGMENTS; CHLOROPHYLL; R/V NBP; Ross Sea; AMD", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -72.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DiTullio, Giacomo; Lee, Peter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Cobalamin and Iron Co-Limitation Of Phytoplankton Species in Terra Nova Bay", "uid": "p0010045", "west": -116.0}, {"awards": "1401489 Sigman, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -45,-144 -45,-108 -45,-72 -45,-36 -45,0 -45,36 -45,72 -45,108 -45,144 -45,180 -45,180 -47.5,180 -50,180 -52.5,180 -55,180 -57.5,180 -60,180 -62.5,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,144 -70,108 -70,72 -70,36 -70,0 -70,-36 -70,-72 -70,-108 -70,-144 -70,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65,-180 -62.5,-180 -60,-180 -57.5,-180 -55,-180 -52.5,-180 -50,-180 -47.5,-180 -45))", "dataset_titles": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age; Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.; Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.; GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200049", "doi": "doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271"}, {"dataset_uid": "200051", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age", "url": "https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/03/14/1615718114.DCSupplemental"}, {"dataset_uid": "200048", "doi": "doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436.", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436"}, {"dataset_uid": "200050", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "CLIVAR", "science_program": null, "title": "GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "url": "https://cchdo.ucsd.edu/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "ABSTRACT Intellectual Merit: The high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (\u0026#948;15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2. Broader impacts: This study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; South Pacific Ocean; USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "South Pacific Ocean", "north": -45.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sigman, Daniel", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "PANGAEA", "repositories": "CLIVAR; PANGAEA; Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "High-resolution, Assemblage-specific Records of Diatom-bound N Isotopes from the Indian Sector of the Antarctic Ocean", "uid": "p0010046", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1443420 Dodd, Justin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((167.07 -77.87,167.073 -77.87,167.076 -77.87,167.079 -77.87,167.082 -77.87,167.085 -77.87,167.088 -77.87,167.091 -77.87,167.094 -77.87,167.097 -77.87,167.1 -77.87,167.1 -77.873,167.1 -77.876,167.1 -77.879,167.1 -77.882,167.1 -77.885,167.1 -77.888,167.1 -77.891,167.1 -77.894,167.1 -77.897,167.1 -77.9,167.097 -77.9,167.094 -77.9,167.091 -77.9,167.088 -77.9,167.085 -77.9,167.082 -77.9,167.079 -77.9,167.076 -77.9,167.073 -77.9,167.07 -77.9,167.07 -77.897,167.07 -77.894,167.07 -77.891,167.07 -77.888,167.07 -77.885,167.07 -77.882,167.07 -77.879,167.07 -77.876,167.07 -77.873,167.07 -77.87))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene (~4.68 to 3.44 Ma) Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601220", "doi": "10.15784/601220", "keywords": "And-1B; Andrill; Antarctica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Delta 18O; Diatom; Mass Spectrometer; Oxygen Isotope; Paleoclimate; Pliocene; Sediment; Wais Project; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Abbott, Tirzah; Dodd, Justin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "ANDRILL", "title": "Diatom Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene (~4.68 to 3.44 Ma) Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601220"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract During the Early Pliocene, 4.8 to 3.4 million years ago, warmer-than-present global temperatures resulted in a retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Understanding changes in ocean dynamics during times of reduced ice volume and increased temperatures in the geologic past will improve the predictive models for these conditions. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop a new oxygen isotope record of Pliocene oceanographic conditions near the Antarctic continent. Oxygen isotope values from the carbonate tests of benthic foraminifera have become the global standard for paleo-oceanographic studies, but foraminifera are sparse in high-latitude sediment cores. This research will instead make use of oxygen isotope measurements from diatom silica preserved in a marine sediment core from the Ross Sea. The project is the first attempt at using this method and will advance understanding of global ocean dynamics and ice sheet-ocean interactions during the Pliocene. The project will foster the professional development of two early-career scientists and serve as training for graduate and undergraduate student researchers. The PIs will use this project to introduce High School students to polar/oceanographic research, as well as stable isotope geochemistry. Collaboration with teachers via NSTA and Polar Educators International will ensure the implementation of excellent STEM learning activities and curricula for younger students. Technical Description This project will produce a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from well-dated diatom rich sediments that have been cross-correlated with global benthic foraminifera oxygen isotope records. Diatom silica frustules deposited during the Early Pliocene and recovered by the ANDRILL Project (AND-1B) provide ideal material for this objective. Diatomite unites in the AND-1B core are nearly pure, with little evidence of opal formation. A diatom oxygen isotope record from this core offers the potential to constrain lingering uncertainties about Ross Sea and Southern Ocean paleoceanography and Antarctic Ice Sheet history during a time of high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Specifically, oxygen isotope variations will be used to constrain changes in the water temperature and/or freshwater flux in the Pliocene Ross Sea. Diatom species data from the AND-1B core have been used to infer variations in the extent and duration of seasonal sea ice coverage, sea surface temperatures, and mid-water advection onto the continental shelf. However, the diatom oxygen isotope record will provide the first direct measure of water/oxygen isotope values at the Antarctic continental margin during the Pliocene.", "east": 167.1, "geometry": "POINT(167.085 -77.885)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OXYGEN ISOTOPES; USAP-DC; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.87, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dodd, Justin; Scherer, Reed Paul; Warnock, Jonathan", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "ANDRILL", "south": -77.9, "title": "Diatom and Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "uid": "p0010042", "west": 167.07}, {"awards": "1443550 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Polar Ice Cores 3,000 Year Nitrous Oxide d15N and d18O Data; SPICEcore Holocene CO2 and N2O data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601197", "doi": "10.15784/601197", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Dioxide; Ice Core Gas Records; Nitrous Oxide; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPICEcore Holocene CO2 and N2O data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601197"}, {"dataset_uid": "200055", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Polar Ice Cores 3,000 Year Nitrous Oxide d15N and d18O Data", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/25530"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The temperature of the earth is controlled, in part, by heat trapping gases that include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Despite their importance to climate, direct measurements of these gases in the atmosphere are limited to the last 50 years at best. Air trapped in ice cores extends those data back hundreds of millennia, and measurements of greenhouse gases in ice cores underpin much of our understanding of global chemical cycles relevant to modern climate change. Existing records vary in quality and detail. The proposed work fills gaps in our knowledge of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide over the last 10,000 years. New measurements from an ice core from the South Pole will be used to determine what role changes in ocean and land based processes played in controlling these gases, which decreased during the first 2,000 years of this time period, then gradually increased toward the present. The work will address a major controversy over whether early human activities could have impacted the atmosphere, and provide data to improve mathematical models of the land-ocean-atmosphere system that predict how future climate change will impact the composition of the atmosphere and climate. For nitrous oxide the work will improve on existing concentration records and provide a novel, detailed Holocene stable isotope record. It will also develop measurement of the isotopomers of nitrous oxide and explore their utility for understanding aspects of the Holocene nitrous oxide budget. The primary goal is to determine if marine and/or terrestrial emissions of nitrous oxide change in response to changes in Holocene climate. A new Holocene isotopic record for carbon dioxide (stable carbon and oxygen isotopes), will improve the precision of existing records by a factor 5 and increase the temporal resolution. These data will be used to evaluate controversial hypotheses about why carbon dioxide concentrations changed in the Holocene and provide insight into millennial scale processes in the carbon cycle, which are not resolved by current isotopic data. A graduate student will receive advanced training during and the student and principle investigator will conduct outreach efforts targeted at local middle school students. The proposed work will also contribute to teaching efforts by the PI and to public lectures on climate and climate change. The results will be disseminated through publications, data archive, and the OSU Ice Core Lab web site. New analytical methods of wide utility will also be developed and documented.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; ICE CORE RECORDS; CARBON DIOXIDE; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; NITROUS OXIDE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCEI; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Controls on Variations in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide During the Last 10,000 years", "uid": "p0010043", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744645 Young, Jodi", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.4 -64.2,-64.38 -64.2,-64.36 -64.2,-64.34 -64.2,-64.32 -64.2,-64.3 -64.2,-64.28 -64.2,-64.26 -64.2,-64.24 -64.2,-64.22 -64.2,-64.2 -64.2,-64.2 -64.26,-64.2 -64.32,-64.2 -64.38,-64.2 -64.44,-64.2 -64.5,-64.2 -64.56,-64.2 -64.62,-64.2 -64.68,-64.2 -64.74,-64.2 -64.8,-64.22 -64.8,-64.24 -64.8,-64.26 -64.8,-64.28 -64.8,-64.3 -64.8,-64.32 -64.8,-64.34 -64.8,-64.36 -64.8,-64.38 -64.8,-64.4 -64.8,-64.4 -64.74,-64.4 -64.68,-64.4 -64.62,-64.4 -64.56,-64.4 -64.5,-64.4 -64.44,-64.4 -64.38,-64.4 -64.32,-64.4 -64.26,-64.4 -64.2))", "dataset_titles": "Dataset: Particulate Organic Carbon and Particulate Nitrogen; Dataset: Photosynthetic Pigments; Dataset: Physical Profiles of Temperature, Salinity, and Brine Volume; Sea-ice diatom compatible solute shifts", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200378", "doi": "10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.913655.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: Physical Profiles of Temperature, Salinity, and Brine Volume", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/913655"}, {"dataset_uid": "200377", "doi": "10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.913222.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: Photosynthetic Pigments", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/913222"}, {"dataset_uid": "200322", "doi": "10.21228/M84386", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Metabolomics workbench", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea-ice diatom compatible solute shifts", "url": "https://www.metabolomicsworkbench.org/data/DRCCMetadata.php?Mode=Study\u0026StudyID=ST001393"}, {"dataset_uid": "200376", "doi": "10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.913566.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: Particulate Organic Carbon and Particulate Nitrogen", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/913566"}], "date_created": "Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Rapid changes in the extent and thickness of sea ice during the austral spring subject microorganisms within or attached to the ice to large fluctuations in temperature, salinity, light and nutrients. This project aims to identify cellular responses in sea-ice algae to increasing temperature and decreasing salinity during the spring melt along the western Antarctic Peninsula and to determine how associated changes at the cellular level can potentially affect dynamic, biologically driven processes. Understanding how sea-ice algae cope with, and are adapted to, their environment will not only help predict how polar ecosystems may change as the extent and thickness of sea ice change, but will also provide a better understanding of the widespread success of photosynthetic life on Earth. The scientific context and resulting advances from the research will be communicated to the general public through outreach activities that includes work with Science Communication Fellows and the popular Polar Science Weekend at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. The project will provide student training to college students as well as provide for educational experiences for K-12 school children. There is currently a poor understanding of feedback relationships that exist between the rapidly changing environment in the western Antarctic Peninsula region and sea-ice algal production. The large shifts in temperature and salinity that algae experience during the spring melt affect critical cellular processes, including rates of enzyme-catalyzed reactions involved in photosynthesis and respiration, and the production of stress-protective compounds. These changes in cellular processes are poorly constrained but can be large and may have impacts on local ecosystem productivity and biogeochemical cycles. In particular, this study will focus on the thermal sensitivity of enzymes and the cycling of compatible solutes and exopolymers used for halo- and cryo-protection, and how they influence primary production and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. Approaches will include field sampling during spring melt, incubation experiments of natural sea-ice communities under variable temperature and salinity conditions, and controlled manipulation of sea-ice algal species in laboratory culture. Employment of a range of techniques, from fast repetition rate fluorometry and gross and net photosynthetic measurements to metabolomics and enzyme kinetics, will tease apart the mechanistic effects of temperature and salinity on cell metabolism and primary production with the goal of quantifying how these changes will impact biogeochemical processes along the western Antarctic Peninsula. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -64.2, "geometry": "POINT(-64.3 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; SHIPS; DIATOMS; Antarctic Peninsula", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -64.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Young, Jodi; Deming, Jody", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; Metabolomics workbench", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.8, "title": "Spring Blooms of Sea Ice Algae Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula: Effects of Warming and Freshening on Cell Physiology and Biogeochemical Cycles.", "uid": "p0010039", "west": -64.4}, {"awards": "1543267 Brook, Edward J.; 1543229 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Multi-site ice core Krypton stable isotope ratios; Noble Gas Data from recent ice in Antarctica for 86Kr problem", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601195", "doi": "10.15784/601195", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Krypton; Noble Gas; Xenon", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Noble Gas Data from recent ice in Antarctica for 86Kr problem", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601195"}, {"dataset_uid": "601394", "doi": "10.15784/601394", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bruce Plateau; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Greenland Ice Cap; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; James Ross Island; Krypton; Law Dome; Low Dome Ice Core; Roosevelt Island; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; SPICEcore; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Bertler, Nancy; Etheridge, David; Shackleton, Sarah; Pyne, Rebecca L.; Buizert, Christo; Mulvaney, Robert; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Brook, Edward J.; Baggenstos, Daniel; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Bereiter, Bernhard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Multi-site ice core Krypton stable isotope ratios", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601394"}, {"dataset_uid": "601394", "doi": "10.15784/601394", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bruce Plateau; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Greenland Ice Cap; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; James Ross Island; Krypton; Law Dome; Low Dome Ice Core; Roosevelt Island; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; SPICEcore; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Etheridge, David; Brook, Edward J.; Bereiter, Bernhard; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Bertler, Nancy; Buizert, Christo; Shackleton, Sarah; Baggenstos, Daniel; Pyne, Rebecca L.; Mulvaney, Robert; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Multi-site ice core Krypton stable isotope ratios", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601394"}, {"dataset_uid": "601394", "doi": "10.15784/601394", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bruce Plateau; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Greenland Ice Cap; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; James Ross Island; Krypton; Law Dome; Low Dome Ice Core; Roosevelt Island; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; SPICEcore; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Bertler, Nancy; Pyne, Rebecca L.; Shackleton, Sarah; Buizert, Christo; Mulvaney, Robert; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Etheridge, David; Bereiter, Bernhard; Baggenstos, Daniel; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Multi-site ice core Krypton stable isotope ratios", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601394"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Brook 1543267 Approximately half of the human caused carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere are absorbed by the ocean, which reduces the amount of global warming associated with these emissions. Much of this carbon uptake occurs in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where water from the deep ocean comes to the surface. How much water \"up-wells,\" and therefore how much carbon is absorbed, is believed to depend on the strength and location of the major westerly winds in the southern hemisphere. These wind patterns have been shifting southward in recent decades, and future changes could impact the global carbon cycle and promote the circulation of relatively warm water from the deep ocean on to the continental shelf, which contributes to enhanced Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise. Understanding of the westerly winds and their role in controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the circulation of ocean water is therefore very important. The work supported by this award will study past movement of the SH westerlies in response to natural climate variations. Of particular interest is the last deglaciation (20,000 to 10,000 years ago), when the global climate made a transition from an ice age climate to the current warm period. During this period, atmospheric carbon dioxide rose from about 180 ppm to 270 parts per million, and one leading hypothesis is that the rise in carbon dioxide was driven by a southward movement of the southern hemisphere westerlies. The broader impacts of the work include a perspective on past movement of the southern hemisphere westerlies and their link to atmospheric carbon dioxide, which could guide projections of future oceanic carbon dioxide uptake, with strong societal benefits; international collaboration with German scientists; training of a postdoctoral investigator; and outreach to public schools. This project will investigate whether the abundance of a noble gas, krypton-86, trapped in Antarctic ice cores, records atmospheric pressure variability, and whether or not this pressure variability can be used to infer past movement of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. The rationale for the project is that models of air movement in the snow pack (firn) in Antarctica indicate that pressure variations drive air movement that disturbs the normal enrichment in krypton-86 caused by gravitational settling of gases. Calculations predict that the krypton-86 deviation from gravitational equilibrium reflects the magnitude of pressure variations. In turn, atmospheric data show that pressure variability over Antarctica is linked to the position of the southern hemisphere westerly winds. Preliminary data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core show a large excursion in krypton-86 during the transition from the last ice age to the current warm period. The investigators will perform krypton-86 analysis on ice core and firn air samples to establish whether the Kr-86 deviation is linked to pressure variability, refine the record of krypton isotopes from the WAIS Divide ice core, investigate the role of pressure variability in firn air transport using firn air models, and investigate how barometric pressure variability in Antarctica is linked to the position/strength of the SH westerlies in past and present climates.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; FIRN; ICE CORE RECORDS; USAP-DC; Greenland; Xenon; Noble Gas; Ice Core; Amd/Us; Antarctica; AMD; LABORATORY; Krypton; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE", "locations": "Greenland; Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative research: Kr-86 as a proxy for barometric pressure variability and movement of the SH westerlies during the last\r\ndeglaciation", "uid": "p0010037", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744849 Sokol, Eric; 1744785 Barrett, John; 1745053 Salvatore, Mark", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.92 -77.56,162.971 -77.56,163.022 -77.56,163.073 -77.56,163.124 -77.56,163.175 -77.56,163.226 -77.56,163.277 -77.56,163.328 -77.56,163.379 -77.56,163.43 -77.56,163.43 -77.571,163.43 -77.582,163.43 -77.593,163.43 -77.604,163.43 -77.615,163.43 -77.626,163.43 -77.637,163.43 -77.648,163.43 -77.659,163.43 -77.67,163.379 -77.67,163.328 -77.67,163.277 -77.67,163.226 -77.67,163.175 -77.67,163.124 -77.67,163.073 -77.67,163.022 -77.67,162.971 -77.67,162.92 -77.67,162.92 -77.659,162.92 -77.648,162.92 -77.637,162.92 -77.626,162.92 -77.615,162.92 -77.604,162.92 -77.593,162.92 -77.582,162.92 -77.571,162.92 -77.56))", "dataset_titles": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Microbial mat biomass and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from Lake Fryxell Basin, Antarctica, January 2018", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200344", "doi": "10.6073/pasta/9acbbde9abc1e013f8c9fd9c383327f4", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EDI", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Microbial mat biomass and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from Lake Fryxell Basin, Antarctica, January 2018", "url": "https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?packageid=knb-lter-mcm.263.1"}], "date_created": "Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Microbial mats are found throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys where summer snowmelt provides liquid water that allows these mats to flourish. Researchers have long studied the environmental conditions microbial mats need to grow. Despite these efforts, it has been difficult to develop a broad picture of these unique ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology now provide researchers an exciting new tool to study these special Antarctic ecosystems from space using the unique spectral signatures associated with microbial mats. This new technology not only offers the promise that microbial mats can be mapped and studied from space, this research will also help protect these delicate environments from potentially harmful human impacts that can occur when studying them from the ground. This project will use satellite imagery and spectroscopic techniques to identify and map microbial mat communities and relate their properties and distributions to both field and lab-based measurements. This research provides an exciting new tool to help document and understand the distribution of a major component of the Antarctic ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal of this project is to establish quantitative relationships between spectral signatures derived from orbit and the physiological status and biogeochemical properties of microbial mat communities in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as measured by field and laboratory analyses on collected samples. The goal wioll be met by (1) refining atmospheric correction techniques using in situ radiometric rectification to derive accurate surface spectra; (2) collecting multispectral orbital images concurrent with in situ sampling and spectral measurements in the field to ensure temporal comparability; (3) measuring sediment, water, and microbial mat samples for organic and inorganic carbon content, essential biogeochemical nutrients, and chlorophyll-a to determine relevant mat characteristics; and (4) quantitatively associating these laboratory-derived characteristics with field-derived and orbital spectral signatures and parameters. The result of this work will be a more robust quantitative link between the distribution of microbial mat communities and their biogeochemical properties to landscape-scale spectral signatures. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.43, "geometry": "POINT(163.175 -77.615)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "RIVERS/STREAM; CYANOBACTERIA (BLUE-GREEN ALGAE); USAP-DC; Taylor Valley; INFRARED IMAGERY; WORLDVIEW-2; WORLDVIEW-3; Antarctica; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us; ACTIVE LAYER", "locations": "Antarctica; Taylor Valley", "north": -77.56, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Salvatore, Mark; Barrett, John; Sokol, Eric", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES \u003e WORLDVIEW \u003e WORLDVIEW-2; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES \u003e WORLDVIEW \u003e WORLDVIEW-3", "repo": "EDI", "repositories": "EDI", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.67, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Remote Characterization of Microbial Mats in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, through In Situ Sampling and Spectral Validation", "uid": "p0010036", "west": 162.92}, {"awards": "1341717 Ackley, Stephen; 1341606 Stammerjohn, Sharon; 1341513 Maksym, Edward; 1543483 Sedwick, Peter; 1341725 Guest, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -55,-177 -55,-174 -55,-171 -55,-168 -55,-165 -55,-162 -55,-159 -55,-156 -55,-153 -55,-150 -55,-150 -57.3,-150 -59.6,-150 -61.9,-150 -64.2,-150 -66.5,-150 -68.8,-150 -71.1,-150 -73.4,-150 -75.7,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -75.7,160 -73.4,160 -71.1,160 -68.8,160 -66.5,160 -64.2,160 -61.9,160 -59.6,160 -57.3,160 -55,162 -55,164 -55,166 -55,168 -55,170 -55,172 -55,174 -55,176 -55,178 -55,-180 -55))", "dataset_titles": "ASPeCt Visual Ice Observations on PIPERS Cruise NBP1704 April-June 2017; Expedition data of NBP1704; Impact of Convective Processes and Sea Ice Formation on the Distribution of Iron in the Ross Sea: Closing the Seasonal Cycle; NBP1704 CTD sensor data; NBP1704 Expedition Data; PIPERS Airborne LiDAR Data; PIPERS Meteorology Rawinsonde Data; PIPERS Meteorology Time Series; PIPERS Noble Gases; Sea Ice Layer Cakes, PIPERS 2017; SUMO unmanned aerial system (UAS) atmospheric data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601609", "doi": "10.15784/601609", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Mass Spectrometer; NBP1704; Noble Gas; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Loose, Brice", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "PIPERS Noble Gases", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601609"}, {"dataset_uid": "601422", "doi": "10.15784/601422", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD; CTD Data; NBP1704; Ocean Profile Data; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Salinity; Temperature", "people": "Stammerjohn, Sharon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1704 CTD sensor data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601422"}, {"dataset_uid": "601183", "doi": "10.15784/601183", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Ice Concentration; Ice Thickness; Ice Type; NBP1704; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sea Ice; Snow Depth; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Visual Observations", "people": "Ackley, Stephen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ASPeCt Visual Ice Observations on PIPERS Cruise NBP1704 April-June 2017", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601183"}, {"dataset_uid": "601184", "doi": "10.15784/601184 ", "keywords": "Air Temperature; Antarctica; Atmosphere; Meteorology; Near-Surface Air Temperatures; PIPERS; Radiation; Sea Ice Temperatures; Temperature; Weather Station Data; Wind Direction; Wind Speed", "people": "Guest, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "PIPERS Meteorology Time Series", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601184"}, {"dataset_uid": "601185", "doi": "10.15784/601185 ", "keywords": "Air Temperature; Antarctica; Atmosphere; Atmospheric Surface Winds; Meteorology; NBP1704; PIPERS; Pressure; Radiosonde; Rawinsonde; Relative Humidity; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Wind Direction; Wind Speed", "people": "Guest, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "PIPERS Meteorology Rawinsonde Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601185"}, {"dataset_uid": "002663", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1704", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1704"}, {"dataset_uid": "601188", "doi": "10.15784/601188", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Laser Altimetry; Antarctica; LIDAR; PIPERS; Ross Sea; Sea Ice", "people": "Bertinato, Christopher; Locke, Caitlin; Bell, Robin; Xie, Hongjie; Dhakal, Tejendra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "PIPERS Airborne LiDAR Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601188"}, {"dataset_uid": "001363", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1704 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1704"}, {"dataset_uid": "601191", "doi": "10.15784/601191", "keywords": "Air Temperature; Antarctica; Atmosphere; Meteorology; NBP1704; PIPERS; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Temperature Profiles; UAV; Unmanned Aircraft", "people": "Cassano, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SUMO unmanned aerial system (UAS) atmospheric data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601191"}, {"dataset_uid": "200150", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Impact of Convective Processes and Sea Ice Formation on the Distribution of Iron in the Ross Sea: Closing the Seasonal Cycle", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/815403"}, {"dataset_uid": "601207", "doi": "10.15784/601207", "keywords": "Antarctica; Digital Elevation Model; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Thickness; Ice Thickness Distribution; LIDAR; NBP1704; PIPERS; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sea Ice; Snow; Snow Depth; Surface Elevation", "people": "Maksym, Edward; Jeffrey Mei, M.; Mei, M. Jeffrey", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea Ice Layer Cakes, PIPERS 2017", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601207"}], "date_created": "Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Proposal Title: Collaborative Research: Seasonal Sea Ice Production in the Ross Sea, Antarctica (working title changed from submitted title) Institutions: UT-San Antonio; Columbia University; Naval Postgraduate School; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; UC@Boulder The one place on Earth consistently showing increases in sea ice area, duration, and concentration is the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Satellite imagery shows about half of the Ross Sea increases are associated with changes in the austral fall, when the new sea ice is forming. The most pronounced changes are also located near polynyas, which are areas of open ocean surrounded by sea ice. To understand the processes driving the sea ice increase, and to determine if the increase in sea ice area is also accompanied by a change in ice thickness, this project will conduct an oceanographic cruise to the polynyas of the Ross Sea in April and May, 2017, which is the austral fall. The team will deploy state of the art research tools including unmanned airborne systems (UASs, commonly called drones), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Using these tools and others, the team will study atmospheric, oceanic, and sea ice properties and processes concurrently. A change in sea ice production will necessarily change the ocean water below, which may have significant consequences for global ocean circulation patterns, a topic of international importance. All the involved institutions will be training students, and all share the goal of expanding climate literacy in the US, emphasizing the role high latitudes play in the Earth\u0027s dynamic climate. The main goal of the project is to improve estimates of sea ice production and water mass transformation in the Ross Sea. The team will fully capture the spatial and temporal changes in air-ice-ocean interactions when they are initiated in the austral fall, and then track the changes into the winter and spring using ice buoys, and airborne mapping with the newly commissioned IcePod instrument system, which is deployed on the US Antarctic Program\u0027s LC-130 fleet. The oceanographic cruise will include stations in and outside of both the Terra Nova Bay and Ross Ice Shelf polynyas. Measurements to be made include air-sea boundary layer fluxes of heat, freshwater, and trace gases, radiation, and meteorology in the air; ice formation processes, ice thickness, snow depth, mass balance, and ice drift within the sea ice zone; and temperature, salinity, and momentum in the ocean below. Following collection of the field data, the team will improve both model parameterizations of air-sea-ice interactions and remote sensing algorithms. Model parameterizations are needed to determine if sea-ice production has increased in crucial areas, and if so, why (e.g., stronger winds or fresher oceans). The remote sensing validation will facilitate change detection over wider areas and verify model predictions over time. Accordingly this project will contribute to the international Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) goal of measuring essential climate variables continuously to monitor the state of the ocean and ice cover into the future.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-175 -66.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LIDAR/LASER SOUNDERS \u003e LIDAR; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN MIXED LAYER; TRACE ELEMENTS; CARBON DIOXIDE; ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION; ICE GROWTH/MELT; AMD; BOUNDARY LAYER TEMPERATURE; SULFUR COMPOUNDS; NBP1704; HEAT FLUX; ICE DEPTH/THICKNESS; R/V NBP; USA/NSF; BOUNDARY LAYER WINDS; SNOW DEPTH; VERTICAL PROFILES; METHANE; POLYNYAS; CONDUCTIVITY; SEA ICE; Ross Sea; WATER MASSES; TURBULENCE; USAP-DC; Amd/Us", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -55.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ackley, Stephen; Bell, Robin; Weissling, Blake; Nuss, Wendell; Maksym, Edward; Stammerjohn, Sharon; Cassano, John; Guest, Peter; Sedwick, Peter; Xie, Hongjie", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Seasonal Sea Ice Production in the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010032", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1246357 Bart, Philip", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data; NBP1502 YoYo camera benthic images from Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601182", "doi": "10.15784/601182", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Benthic Images; Benthos; Bentic Fauna; Camera Tow; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; NBP1502; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Bart, Philip", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 YoYo camera benthic images from Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601182"}, {"dataset_uid": "000245", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1502"}], "date_created": "Mon, 03 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Evidence from the eastern Ross Sea continental shelf indicates that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet advanced and retreated during the last glacial cycle, but it is unclear whether the ice sheet advanced to the shelf edge or just to the middle shelf. These two end-member scenarios offer different interpretations as to why, how, and when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillated. The PI proposes to acquire seismic, multibeam, and core data from Whales Deep, to evaluate the timing and duration of two advances of grounded ice to the outer and middle shelf of the Whales Deep Basin, a West Antarctic Ice Sheet paleo ice stream trough in eastern Ross Sea. Grounding events are represented by seismically resolvable Grounding Zone Wedges. The PI will collect radiocarbon dates on in situ benthic foraminifera from the grounding zone diamict as well as ramped pyrolysis radiocarbon dates on acid insoluble organics from open-marine mud overlying the grounding zone diamict. Using these data the PI will calculate the duration of the two grounding events. Furthermore, the PI will test a numerical model prediction that West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat must have involved melting at the marine terminus of the ice sheet. Pore-water from the grounding zone diamict will be extracted from piston cores to determine salinity and \u0026#948;18O values that should indicate if significant melting occurred at the grounding line. Broader impacts: The data collected will provide constraints on the timing and pattern of Last Glacial Maximum advance and retreat that can be incorporated into interpretations of ice-surface elevation changes. The proposed activities will provide valuable field and research training to undergraduate/graduate students and a Louisiana high-school science teacher. The research will be interactively shared with middle- and high-school science students and with visitors to the LSU Museum of Natural Science Weekend-Science Program.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e AIRGUN ARRAYS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LONG STREAMERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERA; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "STRATIGRAPHIC SEQUENCE; R/V NBP; Ross Sea; Antarctica; MICROFOSSILS; RADIOCARBON; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEDIMENTS; Southern Ocean; OCEANS; GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION", "locations": "Antarctica; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bart, Philip; Steinberg, Deborah", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Timing and Duration of the LGM and Post-LGM Grounding Events in Whales Deep Paleo Ice Stream, Eastern Ross Sea Middle Continental Shelf", "uid": "p0000877", "west": null}, {"awards": "1642570 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.666 -77.8)", "dataset_titles": "Microbial community composition of the Cinder Cones Cold Seep", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200035", "doi": "DOI:10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.756997.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of the Cinder Cones Cold Seep", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/756997"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is naturally emitted into the oceans by geologic seeps and microbial production. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes, researchers have learned that bacteria and archaea can create a \"sediment filter\" that oxidizes methane prior to its release. Antarctica is thought to contain large reservoirs of organic carbon buried beneath its ice which could a quantity of methane equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic and yet we know almost nothing about the methane oxidizing microbes in this region. How these microbial communities develop and potentially respond to fluctuations in methane levels is an under-explored avenue of research. A bacterial mat was recently discovered at 78 degrees south, suggesting the possible presence of a methane seep, and associated microbial communities. This project will explore this environment in detail to assess the levels and origin of methane, and the nature of the microbial ecosystem present. An expansive bacterial mat appeared and/or was discovered at 78 degrees south in 2011. This site, near McMurdo Station Antarctica, has been visited since the mid-1960s, but this mat was not observed until 2011. The finding of this site provides an unusual opportunity to study an Antarctic marine benthic habitat with active methane cycling and to examine the dynamics of recruitment and community succession of seep fauna including bacteria, archaea, protists and metazoans. This project will collect the necessary baseline data to facilitate further studies of Antarctic methane cycling. The concentration and source of methane will be determined at this site and at potentially analogous sites in McMurdo Sound. In addition to biogeochemical characterization of the sites, molecular analysis of the microbial community will quantify the time scales on which bacteria and archaea respond to methane input and provide information on rates of community development and succession in the Southern Ocean. Project activities will facilitate the training of at least one graduate student and results will be shared at both local and international levels. A female graduate student will be mentored as part of this project and data collected will form part of her dissertation. Lectures will be given in K-12 classrooms in Oregon to excite students about polar science. National and international audiences will be reached through blogs and presentations at a scientific conference. The PI\u0027s previous blogs have been used by K-12 classrooms as part of their lesson plans and followed in over 65 countries.", "east": 166.666, "geometry": "POINT(166.666 -77.8)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Sea Floor; USAP-DC; Ross Sea; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Ross Sea; Sea Floor", "north": -77.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "EAGER: Elucidating the Antarctic Methane Cycle at the Cinder Cones Reducing Habitat.", "uid": "p0010030", "west": 166.666}, {"awards": "1543031 Ivany, Linda", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "NetCDF outputs from middle Eocene climate simulation using the GENESIS global circulation model ; Organic carbon isotope data from serially sampled Eocene driftwood from the La Meseta Fm., Seymour ; Oxygen isotope data from serially sampled Eocene bivalves from the La Meseta Fm., Seymour Island, Antarctica ", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601175", "doi": "10.15784/601175 ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Climate Model; Computer Model; Eocene; Genesis; Global Circulation Model; Modeling; Model Output; Seasonality; Temperature", "people": "Judd, Emily", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NetCDF outputs from middle Eocene climate simulation using the GENESIS global circulation model ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601175"}, {"dataset_uid": "601173", "doi": "10.15784/601173 ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Isotopes; Driftwood; Eocene; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Isotope Data; La Meseta Formation; Mass Spectrometer; Mass Spectrometry; Organic Carbon Isotopes; Seasonality; Seymour Island; Wood", "people": "Judd, Emily", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Organic carbon isotope data from serially sampled Eocene driftwood from the La Meseta Fm., Seymour ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601173"}, {"dataset_uid": "601174", "doi": "10.15784/601174", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Bivalves; Cucullaea; Eocene; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Isotope Data; La Meseta Formation; Mass Spectrometer; Mass Spectrometry; Oxygen Isotope; Paleotemperature; Retrotapes; Seasonality; Seymour Island", "people": "Judd, Emily", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Oxygen isotope data from serially sampled Eocene bivalves from the La Meseta Fm., Seymour Island, Antarctica ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601174"}], "date_created": "Tue, 23 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In order to understand what environmental conditions might look like for future generations, we need to turn to archives of past times when the world was indeed warmer, before anyone was around to commit them to collective memory. The geologic record of Earth\u0027s past offers a glimpse of what could be in store for the future. Research by Ivany and her team looks to Antarctica during a time of past global warmth to see how seasonality of temperature and rainfall in coastal settings are likely to change in the future. They will use the chemistry of fossils (a natural archive of these variables) to test a provocative hypothesis about near-monsoonal conditions in the high latitudes when the oceans are warm. If true, we can expect high-latitude shipping lanes to become more hazardous and fragile marine ecosystems adapted to constant cold temperatures to suffer. With growing information about how human activities are likely to affect the planet in the future, we will be able to make more informed decisions about policies today. This research involves an international team of scholars, including several women scientists, training of graduate students, and a public museum exhibit to educate children about how we study Earth\u0027s ancient climate and what we can learn from it. Antarctica is key to an understanding how Earth?s climate system works under conditions of elevated CO2. The poles are the most sensitive regions on the planet to climate change, and the equator-to-pole temperature gradient and the degree to which high-latitude warming is amplified are important components for climate models to capture. Accurate proxy data with good age control are therefore critical for testing numerical models and establishing global patterns. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island is the only documented marine section from the globally warm Eocene Epoch exposed in outcrop on the continent; hence its climate record is integral to studies of warming. Early data suggest the potential for strongly seasonal precipitation and runoff in coastal settings. This collaboration among paleontologists, geochemists, and climate modelers will test this using seasonally resolved del-18O data from fossil shallow marine bivalves to track the evolution of seasonality through the section, in combination with independent proxies for the composition of summer precipitation (leaf wax del-D) and local seawater (clumped isotopes). The impact of the anticipated salinity stratification on regional climate will be evaluated in the context of numerical climate model simulations. In addition to providing greater clarity on high-latitude conditions during this time of high CO2, the combination of proxy and model results will provide insights about how Eocene warmth may have been maintained and how subsequent cooling came about. As well, a new approach to the analysis of shell carbonates for 87Sr/86Sr will allow refinements in age control so as to allow correlation of this important section with other regions to clarify global climate gradients. The project outlined here will develop new and detailed paleoclimate records from existing samples using well-tuned as well as newer proxies applied here in novel ways. Seasonal extremes are climate parameters generally inaccessible to most studies but critical to an understanding of climate change; these are possible to resolve in this well-preserved, accretionary-macrofossil-bearing section. This is an integrated study that links marine and terrestrial climate records for a key region of the planet across the most significant climate transition in the Cenozoic.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-56.5 -64.25)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; USAP-DC; ISOTOPES; NOT APPLICABLE; MACROFOSSILS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ivany, Linda; Lu, Zunli; Junium, Christopher; Samson, Scott", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.5, "title": "Seasonality, Summer Cooling, and Calibrating the Approach of the Icehouse in Late Eocene Antarctica", "uid": "p0010025", "west": -57.0}, {"awards": "1443464 Sowers, Todd; 1443472 Brook, Edward J.; 1443710 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "dataset_titles": "South Pole CH4 data for termination; South Pole Ice Core Isotopes of N2 and Ar; South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data; South Pole ice core total air content; South Pole (SPICECORE) 15N, 18O, O2/N2 and Ar/N2; SP19 Gas Chronology", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601152", "doi": "10.15784/601152", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Chemistry:gas; Chemistry:Gas; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Delta 18O; Dole Effect; Firn Thickness; Gas Isotopes; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Gravitational Settling; Ice; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Inert Gases; Nitrogen; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen; Oxygen Isotope; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole (SPICECORE) 15N, 18O, O2/N2 and Ar/N2", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601152"}, {"dataset_uid": "601380", "doi": "10.15784/601380", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Ice Core Stratigraphy; Methane; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Epifanio, Jenna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SP19 Gas Chronology", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601380"}, {"dataset_uid": "601517", "doi": "10.15784/601517", "keywords": "Antarctica; Argon; Argon Isotopes; Firn; Firn Temperature Gradient; Firn Thickness; Gas Isotopes; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Nitrogen; Nitrogen Isotopes; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Morgan, Jacob", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole Ice Core Isotopes of N2 and Ar", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601517"}, {"dataset_uid": "601230", "doi": "10.15784/601230", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmospheric CH4; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Data; Methane; Methane Concentration; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole CH4 data for termination", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601230"}, {"dataset_uid": "601231", "doi": "10.15784/601231", "keywords": "Air Content; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice core total air content", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601231"}, {"dataset_uid": "601381", "doi": "10.15784/601381", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Methane; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Kennedy, Joshua A.; Ferris, David G.; Kalk, Michael; Hood, Ekaterina; Fudge, T. J.; Osterberg, Erich; Winski, Dominic A.; Steig, Eric J.; Kahle, Emma; Sowers, Todd A.; Edwards, Jon S.; Kreutz, Karl; Buizert, Christo; Brook, Edward J.; Epifanio, Jenna", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601381"}], "date_created": "Sat, 02 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Gases trapped in ice cores have revealed astonishing things about the greenhouse gas composition of the past atmosphere, including the fact that carbon dioxide concentrations never rose above 300 parts per million during the last 800,000 years. This places today\u0027s concentration of 400 parts per million in stark contrast. Furthermore, these gas records show that natural sources of greenhouse gas such as oceans and ecosystems act as amplifiers of climate change by increasing emissions of gases during warmer periods. Such amplification is expected to occur in the future, adding to the human-produced gas burden. The South Pole ice core will build upon these prior findings by expanding the suite of gases to include, for the first time, those potent trace gases that both trapped heat and depleted ozone during the past 40,000 years. The present project on inert gases and methane in the South Pole ice core will improve the dating of this crucial record, to unprecedented precision, so that the relative timing of events can be used to learn about the mechanism of trace gas production and destruction, and consequent climate change amplification. Ultimately, this information will inform predictions of future atmospheric chemical cleansing mechanisms and climate in the context of our rapidly changing atmosphere. This award also engages young people in the excitement of discovery and polar research, helping to entrain the next generations of scientists and educators. Education of graduate students, a young researcher (Buizert), and training of technicians, will add to the nation?s human resource base. This award funds the construction of the gas chronology for the South Pole 1500m ice core, using measured inert gases (d15N and d40Ar--Nitrogen and Argon isotope ratios, respectively) and methane in combination with a next-generation firn densification model that treats the stochastic nature of air trapping and the role of impurities on densification. The project addresses fundamental gaps in scientific understanding that limit the accuracy of gas chronologies, specifically a poor knowledge of the controls on ice-core d15N and the possible role of layering and impurities in firn densification. These gaps will be addressed by studying the gas enclosure process in modern firn at the deep core site. The work will comprise the first-ever firn air pumping experiment that has tightly co-located measurements of firn structural properties on the core taken from the same borehole. The project will test the hypothesis that the lock-in horizon as defined by firn air d15N, CO2, and methane is structurally controlled by impermeable layers, which are in turn created by high-impurity content horizons in which densification is enhanced. Thermal signals will be sought using the inert gas measurements, which improve the temperature record with benefits to the firn densification modeling. Neon, argon, and oxygen will be measured in firn air and a limited number of deep core samples to test whether glacial period layering was enhanced, which could explain low observed d15N in the last glacial period. Drawing on separate volcanic and methane synchronization to well-dated ice cores to create independent ice and gas tie points, independent empirical estimates of the gas age-ice age difference will be made to check the validity of the firn densification model-inert gas approach to calculating the gas age-ice age difference. These points will also be used to test whether the anomalously low d15N seen during the last glacial period in east Antarctic ice cores is due to deep air convection in the firn, or a missing impurity dependence in the firn densification models. The increased physical understanding gained from these studies, combined with new high-precision measurements, will lead to improved accuracy of the gas chronology of the South Pole ice core, which will enhance the overall science return from this gas-oriented core. This will lead to clarification of timing of atmospheric gas variations and temperature, and aid in efforts to understand the biogeochemical feedbacks among trace gases. These feedbacks bear on the future response of the Earth System to anthropogenic forcing. Ozone-depleting substances will be measured in the South Pole ice core record, and a precise gas chronology will add value. Lastly, by seeking a better understanding of the physics of gas entrapment, the project aims to have an impact on ice-core science in general.", "east": 0.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; LABORATORY; Antarctica; NITROGEN ISOTOPES; USA/NSF; METHANE; Amd/Us; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Sowers, Todd A.; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Inert Gas and Methane Based Climate Records throughout the South Pole Deep Ice Core", "uid": "p0010005", "west": 0.0}, {"awards": "1656344 Bowman, Jeff", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.1 -64.75,-64.08 -64.75,-64.06 -64.75,-64.04 -64.75,-64.02 -64.75,-64 -64.75,-63.98 -64.75,-63.96 -64.75,-63.94 -64.75,-63.92 -64.75,-63.9 -64.75,-63.9 -64.775,-63.9 -64.8,-63.9 -64.825,-63.9 -64.85,-63.9 -64.875,-63.9 -64.9,-63.9 -64.925,-63.9 -64.95,-63.9 -64.975,-63.9 -65,-63.92 -65,-63.94 -65,-63.96 -65,-63.98 -65,-64 -65,-64.02 -65,-64.04 -65,-64.06 -65,-64.08 -65,-64.1 -65,-64.1 -64.975,-64.1 -64.95,-64.1 -64.925,-64.1 -64.9,-64.1 -64.875,-64.1 -64.85,-64.1 -64.825,-64.1 -64.8,-64.1 -64.775,-64.1 -64.75))", "dataset_titles": "\r\nMetadata accompanying BioProject SUB4579142 ; Western Antarctic Peninsula Marine Metatranscriptomes Sep 29 2018", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601153", "doi": "", "keywords": "Antarctic; Antarctica; Bacteria; Bacteria Production; Biota; Chlorophyll; LTER Palmer Station; Primary Production; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Bowman, Jeff", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "\r\nMetadata accompanying BioProject SUB4579142 ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601153"}, {"dataset_uid": "200010", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "Western Antarctic Peninsula Marine Metatranscriptomes Sep 29 2018", "url": "https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/subs/sra/SUB4579142/overview"}], "date_created": "Thu, 31 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This EAGER project will compare gene expression patterns in the planktonic communities under ice covers that form in coastal embayment\u0027s in the Antarctic Peninsula. Previous efforts taking advantage of unique ice conditions in November and December of 2015 allowed researchers to conduct an experiment to examine the role of sea ice cover on microbial carbon and energy transfer during the winter-spring transition. The EAGER effort will enable the researchers to conduct the \"omics\" analyses of the phytoplankton to determine predominant means by which energy is acquired and used in these settings. This EAGER effort will apply new expertise to fill an existing gap in ecological observations along the West Antarctic Peninsula. The principle product of the proposed work will be a novel dataset to be analyzed and by an early career researcher from an underserved community (veteran). The critical baseline data contained in this dataset enable a comparison of eukaryotic and prokaryotic gene expression patterns to establish the relative importance of chemoautotrophy, heterotrophy, mixotrophy, and phototrophy during the experiments. this information and data will be made immediately available to the broader scientific community, and will enable the development of further hypotheses on ecosystem change as sea ice cover changes in the region. Very little gene expression data is currently available for the Antarctic marine environment, and no gene expression data is available during the ecologically critical winter to spring transition. Moreover, ice cover in bays is common along the West Antarctic Peninsula yet the opportunity to study cryptophyte phytoplankton physiology beneath such ice conditions in coastal embayments is rare.", "east": -63.9, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.875)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; COASTAL", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -64.75, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bowman, Jeff", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCBI SRA; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "A Preliminary Assessment of the Influence of Ice Cover on Microbial Carbon and Energy Acquisition during the Antarctic Winter-spring Seasonal Transition", "uid": "p0010003", "west": -64.1}, {"awards": "1644245 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Ice Core Air Ethane and Acetylene Measurements - South Pole SPC14 Ice Core (SPICEcore project); Ice core ethane measurements, Greenland and Antarctica, 1000-1900 CE.", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002574", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Arctic Data Center", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice core ethane measurements, Greenland and Antarctica, 1000-1900 CE.", "url": "https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2CR5NC1B"}, {"dataset_uid": "601367", "doi": "10.15784/601367", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ethane", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Ice Core Air Ethane and Acetylene Measurements - South Pole SPC14 Ice Core (SPICEcore project)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601367"}], "date_created": "Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aydin/1644245 This award supports a project to measure ethane in ice core air extracted from the recently drilled intermediate depth South Pole ice core (SPICECORE). Ethane is an abundant hydrocarbon in the atmosphere. The ice core samples that will be used in this analysis will span about 150 years before present to about 55,000 years before present and therefore, ethane emissions linked to human activities are not a subject of this study. The study will focus on quantifying the variability in the natural sources of ethane and the processes that govern its removal from the atmosphere. A long-term ice core ethane record will provide new knowledge on the chemistry of Earth?s atmosphere during time periods when human influence was either much smaller than present day or non-existent. The broader impacts of this work include education and training of students and a contribution to a better understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere in the past and how it has been impacted by past changes in climate. Natural sources that emit ethane are both geologic (e.g. seeps, vents, mud volcanoes etc.) and pyrogenic (wild fires) which is commonly called biomass burning. Ethane is removed from the atmosphere via oxidation reactions. The ice core ethane measurements have great potential as a proxy for gaseous emissions from biomass burning. This is especially true for time periods preceding the industrial revolution when atmospheric variability of trace gases was largely controlled by natural processes. Another objective of this study is to improve understanding of the causes of atmospheric methane variability apparent which are in the existing ice core records. Methane is a simpler hydrocarbon than ethane and more abundant in the atmosphere. Even though the project does not include any methane measurements; the commonalities between the sources and removal of atmospheric ethane and methane mean that ethane measurements can be used to gain insight into the causes of changes in atmospheric methane levels. The broader impacts of the project include partial support for one Ph.D. student and support for undergraduate researchers at UC Irvine. The PIs group currently has 4 undergraduate researchers. The PI and the graduate students in the UCI ice core laboratory regularly participate in on- and off-campus activities such as laboratory tours and lectures directed towards educating high-school students and science teachers, and the local community at large about the scientific value of polar ice cores as an environmental record of our planet\u0027s past. The results of this research will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to policy-relevant activities such as the IPCC Climate Assessment. Data resulting from this project will be archived in a national data repository. This award does not have field work in Antarctica.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Arctic Data Center", "repositories": "Arctic Data Center; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": null, "title": "Ethane Measurements in the Intermediate Depth South Pole Ice Core (SPICECORE)", "uid": "p0000762", "west": null}, {"awards": "1443263 Higgins, John; 1443306 Mayewski, Paul", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O; Carbon dioxide concentration and its stable carbon isotope composition in Allan Hills ice cores; Elemental and isotopic composition of heavy noble gases in Allan Hills ice cores; Elemental and isotopic composition of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon in Allan Hills ice cores; Greenhouse gas composition in the Allan Hills S27 ice core; Methane concentration in Allan Hills ice cores; Stable isotope composition of the trapped air in the Allan Hills S27 ice core; Stable water isotope data for the AH-1502 ice core drilled at the Allan Hills Blue ice area; Stable water isotope data for the AH-1503 ice core drilled at the Allan Hills Blue ice area; Stable water isotope data for the surface samples collected at the Allan Hills Blue ice area", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601203", "doi": "10.15784/601203", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Allan Hills Project; Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Gas Chromatography; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Greenhouse Gas; Ice; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Methane; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Bender, Michael; Brook, Edward J.; Yan, Yuzhen; Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Methane concentration in Allan Hills ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601203"}, {"dataset_uid": "601201", "doi": "10.15784/601201", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Allan Hills Project; Antarctica; Argon; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Krypton; Mass Spectrometer; Noble Gas; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Xenon", "people": "Yan, Yuzhen; Ng, Jessica; Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Bender, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Elemental and isotopic composition of heavy noble gases in Allan Hills ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601201"}, {"dataset_uid": "601128", "doi": "10.15784/601128", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Delta 18O; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope Record; Mass Spectrometry; Stable Water Isotopes", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Introne, Douglas; Yan, Yuzhen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Stable water isotope data for the AH-1503 ice core drilled at the Allan Hills Blue ice area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601128"}, {"dataset_uid": "601129", "doi": "10.15784/601129", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Allan Hills Project; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Delta 18O; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; Isotope Data; Oxygen; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Stable Water Isotopes; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Introne, Douglas; Yan, Yuzhen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Stable water isotope data for the AH-1502 ice core drilled at the Allan Hills Blue ice area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601129"}, {"dataset_uid": "601130", "doi": "10.15784/601130", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Allan Hills Project; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Delta 18O; Delta Deuterium; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Oxygen; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Stable Water Isotopes; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Introne, Douglas; Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Yan, Yuzhen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Stable water isotope data for the surface samples collected at the Allan Hills Blue ice area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601130"}, {"dataset_uid": "601483", "doi": "10.15784/601483", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Argon; Ice; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Isotope; Mass Spectrometry; Nitrogen; Oxygen", "people": "Higgins, John; Bender, Michael; Yan, Yuzhen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Elemental and isotopic composition of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon in Allan Hills ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601483"}, {"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Introne, Douglas; Mayewski, Paul A.; Brook, Edward; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Brook, Edward; Introne, Douglas; Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601512", "doi": "10.15784/601512", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Ice Core; Ice Core Gas Records; Isotope; Nitrogen; Oxygen", "people": "Yan, Yuzhen; Higgins, John; Bender, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Stable isotope composition of the trapped air in the Allan Hills S27 ice core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601512"}, {"dataset_uid": "601425", "doi": "10.15784/601425", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Carbon Dioxide; Ice Core; Methane", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Yan, Yuzhen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Greenhouse gas composition in the Allan Hills S27 ice core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601425"}, {"dataset_uid": "601202", "doi": "10.15784/601202", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Allan Hills Project; Antarctica; Carbon Dioxide; Carbon Isotopes; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; CO2; Gas Chromatography; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Mass Spectrometer; Mass Spectrometry; Methane; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Bender, Michael; Yan, Yuzhen; Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Carbon dioxide concentration and its stable carbon isotope composition in Allan Hills ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601202"}], "date_created": "Thu, 18 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice cores permit the direct reconstruction of atmospheric composition and allow us to link greenhouse gases and global climate over the last 800,000 years. Previous field expeditions to the Allan Hills blue ice area, Antarctica, have recovered ice cores that date to one million years, the oldest ice cores yet recovered from Antarctica. These records have revealed that interglacial CO2 concentrations decreased by 800,000 years ago and that, in the warmer world 1 million years ago, CO2 and Antarctic temperature were linked as during the last 800,000 years. This project will return to the Allan Hills blue ice area to recover additional ice cores that date to 1 million years or older. The climate records developed from the drilled ice cores will provide new insights into the chemical composition of the atmosphere and Antarctic climate during times of comparable or even greater warmth than the present day. Our results will help answer questions about issues associated with anthropogenic change. These include the relationship between temperature change and the mass balance of Antarctic ice; precipitation and aridity variations associated with radiatively forced climate change; and the climate significance of sea ice extent. The project will entrain two graduate students and a postdoctoral scholar, and will conduct outreach including workshops to engage teachers in carbon science and ice cores. Between about 2.8-0.9 million years ago, Earth\u0027s climate was characterized by 40,000-year cycles, driven or paced by changes in the tilt of Earth\u0027s spin axis. Much is known about the \"40,000-year\" world from studies of deep-sea sediments, but our understanding of climate change during this period is incomplete because we lack records of Antarctic climate and direct records of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. We propose to address these issues by building on our recent studies of ancient ice from the Main Ice Field, Allan Hills, Antarctica. During previous field seasons we recovered ice extending, discontinuously, from 0.1-1.0 million years old. Ice was dated by measuring the 40Ar/38Ar (Argon) ratio of the trapped gases. Our discovery of million year-old ice demonstrates that there is gas-record-quality ice from the 40,000-year world in the Allan Hills Main Ice Field. We have identified two different sites, each overlying bedrock at ~ 200 m depth, that are attractive targets for coring ice dating to 1 million years and older. This project aims to core the ice at these two sites, re-occupy a previous site with million year-old ice and drill it down to the bedrock, and generate 10-20 short (~10-meter) cores in areas where our previous work and terrestrial meteorite ages suggest ancient surface ice. We plan to date the ice using the 40Ar/38Ar ages of trapped Argon. We also plan to characterize the continuity of our cores by measuring the deuterium and oxygen isotope ratios in the ice, methane, ratios of Oxygen and Argon to Nitrogen in trapped gas, the Nitrogen-15 isotope (d15N) of Nitrogen, and the Oxygen-18 isotope (d18O) of Oxygen. As the ice may be stratigraphically disturbed, these measurements will provide diagnostic properties for assessing the continuity of the ice-core records. Successful retrieval of ice older than one million years will provide the opportunity for follow-up work to measure the CO2 concentration and other properties within the ice to inform on the temperature history of the Allan Hills region, dust sources and source-area aridity, moisture sources, densification conditions, global average ocean temperature, and greenhouse gas concentrations. We will analyze the data in the context of leading hypotheses of the 40,000-year world and the Mid-Pleistocene Transition to the 100,000-year world. We expect to advance understanding of climate dynamics during these periods.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; Allan Hills; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC; Ice Core; LABORATORY", "locations": "Allan Hills", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mayewski, Paul A.; Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Higgins, John; Bender, Michael", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Allan Hills", "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Window into the World with 40,000-year Glacial Cycles from Climate Records in Million Year-old Ice from the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "uid": "p0000760", "west": null}, {"awards": "1246293 Saba, Grace", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "2014 Antarctic krill growth experiment - submitted", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002572", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "2014 Antarctic krill growth experiment - submitted", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/721363"}], "date_created": "Fri, 14 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Climate change projections for this century suggest that the Southern Ocean will be the first region to be affected by seawater chemistry changes associated with enhanced carbon dioxide (CO2). Additionally, regions of the Southern Ocean are warming faster than any other locations on the planet. Ocean acidification and warming may act synergistically to impair the performance of different organisms by simultaneously increasing metabolic needs and reducing oxygen transport. However, no studies have measured krill acid-base regulation, metabolism, growth, or reproduction in the context of ocean acidification or synergistic \u0027greenhouse\u0027 conditions of elevated CO2 and temperature. In the present project, the investigators will conduct both short and prolonged exposure experiments at Palmer Station, Antarctica to determine the responses of Euphausia superba to elevated CO2 and temperature. The investigators will test hypotheses related to acid-base compensation and acclimation of various life stages of krill to elevated CO2 and temperature. Furthermore, they will determine these impacts on feeding, respiration, metabolism, growth, and reproduction. The Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is a key component of Antarctic food webs as they are a primary food source for many of the top predators in the Southern Ocean including baleen whales, seals, penguins, and other sea birds. This project will determine the responses of Antarctic krill exposed to elevated CO2 and temperature and whether or not krill have the capacity to fully compensate under future ocean conditions. The proposed field effort will be complemented by an extensive broader impact effort focused on bringing marine science to both rural and urban high school students in the Midwest (Kansas). The core educational objectives of this proposal are to 1) instruct students about potential careers in marine science, 2) engage students and promote their interest in the scientific process, critical thinking, and applications of science, mathematics, and technology, and 3) and increase student and teacher awareness and understanding of the oceans and global climate change, with special focus on the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. Finally, this project will engage undergraduate and graduate students in the production, analysis, presentation and publication of datasets.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Saba, Grace", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Synergistic effects of Elevated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Temperature on the Metabolism, Growth, and Reproduction of Antarctic Krill (Euphausia Superba)", "uid": "p0000700", "west": null}, {"awards": "2023425 Schofield, Oscar; 1440435 Ducklow, Hugh", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -63,-78.3 -63,-76.6 -63,-74.9 -63,-73.2 -63,-71.5 -63,-69.8 -63,-68.1 -63,-66.4 -63,-64.7 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.8,-63 -64.6,-63 -65.4,-63 -66.2,-63 -67,-63 -67.8,-63 -68.6,-63 -69.4,-63 -70.2,-63 -71,-64.7 -71,-66.4 -71,-68.1 -71,-69.8 -71,-71.5 -71,-73.2 -71,-74.9 -71,-76.6 -71,-78.3 -71,-80 -71,-80 -70.2,-80 -69.4,-80 -68.6,-80 -67.8,-80 -67,-80 -66.2,-80 -65.4,-80 -64.6,-80 -63.8,-80 -63))", "dataset_titles": "Environmental Data Initiative Repository, Supporting LTER; Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1501; Expedition data of LMG1601; Expedition data of LMG1701; Expedition data of LMG1801; Expedition data of LMG1901; Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae); UAV images and video of whales in the Antarctic Penisula during LMG1802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200125", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1901", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1901"}, {"dataset_uid": "001367", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1701"}, {"dataset_uid": "601811", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Bellingshausen Sea; Cryosphere; Southern Ocean", "people": "Biesack, Ellen; Corso, Andrew; Desvignes, Thomas; McDowell, Jan; Cheng, Chi-Hing; Steinberg, Deborah; Hilton, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601811"}, {"dataset_uid": "601318", "doi": "10.15784/601318", "keywords": "Aerial Imagery; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Camera; Humpback Whales; LMG1802; LTER; Minke Whales; Oceans; Palmer Station; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Species Size; UAV; Video Data; Whales", "people": "Bierlich, KC; Dale, Julian; Friedlaender, Ari; Nowacek, Douglas; Boyer, Keyvi", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "UAV images and video of whales in the Antarctic Penisula during LMG1802", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601318"}, {"dataset_uid": "002729", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1701", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1701"}, {"dataset_uid": "200124", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1801", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1801"}, {"dataset_uid": "200122", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1501", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1501"}, {"dataset_uid": "200123", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1601", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1601"}, {"dataset_uid": "000246", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EDI", "science_program": null, "title": "Environmental Data Initiative Repository, Supporting LTER", "url": "https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/browseServlet?searchValue=PAL"}], "date_created": "Fri, 11 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Palmer Antarctica LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site has been in operation since 1990. The goal of all the LTER sites is to conduct policy-relevant research on ecological questions that require tens of years of data, and cover large geographical areas. For the Palmer Antarctica LTER, the questions are centered around how the marine ecosystem west of the Antarctica peninsula is responding to a climate that is changing as rapidly as any place on the Earth. For example, satellite observations over the past 35 years indicate the average duration of sea ice cover is now ~90 days (3 months!) shorter than it was. The extended period of open water has implications for many aspects of ecosystem research, with the concurrent decrease of Ad\u00e8lie penguins within this region regularly cited as an exemplar of climate change impacts in Antarctica. Cutting edge technologies such as autonomous underwater (and possibly airborne) vehicles, seafloor moorings, and numerical modeling, coupled with annual oceanographic cruises, and weekly environmental sampling, enables the Palmer Antarctica LTER to expand and bridge the time and space scales needed to assess climatic impacts. This award includes for the first time study of the roles of whales as major predators in the seasonal sea ice zone ecosystem. The team will also focus on submarine canyons, special regions of enhanced biological activity, along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The current award\u0027s overarching research question is: How do seasonality, interannual variability, and long term trends in sea ice extent and duration influence the structure and dynamics of marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling? Specific foci within the broad question include: 1. Long-term change and ecosystem transitions. What is the sensitivity or resilience of the ecosystem to external perturbations as a function of the ecosystem state? 2. Lateral connectivity and vertical stratification. What are the effects of lateral transports of freshwater, heat and nutrients on local ocean stratification and productivity and how do they drive changes in the ecosystem? 3. Top-down controls and shifting baselines. How is the ecosystem responding to the cessation of whaling and subsequent long-term recovery of whale stocks? 4. Foodweb structure and biogeochemical processes. How do temporal and spatial variations in foodweb structure influence carbon and nutrient cycling, export, and storage? The broader impacts of the award leverage local educational partnerships including the Sandwich, MA STEM Academy, the New England Aquarium, and the NSF funded Polar Learning and Responding (PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership at Columbia\u0027s Earth Institute to build new synergies between Arctic and Antarctic, marine and terrestrial scientists and students, governments and NGOs. The Palmer Antarctic LTER will also conduct appropriate cross LTER site comparisons, and serve as a leader in information management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic, and LTER communities.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-71.5 -67)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "PELAGIC; USAP-DC; R/V LMG; NOT APPLICABLE; Palmer Station; LMG1701", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ducklow, Hugh; Martinson, Doug; Schofield, Oscar", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "EDI; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -71.0, "title": "LTER Palmer, Antarctica (PAL): Land-Shelf-Ocean Connectivity, Ecosystem Resilience and Transformation in a Sea-Ice Influenced Pelagic Ecosystem", "uid": "p0000133", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "1341729 Kirschvink, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-58.9 -63.5,-58.63 -63.5,-58.36 -63.5,-58.09 -63.5,-57.82 -63.5,-57.55 -63.5,-57.28 -63.5,-57.01 -63.5,-56.74 -63.5,-56.47 -63.5,-56.2 -63.5,-56.2 -63.62,-56.2 -63.74,-56.2 -63.86,-56.2 -63.98,-56.2 -64.1,-56.2 -64.22,-56.2 -64.34,-56.2 -64.46,-56.2 -64.58,-56.2 -64.7,-56.47 -64.7,-56.74 -64.7,-57.01 -64.7,-57.28 -64.7,-57.55 -64.7,-57.82 -64.7,-58.09 -64.7,-58.36 -64.7,-58.63 -64.7,-58.9 -64.7,-58.9 -64.58,-58.9 -64.46,-58.9 -64.34,-58.9 -64.22,-58.9 -64.1,-58.9 -63.98,-58.9 -63.86,-58.9 -63.74,-58.9 -63.62,-58.9 -63.5))", "dataset_titles": "2016 Paleomagnetic samples from the James Ross Basin, Antarctica; Expedition data of NBP1601", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002665", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1601", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1601"}, {"dataset_uid": "601094", "doi": "10.15784/601094", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Glaciology; James Ross Basin; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments", "people": "Kirschvink, Joseph; Skinner, Steven", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2016 Paleomagnetic samples from the James Ross Basin, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601094"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-Technical Summary: About 80 million years ago, the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the vicinity of what is now James Ross Island experienced an episode of rapid subsidence, creating a broad depositional basin that collected sediments eroding from the high mountains to the West. This depression accumulated a thick sequence of fossil-rich, organic-rich sediments of the sort that are known to preserve hydrocarbons, and for which Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom have overlapping territorial claims. The rocks preserve one of the highest resolution records of the biological and climatic events that led to the eventual death of the dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (about 66 million years ago). A previous collaboration between scientists from the Instituto Ant\u00e1rtico Argentino (IAA) and NSF-supported teams from Caltech and the University of Washington were able to show that this mass extinction event started nearly 50,000 years before the sudden impact of an asteroid. The asteroid obviously hit the biosphere hard, but something else knocked it off balance well before the asteroid hit. A critical component of the previous work was the use of reversals in the polarity of the Earth?s magnetic field as a dating tool ? magnetostratigraphy. This allowed the teams to correlate the pattern of magnetic reversals from Antarctica with elsewhere on the planet. This includes data from a major volcanic eruption (a flood basalt province) that covered much of India 65 million years ago. The magnetic patterns indicate that the Antarctic extinction started with the first pulse of this massive eruption, which was also coincident with a rapid spike in polar temperature. The Argentinian and US collaborative teams will extend this magnetic polarity record back another ~ 20 million years in time, and expand it laterally to provide magnetic reversal time lines across the depositional basin. They hope to recover the end of the Cretaceous Long Normal interval, which is one of the most distinctive events in the history of Earth?s magnetic field. The new data should refine depositional models of the basin, allow better estimates of potential hydrocarbon reserves, and allow biotic events in the Southern hemisphere to be compared more precisely with those elsewhere on Earth. Other potential benefits of this work include exposing several US students and postdoctoral fellows to field based research in Antarctica, expanding the international aspects of this collaborative work via joint IAA/US field deployments, and follow-up laboratory investigations and personnel exchange of the Junior scientists. Technical Description of Project The proposed research will extend the stratigraphic record in the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary sediments (~ 83 to 65 Ma before present) of the James Ross Basin, Antarctica, using paleo-magnetic methods. Recent efforts provided new methods to analyze these rocks, yielding their primary magnetization, and producing both magnetic polarity patterns and paleomagnetic pole positions. This provided the first reliable age constraints for the younger sediments on Seymour Island, and quantified the sedimentation rate in this part of the basin. The new data will allow resolution of the stable, remnant magnetization of the sediments from the high deposition rate James Ross basin (Tobin et al., 2012), yielding precise chronology/stratigraphy. This approach will be extended to the re-maining portions of this sedimentary basin, and will allow quantitative estimates for tectonic and sedimentary processes between Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time. The proposed field work will refine the position of several geomagnetic reversals that occurred be-tween the end of the Cretaceous long normal period (Chron 34N, ~ 83 Ma), and the lower portion of Chron 31R (~ 71 Ma). Brandy Bay provides the best locality for calibrating the stratigraphic position of the top of the Cretaceous Long Normal Chron, C34N. Although the top of the Cretaceous long normal Chron is one of the most important correlation horizons in the entire geological timescale, it is not properly correlated to the southern hemisphere biostratigraphy. Locating this event, as well as the other reversals, will be a major addition to understanding of the geological history of the Antarctic Peninsula. These data will also help refine tectonic models for the evolution of the Southern continents, which will be of use across the board for workers in Cretaceous stratigraphy (including those involved in oil exploration). This research is a collaborative effort with Dr. Edward Olivero of the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas (CADIC/CONICET) and Prof. Augusto Rapalini of the University of Buenos Aires. The collaboration will include collection of samples on their future field excursions to important targets on and around James Ross Island, supported by the Argentinian Antarctic Program (IAA). Argentinian scientists and students will also be involved in the US Antarctic program deployments, proposed here for the R/V Laurence Gould, and will continue the pattern of joint international publication of the results.", "east": -56.2, "geometry": "POINT(-57.55 -64.1)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS; NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -63.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kirschvink, Joseph; Christensen, John", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.7, "title": "Paleomagnetism and Magnetostratigraphy of the James Ross Basin, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000276", "west": -58.9}, {"awards": "1246292 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.36062 -77.20215,161.610171 -77.20215,161.859722 -77.20215,162.109273 -77.20215,162.358824 -77.20215,162.608375 -77.20215,162.857926 -77.20215,163.107477 -77.20215,163.357028 -77.20215,163.606579 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.291278,163.85613 -77.380406,163.85613 -77.469534,163.85613 -77.558662,163.85613 -77.64779,163.85613 -77.736918,163.85613 -77.826046,163.85613 -77.915174,163.85613 -78.004302,163.85613 -78.09343,163.606579 -78.09343,163.357028 -78.09343,163.107477 -78.09343,162.857926 -78.09343,162.608375 -78.09343,162.358824 -78.09343,162.109273 -78.09343,161.859722 -78.09343,161.610171 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.004302,161.36062 -77.915174,161.36062 -77.826046,161.36062 -77.736918,161.36062 -77.64779,161.36062 -77.558662,161.36062 -77.469534,161.36062 -77.380406,161.36062 -77.291278,161.36062 -77.20215))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities; Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils; Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ; Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002738", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/?term=craig%20cary"}, {"dataset_uid": "002736", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB27415"}, {"dataset_uid": "002737", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "KNB", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils", "url": "https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/knb.756.1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200013", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA505820"}, {"dataset_uid": "200014", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB7939"}, {"dataset_uid": "200015", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/?term=KP836071%20to%20KP836108"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.", "east": 163.85613, "geometry": "POINT(162.608375 -77.64779)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; RIVERS/STREAM", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.20215, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "EMBL; KNB; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.09343, "title": "Collaborative Research: Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on Local, Regional and Landscape Scales", "uid": "p0000235", "west": 161.36062}, {"awards": "1056396 Morgan-Kiss, Rachael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Genetic sequence identifier: Accession Numbers: GU132860-GU132939; JN091926-JN091960; JQ9243533-JQ924384; KJ848331-KJ848439; KU196097-KU196166; PRJNA396917", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000241", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Genetic sequence identifier: Accession Numbers: GU132860-GU132939; JN091926-JN091960; JQ9243533-JQ924384; KJ848331-KJ848439; KU196097-KU196166; PRJNA396917", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 26 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This CAREER proposal will support an early career female PI to establish an integrated research and education program in the fields of polar biology and environmental microbiology, focusing on single-celled eukaryotes (protists) in high latitude ice-covered Antarctic lakes systems. Protists play important roles in energy flow and material cycling, and act as both primary producers (fixing inorganic carbon by photosynthesis) and consumers (preying on bacteria by phagotrophic digestion). The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) located in Victoria Land, Antarctica, harbor microbial communities which are isolated in the unique aquatic ecosystem of perennially ice-capped lakes. The lakes support exclusively microbial consortia in chemically stratified water columns that are not influenced by seasonal mixing, allochthonous inputs, or direct human impact. This project will exploit permanently stratified biogeochemistry that is unique across the water columns of several MDV lakes to address gaps in our understanding of protist trophic function in aquatic food webs. The proposed research will examine (1) the impact of permanent biogeochemical gradients on protist trophic strategy, (2) the effect of major abiotic drivers (light and nutrients) on the distribution of two key mixotrophic and photoautotrophic protist species, and (3) the effect of episodic nutrient pulses on mixotroph communities in high latitude (ultraoligotrophic) MDV lakes versus low latitude (eutrophic) watersheds. The project will impact the fields of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology by combining results from field, laboratory and in situ incubation studies to synthesize new models for the protist trophic roles in the aquatic food web. The research component of this proposed project will be tightly integrated with the development of two new education activities designed to exploit the inherent excitement associated with polar biological research. The educational objectives are: 1) to establish a teaching module in polar biology in a core undergraduate course for microbiology majors; 2) to develop an instructional module to engage middle school girls in STEM disciplines. Undergraduates and middle school girls will also work with a doctoral student on his experiments in local Ohio watersheds.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Morgan-Kiss, Rachael", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "CAREER:Protist Nutritional Strategies in Permanently Stratified Antarctic Lakes", "uid": "p0000310", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1246353 Anderson, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -74,-144.9 -74,-109.8 -74,-74.7 -74,-39.6 -74,-4.5 -74,30.6 -74,65.7 -74,100.8 -74,135.9 -74,171 -74,171 -74.3,171 -74.6,171 -74.9,171 -75.2,171 -75.5,171 -75.8,171 -76.1,171 -76.4,171 -76.7,171 -77,135.9 -77,100.8 -77,65.7 -77,30.6 -77,-4.5 -77,-39.6 -77,-74.7 -77,-109.8 -77,-144.9 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -77,180 -76.7,180 -76.4,180 -76.1,180 -75.8,180 -75.5,180 -75.2,180 -74.9,180 -74.6,180 -74.3,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,180 -74,-180 -74))", "dataset_titles": "Circum-Antarctic grounding-line sinuosity; NBP1502A Cruise Core Data; NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data; Pennell Trough, Ross Sea bathymetry and glacial landforms", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601484", "doi": "10.15784/601484", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bed Roughness; Bed Slope; Elevation; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Pinning Points", "people": "Stearns, Leigh; Riverman, Kiya; Simkins, Lauren", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Circum-Antarctic grounding-line sinuosity", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601484"}, {"dataset_uid": "000245", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1502"}, {"dataset_uid": "601083", "doi": "10.15784/601083", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Geochronology; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; NBP1502; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Core", "people": "Prothro, Lindsay; Simkins, Lauren; Anderson, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502A Cruise Core Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601083"}, {"dataset_uid": "601474", "doi": "10.15784/601474", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bathymetry; Elevation; Geomorphology; Glacial History; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marine Geoscience; NBP1502; Pennell Trough; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Munevar Garcia, Santiago; Prothro, Lindsay; Simkins, Lauren; Greenwood, Sarah; Anderson, John; Eareckson, Elizabeth", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Pennell Trough, Ross Sea bathymetry and glacial landforms", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601474"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI hypothesizes that bedforms found in the Central and Joides troughs can be interpreted as having been formed by rapid retreat, and possible collapse of an ice stream that occupied this area. To test this hypothesis, the PI proposes to conduct a detailed marine geological and geophysical survey of Central and Joides Troughs in the western Ross Sea. This project will bridge gaps between the small and isolated areas previously surveyed and will acquire a detailed sedimentological record of the retreating grounding line. The PI will reconstruct the retreat history of the Central and Joides troughs to century-scale resolution using radiocarbon dating methods and by looking at geomorphic features that are formed at regular time intervals. Existing multibeam, deep tow side-scan sonar, and core data will provide a framework for this research. The western Ross Sea is an ideal study area to investigate a single ice stream and the dynamics controlling its stability, including interactions between both East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Broader impacts: This proposal includes a post-doc, a graduate and two undergraduate students. The post-doc is involved with teaching an in-service K-12 teacher development and training course at Rice University for high-need teachers with a focus on curriculum enhancement. The project fosters collaboration for the PI and students with researchers at Louisiana State University and international colleagues at the Institute for Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The results from this project could lead to a better understanding of ice sheet and ice stream stability. This project will yield implications for society\u0027s understanding of climate change, as this work improves understanding of the behavior of ice sheets and their links to global climate.", "east": 179.99, "geometry": "POINT(175.495 -75.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CARBON ANALYZERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; R/V NBP; NBP1502", "locations": null, "north": -74.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, John", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Evidence for Paleo Ice Stream Collapse in the Western Ross Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum.", "uid": "p0000395", "west": 171.0}, {"awards": "1341669 DeMaster, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -62,-68.8 -62,-67.6 -62,-66.4 -62,-65.2 -62,-64 -62,-62.8 -62,-61.6 -62,-60.4 -62,-59.2 -62,-58 -62,-58 -62.6,-58 -63.2,-58 -63.8,-58 -64.4,-58 -65,-58 -65.6,-58 -66.2,-58 -66.8,-58 -67.4,-58 -68,-59.2 -68,-60.4 -68,-61.6 -68,-62.8 -68,-64 -68,-65.2 -68,-66.4 -68,-67.6 -68,-68.8 -68,-70 -68,-70 -67.4,-70 -66.8,-70 -66.2,-70 -65.6,-70 -65,-70 -64.4,-70 -63.8,-70 -63.2,-70 -62.6,-70 -62))", "dataset_titles": "DeMaster Compiled Larsen Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Peninsula C14 Data; Expedition Data of NBP1203; Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf; Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf; Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001438", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "601304", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1203; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601304"}, {"dataset_uid": "601319", "doi": "10.15784/601319", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Bioturbation Coefficients; Diagenesis; Labile Organic Carbon; LOC Mean Residence Times; Marguerite Bay; Oceans; Organic Carbon Degradation Rates; Sediment Core", "people": "Taylor, Richard; Smith, Craig; Isla, Enrique; Thomas, Carrie; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601319"}, {"dataset_uid": "601336", "doi": "10.15784/601336", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Larsen Ice Shelf; Lead-210; Marine Sediments; Radioisotope Analysis", "people": "Taylor, Richard; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601336"}, {"dataset_uid": "601082", "doi": "10.15784/601082", "keywords": null, "people": "DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "DeMaster Compiled Larsen Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Peninsula C14 Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601082"}], "date_created": "Sat, 03 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI requests support to analyze sediments from multi-cores and mega-cores previously collected from beneath the former Larsen B and Larsen A ice shelves. These unique cores will allow the PI to develop a time-integrated understanding of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse off the East Antarctic Peninsula over time periods as short as 5 years following ice shelf collapse up to \u003e170 years after collapse. High latitudes are responding to climate change more rapidly than the rest of the planet and the disappearance of ice shelves are a key manifestation of climate warming. The PI will investigate the newly created benthic environments and associated ecosystems that have resulted from the re-initiation of fresh planktonic material to the sediment-water interface. This proposal will use a new geochemical technique, based on naturally occurring 14C that can be used to assess the distribution and inventory of recently produced organic carbon accumulating in the sediments beneath the former Larsen A and B ice shelves. The PI will couple 14C measurements with 210Pb analyses to assess turnover times for sedimentary labile organic matter. By comparing the distributions and inventories of labile organic matter as well as the bioturbation intensities among different locations as a function of time following ice shelf collapse/retreat, the nature and timing of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse can be assessed. Broader impacts: This study will provide important information characterizing changes occurring on the seafloor after the collapse of ice shelves. This research will support the research project of a graduate student. This project brings together researchers from both the European community and the LARISSA Project.", "east": -58.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -65)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Pb-210; C-14; NBP1203; Radioisotop; USAP-DC; R/V NBP; Species Abundance; Labile Organic Carbon; LABORATORY", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -68.0, "title": "Using Radiochemical Data from Collapsed Ice Shelf Sediments to Understand the Nature and Timing of the Benthic Response to High-Latitude Climate Change", "uid": "p0000382", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "0732711 Smith, Craig; 0732655 Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; 0732983 Vernet, Maria; 0732651 Gordon, Arnold; 0732625 Leventer, Amy; 0732602 Truffer, Martin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68 -57.8,-66.78 -57.8,-65.56 -57.8,-64.34 -57.8,-63.12 -57.8,-61.9 -57.8,-60.68 -57.8,-59.46 -57.8,-58.24 -57.8,-57.02 -57.8,-55.8 -57.8,-55.8 -58.8,-55.8 -59.8,-55.8 -60.8,-55.8 -61.8,-55.8 -62.8,-55.8 -63.8,-55.8 -64.8,-55.8 -65.8,-55.8 -66.8,-55.8 -67.8,-57.02 -67.8,-58.24 -67.8,-59.46 -67.8,-60.68 -67.8,-61.9 -67.8,-63.12 -67.8,-64.34 -67.8,-65.56 -67.8,-66.78 -67.8,-68 -67.8,-68 -66.8,-68 -65.8,-68 -64.8,-68 -63.8,-68 -62.8,-68 -61.8,-68 -60.8,-68 -59.8,-68 -58.8,-68 -57.8))", "dataset_titles": "Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System (LARISSA) - Marine Ecosystems; Biology Species Abundance from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expeditions NBP1001 and NBP1203; Bruce Plateau Accumulation O18 2009-1900; Easten Antarctic Peninsula Surface Sediment Diatom Data; LMG13-11 JKC-1 Paleoceanographic data; Macrofauna Species Abundance Raw Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001; Megafauna Species Abundance Raw Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001; NBP1001 cruise data; NBP1203 cruise data; Processed CTD Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001; Processed CTD Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203; Processed ship-based LADCP Sonar Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001; Processed ship-based LADCP Sonar Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203; Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf; Sediment samples (full data link not provided)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601345", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; CTD; CTD Data; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; NBP1001; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Salinity; Temperature", "people": "Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Processed CTD Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601345"}, {"dataset_uid": "601347", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Current Measurements; LADCP; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; NBP1203; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed ship-based LADCP Sonar Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601347"}, {"dataset_uid": "000142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1001 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1001"}, {"dataset_uid": "601348", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; CTD; CTD Data; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; NBP1203; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Salinity; Temperature", "people": "Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed CTD Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601348"}, {"dataset_uid": "000143", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1203 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "000145", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AMGRF", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment samples (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://arf.fsu.edu/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601336", "doi": "10.15784/601336", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Larsen Ice Shelf; Lead-210; Marine Sediments; Radioisotope Analysis", "people": "Taylor, Richard; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601336"}, {"dataset_uid": "601485", "doi": "10.15784/601485", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Delta 13C; Delta 18O; Paleoceanography; Temperature", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "LMG13-11 JKC-1 Paleoceanographic data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601485"}, {"dataset_uid": "600073", "doi": "10.15784/600073", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Araon1304; Biota; LARISSA; Larsen B Ice Shelf; NBP1001; NBP1203; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea", "people": "Vernet, Maria", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System (LARISSA) - Marine Ecosystems", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600073"}, {"dataset_uid": "000226", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "MGDS", "science_program": null, "title": "Biology Species Abundance from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expeditions NBP1001 and NBP1203", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1594/ieda/320821"}, {"dataset_uid": "601306", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; NBP1001; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Macrofauna Species Abundance Raw Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601306"}, {"dataset_uid": "601305", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1001; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Megafauna Species Abundance Raw Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601305"}, {"dataset_uid": "601211", "doi": "10.15784/601211", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthos; Biota; Diatom; Geology/Geophysics - Other; LMG0502; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; Microscope; NBP0003; NBP0107; NBP0603; NBP1203; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Surface Sediment", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Easten Antarctic Peninsula Surface Sediment Diatom Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601211"}, {"dataset_uid": "600167", "doi": "10.15784/600167", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Bruce Plateau; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; LARISSA; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Snow Accumulation", "people": "Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Thompson, Lonnie G.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Bruce Plateau Accumulation O18 2009-1900", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600167"}, {"dataset_uid": "601346", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Current Measurements; LADCP; Larsen Ice Shelf; NBP1001; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Huber, Bruce; Gordon, Arnold", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Processed ship-based LADCP Sonar Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1001", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601346"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Like no other region on Earth, the northern Antarctic Peninsula represents a spectacular natural laboratory of climate change and provides the opportunity to study the record of past climate and ecological shifts alongside the present-day changes in one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. This award supports the cryospheric and oceano-graphic components of an integrated multi-disciplinary program to address these rapid and fundamental changes now taking place in Antarctic Peninsula (AP). By making use of a marine research platform (the RV NB Palmer and on-board helicopters) and additional logistical support from the Argentine Antarctic program, the project will bring glaciologists, oceanographers, marine geologists and biologists together, working collaboratively to address fundamentally interdisciplinary questions regarding climate change. The project will include gathering a new, high-resolution paleoclimate record from the Bruce Plateau of Graham Land, and using it to compare Holocene- and possibly glacial-epoch climate to the modern period; investigating the stability of the remaining Larsen Ice Shelf and rapid post-breakup glacier response ? in particular, the roles of surface melt and ice-ocean interactions in the speed-up and retreat; observing the contribution of, and response of, oceanographic systems to ice shelf disintegration and ice-glacier interactions. Helicopter support on board will allow access to a wide range of glacial and geological areas of interest adjacent to the Larsen embayment. At these locations, long-term in situ glacial monitoring, isostatic uplift, and ice flow GPS sites will be established, and high-resolution ice core records will be obtained using previously tested lightweight drilling equipment. Long-term monitoring of deep water outflow will, for the first time, be integrated into changes in ice shelf extent and thickness, bottom water formation, and multi-level circulation by linking near-source observations to distal sites of concentrated outflow. The broader impacts of this international, multidisciplinary effort are that it will significantly advance our understanding of linkages amongst the earth\u0027s systems in the Polar Regions, and are proposed with international participation (UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Argentina) and interdisciplinary engagement in the true spirit of the International Polar Year (IPY). It will also provide a means of engaging and educating the public in virtually all aspects of polar science and the effects of ongoing climate change. The research team has a long record of involving undergraduates in research, educating high-performing graduate students, and providing innovative and engaging outreach products to the K-12 education and public media forums. Moreover, forging the new links both in science and international Antarctic programs will provide a continuing legacy, beyond IPY, of improved understanding and cooperation in Antarctica.", "east": -55.8, "geometry": "POINT(-61.9 -62.8)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e BOX CORE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e ICE AUGERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SNOW DENSITY CUTTER", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Paleoclimate; Megafauna; USAP-DC; AMD; Amd/Us; Antarctica; Climate Change; LABORATORY; Climate Variability; Multi-Disciplinary; Cryosphere; NBP1001; FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; Antarctic Peninsula; R/V NBP; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; Ice Core; Holocene", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -57.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Truffer, Martin; Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Leventer, Amy; Vernet, Maria; Smith, Craig; Thompson, Lonnie G.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "AMGRF; MGDS; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -67.8, "title": "Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach -- Cryosphere and Oceans", "uid": "p0000101", "west": -68.0}, {"awards": "1143833 Orsi, Alejandro; 1143836 Leventer, Amy; 1143834 Huber, Bruce; 1430550 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((116 -65.2,116.5 -65.2,117 -65.2,117.5 -65.2,118 -65.2,118.5 -65.2,119 -65.2,119.5 -65.2,120 -65.2,120.5 -65.2,121 -65.2,121 -65.38,121 -65.56,121 -65.74,121 -65.92,121 -66.1,121 -66.28,121 -66.46,121 -66.64,121 -66.82,121 -67,120.5 -67,120 -67,119.5 -67,119 -67,118.5 -67,118 -67,117.5 -67,117 -67,116.5 -67,116 -67,116 -66.82,116 -66.64,116 -66.46,116 -66.28,116 -66.1,116 -65.92,116 -65.74,116 -65.56,116 -65.38,116 -65.2))", "dataset_titles": "AU1402 Final UCTD data; AU1402 mooring data; Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ; NBP1402 diatom data; NBP1402 Final CTD data; NBP1402 Final UCTD data; NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data; NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data; NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data; Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402; Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601310", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Benthos; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Totten Glacier; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Domack, Eugene Walter; Leventer, Amy; Post, Alexandra; Gulick, Sean; Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601310"}, {"dataset_uid": "601845", "doi": "10.15784/601845", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Diatom; NBP1402; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy; NBP1402 science party, ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 diatom data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601845"}, {"dataset_uid": "601068", "doi": "10.15784/601068", "keywords": "ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler; Antarctica; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601068"}, {"dataset_uid": "601440", "doi": "10.15784/601440", "keywords": "Antarctica; Diatom; Holocene; Jumbo Piston Corer; NBP1402; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core Data; Species Abundance; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601440"}, {"dataset_uid": "601147", "doi": "10.15784/601147", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature; Underway CTD", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601147"}, {"dataset_uid": "601148", "doi": "10.15784/601148", "keywords": "Antarctica; Au1402; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Aurora Australis; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 mooring data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601148"}, {"dataset_uid": "601312", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Camera; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier; Video Data; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Huber, Bruce; Leventer, Amy; Shevenell, Amelia; Gulick, Sean; Blankenship, Donald D.; Domack, Eugene Walter; Orsi, Alejandro; Post, Alexandra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601312"}, {"dataset_uid": "601067", "doi": "10.15784/601067", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final CTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601067"}, {"dataset_uid": "601069", "doi": "10.15784/601069", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601069"}, {"dataset_uid": "601146", "doi": "10.15784/601146", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601146"}, {"dataset_uid": "601042", "doi": "10.15784/601042", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Continental Margin; Foraminifera; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy; Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601042"}, {"dataset_uid": "601044", "doi": "10.15784/601044", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Geochemistry; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Nitrogen; Oceans; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Smith, Catherine; Shevenell, Amelia; Domack, Eugene Walter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601044"}, {"dataset_uid": "601046", "doi": "10.15784/601046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Pollen; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia; Smith, Catherine; Domack, Eugene Walter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601046"}], "date_created": "Fri, 26 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change. Independent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models.", "east": 121.0, "geometry": "POINT(118.5 -66.1)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Totten Glacier; NBP1402; Sabrina Coast; LABORATORY; Diatom; R/V NBP; Amd/Us; Bottom Photos; R/V AA; Not provided; USAP-DC; AMD; USA/NSF", "locations": "Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier", "north": -65.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Leventer, Amy; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V AA; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Totten Glacier System and the Marine Record of Cryosphere - Ocean Dynamics", "uid": "p0000008", "west": 116.0}, {"awards": "1543380 Shadwick, Elizabeth", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1704", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001364", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1704"}, {"dataset_uid": "002732", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1704", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1704"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Interest in the reduced alkalinity of high latitude waters under conditions of enhanced CO2 uptake from the atmosphere have been the impetus of numerous recent studies of bio-stressors in the polar marine environment. The project seeks to improve our understanding of the variance of coastal Southern Ocean carbonate species (CO2 system), its diurnal and inter-annual variability, by acquiring autonomous, high frequency observations from an Antarctic coastal mooring(s). A moored observing system co-located within the existing Palmer LTER array will measure pH, CO2 partial pressure, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen with 3-hour frequency in this region of the West Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf. Such observations will help estimate the dominant physical and biological controls on the seasonal variations in the CO2 system in coastal Antarctic waters, including the sign, seasonality and the flux of the net annual air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide. The Palmer LTER site is experiencing rapid ecological change in the West Antarctic Peninsula, a region that is warming at rates faster than any other region of coastal Antarctica.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; LMG1704", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shadwick, Elizabeth; Shadwick, Elizabeth", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Resolving CO2 System Seasonality in the West Antarctic Peninsula with Autonomous Observations", "uid": "p0000875", "west": null}, {"awards": "1425989 Sarmiento, Jorge", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -52.6153,-168.67689 -52.6153,-157.35378 -52.6153,-146.03067 -52.6153,-134.70756 -52.6153,-123.38445 -52.6153,-112.06134 -52.6153,-100.73823 -52.6153,-89.41512 -52.6153,-78.09201 -52.6153,-66.7689 -52.6153,-66.7689 -55.18958,-66.7689 -57.76386,-66.7689 -60.33814,-66.7689 -62.91242,-66.7689 -65.4867,-66.7689 -68.06098,-66.7689 -70.63526,-66.7689 -73.20954,-66.7689 -75.78382,-66.7689 -78.3581,-78.09201 -78.3581,-89.41512 -78.3581,-100.73823 -78.3581,-112.06134 -78.3581,-123.38445 -78.3581,-134.70756 -78.3581,-146.03067 -78.3581,-157.35378 -78.3581,-168.67689 -78.3581,180 -78.3581,178.62318 -78.3581,177.24636 -78.3581,175.86954 -78.3581,174.49272 -78.3581,173.1159 -78.3581,171.73908 -78.3581,170.36226 -78.3581,168.98544 -78.3581,167.60862 -78.3581,166.2318 -78.3581,166.2318 -75.78382,166.2318 -73.20954,166.2318 -70.63526,166.2318 -68.06098,166.2318 -65.4867,166.2318 -62.91242,166.2318 -60.33814,166.2318 -57.76386,166.2318 -55.18958,166.2318 -52.6153,167.60862 -52.6153,168.98544 -52.6153,170.36226 -52.6153,171.73908 -52.6153,173.1159 -52.6153,174.49272 -52.6153,175.86954 -52.6153,177.24636 -52.6153,178.62318 -52.6153,-180 -52.6153))", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemical profiling float data from the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observation and Modeling (SOCCOM) program.UCSD Research Data Collections DOI:10.6075/J09021PC; Expedition Data; Model output NOAA GFDL CM2_6 Cant Hant storage", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000208", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemical profiling float data from the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observation and Modeling (SOCCOM) program.UCSD Research Data Collections DOI:10.6075/J09021PC", "url": "http://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb66239018"}, {"dataset_uid": "001369", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1701"}, {"dataset_uid": "601144", "doi": "10.15784/601144", "keywords": "Antarctica; Anthropogenic Heat; Atmosphere; Carbon Storage; Climate Change; Eddy; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Heat Budget; Modeling; Model Output; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Chen, Haidi", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Model output NOAA GFDL CM2_6 Cant Hant storage", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601144"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project seeks to drive a transformative shift in our understanding of the crucial role of the Southern Ocean in taking up anthropogenic carbon and heat, and resupplying nutrients from the abyss to the surface. An observational program will generate vast amounts of new biogeochemical data that will provide a greatly improved view of the dynamics and ecosystem responses of the Southern Ocean. A modeling component will apply these observations to enhancing understanding of the current ocean, reducing uncertainty in projections of future carbon and nutrient cycles and climate. Because it serves as the primary gateway through which the intermediate, deep, and bottom waters of the ocean interact with the surface layers and thus the atmosphere, the Southern Ocean has a profound influence on the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon and heat as well as nutrient resupply from the abyss to the surface. Yet it is the least observed and understood region of the world ocean. The oceanographic community is on the cusp of two major advances that have the potential to transform understanding of the Southern Ocean. The first is the development of new biogeochemical sensors mounted on autonomous profiling floats that allow sampling of ocean biogeochemistry and acidification in 3-dimensional space with a temporal resolution of five to ten days. The SOCCOM float program proposed will increase the average number of biogeochemical profiles measured per month in the Southern Ocean by ~10-30x. The second is that the climate modeling community now has the computational resources and physical understanding to develop fully coupled climate models that can represent crucial mesoscale processes in the Southern Ocean, as well as corresponding models that assimilate observations to produce a state estimate. Together with the observations, this new generation of models provides the tools to vastly improve understanding of Southern Ocean processes and the ability to quantitatively assess uptake of anthropogenic carbon and heat, as well as nutrient resupply, both today and into the future. In order to take advantage of the above technological and modeling breakthroughs, SOCCOM will implement the following research programs: * Theme 1: Observations. Scripps Institution of Oceanography will lead a field program to expand the number of Southern Ocean autonomous profiling floats and equip them with sensors to measure pH, nitrate, and oxygen. The University of Washington and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute will design, build, and oversee deployment of the floats. Scripps will also develop a mesoscale eddying Southern Ocean state estimate that assimilates physical and biogeochemical data into the MIT ocean general circulation model. * Theme 2: Modeling. University of Arizona and Princeton University, together with NOAA\u0027s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), will use SOCCOM observations to develop data/model assessment metrics and next-generation model analysis and evaluation, with the goal of improving process level understanding and reducing the uncertainty in projections of our future climate. Led by Climate Central, an independent, non-profit journalism and research organization that promotes understanding of climate science, SOCCOM will collaborate with educators and media professionals to inform policymakers and the public about the challenges of climate change and its impacts on marine life in the context of the Southern Ocean. In addition, the integrated team of SOCCOM scientists and educators will: * communicate data and results of the SOCCOM efforts quickly to the public through established data networks, publications, broadcast media, and a public portal; * train a new generation of diverse ocean scientists, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows versed in field techniques, data calibration, modeling, and communication of research to non-scientists; * transfer new sensor technology and related software to autonomous instrument providers and manufacturers to ensure that they become widely useable.", "east": -66.7689, "geometry": "POINT(-130.26855 -65.4867)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; R/V NBP; NBP1701; CLIMATE MODELS", "locations": null, "north": -52.6153, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sarmiento, Jorge; Rynearson, Tatiana", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e CLIMATE MODELS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.3581, "title": "Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM)", "uid": "p0000197", "west": 166.2318}, {"awards": "1443474 Jenkins, Bethany", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1608", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002664", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1608", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1608"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project focuses on an important group of photosynthetic algae in the Southern Ocean (SO), diatoms, and the roles associated bacterial communities play in modulating their growth. Diatom growth fuels the SO food web and balances atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering the carbon used for growth to the deep ocean on long time scales as cells sink below the surface. The diatom growth is limited by the available iron in the seawater, most of which is not freely available to the diatoms but instead is tightly bound to other compounds. The nature of these compounds and how phytoplankton acquire iron from them is critical to understanding productivity in this region and globally. The investigators will conduct experiments to characterize the relationship between diatoms, their associated bacteria, and iron in open ocean and inshore waters. Experiments will involve supplying nutrients at varying nutrient ratios to natural phytoplankton assemblages to determine how diatoms and their associated bacteria respond to different conditions. This will provide valuable data that can be used by climate and food web modelers and it will help us better understand the relationship between iron, a key nutrient in the ocean, and the organisms at the base of the food web that use iron for photosynthetic growth and carbon uptake. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project supports early career senior investigators and the training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as outreach activities with middle school Girl Scouts in Rhode Island, inner city middle and high school age girls in Virginia, and middle school girls in Florida. The project combines trace metal biogeochemistry, phytoplankton cultivation, and molecular biology to address questions regarding the production of iron-binding compounds and the role of diatom-bacterial interactions in this iron-limited region. Iron is an essential micronutrient for marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton growth in the SO is limited by a lack of sufficient iron, with important consequences for carbon cycling and climate in this high latitude regime. Some of the major outstanding questions in iron biogeochemistry relate to the organic compounds that bind \u003e99.9% of dissolved iron in surface oceans. The investigators\u0027 prior research in this region suggests that production of strong iron-binding compounds in the SO is linked to diatom blooms in waters with high nitrate to iron ratios. The sources of these compounds are unknown but the investigators hypothesize that they may be from bacteria, which are known to produce such compounds for their own use. The project will test three hypotheses concerning the production of these iron-binding compounds, limitations on the biological availability of iron even if present in high concentrations, and the roles of diatom-associated bacteria in these processes. Results from this project will provide fundamental information about the biogeochemical trigger, and biological sources and function, of natural strong iron-binding compound production in the SO, where iron plays a critical role in phytoplankton productivity, carbon cycling, and climate regulation.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; NBP1608", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenkins, Bethany", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Iron-inding Ligands in Southern Ocean Diatom Communities: The Role of Diatom-Bacteria Associations", "uid": "p0000852", "west": null}, {"awards": "1043471 Kaplan, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-112.5 -79.468,-112.4586 -79.468,-112.4172 -79.468,-112.3758 -79.468,-112.3344 -79.468,-112.293 -79.468,-112.2516 -79.468,-112.2102 -79.468,-112.1688 -79.468,-112.1274 -79.468,-112.086 -79.468,-112.086 -79.4712,-112.086 -79.4744,-112.086 -79.4776,-112.086 -79.4808,-112.086 -79.484,-112.086 -79.4872,-112.086 -79.4904,-112.086 -79.4936,-112.086 -79.4968,-112.086 -79.5,-112.1274 -79.5,-112.1688 -79.5,-112.2102 -79.5,-112.2516 -79.5,-112.293 -79.5,-112.3344 -79.5,-112.3758 -79.5,-112.4172 -79.5,-112.4586 -79.5,-112.5 -79.5,-112.5 -79.4968,-112.5 -79.4936,-112.5 -79.4904,-112.5 -79.4872,-112.5 -79.484,-112.5 -79.4808,-112.5 -79.4776,-112.5 -79.4744,-112.5 -79.4712,-112.5 -79.468))", "dataset_titles": "List of samples of WAIS Divide and Byrd (deep) ice that were analyzed for radiogenic isotopes at LDEO", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601065", "doi": "10.15784/601065", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dust; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Kaplan, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "List of samples of WAIS Divide and Byrd (deep) ice that were analyzed for radiogenic isotopes at LDEO", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601065"}], "date_created": "Sun, 29 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "1043471/Kaplan This award supports a project to obtain the first set of isotopic-based provenance data from the WAIS divide ice core. A lack of data from the WAIS prevents even a basic knowledge of whether different sources of dust blew around the Pacific and Atlantic sectors of the southern latitudes. Precise isotopic measurements on dust in the new WAIS ice divide core are specifically warranted because the data will be synergistically integrated with other high frequency proxies, such as dust concentration and flux, and carbon dioxide, for example. Higher resolution proxies will bridge gaps between our observations on the same well-dated, well-preserved core. The intellectual merit of the project is that the proposed analyses will contribute to the WAIS Divide Project science themes. Whether an active driver or passive recorder, dust is one of the most important but least understood components of regional and global climate. Collaborative and expert discussion with dust-climate modelers will lead to an important progression in understanding of dust and past atmospheric circulation patterns and climate around the southern latitudes, and help to exclude unlikely air trajectories to the ice sheets. The project will provide data to help evaluate models that simulate the dust patterns and cycle and the relative importance of changes in the sources, air trajectories and transport processes, and deposition to the ice sheet under different climate states. The results will be of broad interest to a range of disciplines beyond those directly associated with the WAIS ice core project, including the paleoceanography and dust- paleoclimatology communities. The broader impacts of the project include infrastructure and professional development, as the proposed research will initiate collaborations between LDEO and other WAIS scientists and modelers with expertise in climate and dust. Most of the researchers are still in the early phase of their careers and hence the project will facilitate long-term relationships. This includes a graduate student from UMaine, an undergraduate student from Columbia University who will be involved in lab work, in addition to a LDEO Postdoctoral scientist, and possibly an additional student involved in the international project PIRE-ICETRICS. The proposed research will broaden the scientific outlooks of three PIs, who come to Antarctic ice core science from a variety of other terrestrial and marine geology perspectives. Outreach activities include interaction with the science writers of the Columbia\u0027s Earth Institute for news releases and associated blog websites, public speaking, and involvement in an arts/science initiative between New York City\u0027s arts and science communities to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and public perception.", "east": -112.086, "geometry": "POINT(-112.293 -79.484)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -79.468, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kaplan, Michael; Winckler, Gisela; Goldstein, Steven L.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.5, "title": "A Study of Atmospheric Dust in the WAIS Divide Ice Core Based on Sr-Nd-Pb-He Isotopes", "uid": "p0000081", "west": -112.5}, {"awards": "1246378 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65.32 -64.15,-65.309 -64.15,-65.298 -64.15,-65.287 -64.15,-65.276 -64.15,-65.265 -64.15,-65.254 -64.15,-65.243 -64.15,-65.232 -64.15,-65.221 -64.15,-65.21 -64.15,-65.21 -64.186,-65.21 -64.222,-65.21 -64.258,-65.21 -64.294,-65.21 -64.33,-65.21 -64.366,-65.21 -64.402,-65.21 -64.438,-65.21 -64.474,-65.21 -64.51,-65.221 -64.51,-65.232 -64.51,-65.243 -64.51,-65.254 -64.51,-65.265 -64.51,-65.276 -64.51,-65.287 -64.51,-65.298 -64.51,-65.309 -64.51,-65.32 -64.51,-65.32 -64.474,-65.32 -64.438,-65.32 -64.402,-65.32 -64.366,-65.32 -64.33,-65.32 -64.294,-65.32 -64.258,-65.32 -64.222,-65.32 -64.186,-65.32 -64.15))", "dataset_titles": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data; Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601064", "doi": "10.15784/601064", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Trough; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Foraminifera; Geochemistry; Isotope; LMG1211; LMG1311; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601064"}, {"dataset_uid": "601180", "doi": "10.15784/601180", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Grain Size; Late Quaternary; Magnetic Susceptibility; Mass Spectrometry; NBP0101; Paleoenvironment; Prydz Bay; Radiocarbon; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment; Sediment Core; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601180"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.", "east": -65.21, "geometry": "POINT(-65.265 -64.33)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -64.15, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.51, "title": "Late Quaternary Evolution of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf System, Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000381", "west": -65.32}, {"awards": "1246378 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((70 -68,70.5 -68,71 -68,71.5 -68,72 -68,72.5 -68,73 -68,73.5 -68,74 -68,74.5 -68,75 -68,75 -68.2,75 -68.4,75 -68.6,75 -68.8,75 -69,75 -69.2,75 -69.4,75 -69.6,75 -69.8,75 -70,74.5 -70,74 -70,73.5 -70,73 -70,72.5 -70,72 -70,71.5 -70,71 -70,70.5 -70,70 -70,70 -69.8,70 -69.6,70 -69.4,70 -69.2,70 -69,70 -68.8,70 -68.6,70 -68.4,70 -68.2,70 -68))", "dataset_titles": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data; Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601064", "doi": "10.15784/601064", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Trough; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Foraminifera; Geochemistry; Isotope; LMG1211; LMG1311; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Anvers Trough Foraminifer Stable Isotope data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601064"}, {"dataset_uid": "601180", "doi": "10.15784/601180", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Grain Size; Late Quaternary; Magnetic Susceptibility; Mass Spectrometry; NBP0101; Paleoenvironment; Prydz Bay; Radiocarbon; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment; Sediment Core; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemical and sedimentologic data from NBP01-01 JPC-34", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601180"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.", "east": 75.0, "geometry": "POINT(72.5 -69)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -68.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "Late Quaternary Evolution of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf System, Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000381", "west": 70.0}, {"awards": "1246170 Hall, Brenda; 1246110 Stone, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((154 -79.75,154.7 -79.75,155.4 -79.75,156.1 -79.75,156.8 -79.75,157.5 -79.75,158.2 -79.75,158.9 -79.75,159.6 -79.75,160.3 -79.75,161 -79.75,161 -79.8,161 -79.85,161 -79.9,161 -79.95,161 -80,161 -80.05,161 -80.1,161 -80.15,161 -80.2,161 -80.25,160.3 -80.25,159.6 -80.25,158.9 -80.25,158.2 -80.25,157.5 -80.25,156.8 -80.25,156.1 -80.25,155.4 -80.25,154.7 -80.25,154 -80.25,154 -80.2,154 -80.15,154 -80.1,154 -80.05,154 -80,154 -79.95,154 -79.9,154 -79.85,154 -79.8,154 -79.75))", "dataset_titles": "Darwin and Hatherton Glaciers; Hatherton Glacier Radiocarbon Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601063", "doi": "10.15784/601063", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Hatherton Glacier; Radiocarbon; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hatherton Glacier Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601063"}, {"dataset_uid": "200038", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Darwin and Hatherton Glaciers", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 23 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Hall/1246170 This award supports a project to reconstruct past ice-surface elevations from detailed glacial mapping and dating of moraines (using 14C dates of algae from former ice-marginal ponds and 10Be surface exposure ages) in the region of the Darwin-Hatherton Glaciers in Antarctica in order to try and resolve very different interpretations that currently exist about the glacial history in the region. The results will be integrated with existing climate and geophysical data into a flow-line model to gain insight into glacier response to climate and ice-dynamics perturbations during the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Antarctica. The work will contribute to a better understanding of both LGM ice thickness and whether or not there is any evidence that Antarctica contributed to Meltwater Pulse (MWP)-1A a very controversial topic in Antarctic glacial geology. The intellectual merit of the work relates to the fact that reconstructing past fluctuations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is critical for understanding the sensitivity of ice volume to sea-level and climatic change. Constraints on past behavior help put ongoing changes into context and provide a basis for predicting future sea-level rise. Broader impacts include the support of two graduate and two undergraduate students, as well as a female early-career investigator. Graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project from planning and field mapping to geochronological analyses, interpretation, synthesis and reporting. Two undergraduates will work on lab-based research from the project. The project also will include visits to K-12 classrooms to talk about glaciers and climate change, correspondence with teachers and students from the field, and web-based outreach. This award has field work in Antarctica.", "east": 161.0, "geometry": "POINT(157.5 -80)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -79.75, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Stone, John; Conway, Howard", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "ICE-D; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.25, "title": "Collaborative Research: Assessing the Antarctic Contribution to Sea-level Changes during the Last Deglaciation: Constraints from Darwin Glacier", "uid": "p0000304", "west": 154.0}, {"awards": "1341390 Frank, Tracy", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from drill cores from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000195", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EarthChem", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from drill cores from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica", "url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/IEDA/100718"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: This project will use sediment cores from the Victoria Land Basin (VLB), Antarctica, to study secondary (diagenetic) carbonate minerals, as indicators of the basin?s fluid-flow history, within the well-constrained tectonic, depositional, and climatic context provided by sediment cores. This study will provide insights into subsurface processes in Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica and their relationships with the region?s climatic, cryospheric, and tectonic history. The work will utilize cores previously recovered by US-sponsored stratigraphic drilling projects (CIROS, CRP, and ANDRILL projects). This work is motivated by the unexpected discovery of dense brine in the subsurface of Southern McMurdo Sound during drilling by the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound project. The presence of the brine is intriguing because it contradicts previous models for the origin of subsurface fluids that called upon large contributions from glacial melt water. Project objectives involve documenting the distribution of the brine (and potentially other fluids) via characterization of diagenetic precipitates. The approach will involve integration of petrographic and geochemical data (including conventional carbon, oxygen, and ?clumped? isotopes) to fully characterize diagenetic phases and allow development of a robust paragenetic history. This work will provide novel insights into the Cenozoic evolution of the VLB and, more broadly, the role of glacial processes in generating subsurface fluids. Broader impacts: Results from this project will help understand the origins of brines, groundwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs in analogous modern and ancient deposits elsewhere, which is of broad interest. This project will support the training of one graduate and one undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) providing learning opportunities in sedimentary geology and diagenesis, fields with wide applicability. This proposal emphasizes rapid dissemination of results to the scientific community via conference presentations and contributions to peer-reviewed publications. The results will be integrated into education activities designed to develop skills in petrography and diagenesis, which are highly sought after in the energy sector. The project will generate a well-constrained dataset that allows direct linkage of diagenetic phases to environmental and tectonic change across a large sedimentary basin which will provide the basis for a comprehensive case study in an upper-level course (Sedimentary Petrography and Diagenesis) at UNL. In addition, online exercises will be developed and submitted to an open-access site (SEPM Stratigraphy Web) dedicated to sedimentary geology.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Frank, Tracy; Fielding, Christopher", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "EarthChem", "repositories": "EarthChem", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Insights into the Burial, Tectonic, and Hydrologic History of the Cenozoic Succession in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica through Analysis of Diagenetic Phases", "uid": "p0000256", "west": null}, {"awards": "1246317 Mittal, Rajat; 1246296 Yen, Jeannette", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Hydrodynamics of Spongiobranchaea australis; Tomographic PIV measurements of swimming shelled Antarctic pteropod", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601108", "doi": "10.15784/601108", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciology", "people": "Webster, Donald R; Yen, Jeannette; Adhikari, Deepak", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Tomographic PIV measurements of swimming shelled Antarctic pteropod", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601108"}, {"dataset_uid": "601058", "doi": "10.15784/601058", "keywords": "Biota; Fish; Southern Ocean", "people": "Mittal, Rajat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hydrodynamics of Spongiobranchaea australis", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601058"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ocean acidification (OA) poses a serious threat, particularly to organisms that precipitate calcium carbonate from seawater. One organism with an aragonite shell that is a key to high latitude ecosystems is the pteropod. With OA, the pteropod shell will thin because the aragonite is highly soluble. As the shell thins, it changes the mass distribution and buoyancy of the animal, which will affect locomotion and through it, all locomotion dependent behavior such as foraging, mating, predator avoidance and migratory patterns. A lower shell weight will be counterbalanced by a smaller mucus web potentially decreasing ingestion rates and carbon flux rates. This interdisciplinary research relies on biological studies of swimming behavior of the pteropod mollusk Limacina helicina in their natural environments with fluid mechanics analyses of swimming hydrodynamics via 3D tomographic particle-image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This work will: (a) determine how the L. helicina uses its \u0027wings\u0027 (parapodia) to propel itself; (b) examine whether its locomotory kinematics provide efficient propulsion; (c) identify the factors that influence swimming trajectory and \u0027wobble\u0027; and (d) synthesize all data and insights into guidelines for the potential use of pteropod swimming behavior as a bioassay for OA. The loss of these sentinels of anthropogenic increases in CO2 may result in an ecological shift since thecosome pteropods are responsible for ingesting nearly half the primary production in the Southern Ocean and also serve as a primary food resource to upper trophic levels like fish. Since locomotory data can be gathered immediately, the bioassay being developed in this proposal may serve as an early warning of the impending onset of OA effects on this important member of the plankton. Students and researchers will collaborate in a rich interdisciplinary research environment by working with a biological oceanographer, a fluid mechanics expert and a CFD expert coupled with the teamsmanship needed for work in the Antarctic. By setting up a one-of-a-kind 3D tomography system for visualizing flow around planktonic organisms in Norway and at Palmer Station, we increase international exchange of state-of-the-art techniques. The educational impact of the current research will be multiplied by including in the research team, undergraduate students, high-school students and underrepresented minorities in addition to graduate students.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yen, Jeannette; Mittal, Rajat; Webster, Donald R", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Pteropod Swimming Behavior as a Bio Assay for Ocean Acidification", "uid": "p0000139", "west": null}, {"awards": "1246190 Yu, Zicheng", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69 -64,-68.1 -64,-67.2 -64,-66.3 -64,-65.4 -64,-64.5 -64,-63.6 -64,-62.7 -64,-61.8 -64,-60.9 -64,-60 -64,-60 -64.4,-60 -64.8,-60 -65.2,-60 -65.6,-60 -66,-60 -66.4,-60 -66.8,-60 -67.2,-60 -67.6,-60 -68,-60.9 -68,-61.8 -68,-62.7 -68,-63.6 -68,-64.5 -68,-65.4 -68,-66.3 -68,-67.2 -68,-68.1 -68,-69 -68,-69 -67.6,-69 -67.2,-69 -66.8,-69 -66.4,-69 -66,-69 -65.6,-69 -65.2,-69 -64.8,-69 -64.4,-69 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Late Holocene paleoecological and paleoclimatic data from moss peatbanks in the western Antarctic Peninsula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601037", "doi": "10.15784/601037", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Moss; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description", "people": "Yu, Zicheng", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Late Holocene paleoecological and paleoclimatic data from moss peatbanks in the western Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601037"}], "date_created": "Tue, 15 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: This research will investigate how Antarctic peatbanks have responded to documented past warm climates on the Western Antarctic Peninsula over the last 1000 years. The work will extend understanding of climate controls on peat carbon accumulation to Antarctic peatbanks thus enabling a bi-polar perspective of ?first responder? ecosystem processes under warmer climate conditions. Understanding climate and ecosystem histories will help reveal processes and mechanisms that control the functioning of these and other polar ecosystems. Specifically, the investigators will evaluate outcomes of ?natural climate-warming experiments? that have occurred in the AP region at 65 degrees south over the last 1000 years. They will focus on two warm climate intervals in the Western Antarctic Peninsula: (1) the recent and ongoing warming of up to 6\u00b0C in the last century, and (2) the Medieval Warm Period that occurred ~800 years ago. By collecting and analyzing peat cores and other biological and environmental data, the investigators will derive an independent temperature reconstruction from oxygen isotopes of moss cellulose over the last 1000 years to assess peatbank carbon response to documented warm climate conditions. The overall goal of the proposed project is to document formation ages and temporal changes in carbon-accumulating ecosystems over the last millennium in response to climate change as reconstructed from independent proxies. Also, their data will allow the investigators to understand the nature of reconstructed climate change in relation to atmosphere circulation and ocean conditions. Broader impacts: This research is directly relevant to understanding polar processes affecting soil carbon dynamics and will support an early career researcher. This project will provide training for undergraduate students, graduate student and a postdoctoral fellow and will develop teaching modules and outreach activities on polar climate and ecosystem changes.", "east": -60.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64.5 -66)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yu, Zicheng", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Response of Carbon Accumulation in Moss Peatbanks to Past Warm Climates in the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000341", "west": -69.0}, {"awards": "1246387 Guo, Weifu", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-79.9183333 35.441666667,-55.16316667 35.441666667,-30.40800004 35.441666667,-5.65283341 35.441666667,19.10233322 35.441666667,43.85749985 35.441666667,68.61266648 35.441666667,93.36783311 35.441666667,118.12299974 35.441666667,142.87816637 35.441666667,167.633333 35.441666667,167.633333 25.9255333333,167.633333 16.4093999996,167.633333 6.8932666659,167.633333 -2.6228666678,167.633333 -12.1390000015,167.633333 -21.6551333352,167.633333 -31.1712666689,167.633333 -40.6874000026,167.633333 -50.2035333363,167.633333 -59.71966667,142.87816637 -59.71966667,118.12299974 -59.71966667,93.36783311 -59.71966667,68.61266648 -59.71966667,43.85749985 -59.71966667,19.10233322 -59.71966667,-5.65283341 -59.71966667,-30.40800004 -59.71966667,-55.16316667 -59.71966667,-79.9183333 -59.71966667,-79.9183333 -50.2035333363,-79.9183333 -40.6874000026,-79.9183333 -31.1712666689,-79.9183333 -21.6551333352,-79.9183333 -12.1390000015,-79.9183333 -2.6228666678,-79.9183333 6.8932666659,-79.9183333 16.4093999996,-79.9183333 25.9255333333,-79.9183333 35.441666667))", "dataset_titles": "Clumped isotope composition of modern cold water corals", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000205", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EarthChem", "science_program": null, "title": "Clumped isotope composition of modern cold water corals", "url": "http://www.earthchem.org/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This proposed research aims to produce high resolution, precise and accurate records of deep water temperatures in the Drake Passage over the past ~40,000 years, by applying the newly developed carbonate clumped isotope thermometer to a unique collection of modern and fossil deep-sea corals, and thus advance the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in modulating global climate. In addition, this study will provide further evaluation on the potential of this new thermometer to derive accurate estimates of past ocean temperatures from deep-sea coral skeletons. Funding will support an early-career junior scientist and a graduate student. Despite its crucial role in modulating global climate, rates and amplitudes of environmental changes in the Southern Ocean are often difficult to constrain. In particular, the knowledge about the deep water temperatures in the Southern Ocean during the last glacial cycle is extremely limited. This results both from the lack of well-dated climate archives for the deep Southern Ocean and from the fact that most existing temperature proxies (e.g. del18O and Mg/Ca of foraminifera and corals) suffer from the biological \u0027vital effects\u0027. The latter is especially problematic; it causes substantial challenges in interpreting these geochemical proxies and can lead to biases equivalent to tens of degrees in temperature estimates. Recent development of carbonate clumped isotope thermometer, holds new promises for reconstructing deep water temperatures in the Southern Ocean, since calibration studies of this thermometer in deep-sea corals suggest it is largely free of vital effects. This proposed research seeks to refine the calibration of carbonate clumped isotope thermometer in deep-sea corals at low temperatures, improve the experimental methods to obtain high precision in temperature estimates, and then apply this thermometer to a unique collection of modern and fossil deep-sea corals collected from the Drake Passage during two recent Office of Polar Programs (OPP)-funded cruises, that have already been dated by radiocarbon and U-series methods. By combining the reconstructed temperatures with the radiocarbon and U-Th ages for these deep-sea corals, this study will explore the relationships between these temperature changes and global climate changes.", "east": 167.633333, "geometry": "POINT(43.85749985 -12.1390000015)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": 35.441666667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Guo, Weifu", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "EarthChem", "repositories": "EarthChem", "science_programs": null, "south": -59.71966667, "title": "Reconstruction of Deep-Water Temperatures in the Drake Passage Over the Last Glacial Cycle: Application of Carbonate Clumped Isotope Thermometer to Absolutely-Dated Deep-Sea Corals", "uid": "p0000389", "west": -79.9183333}, {"awards": "1141993 Rich, Jeremy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 -70,-59.3 -70,-58.6 -70,-57.9 -70,-57.2 -70,-56.5 -70,-55.8 -70,-55.1 -70,-54.4 -70,-53.7 -70,-53 -70,-53 -70.9,-53 -71.8,-53 -72.7,-53 -73.6,-53 -74.5,-53 -75.4,-53 -76.3,-53 -77.2,-53 -78.1,-53 -79,-53.7 -79,-54.4 -79,-55.1 -79,-55.8 -79,-56.5 -79,-57.2 -79,-57.9 -79,-58.6 -79,-59.3 -79,-60 -79,-60 -78.1,-60 -77.2,-60 -76.3,-60 -75.4,-60 -74.5,-60 -73.6,-60 -72.7,-60 -71.8,-60 -70.9,-60 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Seasonal Succession of Bacterial Communities in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601032", "doi": "10.15784/601032", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Bacteria; Biota; Genetic; Geochemistry; Palmer Station; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sea Water; Southern Ocean", "people": "Rich, Jeremy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Seasonal Succession of Bacterial Communities in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601032"}], "date_created": "Thu, 15 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has experienced unprecedented warming and shifts in sea ice cover over the past fifty years. How these changes impact marine microbial communities, and subsequently how these shifts in the biota may affect the carbon cycle in surface waters is unknown. This work will examine how these ecosystem-level changes affect microbial community structure and function. This research will use modern metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to test the hypothesis that the introduction of organic matter from spring phytoplankton blooms drives turnover in microbial communities. This research will characterize patterns in bacterial and archaeal succession during the transition from the austral winter at two long-term monitoring sites: Palmer Station in the north and Rothera Station in the south. This project will also include microcosm incubations to directly assess the effects of additions of organic carbon and melted sea ice on microbial community structure and function. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of the roles of both rare and abundant microorganisms in carbon cycling within the WAP region, and how these communities may shift in structure and function in response to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. The research will provide training opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students and will enhance international collaborations with the British Antarctic Survey.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-56.5 -74.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rich, Jeremy", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Microbial Community Assembly in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000409", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "0944348 Taylor, Kendrick; 0944266 Twickler, Mark", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "dataset_titles": "Summary of Results from the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project; WAIS Divide WDC06A Core Quality Versus Depth", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601030", "doi": "10.15784/601030", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Twickler, Mark; Souney, Joseph Jr.; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide WDC06A Core Quality Versus Depth", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601030"}, {"dataset_uid": "601021", "doi": "10.15784/601021", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Summary of Results from the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601021"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Taylor/0944348\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports renewal of funding of the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office (SCO). The Science Coordination Office (SCO) was established to represent the research community and facilitates the project by working with support organizations responsible for logistics, drilling, and core curation. During the last five years, 26 projects have been individually funded to work on this effort and 1,511 m of the total 3,470 m of ice at the site has been collected. This proposal seeks funding to continue the SCO and related field operations needed to complete the WAIS Divide ice core project. Tasks for the SCO during the second five years include planning and oversight of logistics, drilling, and core curation; coordinating research activities in the field; assisting in curation of the core in the field; allocating samples to individual projects; coordinating the sampling effort; collecting, archiving, and distributing data and other information about the project; hosting an annual science meeting; and facilitating collaborative efforts among the research groups. The intellectual merit of the WAIS Divide project is to better predict how human-caused increases in greenhouse gases will alter climate requires an improved understanding of how previous natural changes in greenhouse gases influenced climate in the past. Information on previous climate changes is used to validate the physics and results of climate models that are used to predict future climate. Antarctic ice cores are the only source of samples of the paleo-atmosphere that can be used to determine previous concentrations of carbon dioxide. Ice cores also contain records of other components of the climate system such as the paleo air and ocean temperature, atmospheric loading of aerosols, and indicators of atmospheric transport. The WAIS Divide ice core project has been designed to obtain the best possible record of greenhouse gases during the last glacial cycle (last ~100,000 years). The site was selected because it has the best balance of high annual snowfall (23 cm of ice equivalent/year), low dust Antarctic ice that does not compromise the carbon dioxide record, and favorable glaciology. The main science objectives of the project are to investigate climate forcing by greenhouse gases, initiation of climate changes, stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and cryobiology in the ice core. The project has numerous broader impacts. An established provider of educational material (Teachers? Domain) will develop and distribute web-based resources related to the project and climate change for use in K?12 classrooms. These resources will consist of video and interactive graphics that explain how and why ice cores are collected, and what they tell us about future climate change. Members of the national media will be included in the field team and the SCO will assist in presenting information to the general public. Video of the project will be collected and made available for general use. Finally, an opportunity will be created for cryosphere students and early career scientists to participate in field activities and core analysis. An ice core archive will be available for future projects and scientific discoveries from the project can be used by policy makers to make informed decisions.", "east": -112.1115, "geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -79.481, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mark, Twickler; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.481, "title": "Collaborative Research: Climate, Ice Dynamics and Biology using a Deep Ice Core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Divide", "uid": "p0000080", "west": -112.1115}, {"awards": "1142166 McConnell, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "dataset_titles": "WAIS Divide Ice-Core Aerosol Records from 1300 to 3404 m", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601008", "doi": "10.15784/601008", "keywords": "Aerosol; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "McConnell, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice-Core Aerosol Records from 1300 to 3404 m", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601008"}], "date_created": "Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "McConnell/1142166 This award supports a project to use unprecedented aerosol and continuous gas (methane, carbon monoxide) measurements of the deepest section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core to investigate rapid climate changes in Antarctica during the ~60,000 year long Marine Isotope Stage 3 period of the late Pleistocene. These analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation of the WAIS Divide ice core to yield the highest time resolution glaciochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core for this time period. The research will expand already funded discrete gas measurements and extend currently funded continuous aerosol measurements on the WAIS Divide ice core from ~25,000 to ~60,000 years before present, spanning Heinrich events 3 to 6 and Antarctic Isotope Maximum (AIM, corresponding to the Northern Hemisphere Dansgaard-Oeschger) events 3 to 14. With other high resolution Greenland cores and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The intellectual merit of the work is that it will be used to address the science goals of the WAIS Divide project including the identification of dust and biomass burning tracers such as black carbon and carbon monoxide which reflect mid- and low-latitude climate and atmospheric circulation patterns, and fallout from these sources affects marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. Similarly, sea salt and ocean productivity tracers reflect changes in sea ice extent, marine primary productivity, wind speeds above the ocean, and atmospheric circulation. Volcanic tracers address the relationship between northern, tropical, and southern climates as well as stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet and sea level change. When combined with other gas records from WAIS Divide, the records developed here will transform understanding of mid- and low-latitude drivers of Antarctic, Southern Hemisphere, and global climate rapid changes and the timing of such changes. The broader impacts of the work are that it will enhance infrastructure through expansion of continuous ice core analytical techniques, train students and support collaboration between two U.S. institutions (DRI and OSU). All data will be made available to the scientific community and the public and will include participation the WAIS Divide Outreach Program. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement is planned. Student recruitment will be made from under-represented groups building on a long track record. Broad outreach will be achieved through collaborations with the global and radiative modeling communities, NESTA-related and other educational outreach efforts, and public lectures. This proposed project does not require field work in the Antarctic.", "east": -112.1115, "geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -79.481, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McConnell, Joseph", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.481, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Upper Pleistocene Rapid Climate Change using Continuous, Ultra-High-Resolution Aerosol and Gas Measurements in the WAIS Divide Ice Core", "uid": "p0000287", "west": -112.1115}, {"awards": "1141978 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76,160.1 -76,160.2 -76,160.3 -76,160.4 -76,160.5 -76,160.6 -76,160.7 -76,160.8 -76,160.9 -76,161 -76,161 -76.1,161 -76.2,161 -76.3,161 -76.4,161 -76.5,161 -76.6,161 -76.7,161 -76.8,161 -76.9,161 -77,160.9 -77,160.8 -77,160.7 -77,160.6 -77,160.5 -77,160.4 -77,160.3 -77,160.2 -77,160.1 -77,160 -77,160 -76.9,160 -76.8,160 -76.7,160 -76.6,160 -76.5,160 -76.4,160 -76.3,160 -76.2,160 -76.1,160 -76))", "dataset_titles": "FT-ICR MS Metadata; Respiration Metadata; UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601089", "doi": "10.15784/601089", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Exometabolites; Mass Spectrometry; Microbes; Microbiology", "people": "Bothner, Brian; Foreman, Christine; Tigges, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601089"}, {"dataset_uid": "601077", "doi": "10.15784/601077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "Foreman, Christine; D\u0027Andrilli, Juliana", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "FT-ICR MS Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601077"}, {"dataset_uid": "601076", "doi": "10.15784/601076", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "Smith, Heidi; Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Respiration Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601076"}], "date_created": "Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.", "east": 161.0, "geometry": "POINT(160.5 -76.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Bothner, Brian", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Multidimensional \"omics\" characterization of microbial metabolism and dissolved organic matter in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000408", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1340905 Doran, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77,161.3 -77,161.6 -77,161.9 -77,162.2 -77,162.5 -77,162.8 -77,163.1 -77,163.4 -77,163.7 -77,164 -77,164 -77.05,164 -77.1,164 -77.15,164 -77.2,164 -77.25,164 -77.3,164 -77.35,164 -77.4,164 -77.45,164 -77.5,163.7 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.1 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,162.5 -77.5,162.2 -77.5,161.9 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.3 -77.5,161 -77.5,161 -77.45,161 -77.4,161 -77.35,161 -77.3,161 -77.25,161 -77.2,161 -77.15,161 -77.1,161 -77.05,161 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Lake Bonney Autonomous Lake Profiler and Samplers (ALPS): Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Concentrations. doi:10.6073/pasta/0043c1728b4e51879970d59f2d0ce575", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002521", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "Lake Bonney Autonomous Lake Profiler and Samplers (ALPS): Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Concentrations. doi:10.6073/pasta/0043c1728b4e51879970d59f2d0ce575", "url": "http://www.mcmlter.org/node/3957"}], "date_created": "Fri, 13 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "EAGER: Collaborative Research: Habitability of Antarctic lakes and detectability of microbial life in icy environments by autonomous year-round instrumentation, is supported by the Antarctic Integrated System Science (AISS) and the Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems (AOE) programs within the Antarctic Sciences section in the Division of Polar Programs within the Geosciences Directorate of the National Sciences Foundation (NSF). The funds will allow the measurement of year-round properties of the microbes and the surrounding water in Lake Bonney, a lake with four meters of permanent ice cover over forty meters of liquid water in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. NSF funds will be used to support the deployment, and the science enabled by the deployment, and NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) funds will be used to purchase the equipment. Intellectual Merit: This research will be the first to make year-round measurements of the microbial community, and several associated environmental variables, in the continuously liquid portions of Lake Bonney, Antarctica. Three different types of equipment will be deployed in each of the lobes of Lake Bonney. The first instrument is an ITP (an ice-tethered profiler) that will measure physical parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll throughout the full depth of the liquid water portion of the lake, making measurements at least once each week. The second and third instruments will be used to collect discrete water samples at least every two weeks to determine A) the biological community (assessing metabolic and phylogenetic diversity) and B) the geochemistry (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, and dissolved inorganic nitrogen species). Such samplers have never been used to measure these properties year-round in the Antarctic. Cold temperatures, bottom lake water salinities that are four times greater than the ocean, the thick permanent ice cover, and the lack of sunlight to recharge batteries all present significant challenges for the project, thus classifying the work as an early, high-risk, high-reward activity (the acronym EAGER stands for Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research). Broader Impacts: There is much interest in understanding the ecosystems of the Polar regions in an era of climate change. Logistical limitations dictate much of this work only take place in the summer, until new autonomous technologies can open the door for year-round measurements. This award will be the first to attempt year-round microbial sampling in Antarctica. The McMurdo Dry Valleys region is also the site of a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, and the research conducted on this project with benefit from, and contribute to, the larger LTER project. The instruments used in the project will be purchased by NASA, so two separate agencies have agreed to explore the feasibility of an early stage project. There will be at least three graduate student trained during the project, and the team will also participate in outreach activities at several venues including the Crow Reservation in Montana.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Doran, Peter; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Priscu, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "LTER", "repositories": "LTER", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -77.5, "title": "EAGER: Collaborative Research: Habitability of Antarctic Lakes and Detectability of Microbial Life in Icy Environments by Aautonomous Year-round Instrumentation", "uid": "p0000326", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1142102 Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; 1142096 Schwartz, Egbert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77,161.3 -77,161.6 -77,161.9 -77,162.2 -77,162.5 -77,162.8 -77,163.1 -77,163.4 -77,163.7 -77,164 -77,164 -77.05,164 -77.1,164 -77.15,164 -77.2,164 -77.25,164 -77.3,164 -77.35,164 -77.4,164 -77.45,164 -77.5,163.7 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.1 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,162.5 -77.5,162.2 -77.5,161.9 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.3 -77.5,161 -77.5,161 -77.45,161 -77.4,161 -77.35,161 -77.3,161 -77.25,161 -77.2,161 -77.15,161 -77.1,161 -77.05,161 -77))", "dataset_titles": "GenBank. Accession # PRJNA232062,PRJNA228947,PRJNA228945; McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Genetic/Genomic Data Resource; NCBI GenBank RNA sequences", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000178", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "GenBank. Accession # PRJNA232062,PRJNA228947,PRJNA228945", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000180", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Genetic/Genomic Data Resource", "url": "http://www.mcmlter.org/genetic"}, {"dataset_uid": "000177", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA356879"}], "date_created": "Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are among the coldest, driest habitats on the planet. Previous research has documented the presence of surprisingly diverse microbial communities in the soils of the Dry Valleys despite these extreme conditions. However, the degree to which these organisms are active is unknown; it is possible that much of this diversity reflects microbes that have blown into this environment that are subsequently preserved in these cold, dry conditions. This research will use modern molecular techniques to answer a fundamental question regarding these communities: which organisms are active and how do they live in such extreme conditions? The research will include manipulations to explore how changes in water, salt and carbon affect the microbial community, to address the role that these organisms play in nutrient cycling in this environment. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of how life adapts to such extreme conditions as well as the role of dormancy in the life history of microorganisms. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will be made available through a high-profile web-based portal. The research will support two graduate students, two undergraduate research assistants and a postdoctoral fellow. The results will be incorporated into a webinar targeted to secondary and post-secondary educators and a complimentary hands-on class activity kit will be developed and made available to various teacher and outreach organizations.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Schwartz, Egbert; Van Horn, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "LTER; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -77.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: An Integrated Ecological Investigation of McMurdo Dry Valley\u0027s Active Soil Microbial Communities", "uid": "p0000334", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "0838936 Brook, Edward J.; 0839031 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.75 -77.75)", "dataset_titles": "Measurements of 14C-methane for the Younger Dryas - Preboreal Transition from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica; Measurements of in situ cosmogenic 14C from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica; Taylor Glacier chemistry data and Taylor Dome TD2015 time scale; Taylor Glacier CO2 record; Taylor Glacier Gas Isotope Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601029", "doi": "10.15784/601029", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Critical Zone; Geochemistry; Methane; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Solid Earth; Taylor Glacier; Transantarctic Mountains; Younger Dryas", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Petrenko, Vasilii", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Measurements of 14C-methane for the Younger Dryas - Preboreal Transition from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601029"}, {"dataset_uid": "601103", "doi": "10.15784/601103", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Horizontal Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Taylor Glacier chemistry data and Taylor Dome TD2015 time scale", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601103"}, {"dataset_uid": "600165", "doi": "10.15784/600165", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cosmogenic; Geochemistry; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Radiocarbon; Taylor Glacier; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Measurements of in situ cosmogenic 14C from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600165"}, {"dataset_uid": "601033", "doi": "10.15784/601033", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Solid Earth; Taylor Glacier; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Taylor Glacier Gas Isotope Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601033"}, {"dataset_uid": "000158", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Taylor Glacier CO2 record", "url": "ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/antarctica/taylor/taylor2016d13co2.txt"}], "date_created": "Tue, 29 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Severinghaus/0839031 \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to develop a precise gas-based chronology for an archive of large-volume samples of the ancient atmosphere, which would enable ultra-trace gas measurements that are currently precluded by sample size limitations of ice cores. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that it will provide a critical test of the \"clathrate hypothesis\" that methane clathrates contributed to the two abrupt atmospheric methane concentration increases during the last deglaciation 15 and 11 kyr ago. This approach employs large volumes of ice (\u003e1 ton) to measure carbon-14 on past atmospheric methane across the abrupt events. Carbon-14 is an ideal discriminator of fossil sources of methane to the atmosphere, because most methane sources (e.g., wetlands, termites, biomass burning) are rich in carbon-14, whereas clathrates and other fossil sources are devoid of carbon-14. The proposed work is a logical extension to Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, of an approach pioneered at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet over the past 7 years. The Greenland work found higher-than-expected carbon-14 values, likely due in part to contaminants stemming from the high impurity content of Greenland ice and the interaction of the ice with sediments from the glacier bed. The data also pointed to the possibility of a previously unknown process, in-situ cosmogenic production of carbon-14 methane (radiomethane) in the ice matrix. Antarctic ice in Taylor Glacier is orders of magnitude cleaner than the ice at the Greenland site, and is much colder and less stratigraphically disturbed, offering the potential for a clear resolution of this puzzle and a definitive test of the cosmogenic radiomethane hypothesis. Even if cosmogenic radiomethane in ice is found, it still may be possible to reconstruct atmospheric radiomethane with a correction enabled by a detailed understanding of the process, which will be sought by co-measuring carbon-14 in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The broader impacts of the proposed work are that the clathrate test may shed light on the stability of the clathrate reservoir and its potential for climate feedbacks under human-induced warming. Development of Taylor Glacier as a \"horizontal ice core\" would provide a community resource for other researchers. Education of one postdoc, one graduate student, and one undergraduate, would add to human resources. This award has field work in Antarctica.", "east": 161.75, "geometry": "POINT(161.75 -77.75)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Not provided; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -77.75, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Brook, Edward J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCEI; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.75, "title": "Collaborative Research: A \"Horizontal Ice Core\" for Large-Volume Samples of the Past Atmosphere, Taylor Glacier, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000099", "west": 161.75}, {"awards": "0944659 Kiene, Ronald; 0944686 Kieber, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -68,-177 -68,-174 -68,-171 -68,-168 -68,-165 -68,-162 -68,-159 -68,-156 -68,-153 -68,-150 -68,-150 -69,-150 -70,-150 -71,-150 -72,-150 -73,-150 -74,-150 -75,-150 -76,-150 -77,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -77,160 -76,160 -75,160 -74,160 -73,160 -72,160 -71,160 -70,160 -69,160 -68,162 -68,164 -68,166 -68,168 -68,170 -68,172 -68,174 -68,176 -68,178 -68,-180 -68))", "dataset_titles": "Ecophysiology of DMSP and related compounds and their contributions to carbon and sulfur dynamics in Phaeocystis antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600150", "doi": "10.15784/600150", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Oceans; Ross Sea", "people": "Kiene, Ronald", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ecophysiology of DMSP and related compounds and their contributions to carbon and sulfur dynamics in Phaeocystis antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600150"}, {"dataset_uid": "600117", "doi": "10.15784/600117", "keywords": "Biota; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Kieber, David John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ecophysiology of DMSP and related compounds and their contributions to carbon and sulfur dynamics in Phaeocystis antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600117"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Spectacular blooms of Phaeocystis antarctica in the Ross Sea, Antarctica are the source of some of the world\u0027s highest concentrations of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). The flux of DMS from the oceans to the atmosphere in this region and its subsequent gas phase oxidation generates aerosols that have a strong influence on cloud properties and possibly climate. In the oceans, DMS and DMSP are quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur, and energy flows in marine food webs, especially in the Ross Sea. Despite its central role in carbon and sulfur biogeochemistry in the Ross Sea, surprisingly little is known about the physiological functions of DMSP in P. Antarctica. The research will isolate and characterize DMSP lyases from P. antarctica, with the goal of obtaining amino acid and gene sequence information on these important enzymes. The physiological studies will focus on the effects of varying intensities of photosynthetically active radiation, with and without ultraviolet radiation as these are factors that we have found to be important controls on DMSP and DMS dynamics. The research also will examine the effects of prolonged darkness on the dynamics of DMSP and related compounds in P. antarctica, as survival of this species during the dark Antarctic winter and at sub-euphotic depths appears to be an important part of the Phaeocystis? ecology. A unique aspect of this work is the focus on measurements of intracellular MSA, which if detected, would provide strong evidence for in vivo radical scavenging functions for methyl sulfur compounds. The study will advance understanding of what controls DMSP cycling and ultimately DMS emissions from the Ross Sea and also provide information on what makes P. antarctica so successful in this extreme environment. The research will directly benefit and build on several interrelated ocean-atmosphere programs including the International Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) program. The PIs will participate in several activities involving K-12 education, High School teacher training, public education and podcasting through the auspices of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Discovery Hall program and SUNY ESF. Two graduate students will be employed full time, and six undergraduates (2 each summer) will be trained as part of this project.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-175 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; Not provided; Ecophysiology; AMD; USAP-DC; FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -68.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kiene, Ronald; Kieber, David John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Ecophysiology of DMSP and related compounds and their contributions to carbon and sulfur dynamics in Phaeocystis antarctica", "uid": "p0000085", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1141936 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(112.085 -79.467)", "dataset_titles": "Molecular Level Characterization of Dissolved Organic Carbon and Microbial Diversity in the WAIS Divide Replicate Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600133", "doi": "10.15784/600133", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Genetic Sequences; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Molecular Level Characterization of Dissolved Organic Carbon and Microbial Diversity in the WAIS Divide Replicate Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600133"}], "date_created": "Thu, 05 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a detailed, molecular level characterization of dissolved organic carbon and microbes in Antarctic ice cores. Using the most modern biological (genomic), geochemical techniques, and advanced chemical instrumentation researchers will 1) optimize protocols for collecting, extracting and amplifying DNA from deep ice cores suitable for use in next generation pyrosequencing; 2) determine the microbial diversity within the ice core; and 3) obtain and analyze detailed molecular characterizations of the carbon in the ice by ultrahigh resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). With this pilot study investigators will be able to quantify the amount of material (microbial biomass and carbon) required to perform these characterizations, which is needed to inform future ice coring projects. The ultimate goal will be to develop protocols that maximize the yield, while minimizing the amount of ice required. The broader impacts include education and outreach at both the local and national levels. As a faculty mentor with the American Indian Research Opportunities and BRIDGES programs at Montana State University, Foreman will serve as a mentor to a Native American student in the lab during the summer months. Susan Kelly is an Education and Outreach Coordinator with a MS degree in Geology and over 10 years of experience in science outreach. She will coordinate efforts for comprehensive educational collaboration with the Hardin School District on the Crow Indian Reservation in South-central Montana.", "east": 112.085, "geometry": "POINT(112.085 -79.467)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e ADS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Dissolved Organic Carbon; Microbes; Ice Core; Not provided; Pyrosequencing; Microbial Diversity; Molecular; WAIS Divide; LABORATORY; FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctic; FIELD INVESTIGATION; DNA", "locations": "Antarctic; WAIS Divide", "north": -79.467, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.467, "title": "Molecular Level Characterization of Dissolved Organic Carbon and Microbial Diversity in the WAIS Divide Replicate Core", "uid": "p0000342", "west": 112.085}, {"awards": "1043780 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Ultra-trace Measurements in the WAIS Divide 06A Ice Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609659", "doi": "10.7265/N5CV4FPK", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Ultra-trace Measurements in the WAIS Divide 06A Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609659"}, {"dataset_uid": "601361", "doi": "10.15784/601361", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbonyl Sulfide; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601361"}], "date_created": "Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aydin/1043780 This award supports the analysis of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) in a deep ice core from West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS-D), Antarctica. COS is the most abundant sulfur gas in the troposphere and a precursor of stratospheric sulfate. It has a large terrestrial COS sink that is tightly coupled to the photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary goal of this project is to develop high a resolution Holocene record of COS from the WAIS-D 06A ice core. The main objectives are 1) to assess the natural variability of COS and the extent to which its atmospheric variability was influenced by climate variability, and 2) to examine the relationship between changes in atmospheric COS and CO2. This project also includes low-resolution sampling and analysis of COS from 10,000-30,000 yrs BP, covering the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene. The goal of this work is to assess the stability of COS in ice core air over long time scales and to establish the COS levels during the last glacial maximum and the magnitude of the change between glacial and interglacial conditions. The results of this work will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to environmental assessments such as the WMO Stratospheric Ozone Assessment and IPCC Climate Assessment. This project will support a PhD student and undergraduate researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and will create summer research opportunities for undergraduates from non-research active Universities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ethane; LABORATORY; N-Butane; Carbonyl Sulfide; Propane; Methyl Bromide; Methyl Chloride; Carbon Disulfide", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements in the Deep West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Ice Core", "uid": "p0000055", "west": null}, {"awards": "1343649 Levy, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.852 -77.6111,162.9893 -77.6111,163.1266 -77.6111,163.2639 -77.6111,163.4012 -77.6111,163.5385 -77.6111,163.6758 -77.6111,163.8131 -77.6111,163.9504 -77.6111,164.0877 -77.6111,164.225 -77.6111,164.225 -77.65331,164.225 -77.69552,164.225 -77.73773,164.225 -77.77994,164.225 -77.82215,164.225 -77.86436,164.225 -77.90657,164.225 -77.94878,164.225 -77.99099,164.225 -78.0332,164.0877 -78.0332,163.9504 -78.0332,163.8131 -78.0332,163.6758 -78.0332,163.5385 -78.0332,163.4012 -78.0332,163.2639 -78.0332,163.1266 -78.0332,162.9893 -78.0332,162.852 -78.0332,162.852 -77.99099,162.852 -77.94878,162.852 -77.90657,162.852 -77.86436,162.852 -77.82215,162.852 -77.77994,162.852 -77.73773,162.852 -77.69552,162.852 -77.65331,162.852 -77.6111))", "dataset_titles": "Cryptic Hydrology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Water Track Contributions to Water and Geochemical Budgets in Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600139", "doi": "10.15784/600139", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:soil; Chemistry:Soil; Critical Zone; Dry Valleys; Permafrost; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Well Measurements", "people": "Levy, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Cryptic Hydrology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Water Track Contributions to Water and Geochemical Budgets in Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600139"}], "date_created": "Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PIs propose to quantify the hillslope water, solute, and carbon budgets for Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, using water tracks to investigate near-surface geological processes and challenge the paradigm that shallow groundwater is minimal or non-exixtant. Water tracks are linear zones of high soil moisture that route shallow groundwater downslope in permafrost dominated soils. Four hypotheses will be tested: 1) water tracks are important pathways for water and solute transport; 2) water tracks transport more dissolved silica than streams in Taylor Valley indicating they are the primary site of chemical weathering for cold desert soils and bedrock; 3) water tracks that drain highland terrains are dominated by humidity-separated brines while water tracks that drain lowland terrains are dominated by marine aerosols; 4) water tracks are the sites of the highest terrestrial soil carbon concentrations and the strongest CO2 fluxes in Taylor Valley and their carbon content increases with soil age, while carbon flux decreases with age. To test these hypotheses the PIs will carry out a suite of field measurements supported by modeling and remote sensing. They will install shallow permafrost wells in water tracks that span the range of geological, climatological, and topographic conditions in Taylor Valley. Multifrequency electromagnetic induction sounding of the upper ~1 m of the permafrost will create the first comprehensive map of soil moisture in Taylor Valley, and will permit direct quantification of water track discharge across the valley. The carbon contents of water track soils will be measured and linked to global carbon dynamics. Broader impacts: Non-science majors at Oregon State University will be integrated into the proposed research through a new Global Environmental Change course focusing on the scientific method in Antarctica. Three undergraduate students, members of underrepresented minorities, will be entrained in the research, will contribute to all aspects of field and laboratory science, and will present results at national meetings.", "east": 164.225, "geometry": "POINT(163.5385 -77.82215)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.6111, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Levy, Joseph", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0332, "title": "Cryptic Hydrology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Water Track Contributions to Water and Geochemical Budgets in Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000407", "west": 162.852}, {"awards": "0739575 Emslie, Steven", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Egg membrane and chick feather THg concentration and stable isotope composition; Stable Isotope Analyses of Pygoscelid Penguin remains from Active and Abandoned Colonies in Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600145", "doi": "10.15784/600145", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Geochronology; Global; Penguin; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Scotia Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.; Patterson, William; Polito, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable Isotope Analyses of Pygoscelid Penguin remains from Active and Abandoned Colonies in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600145"}, {"dataset_uid": "601459", "doi": "10.15784/601459", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Mercury; Penguin", "people": "McKenzie, Ashley", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Egg membrane and chick feather THg concentration and stable isotope composition", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601459"}], "date_created": "Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research combines interdisciplinary study in geology, paleontology, and biology, using stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses, to examine how climate change and resource utilization have influenced population distribution, movement, and diet in penguins during the mid-to-late Holocene. Previous investigations have demonstrated that abandoned colonies contain well-preserved remains that can be used to examine differential responses of penguins to climate change in various sectors of Antarctica. As such, the research team will investigate abandoned and active pygoscelid penguin (Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo) colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea regions, and possibly Prydz Bay, in collaboration with Chinese scientists during four field seasons. Stable isotope analyses will be conducted on recovered penguin tissues and prey remains in guano to address hypotheses on penguin occupation history, population movement, and diet in relation to climate change since the late Pleistocene. The study will include one Ph.D., two Masters and 16 undergraduate students in advanced research over the project period. Students will be exposed to a variety of fields, the scientific method, and international scientific research. They will complete field and lab research for individual projects or Honor\u0027s theses for academic credit. The project also will include web-based outreach, lectures to middle school students, and the development of interactive exercises that highlight hypothesis-driven research and the ecology of Antarctica. Two undergraduate students in French and Spanish languages at UNCW will be hired to assist in translating the Web page postings for broader access to this information.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; AMD; USAP-DC; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Polito, Michael; Patterson, William", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Stable Isotope Analyses of Pygoscelid Penguin remains from Active and Abandoned Colonies in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000317", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1142044 Dunbar, Robert; 1142117 Hansell, Dennis; 1142097 Bochdansky, Alexander; 1142065 DiTullio, Giacomo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((165 -52,166 -52,167 -52,168 -52,169 -52,170 -52,171 -52,172 -52,173 -52,174 -52,175 -52,175 -54.65,175 -57.3,175 -59.95,175 -62.6,175 -65.25,175 -67.9,175 -70.55,175 -73.2,175 -75.85,175 -78.5,174 -78.5,173 -78.5,172 -78.5,171 -78.5,170 -78.5,169 -78.5,168 -78.5,167 -78.5,166 -78.5,165 -78.5,165 -75.85,165 -73.2,165 -70.55,165 -67.9,165 -65.25,165 -62.6,165 -59.95,165 -57.3,165 -54.650000000000006,165 -52))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon chemistry from CTD; Deployment: NBP1302; NBP1302 data; Video Particle Profiler (VPP) and Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) data from cruise NBP1302", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600388", "doi": "10.15784/600388", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Holographic Microscopy; Oceans; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean; Video Particle Profiler", "people": "Bochdansky, Alexander", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Video Particle Profiler (VPP) and Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) data from cruise NBP1302", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600388"}, {"dataset_uid": "000220", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon chemistry from CTD", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/658394"}, {"dataset_uid": "000221", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Deployment: NBP1302", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/deployment/547873"}, {"dataset_uid": "000179", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1302 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1302"}], "date_created": "Wed, 26 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Sinking particles are a major element of the biological pump and they are commonly assigned to two fates: mineralization in the water column and accumulation at the seafloor. However, there is another fate of export hidden within the vertical decline of carbon, the transformation of sinking organic matter to fine suspended and/or dissolved organic fractions. This process has been suggested but has rarely been observed or quantified. As a result, it is presumed that the solubilized fraction is largely mineralized over short time scales. However, global ocean surveys of dissolved organic carbon are demonstrating a significant water column accumulation of organic matter under high productivity environments. This proposal will investigate the transformation of organic particles from sinking to solubilized phases of the export flux in the Ross Sea. The Ross Sea experiences high export particle production, low dissolved organic carbon export with overturning circulation, and the area has a predictable succession of production and export events. In addition, the basin is shallow (\u003c 000 m) so the products the PIs will target are relatively concentrated. To address the proposed hypothesis, the PIs will use both well-established and novel biochemical and optical measures of export production and its fate. The outcomes of this work will help researchers close the carbon budget in the Ross Sea. Broader impacts: This research will support graduate and undergraduate students and will provide undergraduates and pre-college students with field-based research experience. Scientifically, this research will increase understanding of carbon sinks in the Ross Sea and will help develop new tools for identifying, quantifying, and tracking that carbon. The PIs will interface with K-12 students through daily reports from the field and through educational modules developed by several of the PIs in collaboration with science education specialists and college students. A K-12 educator will be included on the research cruises. Outreach will be through COSEE Florida and the Maritime Center in Norfolk, VA.", "east": 175.0, "geometry": "POINT(170 -65.25)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e DIHM; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; NBP1302; Phaeocystis; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bochdansky, Alexander; Dunbar, Robert; DiTullio, Giacomo; Ditullio, Giacomo; Harry, Dennis L.; HANSELL, DENNIS", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.5, "title": "Collaborative research: TRacing the fate of Algal Carbon Export in the Ross Sea (TRACERS)", "uid": "p0000307", "west": 165.0}, {"awards": "1143619 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.09 -79.47)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "1143619/Severinghaus This award supports a project to extend the study of gases in ice cores to those gases whose small molecular diameters cause them to escape rapidly from ice samples (the so-called \"fugitive gases\"). The work will employ helium, neon, argon, and oxygen measurements in the WAIS Divide ice core to better understand the mechanism of the gas close-off fractionation that occurs while air bubbles are incorporated into ice. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that corrections for this fractionation using neon (which is constant in the atmosphere) may ultimately enable the first ice core-based atmospheric oxygen and helium records. Neon may also illuminate the mechanistic link between local insolation and oxygen used for astronomical dating of ice cores. Helium measure-ments in the deepest ~100 m of the core will also shed light on the stratigraphic integrity of the basal ice, and serve as a probe of solid earth-ice interaction at the base of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Past atmospheric oxygen records, currently unavailable prior to 1989 CE, would reveal changes in the size of the terrestrial biosphere carbon pool that accompany climate variations and place constraints on the biogeochemical feedback response to future warming. An atmospheric helium-3/helium-4 record would test the hypothesis that the solar wind (which is highly enriched in helium-3) condensed directly into Earth?s atmosphere during the collapse of the geomagnetic field that occurred 41,000 years ago, known as the Laschamp Event. Fugitive-gas samples will be taken on-site immediately after recovery of the ice core by the PI and one postdoctoral scholar, under the umbrella of an existing project to support replicate coring and borehole deepening. This work will add value to the scientific return from field work activity with little additional cost to logistical resources. The broader impacts of the work on atmospheric oxygen are that it may increase understanding of how terrestrial carbon pools and atmospheric greenhouse gas sources will respond in a feedback sense to the coming warming. Long-term atmospheric oxygen trends are also of interest for understanding biogeochemical regulatory mechanisms and the impact of atmospheric evolution on life. Helium records have value in understanding the budget of this non-renewable gas and its implications for space weather and solar activity. The project will train one graduate student and one postdoctoral scholar. The fascination of linking solid earth, cryosphere, atmosphere, and space weather will help to entrain and excite young scientists and efforts to understand the Earth as a whole interlinked system will provide fuel to outreach efforts at all ages.", "east": -112.09, "geometry": "POINT(-112.09 -79.47)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "WAIS Divide; Not provided; Tracers; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Past Biospheric Carbon Storage; LABORATORY; Fugitive Gases; Basal Processes; Neon; Helium; FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctica", "locations": "WAIS Divide; Antarctica", "north": -79.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.47, "title": "Fugitive Gases (Helium, Neon, and Oxygen) in the WAIS Divide Ice Core as Tracers of Basal Processes and Past Biospheric Carbon Storage", "uid": "p0000441", "west": -112.09}, {"awards": "1245659 Petrenko, Vasilii; 1246148 Severinghaus, Jeffrey; 1245821 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(162.167 -77.733)", "dataset_titles": "Gas and Dust Measurements for Taylor Glacier and Taylor Dome Ice Cores; Last Interglacial Mean Ocean Temperature; Mean Ocean Temperature in Marine Isotope Stage 4; Measurements of 14CH4 and 14CO in ice from Taylor Glacier: Last Deglaciation; N2O Concentration and Isotope Data for 74-59 ka from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica; Taylor Glacier CO2 Isotope Data 74-59 kyr; Taylor Glacier Noble Gases - Younger Dryas; The Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Horizontal Ice Core: Exploring changes in the Natural Methane Budget in a Warming World and Expanding the Paleo-archive", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601398", "doi": "10.15784/601398", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Marine Isotope Stage 4; MIS 4; Nitrous Oxide; Pleistocene; Taylor Dome Ice Core; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah; Petrenko, Vasilii; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Dyonisius, Michael; Schilt, Adrian; Brook, Edward J.; Menking, James", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "N2O Concentration and Isotope Data for 74-59 ka from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601398"}, {"dataset_uid": "601176", "doi": "10.15784/601176", "keywords": "Antarctica; CO2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Methane; Noble Gas; Noble Gas Isotopes; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Taylor Glacier; Younger Dryas", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Taylor Glacier Noble Gases - Younger Dryas", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601176"}, {"dataset_uid": "601198", "doi": "10.15784/601198", "keywords": "Antarctica; Blue Ice; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; CO2; Dust; Gas; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Mass Spectrometer; Methane; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen Isotope; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Bauska, Thomas; Rhodes, Rachel; McConnell, Joseph; Petrenko, Vasilii; Dyonisius, Michael; Shackleton, Sarah; Barker, Stephen; Baggenstos, Daniel; Marcott, Shaun; Brook, Edward J.; Menking, James", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Gas and Dust Measurements for Taylor Glacier and Taylor Dome Ice Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601198"}, {"dataset_uid": "601218", "doi": "10.15784/601218", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Carbon Dioxide; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; CO2; Dome C Ice Core; Epica; Epica Dome C; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Isotope Data; Last Interglacial; Mass Spectrometer; Mass Spectrometry; Methane; Oxygen; Oxygen Isotope; Paleotemperature; Pleistocene; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Taylor Dome Ice Core; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Dome C Ice Core", "title": "Last Interglacial Mean Ocean Temperature", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601218"}, {"dataset_uid": "601218", "doi": "10.15784/601218", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Carbon Dioxide; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; CO2; Dome C Ice Core; Epica; Epica Dome C; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Records; Isotope Data; Last Interglacial; Mass Spectrometer; Mass Spectrometry; Methane; Oxygen; Oxygen Isotope; Paleotemperature; Pleistocene; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Taylor Dome Ice Core; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Last Interglacial Mean Ocean Temperature", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601218"}, {"dataset_uid": "601260", "doi": "10.15784/601260", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Cosmogenic; Ice Core; Methane", "people": "Petrenko, Vasilii; Dyonisius, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Measurements of 14CH4 and 14CO in ice from Taylor Glacier: Last Deglaciation", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601260"}, {"dataset_uid": "601600", "doi": "10.15784/601600", "keywords": "Antarctica; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Barker, Stephen; Menking, James; Petrenko, Vasilii; Dyonisius, Michael; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Menking, Andy; Buffen, Aron; Brook, Edward J.; Shackleton, Sarah; Bauska, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Taylor Glacier CO2 Isotope Data 74-59 kyr", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601600"}, {"dataset_uid": "600163", "doi": "10.15784/600163", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Geochemistry; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Paleoclimate; Taylor Glacier; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Horizontal Ice Core: Exploring changes in the Natural Methane Budget in a Warming World and Expanding the Paleo-archive", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600163"}, {"dataset_uid": "601415", "doi": "10.15784/601415", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Paleotemperature; Taylor Glacier", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mean Ocean Temperature in Marine Isotope Stage 4", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601415"}], "date_created": "Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "1245659/Petrenko This award supports a project to use the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, ablation zone to collect ice samples for a range of paleoenvironmental studies. A record of carbon-14 of atmospheric methane (14CH4) will be obtained for the last deglaciation and the Early Holocene, together with a supporting record of CH4 stable isotopes. In-situ cosmogenic 14C content and partitioning of 14C between different species (14CH4, C-14 carbon monoxide (14CO) and C-14 carbon dioxide (14CO2)) will be determined with unprecedented precision in ice from the surface down to ~67 m. Further age-mapping of the ablating ice stratigraphy will take place using a combination of CH4, CO2, \u0026#948;18O of oxygen gas and H2O stable isotopes. High precision, high-resolution records of CO2, \u0026#948;13C of CO2, nitrous oxide (N2O) and N2O isotopes will be obtained for the last deglaciation and intervals during the last glacial period. The potential of 14CO2 and Krypton-81 (81Kr) as absolute dating tools for glacial ice will be investigated. The intellectual merit of proposed work includes the fact that the response of natural methane sources to continuing global warming is uncertain, and available evidence is insufficient to rule out the possibility of catastrophic releases from large 14C-depleted reservoirs such as CH4 clathrates and permafrost. The proposed paleoatmospheric 14CH4 record will improve our understanding of the possible magnitude and timing of CH4 release from these reservoirs during a large climatic warming. A thorough understanding of in-situ cosmogenic 14C in glacial ice (production rates by different mechanisms and partitioning between species) is currently lacking. Such an understanding will likely enable the use of in-situ 14CO in ice at accumulation sites as a reliable, uncomplicated tracer of the past cosmic ray flux and possibly past solar activity, as well as the use of 14CO2 at both ice accumulation and ice ablation sites as an absolute dating tool. Significant gaps remain in our understanding of the natural carbon cycle, as well as in its responses to global climate change. The proposed high-resolution, high-precision records of \u0026#948;13C of CO2 would provide new information on carbon cycle changes both during times of rising CO2 in a warming climate and falling CO2 in a cooling climate. N2O is an important greenhouse gas that increased by ~30% during the last deglaciation. The causes of this increase are still largely uncertain, and the proposed high-precision record of N2O concentration and isotopes would provide further insights into N2O source changes in a warming world. The broader impacts of proposed work include an improvement in our understanding of the response of these greenhouse gas budgets to global warming and inform societally important model projections of future climate change. The continued age-mapping of Taylor Glacier ablation ice will add value to this high-quality, easily accessible archive of natural environmental variability. Establishing 14CO as a robust new tracer for past cosmic ray flux would inform paleoclimate studies and constitute a valuable contribution to the study of the societally important issue of climate change. The proposed work will contribute to the development of new laboratory and field analytical systems. The data from the study will be made available to the scientific community and the broad public through the NSIDC and NOAA Paleoclimatology data centers. 1 graduate student each will be trained at UR, OSU and SIO, and the work will contribute to the training of a postdoc at OSU. 3 UR undergraduates will be involved in fieldwork and research. The work will support a new, junior UR faculty member, Petrenko. All PIs have a strong history of and commitment to scientific outreach in the forms of media interviews, participation in filming of field projects, as well as speaking to schools and the public about their research, and will continue these activities as part of the proposed work. This award has field work in Antarctica.", "east": 162.167, "geometry": "POINT(162.167 -77.733)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; USAP-DC; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Stratigraphy; FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctica; Paleoenvironment; Methane; Ice Core; Carbon Dioxide; FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS; Stable Isotopes; Ablation Zone; Taylor Glacier; Nitrous Oxide; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; AMD; Cosmogenic; Amd/Us", "locations": "Taylor Glacier; Antarctica", "north": -77.733, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Petrenko, Vasilii; Brook, Edward J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; PETRENKO, VASILLI", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "south": -77.733, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Horizontal Ice Core: Exploring changes in the Natural Methane Budget in a Warming World and Expanding the Paleo-archive", "uid": "p0000283", "west": 162.167}, {"awards": "0944727 Arrigo, Kevin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-118.3 -71.6,-117.57 -71.6,-116.84 -71.6,-116.11 -71.6,-115.38 -71.6,-114.65 -71.6,-113.92 -71.6,-113.19 -71.6,-112.46 -71.6,-111.73 -71.6,-111 -71.6,-111 -71.86,-111 -72.12,-111 -72.38,-111 -72.64,-111 -72.9,-111 -73.16,-111 -73.42,-111 -73.68,-111 -73.94,-111 -74.2,-111.73 -74.2,-112.46 -74.2,-113.19 -74.2,-113.92 -74.2,-114.65 -74.2,-115.38 -74.2,-116.11 -74.2,-116.84 -74.2,-117.57 -74.2,-118.3 -74.2,-118.3 -73.94,-118.3 -73.68,-118.3 -73.42,-118.3 -73.16,-118.3 -72.9,-118.3 -72.64,-118.3 -72.38,-118.3 -72.12,-118.3 -71.86,-118.3 -71.6))", "dataset_titles": "Dataset: Chlorophyll a", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000172", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: Chlorophyll a", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/546372"}], "date_created": "Fri, 30 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "ASPIRE is an NSF-funded project that will examine the ecology of the Amundsen Sea during the Austral summer of 2010. ASPIRE includes an international team of trace metal and carbon chemists, phytoplankton physiologists, microbial and zooplankton ecologists, and physical oceanographers, that will investigate why and how the Amundsen Sea Polynya is so much more productive than other polynyas and whether interannual variability can provide insight to climate-sensitive mechanisms driving carbon fluxes. This project will compliment the existing ASPIRE effort by using 1) experimental manipulations to understand photoacclimation of the dominant phytoplankton taxa under conditions of varying light and trace metal abundance, 2) nutrient addition bioassays to determine the importance of trace metal versus nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton growth, and 3) a numerical ecosystem model to understand the importance of differences in mixing regime, flow field, and Fe sources in controlling phytoplankton bloom dynamics and community composition in this unusually productive polynya system. The research strategy will integrate satellite remote sensing, field-based experimental manipulations, and numerical modeling. Outreach and education include participation in Stanford\u0027s Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford\u0027s School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center. Undergraduate participation and training will include support for both graduate students and undergraduate assistants.", "east": -111.0, "geometry": "POINT(-114.65 -72.9)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -71.6, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Arrigo, Kevin", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.2, "title": "ASPIRE: Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition", "uid": "p0000348", "west": -118.3}, {"awards": "1141275 Warren, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Antarctic field campaign data page", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001399", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic field campaign data page", "url": "http://www.atmos.washington.edu/articles/EastAntarctica_SeaIceAlbedos_SnowImpurities/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 30 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The albedo, or reflection coefficient, is a measure of the diffuse reflectivity of an irradiated surface. With the sunlit atmosphere as a light source, and sea-ice as a diffuse reflecting surface, the albedo would be the fraction of incident light that is returned to the atmosphere. A perfect (white) reflecting surface would have an albedo of 1; a perfect (black) absorbing surface would have an albedo of 0. The albedo of sea-ice is needed to assess the solar energy budget of the marginal ice zone, to compute the partial solar bands in radiation budgets in general circulation and earth system models, and is also needed to interpret remote sensing imagery data products. Applications requiring albedos further into the near IR, out to 2500nm, are assumed or approximated. Modern spectral radiometers, such as will be used in this campaign on a Southern Ocean voyage from Hobart to Antarctica, can extend these measurements of albedo from 350 to 2500nm, allowing earlier estimates to be verified, or corrected. Surfaces to be encountered on this research cruise are expected to include open water, grease ice, nila ice, pancake ice, young grey ice, young grey-white ice, along with first year ice. The presence of variable amounts of snow on these surfaces is also of interest. Light absorbing impurities in the snow and ice, including black carbon and organic matter (brown carbon) are different from those found in Arctic Sea ice, the Antarctic being so remote from combustion sources. This may allow better understanding of the seasonal cycles, energy budgets and their recent trends in spatial extent and thickness. The project will also broaden the educational experiences of both US and Australian students participating in the measurement campaign", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Radiometers; Radiation Budgets; Sea Ice; Energy Budgets; Impurities; COMPUTERS; Albedo; Spectral; LABORATORY; Antarctica; Snow Temperature; Reflecting Surface; Snow Density; R/V AA", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Warren, Stephen; Zatko, Maria", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e COMPUTERS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V AA", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Spectral and Broadband Albedo of Antarctic Sea-ice Types", "uid": "p0000375", "west": null}, {"awards": "1040957 Sarmiento, Jorge; 1040945 Place, Sean; 1447291 Place, Sean", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 90,-144 90,-108 90,-72 90,-36 90,0 90,36 90,72 90,108 90,144 90,180 90,180 72,180 54,180 36,180 18,180 0,180 -18,180 -36,180 -54,180 -72,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -72,-180 -54,-180 -36,-180 -18,-180 0,-180 18,-180 36,-180 54,-180 72,-180 90))", "dataset_titles": "Does the strength of the carbonate pump change with ocean stratification and acidification and how? Project data; NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Pagothenia borchgrevinki; NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus bernacchii; NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus newnesi; NCBI links to BioProjects of total RNA isolated from Trematomus bernacchii gill tissues acclimated to elevated temperature and pCO2, July 2015", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000219", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Does the strength of the carbonate pump change with ocean stratification and acidification and how? Project data", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/project/521216"}, {"dataset_uid": "000163", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus bernacchii", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA289753"}, {"dataset_uid": "000164", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Pagothenia borchgrevinki", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA294774"}, {"dataset_uid": "000165", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus newnesi", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA294787"}, {"dataset_uid": "000166", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI links to BioProjects of total RNA isolated from Trematomus bernacchii gill tissues acclimated to elevated temperature and pCO2, July 2015", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/665853"}, {"dataset_uid": "000186", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus newnesi", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA294787"}, {"dataset_uid": "000185", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Pagothenia borchgrevinki", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA294774"}, {"dataset_uid": "000184", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences, Trematomus bernacchii", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA289753"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The proposed research will investigate the interacting and potentially synergistic influence of two oceanographic features - ocean acidification and the projected rise in mean sea surface temperature - on the performance of Notothenioids, the dominant fish of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Understanding the joint effects of acidification and temperature rise on these fish is a vital component of predicting the resilience of coastal marine ecosystems. Notothenioids have repeatedly displayed a narrow window of physiological tolerances when subjected to abiotic stresses. Given that evolutionary adaptation may have led to finely-tuned traits with narrow physiological limits in these organisms, this system provides a unique opportunity to examine physiological trade-offs associated with acclimation to the multi-stressor environment expected from future atmospheric CO2 projections. Understanding these trade-offs will provide valuable insight into the capacity species have for responses to climate change via phenotypic plasticity. As an extension to functional measurements, this study will use evolutionary approaches to map variation in physiological responses onto the phylogeny of these fishes and the genetic diversity within species. These approaches offer insight into the historical constraints and future potential for evolutionary optimization. The research will significantly expand the genomic resources available to polar researchers and will support the training of graduate students and a post doc at an EPSCoR institution. Research outcomes will be incorporated into classroom curriculum.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": 90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Place, Sean; Sarmiento, Jorge; Dudycha, Jeffry; Kwon, Eun-Young", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Ocean Acidification Category 1: Identifying Adaptive Responses of Polar Fishes in a Vulnerable Ecosystem", "uid": "p0000006", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1241574 Hemming, Sidney; 1241460 Barbeau, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-67 -63.2,-65.97 -63.2,-64.94 -63.2,-63.91 -63.2,-62.88 -63.2,-61.85 -63.2,-60.82 -63.2,-59.79 -63.2,-58.76 -63.2,-57.73 -63.2,-56.7 -63.2,-56.7 -63.54,-56.7 -63.88,-56.7 -64.22,-56.7 -64.56,-56.7 -64.9,-56.7 -65.24,-56.7 -65.58,-56.7 -65.92,-56.7 -66.26,-56.7 -66.6,-57.73 -66.6,-58.76 -66.6,-59.79 -66.6,-60.82 -66.6,-61.85 -66.6,-62.88 -66.6,-63.91 -66.6,-64.94 -66.6,-65.97 -66.6,-67 -66.6,-67 -66.26,-67 -65.92,-67 -65.58,-67 -65.24,-67 -64.9,-67 -64.56,-67 -64.22,-67 -63.88,-67 -63.54,-67 -63.2))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 03 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Recent geochemical, sequence stratigraphic, and integrated investigations of marine strata from several continental margins and ocean basins suggest that ephemeral ice sheets may have existed on Antarctica during parts of the Cretaceous and early Paleogene. However, atmospheric carbon dioxide estimates for this time are as much as four times modern levels. With such greenhouse conditions, the presence of Antarctic ice sheets would imply that our current understanding of Earth?s climate system, and specifically the interpreted thresholds of Antarctic glaciation and deglaciation should be reconsidered. The proposed research will compare the quantity and provenance of Cretaceous sediments in the Larsen basin of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula with the exhumation chronology and composition of potential sediment source terranes on the peninsula and in adjacent regions. New outcrop stratigraphic analyses with improvements in the age models from radioisotopic approaches will be integrated to determine the amount of detrital sediment fluxed to the Larsen basin between key chronostratigraphic surfaces. Microtextural analysis of quartz sand and silt grains will help determine whether the Larsen basin detrital sediment originated from glacial weathering. These preliminary results will test the viability of the proposed approach to assess the controversial Cretaceous Antarctic glaciation hypothesis. Broader impacts: The proposed work will partially support a PhD, a MSc, and three undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina. The PIs will publicize this work through volunteer speaking engagements and the development of videos and podcasts. They also commit to prompt publication of the results and timely submission of data to archives. The development/improvement of the Larsen basin age model will benefit ongoing research in paleobiology, paleoclimate and biogeography. Development of the glauconite K-Ar and Rb-Sr chronometers could be an important outcome beyond the direct scope of the proposed research.", "east": -56.7, "geometry": "POINT(-61.85 -64.9)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e LA-ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MC-ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e IRMS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; Noble-Gas Mass Spectrometer; Antarctic Peninsula", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -63.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PROTEROZOIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e CRETACEOUS; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e PALEOGENE", "persons": "Barbeau, David; Hemming, Sidney R.; Barbeau, David Jr", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -66.6, "title": "Collaborative Research: EAGER: Evaluating the Larsen basin\u0027s suitability for testing the Cretaceous Glaciation Hypothesis", "uid": "p0000369", "west": -67.0}, {"awards": "0838970 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "dataset_titles": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600104", "doi": "10.15784/600104", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Microbiology", "people": "Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600104"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth\u0027s organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls\u0027 schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.", "east": 161.667, "geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.117, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.117, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000458", "west": 161.667}, {"awards": "0944343 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.05 -79.28)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Severinghaus/0944343\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to develop both a record of past local temperature change at the WAIS Divide site, and past mean ocean temperature using solubility effects on atmospheric krypton and xenon. The two sets of products share some of the same measurements, because the local temperature is necessary to make corrections to krypton and xenon, and thus synergistically support each other. Further scientific synergy is obtained by the fact that the mean ocean temperature is constrained to vary rather slowly, on a 1000-yr timescale, due to the mixing time of the deep ocean. Thus rapid changes are not expected, and can be used to flag methodological problems if they appear in the krypton and xenon records. The mean ocean temperature record produced will have a temporal resolution of 500 years, and will cover the entire 3400 m length of the core. This record will be used to test hypotheses regarding the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) variations, including the notion that deep ocean stratification via a cold salty stagnant layer caused atmospheric CO2 drawdown during the last glacial period. The local surface temperature record that results will synergistically combine with independent borehole thermometry and water isotope records to produce a uniquely precise and accurate temperature history for Antarctica, on a par with the Greenland temperature histories. This history will be used to test hypotheses that the ?bipolar seesaw? is forced from the North Atlantic Ocean, which makes a specific prediction that the timing of Antarctic cooling should slightly lag abrupt Greenland warming. The WAIS Divide ice core is expected to be the premier atmospheric gas record of the past 100,000 years for the foreseeable future, and as such, making this set of high precision noble gas measurements adds value to the other gas records because they all share a common timescale and affect each other in terms of physical processes such as gravitational fractionation. Broader impact of the proposed work: The clarification of timing of atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic surface temperature, along with deep ocean temperature, will aid in efforts to understand the feedbacks among CO2, temperature, and ocean circulation. These feedbacks bear on the future response of the Earth System to anthropogenic forcing. A deeper understanding of the mechanism of deglaciation, and the role of atmospheric CO2, will go a long way towards clarifying a topic that has become quite confused in the public mind in the public debate over climate change. Elucidating the role of the bipolar seesaw in ending glaciations and triggering CO2 increases may also provide an important warning that this represents a potential positive feedback, not currently considered by IPCC. Education of one graduate student, and training of one technician, will add to the nation?s human resource base. Outreach activities will be enhanced and will to continue to entrain young people in discovery, and excitement will enhance the training of the next generation of scientists and educators.", "east": -112.05, "geometry": "POINT(-112.05 -79.28)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Noble Gas; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Climate; Xenon; FIELD SURVEYS; Ice Core; Antarctica; Krypton; LABORATORY", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -79.28, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.28, "title": "Noble Gases in the WAIS Divide Ice Core as Indicators of Local and Mean-ocean Temperature", "uid": "p0000430", "west": -112.05}, {"awards": "0839093 McConnell, Joseph; 0839075 Priscu, John; 0839122 Saltzman, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(112.05 -79.28)", "dataset_titles": "Fluorescence spectroscopy data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, WDC06A; Holocene Black Carbon in Antarctica; Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Prokaryotic cell concentration record from the WAIS Divide ice core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601006", "doi": "10.15784/601006", "keywords": "Antarctica; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Physical Properties; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "D\u0027Andrilli, Juliana; Priscu, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Fluorescence spectroscopy data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, WDC06A", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601006"}, {"dataset_uid": "601034", "doi": "10.15784/601034", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Black Carbon; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "McConnell, Joseph; Arienzo, Monica", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Holocene Black Carbon in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601034"}, {"dataset_uid": "601072", "doi": "10.15784/601072", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cell Counts; Glaciology; Microbiology; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Santibanez, Pamela; Priscu, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Prokaryotic cell concentration record from the WAIS Divide ice core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601072"}, {"dataset_uid": "601361", "doi": "10.15784/601361", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbonyl Sulfide; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601361"}], "date_created": "Fri, 30 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to use the WAIS Divide deep core to investigate the Last Deglaciation at sub-annual resolution through an integrated set of chemical and biological analyses. The intellectual merit of the project is that these analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation WAIS Divide site yielding the highest time resolution glacio-biogeochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core. With other high resolution Greenland cores (GISP2 and GRIP) and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The proposed chemical, biological, and elemental tracer measurements will also be used to address all of the WAIS Divide science themes. The broader impacts of the project include education and outreach activities such as numerous presentations to local K-12 students; opportunities for student and teacher involvement in the laboratory work; a teacher training program in Earth sciences in the heavily minority Santa Ana, Compton, and Costa Mesa, California school districts; and development of high school curricula. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement also is planned and will include one post doctoral associate, one graduate student, and undergraduate hourly involvement at DRI; a graduate student and undergraduates at University of California, Irvine (UCI); and a post doctoral fellow at MSU. Student recruitment will be made from underrepresented groups building on a long track record of involvement and will include the NSF funded California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) and the Montana American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award does not involve field work in Antarctica.", "east": 112.05, "geometry": "POINT(112.05 -79.28)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CARBON ANALYZERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e WAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e ICE CORE MELTER; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e PHOTOMETERS \u003e SPECTROPHOTOMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Bacteria Ice Core; LABORATORY; Ice Core; FIELD INVESTIGATION; West Antarctica; Not provided; Dissolved Organic Carbon", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": -79.28, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Skidmore, Mark; Saltzman, Eric; McConnell, Joseph; Priscu, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.28, "title": "Collaborative Research: Integrated High Resolution Chemical and Biological Measurements on the Deep WAIS Divide Core", "uid": "p0000273", "west": 112.05}, {"awards": "1043690 Scherer, Reed", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600127", "doi": "10.15784/600127", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean", "people": "Haji-Sheikh, Michael; Scherer, Reed Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600127"}], "date_created": "Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Diatom abundance in sediment cores is typically used as a proxy for paleo primary productivity. This record is complicated by variable preservation, with most loss occurring in the water column via dissolution and zooplankton grazing. This study will investigate preservational biases via a series of controlled experiments to create proxies of original productivity based on morphological changes associated with diatom dissolution and fracture. The PIs will utilize fresh diatoms from culture. Specific objectives include: (1) Linking changes in diatom morphology to availability of dissolved silica and other physical and chemical parameters; (2) Documenting the dissolution process under controlled conditions; (3) Assessment of changes in morphology and diatom surface roughness with increased dissolution; (4) Documenting the physical effects of grazing and fecal pellet formation on diatom fragmentation and dissolution; and (5) Analyzing the impact of diatom dissolution on silica and carbon export. These objectives will be achieved by growing Southern Ocean diatom species in the laboratory under differing physical and chemical conditions; controlled serial dissolution experiments on cultured diatoms; analysis of the dissolution process by imaging frustules under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and with micro-analysis of surface texture by atomic force microscopy (AFM); making the cultures available to krill and other live zooplankton crustaceans in order to analyze the specific effects of grazing and pelletization on diatom morphology; and comparing experimental results with natural plankton, sediment trap material, and selected Holocene, Pleistocene and Pliocene sediment core material. Broader impacts: This work will contribute to understanding of the use of diatom abundance as an indicator of paleoproductivity. The proposed experiments are multi-disciplinary in nature. Importantly, the project was designed, and the proposal largely written, by a Ph.D. candidate. The research proposed here will lead to peer-reviewed publications and provide a base for future studies over the course of an extremely promising scientific career. The project will also support an undergraduate research student at NIU. The PI is heavily involved in science outreach, including classroom visits, museum events and webinars related to evolution and climate change, and is active with NSF-funded outreach activities linked to the ANDRILL and WISSARD programs. He will continue these efforts with this project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Haji-Sheikh, Michael; Scherer, Reed Paul", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "uid": "p0000360", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1232962 Ledwell, James", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1310A", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002658", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1310A", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1310A"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) is a study of ocean mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) which runs west to east all around the continent of Antarctica, south of the other continents. This current system is somewhat of a barrier to transport of heat, carbon dioxide and other important ocean constituents between the far south and the rest of the ocean, and mixing processes play an important role in those transports. DIMES is a multi-investigator cooperative project, led by physical oceanographers in the U.S. and in the U.K. A passive tracer and an array of sub-surface floats were deployed early in 2009 more than 2000 km west of Drake Passage on a surface of constant density about 1500 m deep between the Sub Antarctic Front and the Polar Front of the ACC. In early 2010 a U.S. led research cruise sampled the tracer, turbulence levels, and the velocity and density profiles that govern the generation of that turbulence, and additional U.K. led research cruises in 2011 and 2012 continue this sampling as the tracer has made its way through Drake Passage, into the Scotia Sea, and over the North Scotia Ridge, a track of more than 3000 km. The initial results show that diapycnal, i.e., vertical, mixing west of Drake Passage where the bottom is relatively smooth is no larger than in most other regions of the open ocean. In contrast, there are strong velocity shears and intense turbulence levels over the rough topography in Drake Passage and diapycnal diffusivity of the tracer more than 10 times larger in Drake Passage and to the east than west of Drake Passage. The DIMES field program continues with the U.S. team collecting new velocity and turbulence data in the Scotia Sea. It is anticipated that the tracer will continue passing through the Scotia Sea until at least early 2014. The U.K. partners have scheduled sampling of the tracer on cruises at the North Scotia Ridge and in the eastern and central Scotia Sea in early 2013 and early 2014. The current project will continue the time series of the tracer at Drake Passage on two more U.S. led cruises, in late 2012 and late 2013. Trajectories through the Scotia Sea estimated from the tracer observations, from neutrally buoyant floats, and from numerical models will be used to accurately estimate mixing rates of the tracer and to locate where the mixing is concentrated. During the 2013 cruise the velocity and turbulence fields along high-resolution transects along the ACC and across the ridges of Drake Passage will be measured to see how far downstream of the ridges the mixing is enhanced, and to test the hypothesis that mixing is enhanced by breaking lee waves generated by flow over the rough topography. Broader Impacts: DIMES (see web site at http://dimes.ucsd.edu) involves many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Two graduate students, who would become expert in ocean turbulence and the processes generating it, will continue be trained on this project. The work in DIMES is ultimately motivated by the need to understand the overturning circulation of the global ocean. This circulation governs the transport and storage of heat and carbon dioxide within the huge oceanic reservoir, and thus plays a major role in regulating the earth?s climate. Understanding the circulation and how it changes in reaction to external forces is necessary to the understanding of past climate change and of how climate might change in the future, and is therefore of great importance to human well-being. The data collected and analyzed by the DIMES project will be assembled and made publicly available at the end of the project. The DIMES project is a process experiment sponsored by the U.S. CLIVAR (Climate variability and predictability) program.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ledwell, James", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Studies of Turbulence and Mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a Continuation of DIMES", "uid": "p0000846", "west": null}, {"awards": "1142107 Durbin, Edward", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1304", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002660", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1304", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1304"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Krill, Euphausia superba, is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem and provides the trophic link between microscopic plankton and charismatic megafauna such as penguins and whales. Recent evidence suggests krill may not be exclusively planktonivorous, which introduces the potential of new pathways of carbon flux through krill based ecosystems. A change in our view of krill from one of being herbivores to omnivores opens up several questions. Climate induced change in the extent, thickness and duration of overlying sea ice coverage is expected to change the prey fields available to krill, and to have subsequent effects on the suite of predators supported by krill. The nature of this benthic prey?krill link, which may be crucial in those parts of the seasonal cycle other than the well studied spring bloom, is yet to be determined. DNA techniques will be used to identify and quantify the prey organisms. This project will measure the in situ feeding ecology and behavior of krill and, ultimately, the success of this key species. An overall goal is to investigate seasonal changes in Euphausia superba in-situ feeding and swimming behavior in the Wilhelmina Bay region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) area, known to be a region of changing climate. Understanding the biological impacts of climate change is important to societal and economic goals. The project scientists will additionally team with a marine and environmental reporting group to design presentations for an annual journalist meeting.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Durbin, Edward", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Seasonal Trophic Roles of Euphausia Superba (STRES)", "uid": "p0000848", "west": null}, {"awards": "0838830 Cottrell, Matthew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.079666 -64.77966,-64.07576590000001 -64.77966,-64.0718658 -64.77966,-64.0679657 -64.77966,-64.0640656 -64.77966,-64.06016550000001 -64.77966,-64.0562654 -64.77966,-64.0523653 -64.77966,-64.04846520000001 -64.77966,-64.0445651 -64.77966,-64.040665 -64.77966,-64.040665 -64.78326100000001,-64.040665 -64.786862,-64.040665 -64.790463,-64.040665 -64.794064,-64.040665 -64.797665,-64.040665 -64.801266,-64.040665 -64.804867,-64.040665 -64.808468,-64.040665 -64.812069,-64.040665 -64.81567,-64.0445651 -64.81567,-64.04846520000001 -64.81567,-64.0523653 -64.81567,-64.0562654 -64.81567,-64.06016550000001 -64.81567,-64.0640656 -64.81567,-64.0679657 -64.81567,-64.0718658 -64.81567,-64.07576590000001 -64.81567,-64.079666 -64.81567,-64.079666 -64.812069,-64.079666 -64.808468,-64.079666 -64.804867,-64.079666 -64.801266,-64.079666 -64.797665,-64.079666 -64.794064,-64.079666 -64.790463,-64.079666 -64.786862,-64.079666 -64.78326100000001,-64.079666 -64.77966))", "dataset_titles": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600097", "doi": "10.15784/600097", "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LTER Palmer Station; Microbiology; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Cottrell, Matthew; Kirchman, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600097"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eLight quality and availability are likely to change in polar ecosystems as ice coverage and thickness decrease. How microbes adjust to these and other changes will have huge impacts on the polar marine ecosystems. Little is known about photoheterotrophic prokaryotes, which are hypothesized to gain a metabolic advantage by harvesting light energy in addition to utilizing dissolved organic matter (DOM). Photoheterotrophy is not included in current models of carbon cycling and energy flow. This research will examine three questions: 1. Are photoheterotrophic microbes present and active in Antarctic waters in winter and summer? 2. Does community structure of photoheterotrophs shift between summer and winter? 3. Which microbial groups assimilate more DOM in light than in the dark? The research will test hypotheses about activity of photoheterotrophs in winter and in summer, shifts in community structure between light and dark seasons and the potentially unique impacts of photoheterotrophs on biogeochemical processes in the Antarctic. The project will directly support a graduate student, will positively impact the NSF REU program at the College of Marine and Earth Studies, and will include students from the nation?s oldest historical minority college. The results will be featured during weekly tours of Lewes facilities (about 1000 visitors per year) and during Coast Day, an annual open-house that attracts about 10,000 visitors.", "east": -64.040665, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0601655 -64.797665)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.77966, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cottrell, Matthew; David, Kirchman", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.81567, "title": "Photoheterotrophic Microbes in the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem", "uid": "p0000473", "west": -64.079666}, {"awards": "0739698 Doran, Peter; 0739681 Murray, Alison", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "dataset_titles": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600080", "doi": "10.15784/600080", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Carbon-14; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Dry Valleys; Geochronology; Ice Core Records; Lake Vida; Microbiology", "people": "Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600080"}], "date_created": "Thu, 12 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake\u0027s history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.", "east": 161.931, "geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.3885, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Murray, Alison; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.3885, "title": "Collaborative Research: Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "uid": "p0000485", "west": 161.931}, {"awards": "0739648 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(163 -77.5)", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600079", "doi": "10.15784/600079", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cell Counts; Dry Valleys; Microbiology", "people": "Cary, S. Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600079"}], "date_created": "Tue, 10 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The glacial streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial mats that are a probable source of fixed C and N to the Valleys. The research will examine the interplay between the microbial mats in the ephemeral glacial streams and the microbiota of the hyporheic soils (wetted soil zone) underlying and adjacent to those mats. It is hypothesized that the mats are important sources of organic carbon and fixed nitrogen for the soil communities of the hyporheic zone, and release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) that serves the entire Dry Valley ecosystem. Field efforts will entail both observational and experimental components. Direct comparisons will be made between the mats and microbial populations underlying naturally rehydrated and desiccated mat areas, and between mat areas in the melt streams of the Adams and Miers Glaciers in Miers Valley. Both physiological and phylogenetic indices of the soil microbiota will be examined. Observations will include estimates of rates of mat carbon and nitrogen fixation, soil respiration and leucine and thymidine uptake (as measures of protein \u0026 DNA synthesis, respectively) by soil bacteria, bacterial densities and their molecular ecology. Experimental manipulations will include experimental re-wetting of soils and observations of the time course of response of the microbial community. The research will integrate modern molecular genetic approaches (ARISA-DNA fingerprinting and ultra deep 16S rDNA microbial phylogenetic analysis) with geochemistry to study the diversity, ecology, and function of microbial communities that thrive in these extreme environments. The broader impacts of the project include research and educational opportunities for graduate students and a postdoctoral associate. The P.I.s will involve undergraduates as work-study students and in REU programs, and will participate in educational and outreach programs.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(163 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Biogeochemistry of Cyanobactrial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley Glacial Meltwater Streams", "uid": "p0000476", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "0948357 Measures, Christopher; 0948338 Mitchell, B. Gregory", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-63 -60,-62 -60,-61 -60,-60 -60,-59 -60,-58 -60,-57 -60,-56 -60,-55 -60,-54 -60,-53 -60,-53 -60.45,-53 -60.9,-53 -61.35,-53 -61.8,-53 -62.25,-53 -62.7,-53 -63.15,-53 -63.6,-53 -64.05,-53 -64.5,-54 -64.5,-55 -64.5,-56 -64.5,-57 -64.5,-58 -64.5,-59 -64.5,-60 -64.5,-61 -64.5,-62 -64.5,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.05,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.15,-63 -62.7,-63 -62.25,-63 -61.8,-63 -61.35,-63 -60.9,-63 -60.45,-63 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Project: Blue Water Zone; Trace Metal data 2006 (ID3801); Trace Metals - 2004", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000174", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Trace Metal data 2006 (ID3801)", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3801"}, {"dataset_uid": "000218", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Trace Metals - 2004", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3800"}, {"dataset_uid": "000173", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Project: Blue Water Zone", "url": "http://www.bco-dmo.org/project/2145"}], "date_created": "Fri, 22 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The ocean plays a critical role in sequestering CO2 by exporting fixed carbon to the deep ocean through the biological pump. There is a pressing need to understand the systematics of carbon export in the Southern Ocean in the context of global warming because of the sensitivity of this region to climate change, already manifested as significant temperature increases. Numerous studies have indicated that Fe supply is a primary control on phytoplankton biomass and productivity in the Southern Ocean. The results from previous cruises in Feb-Mar 2004 and Jul-Aug 2006 have revealed the major natural Fe fertilization from Fe-rich shelf waters to the Fe-limited high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) Antarctic Circumpolar Current Surface Water (ASW) in the southern Drake Passage, producing a series of phytoplankton blooms. Remaining questions include: How is natural Fe transported to the euphotic zone through small-meso-large scale horizontal-vertical transport and mixing in different HNLC ACC areas? How does plankton community structure evolve in response to a natural Fe addition, how does Fe speciation respond to biogeochemical processes, and how is Fe recycled to determine the longevity of phytoplankton blooms? How does the export of POC evolve as a function of upwelling-mixing, Fe addition-recycling and bacteria-plankton structure? This synthesis proposal will address these fundamental questions using a unique dataset combining multiyear physical, Fe and biogeochemical data collected between 2004 and 2006 from 2 NSF-funded Fe fertilization experiment cruises and 3 Antarctic Marine Living Resource (AMLR) cruises in the southern Drake Passage and southwestern Scotia Sea through collaboration with scientists in the AMLR program and US Southern Ocean GLOBEC projects. All investigators involved in this study are engaged in graduate and undergraduate instruction, and mentoring of postdoctoral researchers. Each P.I. will incorporate key elements of the proposed syntheses in our lectures, problem sets and group projects. The project includes support to convene a 4-5 day international workshop on natural Fe fertilization at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The workshop will include scientists from United Kingdom, France and Germany who have conducted natural Fe fertilization experiments, and Korea and China who are planning to conduct natural Fe fertilization experiments. The participation of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars will be especially encouraged. The results will be published in a Deep-Sea Research II special issue.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-58 -62.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mitchell, B.; Azam, Farooq; Barbeau, Katherine; Gille, Sarah; Holm-Hansen, Osmund; Measures, Christopher; Selph, Karen", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Modeling and synthesis study of a natural iron fertilization site in the Southern Drake Passage", "uid": "p0000071", "west": -63.0}, {"awards": "0839078 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to develop a robust analytical technique for measuring the stable isotopes of CO2 in air trapped in polar ice, and to reconstruct the \u00e413C of CO2 over the last glacial to interglacial transition (20,000 to 10,000 years BP) and through the Holocene. The bulk of these measurements will be made on newly cored ice from the WAIS Divide Ice Core. A robust record \u00e413C of CO2 will be a valuable addition to the rich data produced from this project. The intellectual merit of the proposed work relates to the fact that explaining glacial-interglacial changes in atmospheric CO2 remains a major challenge for paleoclimatology. The lack of a coherent, widely accepted explanation underscores uncertainties in the basic mechanisms that control the carbon cycle, and that lack of understanding limits our ability to confidently predict how the carbon cycle will change in the future, in the face of a potentially major perturbation of both global temperature and the CO2 content of the atmosphere. A widely accepted record of this parameter could transform our understanding of how the carbon cycle and climate change are linked. The broader impacts of the work include training of graduate student at OSU who will conduct much of the lab work and will also participate in fieldwork at the WAIS Divide Core site. The student will also participate in a number of organized outreach efforts and will develop his own outreach effort, through weblogs and other communication of his research. The PIs will communicate the results from this project to a variety of audiences through academic courses and public talks. The proposed work addresses a major topic in biogeochemistry, the origin of glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles. The results are relevant to understanding changes in the carbon cycle due to human activities because the lack of clear understanding of past variations contributes to public uncertainty about the importance of modern climate change. The proposed funding will also contribute to analytical infrastructure at OSU and develop an analytical capability for an ice core measurement currently not available in the United States.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.; Mix, Alan", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Developing a glacial-interglacial record of delta-13C of atmospheric CO2", "uid": "p0000260", "west": null}, {"awards": "0838955 Gast, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((71.504166 -76.159164,71.5142214 -76.159164,71.5242768 -76.159164,71.5343322 -76.159164,71.5443876 -76.159164,71.554443 -76.159164,71.5644984 -76.159164,71.5745538 -76.159164,71.5846092 -76.159164,71.5946646 -76.159164,71.60472 -76.159164,71.60472 -76.2018032,71.60472 -76.2444424,71.60472 -76.2870816,71.60472 -76.3297208,71.60472 -76.37236,71.60472 -76.4149992,71.60472 -76.4576384,71.60472 -76.5002776,71.60472 -76.5429168,71.60472 -76.585556,71.5946646 -76.585556,71.5846092 -76.585556,71.5745538 -76.585556,71.5644984 -76.585556,71.554443 -76.585556,71.5443876 -76.585556,71.5343322 -76.585556,71.5242768 -76.585556,71.5142214 -76.585556,71.504166 -76.585556,71.504166 -76.5429168,71.504166 -76.5002776,71.504166 -76.4576384,71.504166 -76.4149992,71.504166 -76.37236,71.504166 -76.3297208,71.504166 -76.2870816,71.504166 -76.2444424,71.504166 -76.2018032,71.504166 -76.159164))", "dataset_titles": "Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600103", "doi": "10.15784/600103", "keywords": "Biota; Microbiology; NBP0305; NBP0405; NBP0508; NBP1101; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Gast, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600103"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eMost organisms meet their carbon and energy needs using photosynthesis (phototrophy) or ingestion/assimilation of organic substances (heterotrophy). However, a nutritional strategy that combines phototrophy and heterotrophy - mixotrophy - is geographically and taxonomically widespread in aquatic systems. While the presence of mixotrophs in the Southern Ocean is known only recently, preliminary evidence indicates a significant role in Southern Ocean food webs. Recent work on Southern Ocean dinoflagellate, Kleptodinium, suggests that it sequesters functional chloroplasts of the bloom-forming haptophyte, Phaeocystis antarctica. This dinoflagellate is abundant in the Ross Sea, has been reported elsewhere in the Southern Ocean, and may have a circumpolar distribution. By combining nutritional modes. mixotrophy may offer competitive advantages over pure autotrophs and heterotrophs. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe goals of this project are to understand the importance of alternative nutritional strategies for Antarctic species that combine phototrophic and phagotrophic processes in the same organism. The research will combine field investigations of plankton and ice communities in the Southern Ocean with laboratory experiments on Kleptodinium and recently identified mixotrophs from our Antarctic culture collections. The research will address: 1) the relative contributions of phototrophy and phagotrophy in Antarctic mixotrophs; 2) the nature of the relationship between Kleptodinium and its kleptoplastids; 3) the distributions and abundances of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium in the Southern Ocean during austral spring/summer; and 4) the impacts of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium on prey populations, the factors influencing these behaviors and the physiological conditions of these groups in their natural environment. The project will contribute to the maintenance of a culture collection of heterotrophic, phototrophic and mixotrophic Antarctic protists that are available to the scientific community, and it will train graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University. Research findings and activities will be summarized for non-scientific audiences through the PIs\u0027 websites and through other public forums, and will involve middle school teachers via collaboration with COSEE-New England.", "east": 71.60472, "geometry": "POINT(71.554443 -76.37236)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.159164, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gast, Rebecca", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.585556, "title": "Collaborative Research: Alternative Nutritional Strategies in Antarctic Protists", "uid": "p0000490", "west": 71.504166}, {"awards": "0739783 Junge, Karen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600083", "doi": "10.15784/600083", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Microbiology; Oceans; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Junge, Karen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600083"}], "date_created": "Wed, 25 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The mechanisms enabling bacteria to be metabolically active at very low temperatures are of considerable importance to polar microbial ecology, astrobiology, climate and cryopreservation. This research program has two main objectives. The first is to investigate metabolic activities and gene expression of polar marine psychrophilic bacteria when confronted with freezing conditions at temperatures above the eutectic of seawater (\u003c54C) to unveil cold adaptation mechanisms with relevance to wintertime sea-ice ecology. The second objective is to discern if psychrophilic processes of leucine incorporation into proteins, shown to occur to -196C, amount to metabolic activity providing for the survival of cells or are merely biochemical reactions still possible in flash-frozen samples without any effect on survival. We will examine extracellular and intracellular processes of psychrophilic activity above and below the eutectic by (i) determining the temperature range of metabolic activities such as DNA synthesis, carbon utilization, respiration and ATP generation using radioactive tracer technology, including a control at liquid helium temperature (-268.9C), (ii) analyzing gene expression in ice using whole genome and microarray analyses and iii) examining the role of exopolymeric substances (EPS) and ice micro-physics for the observed activity using an in-situ microscopy technique. Results of the proposed research can be expected to aid in the determination of cellular and genetic strategies that allow cells to maintain activity at extremely low temperatures within an icy matrix and/or to resume activity again when more growth-permissive conditions are encountered. The research is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving three different institutions with participants in Oceanography, Genomics, and Geophysical Sciences. The proposed activity will support the beginning professional career of a female researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Junge, Karen", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Metabolic Activities and Gene Expression of Marine Psychrophiles in Cold Ice", "uid": "p0000673", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0944764 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age; High-resolution Atmospheric CO2 during 7.4-9.0 ka", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609527", "doi": "10.7265/N5QF8QT5", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; WAISCORES", "people": "Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "High-resolution Atmospheric CO2 during 7.4-9.0 ka", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609527"}, {"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Byrd Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}, {"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}, {"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to create new, unprecedented high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) records spanning intervals of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period and the early Holocene. The proposed work will utilize high-precision methods on existing ice cores from high accumulation sites such as Siple Dome and Byrd Station, Antarctica and will improve our understanding of how fast CO2 can change naturally, how its variations are linked with climate, and, combined with a coupled climate-carbon cycle model, will clarify the role of terrestrial and oceanic processes during past abrupt changes of climate and CO2. The intellectual merit of this work is that CO2 is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and understanding its past variations, its sources and sinks, and how they are linked to climate change is a major goal of the climate research community. This project will produce high quality data on centennial to multi-decadal time scales. Such high-resolution work has not been conducted before because of insufficient analytical precision, slow experimental procedures in previous studies, or lack of available samples. The proposed research will complement future high-resolution studies from WAIS Divide ice cores and will provide ice core CO2 records for the target age intervals, which are in the zone of clathrate formation in the WAIS ice cores. Clathrate hydrate is a phase composed of air and ice. CO2 analyses have historically been less precise in clathrate ice than in ?bubbly ice? such as the Siple Dome ice core that will be analyzed in the proposed project. High quality, high-resolution results from specific intervals in Siple Dome that we propose to analyze will provide important data for verifying the WAIS Divide record. The broader impacts of the work are that current models show a large uncertainty of future climate-carbon cycle interactions. The results of this proposed work will be used for testing coupled carbon cycle-climate models and may contribute to reducing this uncertainty. The project will contribute to the training of several undergraduate students and a full-time technician. Both will learn analytical techniques and the basic science involved. Minorities and female students will be highly encouraged to participate in this project. Outreach efforts will include participation in news media interviews, at a local festival celebrating art, science and technology, and giving seminar presentations in the US and foreign countries. The OSU ice core laboratory has begun a collaboration with a regional science museum and is developing ideas to build an exhibition booth to make public be aware of climate change and ice core research. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and at other similar archives per the OPP data policy.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CO2 ANALYZERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; CO2 Concentrations; Ice Core Gas Age; CO2 Uncertainty; LABORATORY; Ice Core Depth; Not provided; CH4 Concentrations", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "NOT APPLICABLE; NOT APPLICABLE", "persons": "Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Atmospheric CO2 and Abrupt Climate Change", "uid": "p0000179", "west": null}, {"awards": "0823101 Ducklow, Hugh", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1301", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002731", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1301", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1301"}, {"dataset_uid": "001425", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1301"}], "date_created": "Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Since 1990, Palmer LTER (PAL) research has been guided by the hypothesis that variability in the polar marine ecosystem is mechanistically coupled to changes in the annual advance, retreat and spatial extent of sea ice. Since that time, the hypothesis has been modified to incorporate climate migration, i.e. the displacement of a cold, dry polar climate by a warm, moist climate regime in the northern component of the PAL region, producing fundamental changes in food web structure and elemental cycling. The observed northern changes are affecting all trophic levels and elemental cycling, and the primary mechanism of change involves match-mismatch dynamics. The proposed research builds on previous findings, with a new emphasis on process studies and modeling to elucidate the mechanistic links between teleconnections, climate change, physical oceanographic forcing and ecosystem dynamics. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that regional warming and sea ice decline associated with historical and on-going climate migration in the northern part of the study area have altered key phenological relationships, leading to changes in species distributions, increasing trophic mismatches and changes in habitat, food availability, ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Through targeted process studies linked to numerical model simulations, the research also will test the hypothesis that deep cross-shelf canyons characterizing the core study region are focal areas for ecosystem processes that result in predictable, elevated food resources for top-predators. The effort includes the addition of 3 new PIs: a zooplankton ecologist with expertise in biogeochemical fluxes, a phytoplankton ecologist focusing on bio-optics and autonomous observations using gliders, and a numerical simulation modeler specializing in coupled global models of ocean circulation, plankton ecology and biogeochemical cycles. The program will add trace metal sampling and analysis, moored physical oceanographic sensors, a moored sediment trap in the south, drifting sediment traps and stable carbon (del 13C) and nitrogen (del 15N) isotope analyses. Missions lasting up to 45 days using gliders deployed before, during and after summer cruises will, along with moorings and satellite remote sensing of sea ice, ocean color, sea surface temperatures and wind fields, greatly extend the observational program in space and time. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSince its inception, PAL has been a leader in Information Management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic and LTER communities. PAL has designed and deployed a new information infrastructure with a relational database architecture to facilitate data distribution and sharing. The Education and Outreach program capitalizes on the public\u0027s fascination with Antarctica to promote scientific literacy from kindergarten students to adult citizens concerned with climate change and environmental sustainability. Through communicating results to the public and working with scientific assessment bodies (e.g., IPCC) and Antarctic Treaty parties to protect Earth\u0027s last frontier, PAL researchers contribute to the national scientific agenda and the greater public benefit.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e PROFILERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ducklow, Hugh", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": null, "title": "Palmer, Antarctica Long Term Ecological Research Project", "uid": "p0000874", "west": null}, {"awards": "1039365 Rimmer, Susan", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "The Permian-Triassic Transition in Antarctica: Evaluating the Rates and Variability of Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in Terrestrial Organic Matter", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600121", "doi": "10.15784/600121", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Solid Earth; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Rimmer, Susan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Permian-Triassic Transition in Antarctica: Evaluating the Rates and Variability of Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in Terrestrial Organic Matter", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600121"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project studies the Permian-Triassic extinction event as recorded in sedimentary rocks from the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Two hundred and fifty million years ago most life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. The cause is a subject of great debate. Researchers have identified a unique stratigraphic section near Shackleton glacier laid down during the extinction event. Organic matter from these deposits will be analyzed by density gradient centrifugation (DGC), which will offer detailed information on the carbon isotope composition. The age of these layers will be precisely dated by U/Pb-zircon-dating of intercalated volcanics. Combined, these results will offer detailed constraints on the timing and duration of carbon isotope excursions during the extinction, and offer insight into the coupling of marine and terrestrial carbon cycles. The broader impacts of this project include graduate and undergraduate student research, K12 outreach and teacher involvement, and societal relevance of the results, since the P/T extinction may have been caused by phenomena such as methane release, which could accompany global warming.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rimmer, Susan", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Permian -Triassic Transition in Antarctica: Evaluating the Rates and Variability of Carbon Isotope Fluctuatios in Terrestrial Organic Matter", "uid": "p0000507", "west": null}, {"awards": "0739766 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "dataset_titles": "WAIS Divide Ice Core CO2", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609651", "doi": "10.7265/N5DV1GTZ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Marcott, Shaun", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice Core CO2", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609651"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Brook 0739766\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to create a 25,000-year high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from the WAIS Divide ice core. The site has high ice accumulation rate, relatively cold temperatures, and annual layering that should be preserved back to 40,000 years, all prerequisite for preserving a high quality, well-dated CO2 record. The new record will be used to examine relationships between Antarctic climate, Northern Hemisphere climate, and atmospheric CO2 on glacial-interglacial to centennial time scales, at unprecedented temporal resolution. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is simply that CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that humans directly impact, and understanding the sources, sinks, and controls of atmospheric CO2 is a major goal for the global scientific community. Accurate chronology and detailed records are primary requirements for developing and testing models that explain and predict CO2 variability. The proposed work has several broader impacts. It contributes to the training of a post-doctoral researcher, who will transfer to a research faculty position during the award period and who will participate in graduate teaching and guest lecture in undergraduate courses. An undergraduate researcher will gain valuable lab training and conduct independent research. Bringing the results of\u003cbr/\u003ethe proposed work to the classroom will enrich courses taught by the PI. Outreach efforts will expose pre-college students to ice core research. The proposed work will enhance the laboratory facilities for ice core research at OSU, insuring that the capability for CO2 measurements exists for future projects. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and other similar archives, per OPP policy. Highly significant results will be disseminated to the news media through OSU?s very effective News and Communications group. Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas that humans are directly changing. Understanding how CO2 and climate are linked on all time scales is necessary for predicting the future behavior of the carbon cycle and climate system, primarily to insure that the appropriate processes are represented in carbon cycle/climate models. Part of the proposed work emphasizes the relationship of CO2 and abrupt climate change. Understanding how future abrupt change might impact the carbon cycle is an important issue for society.", "east": -112.08, "geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Carbon Dioxide; FIELD INVESTIGATION; CO2; Wais Divide-project; Ice Core; Antarctica; Climate; Gas Chromatography; Antarctic Ice Core; LABORATORY", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -79.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Marcott, Shaun; Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.47, "title": "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change: The WAIS Divide Ice Core Record", "uid": "p0000044", "west": -112.08}, {"awards": "0230499 Kieber, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.99998 -43.58056,-143.999984 -43.58056,-107.999988 -43.58056,-71.999992 -43.58056,-35.999996 -43.58056,0 -43.58056,35.999996 -43.58056,71.999992 -43.58056,107.999988 -43.58056,143.999984 -43.58056,179.99998 -43.58056,179.99998 -46.971468,179.99998 -50.362376,179.99998 -53.753284,179.99998 -57.144192,179.99998 -60.5351,179.99998 -63.926008,179.99998 -67.316916,179.99998 -70.707824,179.99998 -74.098732,179.99998 -77.48964,143.999984 -77.48964,107.999988 -77.48964,71.999992 -77.48964,35.999996 -77.48964,0 -77.48964,-35.999996 -77.48964,-71.999992 -77.48964,-107.999988 -77.48964,-143.999984 -77.48964,-179.99998 -77.48964,-179.99998 -74.098732,-179.99998 -70.707824,-179.99998 -67.316916,-179.99998 -63.926008,-179.99998 -60.5351,-179.99998 -57.144192,-179.99998 -53.753284,-179.99998 -50.362376,-179.99998 -46.971468,-179.99998 -43.58056))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001616", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0409"}], "date_created": "Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Areas of the Southern Ocean have spectacular blooms of phytoplankton during the austral spring and early summer. One of the dominant phytoplankton species, the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, is a prolific producer of the organic sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and Phaeocystis blooms are associated with some of the world\u0027s highest concentrations of DMSP and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). Sulfur, in the form of DMS, is transferred from the oceans to the atmosphere and can affect the chemistry of precipitation and influence cloud properties and possibly climate. DMSP and DMS are also quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur and energy flows in many marine food webs, although very little information is available on these processes in high latitude systems. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will study how solar radiation and iron cycling affect DMSP and DMS production by phytoplankton, and the subsequent utilization of these labile forms of organic matter by the microbial food web. Four interrelated hypotheses will be tested in field-based experiments and in situ observations: 1) solar radiation, including enhanced UV-B due to seasonal ozone depletion, plays an important role in determining the net ecosystem production of DMS in the Ross Sea; 2) development of shallow mixed layers promotes the accumulation of DMS in surface waters, because of enhanced exposure of plankton communities to high doses of solar radiation; 3) DMSP production and turnover represent a significant part of the carbon and sulfur flux through polar food webs; 4) bloom development and resulting nutrient depletion (e.g., iron) will result in high production rates of DMSP and high DMS concentrations and atmospheric fluxes. Results from this study will greatly improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms controlling DMSP and DMS concentrations in polar waters, thereby improving our ability to predict DMS fluxes to the atmosphere from this important climatic region. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBoth Drs. Kieber and Kiene actively engage high school, undergraduate and graduate students in their research and are involved in formal programs that target underrepresented groups (NSF-REU and the American Chemical Society-SEED). This project will continue this type of educational outreach. The PIs also teach undergraduate and graduate courses and incorporation of research experiences into their classes will enrich student learning experiences.", "east": 179.99998, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.58056, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kiene, Ronald", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.48964, "title": "Collaborative Research: Impact of Solar Radiation and Nutrients on Biogeochemical Cycling of DMSP and DMS in the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000582", "west": -179.99998}, {"awards": "0839039 Kustka, Adam", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1101; Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Adare Basin near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1101 ", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601343", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Mooring; NBP1101; Ross Sea; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Huber, Bruce; Gordon, Arnold", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Adare Basin near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1101 ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601343"}, {"dataset_uid": "002653", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1101", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1101"}], "date_created": "Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn interdisciplinary team of researchers will focus on describing the high productivity patchiness observed in phytoplankton blooms in the mid to late summer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Key hypotheses to be tested and extended are that intrusions of nutrient and micro nutrient (e.g. Fe) rich water masses of the Antarctic modified circumpolar deep water (CDW) up onto continental shelves act to control the biogeochemical response of a large area of the productive Ross Sea coastal region. It is believed that this enhanced productivity may be a significant contributing factor to the global carbon cycle. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA novel sampling strategy to be used to test the above hypotheses will employ a remotely controlled deep (1000m) glider (AUV) to locate and map CDW in near real time measuring C (conductivity), T (temperature), D (pressure) and apparent optical properties, and which will serve to direct further ship-based sampling. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe adaptive coordination of a polar research vessel with an AUV additionally provides an opportunity to engage in formal and informal education and public outreach on issues in polar research.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kohut, Josh", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborate Research:Modified Circumpolar Deep Water Intrusions as an Iron Source to the Summer Ross Sea Ecosystem", "uid": "p0000843", "west": null}, {"awards": "0230497 Kiene, Ronald", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0409", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002640", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0409", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0409"}, {"dataset_uid": "001616", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0409"}], "date_created": "Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Areas of the Southern Ocean have spectacular blooms of phytoplankton during the austral spring and early summer. One of the dominant phytoplankton species, the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, is a prolific producer of the organic sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and Phaeocystis blooms are associated with some of the world\u0027s highest concentrations of DMSP and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). Sulfur, in the form of DMS, is transferred from the oceans to the atmosphere and can affect the chemistry of precipitation and influence cloud properties and possibly climate. DMSP and DMS are also quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur and energy flows in many marine food webs, although very little information is available on these processes in high latitude systems. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will study how solar radiation and iron cycling affect DMSP and DMS production by phytoplankton, and the subsequent utilization of these labile forms of organic matter by the microbial food web. Four interrelated hypotheses will be tested in field-based experiments and in situ observations: 1) solar radiation, including enhanced UV-B due to seasonal ozone depletion, plays an important role in determining the net ecosystem production of DMS in the Ross Sea; 2) development of shallow mixed layers promotes the accumulation of DMS in surface waters, because of enhanced exposure of plankton communities to high doses of solar radiation; 3) DMSP production and turnover represent a significant part of the carbon and sulfur flux through polar food webs; 4) bloom development and resulting nutrient depletion (e.g., iron) will result in high production rates of DMSP and high DMS concentrations and atmospheric fluxes. Results from this study will greatly improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms controlling DMSP and DMS concentrations in polar waters, thereby improving our ability to predict DMS fluxes to the atmosphere from this important climatic region. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBoth Drs. Kieber and Kiene actively engage high school, undergraduate and graduate students in their research and are involved in formal programs that target underrepresented groups (NSF-REU and the American Chemical Society-SEED). This project will continue this type of educational outreach. The PIs also teach undergraduate and graduate courses and incorporation of research experiences into their classes will enrich student learning experiences.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kiene, Ronald", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Impact of Solar Radiation and Nutrients on Biogeochemical Cycling of DMSP and DMS in the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000832", "west": null}, {"awards": "0838866 Buesseler, Ken", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-75 -62,-74 -62,-73 -62,-72 -62,-71 -62,-70 -62,-69 -62,-68 -62,-67 -62,-66 -62,-65 -62,-65 -62.8,-65 -63.6,-65 -64.4,-65 -65.2,-65 -66,-65 -66.8,-65 -67.6,-65 -68.4,-65 -69.2,-65 -70,-66 -70,-67 -70,-68 -70,-69 -70,-70 -70,-71 -70,-72 -70,-73 -70,-74 -70,-75 -70,-75 -69.2,-75 -68.4,-75 -67.6,-75 -66.8,-75 -66,-75 -65.2,-75 -64.4,-75 -63.6,-75 -62.8,-75 -62))", "dataset_titles": "data deposited with Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) repository.", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000215", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "data deposited with Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) repository.", "url": "http://pal.lternet.edu/data/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBy using a tool-box of particle flux and characterization techniques appropriate to the study of particulate organic carbon fluxes out of the upper sunlit zone, WHOI researchers will attempt to evaluate the so called \u0027biological pump\u0027 term at the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL) site in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The goal of these measurements is to describe the seasonal dynamics of production, export (sinking) and at-depth remineralization rates of organic matter produced in the Antarctic photic zone. This should lead to a better understanding of the biogeochemical controls on the carbon cycle in this difficult to access region. Additionally, how much of the newly fixed organic carbon is exported off the shelf, effectively driving an influx of atmospheric (including anthropogenic) CO2 to be sequestered into the deep ocean is not presently known. Comparison of prior time series sediment traps in the WAP seem to indicate smaller sinking C fluxes than other, as equally as productive Antarctic coastal regions, e.g. the Ross Sea. New observations and modeling activities will attempt to explain this discrepancy, and to account for the apparently inefficient particle export. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\"", "east": -65.0, "geometry": "POINT(-70 -66)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Buesseler, Ken; Valdes, James", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "LTER", "repositories": "LTER", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -70.0, "title": "WAPflux - New Tools to Study the Fate of Phytoplankton Production in the West Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000686", "west": -75.0}, {"awards": "0944474 Robinson, Laura", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.5 -54.5,-66.95 -54.5,-63.4 -54.5,-59.85 -54.5,-56.3 -54.5,-52.75 -54.5,-49.2 -54.5,-45.65 -54.5,-42.1 -54.5,-38.55 -54.5,-35 -54.5,-35 -55.2,-35 -55.9,-35 -56.6,-35 -57.3,-35 -58,-35 -58.7,-35 -59.4,-35 -60.1,-35 -60.8,-35 -61.5,-38.55 -61.5,-42.1 -61.5,-45.65 -61.5,-49.2 -61.5,-52.75 -61.5,-56.3 -61.5,-59.85 -61.5,-63.4 -61.5,-66.95 -61.5,-70.5 -61.5,-70.5 -60.8,-70.5 -60.1,-70.5 -59.4,-70.5 -58.7,-70.5 -58,-70.5 -57.3,-70.5 -56.6,-70.5 -55.9,-70.5 -55.2,-70.5 -54.5))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Historic Perspectives on Climate and Biogeography from Deep-Sea Corals in the Drake Passage", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001451", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1103"}, {"dataset_uid": "600114", "doi": "10.15784/600114", "keywords": "Biota; Corals; Cruise Report; Drake Passage; NBP1103; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Laura", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Historic Perspectives on Climate and Biogeography from Deep-Sea Corals in the Drake Passage", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600114"}], "date_created": "Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Polar oceans are the main sites of deep-water formation and are critical to the exchange of heat and carbon between the deep ocean and the atmosphere. This award ?Historic perspectives on climate and biogeography from deep-sea corals in the Drake Passage? will address the following specific research questions: What was the radiocarbon content of the Southern Ocean during the last glacial maximum and during past rapid climate change events? and What are the major controls on the past and present distribution of cold-water corals within the Drake Passage and adjacent continental shelves? Testing these overall questions will allow the researchers to better understand how processes in the Southern Ocean are linked to climate change over millennia. This award is being funded by the Antarctic Earth Sciences Program of NSF?s Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eINTELLECTUAL MERIT: The skeletons of deep-sea corals are abundant in the Southern Ocean, and can be dated using U-series techniques making them a useful archive of oceanographic history. By pairing U-series and radiocarbon analyses the awardees can reconstruct the radiocarbon content of seawater in the past, allowing them to address the research questions raised above. Collection of living deep-sea corals along with environmental data will allow them to address the broader biogeography questions posed above as well. The awardees are uniquely qualified to answer these questions in their respective labs via cutting edge technologies, and they have shown promising results from a preliminary pilot cruise to the area in 2008.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: The proposed paleoclimate research will make significant advances toward constraining the Southern Ocean?s influence on global climate, specifically it should help set the bounds for the upper limits on how fast the ocean circulation might change in this region of the world, which is of high societal relevance in this era of changing climate. Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating undergraduate through post-doctoral students into research programs; ii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by providing information via a cruise website and in-school talks, iii) making the data collected available to the wider research community via data archives such as Seamounts Online and the Seamount Biogeographic Network and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as interviews in the popular media.", "east": -35.0, "geometry": "POINT(-52.75 -58)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -54.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Laura", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -61.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Historic Perspectives on Climate and Biogeography from Deep-sea Corals in the Drake Passage", "uid": "p0000514", "west": -70.5}, {"awards": "0739598 Aydin, Murat; 0739491 Sowers, Todd", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Alkanes in Firn Air Samples, Antarctica and Greenland; Methane Isotopes in South Pole Firn Air, 2008", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609504", "doi": "10.7265/N5X9287C", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Greenland; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; WAIS Divide", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Alkanes in Firn Air Samples, Antarctica and Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609504"}, {"dataset_uid": "609502", "doi": "10.7265/N55T3HFP", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Isotope; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Methane Isotopes in South Pole Firn Air, 2008", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609502"}], "date_created": "Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to make measurements of methane and other trace gases in firn air collected at South Pole, Antarctica. The analyses will include: methane isotopes (delta-13CH4 and delta-DCH4), light non-methane hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, and n-butane), sulfur gases (COS, CS2), and methyl halides (CH3Cl and CH3Br). The atmospheric burdens of these trace gases reflect changes in atmospheric OH, biomass burning, biogenic activity in terrestrial, oceanic, and wetland ecosystems, and industrial/agricultural activity. The goal of this project is to develop atmospheric histories for these trace gases over the last century through examination of depth profiles of these gases in South Pole firn air. The project will involve two phases: 1) a field campaign at South Pole, Antarctica to drill two firn holes and fill a total of ~200 flasks from depths reaching 120 m, 2) analysis of firn air at University of California, Irvine, Penn State University, and several other collaborating laboratories. Atmospheric histories will be inferred from the measurements using a one dimensional advective/diffusive model of firn air transport. This study will provide new information about the recent changes in atmospheric levels of these gases, providing about a 90 year long time series record that connects the earlier surface and firn air measurements to present day. The project will also explore the possibility of in- situ production of light non-methane hydrocarbons in firn air that is relevant to the interpretation of ice core records. The broader impacts of this research are that it has the potential for significant societal impact by improving our understanding of climate change and man\u0027s input to the atmosphere. The results of this work will be disseminated through the peer review process, and will contribute to environmental assessments, such as the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Assessment and the Word Meteorological Organization (WMO) Stratospheric Ozone Assessment. This research will provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and will contribute to a teacher training program for K-12 teachers in minority school districts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GC-MS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; Isotope; Firn Air Chemistry; Firn Air Isotope Measurements; Not provided; LABORATORY; South Pole; Firn; Delta 13C; Carbon-13; Mass Spectrometer; Deuterium; Mass Spectrometry; Firn Air Samples; Carbon; Gas Chromatography; Polar Firn Air; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Methane; Antarctica; Firn Air Isotopes; Delta Deuterium; FIELD SURVEYS; Firn Air; Chromatography; Methane Isotopes; Carbon Isotopes; Stable Isotopes", "locations": "Antarctica; South Pole", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric; Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Methane Isotopes, Hydrocarbons, and other Trace Gases in South Pole Firn Air", "uid": "p0000162", "west": null}, {"awards": "0902957 Robinson, Laura", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.5 -54.5,-66.95 -54.5,-63.4 -54.5,-59.85 -54.5,-56.3 -54.5,-52.75 -54.5,-49.2 -54.5,-45.65 -54.5,-42.1 -54.5,-38.55 -54.5,-35 -54.5,-35 -55.2,-35 -55.9,-35 -56.6,-35 -57.3,-35 -58,-35 -58.7,-35 -59.4,-35 -60.1,-35 -60.8,-35 -61.5,-38.55 -61.5,-42.1 -61.5,-45.65 -61.5,-49.2 -61.5,-52.75 -61.5,-56.3 -61.5,-59.85 -61.5,-63.4 -61.5,-66.95 -61.5,-70.5 -61.5,-70.5 -60.8,-70.5 -60.1,-70.5 -59.4,-70.5 -58.7,-70.5 -58,-70.5 -57.3,-70.5 -56.6,-70.5 -55.9,-70.5 -55.2,-70.5 -54.5))", "dataset_titles": "LGM and Deglacial Radiocarbon from U-series Dated Drake Passage Deep-sea Corals", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600111", "doi": "10.15784/600111", "keywords": "Biota; Corals; Drake Passage; Geochronology; NBP0805; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Radiocarbon; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Laura", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "LGM and Deglacial Radiocarbon from U-series Dated Drake Passage Deep-sea Corals", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600111"}], "date_created": "Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The proposal seeks funds to continue a follow-up analytical work of deep-sea corals collected in the Drake Passage during a research cruise. The project\u0027s goal is paleo-climate research looking to constrain the depth structure and time evolution of the radiocarbon content of the Southern Ocean during the glacial and deglaciation. Radiocarbon is a versatile tracer of past climate; its radioactive decay provides an internal clock with which to assess the rates of processes, and it can be used to trace the movement of carbon through the Earth\u0027s system. It enters the ocean through air-sea gas exchange, so processes that limits this will, therefore, reduce the radiocarbon content of both surface and deep waters. The Southern Ocean is a critical location for exchange of heat and carbon between the deep-ocean and atmospheric reservoirs, and the deep waters formed there fill large volumes of the global deep and intermediate oceans. As strong currents tend to scour away sediments, carbonate preservation is limited, and radiocarbon reservoir ages are poorly constrained, many traditional paleoceanographic techniques become impractical. It is proposed to alleviate these difficulties analyzing the chemical composition of deep-sea coral skeletons. Their aragonitic skeletons can be precisely dated using U-series decay, and when coupled with radiocarbon analyses will allow to calculate the C14/C12 ratio of the past water column.", "east": -35.0, "geometry": "POINT(-52.75 -58)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -54.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Laura", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -61.5, "title": "LGM and Deglacial Radiocarbon from U-series Dated Drake Passage Deep-sea Corals", "uid": "p0000519", "west": -70.5}, {"awards": "0739780 Taylor, Kendrick", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.117 -79.666)", "dataset_titles": "WAIS DIVIDE - High Temporal Resolution Black Carbon Record of Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600142", "doi": "10.15784/600142", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Black Carbon; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS DIVIDE - High Temporal Resolution Black Carbon Record of Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600142"}], "date_created": "Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Edwards/0739780\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to develop a 2,000-year high-temporal resolution record of biomass burning from the analysis of black carbon in the WAIS Divide bedrock ice core. Pilot data for the WAIS WD05A core demonstrates that we now have the ability to reconstruct this record with minimal impact on the amount of ice available for other projects. The intellectual merit of this project is that black carbon (BC) aerosols result solely from combustion and play a critical but poorly quantified role in global climate forcing and the carbon cycle. When incorporated into snow and ice, BC increases absorption of solar radiation making seasonal snow packs, mountain glaciers, polar ice sheets, and sea ice much more vulnerable to climate warming. BC emissions in the Southern Hemisphere are dominated by biomass burning in the tropical regions of Southern Africa, South America and South Asia. Biomass burning, which results from both climate and human activities, alters the atmospheric composition of greenhouse gases, aerosols and perturbs key biogeochemical cycles. A long-term record of biomass burning is needed to aid in the interpretation of ice core gas composition and will provide important information regarding human impacts on the environment and climate before instrumental records. The broader impacts of the project are that it represents a paradigm shift in our ability to reconstruct the history of fire from ice core records and to understand its impact on atmospheric chemistry and climate over millennial time scales. This type of data is especially needed to drive global circulation model simulations of black carbon aerosols, which have been found to be an important component of global warming and which may be perturbing the hydrologic cycle. The project will also employ undergraduate students and is committed to attracting underrepresented groups to the physical sciences. The project?s outreach component will be conducted as part of the WAIS project outreach program and will reach a wide audience.", "east": -112.117, "geometry": "POINT(-112.117 -79.666)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Chemistry; Not provided; Gas Record; Ice Core; Gas Measurement; Ice Core Gas Composition; Antarctica; LABORATORY; Bedrock Ice Core; Ice Core Gas Records; Wais Project; Greenhouse Gas; Atmospheric Chemistry; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Black Carbon; Biomass Burning; WAIS Divide; FIELD SURVEYS; West Antarctica; Methane", "locations": "Antarctica; West Antarctica; WAIS Divide", "north": -79.666, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.; McConnell, Joseph; Mitchell, Logan E; Sowers, Todd A.; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.666, "title": "WAIS DIVIDE - High Temporal Resolution Black Carbon Record of Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning", "uid": "p0000022", "west": -112.117}, {"awards": "0836112 Smith, Walker; 0836061 Dennett, Mark; 0836144 Yager, Patricia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((100 -69,107 -69,114 -69,121 -69,128 -69,135 -69,142 -69,149 -69,156 -69,163 -69,170 -69,170 -70,170 -71,170 -72,170 -73,170 -74,170 -75,170 -76,170 -77,170 -78,170 -79,163 -79,156 -79,149 -79,142 -79,135 -79,128 -79,121 -79,114 -79,107 -79,100 -79,100 -78,100 -77,100 -76,100 -75,100 -74,100 -73,100 -72,100 -71,100 -70,100 -69))", "dataset_titles": "Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) data; Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000146", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) data", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/2132"}, {"dataset_uid": "600092", "doi": "10.15784/600092", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Oceans; Oden; Oden2008; Sea Ice; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600092"}, {"dataset_uid": "600091", "doi": "10.15784/600091", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Oden; Oden2008; Plankton; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Dennett, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600091"}], "date_created": "Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Convincing evidence now confirms that polar regions are changing rapidly in response to human activities. Changes in sea ice extent and thickness will have profound implications for productivity, food webs and carbon fluxes at high latitudes, since sea ice biota are a significant source of biogenic matter for the ecosystem. While sea ice is often thought to be a barrier to gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, it more likely functions as a source or sink for climate-active gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting organohalogens, due in part to activities of microbes embedded in the sea ice matrix. This project brings together experienced US and Swedish investigators to examine the controls by sea-ice biota on the production and degradation of key climate-active gases in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. We hypothesize that 1) the physical properties of the sea-ice environment will determine the community structure and activities of the sea ice biota; 2) the productivity, biomass, physiological state and species composition of ice algae will determine the production of specific classes of organic carbon, including organohalogens; 3) heterotrophic co-metabolism within the ice will break down these compounds to some extent, depending on the microbial community structure and productivity, and 4) the sea ice to atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and organohalogens will be inversely related. This project will build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers and also train young scientists, including members of underrepresented groups. Dissemination of results will include the scientific literature, and public outreach venues including interactions with a PolarTrec teacher.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(135 -74)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -69.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker; Yager, Patricia; Dennett, Mark", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Controls on climate-active gases by Amundsen Sea ice biota", "uid": "p0000137", "west": 100.0}, {"awards": "9726186 Pilskaln, Cynthia", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0101", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002641", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0101", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0101"}, {"dataset_uid": "002580", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0101", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0101"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "*** 9726186 Pilskaln This proposed work is a study of the biological production and export flux of biogenic matter in response to ventilation of intermediate and deep water masses within the Polar Front zone. It is a collaborative work between the University of Maine and the Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE). The shipboard work is proposed for the Chinese antarctic resupply vessel off Prydz Bay in the Indian Ocean sector. In the austral Spring, this region experiences phytoplankton blooms that are thought to be the result of nutrient transport by the ventilation of intermediate and deep water masses. On an annual basis, it is believed that such blooms are the primary source of particulate organic carbon and biogenic silica flux to the ocean bottom. At this time however no data exists on the amount of particulate organic matter that sinks through the water column, leaving the quantitative relationships between production and export largely undefined in this region. The initial phase of the work consists of setting out a time-series sediment trap mooring at approximately 64 deg S latitude and 73 deg E longitude to take advantage of the historical data set that CHINARE has obtained in this area over the past decade. The biweekly to monthly trap samples will be analyzed for their organic constituents, and in conjunction with primary productivity observations will provide the basic data from which export values can be derived. This work will be carried out in collaboration with the State Oceanic Administration of the People\u0027s Republic of China, and the Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition. In addition to providing time on the antarctic resupply vessel, the SOA will sponsor the shipboard primary productivity experiments and the supporting hydrographic measurements. The collaborating American scientists will provide guidance in making these observations to standards developed for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, and provide the hardware for the moored sediment trap. There will be a mutual sharing between the U.S. and Chinese investigators of all samples and data sets, and the data analysis will be carried out jointly. ***", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Leventer, Amy", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "POC Production and Export in the Indian Ocean Sector of the Southern Ocean: A US-China Collaborative Research Program", "uid": "p0000800", "west": null}, {"awards": "0839069 Yager, Patricia", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1005", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002654", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1005", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1005"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Amundsen Sea Polynya is areally the most productive Antarctic polynya, exhibits higher chlorophyll levels during peak bloom and greater interannual variability than the better-studied Ross Sea Polynya ecosystem. Polynyas may be the key to understanding the future of polar regions as their extent is expected to increase with anthropogenic warming. The project will examine 1) sources of iron to the Amundsen Sea Polynya as a function of climate forcing, 2) phytoplankton community structure in relation to iron supply and mixed-layer depths, 3) the efficiency of the biological pump of carbon to depth and 4) the net flux of carbon as a function of climate and micronutrient forcing. The research also will compare results for the Amundsen Sea to existing data synthesis and modeling efforts for the Palmer LTER and Ross Sea. The project will 1) build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers; 2) investigate climate change implications with broad societal relevance; 3) train new researchers; 4) encourage participation in research science by underrepresented groups, and 5) involve broad dissemination of results via scientific literature and public outreach, including close interactions with NSF-supported PolarTrec and COSEE K-12 teachers.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yager, Patricia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative research aboard Icebreaker Oden: ASPIRE (Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition)", "uid": "p0000844", "west": null}, {"awards": "9909367 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((26.27227 -42.81742,38.414467 -42.81742,50.556664 -42.81742,62.698861 -42.81742,74.841058 -42.81742,86.983255 -42.81742,99.125452 -42.81742,111.267649 -42.81742,123.409846 -42.81742,135.552043 -42.81742,147.69424 -42.81742,147.69424 -45.454494,147.69424 -48.091568,147.69424 -50.728642,147.69424 -53.365716,147.69424 -56.00279,147.69424 -58.639864,147.69424 -61.276938,147.69424 -63.914012,147.69424 -66.551086,147.69424 -69.18816,135.552043 -69.18816,123.409846 -69.18816,111.267649 -69.18816,99.125452 -69.18816,86.983255 -69.18816,74.841058 -69.18816,62.698861 -69.18816,50.556664 -69.18816,38.414467 -69.18816,26.27227 -69.18816,26.27227 -66.551086,26.27227 -63.914012,26.27227 -61.276938,26.27227 -58.639864,26.27227 -56.00279,26.27227 -53.365716,26.27227 -50.728642,26.27227 -48.091568,26.27227 -45.454494,26.27227 -42.81742))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica; NB0101 Expedition Data; Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601177", "doi": "10.15784/601177", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Microscopy; NBP0101; Oceans; Paleoceanography; Paleoclimate; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Corer", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601177"}, {"dataset_uid": "601307", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Mac. Robertson Shelf; Marine Geoscience; Microscope; NBP0101; Paleoclimate; Piston Corer; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Core; Species Abundance", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601307"}, {"dataset_uid": "001879", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NB0101 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0101"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.", "east": 147.69424, "geometry": "POINT(86.983255 -56.00279)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -42.81742, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Leventer, Amy", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.18816, "title": "Quaternary Glacial History and Paleoenvironments of the East Antarctic Margin", "uid": "p0000609", "west": 26.27227}, {"awards": "0732535 Arrigo, Kevin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-130 -67,-127.1 -67,-124.2 -67,-121.3 -67,-118.4 -67,-115.5 -67,-112.6 -67,-109.7 -67,-106.8 -67,-103.9 -67,-101 -67,-101 -67.9,-101 -68.8,-101 -69.7,-101 -70.6,-101 -71.5,-101 -72.4,-101 -73.3,-101 -74.2,-101 -75.1,-101 -76,-103.9 -76,-106.8 -76,-109.7 -76,-112.6 -76,-115.5 -76,-118.4 -76,-121.3 -76,-124.2 -76,-127.1 -76,-130 -76,-130 -75.1,-130 -74.2,-130 -73.3,-130 -72.4,-130 -71.5,-130 -70.6,-130 -69.7,-130 -68.8,-130 -67.9,-130 -67))", "dataset_titles": "GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre Accession# NIO100280", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000212", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GEOTRACES", "science_program": null, "title": "GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre Accession# NIO100280", "url": "http://www.bodc.ac.uk/geotraces/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron\u003cbr/\u003elimitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton\u003cbr/\u003edistribution in the Ross Sea\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Southern Ocean plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, accounting for approximately 25% of total anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the oceans, mainly via primary production. In the Ross Sea, primary production is dominated by two taxa that are distinct in location and timing. Diatoms dominate in the shallow mixed layer of the continental shelf, whereas the colony forming Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) dominate in the more deeply mixed, open regions. Significantly, both groups have vastly different nutrient utilization characteristics, and support very different marine food webs. Their responses to climate change, and the implications for carbon export, are unclear. Previous studies show that light availability and the quality of the light climate (static versus dynamic) play a major role in defining where and when the different phytoplankton taxa bloom. However, iron (Fe) limitation of the algal communities in both the sub-Arctic and the Southern Ocean is now well documented. Moreover, phytoplankton Fe demand varies as a function of irradiance. The main hypothesis of the proposed research is: The interaction between Fe limitation and dynamic irradiance governs phytoplankton distributions in the Ross Sea. Our strategy to test this hypothesis is three-fold: 1) The photoacclimation of the different phytoplankton taxa to different light conditions under Fe limitation will be investigated in experiments in the laboratory under controlled Fe conditions. 2) The photophysiological mechanisms found in these laboratory experiments will then be tested in the field on two cruises with international IPY partners. 3) Finally, data generated during the lab and field parts of the project will be used to parameterize a dynamic light component of the Coupled Ice Atmosphere and Ocean (CIAO) model of the Ross Sea. Using the improved model, we will run future climate scenarios to test the impact of climate change on the phytoplankton community structure, distribution, primary production and carbon export in the Southern Ocean. The proposed research complies with IPY theme\" Understanding Environmental change in Polar Regions\" and includes participation in an international cruise. Detailed model descriptions and all of the results generated from these studies will be made public via a DynaLiFe website. Improving the CIAO model will give us and other IPY partners the opportunity to test the ecological consequences of physiological characteristics observed in Antarctic phytoplankton under current and future climate scenarios. Outreach will include participation in Stanford\u0027s Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford\u0027s School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center.", "east": -101.0, "geometry": "POINT(-115.5 -71.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -67.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Arrigo, Kevin", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "GEOTRACES", "repositories": "GEOTRACES", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron limitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton distribution in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000112", "west": -130.0}, {"awards": "0538479 Seibel, Brad", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166 -77,166.1 -77,166.2 -77,166.3 -77,166.4 -77,166.5 -77,166.6 -77,166.7 -77,166.8 -77,166.9 -77,167 -77,167 -77.1,167 -77.2,167 -77.3,167 -77.4,167 -77.5,167 -77.6,167 -77.7,167 -77.8,167 -77.9,167 -78,166.9 -78,166.8 -78,166.7 -78,166.6 -78,166.5 -78,166.4 -78,166.3 -78,166.2 -78,166.1 -78,166 -78,166 -77.9,166 -77.8,166 -77.7,166 -77.6,166 -77.5,166 -77.4,166 -77.3,166 -77.2,166 -77.1,166 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600055", "doi": "10.15784/600055", "keywords": "Biota; CO2; Mcmurdo Station; Oceans; Ross Island; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Shell Fish; Southern Ocean", "people": "Seibel, Brad", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600055"}], "date_created": "Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in greater oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide can impact marine organisms both via decreased carbonate saturation that affects calcification rates and via disturbance to acid-base (metabolic) physiology. Pteropod molluscs (Thecosomata) form shells made of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate that is highly soluble, suggesting that these organisms may be particularly sensitive to increasing carbon dioxide and reduced carbonate ion concentration. Thecosome pteropods, which dominate the calcium carbonate export south of the Antarctic Polar Front, will be the first major group of marine calcifying organisms to experience carbonate undersaturation within parts of their present-day geographical ranges as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. An unusual, co-evolved relationship between thecosomes and their specialized gymnosome predators provides a unique backdrop against which to assess the physiological and ecological importance of elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Pteropods are functionally important components of the Antarctic ecosystem with potential to influence phytoplankton stocks, carbon export, and dimethyl sulfide levels that, in turn, influence global climate through ocean-atmosphere feedback loops. The research will quantify the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on a dominant aragonitic pteropod, Limacina helicina, and its specialist predator, the gymnosome Clione antarctica, in the Ross Sea through laboratory experimentation. Results will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific understanding in this field. The project involves collaboration between researchers at a predominantly undergraduate institution with a significant enrollment of students that are typically underrepresented in the research environment (California State University San Marcos - CSUSM) and at a Ph.D.-granting institution (University of Rhode Island - URI). The program will promote education and learning through the joint education of undergraduate students and graduate students at CSUSM and URI as part of a research team, as well as through the teaching activities of the principal investigators. Dr. Keating, CSUSM professor of science education, will participate in the McMurdo fieldwork and lead the outreach opportunities for the project.", "east": 167.0, "geometry": "POINT(166.5 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Seibel, Brad", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000694", "west": 166.0}, {"awards": "0636723 Helly, John; 0636543 Murray, Alison; 0636440 Long, David; 0636319 Shaw, Timothy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-55 -52,-53.5 -52,-52 -52,-50.5 -52,-49 -52,-47.5 -52,-46 -52,-44.5 -52,-43 -52,-41.5 -52,-40 -52,-40 -53.3,-40 -54.6,-40 -55.9,-40 -57.2,-40 -58.5,-40 -59.8,-40 -61.1,-40 -62.4,-40 -63.7,-40 -65,-41.5 -65,-43 -65,-44.5 -65,-46 -65,-47.5 -65,-49 -65,-50.5 -65,-52 -65,-53.5 -65,-55 -65,-55 -63.7,-55 -62.4,-55 -61.1,-55 -59.8,-55 -58.5,-55 -57.2,-55 -55.9,-55 -54.6,-55 -53.3,-55 -52))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Database; Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean; Free Drifting Icebergs as Proliferation Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600064", "doi": "10.15784/600064", "keywords": "Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Oceans; Sea Ice; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea", "people": "Shaw, Tim; Twining, Benjamin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Free Drifting Icebergs as Proliferation Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600064"}, {"dataset_uid": "000134", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Database", "url": "http://www.scp.byu.edu/data/iceberg/database1.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "600067", "doi": "10.15784/600067", "keywords": "Antarctica; NBP0902; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea", "people": "Helly, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600067"}, {"dataset_uid": "600065", "doi": "10.15784/600065", "keywords": "Biota; Geochemistry; NBP0902; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea", "people": "Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600065"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers, disintegrating ice shelves, and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. Our preliminary study of two icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea, an area of high iceberg concentration, showed significant delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by significant enhancement of phytoplankton and zooplankton/micronekton abundance, and primary production surrounding the icebergs. We hypothesize that nutrient enrichment by free-drifting icebergs will increase primary production and sedimentation of organic carbon, thus increasing the draw-down and sequestration of CO2 in the Southern Ocean and impacting the global carbon cycle. Our research addresses the following questions:1) What is the relationship between the physical dynamics of free-drifting icebergs and the Fe and nutrient distributions of the surrounding water column? 2) What is the relationship between Fe and nutrient distributions associated with free-drifting icebergs and the organic carbon dynamics of the ice-attached and surrounding pelagic communities (microbes, zooplankton, micronekton)? 3) What is impact on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the mixed layer? An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to examine iceberg structure and dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and carbon cycling that includes measurement of trace element, nutrient and radionuclide distributions; organic carbon dynamics mediated by microbial, ice-attached and zooplankton communities; and particulate organic carbon export fluxes. Results from this project will further our understanding of the relationship between climate change and carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Our findings will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) as part of the SIOExplorer: Digital Library Project. The OEC allows users to access content, which is classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, and volunteers are important participants in the proposed field and laboratory work. For the K-12 level, a professional writer of children\u0027s books will participate in cruises to produce an account of the expedition and a daily interactive website.", "east": -40.0, "geometry": "POINT(-47.5 -58.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -52.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Twining, Benjamin; Shaw, Tim; Long, David; Murray, Alison; Helly, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "PI website; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Free Drifting Icebergs as Proliferation Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0000511", "west": -55.0}, {"awards": "0636730 Vernet, Maria", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-55 -52,-53.5 -52,-52 -52,-50.5 -52,-49 -52,-47.5 -52,-46 -52,-44.5 -52,-43 -52,-41.5 -52,-40 -52,-40 -53.3,-40 -54.6,-40 -55.9,-40 -57.2,-40 -58.5,-40 -59.8,-40 -61.1,-40 -62.4,-40 -63.7,-40 -65,-41.5 -65,-43 -65,-44.5 -65,-46 -65,-47.5 -65,-49 -65,-50.5 -65,-52 -65,-53.5 -65,-55 -65,-55 -63.7,-55 -62.4,-55 -61.1,-55 -59.8,-55 -58.5,-55 -57.2,-55 -55.9,-55 -54.6,-55 -53.3,-55 -52))", "dataset_titles": "Free-drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600068", "doi": "10.15784/600068", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; NBP0902; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea", "people": "Vernet, Maria", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Free-drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600068"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers, disintegrating ice shelves, and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. Our preliminary study of two icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea, an area of high iceberg concentration, showed significant delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by significant enhancement of phytoplankton and zooplankton/micronekton abundance, and primary production surrounding the icebergs. We hypothesize that nutrient enrichment by free-drifting icebergs will increase primary production and sedimentation of organic carbon, thus increasing the draw-down and sequestration of CO2 in the Southern Ocean and impacting the global carbon cycle. Our research addresses the following questions:1) What is the relationship between the physical dynamics of free-drifting icebergs and the Fe and nutrient distributions of the surrounding water column? 2) What is the relationship between Fe and nutrient distributions associated with free-drifting icebergs and the organic carbon dynamics of the ice-attached and surrounding pelagic communities (microbes, zooplankton, micronekton)? 3) What is impact on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the mixed layer? An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to examine iceberg structure and dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and carbon cycling that includes measurement of trace element, nutrient and radionuclide distributions; organic carbon dynamics mediated by microbial, ice-attached and zooplankton communities; and particulate organic carbon export fluxes. Results from this project will further our understanding of the relationship between climate change and carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Our findings will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) as part of the SIOExplorer: Digital Library Project. The OEC allows users to access content, which is classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, and volunteers are important participants in the proposed field and laboratory work. For the K-12 level, a professional writer of children\u0027s books will participate in cruises to produce an account of the expedition and a daily interactive website.", "east": -40.0, "geometry": "POINT(-47.5 -58.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -52.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Vernet, Maria", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Reseach: Free-drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean.", "uid": "p0000532", "west": -55.0}, {"awards": "0632278 Ducklow, Hugh; 0632389 Murray, Alison", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-77 -62,-75.5 -62,-74 -62,-72.5 -62,-71 -62,-69.5 -62,-68 -62,-66.5 -62,-65 -62,-63.5 -62,-62 -62,-62 -62.7,-62 -63.4,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.8,-62 -65.5,-62 -66.2,-62 -66.9,-62 -67.6,-62 -68.3,-62 -69,-63.5 -69,-65 -69,-66.5 -69,-68 -69,-69.5 -69,-71 -69,-72.5 -69,-74 -69,-75.5 -69,-77 -69,-77 -68.3,-77 -67.6,-77 -66.9,-77 -66.2,-77 -65.5,-77 -64.8,-77 -64.1,-77 -63.4,-77 -62.7,-77 -62))", "dataset_titles": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600061", "doi": "10.15784/600061", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Grzymski, Joseph; Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600061"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of climate warming on Earth, with an increase of 5degrees C in the mean winter temperature in 50 years. Impacts on upper trophic levels are evident, though there have been few, if any studies that have considered the impacts on bacterioplankton in the Southern Ocean. This proposal will characterize the winter bacterioplankton genome, transcriptome, and proteome and discover those features (community composition, genes up-regulated, and proteins expressed) that are essential to winter bacterioplankton survival and livelihood. We have assembled a polar ocean ecology and genomics network including strategic partnerships with Palmer LTER, the British Antarctic Survey\u0027s ocean metagenome program, US and Canadian scientists studying the Arctic Ocean genome, an Australian colleague who specialized in archaeal proteomics, and French colleagues studying Sub-Antarctic and Coastal Adelie Land marine bacterioplankton. The primary objectives of this program are: 1 Describe the differences in diversity and genomic content between austral winter and summer bacterioplankton communities. 2. Investigate the winter-time bacterioplankton growth and cellular signals (mRNA and proteins expressed) in order to understand the specific adaptations key to survival. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOur results will extend from the Antarctic to the Arctic - as the cold, dark, carbon-limited deep seas linking these two systems have many common features. Education and outreach activities target (i) undergraduate and graduate students, hopefully including minority students recruited through the Diversity in Research in Environmental and Marine Sciences (DREAMS) Program at VIMS; (ii) a broad audience with our education and outreach partnerships with The Cousteau Society and with the Census for Antarctic Marine Life program. Data and links to external databases will be listed on the http://genex2.dri.edu website. Sequence data will be publicly accessible in GenBank and IMG-M databases.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-69.5 -65.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Murray, Alison; Grzymski, Joseph; Ducklow, Hugh", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "uid": "p0000091", "west": -77.0}, {"awards": "0003060 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002656", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eQuaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - \"ka\" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eLimited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant \"cold-tongue\" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will collect detrital grains from a variety of \"zero-age\" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSystematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Palmer Deep; Hugo Island; R/V NBP", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Development of a Luminescence Dating Capability for Antarctic Glaciomarine Sediments: Tests of Signal Zeroing at the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000845", "west": null}, {"awards": "9317587 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP9406", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002582", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP9406", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}, {"dataset_uid": "002252", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will conduct a set of process-oriented experiments designed to elucidate the controls of phytoplankton productivity, growth and accumulation as well as the mechanisms which control bacterial abundance and productivity in Antarctic waters. Specifically, the relative photosynthetic and nutrient (nitrate, ammonium) characteristics of diatom- vs. Phaeocystis- dominated assemblages will be examined to test if Phaeocystis simply grows faster under spring conditions in the Ross Sea. Phytoplankton and bacterial biomass, productivity and their interactions will be measured to elucidate the complex physical-chemical-biological interactions which occur. Substantial understanding of the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions will result from this research. Finally, because the Antarctic is the ocean\u0027s largest high-nutrient, low biomass system, and hence has the greatest potential for sequestering carbon dioxide, knowledge of the dynamics of the Ross Sea phytoplankton will also increase our understanding of the carbo n cycle of the Southern Ocean.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bloom Dynamics and Food Web Structure in the Ross Sea: Primary Productivity, New Production and Bacterial Growth", "uid": "p0000802", "west": null}, {"awards": "0542111 Lonsdale, Darcy; 0542456 Caron, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9999 -43.5663,-143.99993 -43.5663,-107.99996 -43.5663,-71.99999 -43.5663,-36.00002 -43.5663,-0.000050000000016 -43.5663,35.99992 -43.5663,71.99989 -43.5663,107.99986 -43.5663,143.99983 -43.5663,179.9998 -43.5663,179.9998 -46.99537,179.9998 -50.42444,179.9998 -53.85351,179.9998 -57.28258,179.9998 -60.71165,179.9998 -64.14072,179.9998 -67.56979,179.9998 -70.99886,179.9998 -74.42793,179.9998 -77.857,143.99983 -77.857,107.99986 -77.857,71.99989 -77.857,35.99992 -77.857,-0.000049999999987 -77.857,-36.00002 -77.857,-71.99999 -77.857,-107.99996 -77.857,-143.99993 -77.857,-179.9999 -77.857,-179.9999 -74.42793,-179.9999 -70.99886,-179.9999 -67.56979,-179.9999 -64.14072,-179.9999 -60.71165,-179.9999 -57.28258,-179.9999 -53.85351,-179.9999 -50.42444,-179.9999 -46.99537,-179.9999 -43.5663))", "dataset_titles": "Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?; Expedition Data; NBP0802 data; Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Ross Sea near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0801", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001517", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0801"}, {"dataset_uid": "000122", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0802 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "600059", "doi": "10.15784/600059", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Crustacea; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Lonsdale, Darcy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600059"}, {"dataset_uid": "601344", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cape Adare; Mooring; NBP0801; Physical Oceanography; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Ross Sea near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0801", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601344"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Recent studies of marine ecosystems show conflicting evidence for trophic cascades, and in particular the relative strength of the crustacean zooplankton-phytoplankton link. The Ross Sea is a natural laboratory for investigating this apparent conflict. It is a site of seasonally high abundances of phytoplankton, characterized by regions of distinct phytoplankton taxa; the southcentral polynya is strongly dominated by the colony-forming prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, while coastal regions of this sea are typically dominated by diatoms or flagellate species. Recent studies indicate that, while the south-central polynya exhibits a massive phytoplankton bloom, the poor food quality of P. antarctica for many crustacean zooplankton prevents direct utilization of much of this phytoplankton bloom. Rather, evidence suggests that indirect utilization of this production may be the primary mechanism by which carbon and energy become available to those higher trophic levels. Specifically, we hypothesize that nano and microzooplankton constitute an important food source for crustacean zooplankton (largely copepods and juvenile euphausiids) during the summer period in the Ross Sea where the phytoplankton assemblage is dominated by the prymnesiophyte. In turn, we also hypothesize that predation by copepods (and other Crustacea) controls and structures the species composition of these protistan assemblages. We will occupy stations in the south-central Ross Sea Polynya (RSP) and Terra Nova Bay (TNB) during austral summer to test these hypotheses. We hypothesize that the diatom species that dominate the phytoplankton assemblage in TNB constitute a direct source of nutrition to herbivorous/omnivorous zooplankton (relative to the situation in the south-central RSP). That is, the contribution of heterotrophic protists to crustacean diets will be reduced in TNB. Our research will address fundamental gaps in our knowledge of food web structure and trophic cascades, and provide better understanding of the flow of carbon and energy within the biological community of this perennially cold sea. The PIs will play active roles in public education (K-12) via curriculum development (on Antarctic biology) and teacher trainer activities in the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE-West), an innovative, NSF-funded program centered at USC and UCLA.", "east": 179.9998, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.5663, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lonsdale, Darcy; Caron, Bruce", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.857, "title": "Collaborative Research: Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?", "uid": "p0000520", "west": -179.9999}, {"awards": "0529815 Smith, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.12004 -52.65918,-65.348168 -52.65918,-62.576296 -52.65918,-59.804424 -52.65918,-57.032552 -52.65918,-54.26068 -52.65918,-51.488808 -52.65918,-48.716936 -52.65918,-45.945064 -52.65918,-43.173192 -52.65918,-40.40132 -52.65918,-40.40132 -53.972709,-40.40132 -55.286238,-40.40132 -56.599767,-40.40132 -57.913296,-40.40132 -59.226825,-40.40132 -60.540354,-40.40132 -61.853883,-40.40132 -63.167412,-40.40132 -64.480941,-40.40132 -65.79447,-43.173192 -65.79447,-45.945064 -65.79447,-48.716936 -65.79447,-51.488808 -65.79447,-54.26068 -65.79447,-57.032552 -65.79447,-59.804424 -65.79447,-62.576296 -65.79447,-65.348168 -65.79447,-68.12004 -65.79447,-68.12004 -64.480941,-68.12004 -63.167412,-68.12004 -61.853883,-68.12004 -60.540354,-68.12004 -59.226825,-68.12004 -57.913296,-68.12004 -56.599767,-68.12004 -55.286238,-68.12004 -53.972709,-68.12004 -52.65918))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0514A", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002668", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0514A", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0514A"}, {"dataset_uid": "001484", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0902"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project seeks to examine the importance of icebergs to the pelagic ecosystem of the North-West Weddell Sea. Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. The highest concentration of icebergs occurs in the NW Weddell Sea, where they drift in a clockwise pattern to the northeast, following the contours of the Antarctic Peninsula through an area dubbed \"Iceberg Alley\". Little is known about the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the pelagic ecosystem of the Weddell Sea or on the Southern Ocean as a whole. It is hypothesized that as drifting islands, icebergs of small to intermediate size (\u003c 10 km in largest dimension) impart unique physical, chemical and biological characteristics to the surrounding water. Three general questions will be asked to address this hypothesis: 1) What are the dynamics (approximate size, abundance and spatial distribution) of free-drifting icebergs on temporal scales of days to months, based on correlation of field measurements with imagery derived from satellite sensors? 2) What is the relationship between the size of free-drifting icebergs and the structure of the associated pelagic communities? 3) What is the estimated combined impact of free-drifting icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea on the biological characteristics of the pelagic zone? This interdisciplinary study will use standard oceanographic sampling coupled with unique methodology for staging shipboard data from all types of sensors and survey methods to determine the sphere of influence for a diverse set of biological factors as a function of iceberg size. The exploratory research proposed here will provide critical data on the effects of atmospheric warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The recent prevalence of free drifting icebergs in the Southern Ocean should have a pronounced enrichment effect on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem, altering community dynamics. Enhanced primary production associated with these icebergs could influence the global carbon cycle since the Southern Ocean is considered a major sink for excess CO2 from the atmosphere. \u003cbr/\u003eThe proposed research will include an innovative education component through the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC), whose focus is to provide a comprehensive view of the oceans, intelligible to non-scientists and researchers alike, with direct access to state-of-the-art databases and selected websites. The OEC will allow users to access content which has been classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. The results from this iceberg project will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the OEC, providing databases documenting the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. These data then will be extrapolated to evaluate the impact of icebergs on the ecosystem of the Weddell Sea. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers and volunteers are an important part of the proposed field and laboratory work.", "east": -40.40132, "geometry": "POINT(-54.26068 -59.226825)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.65918, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Ken", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.79447, "title": "Free Drifting Icebergs: Influence of Floating Islands on Pelagic Ecosystems in the Weddell Sea.", "uid": "p0000551", "west": -68.12004}, {"awards": "0338101 Padman, Laurence", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0603", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002614", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0603", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0603"}, {"dataset_uid": "002615", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0603", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0603"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990\u0027s. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica\u0027s glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth\u0027s magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Padman, Laurence; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Paleohistory of the Larsen Ice Shelf: Phase II", "uid": "p0000827", "west": null}, {"awards": "9814349 Hall, Brenda", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.4838 -52.3532,-68.92937 -52.3532,-67.37494 -52.3532,-65.82051 -52.3532,-64.26608 -52.3532,-62.71165 -52.3532,-61.15722 -52.3532,-59.60279 -52.3532,-58.04836 -52.3532,-56.49393 -52.3532,-54.9395 -52.3532,-54.9395 -53.61625,-54.9395 -54.8793,-54.9395 -56.14235,-54.9395 -57.4054,-54.9395 -58.66845,-54.9395 -59.9315,-54.9395 -61.19455,-54.9395 -62.4576,-54.9395 -63.72065,-54.9395 -64.9837,-56.49393 -64.9837,-58.04836 -64.9837,-59.60279 -64.9837,-61.15722 -64.9837,-62.71165 -64.9837,-64.26608 -64.9837,-65.82051 -64.9837,-67.37494 -64.9837,-68.92937 -64.9837,-70.4838 -64.9837,-70.4838 -63.72065,-70.4838 -62.4576,-70.4838 -61.19455,-70.4838 -59.9315,-70.4838 -58.66845,-70.4838 -57.4054,-70.4838 -56.14235,-70.4838 -54.8793,-70.4838 -53.61625,-70.4838 -52.3532))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001743", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0209"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a two year program to produce a new reconstruction of ice extent, elevation and thickness at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) for the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Peninsula. One field season on Livingston Island will involve mapping the areal extent and geomorphology of glacial drift and determining the elevation and distribution of trimlines. In addition, ice flow direction will be determined by mapping and measuring the elevation of erosional features and the position of erratic boulders. One of the main goals of this work will be to demonstrate whether or not organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating exists in the South Shetland Islands. If so, the age of the deposits will be determined by measuring the carbon-14 age of plant, algal, and fungal remains preserved at the base of the deposits, as well as incorporated marine shells, seal skin and other organic material that may be found in raised beach deposits. Another goal will be to concentrate on the development of relative sea-level curves from 2-3 key areas to show whether or not construction of such curves for the South Shetland Islands is possible. The new reconstruction of ice extent, elevation and thickness at the Last Glacial Maximum for the South Shetland Islands which will be produced by this work will be useful in studies of ocean circulation and ice dynamics in the vicinity of the Drake Passage. It will also contribute to the production of a deglacial chronology which will afford important clues about the mechanisms controlling ice retreat in this region of the southern hemisphere.", "east": -54.9395, "geometry": "POINT(-62.71165 -58.66845)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.3532, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Taylor, Frederick", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.9837, "title": "AMS Radiocarbon Chronology of Glacier Fluctuations in the South Shetland Islands During the Last Glacial/Interglacial Hemicycle:Implications for Global Climate Change", "uid": "p0000596", "west": -70.4838}, {"awards": "9317598 Asper, Vernon", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -43.56582,-144.00001 -43.56582,-108.00002 -43.56582,-72.00003 -43.56582,-36.00004 -43.56582,-0.000049999999987 -43.56582,35.99994 -43.56582,71.99993 -43.56582,107.99992 -43.56582,143.99991 -43.56582,179.9999 -43.56582,179.9999 -46.943299,179.9999 -50.320778,179.9999 -53.698257,179.9999 -57.075736,179.9999 -60.453215,179.9999 -63.830694,179.9999 -67.208173,179.9999 -70.585652,179.9999 -73.963131,179.9999 -77.34061,143.99991 -77.34061,107.99992 -77.34061,71.99993 -77.34061,35.99994 -77.34061,-0.000050000000016 -77.34061,-36.00004 -77.34061,-72.00003 -77.34061,-108.00002 -77.34061,-144.00001 -77.34061,-180 -77.34061,-180 -73.963131,-180 -70.585652,-180 -67.208173,-180 -63.830694,-180 -60.453215,-180 -57.075736,-180 -53.698257,-180 -50.320778,-180 -46.943299,-180 -43.56582))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002252", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9317598 Asper The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will focus on the collection of vertical flux samples which will be analyzed for carbon, nitrogen and total mass flux and also provided to the other investigators for their specific analyses. Profiles of the abundance of large aggregates in the water column using a non- contact photographic method will be made. These data will be used to complement other particle determinations, to investigate the role of these aggregates in particle flux and to determine the mechanisms of particle export as a function of season and phytoplankton species. The end result will be a better understanding of the bloom processes and significant contributions to the data base on aggregates and export mechanisms in this environment.", "east": 179.9999, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.56582, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Asper, Vernon; Smith, Walker", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.34061, "title": "Collaborative Research on Bloom Dynamics and Food Web Structure in the Ross Sea: Vertical Flux of Carbon and Nitrogen", "uid": "p0000646", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "9316035 Gowing, Marcia", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP9406", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002252", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}, {"dataset_uid": "002592", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP9406", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. The focus of this proposal is the role of microzooplankton in controlling the production and fate of carbon during the two types of blooms. Objectives are: 1) to determine biomass, abundance, size and selected species composition of primary producer assemblages, 2) to determine similar features of nano- and microplanktonic heterotrophic assemblages, 3) to measure total community grazing on heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton, 4) to examine which grazers are the major herbivores and bacterivores, and 5) to measure the contribution of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton egesta, sinking of algal cells and colonies, and sinking of protozoan assemblages associated with detritus to the total carbon flux from the euphotic zone through 250 m depth. Water samples for abundance and biomass determinations will be taken and samples will be examined with epifluorescence microscopy. Grazing rates will be measured using the dilution grazing technique and the dual-isotope radiolabeling single cell method. Carbon fluxes will be determined on sinking material collected with particle interceptor traps at the base of the euphotic zone and two deeper depths, using microscopical analysis . An understanding of these processes and other fundamental processes studied by collaborating investigators will contribute to the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in present, past and predicted future sequestration of carbon, as well as in other global elemental cycles.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bloom Dynamics and Food Web Structure in the Ross Sea: Role of Microzooplankton in Controlling Production", "uid": "p0000811", "west": null}, {"awards": "9816049 DeMaster, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90654 -52.35368,-70.220384 -52.35368,-69.534228 -52.35368,-68.848072 -52.35368,-68.161916 -52.35368,-67.47576 -52.35368,-66.789604 -52.35368,-66.103448 -52.35368,-65.417292 -52.35368,-64.731136 -52.35368,-64.04498 -52.35368,-64.04498 -53.639401,-64.04498 -54.925122,-64.04498 -56.210843,-64.04498 -57.496564,-64.04498 -58.782285,-64.04498 -60.068006,-64.04498 -61.353727,-64.04498 -62.639448,-64.04498 -63.925169,-64.04498 -65.21089,-64.731136 -65.21089,-65.417292 -65.21089,-66.103448 -65.21089,-66.789604 -65.21089,-67.47576 -65.21089,-68.161916 -65.21089,-68.848072 -65.21089,-69.534228 -65.21089,-70.220384 -65.21089,-70.90654 -65.21089,-70.90654 -63.925169,-70.90654 -62.639448,-70.90654 -61.353727,-70.90654 -60.068006,-70.90654 -58.782285,-70.90654 -57.496564,-70.90654 -56.210843,-70.90654 -54.925122,-70.90654 -53.639401,-70.90654 -52.35368))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0003", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001983", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0004"}, {"dataset_uid": "002690", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0003", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0003"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith\u003cbr/\u003eOPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePrimary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.", "east": -64.04498, "geometry": "POINT(-67.47576 -58.782285)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.35368, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.21089, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor", "uid": "p0000618", "west": -70.90654}, {"awards": "9614028 Dymond, Jack", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9993 -63.09006,-143.99946 -63.09006,-107.99962 -63.09006,-71.99978 -63.09006,-35.99994 -63.09006,-0.000100000000003 -63.09006,35.99974 -63.09006,71.99958 -63.09006,107.99942 -63.09006,143.99926 -63.09006,179.9991 -63.09006,179.9991 -64.490422,179.9991 -65.890784,179.9991 -67.291146,179.9991 -68.691508,179.9991 -70.09187,179.9991 -71.492232,179.9991 -72.892594,179.9991 -74.292956,179.9991 -75.693318,179.9991 -77.09368,143.99926 -77.09368,107.99942 -77.09368,71.99958 -77.09368,35.99974 -77.09368,-0.000100000000003 -77.09368,-35.99994 -77.09368,-71.99978 -77.09368,-107.99962 -77.09368,-143.99946 -77.09368,-179.9993 -77.09368,-179.9993 -75.693318,-179.9993 -74.292956,-179.9993 -72.892594,-179.9993 -71.492232,-179.9993 -70.09187,-179.9993 -68.691508,-179.9993 -67.291146,-179.9993 -65.890784,-179.9993 -64.490422,-179.9993 -63.09006))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002161", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9605"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "96-14028 Dymond This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. This work is one of forty-four projects that are collaborating in the Southern Ocean Experiment, a three-year effort south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone to track the flow of carbon through its organic and inorganic pathways from the air-ocean interface through the entire water column into the bottom sediment. The experiment will make use of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and the R/V Thompson. This component, a collaborative study by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University, and the New Zealand Oceanographic Institution, concerns the export of particulate forms of carbon downward from the upper ocean. The observations will be obtained from an array of time- series sediment traps, and will be analyzed to quantify export fluxes from the Subtropical Front to the Ross Sea, over an 18- months period beginning the early austral summer of 1996. The measurement program will two annual phytoplankton blooms. The southern ocean provides a unique opportunity to investigate the processes controlling export flux in contrasting biogeochemical ocean zones demarcated by oceanic fronts. The temperature changes at the fronts coincide with gradients in nutrient concentrations and plankton ecology, resulting in a large latitudinal change in the ratio of calcium to silica taken up by the phytoplankton communities. This experiment will provide data on how the biological pump operates in the Southern Ocean and how it could potentially impact the level of atmospheric c arbon dioxide. The observed export fluxes of organic carbon, nitrogen, inorganic carbon, biogenic silica and alumina are central to the goals of the JGOFS program.", "east": 179.9991, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -63.09006, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dymond, Jack", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.09368, "title": "Latitudinal Variations of Particle Fluxes in the Southern Ocean: A Bottom Tethered Sediment Trap Array Experiment", "uid": "p0000636", "west": -179.9993}, {"awards": "0636773 DeMaster, David; 0636806 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-71.2358 -52.7603,-69.75336 -52.7603,-68.27092 -52.7603,-66.78848 -52.7603,-65.30604 -52.7603,-63.8236 -52.7603,-62.34116 -52.7603,-60.85872 -52.7603,-59.37628 -52.7603,-57.89384 -52.7603,-56.4114 -52.7603,-56.4114 -54.29969,-56.4114 -55.83908,-56.4114 -57.37847,-56.4114 -58.91786,-56.4114 -60.45725,-56.4114 -61.99664,-56.4114 -63.53603,-56.4114 -65.07542,-56.4114 -66.61481,-56.4114 -68.1542,-57.89384 -68.1542,-59.37628 -68.1542,-60.85872 -68.1542,-62.34116 -68.1542,-63.8236 -68.1542,-65.30604 -68.1542,-66.78848 -68.1542,-68.27092 -68.1542,-69.75336 -68.1542,-71.2358 -68.1542,-71.2358 -66.61481,-71.2358 -65.07542,-71.2358 -63.53603,-71.2358 -61.99664,-71.2358 -60.45725,-71.2358 -58.91786,-71.2358 -57.37847,-71.2358 -55.83908,-71.2358 -54.29969,-71.2358 -52.7603))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0802; Expedition data of LMG0902; Expedition Data of LMG0902; Expedition data of NBP0808; Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf; Species List, Species Abundance, and Sediment Geochemistry processed data acquired during Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG0802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601303", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; Chlorophyll Concentration; LMG0802; Marcofauna; Megafauna; Oceans; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Species List, Species Abundance, and Sediment Geochemistry processed data acquired during Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG0802", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601303"}, {"dataset_uid": "002669", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "001513", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "002611", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0808", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0808"}, {"dataset_uid": "002727", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "002726", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "002725", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "601319", "doi": "10.15784/601319", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Bioturbation Coefficients; Diagenesis; Labile Organic Carbon; LOC Mean Residence Times; Marguerite Bay; Oceans; Organic Carbon Degradation Rates; Sediment Core", "people": "Taylor, Richard; Smith, Craig; Isla, Enrique; Thomas, Carrie; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601319"}, {"dataset_uid": "001486", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Peninsula region exhibits one of the largest warming trends in the world. Climate change in this region will reduce the duration of winter sea-ice cover, altering both the pelagic ecosystem and bentho-pelagic coupling. We postulate that shelf benthic ecosystems are highly suitable for tracking climate change because they act as \"low-pass\" filters, removing high-frequency seasonal noise and responding to longer-term trends in pelagic ecosystem structure and export production. We propose to conduct a 3-year study of bentho-pelagic coupling along a latitudinal climate gradient on the Antarctic Peninsula to explore the potential impacts of climate change (e.g., reduction in sea-ice duration) on Antarctic shelf ecosystems. We will conduct three cruises during summer and winter regimes along a 5- station transect from Smith Island to Marguerite Bay, evaluating a broad range of benthic ecological and biogeochemical processes. Specifically, we will examine the feeding strategies of benthic deposit feeders along this climatic gradient to elucidate the potential response of this major trophic group to climatic warming. In addition, we will (1) quantify carbon and nitrogen cycling and burial at the seafloor and (2) document changes in megafaunal, macrofaunal, and microbial community structure along this latitudinal gradient. We expect to develop predictive insights into the response of Antarctic shelf ecosystems to some of the effects of climate warming (e.g., a reduction in winter sea-ice duration). The proposed research will considerably broaden the ecological and carbon-flux measurements made as parts of the Palmer Station LTER and GLOBEC programs by providing a complementary benthic component. This project also will promote science education from the 9th grade to graduate-student levels. We will partner with the NSF-sponsored Southeastern Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence to reach students of all races in all areas of NC, SC and GA. The project will also benefit students at the post secondary level by supporting three graduate and two undergraduate students. During each of the three field excursions, NCSU and UH students will travel to Chile and Antarctica to participate in scientific research. Lastly, all three PIs will incorporate material from this project into their undergraduate and graduate courses.", "east": -56.4114, "geometry": "POINT(-63.8236 -60.45725)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "LMG0802; R/V LMG; AMD; Amd/Us; LMG0902; USA/NSF; NBP0808; USAP-DC; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.7603, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.1542, "title": "Collaborative Research: Benthic Faunal Feeding Dynamics on the Antarctic Shelf and the Effects of Global Climate Change on Bentho-Pelagic Coupling", "uid": "p0000552", "west": -71.2358}, {"awards": "0127037 Neale, Patrick; 0741411 Hutchins, David; 0338097 DiTullio, Giacomo; 0338157 Smith, Walker; 0338350 Dunbar, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((173.31833 -46.5719,173.757539 -46.5719,174.196748 -46.5719,174.635957 -46.5719,175.075166 -46.5719,175.514375 -46.5719,175.953584 -46.5719,176.392793 -46.5719,176.832002 -46.5719,177.271211 -46.5719,177.71042 -46.5719,177.71042 -48.759516,177.71042 -50.947132,177.71042 -53.134748,177.71042 -55.322364,177.71042 -57.50998,177.71042 -59.697596,177.71042 -61.885212,177.71042 -64.072828,177.71042 -66.260444,177.71042 -68.44806,177.271211 -68.44806,176.832002 -68.44806,176.392793 -68.44806,175.953584 -68.44806,175.514375 -68.44806,175.075166 -68.44806,174.635957 -68.44806,174.196748 -68.44806,173.757539 -68.44806,173.31833 -68.44806,173.31833 -66.260444,173.31833 -64.072828,173.31833 -61.885212,173.31833 -59.697596,173.31833 -57.50998,173.31833 -55.322364,173.31833 -53.134748,173.31833 -50.947132,173.31833 -48.759516,173.31833 -46.5719))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea; Processed Fluid Chemistry Data from the Ross Sea acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0601", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601340", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluid Chemistry Data; Geochemistry; NBP0601; Niskin Bottle; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Water Measurements", "people": "Smith, Walker; DiTullio, Giacomo", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed Fluid Chemistry Data from the Ross Sea acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0601", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601340"}, {"dataset_uid": "001580", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}, {"dataset_uid": "001687", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0305"}, {"dataset_uid": "001545", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0608"}, {"dataset_uid": "001584", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0508"}, {"dataset_uid": "600036", "doi": "10.15784/600036", "keywords": "Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Diatom; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "DiTullio, Giacomo", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600036"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. \u003cbr/\u003eThis project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.", "east": 177.71042, "geometry": "POINT(175.514375 -57.50998)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FRRF; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FRRF", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "B-15J; OCEAN PLATFORMS; FIELD SURVEYS; R/V NBP", "locations": "B-15J", "north": -46.5719, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ditullio, Giacomo; Smith, Walker; Dryer, Jennifer; Neale, Patrick", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIXED PLATFORMS \u003e SURFACE \u003e OCEAN PLATFORMS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.44806, "title": "Collaborative Research: Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000540", "west": 173.31833}, {"awards": "0650034 Smith, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0806; Expedition data of NBP0902", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001484", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "002649", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0806", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0806"}, {"dataset_uid": "002650", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0902"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project seeks to examine the importance of icebergs to the pelagic ecosystem of the North-West Weddell Sea. Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. The highest concentration of icebergs occurs in the NW Weddell Sea, where they drift in a clockwise pattern to the northeast, following the contours of the Antarctic Peninsula through an area dubbed \"Iceberg Alley\". Little is known about the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the pelagic ecosystem of the Weddell Sea or on the Southern Ocean as a whole. It is hypothesized that as drifting islands, icebergs of small to intermediate size (\u003c 10 km in largest dimension) impart unique physical, chemical and biological characteristics to the surrounding water. Three general questions will be asked to address this hypothesis: 1) What are the dynamics (approximate size, abundance and spatial distribution) of free-drifting icebergs on temporal scales of days to months, based on correlation of field measurements with imagery derived from satellite sensors? 2) What is the relationship between the size of free-drifting icebergs and the structure of the associated pelagic communities? 3) What is the estimated combined impact of free-drifting icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea on the biological characteristics of the pelagic zone? This interdisciplinary study will use standard oceanographic sampling coupled with unique methodology for staging shipboard data from all types of sensors and survey methods to determine the sphere of influence for a diverse set of biological factors as a function of iceberg size. The exploratory research proposed here will provide critical data on the effects of atmospheric warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The recent prevalence of free drifting icebergs in the Southern Ocean should have a pronounced enrichment effect on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem, altering community dynamics. Enhanced primary production associated with these icebergs could influence the global carbon cycle since the Southern Ocean is considered a major sink for excess CO2 from the atmosphere. \u003cbr/\u003eThe proposed research will include an innovative education component through the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC), whose focus is to provide a comprehensive view of the oceans, intelligible to non-scientists and researchers alike, with direct access to state-of-the-art databases and selected websites. The OEC will allow users to access content which has been classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. The results from this iceberg project will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the OEC, providing databases documenting the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. These data then will be extrapolated to evaluate the impact of icebergs on the ecosystem of the Weddell Sea. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers and volunteers are an important part of the proposed field and laboratory work.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Ken", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Free Drifting Icebergs: Influence of Floating Islands on Pelagic Ecosystems in the Weddell Sea.", "uid": "p0000840", "west": null}, {"awards": "9815823 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90683 -52.35533,-69.8661302 -52.35533,-68.8254304 -52.35533,-67.7847306 -52.35533,-66.7440308 -52.35533,-65.703331 -52.35533,-64.6626312 -52.35533,-63.6219314 -52.35533,-62.5812316 -52.35533,-61.5405318 -52.35533,-60.499832 -52.35533,-60.499832 -53.818664,-60.499832 -55.281998,-60.499832 -56.745332,-60.499832 -58.208666,-60.499832 -59.672,-60.499832 -61.135334,-60.499832 -62.598668,-60.499832 -64.062002,-60.499832 -65.525336,-60.499832 -66.98867,-61.5405318 -66.98867,-62.5812316 -66.98867,-63.6219314 -66.98867,-64.6626312 -66.98867,-65.703331 -66.98867,-66.7440308 -66.98867,-67.7847306 -66.98867,-68.8254304 -66.98867,-69.8661302 -66.98867,-70.90683 -66.98867,-70.90683 -65.525336,-70.90683 -64.062002,-70.90683 -62.598668,-70.90683 -61.135334,-70.90683 -59.672,-70.90683 -58.208666,-70.90683 -56.745332,-70.90683 -55.281998,-70.90683 -53.818664,-70.90683 -52.35533))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0009", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002689", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0009", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0009"}, {"dataset_uid": "001880", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0102"}, {"dataset_uid": "001983", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0004"}, {"dataset_uid": "001811", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0009"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith OPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster Primary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.", "east": -60.499832, "geometry": "POINT(-65.703331 -59.672)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.35533, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -66.98867, "title": "Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor", "uid": "p0000610", "west": -70.90683}, {"awards": "9419605 Dunbar, Robert; 9896356 Dunbar, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -43.56493,-144.00001 -43.56493,-108.00002 -43.56493,-72.00003 -43.56493,-36.00004 -43.56493,-0.000049999999987 -43.56493,35.99994 -43.56493,71.99993 -43.56493,107.99992 -43.56493,143.99991 -43.56493,179.9999 -43.56493,179.9999 -47.023783,179.9999 -50.482636,179.9999 -53.941489,179.9999 -57.400342,179.9999 -60.859195,179.9999 -64.318048,179.9999 -67.776901,179.9999 -71.235754,179.9999 -74.694607,179.9999 -78.15346,143.99991 -78.15346,107.99992 -78.15346,71.99993 -78.15346,35.99994 -78.15346,-0.000050000000016 -78.15346,-36.00004 -78.15346,-72.00003 -78.15346,-108.00002 -78.15346,-144.00001 -78.15346,-180 -78.15346,-180 -74.694607,-180 -71.235754,-180 -67.776901,-180 -64.318048,-180 -60.859195,-180 -57.400342,-180 -53.941489,-180 -50.482636,-180 -47.023783,-180 -43.56493))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002132", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9709"}, {"dataset_uid": "002094", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9807"}, {"dataset_uid": "002154", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9606"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project is an interdisciplinary study, titled Research on Ocean-Atmosphere Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Ross Sea (ROAVERRS), of atmospheric forcing, ocean hydrography, sea ice dynamics, primary productivity, and pelagic-benthic coupling in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica. The primary goal is to examine how changes in aspects of the polar climate system, in this case wind and temperature, combine to influence marine productivity on a large antarctic continental shelf. In the Ross Sea, katabatic winds and mesocyclones influence the spatial and temporal distribution of sea ice as well as the upper ocean mixed layer depth, and thus control primary production within the sea ice as well as in the open water system. The structure, standing stock and productivity of bottom- dwelling biological communities are also linked to meteorological processes through interseasonal and interannual variations in horizontal and vertical fluxes of organic carbon produced in the upper ocean. Linkages among the atmospheric, oceanic, and biological systems will be investigated during a three-year field study of the southwestern Ross Sea ecosystem. Direct measurements will include regional wind and air temperatures derived from automatic weather stations; ice cover, ice movement, and sea surface temperatures derived from a variety of satellite-based sensors; hydrographic characteristics of the upper ocean and primary productivity in the ice and in the water derived from research cruises and satellite studies; vertical flux of organic material and water movement derived from oceanographic moorings containing sediment traps and current meters, and the abundance, distribution, and respiration rates of biological communities on the sea floor, derived from box cores, benthic photographs and shipboard incubations. Based on archived meteorological data, it is expected that the atmospheric variability during the study period will be such that changes in airflow pat terns and their influence on oceanographic and biological patterns can be monitored, and their direct and indirect linkages that are the focus of the research can be deduced. Results from this study will contribute to our knowledge of atmospheric and oceanic forcing of marine ecosystems, and lead to a better understanding of marine ecosystem response to climatic variations. ***", "east": 179.9999, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.56493, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dunbar, Robert", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.15346, "title": "Research on Ocean-Atmosphere Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Ross Sea (ROAVERRS)", "uid": "p0000635", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "9118439 Karl, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-76.8432 -52.3533,-74.99221 -52.3533,-73.14122 -52.3533,-71.29023 -52.3533,-69.43924 -52.3533,-67.58825 -52.3533,-65.73726 -52.3533,-63.88627 -52.3533,-62.03528 -52.3533,-60.18429 -52.3533,-58.3333 -52.3533,-58.3333 -54.01689,-58.3333 -55.68048,-58.3333 -57.34407,-58.3333 -59.00766,-58.3333 -60.67125,-58.3333 -62.33484,-58.3333 -63.99843,-58.3333 -65.66202,-58.3333 -67.32561,-58.3333 -68.9892,-60.18429 -68.9892,-62.03528 -68.9892,-63.88627 -68.9892,-65.73726 -68.9892,-67.58825 -68.9892,-69.43924 -68.9892,-71.29023 -68.9892,-73.14122 -68.9892,-74.99221 -68.9892,-76.8432 -68.9892,-76.8432 -67.32561,-76.8432 -65.66202,-76.8432 -63.99843,-76.8432 -62.33484,-76.8432 -60.67125,-76.8432 -59.00766,-76.8432 -57.34407,-76.8432 -55.68048,-76.8432 -54.01689,-76.8432 -52.3533))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002292", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9302"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The annual advance and retreat of pack ice may be the major physical determinant of spatial/temporal changes in the structure and function of antarctic marine communities. Interannual cycles and/or trends in the annual extent of pack ice may also have significant effects on all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. Historical records indicate a 6 to 8 year cycle in the maximum extent of pack ice in the winter. During this decade winters were colder in 1980 and 1981, and again in 1986 and 1987. In order to understand the interactions between pack ice and ecosystem dynamics, especially the influences of the well- documented interannual variability in ice cover on representative populations, a long-term ecological research (LTER) site has been established in the Antarctic Peninsula region near Palmer Station. The LTER project, will conduct comprehensive measurements of ice-dominated ecosystems in this region with a focus on primary production, krill populations and swarms and seabirds. A primary emphasis will be placed on the development of ecosystem models that will provide a predictive capability for issues related to global environmental change. This proposal will add to the existing LTER project detailed studies of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and associated bioelements. The microbiology and carbon flux component of LTER will provide measurements of a suite of core parameters relevant to the carbon cycle and will test several hypotheses pertaining to carbon flux, including bacterial productivity and nutrient regeneration.", "east": -58.3333, "geometry": "POINT(-67.58825 -60.67125)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.3533, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Karl, David; Ross, Robin Macurda", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -68.9892, "title": "Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) on the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem: Microbiology and Carbon Flux", "uid": "p0000651", "west": -76.8432}, {"awards": "9615053 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002718", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9802"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present \"interglacial\" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Holocene Paleoenvironmental Change Along the Antarctic Peninsula: A Test of the Solar/Bi-Polar Signal", "uid": "p0000869", "west": null}, {"awards": "0444134 Mitchell, B. Gregory", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0606", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002646", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0606", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0606"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Shackleton Fracture Zone (SFZ) in Drake Passage of the Southern Ocean defines a boundary between low and high phytoplankton waters. Low chlorophyll water flowing through the southern Drake Passage emerges as high chlorophyll water to the east, and recent evidence indicates that the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF) is steered south of the SFZ onto the Antarctic Peninsula shelf where mixing between the water types occurs. The mixed water is then advected off-shelf with elevated iron and phytoplankton biomass. The SFZ is therefore an ideal natural laboratory to improve the understanding of plankton community responses to natural iron fertilization, and how these processes influence export of organic carbon to the ocean interior. The bathymetry of the region is hypothesized to influence mesoscale circulation and transport of iron, leading to the observed patterns in phytoplankton biomass. The position of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is further hypothesized to influence the magnitude of the flow of ACC water onto the peninsula shelf, mediating the amount of iron transported into the Scotia Sea. To address these hypotheses, a research cruise will be conducted near the SFZ and to the east in the southern Scotia Sea. A mesoscale station grid for vertical profiles, water sampling, and bottle incubation enrichment experiments will complement rapid surface surveys of chemical, plankton, and hydrographic properties. Distributions of manganese, aluminum and radium isotopes will be determined to trace iron sources and estimate mixing rates. Phytoplankton and bacterial physiological states (including responses to iron enrichment) and the structure of the plankton communities will be studied. The primary goal is to better understand how plankton productivity, community structure and export production in the Southern Ocean are affected by the coupling between bathymetry, mesoscale circulation, and distributions of limiting nutrients. The proposed work represents an interdisciplinary approach to address the fundamental physical, chemical and biological processes that contribute to the abrupt transition in chl-a which occurs near the SFZ. Given recent indications that the Southern Ocean is warming, it is important to advance the understanding of conditions that regulate the present ecosystem structure in order to predict the effects of climate variability. This project will promote training and learning across a broad spectrum of groups. Funds are included to support postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. In addition, this project will contribute to the development of content for the Polar Science Station website, which has been a resource since 2001 for instructors and students in adult education, home schooling, tribal schools, corrections education, family literacy programs, and the general public.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mitchell, B.", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Plankton Community Structure and Iron Distribution in the Southern Drake Passage and Scotia Sea", "uid": "p0000837", "west": null}, {"awards": "9528807 Gordon, Arnold", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69.58631 -52.35405,-66.572039 -52.35405,-63.557768 -52.35405,-60.543497 -52.35405,-57.529226 -52.35405,-54.514955 -52.35405,-51.500684 -52.35405,-48.486413 -52.35405,-45.472142 -52.35405,-42.457871 -52.35405,-39.4436 -52.35405,-39.4436 -53.54563,-39.4436 -54.73721,-39.4436 -55.92879,-39.4436 -57.12037,-39.4436 -58.31195,-39.4436 -59.50353,-39.4436 -60.69511,-39.4436 -61.88669,-39.4436 -63.07827,-39.4436 -64.26985,-42.457871 -64.26985,-45.472142 -64.26985,-48.486413 -64.26985,-51.500684 -64.26985,-54.514955 -64.26985,-57.529226 -64.26985,-60.543497 -64.26985,-63.557768 -64.26985,-66.572039 -64.26985,-69.58631 -64.26985,-69.58631 -63.07827,-69.58631 -61.88669,-69.58631 -60.69511,-69.58631 -59.50353,-69.58631 -58.31195,-69.58631 -57.12037,-69.58631 -55.92879,-69.58631 -54.73721,-69.58631 -53.54563,-69.58631 -52.35405))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9705"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9528807 Gordon The proposed project is part of a multi-institutional integrated study of the outflow of newly formed bottom water from the Weddell Sea and its dispersion into the South Atlantic Ocean. It builds upon earlier successful studies of the inflow of intermediate water masses into the Eastern Weddell Sea, their modification within the Weddell Gyre, and their interaction with bottom water formation processes in the western Weddell Sea. The study is called Deep Ocean Ventilation Through Antarctic Intermediate Layers (DOVETAIL) and includes six components involving hydrographic measurements, natural tracer experiments, and modeling studies. The study will be centered east of the Drake Passage where water masses from the Weddell Sea and the Scotia Sea come together in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence, and will be carried out in cooperation with the national antarctic programs of Germany and Spain. This particular component concerns observations of the temperature and salinity structure, as well as the chemical nature of the water column in the confluence region. The study has four related objectives. The first is to assess the quantity and the physical and chemical characteristics of Weddell Sea source waters for the confluence. The second is to describe the dominant processes associated with spreading and sinking of dense antarctic waters within the Weddell-Scotia Confluence. The third is to estimate the ventilation rate of the world ocean, and the fourth is to estimate seasonal fluctuations in the regional ocean transport and hydrographic structure and to assess the likely influence of seasonal to interannual variability on rates of ventilation by Weddell Sea waters. Ventilation of the deep ocean -- the rising of sub-surface water masses to the surface to be recharged with atmospheric gases and to give up heat to the atmosphere -- is a uniquely antarctic phenomenon that has significant consequences for global change by affecting the g lobal reservoir of carbon dioxide, and by modulating the amount and extent of seasonal sea ice in the southern hemisphere. This component will make systematic observations of the temperature salinity structure of the water and undertake an extensive sampling program for other chemical studies. The purpose is to identify the individual water masses and to relate their temperature and salinity characteristics to the modification processes within the Weddell Sea. ***", "east": -39.4436, "geometry": "POINT(-54.514955 -58.31195)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.35405, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gordon, Arnold", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.26985, "title": "Deep Ocean Ventilation Through Antarctic Intermediate Layers (DOVETAIL)", "uid": "p0000630", "west": -69.58631}, {"awards": "9896290 Smith, Walker; 9530382 Smith, Walker; 9530398 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9999 -43.5646,-143.99993 -43.5646,-107.99996 -43.5646,-71.99999 -43.5646,-36.00002 -43.5646,-0.000050000000016 -43.5646,35.99992 -43.5646,71.99989 -43.5646,107.99986 -43.5646,143.99983 -43.5646,179.9998 -43.5646,179.9998 -47.013473,179.9998 -50.462346,179.9998 -53.911219,179.9998 -57.360092,179.9998 -60.808965,179.9998 -64.257838,179.9998 -67.706711,179.9998 -71.155584,179.9998 -74.604457,179.9998 -78.05333,143.99983 -78.05333,107.99986 -78.05333,71.99989 -78.05333,35.99992 -78.05333,-0.000049999999987 -78.05333,-36.00002 -78.05333,-71.99999 -78.05333,-107.99996 -78.05333,-143.99993 -78.05333,-179.9999 -78.05333,-179.9999 -74.604457,-179.9999 -71.155584,-179.9999 -67.706711,-179.9999 -64.257838,-179.9999 -60.808965,-179.9999 -57.360092,-179.9999 -53.911219,-179.9999 -50.462346,-179.9999 -47.013473,-179.9999 -43.5646))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002164", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9604"}, {"dataset_uid": "001874", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9802"}, {"dataset_uid": "002138", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9708"}, {"dataset_uid": "002162", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9604A"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "95-30398 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. The overall objectives of JGOFS are to determine and understand processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements, and to predict the response of marine biogeochemical processes to climate change. The Southern Ocean is critical in the global carbon cycle, as judged by its size and the physical processes which occur in it (e.g., deep and intermediate water formation), but its present quantitative role is uncertain. JGOFS objectives for the Southern Ocean study are as follows: 1) to constrain the fluxes of carbon (organic and inorganic) and to place these fluxes in the context of the contemporary carbon cycle; 2) to identify the factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of primary productivity and the fate of biogenic matter; 3) to determine the response of the Southern Ocean to natural climate perturbations; and 4) to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to climate change. In order to successfully address these objectives, a large field program has been designed to provide various investigators the opportunity to test specific hypotheses which relate to these broadly-defined objectives. We expect the field test to begin in September 1996, and last through March 1998 using two ships, the R.V. Palmer, and the R.V. Thompson. As most of the investigators will use hydrographic and nutrient data from these cruises, this proposal requests funds for the support of the analysis of nutrient concentrations during these thirteen crui ses. A team of oceanographic experts from a variety of institutions has been assembled to complete these analyses; furthermore, the data will be scrutinized for errors and provided in a timely fashion to all PI\u0027s in the project, as well as to the relevant oceanographic data storage facilities. The hydrography and coring groups have been put together using the successful model for the Arabian Sea JGOFS study, and in conjunction with the nutrient data (supported under a separate proposal), will form a large portion of the Southern Ocean JGOFS database which both field investigators and modelers will use to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.", "east": 179.9998, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.5646, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Smith, Walker; Honjo, Susumu", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.05333, "title": "Management and Scientific Service in Support of the U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean Process Study: Hydrography, Coring and Site Survey", "uid": "p0000629", "west": -179.9999}, {"awards": "9317379 Foster, Theodore", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((143.4953 -43.56287,146.46757 -43.56287,149.43984 -43.56287,152.41211 -43.56287,155.38438 -43.56287,158.35665 -43.56287,161.32892 -43.56287,164.30119 -43.56287,167.27346 -43.56287,170.24573 -43.56287,173.218 -43.56287,173.218 -46.238515,173.218 -48.91416,173.218 -51.589805,173.218 -54.26545,173.218 -56.941095,173.218 -59.61674,173.218 -62.292385,173.218 -64.96803,173.218 -67.643675,173.218 -70.31932,170.24573 -70.31932,167.27346 -70.31932,164.30119 -70.31932,161.32892 -70.31932,158.35665 -70.31932,155.38438 -70.31932,152.41211 -70.31932,149.43984 -70.31932,146.46757 -70.31932,143.4953 -70.31932,143.4953 -67.643675,143.4953 -64.96803,143.4953 -62.292385,143.4953 -59.61674,143.4953 -56.941095,143.4953 -54.26545,143.4953 -51.589805,143.4953 -48.91416,143.4953 -46.238515,143.4953 -43.56287))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002240", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9502"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9317379 Foster This project is study of the deep and bottom water formation processes of the antarctic continental shelf off Wilkes Land between 145 deg E longitude and 160 deg E longitude. The project is to be carried out jointly with an Australian oceanographic project. Preliminary work in 1985 has shown that hydrographic sections in this area are quite similar to those of known deep water formation regions in the southern Weddell Sea. This project will include the year-long deployment of six current meter moorings, and tracer studies (oxygen, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, stable isotopes, and nutrients) to test whether shelf waves and tides are the principal mechanism for mixing shelf water with the off-shore intermediate water. Two oceanographic cruises are planned for this work: a cruise of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer in February 1995, and a cruise of the Australian ship R/V Aurora Australis in February 1996. ***", "east": 173.218, "geometry": "POINT(158.35665 -56.941095)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.56287, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foster, Theodore; Foster, Ted", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.31932, "title": "Deep Water Formation off the Eastern Wilkes Land Coast of Antarctica", "uid": "p0000645", "west": 143.4953}, {"awards": "9814692 Kellogg, Thomas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.99342 -58.74225,-143.994734 -58.74225,-107.996048 -58.74225,-71.997362 -58.74225,-35.998676 -58.74225,0.000010000000003 -58.74225,35.998696 -58.74225,71.997382 -58.74225,107.996068 -58.74225,143.994754 -58.74225,179.99344 -58.74225,179.99344 -60.716231,179.99344 -62.690212,179.99344 -64.664193,179.99344 -66.638174,179.99344 -68.612155,179.99344 -70.586136,179.99344 -72.560117,179.99344 -74.534098,179.99344 -76.508079,179.99344 -78.48206,143.994754 -78.48206,107.996068 -78.48206,71.997382 -78.48206,35.998696 -78.48206,0.000010000000003 -78.48206,-35.998676 -78.48206,-71.997362 -78.48206,-107.996048 -78.48206,-143.994734 -78.48206,-179.99342 -78.48206,-179.99342 -76.508079,-179.99342 -74.534098,-179.99342 -72.560117,-179.99342 -70.586136,-179.99342 -68.612155,-179.99342 -66.638174,-179.99342 -64.664193,-179.99342 -62.690212,-179.99342 -60.716231,-179.99342 -58.74225))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001992", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0001"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a marine geological investigation of the Amundsen Sea region toward a better understanding of the deglaciation history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The WAIS may be inherently unstable because it is the last marine-based ice sheet in the world. Unlike other embayments in West Antarctica, major ice streams draining into the Amundsen Sea from the interior of the WAIS lack buttressing ice shelves. Mass balance data for the distal portions of these ice streams (Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers) appear to be in balance or may be becoming negative. Because both ice streams have beds that slope downward toward the center of the ice sheet, grounding-line recession resulting from either continued thinning or sea-level rise could trigger irreversible grounding-line retreat, leading to ice-sheet disintegration and consequent global sea-level rise. The limited marine geological and geophysical data available from the Amundsen Sea suggest that grounded ice or an ice shelf occupied the inner Amundsen Sea embayment until perhaps as recently as 1000 to 2000 years ago, and this ice may have retreated rapidly in historic time. This project, a study of the marine geology and geophysics of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf from 100 degrees W to 130 degrees W, is designed to address the Amundsen Sea part of WAIS Science Plan Priority Goal H2: \"What is the deglaciation history in the eastern Ross, the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas?\" This project will examine bathymetric data of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf to determine the positions of former ice-steam channels, and to aid in choosing sites for sediment coring. Single-channel seismic reflection studies will be conducted in order to determine sediment-thickness patterns, to aid in choice of coring sites, and to locate and identify morphologic features indicative of former grounded ice (e.g., moraines, scours, flutes, striations, till wedges and deltas, etc.). Coring will be concentrated along former ice flow-lines. Core samples will be analyzed in the laboratory for sedimentology, to determine whether of not basal tills are present (indicating former grounded ice and its former extent), and for calcareous and siliceous microfossils. The chronology of grounding-line and ice-shelf retreat from a presumed Last Glacial Maximum position near the shelf break will be established using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) carbon-14 dates of acid-insoluble particulate organic carbon. This project will share ship time in the Amundsen Sea with a physical oceanographic project. Marine geologic data and samples collected will be integrated with findings of other investigators toward developing a comprehensive interpretation of the history of the WAIS.", "east": 179.99344, "geometry": "POINT(0.000010000000003 -68.612155)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -58.74225, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kellogg, Thomas; Jacobs, Stanley", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.48206, "title": "Glacial History of the Amundsen Sea Shelf", "uid": "p0000620", "west": -179.99342}, {"awards": "0636787 Robinson, Laura", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69.13317 -52.716503,-65.8622114 -52.716503,-62.5912528 -52.716503,-59.3202942 -52.716503,-56.0493356 -52.716503,-52.778377 -52.716503,-49.5074184 -52.716503,-46.2364598 -52.716503,-42.9655012 -52.716503,-39.6945426 -52.716503,-36.423584 -52.716503,-36.423584 -53.5798407,-36.423584 -54.4431784,-36.423584 -55.3065161,-36.423584 -56.1698538,-36.423584 -57.0331915,-36.423584 -57.8965292,-36.423584 -58.7598669,-36.423584 -59.6232046,-36.423584 -60.4865423,-36.423584 -61.34988,-39.6945426 -61.34988,-42.9655012 -61.34988,-46.2364598 -61.34988,-49.5074184 -61.34988,-52.778377 -61.34988,-56.0493356 -61.34988,-59.3202942 -61.34988,-62.5912528 -61.34988,-65.8622114 -61.34988,-69.13317 -61.34988,-69.13317 -60.4865423,-69.13317 -59.6232046,-69.13317 -58.7598669,-69.13317 -57.8965292,-69.13317 -57.0331915,-69.13317 -56.1698538,-69.13317 -55.3065161,-69.13317 -54.4431784,-69.13317 -53.5798407,-69.13317 -52.716503))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001510", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0805"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project uses radiocarbon in deep-sea corals to understand the Southern Ocean\u0027s role in modulating global climate. A key site of deep-water formation, the Southern Ocean is critical to exchange of heat and carbon between the deep-ocean and atmosphere. Changes in it may be linked to low atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial maximum through increased biologic carbon draw down or decreased air-sea CO2 exchange. Testing these hypotheses is challenging because of the scarcity of suitable records of the Southern Ocean\u0027s biogeochemistry and circulation. The aragonitic skeletons of deep-sea corals may offer insight because they are well suited for radiocarbon analyses-reflective of the 14C content of the past water column--while also allowing for timing of events through U-series age measurements. Overall, these measurements will put new constraints on the extent of air-sea gas exchange, polar water-column stratification, and the flux of Southern-sourced deep water to the rest of the world\u0027s oceans. As a part of this work, new sections of the Drake Passage sea floor will be mapped and imaged, along with the present and past distributions of deep-sea corals and their habitats. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA significant broader impact of this work is characterizing the functioning of what may be a key control of atmospheric CO2 content, which could prove important for fully understanding the impacts of continued CO2 emissions and developing mitigation strategies. As well, the work will characterize deep marine ecologies that are poorly understood, but increasingly exploited as fisheries resources.", "east": -36.423584, "geometry": "POINT(-52.778377 -57.0331915)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.716503, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dalziel, Ian W.", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -61.34988, "title": "Glacial Radiocarbon Constraints from Drake Passage Deep-Sea Corals", "uid": "p0000528", "west": -69.13317}, {"awards": "0338164 Sedwick, Peter", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0601", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001580", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}, {"dataset_uid": "002619", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0601", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. \u003cbr/\u003eThis project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e WATER BOTTLES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ditullio, Giacomo", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and CO2 on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000831", "west": null}, {"awards": "0338248 Takahashi, Taro", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.0051 -52.7573,-67.35191 -52.7573,-66.69872 -52.7573,-66.04553 -52.7573,-65.39234 -52.7573,-64.73915 -52.7573,-64.08596 -52.7573,-63.43277 -52.7573,-62.77958 -52.7573,-62.12639 -52.7573,-61.4732 -52.7573,-61.4732 -53.96927,-61.4732 -55.18124,-61.4732 -56.39321,-61.4732 -57.60518,-61.4732 -58.81715,-61.4732 -60.02912,-61.4732 -61.24109,-61.4732 -62.45306,-61.4732 -63.66503,-61.4732 -64.877,-62.12639 -64.877,-62.77958 -64.877,-63.43277 -64.877,-64.08596 -64.877,-64.73915 -64.877,-65.39234 -64.877,-66.04553 -64.877,-66.69872 -64.877,-67.35191 -64.877,-68.0051 -64.877,-68.0051 -63.66503,-68.0051 -62.45306,-68.0051 -61.24109,-68.0051 -60.02912,-68.0051 -58.81715,-68.0051 -57.60518,-68.0051 -56.39321,-68.0051 -55.18124,-68.0051 -53.96927,-68.0051 -52.7573))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001572", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0603"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This proposal is for the continuation and expansion of an underway program on the R/V Laurence M. Gould to measure dissolved carbon dioxide gas (pCO2) along with occasional total carbon dioxide (TCO2) in surface waters on transects of Drake Passage. The added observations include dissolved oxygen, as well as nutrient and carbon-13. The proposed work is similar to the underway measurement program made aboard R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer, and complements similar surface temperature and current data.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Southern Ocean is an important component of the global carbon budget. Low surface temperatures with consequently low vertical stability, ice formation, and high winds produce a very active environment for the exchange of gaseous carbon dioxide between the atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs. The Drake Passage is the narrowest point through which the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts must pass, and is the most efficient location for the measurement of latitudinal gradients of gas exchange. The generated time series will contribute towards two scientific goals: the quantification of the spatial and temporal variability and trends of surface carbon dioxide, oxygen, nutrients and C-13, and an understanding of the dominant processes that contribute to the observed variability.", "east": -61.4732, "geometry": "POINT(-64.73915 -58.81715)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.7573, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Takahashi, Taro", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.877, "title": "Collaborative Research: Processes Driving Spatial and Temporal Variability of Surface pCO2 in the Drake Passage", "uid": "p0000572", "west": -68.0051}, {"awards": "0338109 Brachfeld, Stefanie", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0603", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002614", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0603", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0603"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990\u0027s. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica\u0027s glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth\u0027s magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brachfeld, Stefanie; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Paleohistory of the Larsen Ice Shelf: Phase II", "uid": "p0000826", "west": null}, {"awards": "0636975 Sweeney, Colm", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG0909", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002721", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0909", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0909"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The proposed project will expand the suite of observations and lengthen the existing time series of underway surface dissolved carbon dioxide (pCO2) measurements transects across the Drake Passage on the R/VIB L.M. Gould. The additional observations include oxygen, nutrients and total CO2 (TCO2) concentrations, and the 13C to 12C ratio of TCO2. The continued and expanded time series will contribute towards two main scientific goals: the quantification of the spatial and temporal variability and the trends of surface carbon dioxide species in four major water mass regimes in the Drake Passage, and the understanding of the dominant processes and changes in those processes that contribute to the variability in surface pCO2 and the resulting air-sea flux of CO2 in the Drake Passage. The expanded program will also include the analysis of the 14C/12C of TCO2 and the specific study of the observations on one short wintertime cruise, with the objective of testing the hypothesis that the dissolved carbon dioxide in surface waters of the Drake Passage is determined by the degree of winter mixing. This is of special significance in light of two scenarios that may be affecting the ventilation of Southern Ocean deep water now and in the future: a decrease in water column stratification with the observations of higher zonal winds, or an increase in stratification due to higher precipitation and warming from climate change. If winter mixing determines the mean annual pCO2 in the Drake Passage, the increasing trend in atmospheric pCO2 should have little effect on sea surface pCO2.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sweeney, Colm; Sweeney, Colm", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Surface pCO2 and the effects of Winter Time Overturning in the Drake Passage", "uid": "p0000872", "west": null}, {"awards": "0440919 Isbell, John; 0440954 Miller, Molly; 0551163 Sidor, Christian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((159.3 -76.59,159.542 -76.59,159.784 -76.59,160.026 -76.59,160.268 -76.59,160.51 -76.59,160.752 -76.59,160.994 -76.59,161.236 -76.59,161.478 -76.59,161.72 -76.59,161.72 -76.811,161.72 -77.032,161.72 -77.253,161.72 -77.474,161.72 -77.695,161.72 -77.916,161.72 -78.137,161.72 -78.358,161.72 -78.579,161.72 -78.8,161.478 -78.8,161.236 -78.8,160.994 -78.8,160.752 -78.8,160.51 -78.8,160.268 -78.8,160.026 -78.8,159.784 -78.8,159.542 -78.8,159.3 -78.8,159.3 -78.579,159.3 -78.358,159.3 -78.137,159.3 -77.916,159.3 -77.695,159.3 -77.474,159.3 -77.253,159.3 -77.032,159.3 -76.811,159.3 -76.59))", "dataset_titles": "Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington ID#s UWBM 88593-88601, UWBM 88617; Reconstructing the High Latitude Permian-Triassic: Life, Landscapes, and Climate Recorded in the Allan Hills, South Victoria Land, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600045", "doi": "10.15784/600045", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Paleontology; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Solid Earth", "people": "Miller, Molly", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Reconstructing the High Latitude Permian-Triassic: Life, Landscapes, and Climate Recorded in the Allan Hills, South Victoria Land, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600045"}, {"dataset_uid": "000124", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Burke Museum", "science_program": null, "title": "Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington ID#s UWBM 88593-88601, UWBM 88617", "url": "http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project studies fossils from two to three hundred million year old rocks in the Allan Hills area of Antarctica. Similar deposits from lower latitudes have been used to develop a model of Permo-Triassic climate, wherein melting of continental glaciers in the early Permian leads to the establishment of forests in a cold, wet climate. Conditions became warmer and dryer by the early Triassic, inhibiting plant growth until a moistening climate in the late Triassic allowed plant to flourish once again. This project will test and refine this model and investigate the general effects of climate change on landscapes and ecosystems using the unique exposures and well-preserved fossil and sediment records in the Allan Hills area. The area will be searched for fossil forests, vertebrate tracks and burrows, arthropod trackways, and subaqueously produced biogenic structures, which have been found in other areas of Antarctica. Finds will be integrated with previous paleobiologic studies to reconstruct and interpret ecosystems and their changes. Structures and rock types documenting the end phases of continental glaciation and other major episodic sedimentations will also be described and interpreted. This project contributes to understanding the: (1) evolution of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and how they were affected by the end-Permian extinction, (2) abundance and diversity of terrestrial and aquatic arthropods at high latitudes, (3) paleogeographic distribution and evolution of vertebrates and invertebrates as recorded by trace and body fossils; and (3) response of landscapes to changes in climate.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIn terms of broader impacts, this project will provide an outstanding introduction to field research for graduate and undergraduate students, and generate related opportunities for several undergraduates. It will also stimulate exchange of ideas among research and primarily undergraduate institutions. Novel outreach activities are also planned to convey Earth history to the general public, including a short film on the research process and products, and paintings by a professional scientific illustrator of Permo-Traissic landscapes and ecosystems.", "east": 161.72, "geometry": "POINT(160.51 -77.695)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.59, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e CARBONIFEROUS \u003e PENNSYLVANIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e TRIASSIC", "persons": "Miller, Molly; Sidor, Christian; Isbell, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Burke Museum; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Allan Hills", "south": -78.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: Reconstructing the High Latitude Permian-Triassic: Life, Landscapes, and Climate Recorded in the Allan Hills, South Victoria Land, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000207", "west": 159.3}, {"awards": "0125794 Price, P. Buford", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609403", "doi": "10.7265/N59P2ZKB", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dust; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Microbiology; Optical Backscatter", "people": "Bay, Ryan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609403"}], "date_created": "Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0125794\u003cbr/\u003ePrice\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports research in climatology, geosciences, and life in extreme environments to be carried out with a newly developed optical borehole logger. The logger fits into a fluid-filled borehole in glacial ice. It emits light at 370 nm in a horizontal plane in order to probe optical properties of particles embedded in the ice out to several meters from the borehole. After leaving the borehole, the light is partially absorbed and scattered by dust, biomolecules, or microbes. A fraction of the light is scattered back into the borehole and is detected by a system of seven phototubes, each of which collects light with high efficiency in a separate wavelength band. One of them collects light that scatters off of dust and air bubbles without wavelength shift, and serves as a dust logger. The other six are covered with notch filters that measure six different wavelength bands and measure the shape of the fluorescence spectrum of microbes and biomolecules. Thus, the same instrument serves as both a dust logger and a microbe logger. Applications include: 1) Precise chronologies and long-period solar variability. With a resolution of 1 to 2 cm for both GISP2 and Siple Dome, the logger will record annual dust maxima and evaluate claims of modulations of dust concentration with periods ranging from 11 yrs (the solar cycle) to 2300 yrs; 2) Volcanism and age-depth markers. Dozens of volcanic ash bands will be detectable and will serve as primary age-depth markers for other boreholes; 3) Microorganisms and biomolecules. The vertical distribution of living, dormant, and dead microbes can be logged, and searches for archaea and aeolian polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be made. The logging experiments will be carried out at Siple Dome and Dome C in Antarctica and at GISP2 and GRIP in Greenland.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e OPTICAL DUST LOGGERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Data; Not provided; Climate Research; Climate; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Climate Change; FIELD SURVEYS; LABORATORY; Paleoclimate; Ice Core; Volcanic", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Arctic Natural Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bay, Ryan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Optical Logging for Dust and Microbes in Boreholes in Glacial Ice", "uid": "p0000156", "west": null}, {"awards": "0739496 Miller, Molly; 0739583 Bowser, Samuel; 0739512 Walker, Sally", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.41667 -77.33333,163.46667 -77.33333,163.51667 -77.33333,163.56667 -77.33333,163.61667 -77.33333,163.66667 -77.33333,163.71667 -77.33333,163.76667 -77.33333,163.81667 -77.33333,163.86667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.369997,163.91667 -77.406664,163.91667 -77.443331,163.91667 -77.479998,163.91667 -77.516665,163.91667 -77.553332,163.91667 -77.589999,163.91667 -77.626666,163.91667 -77.663333,163.91667 -77.7,163.86667 -77.7,163.81667 -77.7,163.76667 -77.7,163.71667 -77.7,163.66667 -77.7,163.61667 -77.7,163.56667 -77.7,163.51667 -77.7,163.46667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.663333,163.41667 -77.626666,163.41667 -77.589999,163.41667 -77.553332,163.41667 -77.516665,163.41667 -77.479998,163.41667 -77.443331,163.41667 -77.406664,163.41667 -77.369997,163.41667 -77.33333))", "dataset_titles": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores; Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.; Sequence Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601764", "doi": "10.15784/601764", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Explorers Cove; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen Isotope; Scallop", "people": "Walker, Sally; Camarra, Steve; Verheyden, Anouk; Puhalski, Emma; Gillikin, David; Cronin, Kelly", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601764"}, {"dataset_uid": "600076", "doi": "10.15784/600076", "keywords": "Biota; Geochronology; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Miller, Molly; Furbish, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600076"}, {"dataset_uid": "600077", "doi": "10.15784/600077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description", "people": "Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600077"}, {"dataset_uid": "000144", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Sequence Data", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/collections/public/1rMU2lBNcxWAsa9h9WyD8rzA8/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project answers a simple question: why are there so few fossils in sediment cores from Antarctica?s continental shelf? Antarctica?s benthos are as biologically rich as those of the tropics. Shell-secreting organisms should have left a trail throughout geologic time, but have not. This trail is particularly important because these organisms record regional climate in ways that are critical to interpreting the global climate record. This study uses field experiments and targeted observations of modern benthic systems to examine the biases inflicted by fossil preservation. By examining a spectrum of ice-affected habitats, this project provides paleoenvironmental insights into carbonate preservation, sedimentation rates, and burial processes; and will provide new approaches to reconstructing the Cenozoic history of Antarctica. Broader impacts include graduate and undergraduate research and education, development of undergraduate curricula to link art and science, K12 outreach, public outreach via the web, and societal relevance through improved understanding of records of global climate change.", "east": 163.91667, "geometry": "POINT(163.66667 -77.516665)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.33333, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Walker, Sally; Bowser, Samuel; Miller, Molly; Furbish, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7, "title": "Collaborative Research: Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "uid": "p0000203", "west": 163.41667}, {"awards": "0741380 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((100 -65,106 -65,112 -65,118 -65,124 -65,130 -65,136 -65,142 -65,148 -65,154 -65,160 -65,160 -66.5,160 -68,160 -69.5,160 -71,160 -72.5,160 -74,160 -75.5,160 -77,160 -78.5,160 -80,154 -80,148 -80,142 -80,136 -80,130 -80,124 -80,118 -80,112 -80,106 -80,100 -80,100 -78.5,100 -77,100 -75.5,100 -74,100 -72.5,100 -71,100 -69.5,100 -68,100 -66.5,100 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600085", "doi": "10.15784/600085", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Geochemistry; Oceans; Oden; OSO2007; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600085"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research will examine the relative importance of the physical and chemical controls on phytoplankton dynamics and carbon flux in continental margin regions of the Southern Ocean, and elucidate mechanisms by which plankton populations and carbon export might be altered by climate change. We specifically will address (1) how the phytoplankton on the continental margins of the southern Ocean respond to spatial and temporal changes in temperature, light, iron supply, and carbon dioxide levels, (2) how these factors initiate changes in phytoplankton assemblage structure, and (3) how carbon export and the efficiency of the biological pump are impacted by the biomass and composition of the phytoplankton. Two regions of study (the Amundsen and Ross Seas) will be investigated, one well studied (Ross Sea) and one poorly described (Amundsen Sea). It is hypothesized that each region will have markedly different physical forcing, giving rise to distinct chemical conditions and therefore biological responses. As such, the comparison of the two may give us insights into the mechanisms of how Antarctic continental margins will respond under changing environmental conditions. Broader impacts include participation by an international graduate student from Brazil, outreach via seminars to the general public, collaboration with the teachers-in-residence on the cruise, development of a cruise web site and interactive email exchanges with local middle school students while at sea", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(130 -72.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -65.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas:", "uid": "p0000217", "west": 100.0}, {"awards": "0440478 Tang, Kam", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "dataset_titles": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600043", "doi": "10.15784/600043", "keywords": "Biota; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Zooplankton", "people": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600043"}], "date_created": "Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:\u003cbr/\u003eo Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and\u003cbr/\u003ephotosynthetic rates?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. \u003cbr/\u003eAntarctica?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population\u003cbr/\u003edynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience.", "east": 166.66267, "geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.85067, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.85067, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial forms of Phaeocystis antarctica", "uid": "p0000214", "west": 166.66267}, {"awards": "0742057 Gallager, Scott", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-168.291 -64.846,-165.018 -64.846,-161.745 -64.846,-158.472 -64.846,-155.199 -64.846,-151.926 -64.846,-148.653 -64.846,-145.38 -64.846,-142.107 -64.846,-138.834 -64.846,-135.561 -64.846,-135.561 -66.0269,-135.561 -67.2078,-135.561 -68.3887,-135.561 -69.5696,-135.561 -70.7505,-135.561 -71.9314,-135.561 -73.1123,-135.561 -74.2932,-135.561 -75.4741,-135.561 -76.655,-138.834 -76.655,-142.107 -76.655,-145.38 -76.655,-148.653 -76.655,-151.926 -76.655,-155.199 -76.655,-158.472 -76.655,-161.745 -76.655,-165.018 -76.655,-168.291 -76.655,-168.291 -75.4741,-168.291 -74.2932,-168.291 -73.1123,-168.291 -71.9314,-168.291 -70.7505,-168.291 -69.5696,-168.291 -68.3887,-168.291 -67.2078,-168.291 -66.0269,-168.291 -64.846))", "dataset_titles": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600086", "doi": "10.15784/600086", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Biota; Microbiology; Navigation; Oceans; Oden; OSO2007; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Gallager, Scott; Dennett, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600086"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research will continue and extend the study in the Southern Ocean that was initiated during the Oden Southern Ocean 2006 expedition in collaboration with Swedish scientist Mellissa Chierici. We will quantify carbon flux through the food web in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) by measuring size fractionated primary and secondary production, grazing and carbon flux through nanoplankton (2-20 um), microplankton (20-200um), and mesoplankton (200-2000 um). Community structure, species abundance and size specific grazing rates will be quantified using a variety of techniques both underway and at ice stations along the MIZ. The proposed cruise track extends across the Drake Passage to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) with three station transects along a gradient from the open ocean through the marginal ice zone (MIZ) in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and into the Ross Sea Polynya. Ice stations along each transect will provide material to characterize production associated with annual ice. Underway measurements of primary and secondary production (chlorophyll, CDOM, microplankton, and mesoplankton) and hydrography (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, turbidity) will establish a baseline for future cruises and as support for other projects such as biogeochemical studies on carbon dioxide drawdown and trace metal work on primary production. The outcome of these measurements will be a description of nano to mesoplankton standing stocks, community structure, and carbon flux along the MIZ in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and the Ross Sea Polynya.", "east": -135.561, "geometry": "POINT(-151.926 -70.7505)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.846, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gallager, Scott; Dennett, Mark", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.655, "title": "SGER: Primary and Secondary Production and Carbon Flux Through the Microbial Community Along the Western Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone on the Oden Southern Ocean 2007 Expeditions", "uid": "p0000563", "west": -168.291}, {"awards": "0338260 Chin, Yu-Ping; 0338342 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.167 -77.55)", "dataset_titles": "Biogeochemistry of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pony Lake, Ross Island", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600168", "doi": "10.15784/600168", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Critical Zone; Ross Island; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Water Samples", "people": "Foreman, Christine; Chin, Yu-Ping", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogeochemistry of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pony Lake, Ross Island", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600168"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a significant chemical component in aquatic systems because it acts as an important carbon source for microorganisms, absorbs harmful radiation in sunlight, is able to complex metals, and can participate in important biogeochemical reactions. This study will investigate the biogeochemical cycling of DOM in a small coastal Antarctic pond, Pony Lake, located on Cape Royds, Ross Island. Because there are no higher plants present at this site all of the DOM in this lake is derived from microorganisms. Thus, Pony Lake is an ideal site to study the effect of physical, chemical, and microbial processes on the composition and character of the DOM pool. Finally, Pony Lake is also an ideal site to collect an International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) fulvic acid standard. Unlike other IHSS standards, this standard will not contain DOM components derived from higher land plants. To better understand the role of physical influences, the project will study the changes in the DOM pool as the lake evolves from ice-covered to ice-free conditions during the summer, as well as the relationship of DOM to the observed turnover of dominant microbial communities in the lake. Scientists will also monitor changes in microbial abundance, diversity, and productivity that may occur during the ice to open-water transition period. This research will provide much needed information regarding the relationship between microbial diversity and DOM biogeochemistry. Middle school science students will be active participants in this project through the Internet, while scientists are in the field, and in the lab.", "east": 166.167, "geometry": "POINT(166.167 -77.55)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -77.55, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Chin, Yu-Ping", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.55, "title": "Collaborative Research: Biogeochemistry of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pony Lake, Ross Island", "uid": "p0000548", "west": 166.167}, {"awards": "0741403 Sherrell, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -69,-172.5 -69,-165 -69,-157.5 -69,-150 -69,-142.5 -69,-135 -69,-127.5 -69,-120 -69,-112.5 -69,-105 -69,-105 -69.9,-105 -70.8,-105 -71.7,-105 -72.6,-105 -73.5,-105 -74.4,-105 -75.3,-105 -76.2,-105 -77.1,-105 -78,-112.5 -78,-120 -78,-127.5 -78,-135 -78,-142.5 -78,-150 -78,-157.5 -78,-165 -78,-172.5 -78,180 -78,178.8 -78,177.6 -78,176.4 -78,175.2 -78,174 -78,172.8 -78,171.6 -78,170.4 -78,169.2 -78,168 -78,168 -77.1,168 -76.2,168 -75.3,168 -74.4,168 -73.5,168 -72.6,168 -71.7,168 -70.8,168 -69.9,168 -69,169.2 -69,170.4 -69,171.6 -69,172.8 -69,174 -69,175.2 -69,176.4 -69,177.6 -69,178.8 -69,-180 -69))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research objective is (1) to determine the distributions and dynamics of a full suite of bioactive trace metals in dissolved and suspended particulate forms, along sampling transects of the Amundsen and Ross Seas. And (2) to test the sensitivity of overall cellular metal stoichiometry (metal/carbon ratios) to natural gradients in species assemblage and Fe availability. Our earlier findings from a single Ross Sea station and from a Drake Passage crossing suggest that Fe-limited phytoplankton cells are unusually enriched in Zn, Cu and Cd relative to biomass carbon, with strong implications for the biogeochemical cycling of these elements relative to carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. In collaboration with other researchers on the cruise, we will also measure metal stoichiometry of cells exposed to predicted 2010 temperature and carbon dioxide levels in shipboard incubation studies, as a window into possible effects of climate change on metals biogeochemistry in these regions. This proposal will support close international collaborations and lasting infrastructure development as US and Swedish scientists, and more importantly, their students, work toward shared the shared goal of understanding a region that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on the globe. Trace metal micro-nutrients are a key control on the productivity of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Our results will be made widely available through research publications and internet-available databases, and public outreach through COSEE at Rutgers University.", "east": -105.0, "geometry": "POINT(-148.5 -73.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -69.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sherrell, Robert", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "SGER: Science-of-Opportunity Aboard Icebreaker Oden: Bioactive trace metals in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "uid": "p0000561", "west": 168.0}, {"awards": "0538683 Lal, Devendra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Solar activity during the last millennium, estimated from cosmogenic in-situ C14 in South Pole and GISP2 ice cores", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600058", "doi": "10.15784/600058", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Cosmos; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Solar Activity; South Pole", "people": "Lal, Devendra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Solar activity during the last millennium, estimated from cosmogenic in-situ C14 in South Pole and GISP2 ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600058"}], "date_created": "Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0538683\u003cbr/\u003eLal\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to continue development of a new method for estimating solar activity in the past. It is based on measurements of the concentrations of in-situ produced C-14 in polar ice by cosmic rays, which depend only on (i) the cosmic ray flux, and (ii) ice accumulation rate. This is the only direct method available to date polar ice, since it does not involve any uncertain climatic transfer functions as are encountered in the applications of cosmogenic C-14 data in tree rings, or of Be-10 in ice and sediments. An important task is to improve on the temporal resolution during identified periods of high/low solar activity in the past 32 Kyr. The plan is to undertake a study of changes in the cosmic ray flux during the last millennium (1100-1825 A.D.), during which time 4 low and 1 high solar activity epoch has been identified from historical records. Sunspot data during most of these periods are sparse. Adequate ice samples are available from ice cores from the South Pole and from Summit, Greenland and a careful high resolution study of past solar activity levels during this period will be undertaken. The intellectual merit of the work includes providing independent verification of estimated solar activity levels from the two polar ice records of cosmic ray flux and greatly improve our understanding of solar-terrestrial relationships. \u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts include collaboration with other scientists who are experts in the application of the atmospheric cosmogenic C-14 and student training. Both undergraduates and a graduate student will be involved in the proposed research. Various forms of outreach will also be used to disseminate the results of this project, including public presentations and interactions with the media.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lal, Devendra", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Solar Activity during the Last Millennium, Estimated from Cosmogenic in-situ 14C in South Pole and GISP2 Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000555", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0440759 Sowers, Todd; 0440498 White, James; 0440602 Saltzman, Eric; 0440509 Battle, Mark; 0440701 Severinghaus, Jeffrey; 0440615 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "dataset_titles": "Gases in Firn Air and Shallow Ice at the WAIS Drilling Site, Antarctica; Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - SPRESSO Ice Core; Methane Isotopes from the WAIS Divide Ice Core; Surface Temperature Reconstruction from Borehole Temperature Measurement in WDC05A; WAIS ice core Methane Data, Carbon Dioxide Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609493", "doi": "10.7265/N5319SV3", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.; McConnell, Joseph; Brook, Edward J.; Mitchell, Logan E; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS ice core Methane Data, Carbon Dioxide Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609493"}, {"dataset_uid": "609435", "doi": "10.7265/N5J67DW0", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Methane; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Methane Isotopes from the WAIS Divide Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609435"}, {"dataset_uid": "609638", "doi": "10.7265/N56971HF", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Temperature; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Orsi, Anais J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface Temperature Reconstruction from Borehole Temperature Measurement in WDC05A", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609638"}, {"dataset_uid": "609412", "doi": "10.7265/N5251G40", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Gases in Firn Air and Shallow Ice at the WAIS Drilling Site, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609412"}, {"dataset_uid": "601357", "doi": "10.15784/601357", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmospheric Gases; Gas Measurement; Ice Core; Ice Core Gas Records; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - SPRESSO Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601357"}], "date_created": "Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to measure the elemental and isotopic composition of firn air and occluded air in shallow boreholes and ice cores from the WAIS Divide site, the location of a deep ice-coring program planned for 2006-07 and subsequent seasons. The three primary objectives are: 1) to establish the nature of firn air movement and trapping at the site to aid interpretations of gas data from the deep core; 2) to expand the suite of atmospheric trace gas species that can be measured in ice and replicate existing records of other species; and 3) to inter-calibrate all collaborating labs to insure that compositional and isotopic data sets are inter-comparable. The program will be initiated with a shallow drilling program during the 05/06 field season which will recover two 300+m cores and firn air samples. The ice core and firn air will provide more than 700 years of atmospheric history that will be used to address a number of important questions related to atmospheric change over this time period. The research team consists of six US laboratories that also plan to participate in the deep core program. This collaborative research program has a number of advantages. First, the scientists will be able to coordinate sample allocation a priori to maximize the resolution and overlap of records of interrelated species. Second, sample registration will be exact, allowing direct comparison of all records. Third, a coherent data set will be produced at the same time and all PI.s will participate in interpreting and publishing the results. This will insure that the best possible understanding of gas records at the WAIS Divide site will be achieved, and that all work necessary to interpret the deep core is conducted in a timely fashion. The collaborative structure created by the proposal will encourage sharing of techniques, equipment, and ideas between the laboratories. The research will identify impacts of various industrial/agricultural activities and help to distinguish them from natural variations, and will include species for which there are no long records of anthropogenic impact. The work will also help to predict future atmospheric loadings. The project will contribute to training scientists at several levels, including seven undergraduates, two graduate students and one post doctoral fellow.", "east": -112.085, "geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GC-MS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e SPECTROMETERS \u003e SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e THERMISTORS \u003e THERMISTORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e FLASKS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e THERMISTORS \u003e THERMISTORS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Chemistry; WAIS Divide; Firn; LABORATORY; Ice Core; Firn Air Isotope Measurements; Shallow Firn Air; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Ice Core Gas Records; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Firn Isotopes; Wais Divide-project; Gas Data; Polar Firn Air; Not provided; Trace Gas Species; Trapped Gases; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Deep Core; Ice Sheet; Gas; Firn Air Isotopes; FIELD SURVEYS; Air Samples; Atmospheric Gases; Isotope; Cores; Atmosphere; Ice Core Data; Surface Temperatures; Firn Air; Borehole; Antarctica", "locations": "West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarctica; WAIS Divide", "north": -79.467, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Battle, Mark; Mischler, John; Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat; White, James; Brook, Edward J.; Orsi, Anais J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.467, "title": "Collaborative Research: Gases in Firn Air and Shallow Ice at the Proposed WAIS Divide Drilling Site", "uid": "p0000368", "west": -112.085}, {"awards": "0125098 Emslie, Steven", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-50 -60,-29 -60,-8 -60,13 -60,34 -60,55 -60,76 -60,97 -60,118 -60,139 -60,160 -60,160 -63,160 -66,160 -69,160 -72,160 -75,160 -78,160 -81,160 -84,160 -87,160 -90,139 -90,118 -90,97 -90,76 -90,55 -90,34 -90,13 -90,-8 -90,-29 -90,-50 -90,-50 -87,-50 -84,-50 -81,-50 -78,-50 -75,-50 -72,-50 -69,-50 -66,-50 -63,-50 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Occupation History and Diet of Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea Region", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600028", "doi": "10.15784/600028", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Geochronology; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Penguin; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Emslie, Steven D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Occupation History and Diet of Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea Region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600028"}], "date_created": "Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "#0125098\u003cbr/\u003eSteve Emslie\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOccupation History and Diet of Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea Region\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will build on previous studies to investigate the occupation history and diet of Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, with excavations of abandoned and active penguin colonies. Numerous active and abandoned colonies exist on the Victoria Land coast, from Cape Adare to Marble Point will be sampled. Some of these sites have been radiocarbon-dated and indicate a long occupation history for Adelie penguins extending to 13,000 years before present (B. P.). The material recovered from excavations, as demonstrated from previous investigations, will include penguin bones, tissue, and eggshell fragments as well as abundant remains of prey (fish bones, otoliths, squid beaks) preserved in ornithogenic (formed from bird guano) soils. These organic remains will be quantified and subjected to radiocarbon analyses to obtain a colonization history of penguins in this region. Identification of prey remains in the sediments will allow assessment of penguin diet. Other data (ancient DNA) from these sites will be analyzed through collaboration with New Zealand scientists. Past climatic conditions will be interpreted from published ice-core and marine-sediment records. These data will be used to test the hypothesis that Adelie penguins respond to climate change, past and present, in a predictable manner. In addition, the hypothesis that Adelie penguins alter their diet in accordance with climate, sea-ice conditions, and other marine environmental variables along a latitudinal gradient will be tested. Graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in this project and a project Web site will be developed to report results and maintain educational interaction between the PI and students at local middle and high schools in Wilmington, NC.", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(55 -75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": null, "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Occupation History and Diet of Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea Region", "uid": "p0000220", "west": -50.0}, {"awards": "0230276 Ward, Bess", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77.2,162.16 -77.2,162.32 -77.2,162.48 -77.2,162.64 -77.2,162.8 -77.2,162.96 -77.2,163.12 -77.2,163.28 -77.2,163.44 -77.2,163.6 -77.2,163.6 -77.26,163.6 -77.32,163.6 -77.38,163.6 -77.44,163.6 -77.5,163.6 -77.56,163.6 -77.62,163.6 -77.68,163.6 -77.74,163.6 -77.8,163.44 -77.8,163.28 -77.8,163.12 -77.8,162.96 -77.8,162.8 -77.8,162.64 -77.8,162.48 -77.8,162.32 -77.8,162.16 -77.8,162 -77.8,162 -77.74,162 -77.68,162 -77.62,162 -77.56,162 -77.5,162 -77.44,162 -77.38,162 -77.32,162 -77.26,162 -77.2))", "dataset_titles": "What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600033", "doi": "10.15784/600033", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; CTD Data; Dry Valleys; Lake Bonney; Lake Vanda; Microbiology; Taylor Valley", "people": "Ward, Bess", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600033"}], "date_created": "Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Denitrification is the main process by which fixed nitrogen is lost from ecosystems and the regulation of this process may directly affect primary production and carbon cycling over short and long time scales. Previous investigations of the role of bioactive metals in regulating denitrification in bacteria from permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of East Antarctica indicated that denitrifying bacteria can be negatively affected by metals such as copper, iron, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, silver and zinc; and that there is a distinct difference in denitrifying activity between the east and west lobes of the lake. Low iron concentrations were found to exacerbate the potential toxicity of the other metals, while silver has the potential to specifically inhibit denitrification because of its ability to interfere with copper binding in redox proteins, such as nitrite reductase and nitrous oxide reductase. High silver concentrations might prevent the functioning of nitrous oxide reductase in the same way that simple copper limitation does, thereby causing the buildup of nitrous oxide and resulting in a nonfunctional nitrogen cycle. Other factors, such as oxygen concentration, are likely also to affect bacterial activity in Lake Bonney. This project will investigate silver toxicity, general metal toxicity and oxygen concentration to determine their effect on denitrification in the lake by using a suite of \"sentinel\" strains of denitrifying bacteria (isolated from the lake) incubated in Lake Bonney water and subjected to various treatments. The physiological responses of these strains to changes in metal and oxygen concentration will be quantified by flow cytometric detection of single cell molecular probes whose sensitivity and interpretation have been optimized for the sentinel strains. Understanding the relationships between metals and denitrification is expected to enhance our understanding of not only Lake Bonney\u0027s unusual nitrogen cycle, but more generally, of the potential role of metals in the regulation of microbial nitrogen transformations.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts of this work include not only a better understanding of regional biogeochemistry and global perspectives on these processes; but also the training of graduate students and a substantial outreach effort for school children.", "east": 163.6, "geometry": "POINT(162.8 -77.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -77.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ward, Bess", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?", "uid": "p0000223", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "0230268 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -50,-169 -50,-158 -50,-147 -50,-136 -50,-125 -50,-114 -50,-103 -50,-92 -50,-81 -50,-70 -50,-70 -51.5,-70 -53,-70 -54.5,-70 -56,-70 -57.5,-70 -59,-70 -60.5,-70 -62,-70 -63.5,-70 -65,-81 -65,-92 -65,-103 -65,-114 -65,-125 -65,-136 -65,-147 -65,-158 -65,-169 -65,180 -65,177 -65,174 -65,171 -65,168 -65,165 -65,162 -65,159 -65,156 -65,153 -65,150 -65,150 -63.5,150 -62,150 -60.5,150 -59,150 -57.5,150 -56,150 -54.5,150 -53,150 -51.5,150 -50,153 -50,156 -50,159 -50,162 -50,165 -50,168 -50,171 -50,174 -50,177 -50,-180 -50))", "dataset_titles": "Southern Ocean Deglacial Opal, Radionuclide, and Diatom Upwelling Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000199", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern Ocean Deglacial Opal, Radionuclide, and Diatom Upwelling Data", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/8439"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\" as it relates to global carbon dioxide fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIntellectual Merit\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will evaluate the burial rate of biogenic opal in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, both during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the Holocene, as a critical test of the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\". \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\" has been proposed recently to explain the glacial reduction in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere that has been reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores. Vast amounts of dissolved Si (silicic acid) are supplied to surface waters of the Southern Ocean by wind-driven upwelling of deep waters. Today, that dissolved Si is consumed almost quantitatively by diatoms who form skeletal structures composed of biogenic opal (a mineral form of silicon). According to the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\", environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean during glacial periods were unfavorable for diatom growth, leading to reduced (compared to interglacials) efficiency of dissolved Si utilization. Dissolved Si that was not consumed biologically in the glacial Southern ocean was then exported to the tropics in waters that sink in winter to depths of a few hundred meters along the northern fringes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and return some decades later to the sunlit surface in tropical regions of wind-driven upwelling. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn increase in the amount of dissolved Si that \"leaks\" out of the Southern Ocean and later upwells at low latitudes could shift the global average composition of phytoplankton toward a greater abundance of diatoms and fewer CaCO3-secreting taxa (especially coccolithophorids). Consequences of such a taxonomic shift in the ocean\u0027s phytoplankton assemblage include:\u003cbr/\u003e a) an increase in the global average organic carbon/calcium carbonate ratio of particulate biogenic material sinking into the deep sea;\u003cbr/\u003e b) a reduction in the preservation and burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments;\u003cbr/\u003e c) an increase in ocean alkalinity as a consequence of the first two changes mentioned above, and;\u003cbr/\u003e d) a lowering of atmospheric CO2 concentrations in response to increased alkalinity of ocean waters. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA complete assessment of the Silicic acid leakage hypothesis will require an evaluation of: (1) Si utilization efficiencies using newly-developed stable isotopic techniques; (2) opal burial rates in low-latitude upwelling regions; and (3) opal burial rates in the Southern Ocean. This project addresses the last of these topics. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePrevious work has shown that there was little change in opal burial rate between the LGM and the Holocene in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. Preliminary results (summarized in this proposal) suggest that the Pacific may have been different, however, in that opal burial rates in the Pacific sector seem to have been lower during the LGM than during the Holocene, allowing for the possibility of \"Si leakage\" from this region. However, available results are too sparse to make any quantitative conclusions at this time. For that reason, we propose to make a comprehensive evaluation of opal burial rates in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSignificance and Broader Impacts\u003cbr/\u003eDetermining the mechanism(s) by which the ocean has regulated climate-related changes in the CO2 content of the atmosphere has been the focus of a substantial effort by paleoceanographers over the past two decades. The Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis is a viable new candidate mechanism that warrants further exploration and testing. Completion of the proposed work will contribute significantly to that effort. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eDuring the course of this work, several undergraduates will be exposed to paleoclimate research through their involvement in this project. Burckle and Anderson are both dedicated to the education and training of young scientists, and to the recruitment of women and under-represented minorities. To illustrate, two summer students (undergraduates) worked in Burckle\u0027s lab during the summer of 2002. One was a woman and the other (male) was a member of an under-represented minority. Anderson and Burckle will continue with similar recruitment efforts during the course of the proposed study. A minority student who has expressed an interest in working on this research during the summer of 2003 has already been identified.", "east": -70.0, "geometry": "POINT(-140 -57.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -50.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Burckle, Lloyd", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Opal Burial in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean: A Test of the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis.\"", "uid": "p0000457", "west": 150.0}, {"awards": "0444040 Zhou, Meng; 0443403 Measures, Christopher; 0230445 Measures, Christopher", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-63 -60.3,-62 -60.3,-61 -60.3,-60 -60.3,-59 -60.3,-58 -60.3,-57 -60.3,-56 -60.3,-55 -60.3,-54 -60.3,-53 -60.3,-53 -60.77,-53 -61.24,-53 -61.71,-53 -62.18,-53 -62.65,-53 -63.12,-53 -63.59,-53 -64.06,-53 -64.53,-53 -65,-54 -65,-55 -65,-56 -65,-57 -65,-58 -65,-59 -65,-60 -65,-61 -65,-62 -65,-63 -65,-63 -64.53,-63 -64.06,-63 -63.59,-63 -63.12,-63 -62.65,-63 -62.18,-63 -61.71,-63 -61.24,-63 -60.77,-63 -60.3))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001663", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0402"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Shackleton Fracture Zone (SFZ) in the Drake Passage defines a boundary between low and high phytoplankton waters. West of Drake Passage, Southern Ocean waters south of the Polar Front and north of the Antarctic continent shelf have very low satellite-derived surface chlorophyll concentrations. Chlorophyll and mesoscale eddy kinetic energy are higher east of SFZ compared to values west of the ridge. In situ data from a 10-year survey of the region as part of the National Marine Fisheries Service\u0027s Antarctic Marine Living Resources program confirm the existence of a strong hydrographic and chlorophyll gradient in the region. An interdisciplinary team of scientists hypothesizes that bathymetry, including the 2000 m deep SFZ, influences mesoscale circulation and transport of iron leading to the observed phytoplankton patterns. To address this\u003cbr/\u003ehypothesis, the team proposes to examine phytoplankton and bacterial physiological states (including responses to iron enrichment) and structure of the plankton communities from virus to zooplankton, the concentration and distribution of Fe, Mn, and Al, and mesoscale flow patterns near the SFZ. Relationships between iron concentrations and phytoplankton characteristics will be examined in the context of the mesoscale transport of trace nutrients to determine how much of the observed variability in phytoplankton biomass can be attributed to iron supply, and to determine the most important sources of iron to pelagic waters east of the Drake Passage. The goal is to better understand how plankton productivity and community structure in the Southern Ocean are affected by the coupling between bathymetry, mesoscale circulation, and limiting nutrient distributions.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research program includes rapid surface surveys of chemical, plankton, and hydrographic properties complemented by a mesoscale station grid for vertical profiles, water sampling, and bottle incubation enrichment experiments. Distributions of manganese and aluminum will be determined to help distinguish aeolian, continental shelf and upwelling sources of iron. The physiological state of the phytoplankton will be monitored by active fluorescence methods sensitive to the effects of iron limitation. Mass concentrations of pigment, carbon and nitrogen will be obtained by analysis of filtered samples, cell size distributions by flow cytometry, and species identification by microscopy. Primary production and photosynthesis parameters (absorption, quantum yields, variable fluorescence) will be measured on depth profiles, during surface surveys and on bulk samples from enrichment experiments. Viruses and bacteria will be examined for abundances, and bacterial production will be assessed in terms of whether it is limited by either iron or organic carbon sources. The proposed work will improve our understanding of processes controlling distributions of iron and the response of plankton communities in the Southern Ocean. This proposal also includes an outreach component comprised of Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Teachers Experiencing the Antarctic and Arctic (TEA), and the creation of an educational website and K-12 curricular modules based on the project.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-58 -62.65)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -60.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Measures, Christopher; Selph, Karen; Zhou, Meng", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Plankton Community Structure and Iron Distribution in the Southern Drake Passage", "uid": "p0000585", "west": -63.0}, {"awards": "0741428 Hutchins, David", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-106 -73)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposal describes global change-related experimental research designed to take full advantage of a unique science opportunity on short notice, the leasing of the Oden to conduct ice-breaking operations in McMurdo Sound. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOur emphasis will be on using this opportunistic research platform to ask two questions about present day and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton communities. These are: 1. How will expected alterations in pCO2, pH, and Fe availability in the Southern Ocean, due to future anthropogenic climate change affect phytoplankton species assemblages, carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry, and remineralization processes? 2. What is the current role of organic co-factors (vitamins) in limiting or co-limiting (along with iron ) phytoplankton growth and production in the Antarctic margin? The research approach includes experimental incubations with variation in iron enrichment, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature. A second suite of experiments will examine co-limitation effects between vitamin B12 and Fe and B12 uptake kinetics. Changes in phytoplankton community structure, and carbon and nutrient cycling will be determined, in collaboration with many of the participating U.S. and Swedish investigators. Together, these two main objectives should allow us to obtain novel insights into the current and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton growth, productivity, and carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. In particular, the experiments in the Amundsen Sea represent a one-of-a-kind opportunity to understand algal dynamics and potential future responses to climate change in this little-studied ecosystem, and compare these results to those from the better-known Ross Sea. An important result of this study will be to build strong international collaborations with the Swedish marine science community. Additional broader impacts include participatin of an Hispanic Ph.D. student in cruise work and post-cruise analyses, and integration of results into graduate courses at the USC Catalina Lab facility. Public outreach will include presentations on global change impacts on the ocean targeted at audiences ranging from legislators and policymakers to the general public.", "east": -106.0, "geometry": "POINT(-106 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SHIPS", "locations": null, "north": -73.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hutchins, David", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -73.0, "title": "SGER: Science-of-Opportunity Aboard Icebreaker Oden - Phytoplankton Global Change Experiments and Vitamin/Iron Co-Limitation in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "uid": "p0000224", "west": -106.0}, {"awards": "0636953 Saltzman, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.82 -81.66)", "dataset_titles": "Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Methyl Bromide Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Methyl Chloride Measurements from the Siple Dome A Deep Core, Antarctica; Methyl Chloride Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609598", "doi": "10.7265/N5X0650D", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Methyl Bromide Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609598"}, {"dataset_uid": "609356", "doi": "10.7265/N56W9807", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Williams, Margaret; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Methyl Chloride Measurements from the Siple Dome A Deep Core, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609356"}, {"dataset_uid": "609600", "doi": "10.7265/N5PG1PPB", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Methyl Chloride Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609600"}, {"dataset_uid": "601361", "doi": "10.15784/601361", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbonyl Sulfide; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601361"}, {"dataset_uid": "609599", "doi": "10.7265/N5S75D8P", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements in the Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609599"}], "date_created": "Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Saltzman/0636953\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to measure methyl chloride, methyl bromide, and carbonyl sulfide in air extracted from Antarctic ice cores. Previous measurements in firn air and shallow ice cores suggest that the ice archive contains paleo-atmospheric signals for these gases. The goal of this study is to extend these records throughout the Holocene and into the last Glacial period to examine the behavior of these trace gases over longer time scales and a wider range of climatic conditions. These studies are exploratory, and both the stability of these trace gases and the extent to which they may be impacted by in situ processes will be assessed. This project will involve sampling and analyzing archived ice core samples from the Siple Dome, Taylor Dome, Byrd, and Vostok ice cores. The ice core samples will be analyzed by dry extraction, with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with isotope dilution. The ice core measurements will generate new information about the range of natural variability of these trace gases in the atmosphere. The intellectual merit of this project is that this work will provide an improved basis for assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on biogeochemical cycles, and new insight into the climatic sensitivity of the biogeochemical processes controlling atmospheric composition. The broader impact of this project is that there is a strong societal interest in understanding how man\u0027s activities impact the atmosphere, and how atmospheric chemistry may be altered by future climate change. The results of this study will contribute to the development of scenarios used for future projections of stratospheric ozone and climate change. In terms of human development, this project will support the doctoral dissertation of a graduate student in Earth System Science, and undergraduate research on polar ice core chemistry. This project will also contribute to the development of an Earth Sciences teacher training curriculum for high school teachers in the Orange County school system in collaboration with an established, NSF-sponsored Math and Science Partnership program (FOCUS).", "east": -148.82, "geometry": "POINT(-148.82 -81.66)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Methyl Bromide; Antarctic; Ice Core Gas Records; Ice Core Data; Carbonyl Sulfide; Methyl Chloride; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Siple Dome; Trace Gases; Ice Core Chemistry; Biogeochemical; Atmospheric Chemistry; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; LABORATORY; Ice Core; West Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctic; Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Siple Dome; West Antarctica; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -81.66, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat; Williams, Margaret", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Taylor Dome Ice Core; Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": -81.66, "title": "Methyl Chloride, Methyl Bromide, and Carbonyl Sulfide in Deep Antarctic Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000042", "west": -148.82}, {"awards": "0124049 Berger, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.4 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.8 -77.5,162 -77.5,162.20000000000002 -77.5,162.4 -77.5,162.6 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,163 -77.5,163.20000000000002 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.4 -77.52,163.4 -77.54,163.4 -77.56,163.4 -77.58,163.4 -77.6,163.4 -77.62,163.4 -77.64,163.4 -77.66,163.4 -77.68,163.4 -77.7,163.20000000000002 -77.7,163 -77.7,162.8 -77.7,162.6 -77.7,162.4 -77.7,162.20000000000002 -77.7,162 -77.7,161.8 -77.7,161.6 -77.7,161.4 -77.7,161.4 -77.68,161.4 -77.66,161.4 -77.64,161.4 -77.62,161.4 -77.6,161.4 -77.58,161.4 -77.56,161.4 -77.54,161.4 -77.52,161.4 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0124049\u003cbr/\u003eBerger\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the Dry Valleys of the McMurdo Sound region of Antarctica. Using a modified Livingstone corer, transects of long cores will be obtained from Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, Joyce, and Vanda. A multiparameter approach will be employed which is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of former water-level, glaciological, and paleoenvironmental data from Dry Valleys lakes. Estimates of hydrologic changes will come from different proxies, including grain size, stratigraphy, evaporite mineralogy, stable isotope and trace element chemistry, and diatom assemblage analysis. The chronology, necessary to integrate the cores with the geomorphological record, as well as for comparisons with Antarctic ice-core and glacial records, will come from Uranium-Thorium, Uranium-Helium, and Carbon-14 dating of carbonates, as well as luminescence sediment dating. Evaluation of the link between lake-level and climate will come from hydrological and energy-balance modelling. Combination of the more continuous lake-core sequences with the spatially extensive geomorphological record will result in an integrated Antarctic lake-level and paleoclimate dataset that extends back at least 30,000 years. This record will be compared to Dry Valleys glacier records and to the Antarctic ice cores to address questions of regional climate variability, and then to other Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere records to assess interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of climate change.", "east": 163.4, "geometry": "POINT(162.4 -77.6)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LIDAR/LASER SOUNDERS \u003e LASERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Stratigraphy; Climate Variability; Shoreline Deposits; Dry Valleys; Antarctic Lake-level; Luminescence Geochronology; Grain Size; Paleoclimate; Antarctica; LABORATORY; Lake Cores", "locations": "Dry Valleys; Antarctica", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Berger, Glenn; Hall, Brenda; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7, "title": "Collaborative Research: Millennial Scale Fluctuations of Dry Valleys Lakes: Implications for Regional Climate Variability and the Interhemispheric (a)Synchrony of Climate Change", "uid": "p0000219", "west": 161.4}, {"awards": "0338142 Domack, Eugene; 0338220 Ishman, Scott; 0338163 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-63 -62,-62.3 -62,-61.6 -62,-60.9 -62,-60.2 -62,-59.5 -62,-58.8 -62,-58.1 -62,-57.4 -62,-56.7 -62,-56 -62,-56 -62.5,-56 -63,-56 -63.5,-56 -64,-56 -64.5,-56 -65,-56 -65.5,-56 -66,-56 -66.5,-56 -67,-56.7 -67,-57.4 -67,-58.1 -67,-58.8 -67,-59.5 -67,-60.2 -67,-60.9 -67,-61.6 -67,-62.3 -67,-63 -67,-63 -66.5,-63 -66,-63 -65.5,-63 -65,-63 -64.5,-63 -64,-63 -63.5,-63 -63,-63 -62.5,-63 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0404; NBP0603 - Expedition Data; NBP0603 - Paleohistory of the Larsen Ice Shelf System", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000236", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0603 - Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0603"}, {"dataset_uid": "001610", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0502"}, {"dataset_uid": "002710", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0404", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0404"}, {"dataset_uid": "600027", "doi": "10.15784/600027", "keywords": "ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Diatom; Electromagnetic Data; Flask Glacier; Foehn Winds; Larsen Ice Shelf; Marine Sediments; NBP0603; Oceans; Physical Ice Properties; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Scar Inlet; Southern Ocean", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0603 - Paleohistory of the Larsen Ice Shelf System", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600027"}], "date_created": "Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990\u0027s. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica\u0027s glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth\u0027s magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-59.5 -64.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V LMG; R/V NBP; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ishman, Scott; Leventer, Amy; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Paleohistory of the Larsen Ice Shelf System: Phase II", "uid": "p0000215", "west": -63.0}, {"awards": "9909665 Berger, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-67.25 -62,-66.025 -62,-64.8 -62,-63.575 -62,-62.35 -62,-61.125 -62,-59.9 -62,-58.675 -62,-57.45 -62,-56.225 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.525,-55 -63.05,-55 -63.575,-55 -64.1,-55 -64.625,-55 -65.15,-55 -65.675,-55 -66.2,-55 -66.725,-55 -67.25,-56.225 -67.25,-57.45 -67.25,-58.675 -67.25,-59.9 -67.25,-61.125 -67.25,-62.35 -67.25,-63.575 -67.25,-64.8 -67.25,-66.025 -67.25,-67.25 -67.25,-67.25 -66.725,-67.25 -66.2,-67.25 -65.675,-67.25 -65.15,-67.25 -64.625,-67.25 -64.1,-67.25 -63.575,-67.25 -63.05,-67.25 -62.525,-67.25 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001707", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0303"}, {"dataset_uid": "001818", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909665 Berger This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - \"ka\" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments. Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant \"cold-tongue\" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition). This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of \"zero-age\" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses. Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-61.125 -64.625)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; Not provided; Luminescence; Hugo Island; Geochronology; R/V NBP; Palmer Deep", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Berger, Glenn; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.25, "title": "Collaborative Research: Development of a Luminescence Dating Capability for Antarctic Glaciomarine Sediments: Tests of Signal Zeroing at the Antarctic Pennisula", "uid": "p0000592", "west": -67.25}, {"awards": "9615398 Encarnacion, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Encarnaci_n OPP 9615398 Abstract Basement rocks of the Transantarctic Mountains are believed to record a change in the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana from a rifted passive margin to a tectonically active margin (Ross orogen). Recent hypothesis suggest that the passive margin phase resulted from Neoproterozoic rifting of Laurentia from Antarctica (\"SWEAT\" hypothesis). The succeeding active margin phase (Ross orogeny) was one of several tectonic events (\"Pan African\" events) that resulted from plate convergence/transpression that was probably a consequence of the assembly of components of the Gondwana supercontinent. Although these basement units provide one of the keys for understanding the break up and assembly of these major continental masses, few precise ages are available to address the following important issues: (1) Is there any pre-rift high-grade cratonal basement exposed along the Transantarctic Mountains, and what is/are its precise age? Is this age compatible with a Laurentia connection? (2) What is the age of potential rift/passive margin sediments (Beardmore Group) along the Queen Maud Mountains sector of the orogen? (3) What is the relative and absolute timing of magmatism and contractional deformation of supracrustal units in the orogen? Was deformation diachronous and thus possibly related to transpressional tectonics, or did it occur in a discrete pulse that is more compatible with a collision? How does contraction of the orogen fit in with emplacement of voluminous plutonic and volcanic rocks? The answers to these questions are central to understanding the kinematic evolution of this major orogenic belt and its role in Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic continental reconstructions and plate kinematics. Hence, this award supports funding for precise U-Pb dating, using zircon, monazite, baddeleyite, and/or titanite from a variety of magmatic rocks in the Queen Ma ud Mountains, which can address the foregoing problems. In addition to the issues above, precise dating of volcanics that are interbedded with carbonates containing probable Middle Cambrian fauna could potentially provide a calibration point for the Middle Cambrian, which will fill a gap in the absolute time scale for the early Paleozoic.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Encarnacion, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Constraints on the Tectonomagmatic Evolution of the Pacific Margin of Gondwana from U-Pb Geochronology of Magmatic Rocks in the Transantarctic Basement", "uid": "p0000277", "west": null}, {"awards": "9526556 Sowers, Todd", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.3023 -81.403)", "dataset_titles": "Carbon-13 Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric Methane in Firn Air, South Pole and Siple Dome, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609310", "doi": "10.7265/N5ST7MR2", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Siple Dome; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Carbon-13 Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric Methane in Firn Air, South Pole and Siple Dome, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609310"}], "date_created": "Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for support for a program to reconstruct records of the isotopic composition of paleoatmospheric methane and nitrous oxide covering the last 200,000 years. High resolution measurements of the carbon-13 isotopic composition of methane from shallow ice cores will help to determine the relative contributions of biogenic (wetlands, rice fields and ruminants) and abiogenic (biomass burning and natural gas) methane emissions which have caused the concentrations of this gas to increase at an exponential rate during the anthropogenic period. Isotopic data on methane and nitrous oxide over glacial/interglacial timescales will help determine the underlying cause of the large concentration variations that are known to occur. This project will make use of a new generation mass spectrometer which is capable of generating precise isotopic information on nanomolar quantities of methane and nitrous oxide, which means that samples can be 1000 times smaller than those needed for a standard isotope ratio instrument. The primary objective of the work is to further our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles of these two greenhouse gases throughout the anthropogenic period as well as over glacial interglacial timescales.", "east": -148.3023, "geometry": "POINT(-148.3023 -81.403)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core; Firn Air Isotope Measurements; Ice Core Chemistry; Firn Isotopes; Stable Isotopes; Methane; Carbon; Paleoclimate; LABORATORY; Siple Dome; Antarctica; Ice Core Data; Firn Air Isotopes; Antarctic Ice Sheet", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Siple Dome", "north": -81.403, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": -81.403, "title": "Constructing Paleoatmospheric Records of the Isotopic Composition of Methane and Nitrous Oxide", "uid": "p0000611", "west": -148.3023}, {"awards": "0233303 Jacobs, Stanley", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Major portions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet float in the surrounding ocean, at the physical and intellectual boundaries of oceanography and glaciology. These ice shelves lose mass continuously by melting into the sea, and periodically by the calving of icebergs. Those losses are compensated by the outflow of grounded ice, and by surface accumulation and basal freezing. Ice shelf sources and sinks vary on several time scales, but their wastage terms are not yet well known. Reports of substantial ice shelf retreat, regional ocean freshening and increased ice velocity and thinning are of particular concern at a time of warming ocean temperatures in waters that have access to deep glacier grounding lines.\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a study of the attrition of Antarctic ice shelves, using recent ocean geochemical measurements and drawing on numerical modeling and remote sensing resources. In cooperation with associates at Columbia University and the British Antarctic Survey, measurements of chlorofluorocarbon, helium, neon and oxygen isotopes will be used to infer basal melting beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, and a combination of oceanographic and altimeter data will be used to investigate the mass balance of George VI Ice Shelf. Ocean and remote sensing observations will also be used to help refine numerical models of ice cavity circulations. The objectives are to reduce uncertainties between different estimates of basal melting and freezing, evaluate regional variability, and provide an update of an earlier assessment of circumpolar net melting.\u003cbr/\u003eA better knowledge of ice shelf attrition is essential to an improved understanding of ice shelf response to climate change. Large ice shelf calving events can alter the ocean circulation and sea ice formation, and can lead to logistics problems such as those recently experienced in the Ross Sea. Broader impacts include the role of ice shelf meltwater in freshening and stabilizing the upper ocean, and in the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water, which can be traced far into the North Atlantic. To the extent that ice shelf attrition influences the flow of grounded ice, this work also has implications for ice sheet stability and sea level rise.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Ice Sheet; Basal Melting; Ice Shelf Meltwater; Not provided; Oceanography; Ice Velocity; Glaciology; Sea Level Rise; Ice Sheet Stability; Mass; Ross Ice Sheet; Numerical Model; Basal Freezing; Ice Cavity Circulations; George VI Ice Shelf; Outflow", "locations": "Ross Ice Sheet", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jacobs, Stanley", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Melting and Calving of Antarctic Ice Shelves", "uid": "p0000730", "west": null}, {"awards": "0538475 Bart, Philip", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -75,-178 -75,-176 -75,-174 -75,-172 -75,-170 -75,-168 -75,-166 -75,-164 -75,-162 -75,-160 -75,-160 -75.3,-160 -75.6,-160 -75.9,-160 -76.2,-160 -76.5,-160 -76.8,-160 -77.1,-160 -77.4,-160 -77.7,-160 -78,-162 -78,-164 -78,-166 -78,-168 -78,-170 -78,-172 -78,-174 -78,-176 -78,-178 -78,-180 -78,-180 -77.7,-180 -77.4,-180 -77.1,-180 -76.8,-180 -76.5,-180 -76.2,-180 -75.9,-180 -75.6,-180 -75.3,-180 -75))", "dataset_titles": "NBP0802 and NBP0803 Sediment samples (full data link not provided); NBP0802 data; NBP0803 data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000138", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AMGRF", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0802 and NBP0803 Sediment samples (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://www.arf.fsu.edu/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000123", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0803 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0803"}, {"dataset_uid": "000122", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0802 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0802"}], "date_created": "Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project determines the recent history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) through a multidisciplinary study of the seabed in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. WAIS is perhaps the world\u0027s most critical ice sheet to sea level rise dut to near-future global warming. its history has been a key focus for the past decade, but there are significant questions as to whether WAIS was stable during the last glacial maximum--about 20,000 years ago--or undergoing advance and retreat. This project studies grounding zone translantions in Eastern Basin to constrain WAIS movements using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates multibeam bathymetry, seismic stratigraphy, sedimentology, diatom biostratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, 10Be concentration analyses, and numerical modeling.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts include improving society\u0027s understanding of sea level rise linked to global warming; postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate education; and expanding the participation of groups underrepresented in Earth sciences through links with LSU\u0027s Geoscience Alliance to Encourage Minority Participation.", "east": -160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170 -76.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e WATERGUNS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ross Sea; R/V NBP; Ice Sheet; Last Glacial Maximum; Seismic Stratigraphy", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -75.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "Bart, Philip; Tomkin, Jonathan", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "AMGRF", "repositories": "AMGRF; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "WAIS grounding-zone migrations in Eastern Basin, Ross Sea and the LGM dilemma: New strategies to resolve the style and timing of outer continental shelf grounding events", "uid": "p0000539", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0126194 Harder, Susan", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Access to data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001336", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NSIDC", "science_program": null, "title": "Access to data", "url": "http://nsidc.org/data/agdc_investigators.html"}], "date_created": "Tue, 20 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a two-year project to continue work developing the techniques to make carbon monoxide (CO) measurements in ice core samples. Carbon monoxide is an important atmospheric chemical constituent as it is a primary sink for hydroxyl radical (OH) (and therefore influences the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere) and because the concentrations of three major greenhouses gases , carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are directly tied to the concentration of CO. In light of recent anthropogenic increases in the emissions of CO, CO2, CH4 and NOx, it is desirable to understand this complex chemical system and the changes in the greenhouse forcing resulting from perturbation. Because it is difficult to test the accuracy of models for past and future conditions for which no direct atmospheric measurements of trace gas concentrations are available these measurements must be obtained in other ways. Polar ice cores provide a means to make these measurements. Further work is necessary to refine the analytical technique and additional measurements are necessary to investigate the accuracy of these results and to establish the nature of temporal trends in CO. It is anticipated that the CO record, combined with existing or new data for CO2, CH4 , N2O and other paleoclimate variables, will provide further constraints on model studies of the effect of changing atmospheric chemistry on greenhouse forcing.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Harder, Susan", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NSIDC", "repositories": "NSIDC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Ice Core Records of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide", "uid": "p0000706", "west": null}, {"awards": "0126270 Doran, Peter", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Polar Programs, provides funds for a study of sediment cores from the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes. The Dry Valley lakes have a long history of fluctuating levels reflecting regional climate change. The history of lake level fluctuations is generally known from the LGM to early Holocene through 14C dates of buried organic matter in paleolake deposits. However, the youngest paleolake deposits available are between 8000 to 9000 14C yr BP, suggesting that lake levels were at or below current levels for much of the Holocene. Thus, any information about the lake history and climate controls for the Holocene is largely contained in bottom sediments. This project will attempt to extract paleoclimatic information from sediment cores for a series of closed-basin dry valley lakes under study by the McMurdo LTER site. This work involves multiple approaches to dating the sediments and use of several climate proxy approaches to extract century to millennial scale chronologies from Antarctic lacustrine deposits. This research uses knowledge on lake processes gained over the past eight years by the LTER to calibrate climate proxies from lake sediments. Proxies for lake depth and ice thickness, which are largely controlled by summer climate, are the focus of this work. This study focuses on four key questions: 1. How sensitively do dry valley lake sediments record Holocene environmental and climate variability? 2. What is the paleoclimatic variability in the dry valleys on a century and millennial scale throughout the Holocene? Especially, is the 1200 yr evaporative event unique, or are there other such events in the record? 3. Does a mid-Holocene (7000 to 5000 yr BP) climate shift occur in the dry valleys as documented elsewhere in the polar regions? 4. Is there evidence, in the dry valley lake record of the 1500 yr Holocene periodicities recently recognized in the Taylor Dome record? Core collection will be performed with LTER support using a state-of-the-art percussion/piston corer system that has been used successfully to retrieve long cores (10 to 20 m) from other remote polar locations. Analyses to be done include algal pigments, biogenic silica, basic geochemistry, organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen content, stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, carbonate phases, salt content and mineralogy, and grain size. In addition this project will pursue a multi-chronometer approach to assess the age of the core through optically-stimulated luminescence, 226Ra/230Th , 230Th/234U, and 14C techniques. New experimentation with U-series techniques will be performed to allow for greater precision in the dry valley lake sediments. Compound specific isotopes and lipid biomarkers , which are powerful tools for inferring past lake conditions, will also be assessed. Combined, these analyses will provide a new century to millennial scale continuous record of the Holocene climate change in the Ross Sea region.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "Doran, Peter", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Paleoclimate Inferred from Lake Sediment Cores in Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000092", "west": null}, {"awards": "0229917 Becker, Luann", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports an interdisciplinary study of fluvial sediments in Antarctica for evidence of what caused the greatest of all mass extinctions in the history of life at the Permian-Triassic boundary. This boundary was, until recently, difficult to locate and thought to be unequivocally disconformable in Antarctica. New studies, particularly of carbon isotopic chemostratigraphy and of paleosols and root traces as paleoecosystem indicators, together with improved fossil plant, reptile and pollen biostratigraphy, now suggest that the precise location of the boundary might be identified and have led to local discovery of iridium anomalies, shocked quartz, and fullerenes with extraterrestrial noble gases. These anomalies are associated with a distinctive claystone breccia bed, similar to strata known in South Africa and Australia, and taken as evidence of deforestation. There is already much evidence from Antarctica and elsewhere that the mass extinction on land was abrupt and synchronous with extinction in the ocean. The problem now is what led to such death and destruction. Carbon isotopic values are so low in these and other Permian-Triassic boundary sections that there was likely to have been some role for catastrophic destabilization of methane clathrates. Getting the modeled amount of methane out of likely reservoirs would require such catastrophic events as bolide impact, flood-basalt eruption or continental-shelf collapse, which have all independently been implicated in the mass extinction and for which there is independent evidence. Teasing apart these various hypotheses requires careful re-examination of beds that appear to represent the Permian-Triassic boundary, and search for more informative sequences, as was the case for the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. This collaborative research on geochemistry and petrography of boundary beds and paleosols (by Retallack), on carbon isotopic variation through the boundary interval (by Jahren), and on fullerenes, iridium and helium (by Becker) is designed to test these ideas about the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica and to shed light on processes which contributed to this largest of mass extinctions on Earth. Fieldwork for this research will be conducted in the central Transantarctic Mountains and in Southern Victoria Land with an initial objective of examining the stratigraphic sequences for continuity across the boundary. Stratigraphic continuity is a critical element that must exist for the work to be successful. If fieldwork indicates sufficiently continuous sections, the full analytical program will follow fieldwork.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e PROBES; SOLAR/SPACE OBSERVING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PARTICLE DETECTORS \u003e SEM", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Becker, Luann", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000718", "west": null}, {"awards": "9909484 Lal, Devendra", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(106.133 -76.083)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 02 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909484 Lal This award is for support for three years of funding to develop a history of snow accumulation and physical processes occurring in the upper layers of ice deposited at several sites in Antarctica, using cosmogenic in-situ Carbon-14 (14C) and cosmogenic Beryllium-10 (10Be) as radiotracers. The proposed research emerges from recent studies of cosmogenic in-situ 14C in GISP2 Holocene and several Antarctic ice samples, which revealed marked differences in the 14C concentrations in the samples, compared to the theoretically expected values. The GISP2 samples have about the expected amount of 14C but the Antarctic samples are deficient by 30-50% or more. These results suggest that in slowly accumulating ice samples (such as occur in Antarctica), the cosmic ray implanted 14C is somehow partially lost, but quantitatively preserved in samples from areas of high accumulation. These results suggest that after deposition of the cosmogenic 14C, its concentration is decreased in firn due to processes such as recrystallization, sublimation/evaporation and redeposition. In order to quantify these processes, the atmospheric cosmogenic 10Be in ice samples will also be measured. Since 10Be and 14C have different responses to the firnification processes, their simultaneous study can help to elucidate the nature and importance of these processes. Samples from Taylor Dome, Vostok and Siple Dome will all be studied.", "east": 106.133, "geometry": "POINT(106.133 -76.083)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided; Radiotracers; Firn; Holocene; Taylor Dome; Vostok; Siple Dome; Cosmogenic 14 C; Carbon-14; Accumulation; 10Be", "locations": "Siple Dome; Taylor Dome; Vostok", "north": -76.083, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lal, Devendra", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -76.083, "title": "Firn Accumulation Processes in Taylor Dome, Vostok and Siple Dome Ice Using Cosmogenic 14 C and 10Be as Tracers", "uid": "p0000732", "west": 106.133}, {"awards": "0230452 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(124.5 -80.78)", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic megadunes", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000191", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NSIDC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic megadunes", "url": "http://nsidc.org/antarctica/megadunes/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a study of the chemical composition of air in the snow layer (firn) in a region of \"megadunes\" near Vostok station, Antarctica. It will test the hypothesis that a deep \"convective zone\" of vigorous wind-driven mixing can prevent gas fractionation in the upper one-third of the polar firn layer. In the megadunes, ultralow snow accumulation rates lead to structural changes (large grains, pipes, and cracks) that make the permeability of firn to air movement orders of magnitude higher than normal. The unknown thickness of the convective zone has hampered the interpretation of ice core 15N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar ratios as indicators of past firn thickness, which is a key constraint on the climatically important variables of temperature, accumulation rate, and gas age-ice age difference. Studying this \"extreme end-member\" example will better define the role of the convective zone in gas reconstructions. This study will pump air from a profile of ~20 depths in the firn, to definitively test for the presence of a convective zone based on the fit of observed 15 N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar to a molecular- and eddy-diffusion model. Permeability measurements on the core and 2-D air flow modeling (in collaboration with M. Albert) will permit a more physically realistic interpretation of the isotope data and will relate mixing vigor to air velocities. A new proxy indicator of convective zone thickness will be tested on firn and ice core bubble air, based on the principle that isotopes of slow-diffusing heavy noble gases (Kr, Xe) should be more affected by convection than isotopes of fast-diffusing N2 . These tools will be applied to a test of the hypothesis that the megadunes and a deep convective zone existed at the Vostok site during glacial periods, which would explain the anomalously low 15N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar in the Vostok ice core glacial periods. The broader impacts of this work include 1) clarification of phase relationships of greenhouse gases and temperature in ice core records, with implications for understanding of past and future climates, 2) education of one graduate student, and 3) building of collaborative relationships with five investigators.", "east": 124.5, "geometry": "POINT(124.5 -80.78)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e FLASKS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Antarctica; Methane; Carbon-14; Permeability; CO2; Firn Core; FIELD SURVEYS; Deuterium Excess; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; LABORATORY; Isotope; Ice Core Density; Firn Air; Megadunes; Ice Core; Not provided; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -80.78, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bauer, Rob; Albert, Mary R.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "NSIDC", "repositories": "NSIDC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.78, "title": "How Thick Is the Convective Zone: A Study of Firn Air in the Megadunes Near Vostok, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000097", "west": 124.5}, {"awards": "0126343 Nishiizumi, Kunihiko", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.812 -81.6588)", "dataset_titles": "Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the Siple Dome A Ice Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609307", "doi": "10.7265/N5XK8CGS", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core", "people": "Nishiizumi, Kunihiko; Finkel, R. C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the Siple Dome A Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609307"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a three-year renewal project to complete measurement of cosmogenic nuclides in the Siple Dome ice core as part of the West Antarctic ice core program. The investigators will continue to measure profiles of Beryllium-10 (half-life = 1.5x10 6 years) and Chlorine-36 (half-life = 3.0x10 5 years) in the entire ice core which spans the time period from the present to about 100 kyr. It will be particularly instructive to compare the Antarctic record with the detailed Arctic record that was measured by these investigators as part of the GISP2 project. This comparison will help separate global from local effects at the different drill sites. Cosmogenic radionuclides in polar ice cores have been used to study the long-term variations in several important geophysical variables, including solar activity, geomagnetic field strength, atmospheric circulation, snow accumulation rates, and others. The time series of nuclide concentrations resulting from this work will be applied to several problem areas: perfecting the ice core chronology, deducing the history of solar activity, deducing the history of variations in the geomagnetic field, and studying the possible role of solar variations on climate. Comparison of Beryllium-10 and Chlorine-36 profiles in different cores will allow us to improve the ice core chronology and directly compare ice cores from different regions of the globe. Additional comparison with the Carbon-14 record will allow correlation of the ice core paleoenvironment record to other, Carbon-14 dated, paleoclimate records.", "east": -148.812, "geometry": "POINT(-148.812 -81.6588)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e AMS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e ION CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Chemistry; Antarctica; Ice Core; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Chlorine-36; GROUND STATIONS; Beryllium-10; Siple Dome; West Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica; Siple Dome; West Antarctica", "north": -81.6588, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Finkel, R. C.; Nishiizumi, Kunihiko", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND STATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": -81.6588, "title": "Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the Siple Dome Ice Core", "uid": "p0000358", "west": -148.812}, {"awards": "0338359 Saltzman, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.81 -81.65)", "dataset_titles": "Analysis of Siple Dome Ice Core: Carbonyl Sulfide (COS), Methyl Chloride (CH3Cl), and Methyl Bromide (CH3Br); Antarctic Ice Cores: Methyl Chloride and Methyl Bromide; Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - SPRESSO Ice Core; Methane and Carbonyl Sulfide Analysis of Siple Dome Ice Core Subsamples", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609279", "doi": "10.7265/N53B5X3G", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; WAISCORES", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Analysis of Siple Dome Ice Core: Carbonyl Sulfide (COS), Methyl Chloride (CH3Cl), and Methyl Bromide (CH3Br)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609279"}, {"dataset_uid": "609131", "doi": "10.7265/N5P848VP", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; WAISCORES", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Methane and Carbonyl Sulfide Analysis of Siple Dome Ice Core Subsamples", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609131"}, {"dataset_uid": "601357", "doi": "10.15784/601357", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmospheric Gases; Gas Measurement; Ice Core; Ice Core Gas Records; Trace Gases", "people": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - SPRESSO Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601357"}, {"dataset_uid": "609313", "doi": "10.7265/N5DN430Q", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; ITASE; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; SPRESSO; SPRESSO Ice Core", "people": "Williams, Margaret; Tatum, Cheryl; Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Ice Cores: Methyl Chloride and Methyl Bromide", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609313"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports the analysis, in Antarctic ice cores, of the ozone depleting substances methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl chloride (CH3Cl), and the sulfur-containing gas, carbonyl sulfide (OCS). The broad scientific goal is to assess the level and variability of these gases in the preindustrial atmosphere. This information will allow testing of current models for sources and sinks of these gases from the atmosphere, and to indirectly assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on their biogeochemical cycles. Longer-term records will shed light on the climatic sensitivity of the atmospheric burden of these gases, and ultimately on the biogeochemical processes controlling them. These gases are present in ice at parts per trillion levels, and the current database consists entirely of a small number of measurements made in from a shallow ice core from Siple Dome, Antarctica. This project will involve studies of ice core samples from three Antarctic sites: Siple Station, Siple Dome, and South Pole. The sampling strategy is designed to accomplish several objectives: 1) to verify the atmospheric mixing ratios previously observed in shallow Siple Dome ice for OCS, CH3Br, and CH3Cl at sites with very different accumulation rates and surface temperatures; 2) to obtain a well-dated, high resolution record from a high accumulation rate site (Siple Station), that can provide overlap in mean gas age with Antarctic firn air samples; 3) explore Holocene variability in trace gas mixing ratios; and 4) to make the first measurements of these trace gases in Antarctic glacial ice. In terms of broader impact on society, this research will help to provide a stronger scientific basis for policy decisions regulating the production and use of ozone-depleting and climate-active gases. Specifically, the methyl bromide results will contribute to the current debate on the impact of recent regulation (via the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments) on atmospheric levels. Determination of pre-industrial atmospheric variability of ozone-depleting substances will help place more realistic constraints on scenarios used for future projections of stratospheric ozone and its climatic impacts. This research will involve the participation of both graduate and undergraduate students.", "east": -148.81, "geometry": "POINT(-148.81 -81.65)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice Core Gas Records; Carbonyl Sulfide; Siple Coast; Chloride; Trapped Gases; Snow; Ice Core Chemistry; Chromatography; Siple; GROUND STATIONS; Atmospheric Gases; Ozone Depletion; AWS Siple; Ice Sheet; Ice Core Data; Antarctica; Glaciology; West Antarctica; Atmospheric Chemistry; Ice Core; Stratigraphy; LABORATORY; Methane; Mass Spectrometer; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; WAISCORES; Msa; Mass Spectrometry; Not provided; Siple Dome; Gas Measurement", "locations": "Antarctica; Siple Coast; Siple Dome; West Antarctica; Siple", "north": -81.65, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Saltzman, Eric; Aydin, Murat; Williams, Margaret; Tatum, Cheryl", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND STATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": -81.65, "title": "Methyl chloride and methyl bromide in Antarctic ice cores", "uid": "p0000032", "west": -148.81}, {"awards": "0125900 Sowers, Todd", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.8 -81.7)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0125900\u003cbr/\u003eSowers\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to improve the understanding of the biogeochemical processes that control CH4 emissions. Records of the concentration of methane in trapped gases in ice tell us about changes in atmospheric loading through time. Such records do not, however, provide information on the individual sources or sinks. One way to refine our understanding of the cycling of bioactive trace gases like methane is to use stable isotope records of trapped gases in ice cores. This project will measure the Deuterium/Hydrogen (D/H) ratio of methane trapped in shallow/recent ice (covering the last ~ 200 years) at Siple Dome, Antarctica. The proposed work will complement current efforts to measure the carbon-13 isotope ratio of methane in ice cores and will provide fundamental information on the various sources and sinks of atmospheric methane over the last 200 years.", "east": -148.8, "geometry": "POINT(-148.8 -81.7)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Siple Dome; Not provided; Ch4; Methane; Antarctica; Ice Core", "locations": "Siple Dome; Antarctica", "north": -81.7, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -81.7, "title": "Constructing the first D/H record of atmospheric methane covering the last two centuries.", "uid": "p0000754", "west": -148.8}, {"awards": "0125981 Sowers, Todd", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -62.83,-144 -62.83,-108 -62.83,-72 -62.83,-36 -62.83,0 -62.83,36 -62.83,72 -62.83,108 -62.83,144 -62.83,180 -62.83,180 -65.547,180 -68.264,180 -70.981,180 -73.698,180 -76.415,180 -79.132,180 -81.849,180 -84.566,180 -87.283,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87.283,-180 -84.566,-180 -81.849,-180 -79.132,-180 -76.415,-180 -73.698,-180 -70.981,-180 -68.264,-180 -65.547,-180 -62.83))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 05 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0125981\u003cbr/\u003eSowers\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to construct an isotopic record of atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide over the last century from South Pole firn air. Over the last 150 years, atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen in response to increased emissions from various anthropogenic activities. As this trend is liable to continue in the foreseeable future, it is important to understand the biogeochemical processes that contribute to the emissions of these two greenhouse gases. In this context, records of the variations in the atmospheric loading of trace gases found in ice cores and interstitial spaces in the snow near the surface of the ice sheet (firn air) provide fundamental boundary conditions for reconstructing historical emission records. One way to improve our understanding of the cycling of bioactive trace gases and their emission records is to use stable isotope tracers, which have been recorded in the ice cores and firn air. This project will develop records of carbon-13 and deuterium isotope ratios of methane, as well as the nitrogen-15, oxygen-18 and the isotopomer composition of nitrous oxide trapped in firn air samples collected in January 2001 at the South Pole. These measurements will allow isotopic records of these atmospheric gases to be reconstructed throughout the 20th century. Such records will help to establish the relative contribution of individual sources with a higher degree of confidence than is currently available.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -62.83, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Generating an Isotopic Record of Atmospheric Methane and Nitrous Oxide Over the Last Century from South Pole Firn Air", "uid": "p0000086", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0125468 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -62.83,-144 -62.83,-108 -62.83,-72 -62.83,-36 -62.83,0 -62.83,36 -62.83,72 -62.83,108 -62.83,144 -62.83,180 -62.83,180 -65.547,180 -68.264,180 -70.981,180 -73.698,180 -76.415,180 -79.132,180 -81.849,180 -84.566,180 -87.283,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87.283,-180 -84.566,-180 -81.849,-180 -79.132,-180 -76.415,-180 -73.698,-180 -70.981,-180 -68.264,-180 -65.547,-180 -62.83))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports the continued measurements of gas isotopes in the Vostok ice core, from Antarctica. One objective is to identify the phasing of carbon dioxide variations and temperature variations, which may place constraints on hypothesized cause and effect relationships. Identification of phasing has in the past been hampered by the large and uncertain age difference between the gases trapped in air bubbles and the surrounding ice. This work will circumvent this issue by employing an indicator of temperature in the gas phase. It is argued that 40Ar/39Ar behaves as a qualitative indicator of temperature, via an indirect relationship between temperature, accumulation rate, firn thickness, and gravitational fractionation of the gas isotopes. The proposed research will make nitrogen and argon isotope measurements on ~ 200 samples of ice covering Termination II (130,000 yr B.P.) and Termination IV (340,000 yr BP). The broader impacts may include a better understanding of the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in climate change.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Vostok; Isotope; Ice Core; Not provided", "locations": "Vostok", "north": -62.83, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Argon and nitrogen isotope measurements in the Vostok ice core as aconstraint on phasing of CO2 and temperature changes", "uid": "p0000752", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "9017827 Lal, Devendra", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Dome C Ice Core Chemistry and Depth and Age Scale Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609243", "doi": "", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Depth-Age-Model; Dome C Ice Core; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate", "people": "Lal, Devendra; Lorius, Claude", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Dome C Ice Core", "title": "Dome C Ice Core Chemistry and Depth and Age Scale Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609243"}], "date_created": "Thu, 26 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for support of a study to establish a quantitative nuclear method for determination of Antarctic ablation and accumulation rates and to provide correction factors for the carbon 14 ages of ice samples dated using trapped carbon 14. Recent studies have established the presence of cosmogenic in-situ produced carbon 14 in polar ice. In conjunction with estimated carbon 14 production rates, measured concentrations of carbon 14 per gram of ice yield, ablation rates which are in good agreement with the values determined from stake measurements. Similar studies to determine accumulation rates have been tested and the estimates are consistent with previous studies. This study will expand the preliminary work done to date in order to improve the 14CO and 14CO2 vacuum extraction techniques, by lowering blank levels and by obtaining more complete separation of 14CO and 14CO2.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GROUND STATIONS", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lal, Devendra; Lorius, Claude; Lal, Devendra", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND STATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Dome C Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Nuclear Studies of Accumulating and Ablation Ice Using Cosmogenic 14c", "uid": "p0000152", "west": null}, {"awards": "9980691 Wahlen, Martin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Atmospheric CO2 Trapped in the Ice Core from Siple Dome, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609202", "doi": "10.7265/N5N877Q9", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core", "people": "Wahlen, Martin; Ahn, Jinho; Deck, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Atmospheric CO2 Trapped in the Ice Core from Siple Dome, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609202"}], "date_created": "Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9980691 Wahlen This award is for support for three years of funding to reconstruct the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon-13 isotope (d13C) concentration in ice cores from Antarctica over several climatic periods. Samples from the Holocene, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)-Holocene transition and glacial stadial/interstadial episodes will be examined. Samples from the Siple Dome ice core drilled in 1998/99 will be made, in addition to measurements from the Taylor Dome and Vostok ice cores. The major objectives are to investigate the phase relationships between variations in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, its carbon isotope composition, and temperature changes (indicated by 18dO and dD of the ice) during deglaciations as well as across rapid climate change events (e.g. Dansgaard-Oeschger events). This will help to determine systematic changes in the global carbon cycle during and between different climatic periods, and to ascertain if the widely spread northern hemisphere temperature stadial/interstadial events produced a global atmospheric carbon dioxide signal. Proven experimental techniques will be used.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Siple Dome; Ice Core; USAP-DC; Carbon Dioxide", "locations": "Siple Dome", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wahlen, Martin; Ahn, Jinho; Deck, Bruce", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "CO2 and Delta 13CO2 in Antarctic Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000166", "west": null}, {"awards": "9615292 Wahlen, Martin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Carbon-Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric CO2 since the Last Glacial Maximum; Taylor Dome Ice Core Chemistry, Ion, and Isotope Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609246", "doi": "", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Paleoclimate; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Indermuhle, A.; Steig, Eric J.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Smith, Jesse; Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Taylor Dome Ice Core Chemistry, Ion, and Isotope Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609246"}, {"dataset_uid": "609108", "doi": "10.7265/N54F1NN5", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Wahlen, Martin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric CO2 since the Last Glacial Maximum", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609108"}], "date_created": "Tue, 01 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for support of a program to reconstruct the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (and the carbon-13 isotopes of carbon dioxide) over several intervals, including the Last Glacial Maximum-Holocene transition, interstadial episodes, the mid-Holocene, the last 1000 years and the penultimate glacial period, using ice from the Taylor Dome and Vostok ice cores. The major objective of this study is to investigate the phase relationship between variations of the greenhouse gases occluded in the ice cores and temperature changes (indicated by oxygen and deuterium isotopes) during the last deglaciation. In addition, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 1000 years and during the mid-Holocene will be determined in these cores.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Ice Core; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Carbon; Trapped Gases; Glaciology; GROUND STATIONS; Taylor Dome; Carbon Dioxide; Isotope; Antarctica; Nitrogen", "locations": "Antarctica; Taylor Dome", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Steig, Eric J.; Wahlen, Martin; Smith, Jesse; Brook, Edward J.; Indermuhle, A.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND STATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Isotopes in the Taylor Dome and Vostok Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000153", "west": null}, {"awards": "9980538 Lohmann, Kyger", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-56 -64)", "dataset_titles": "Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600019", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Lohmann, Kyger", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600019"}], "date_created": "Mon, 11 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research for construction of a long-term record of climate during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene to assess the annual seasonality in temperature on the coastal margin of Antarctica. Stable isotope and element compositions of well-preserved bivalve shells collected on Seymour Island will be the primary source of data used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. Seasonal temperature records collected through high-resolution sampling along growth structures in bivalve shells will allow seasonality to be assessed during different climate states and during periods of rapid climate change. In addition, high stratigraphic resolution will enable this project to detect the presence and frequency of short-lived thermal excursions that may have extended to such high latitudes. To compile a reliable temporal record of paleoclimate, two major avenues of investigation will be undertaken: 1) precise stratigraphic (and therefore, temporal) placement of fossils over a large geographic area will be employed through the use of a graphical technique employing geometric projections; 2) stable isotope and elemental analyses will be performed to derive paleotemperatures and to evaluate diagenetic alteration of shell materials. To provide realistic comparisons of paleotemperatures across stratigraphic horizons, this study will focus on a single taxon, thus avoiding complications due to the mixing of faunal assemblages that have been encountered in previous studies of this region. The near-shore marine fossil record on Seymour Island provides a unique opportunity to address many questions about the Antarctic paleoenvironment, including the relation between seasonality and different climate states, the influence of climate on biogeographic distribution of specific taxa, the effect of ice-volume changes on the stable isotope record from the late Cretaceous through the Eocene, and the plausibility of high-latitude bottom water formation during this time interval. In particular, information that will be collected concerning patterns of seasonality and the presence (or absence) of short-lived thermal excursions will be extremely valuable to an understanding of the response of high latitude sites during climate transitions from globally cool to globally warm conditions.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-56 -64)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided; Bivalves; Geochemical Composition; Carbon Isotopes; Climate", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e PALEOGENE \u003e EOCENE", "persons": "Lohmann, Kyger; Barrera, Enriqueta", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.0, "title": "Evolution of Sea Surface Temperatures in the Coastal Antarctic Paleoenvironment During the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene", "uid": "p0000613", "west": -56.0}, {"awards": "9530379 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -54,-179 -54,-178 -54,-177 -54,-176 -54,-175 -54,-174 -54,-173 -54,-172 -54,-171 -54,-170 -54,-170 -55.2,-170 -56.4,-170 -57.6,-170 -58.8,-170 -60,-170 -61.2,-170 -62.4,-170 -63.6,-170 -64.8,-170 -66,-171 -66,-172 -66,-173 -66,-174 -66,-175 -66,-176 -66,-177 -66,-178 -66,-179 -66,180 -66,145 -66,110 -66,75 -66,40 -66,5 -66,-30 -66,-65 -66,-100 -66,-135 -66,-170 -66,-170 -64.8,-170 -63.6,-170 -62.4,-170 -61.2,-170 -60,-170 -58.8,-170 -57.6,-170 -56.4,-170 -55.2,-170 -54,-135 -54,-100 -54,-65 -54,-30 -54,5 -54,40 -54,75 -54,110 -54,145 -54,-180 -54))", "dataset_titles": "Data sets for RVIB Nathaniel B Palmer February-April, 1998, cruise; U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean (AESOPS) Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002116", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "JGOF", "science_program": null, "title": "Data sets for RVIB Nathaniel B Palmer February-April, 1998, cruise", "url": "http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/jg/dir/jgofs/southern/nbp98_2/"}, {"dataset_uid": "002115", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "JGOF", "science_program": null, "title": "U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean (AESOPS) Data", "url": "http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/southernobjects.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "000249", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "JGOF", "science_program": null, "title": "U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean (AESOPS) Data", "url": "http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/southernobjects.html"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9530379 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. This work is one of forty-four projects that are collaborating in the Southern Ocean Experiment, a three- year effort south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone to track the flow of carbon through its organic and inorganic pathways from the air-ocean interface through the entire water column into the bottom sediment. The experiment will make use of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and the R/V Thompson. This component is a study of how naturally radioactive material in the ocean sediment may be used to reconstruct the flux of biogenic material through the water column to the sediment, and by inference, the productivity of the surface layers. There is evidence that the current surface conditions of high nutrient levels, but low chlorophyll levels do not extend back into colder climatic epochs, and that an examination of radionuclides may allow the reconstruction of rates of paleoproductivity. Two aspects of the biogeochemical cycling and physical transport of radionuclide tracers in the modern ocean will be investigated. In the first part, the concentration of a series of natural radionuclide tracers (thorium-230, protactinium-231, and Beryllium-10) in the Southern Ocean will be measured for their scavenging behavior both in the water column and in particulate material collected by sediment traps. The goal is to test the proposed use of radionuclide ratios as proxy variables for the export flux. In the second part, the concentration values will be introduced into an ocean general circulat ion model to evaluate the transport of radionuclides by the ocean circulation on scales that are larger than the spatial gradients in particle flux. These combined efforts will better define our ability to use radionuclide ratios to evaluate past changes in ocean productivity, and improve our understanding of the response of ocean productivity to climate variability. ***", "east": -170.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Beryllium; Calcium Carbonate; Thorium; Radionulides; Radiocarbon; Organic Carbon; Pa; Protactinium; Uranium; Opal; Th; Be; NBP9802; U; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -54.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "JGOF", "repositories": "JGOF", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.0, "title": "Proxies of Past Changes in Southern Ocean Productivity: Modeling and Experimental Development", "uid": "p0000713", "west": -170.0}]
X
X
Help on the Results MapX
This window can be dragged by its header, and can be resized from the bottom right corner.
The Results Map and the Results Table
The Results Map displays the centroids of the geographic bounds of all the results returned by the search.
Results that are displayed in the current map view will be highlighted in blue and brought to the top of the Results Table.
As the map is panned or zoomed, the highlighted rows in the table will update.
If you click on a centroid on the map, it will turn yellow and display a popup with details for that project/dataset - including a link to the landing page.
The bounds for the project(s)/dataset(s) selected will be displayed in red.
The selected result(s) will be highlighted in red and brought to the top of the table.
The default table sorting order is: Selected, Visible, Date (descending), but this can be changed by clicking on column headers in the table.
Selecting Show on Map for an individual row will both display the geographic bounds for that result on a mini map, and also display the bounds
and highlight the centroid on the Results Map.
Clicking the 'Show boundaries' checkbox at the top of the Results Map will display all the bounds for the filtered results.
Defining a search area on the Results Map
If you click on the Rectangle or Polygon icons in the top right of the Results Map, you can define a search area which will be added to any other
search criteria already selected.
After you have drawn a polygon, you can edit it using the Edit Geometry dropdown in the search form at the top.
Clicking Clear in the map will clear any drawn polygon.
Clicking Search in the map, or Search on the form will have the same effect.
The returned results will be any projects/datasets with bounds that intersect the polygon.
Use the Exclude project/datasets checkbox to exclude any projects/datasets that cover the whole Antarctic region.
Viewing map layers on the Results Map
Clicking the Layers button - the blue square in the top left of the Results Map - will display a list of map layers you can add or remove
from the currently displayed map view.
Older retrieved projects from AMD. Warning: many have incomplete information.
To sort the table of search results, click the header of the column you wish to search by. To sort by multiple columns, hold down the shift key whilst selecting the sort columns in order.
Non-Technical Abstract The deep world ocean is flooded with near 0°C water, drawn from the margins of Antarctica. Antarctic Bottom Water, as it is referred to, is mainly derived from cold water formed the over the continental shelves of the Weddell and Ross Seas, where the coastal water is exposed to frigid polar air masses spreading off the Antarctic ice sheet. Antarctic Bottom Water is a key component of the global ocean overturning system, which is fundamental to the global ocean heat, carbon and nutrient inventories, and hence the climate and marine ecosystem. The processes producing the dense shelf waters involve small scale factors associated with ocean/atmosphere/sea and glacial ice interaction. What is lacking from previous work is a coordinated, synchronous observational study of the seaward spreading, from formation, to export across the continental shelf edge, to its descent into the deep ocean. This work fills the gap, by investigating the characteristics of dense shelf water formed within Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, its transformation, modification and northward spreading within the Drygalski Trough in the western Ross Sea, feeding into the spill-over at the continental slope into the deep boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The sequence of events will be observed with a series of instrumented moorings along the pathway from Terra Nova Bay, along the Drygalski Trough and onto the boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The project is an international collaboration that involves the USA (this proposal), S. Korea, New Zealand and Italy. Technical Abstract The lower kilometer or two of the world ocean is flooded with near 0°C water derived from the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). The cold end-member of AABW is formed over various sectors of the continental shelf of Antarctica, notable in the Weddell and Ross Seas. The governing processes producing the dense shelf waters involve small scale spatial and temporal factors associated with ocean/sea ice interaction, often related to coastal polynyas and katabatic winds, along with further modification by ocean-glacial ice interaction. There have been studies of the formation of dense shelf water, of export of shelf water over the shelf/slope, the descent of gravity currents into the AABW realm, and of flow paths of AABW spreading across the deep ocean well into the northern hemisphere. What is lacking is a coordinated, synchronous observational study of the seaward spreading, from formation of the dense shelf water to its spreading to the shelf/slope break and descent into the deep ocean. This program fills the gap, by investigating the characteristics of dense shelf water formed within Terra Nova Bay (TNB), Ross Sea, its transformation, modification and northward spreading within the Drygalski Trough in the western Ross Sea, feeding into the spill-over at the continental slope and the deep boundary current adjacent to Cape Adare. The team will deploy a series of moorings – two heavily instrumented full water column moorings within TNB to capture high-salinity shelf water (HSSW) production and a series of bottom-focused moorings to evaluate the transformation and northward spreading of the dense saline water. The broad science goals of the project will be addressed by this program through a coordinated analysis of these mooring measurements. The project is an international collaboration that involves the USA (this proposal), S. Korea, New Zealand and Italy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Since 1990, Palmer LTER (PAL) research has been guided by the hypothesis that variability in the polar marine ecosystem is mechanistically coupled to changes in the annual advance, retreat and spatial extent of sea ice. Since that time, the hypothesis has been modified to incorporate climate migration, i.e. the displacement of a cold, dry polar climate by a warm, moist climate regime in the northern component of the PAL region, producing fundamental changes in food web structure and elemental cycling. The observed northern changes are affecting all trophic levels and elemental cycling, and the primary mechanism of change involves match-mismatch dynamics. The proposed research builds on previous findings, with a new emphasis on process studies and modeling to elucidate the mechanistic links between teleconnections, climate change, physical oceanographic forcing and ecosystem dynamics. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that regional warming and sea ice decline associated with historical and on-going climate migration in the northern part of the study area have altered key phenological relationships, leading to changes in species distributions, increasing trophic mismatches and changes in habitat, food availability, ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Through targeted process studies linked to numerical model simulations, the research also will test the hypothesis that deep cross-shelf canyons characterizing the core study region are focal areas for ecosystem processes that result in predictable, elevated food resources for top-predators. The effort includes the addition of 3 new PIs: a zooplankton ecologist with expertise in biogeochemical fluxes, a phytoplankton ecologist focusing on bio-optics and autonomous observations using gliders, and a numerical simulation modeler specializing in coupled global models of ocean circulation, plankton ecology and biogeochemical cycles. The program will add trace metal sampling and analysis, moored physical oceanographic sensors, a moored sediment trap in the south, drifting sediment traps and stable carbon (del 13C) and nitrogen (del 15N) isotope analyses. Missions lasting up to 45 days using gliders deployed before, during and after summer cruises will, along with moorings and satellite remote sensing of sea ice, ocean color, sea surface temperatures and wind fields, greatly extend the observational program in space and time. Since its inception, PAL has been a leader in Information Management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic and LTER communities. PAL has designed and deployed a new information infrastructure with a relational database architecture to facilitate data distribution and sharing. The Education and Outreach program capitalizes on the public's fascination with Antarctica to promote scientific literacy from kindergarten students to adult citizens concerned with climate change and environmental sustainability. Through communicating results to the public and working with scientific assessment bodies (e.g., IPCC) and Antarctic Treaty parties to protect Earth's last frontier, PAL researchers contribute to the national scientific agenda and the greater public benefit.
The main goal of this project is to identify and geochemically characterize atmospheric mineral nanoparticles in pre-industrial Antarctic ice during the last climatic cycle. Recent technological and industrial development is introducing a large number of natural and engineered nanoparticles into Earth's atmosphere. These constitute a concern for human health, mainly due to their high chemical reactivity. While many atmospheric nanoparticle studies have been performed in modern urban environments, there is essentially no information about their occurrence in a pristine pre-industrial atmosphere. This information is critical, as it constitutes an important benchmark for comparison to the modern atmosphere. Information on nanoparticles from the pre-industrial atmosphere can be obtained from atmospheric mineral nanoparticles that are entrapped in remote pre-industrial Antarctic ice covering the last climatic cycles. Mineral nanoparticles can also affect several climatic processes. First, they directly influence the global energy balance by reflecting solar radiation and indirectly influence through changes in cloud formation (and clouds also reflect solar radiation). Second, atmospheric mineral nanoparticles such as iron oxides could have fertilized the oceans, causing blooms of marine phytoplankton that may have drawn part of the atmospheric carbon dioxide into the oceans during glacial ages (the "biological pump"). Third, a significant amount of extraterrestrial material entering the Earth atmosphere is thought to be transported to the poles as nanoparticles called "meteoric smoke" that form polar stratospheric clouds implicated in changes of the ozone hole. This project aims to establish the natural background of unknown classes of glacial particles whose size is below the detection limit of the conventional dust analyzers. The team will take advantage of ice samples from the "horizontal ice core", already extracted from the remote Taylor Glacier (coastal East Antarctica) covering the last ~44,000 years. These ancient samples are particularly suited to project scope because i) a large ice volume is available ii) the team expects to find a markedly different geochemistry between nanoparticles deposited during the last glacial age and during the current interglacial. A set of advanced techniques including Transmission Electron Microscopy, Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (spICP-MS), spICP-Time of Flight MS, and Field Flow Fractionation will be employed to determine mineral nanoparticle sizes, number/volume, and chemical composition. So far, the elemental composition of dust entrapped in polar ice has been mainly determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Sector Field Mass Spectrometry and it is generally assumed to be descriptive of the coarse aeolian dust fraction. However, project will test whether or not the determined elemental composition is instead mainly linked to the previously unobserved smaller mineral nanoparticle content. Results on nanoparticles will be compared with a set of new experiments of total dust composition measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Sector Field Mass Spectrometry, using the same ice samples from Taylor Glacier. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Climate change is disproportionately affecting polar regions, with the Arctic now warming nearly four times faster than the global average. Polar warming drives coastal erosion and increases sediment delivery to the coastal ocean, affecting ecosystem processes ranging from primary productivity to carbon sequestration. Tracking changes in sedimentation rate is urgently needed to determine current conditions and measure further change. In polar regions, however, two of the most globally reliable sediment tracers, the radioisotopes lead-210 (210Pb) and cesium-137 (137Cs), have yielded mixed results. To understand the distribution and usefulness of these radioisotopes at high latitudes, this research makes use of a wealth of polar sediment cores archived at the Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository combined with data synthesized from the literature. Results provide the first systematic study of Arctic and Antarctic sediment accretion. Improving the tools we use to track changes in sedimentation will help coastal managers and decisionmakers understand how climate change is impacting polar coastlines and marine environments, and what local communities should expect in the future. Sediment cores will be subsampled and analyzed for the activities of 210Pb (half-life = 22.3 years) and 137Cs (half-life = 30.1 years) using alpha and gamma spectroscopy, respectively. To provide context related to depositional environment, select subsamples will also be analyzed for sediment bulk density, grain size distribution, and organic content. A subset of samples with no measurable 210Pb or 137Cs activity will be analyzed for 14C to determine whether the lack of radioisotopes in a sample is because the core is simply too old, the true surface layer is missing, or because the shorter-lived radioisotopes did not accumulate. By undertaking comprehensive spatial analysis of the distribution of 210Pb and 137Cs in Arctic and Antarctic sediments, this research will achieve three goals: first, measure the activity of short-lived radioisotopes in archived sediment cores, a service to the science community that is urgently needed before the isotopes decay beyond detection; second, produce a comprehensive pole-wide atlas of sediment accretion rates; and finally, conduct a temporal analysis of sedimentation rate changes over the last ~60 to 125 years along the Beaufort Sea coast of northern Alaska, an ecologically and economically important region experiencing environmental transformation due to climate warming. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Phytoplankton, or microscopic marine algae, are an important part of the carbon cycle and can lower the rates of atmospheric carbon dioxide by transferring the atmospheric carbon into the oceans. The concentration of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean is regularly limited by the availability of marine iron. This in turn influences the rate of carbon transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean. The primary source of iron in the Southern Ocean is eroded continental rock. Understanding the current and future sources of iron to the Southern Ocean as a result of increased melting of terrestrial glaciers is necessary for predicting future concentrations of Southern Ocean phytoplankton and the subsequent influence on the carbon cycle. A poorly understood source of iron to the Southern Ocean is stream input from ice-free regions such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica. This source of iron is likely to become larger if glaciers retreat. This study investigates the sources and amount of iron transported by McMurdo Dry Valley streams directly into the Southern Ocean. Because not all forms of iron can be used by phytoplankton, experiments will be performed to determine how available iron is to phytoplankton and how iron mixes with seawater. Immersive 360-degree video, infographics, and educational videos of findings from this project will be shared on social media, at schools and science events, and in an urban science center. In the Southern Ocean (SO) there is an excess of macronutrients but regional primary production is limited or co-limited due to iron. An addition of iron to the ocean will affect biochemical cycles, increase primary production, and affect the structure and composition of phytoplankton communities in the SO. Iron flux to the SO is globally significant, as increased Fe fertilization leads to increased carbon sequestration which acts as a negative feedback to increased atmospheric pCO2. One source of potentially bioavailable iron to the coastal regions of the SO is from direct sub-aerial stream discharge in ice-free areas of Antarctica, a source that may become more important if terrestrial glaciers retreat. It is imperative to understand the source, nature, potential fate, and flux of iron to the SO if better predictive models for the carbon cycle and atmospheric chemistry are to be developed. This project will investigate in-stream processes and characteristics controlling dissolved iron draining into the Ross Sea including photoreduction, temperature, and complexation with organic matter. The novel study will quantify bioavailability of particulate iron and bioavailability of dissolved iron in Antarctic in streams draining into the SO. On-site speciation measurements will be performed on dissolved iron species, particulate iron speciation will be determined using high-resolution spectroscopy, mixing experiments will be performed with coastal marine water, and the bioavailability of Fe will be determined through marine bioassays. This project will provide two students with valuable Antarctic field experience and reach thousands of individuals through existing partnerships with K-12 schools, public STEM events, an urban science center, and a strong social media presence. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is experiencing significant environmental changes, including warming temperatures, reduced sea ice, and glacier retreat. These changes could impact marine ecosystems and biological and chemical processes, particularly the biological pump, which is the process by which carbon is transported from the ocean surface to the deep sea, playing a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This project aims to understand how climate change affects the biological pump in the WAP region. Using a combination of advanced modeling techniques and data from long-term research programs, the project will investigate the processes governing the biological pump and its climate feedback. The findings will provide insights into the future dynamics of the WAP region and contribute to our understanding of climate change impacts on polar marine ecosystems. This research is important as it will enhance knowledge of how polar regions respond to climate change, which is vital for predicting global climate patterns and informing conservation efforts. Furthermore, the project supports the development of early-career researchers and promotes diversity in science through collaborations with educational programs and outreach to underrepresented communities. This project focuses on the WAP, a region undergoing rapid environmental changes. The goal is to investigate and quantify the factors controlling the biological pump and its feedback to climate change and variability. A novel hybrid modeling framework will be developed, integrating observational data from the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research program and the Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time-Series into a sophisticated one-dimensional mechanistic biogeochemical model. This framework will utilize Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques for data assimilation and parameter optimization. By incorporating complementary datasets and optimizing model parameters, the project aims to reduce uncertainties in modeling biological pump processes. The study will also use climate scenarios from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 to assess the impacts of future climate conditions on the biological pump. Additionally, the project will examine the role of vertical mixing of dissolved organic matter in total export production, providing a comprehensive understanding of the WAP carbon cycle. The outcomes will improve temporal resolution and data assimilation, advancing the mechanistic understanding of the interplay between ocean dynamics and biogeochemical processes in the changing polar environment. The project will also leverage unique datasets and make the model framework and source codes publicly available, facilitating collaboration and benefiting the broader scientific community. Outreach efforts include engaging with educational programs and promoting diversity in Polar Science through collaborations with institutions serving underrepresented groups. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The ozone hole that develops over the Antarctic continent every spring is one of the features attributed to human activity, in particular production of the CFC (chlorofluorocarbons in refrigerants) released to the atmosphere. In spite of the CFC ban from the Montreal Protocol established in the year 1987, the recovery has been slower than predicted. Bromocarbons, known to produce the stratospheric ozone depletion, have recently been estimated to contribute to the pool of bromines in the lower atmosphere. What is the origin of the bromocarbons in Antarctic sea ice? Is this an additional source of chemicals creating the ozone hole? This project will test if bromocarbons in sea ice are produced and degraded by microalgae and bacteria found in sea ice, in snow and the interface between the two. The project will collect a suite of chemical and biological measurements of sea ice and snow to determine bromocarbon concentrations, microbial activity associated with them, and intra-cellular genes and proteins involved in bromocarbon metabolism. This project benefits NSF’s goals of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes, and improving the understanding of interactions among the Antarctic systems, cryosphere and organisms. The work will be carried out at McMurdo Station in late austral spring, including sampling of snow and ice that will be concentrated in the laboratory, and 24-hour experiments to measure algal and bacterial activity. Genes controlling synthesis of enzymes involved in bromocarbon metabolism are of interest in biotechnology and bioremediation, including products that repair damaged skin from UltraViolet Radiation. The project will train undergraduate students on chemical and biological techniques. The Principal Investigators will be involved in the Pacific Science Center in Seattle with ~10,000 visitors per weekend where they will develop a project-specific exhibit. The microbial processes in snow and ice associated with bromocarbon synthesis and degradation have not been studied in Antarctica during winter and spring. This study will inform about microbial activity in relation to the release of bromocarbons compounds from the snow and ice surfaces, compounds known to degrade stratospheric ozone. The estimation of chemical bromocarbons will be combined with metagenomics and metaproteomics approaches for understanding the potential role of microbes in snow and sea ice. The environmental, chemical and biological data will be synthesized with multivariate analysis and significant differences between sites and experimental treatments with ANOVA. A collaborator from the University of Goteborg in Sweden will collaborate on bromocarbon analyses. The study will also address “saline snow” a new environment not previously studied for microbial life. In addition, this is the first study of meta-proteomics in snow and ice. The Principal Investigators expect their results will help inform ozone hole recovery in the 21st century. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contain abundant microbial mats, and the export of this mat material can fertilize the surrounding polar desert ecosystems. These desert soils are one of the most organic-poor on earth yet host a community of microorganisms. Microbial mat material is exported from the shallow, gas-supersaturated regions of the lakes when gas bubbles form in the mats, lifting them to the ice cover; the perennial ice cover maintains gas supersaturation. These mats freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. The largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice cover in the history of Lake Fryxell was recorded during the 2022-2023 Austral summer. In this thin ice year, the water column dissolved oxygen increased over prior observations, and the lake bottom surface area with bubble-disrupted mat was more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007. This work will constrain mat mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning to understand how future changing regional climate and predicted seasonal loss of lake ice cover will affect nutrient transport in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Exceptional years of mat export are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on nutrient export to soil communities; variability in mat liftoff may thus play a role in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem response to changing climate. The perennial ice cover of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica modulates the transfer of gasses, organic and inorganic material, between the lakes and surrounding soils. The export of biomass in these lakes is driven by the supersaturation of atmospheric gasses in the shallow regions under perennial ice cover. Gas bubbles nucleate in the mats, producing buoyancy that lifts them to the bottom of the ice, where they freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. These mats represent a significant source of biomass and nutrients to the McMurdo Dry Valleys soils, which are among the most organic-poor on earth. Nevertheless, this biomass remains unaccounted for in organic carbon cycling models for the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Ice cover data from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project shows that the ice thickness has undergone cyclical variation over the last 40 years, reaching the largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice-cover in the recorded history of Lake Fryxell during the 2022-2023 austral summer. Preliminary work shows that the surface area with mat liftoff at Lake Fryxell is more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007, coinciding with this unprecedented thinning of the ice-cover and an increase in the water column dissolved O2. This research will constrain biomass mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning. The researchers hypothesize that a thinner ice cover promotes more biomass mobilization by 1) stimulating additional production of gas bubbles from the existing gas-supersaturated waters during summertime photosynthesis to create microbial mat liftoff and 2) promoting mat liftoff in deeper, thicker microbial mats, and 3) that this biomass can be traced into the soils by characterizing its chemistry and modeling the most likely depositional settings. This work will use microbial mat samples, lake dissolved oxygen and photosynthetically active radiation data and underwater drone footage documenting the depth distribution of liftoff mats in January 2023, and long-term ice cover thickness, photosynthetically active radiation, and lake level change data collected by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project to test hypotheses 1-3. The dispersal of the liftoff mat exposed at Lake Fryxell surface will be modeled using a Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Exceptional liftoff years like the present are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on the soil communities as the rates of soil respiration increase with the addition of carbon. However, continued warming in the next 10 - 40 years may result in seasonal loss of the ice cover and cessation of liftoff mat export. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. <br/><br/>This project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the ?Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean? (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Non-technical abstract Earth’s climatic changes have been recorded in the ice core collected from the Antarctic ice sheet. While these records provide a high resolution view of how polar temperatures changed through time, it is not always clear what Earth process influence Antarctic climate. One likely contributor to Antarctic temperature changes is the cyclic changes in Earth’s orientation as it orbits the sun. These so-called Milankovitch cycles control the amount and pattern of sunlight reaching the polar regions, that in turn result in periods of climatic warming or cooling. While the orbital variations and control on incoming solar energy remain well understood, how they influence Antarctic climate remains unresolved. It is the goal of this project to determine how variations in Earth’s orbit may be locally influencing Antarctic temperatures. The researchers on this project are pursing this goal by identifying periods of past ice melting on the surface of Antarctica using minerals that precipitate from the meltwaters that resulted from past warm periods. The timing of this past melting will be determined by radioisotopic dating of the minerals using the natural radioactive decay of uranium to thorium. By dating numerous samples, collected in past scientific expeditions throughout the Antarctic continent, these researchers aim to reconstruct the frequency and spatial pattern of past warming and in doing so, determine what aspect of Earth’s orbital variations influences Antarctic ice loss. Technical abstract Antarctic ice cores provide high resolution records of Pleistocene Southern Hemisphere temperatures that show an overall coherence with Northern Hemisphere temperature variations. One explanation for this bi-hemispheric temperature covariance relies on changes in atmospheric CO2 that result from varying northern hemisphere insolation. An alternative posits that the apparent coherence of polar temperatures is due to the misleading covariance between northern hemisphere summer insolation and, the southern hemisphere summer duration. At present there is an insufficient understanding of the role that local insolation plays in Antarctic climate. The goal of this research project is to identify the temporal spatial patterns of solar forcing in Antarctica. To reach this goal, the project team will: 1) develop a way to identify periods of past surface melt production in Antarctica using U-Th dating of pedogenic carbonates; and 2) utilize the evidence of past surface melting to calibrate energy balance models and interrogate past Antarctic surface temperatures and; 3) compare the timing of Antarctic warm periods to potential solar forcing mechanisms such as peak summer insolation or summer duration. A means of identifying the spatial and temporal pattern at which local insolation influences Antarctic temperature would provide a transformative solution to the contradiction in current climate records. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This RAPID project aims to study a sporadic occurrence of sea star wasting disease in McMurdo sound by leveraging diving resources of a CAREER grant to Thurber. The disease was first noted in 2019, with a second occurrence documented by the group at their study site near a methane seep at Cinder Cone in McMurdo Sound in 2022. Sea stars are key species in many benthic ecosystems, including the Antarctic, and this disease has caused significant losses in populations worldwide. In the Southern Ocean, the sea star Odontaster validus preys upon Acodontaster conspicuous, a predator of Antarctic giant sponges. In 2022, about 30% of the O. validus at the methane seep were affected. The conditions associated with the disease in other areas are environmental hypoxia, warm temperatures, and organic enrichment. This recent outbreak provides the opportunity to study how the disease may progress in the SO, and test the hypothesis that oxygen dynamics play a key role in the development of SSWS. The investigators aim to measure oxygen concentrations on and off the Cinder Cone methane seep and at the surface of affected and unaffected sea stars and identify whether the disease causes and microbiome characteristics of SSWS are similar between Antarctic and non-Antarctic outbreaks. These findings can be used to understand the potential effects of future climate conditions on disease outbreaks of Southern Ocean marine organisms critical to ecosystem function and health. In addition to disease dynamics, the study will also help to understand how methane seepage impacts benthic oxygen dynamics. Other broader impacts include communicating the research through a student led YouTube documentary and facilitating the transition of an early career URM researcher from NSF postdoc to a faculty position (lead on viral component of the project). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Much of our understanding of ice sheet behavior due to warming temperatures is based on how past ice sheets responded to warming associated with the end of the last ice age, 20,000 years ago. These studies rely on accurate dating of features left behind by the past ice sheets. The most commonly used method for determining the age of these features over the last ~40,000 years is radiocarbon dating. However, radiocarbon dating is not without its nuances, which are particularly pronounced around Antarctica. One of these nuances is determining the offset between the materials measured radiocarbon age and its true age. The purpose of this research is to use historically harvested whale bones from the Antarctic Peninsula, whose age is independently known, to determine that offset. A better understanding of that offset will allow more accurate estimates of past rates of ice sheet and sea-level changes across the Antarctic Peninsula over the last ~40,000 years. Much of our understanding of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet will respond to future climate changes is based on studies of its past behavior. Those studies often rely on reconstructing its evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating is the most commonly used method of dating Quaternary deposits for these reconstructions. However, the use of radiocarbon in Antarctica is hampered by some of the largest and least constrained radiocarbon reservoirs on the planet. The purpose of this research is to determine the radiocarbon reservoir for whale bones. This research will leverage an existing collection of 25 whale bones used for prior DNA research to determine the late Holocene radiocarbon reservoir for the Antarctic Peninsula. The whale bones are from specimens harvested at the turn of the 20th century prior to nuclear testing in the 1950s. Thus, their radiocarbon age will provide valuable new constraints on the radiocarbon reservoir for shallow waters around Antarctica. An added benefit of this approach is that given the DNA determination, we will also be able to determine if that radiocarbon reservoir varies across three species of whales, thus testing the common assumption that the radiocarbon reservoir does not vary significantly across different species. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kreutz, Karl; Mukhopadhyay, Sharmila M; Allen, Katherine A; Mayewski, Paul A.; Kurbatov, Andrei V.
No dataset link provided
This award is for acquisition of new instrumentation to support acquisition of the new LA-HR-ICPMS instrumentation for the trace-element analysis of various environmental samples. This instrumentation will replace the original (and heavily used over two decades) ThermoScientific Element2 ICP-MS installed at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute (CCI). The new acquisition will significantly expand research capabilities of the CCI/ICP-MS Facility to improve the analysis of aqueous samples, supplemented with a laser ablation (LA) front end for ice, biological, and other solid materials. The current ICP-MS Facility was established in 2002 with an NSF/MRI award, which since then has served as a vital resource for climate, environmental, ecosystem, and engineering research and training at the U. Maine, across the state of Maine and beyond. The routine use and primary support of the Facility come from the Principal Investigators and their collaborators that group under three research areas: glaciochemistry and climate/environmental reconstruction; paleoceanography and marine biogeochemistry; and environmental sensor development and material science engineering. The U. Maine is the State’s Land & Sea Grant university and only PhD granting institution, so the campus is the de facto academic research and research training hub of the state of Maine. The proposed advances of this research & training instrumentation will immediately impact current and future NSF-funded research projects that support extensive national and international collaborations. Specific to this proposal are collaborations with the University of Venice (Italy) and the University of Cambridge/British Antarctic Survey to develop laser ablation ICP-MS imaging of ice cores, and collaborations with New Zealand, Swiss, Chinese, Canadian, and Brazilian colleagues to analyze ice, thereby maintaining our leadership role in global ice core and climate change research. Likewise, the enhanced carbonate analysis capacity of the Element XR will have an immediate impact on NSF-funded research projects in the Gulf of Maine and in the South Pacific. The proposed instrumentation will facilitate new and important collaborations between academic colleges (College of Natural Science, Forestry, and Agriculture and the College of Engineering) and research units - the CCI and the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technology - across the campus, as well as enabling new and broader scientific collaborations with other academic and scientific institutions across Maine. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Couradeau, Estelle; Maximova, Siela; Machado, Jose Luis
No dataset link provided
Páramos are high-altitude tundra ecosystems nested at the heart of the Andes mountains. These cold and humid environments are home to a multitude of plants, animals, and insects. Páramos are a critical water source for downstream urban centers, including Colombia's capital city, Bogota. Additionally, the Páramos soils contain substantial organic carbon reserves due to slow rates of organic matter decomposition. Beyond being a pool of carbon sequestered away from the atmosphere, this large reservoir of organic matter controls the soils’ hydraulic and fertility properties. The Páramos’ unique geographic location, at an elevation above 2,800 m above sea level, makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In fact, these ecosystems’ surface areas are projected to shrink by half within the next 50 years possibly causing loss of the essential services they provide. This project aims to characterize the microbial diversity in the Páramos soils in Colombia and investigate how climate change will affect microbes’ functions. The research is of high importance, considering that immediate and long-term changes in microbial metabolism could impact the ability of Páramos soils to store organic carbon and regulate downstream water flow. To study the cascading effect of climate change on Páramos ecosystems, this project will jumpstart collaborations among transdisciplinary experts that will integrate the research of below-ground microbial communities with above-ground vegetation functions. The project will also engage high school and undergraduate students that will work together to develop and deploy low-cost long-term soil monitoring data loggers in Chingaza National Natural Park, near the city of Bogota. This project will address the critical need to disentangle the effect of moisture and temperature on the fate of organic carbon in Páramos soils while building a transdisciplinary team capable of expanding the scope of the research to an ecosystem level. The project includes establishing controlled soil mesocosms that will allow to independently vary moisture and temperature levels. Additionally, functions of the soil microbiome will be investigated using metagenomics and amplicon sequencing, and probes will be deployed to initiate long-term monitoring of the soil response to climate change in situ. This project will culminate in the organization of an international Páramos symposium that will set up priorities for future systems research. The symposium will bring together scientists from diverse fields to discuss the linkages between above-ground and below-ground ecosystem functions and plan future collaborations in predicting Páramos-wide effects of climate change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
General Description: This project is intended to reveal the magma source regions, staging areas, and eruptive pathways within the active volcano Mount Erebus. This volcano is an end-member type known as phonolitic, which refers to the lava composition, and is almost purely carbon-dioxide-bearing and occurs in continental rift settings. It is in contrast to the better known water-bearing volcanoes which occur at plate boundary settings (such as Mount St Helens or Mount Fuji). Phonolitic volcanic eruptions elsewhere such as Tamboro or Vesuvius have caused more than 50,000 eruption related fatalities. Phonolites are also associated with rare earth element deposits, giving them economic interest. To illuminate the inner workings of Mount Erebus, we will cover the volcano with a dense network of geophysical probes based on magnetotelluric (MT) measurements. MT makes use of naturally occurring electromagnetic (EM) waves generated mainly by the sun as sources to provide images of the electrical conductivity structure of the Earth's interior. Conductivity is sensitive to the presence of fluids and melts in the Earth and so is well suited to understanding volcanic processes. The project is a cooperative effort between scientists from the United States, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. It implements new technology developed by the lead investigator and associates that allows such measurements to be taken on snow-covered terrains. This has applicability for frozen environments generally, such as resource exploration in the Arctic. The project supports a new post-doctoral researcher, and leverages imaging and measurement methods developed through support by other agencies and interfaced with commercial platforms. Technical Description: The investigators propose to test magmatic evolution models for Mount Erebus volcano, Antarctica, using the magnetotelluric (MT) method. The phonolite lava flow compositions on Mount Erebus are uncommon, but provide a window into the range of upper mantle source compositions and melt differentiation paths. Explosive phonolite eruptions have been known worldwide for devastating eruptions such as Tambora and Vesuvius, and commonly host rare earth element deposits. In the MT method, temporal variations in the Earth's natural electromagnetic (EM) field are used as source fields to probe the electrical resistivity structure in the depth range of 1 to 100 kilometers. This effort will consist of approximately 100 MT sites, with some concentration in the summit area. Field acquisition will take place over two field seasons. The main goals are to 1) confirm the existence and the geometry of the uppermost magma chamber thought to reside at 5-10 kilometer depths; 2) attempt to identify, in the deeper resistivity structure, the magma staging area near the crust-mantle boundary; 3) image the steep, crustal-scale, near-vertical conduit carrying magma from the mantle; 4) infer the physical and chemical state from geophysical properties of a CO2-dominated mafic shield volcano; and 5) constrain the relationships between structural and magmatic/ hydrothermal activity related to the Terror Rift. Tomographic imaging of the interior resistivity will be performed using a new inversion platform developed at Utah, based on the deformable edge finite element method, that is the best available for accommodating the steep topography of the study area. The project is an international cooperation between University of Utah, GNS Science Wellington New Zealand (G. Hill, Co-I), and Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan (Y. Ogawa, Co-I), plus participation by University of Alberta (M. Unsworth) and Missouri State University (K. Mickus). Instrument deployments will be made exclusively by helicopter. The project implements new technology that allows MT measurements to be taken on snow-covered terrains. The project supports a new post-doctoral researcher, and leverages imaging and measurement methods developed through support by other agencies and interfaced with commercial platforms.
A class of small molecules, very short-lived substances (VSLS; e.g. CHBr3,CH2Br2, and CH3I) are important components in the climate system where they act as tropospheric ozone destroyers as described in the multilateral environmental Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Southern Ocean represents a key component in the climate system and has a critical role in other global biogeochemical cycles. This project will use the NSF/NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) with a newly developed online air-sea exchange framework, to evaluate biogeochemical controls on the marine sources of VSLS in the Southern Ocean as well as the Southern Hemisphere. A machine-learning approach will be used to couple ocean biogeochemistry with air-sea exchange for these compounds. A variety of oceanic and atmospheric observations of VSLS will be used to evaluate a unique oceanic VSLS inventory. In particular, the recent ORCAS field campaign provides a unique opportunity to examine Southern Ocean VSLS emissions, and their impacts from ocean biogeochemistry, meteorology and sea ice cycles. The project will also support a postdoctoral early-career researcher, and a specific effort of this project is STEM education and public outreach activities. The research team will extend opportunities to high school and undergraduate students so they may gain experience in the coupled ocean and atmospheric sciences, including exposure to and experience in programming and modeling. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sea ice in Antarctic coastal waters shape ecosystems, both in the surface waters and at the bottom of the ocean, environments that depend on algae living in sea ice for their productivity. With high variability in sea ice formation and melt between years and as a response to climate change, it is of importance to obtain better understanding of the interaction of sea ice with algae, as well as provide better data for global climate models. This project will accomplish those goals by measuring phytoplankton growth and cellular properties in sea ice with experiments performed using an ice tank. Laboratory experiments will be based on previous observations in the Antarctic Peninsula coastal waters, providing realistic conditions to emulate. The scientific importance of the proposed work aligns with the National Science Foundation goals to understand the biological and chemical properties of sea ice bio-geo-chemistry and its feedbacks with seasonal sea ice dynamics and climate. The finding from this project will be of interest to a broad scientific community, including oceanographers, biologists, chemists, and ecosystem and ocean modelers. To address the scarcity of data on sea ice microbes that limits our ability to predict future Antarctic climate with accuracy, the principal investigator will develop an Antarctic Science Minor in order to train future scientists with an environmental perspective and prepare the future US workforce with a strong scientific background on Earth and Biological Sciences. There is a paucity of data to understand the processes underlying observed patters in sea ice quality and their interaction with the sea-ice microbial community. This project will provide a mechanistic understanding of primary production and physiology of sympagic algae over the seasonal cycle of formation and melt of Antarctic sea ice. Although sea ice is central to the Antarctic coastal ecosystems, little is known of how they affect, and are in turn affected, by sea-ice algae. This project concentrates on first-year sea ice, forming and melting each year, creating unique and very dynamic habitats. The study will be structured by 4 main objectives: 1) how different algal species adapt to the seasonal changes in sea ice conditions, 2) how different methods to measure primary production (carbon dioxide drawdown, oxygen production and variable fluorescence) relate in sea ice and differ from sea water measurements, 3) how sympagic algae influence the physical structure of sea ice, 4) how sympagic algae contribute to organic matter cycling during ice melt. Due to expected changes in sea ice due to climate change, this study is uniquely positioned to provide needed data on short-term and seasonal processes. Results from this study will be useful to refine models of algal production in Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems, data not available to date as sea ice and its biogeochemistry are often poorly represented in earth system models. This project will also provide education for graduate and undergraduate students as well as material to develop class curriculum for middle-school students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project will develop methods to measure the ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12, and heavy to light hydrogen in methane in air trapped in ice cores. The ratios of the different forms of carbon and hydrogen are "fingerprints" of different sources of this gas in the past--for example wetlands in the tropics versus methane frozen in the sea floor. Once the analysis method is developed, the measurements will be used to examine why methane changed abruptly in the past, both during the last ice age, and during previous warm periods. The data will be used to understand how methane sources like wildfires, methane hydrates, and wetlands respond to climate change. This information is needed to understand future risks of large changes in methane in the atmosphere as Earth warms. The project involves two tasks. First, the investigators will build and test a gas extraction system for methane isotopic measurements using continuous flow methods, with the goal of equaling or bettering the precision attained by the few other laboratories that make these measurements. The system will be interfaced with existing mass spectrometers at Oregon State University. The system consists of a vacuum chamber and sequence of traps, purification columns, and furnaces that separate methane from other gases and convert it to carbon dioxide or hydrogen for mass spectrometry. Second, the team will measure the isotopic composition of methane across large changes in concentration associated with two past interglacial periods and during abrupt methane changes of the last ice age. These measurements will be used to understand if the main reason for these concentration changes is climate-driven changes in emissions from wetlands, or whether other sources are involved, for example methane hydrates or wildfires. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The current understanding of what controls productivity in the Southern Ocean is based mostly on the scarcity of a metal compound needed for algal growth, Dissolved Iron in seawater. There is growing evidence that Manganese also plays a critical role in maintaining algal growth and if found in low concentrations can play a role in limiting primary productivity. As algal growth is a major player in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, understanding what controls productivity increases our understanding of what role the Southern Ocean plays in the global carbon cycle. This study proposes to study the algal processes that take up Manganese in Antarctic diatoms, one of the main primary producers in the region. Another aspect will be to understand how Zinc, a micronutrient with similar dynamics than Manganese, can inhibit its uptake. The PIs propose lab experiments with cultured diatoms isolated from the Southern Ocean to obtain answers to their questions on micronutrient dynamics and will compare results from those obtained with a diatom species isolated from temperate waters. The proposed research will benefit NSF’s goals of understanding life in cold environments and how they differ from other parts of the ocean. This project will support two first-time early career scientists and a female researcher in Earth Sciences. Two graduate students will also be supported, and scientific techniques used in this research will be shared at open houses sponsored by the academic institutions and with local summer schools. This proposal represents collaborative research to explore manganese (Mn) limitation in Antarctic diatoms by two early career investigators. Diatoms are central players in the Southern Ocean carbon cycle, where the micronutrient chemistry is fundamentally different from other oceans. The Southern Ocean is characterized by widespread low Mn, coupled with high zinc (Zn). High Zn levels are potentially toxic to diatoms as Zn can competitively inhibit Mn uptake and metabolism, compromising the ability of building critical cellular components, thus impacting the biological pump. Using culture experiments with a matrix of micronutrient treatments (Mn, Zn, Fe) and irradiances, and using physiological and transcriptomic approaches, along with biochemical principles, the Principal Investigators will address the central hypothesis (diatoms from the Southern Ocean possess physiological mechanisms to low Mn/high Zn) to quantify rates of uptake and transporter binding constants. The transcriptomics approach will help to identify candidate genes that may provide Antarctic diatoms physiological mechanisms in low Mn/high Zn environment. The project does not require fieldwork but instead would make use of culture experiments with 4 diatom species (3 Antarctic, and 1 temperate). The proposed approach will also enable the goal of developing biomarker(s) for assessing Mn stress or Zn toxicity and results from the physiological experiments will help parameterize models of micronutrient limitation in the Southern Ocean. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mixotrophs are essential components of the Antarctic planktonic community able to photosynthesize and also ingest small particles like bacteria to meet their nutritional needs. This project aims to understand the physiological response of mixotrophs exposed to micronutrient limitation in the Southern Ocean, specifically iron, manganese and simultaneous limitation of more than one trace metal, or colimitation. Such environmental conditions are characteristic of the Southern Ocean and can only be tested with local algae. The Principal Investigators hypothesize that under trace metal colimitation, some mixotrophs will have a competitive advantage by increasing their ability to consume particles to obtain energy and trace metals from their prey. Given the lack of understanding of how mixotrophs have adapted to the micronutrient limitation, the researchers propose studies with microalgal cultures isolated from the Southern Ocean; they will measure growth responses, consumption behavior, changes in cellular chemistry and transcription of genetic material in response to iron and manganese limitation. This project benefits the National Science Foundation goals of understanding Life in Antarctica and adaptation of organisms to this extreme environment. Society will benefit from the training proposed, whereby students from rural colleges will be instructed in computer coding and scientific data analyses. Furthermore, this work will support one graduate student, two undergraduate summer interns, and two early career scientists. The Principal Investigators hypothesize that under Fe-Mn colimitation, some mixotrophs will have a competitive advantage by increasing their grazing rates to obtain energy, Fe, and Mn from their prey. Given the lack of understanding of how mixotrophs have adapted to seasonal changes in the availability of these micronutrients and how they influence mixotrophic growth dynamics, the PIs propose culture studies to measure growth responses, grazing behavior, and changes in elemental stoichiometry in response to Fe and Mn limitation. Transcriptomic analyses will reveal the metabolic underpinnings of trophic behavior and micronutrient stress responses, with implications for key biogeochemical processes such as carbon fixation, remineralization, and nutrient cycling. Results are expected to clarify the ecological roles of Antarctic mixotrophs and elucidate the adaptations of Southern Ocean organisms to their unique polar ecosystem following the 2015 Strategic Vision for Polar Programs. This work will support one graduate student, two undergraduate summer interns, and two early career scientists. A series of virtual coding and bioinformatic workshops will be organized, in which basic principles of coding, and data processing used in the proposed analysis will be taught to undergraduate students. Small colleges in rural areas will be targeted for 8 modules on bioinformatics training. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Prothro, Lindsay; Venturelli, Ryan A; Miller, Lauren
No dataset link provided
Sediments that collect on the seafloor provide a wealth of information about past and present environmental change. Around Antarctica, these seafloor sediments are influenced by an ice sheet that grinds and transports sediments from the continent’s interior into the surrounding ocean. Since the Last Glacial Maximum (about 20,000 years ago) when the ice sheet extended hundreds to thousands of kilometers seaward, ice has retreated inland to the configuration we observe today and left behind signatures of its growth and decline, as well as indicators of ocean change, in the seafloor sediments. Ongoing glacial and ocean processes are reflected in the characteristics of contemporary sediments, whereas older sediments beneath the seafloor offer a longer temporal perspective of changes to the ice sheet and surrounding ocean. Using data generated from archived sediment cores that are predominantly housed in the Antarctic Core Collection at Oregon State University, we aim to confirm if recent sediments clearly reflect the specific instrumental and historical field-based observations of ocean and glacial change seen in different regions of Antarctica. These modern changes will be placed into context with those recorded by sediments deposited on the seafloor hundreds to thousands of years ago. This project will explore interlinked physical, biological, and geochemical properties of seafloor sediments to address the influence of glacial and oceanographic processes on ice-proximal marine sedimentation during the 20th and 21st centuries and since the Last Glacial Maximum, with a focus on sediment fluxes, meltwater drainage, ice-rafted debris deposition, and radiocarbon chronologies. We will integrate multi-proxy analyses to interrogate the seafloor sediment record around Antarctica, targeting regions offshore of relatively fast-flowing and fast-changing glacial systems today and regions offshore of slower flowing, more stable (i.e., unchanging or relatively minimally changing) parts of the ice sheet. This work will leverage the application of new techniques and knowledge to legacy sediment cores that NSF has invested greatly in collecting and archiving. This project is led by three early-career women project investigators who seek to foster collaborative and open research practices and professional growth of the project team which will include three graduate students, numerous undergraduate students, and a postdoctoral research associate. The project team will co-produce educational materials with Math4Science, an organization that connects STEM professionals with public secondary education students and their math and science teachers through curricula; and develop and implement best practices in working with marine sediment core data through a collaboration with the Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository and the United States Antarctic Program - Data Center. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Southern Ocean plays a key role in modulating the global carbon cycle, but the size and even the sign of the global ocean flux terms of the atmospheric burden of man-made CO2 are still uncertain. This is in part due to the lack of measurements in this remote region of the world ocean. This project continues a multi-year time series of shipboard chemical measurements in the Drake Passage to detect changes in the ocean carbon cycle and to improve the understanding of mechanisms driving natural variability and long-term change in the Southern Ocean. This project is a continuation of collection of upper ocean measurements of the underway surface partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), using frequent ferry crossings of the Drake Passage by the RV/AS LMGould, the USAP supply ship. Overall, more than 200 transects over the past decade (since 2002) have now been accumulated of pCO2 profiles, along with discrete samples for other parameters of interest in studying the ocean carbonate system such as total CO2 (TCO2) values, isotopic (13C/12C and 14C/12C) ratios in surface TCO2. The Drake Passage data are made readily available to the international science community and serve as both validation and constraints of remotely sensed observations and numerical coupled earth systems models.
The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) is the most abundant penguin in Antarctica, though its populations are currently facing threats from climate change, loss of sea ice habitat and food supplies. In the Ross Sea region, the cold, dry environment has allowed preservation of Adélie penguin bones, feathers, eggshell and even mummified remains, at active and abandoned colonies that date from before the Last Glacial Maximum (more than 45,000 years ago) to the present. A warming period at 4,000-2,000 years ago, known as the penguin ‘optimum’, reduced sea ice extent and allowed this species to access and reproduce in the southern Ross Sea. This coastline likely will be reoccupied in the future as marine conditions change with current warming trends. This project will investigate ecological responses in diet and foraging behavior of the Adélie penguin using well-preserved bones and other tissues that date from before, during and after the penguin ‘optimum’. The Principal investigators will collect and analyze bones, feathers and eggshells from colonies in the Ross Sea to determine changes in population size and feeding locations over millennia. Most of these colonies are associated with highly productive areas of open water surrounded by sea ice. Current warming trends are causing relatively rapid ecological responses by this species and some of the largest colonies in the Ross Sea are likely to be abandoned in the next 50 years from rising sea level. The recently established Ross Sea Marine Protected Area aims to protect Adélie penguins and their foraging grounds in this region from human impacts and knowledge on how this species has responded to climate change in the past will support this goal. This project benefits NSF’s mission to expand fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes. In association with their research program, the Principal Investigators will create undergraduate opportunities for research-driven coursework, will design K-12 curriculum and assess the effectiveness of these activities. Two graduate students will be supported by this project to update and refine the curricula working with K-12 teachers. There is also training and partial support included for one doctorate, two master and eight undergraduate students. General public will be reached through social media and YouTube channel productions. A suite of three stable isotopes (carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) will be analyzed in Adelie penguin bones and feathers from active and abandoned colonies to assess ecological shifts through time. Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) are commonly used to investigate animal migration, foraging locations and diet, especially in marine species that can travel over great distances. Sulfur (δ34S) is not as commonly used but is increasingly being applied to refine and corroborate data obtained from carbon and nitrogen analyses. Collagen is one of the best tissues for these analyses as it is abundant in bone, preserves well, and can be easily extracted for analysis. Using these three isotopes from collagen, ancient and modern penguin colonies will be investigated in the southern, central and northern Ross Sea to determine changes in populations and foraging locations over millennia. Most of these colonies are associated with one of three polynyas in the Ross Sea. This study will be the first of its kind to apply multiple stable isotope analyses to investigate a living species of seabird over millennia in a region where it still exists today. Results from this project will also inform management on best practices for Adelie penguin conservation affected by climate change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Arrigo, Kevin; Thomas, Leif N; Baumberger, Tamara; Resing, Joseph
No dataset link provided
Phytoplankton blooms throughout the world’s oceans support critical marine ecosystems and help remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Traditionally, it has been assumed that phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean are stimulated by iron from either nearby land or sea-ice. However, recent work demonstrates that hydrothermal vents may be an additional iron source for phytoplankton blooms. This enhancement of phytoplankton productivity by different iron sources supports rich marine ecosystems and leads to the sequestration of carbon in the deep ocean. Our proposed work will uncover the importance of hydrothermal activity in stimulating a large phytoplankton bloom along the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current just north of the Ross Sea. It will also lead towards a better understanding of the overall impact of hydrothermal activity on the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean, which appears to trigger local hotspots of biological activity which are a potential sink for atmospheric CO2. This project will encourage the participation of underrepresented groups in ocean sciences, as well as providing educational opportunities for high school and undergraduate students, through three different programs. Stanford University’s Summer Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering (SURGE) program provides undergraduates from different US universities and diverse cultural backgrounds the opportunity to spend a summer doing a research project at Stanford. The Stanford Earth Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SESUR) is for Stanford undergraduates who want to learn more about environmental science by performing original research. Finally, Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences High School Internship Program enables young scientists to serve as mentors, prepares high school students for college, and serves to strengthen the partnership between Stanford and local schools. Students present their results at the Fall AGU meeting as part of the AGU Bright STaRS program. This project will form the basis of at least two PhD dissertations. The Stanford student will participate in Stanford’s Woods Institute Rising Environmental Leaders Program (RELP), a year-round program that helps graduate students hone their leadership and communication skills to maximize the impact of their research. The graduate student will also participate in Stanford’s Grant Writing Academy where they will receive training in developing and articulating research strategies to tackle important scientific questions. This interdisciplinary program combines satellite and ship-based measurements of a large poorly understood phytoplankton bloom (the AAR bloom) in the northwestern Ross Sea sector of the Southern Ocean with a detailed modeling study of the physical processes linking deep dissolved iron (DFe) reservoirs to the surface phytoplankton bloom. Prior to the cruise, we will implement a numerical model (CROCO) for our study region so that we can better understand the circulation, plumes, turbulence, fronts, and eddy field around the AAR bloom and how they transport and mix hydrothermally produced DFe vertically. Post cruise, observations of the vertical distribution of 3He (combined with DMn and DFe), will be used as initial conditions for a passive tracer in the model, and tracer dispersal will be assessed to better quantify the role of the various turbulent processes in upwelling DFe-rich waters to the upper ocean. The satellite-based component of the program will characterize the broader sampling region before, during, and after our cruise. During the cruise, our automated software system at Stanford University will download and process images of sea ice concentration, Chl-a concentration, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height (SSH) and send them electronically to the ship. Operationally, our goal is to use all available satellite data and preliminary model results to target shipboard sampling both geographically and temporally to optimize sampling of the AAR bloom. We will use available BGC-Argo float data to help characterize the AAR bloom. In collaboration with SOCCOM, we will deploy additional BGC-Argo floats (if available) during our transit through the study area to allow us to better characterize the bloom. The centerpiece of our program will be a 40-day process study cruise in austral summer. The cruise will consist of an initial “radiator” pattern of hydrographic surveys/sections along the AAR followed by CTDs to selected submarine volcanoes. When/if eddies are identified, they will be sampled either during or after the initial surveys. The radiator pattern, or parts thereof, will be repeated 2-3 times. Hydrographic survey stations will include vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, oxygen, oxidation-reduction potential, light scatter, and PAR (400-700 nm). Samples will be collected for trace metals, ligands, 3He, and total suspended matter. Where intense hydrothermal activity is identified, samples for pH and total CO2 will also be collected to characterize the hydrothermal system. Water samples will be collected for characterization of macronutrients, and phytoplankton physiology, abundance, species composition, and size. During transits, we will continuously measure atmospheric conditions, current speed and direction, and surface SST, salinity, pCO2, and fluorescence from the ship’s systems to provide detailed maps of these parameters. The ship will be used as a platform for conducting phytoplankton DFe bioassay experiments at key stations throughout the study region both inside and outside the bloom. We will also perform detailed comparisons of algal taxonomic composition, physiology, and size structure inside and outside the bloom to determine the potential importance of each community on local biogeochemistry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Near the Antarctic coast, polynyas are open-water regions where extreme heat loss in winter causes seawater to become cold, salty, and dense enough to sink into the deep sea. The formation of this dense water has regional and global importance because it influences the ocean current system. Polynya processes are also tied to the amount of sea ice formed, ocean heat lost to atmosphere, and atmospheric CO2 absorbed by the Southern Ocean. Unfortunately, the ocean-atmosphere interactions that influence the deep ocean water properties are difficult to observe directly during the Antarctic winter. This project will combine field measurements and laboratory experiments to investigate whether differences in the concentration of noble gasses (helium, neon, argon, xenon, and krypton) dissolved in ocean waters can be linked to environmental conditions at the time of their formation. If so, noble gas concentrations could provide insight into the mechanisms controlling shelf and bottom-water properties, and be used to reconstruct past climate conditions. Project results will contribute to the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) theme of The Future and Consequences of Carbon Uptake in the Southern Ocean. The project will also train undergraduate and graduate students in environmental monitoring, and earth and ocean sciences methods. Understanding the causal links between Antarctic coastal processes and changes in the deep ocean system requires study of winter polynya processes. The winter period of intense ocean heat loss and sea ice production impacts two important Antarctic water masses: High-Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW), and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), which then influence the strength of the ocean solubility pump and meridional overturning circulation. To better characterize how sea ice cover, ocean-atmosphere exchange, brine rejection, and glacial melt influence the physical properties of AABW and HSSW, this project will analyze samples and data collected from two Ross Sea polynyas during the 2017 PIPERS winter cruise. Gas concentrations will be measured in seawater samples collected by a CTD rosette, from an underwater mass-spectrometer, and from a benchtop Membrane Inlet Mass Spectrometer. Noble gas concentrations will reveal the ocean-atmosphere (dis)equilibrium that exists at the time that surface water is transformed into HSSW and AABW, and provide a fingerprint of past conditions. In addition, nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), argon, and CO2 concentration will be used to determine the net metabolic balance, and to evaluate the efficacy of N2 as an alternative to O2 as glacial meltwater tracer. Laboratory experiments will determine the gas partitioning ratios during sea ice formation. Findings will be synthesized with PIPERS and related projects, and so provide an integrated view of the role of the wintertime Antarctic coastal system on deep water composition. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The goal of the international GEOTRACES program is to understand the distributions of trace chemical elements and their isotopes (TEIs) in the oceans. Many trace metals such as iron are essential for life and thus considered nutrients for phytoplankton growth, with trace metal cycling being especially important for influencing carbon cycling in the iron-limited Southern Ocean, where episodic supply of iron from a range of different external sources is important. The primary goal of this project is to measure the dissolved concentrations, size partitioning, and dissolved isotope signature of Fe on a transect of water-column stations throughout the Amundsen Sea and surrounding region of the Antarctic Margin, as part of the GP17-ANT Expedition. The secondary goal of this project is to analyze the concentrations and size partitioning of the trace metals manganese, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, and lead in all water-column samples, measure the isotope ratios of zinc, cadmium, nickel, and copper in a subset of water column samples, and measure the Fe isotopic signature of aerosols, porewaters, and particles. Observations from this project will be incorporated into regional and global biogeochemistry models to assess TEI cycling within the Amundsen Sea and implications for the wider Southern Ocean. This project spans three institutions, four graduate students, undergraduate students, and will provide ultrafiltered samples and data to other PIs as service. The US GEOTRACES GP17 ANT expedition, planned for austral summer 2023/2024 aims to determine the distribution and cycling of trace elements and their isotopes in the Amundsen Sea Sector (100-135°W) of the Antarctic Margin. The cruise will follow the Amundsen Sea ‘conveyor belt’ by sampling waters coming from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current onto the continental shelf, including near the Dotson and Pine Island ice shelves, the productive Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP), and outflowing waters. Episodic addition of dissolved Fe and other TEIs from dust, ice-shelves, melting ice, and sediments drive seasonal primary productivity and carbon export over the Antarctic shelf and offshore into Southern Ocean. Seasonal coastal polynyas such as the highly productive ASP thus act as key levers on global carbon cycling. However, field observations of TEIs in such regions remain scarce, and biogeochemical cycling processes are poorly captured in models of ocean biogeochemistry. The investigators will use their combined analytical toolbox, in collaboration with the diagnostic chemical tracers and regional models of other funded groups to address four main objectives: 1) What is the relative importance of different sources in supplying Fe and other TEIs to the ASP? 2) What is the physiochemical speciation of this Fe, and its potential for transport? 3) How do biological uptake, scavenging and regeneration in the ASP influence TEI distributions, stoichiometry, and nutrient limitation? 4) What is the flux and signature of TEIs transported offshore to the ACC and Southern Ocean? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Microbes in Antarctic surface marine sediments have an important role in degrading organic matter and releasing nutrients to the ocean. Organic matter degradation is at the center of the carbon cycle in the ocean, providing valuable information on nutrient recycling, food availability to animals and carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere. The functionality of these microbes has been inferred by their genomics, however these methods only address the possible function, not their actual rates. In this project the PIs plan to combine genomics methods with cellular estimates of enzyme abundance and activity as a way to determine the rates of carbon degradation. This project aims to sample in several regions of Antarctica to provide a large-scale picture of the processes under study and understand the importance of microbial community composition and environmental factors, such as primary productivity, have on microbial activity. The proposed work will combine research tools such as metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with chemical data and enzyme assays to establish degradation of organic matter in Antarctic sediments. This project benefits NSFs goals of understanding the adaptation of Antarctic organisms to the cold and isolated environment, critical to predict effects of climate change to polar organisms, as well as contribute to our knowledge of how Antarctic organisms have adapted to this environment. Society will benefit from this project by education of 2 graduate students, undergraduates and K-12 students as well as increase public literacy through short videos production shared in YouTube. The PIs propose to advance understanding of polar microbial community function, by measuring enzyme and gene function of complex organic matter degradation in several ocean regions, providing a circum-Antarctic description of sediment processes. Two hypotheses are proposed. The first hypothesis states that many genes for the degradation of complex organic matter will be shared in sediments throughout a sampling transect and that where variations in gene content occur, it will reflect differences in the quantity and quality of organic matter, not regional variability. The second hypothesis states that a fraction of gene transcripts for organic matter degradation will not result in measurable enzyme activity due to post-translational modification or rapid degradation of the enzymes. The PIs will analyze sediment cores already collected in a 2020 cruise to the western Antarctic Peninsula with the additional request of participating in a cruise in 2023 to East Antarctica. The PIs will analyze sediments for metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with geochemical data and enzyme assays to establish microbial degradation of complex organic matter in Antarctic sediments. Organic carbon concentrations and content in sediments will be measured with δ13C, δ15N, TOC porewater fluorescence in bulk organic carbon. Combined with determination of geographical variability as well as dependence on carbon sources, results from this study could provide the basis for new hypotheses on how climate variability, with increased water temperature, affects geochemistry in the Southern Ocean. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. This project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the “Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean” (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical description: Microbial communities are of more than just a scientific curiosity. Microbes represent the single largest source of evolutionary and biochemical diversity on the planet. They are the major agents for cycling carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements through the ecosystem. Despite their importance in ecosystem function, microbes are still generally overlooked in food web models and nutrient cycles. Moreover, microbes do not live in isolation: their growth and metabolism are influenced by complex interactions with other microorganisms. This project will focus on the ecology, activity and roles of microbial communities in Antarctic Lake ecosystems. The team will characterize the genetic underpinnings of microbial interactions and the influence of environmental gradients (e.g. light, nutrients, oxygen, sulfur) and seasons (e.g. summer vs. winter) on microbial networks in Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley within the McMurdo Dry Valley region. Finally, the project furthers the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists by including undergraduate and graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher and a middle school teacher in both lab and field research activities. This partnership will involve a number of other outreach training activities, including visits to classrooms and community events, participation in social media platforms, and webinars. Part II: Technical description: Ecosystem function in the extreme Antarctic Dry Valleys ecosystem is dependent on complex biogeochemical interactions between physiochemical environmental factors (e.g. light, nutrients, oxygen, sulfur), time of year (e.g. summer vs. winter) and microbes. Microbial network complexity can vary in relation to specific abiotic factors, which has important implications on the fragility and resilience of ecosystems under threat of environmental change. This project will evaluate the influence of biogeochemical factors on microbial interactions and network complexity in two Antarctic ice-covered lakes. The study will be structured by three main objectives: 1) infer positive and negative interactions from rich spatial and temporal datasets and investigate the influence of biogeochemical gradients on microbial network complexity using a variety of molecular approaches; 2) directly observe interactions among microbial eukaryotes and their partners using flow cytometry, single-cell sorting and microscopy; and 3) develop metabolic models of specific interactions using metagenomics. Outcomes from amplicon sequencing, meta-omics, and single-cell genomic approaches will be integrated to map specific microbial network complexity and define the role of interactions and metabolic activity onto trends in limnological biogeochemistry in different seasons. These studies will be essential to determine the relationship between network complexity and future climate conditions. Undergraduate researchers will be recruited from both an REU program with a track record of attracting underrepresented minorities and two minority-serving institutions. To further increase polar literacy training and educational impacts, the field team will include a teacher as part of a collaboration with the successful NSF-funded PolarTREC program and participation in activities designed for public outreach. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Traditional models of oceanic food chains have consisted of photosynthetic algae (phytoplankton) being ingested by small animals (zooplankton), which were ingested by larger animals (fish). These traditional models changed as new methods allowed recognition of the importance of bacteria and other non-photosynthetic protozoa in more complex food webs. More recently, the wide-spread existence of mixotrophs (organisms that can both photosynthesize and ingest food particles) and their importance as microbial predators has been recognized in many oceanographic areas. In the Southern Ocean, the only two surveys of mixotrophs have suggested that there may be seasonal differences in their importance as predators. During the long polar night (winter), the ability of mixotrophs to ingest particulate food may aid in their survival thus ensuring a sufficient population in spring to support a phytoplankton bloom once photosynthesis rates can increase. Thus mixotrophs may provide a critical early food source upon which zooplankton and larger animals depend on for growth and reproduction. This project will advance understanding of mixotroph diversity and their ecological impact within the Southern Ocean microbial food web. Specifically, efforts will be focused on mixotrophy in the western Antarctica peninsula region during the austral spring and autumn when there are likely to be changes in the relative importance of photosynthesis and ingestion to mixotrophs. The project will provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher. There will be real-time outreach from the Southern Ocean to the public via blogs and interviews, and to high school art students through an established program that blends science and art education. Despite traditional views of protists as either "phototrophic" or "heterotrophic," there are many photosynthetic protists that consume prey (mixotrophy). Mixotrophy is a widespread phenomenon in aquatic systems and phytoplankton groups with known mixotrophic species, notably chrysophytes, cryptophytes, prymnesiophytes, prasinophytes and dinoflagellates, are present and often abundant in Antarctic waters. However, in the Southern Ocean, the presence of mixotrophic phytoflagellates has been surveyed only twice: in the Ross Sea during Austral spring 2008 and summer 2011. The primary goals of the project are to gain better understanding of mixotroph diversity and their ecological impact with respect to the Southern Ocean microbial food web. The contribution of mixotrophs to primary production and bacterial consumption is likely linked to the taxonomic composition of the community and the abundance of particular species. Abundances of novel mixotrophic species will be evaluated via qPCR, which will be coupled with assessments of rates of feeding and photosynthesis with the goal of describing how active mixotrophs direct the movement of carbon through food webs. These experiments will help the determination of how viable and widespread mixotrophy is as a nutritional strategy in polar waters and give direct information on the currently unknown diversity of mixotrophic taxa under different environmental conditions occurring in austral spring and autumn. Furthermore, the methods will simultaneously yield information on the whole communities of protists - mixotrophic, phototrophic and heterotrophic. In addition, a method to examine aspects of the taxonomic and functional diversities of the bacterivorous/mixotrophic community will be employed. A thymidine analog (BrdU) will be used to label DNA of eukaryotes feeding on bacteria. The BrdU-labeled eukaryotic DNA will be isolated using immunoprecipitation. High-throughput sequencing of the labeled DNA (bacterivores) versus unlabeled community DNA will determine the diversity of bacterivorous mixotrophs relative to other microeukaryotes. Flow cytometric sorting based on chlorophyll to focus on mixotrophic species. These approaches will elucidate a gap in current knowledge of the influence of microbial interactions in the Southern Ocean under different conditions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This award is funded in whole or part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Part I: Non-technical description: Adélie penguin colonies are declining and disappearing from the western Antarctic Peninsula. However, not all colonies in a certain area decline or disappear at the same rate. This research project will evaluate the influence of terrestrial surface properties on Adélie penguin colonies, leveraging five decades of research on seabirds near Palmer Station where an Adélie colony on Litchfield Island became extinct in 2007 while other colonies nearby are still present. The researchers will combine information obtained from remote sensing, UAS (Unoccupied Aircraft System, or drones) high-resolution maps, reconstruction of past moss banks and modeling with machine learning tools to define suitable penguin and peatbank moss habitats and explore the influence of microclimate on their distributions. In particular, the researchers are asking if guano from penguin colonies could act as fertilizers of moss banks in the presence of localized wind patters that can carry airborne nitrogen to the mosses. Modeling will relate penguin and peatbank moss spatial patterns to environmental variables and provide a greater understanding of how continued environmental change could impact these communities. The project allows for documentation of terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems in support of seabirds and provisioning of such information to the broader science community that seeks to study penguins, educating graduate and undergraduate students and a post-doctoral researcher. The research team includes two young women as Principal Investigators, one of them from an under-represented ethnic minority, first time Antarctic Principal Investigator, from an EPSCoR state (Wyoming), broadening participation in Antarctic research. Researchers will serve as student mentors through the Duke Bass Connections program entitled Biogeographic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats. This program supports an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students collaborating with project faculty and experts on cutting-edge research bridging the classroom and the real world. Part II: Technical description: This research aims to understand the changes at the microclimate scale (meters) by analyzing present and past Adélie penguin colonies and moss peatbanks in islands around Palmer Station in the western Antarctic Peninsula – interlinked systems that are typically considered in isolation. By integrating in situ and remote data, this project will synthesize the drivers of biogeomorphology on small islands of the Antarctic Peninsula, a region of rapid change where plants and animals often co-occur and animal presence often determines the habitation of plants. A multi-disciplinary approach combine field measurements, remote sensing, UAS (Unoccupied Aircraft Systems) maps, paleoecology and modeling with machine learning to define suitable habitats and the influence of microclimates on penguin and peatbank distributions. The link between the two aspects of this study, peatbanks and penguins, is the potential source of nutrients for peat mosses from penguin guano. Peatbank and penguin distribution will be modeled and all models will be validated using in situ information from moss samples that will identify mechanistic processes. This project leverages 5 decades of seabird research in the area and high-definition remote sensing provided by the Polar Geospatial center to study the microclimate of Litchfield Island where an Adélie colony became extinct in 2007 when other colonies nearby are still present. The research team includes two early career women as Principal Investigators, one of them from an under-represented ethnic minority, first time Antarctic Principal Investigator, from an EPSCoR state (Wyoming). Researchers will serve as mentors for students through the Duke Bass Connections program entitled Biogeogrpahic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats which bridges the classroom and the real world. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Hydroxyl radicals are responsible for removal of most atmospheric trace gases, including pollutants and important greenhouse gases. They have been called the "detergent of the atmosphere". Changes in hydroxyl radical concentration in response to large changes in reactive trace gas emissions, which may happen in the future, are uncertain. This project aims to provide the first estimates of the variability of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals since about 1880 AD when anthropogenic emissions of reactive trace gases were minimal. This will improve understanding of their stability in response to large changes in emissions. The project will also investigate whether ice cores record past changes in Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. These winds are a key component of the global climate system, and have an important influence on ocean circulation and possibly on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The project team will include three early career scientists, a postdoctoral researcher, and graduate and undergraduate students, working in collaboration with senior scientists and Australian collaborators. Firn air and shallow ice to a depth of about 233 m will be sampled at the Law Dome high-accumulation coastal site in East Antarctica. Trapped air will be extracted from the ice cores on site immediately after drilling. Carbon-14 of carbon monoxide (14CO) will be analyzed in firn and ice-core air samples. Corrections will be made for the in situ cosmogenic 14CO component in the ice, allowing for the atmospheric 14CO history to be reconstructed. This 14CO history will be interpreted with the aid of a chemistry-transport model to place the first observational constraints on the variability of Southern Hemisphere hydroxyl radical concentration after about 1880 AD. An additional component of the project will analyze Krypton-86 in the firn-air and ice-core samples. These measurements will explore whether ice-core Krypton-86 acts as a proxy for barometric pressure variability, and whether this proxy can be used in Antarctic ice cores to infer past movement of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Warming on the western Antarctic Peninsula in the later 20th century has caused widespread changes in the cryosphere (ice and snow) and terrestrial ecosystems. These recent changes along with longer-term climate and ecosystem histories will be deciphered using peat deposits. Peat accumulation can be used to assess the rate of glacial retreat and provide insight into ecological processes on newly deglaciated landscapes in the Antarctic Peninsula. This project builds on data suggesting recent ecosystem transformations that are linked to past climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide a timeline to assess the extent and rate of recent glacial change. The study will produce a climate record for the coastal low-elevation terrestrial region, which will refine the major climate shifts of up to 6 degrees C in the recent past (last 12,000 years). A novel terrestrial record of the recent glacial history will provide insight into observed changes in climate and sea-ice dynamics in the western Antarctic Peninsula and allow for comparison with off-shore climate records captured in sediments. Observations and discoveries from this project will be disseminated to local schools and science centers. The project provides training and career development for a postdoctoral scientist as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The research presents a new systematic survey to reconstruct ecosystem and climate change for the coastal low-elevation areas on the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) using proxy records preserved in late Holocene peat deposits. Moss and peat samples will be collected and analyzed to generate a comprehensive data set of late-Holocene climate change and ecosystem dynamics. The goal is to document and understand the transformations of landscape and terrestrial ecosystems on the western AP during the late Holocene. The testable hypothesis is that coastal regions have experienced greater climate variability than evidenced in ice-core records and that past warmth has facilitated dramatic ecosystem and cryosphere response. A primary product of the project is a robust reconstruction of late Holocene climate changes for coastal low-elevation terrestrial areas using multiple lines of evidence from peat-based biological and geochemical proxies, which will be used to compare with climate records derived from marine sediments and ice cores from the AP region. These data will be used to test several ideas related to novel peat-forming ecosystems (such as Antarctic hairgrass bogs) in past warmer climates and climate controls over ecosystem establishment and migration to help assess the nature of the Little Ice Age cooling and cryosphere response. The chronology of peat cores will be established by radiocarbon dating of macrofossils and Bayesian modeling. The high-resolution time series of ecosystem and climate changes will help put the observed recent changes into a long-term context to bridge climate dynamics over different time scales. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nontechnical abstract Presently, Antarctica’s glaciers are melting as Earth’s atmosphere and the Southern Ocean warm. Not much is known about how Antarctica’s ice sheets might respond to ongoing and future warming, but such knowledge is important because Antarctica’s ice sheets might raise global sea levels significantly with continued melting. Over time, mud accumulates on the sea floor around Antarctica that is composed of the skeletons and debris of microscopic marine organisms and sediment from the adjacent continent. As this mud is deposited, it creates a record of past environmental and ecological changes, including ocean depth, glacier advance and retreat, ocean temperature, ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, ocean chemistry, and continental weathering. Scientists interested in understanding how Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets might respond to ongoing warming can use a variety of physical, biological, and chemical analyses of these mud archives to determine how long ago the mud was deposited and how the ice sheets, oceans, and marine ecosystems responded during intervals in the past when Earth’s climate was warmer. In this project, researchers from the University of South Florida, University of Massachusetts, and Northern Illinois University will reconstruct the depth, ocean temperature, weathering and nutrient input, and marine ecosystems in the central Ross Sea from ~17 to 13 million years ago, when the warm Miocene Climate Optimum transitioned to a cooler interval with more extensive ice sheets. Record will be generated from new sediments recovered during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 and legacy sequences recovered in the 1970’s during the Deep Sea Drilling Program. Results will be integrated into ice sheet and climate models to improve the accuracy of predictions. The research provides experience for three graduate students and seven undergraduate students via a multi-institutional REU program focused on increasing diversity in Antarctic Earth Sciences. Technical Abstract Deep-sea sediments reveal that the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) was the warmest climate interval of the last ~20 Ma, was associated with global carbon cycle changes and ice growth, and immediately preceded the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT; ~14 Ma), one of three major intervals of Antarctic ice expansion and global cooling. Ice-proximal studies are required to assess: where and when ice grew, ice sheet extent, continental shelf geometry, high-latitude heat and moisture supply, oceanic and/or atmospheric temperature influence on ice dynamics, regional sea ice extent, meltwater input, and regions of bottom water formation. Existing studies indicate that ice expanded beyond the Transantarctic Mountains and onto the prograding Ross Sea continental shelf multiple times between ~17 and 13.5 Ma. However, these records are either too ice-proximal/terrestrial to adequately assess ocean-ice interactions or under-studied. To address this data gap, this work will: 1) generate micropaleontologic and geochemical records of oceanic and atmospheric temperature, water depth, ocean circulation, and paleoproductivity from existing Ross Sea marine sedimentary sequences, and 2) use these proxy records to test the hypothesis that dynamic glacial expansion in the Ross Sea sector during the MCO was driven by heat and moisture transport to the high latitudes during an interval of enhanced climate sensitivity. Downcore geochemical and micropaleontologic studies will focus on an expanded (120 m/my) early to middle Miocene (~17-16 Ma) diatom-bearing/rich mudstone/diatomite unit from IODP Site U1521, drilled on the Ross Sea continental shelf. A hiatus (~16-14.6 Ma) suggests ice expansion during the MCO, followed by diamictite to mudstone unit indicative of slight retreat (14.6 -14 Ma) immediately preceding the MMCT. Data from Site U1521 will be integrated with foraminiferal geochemical and micropaleontologic data from DSDP Leg 28 (1972/73) and RISP J-9 (1978-79) to develop a MCO to late Miocene regional view of ocean-ice sheet interactions using legacy core material previously processed for foraminifera. This integrated record will: 1) document the timing and extent of glacial advances and retreats across the prograding Ross Sea shelf during the middle and late Miocene, 2) provide orbital-scale paleotemperature reconstructions (TEX86, Mg/Ca, δ18O, MBT/CBT) to establish atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions during an extreme high-latitude warm interval, and 3) provide orbital-scale nutrient/paleoproductivity, ocean circulation, and paleoenvironmental data required to assess climate feedbacks associated with Miocene Antarctic ice sheet and global climate system development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Algae in the surface ocean convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon through photosynthesis. The biological carbon pump transports this organic carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean where it can be stored for tens to hundreds of years. Annually, the amount transported is similar to that humans are currently emitting by burning fossil fuels. However, at present we cannot predict how this important process will change with a warming ocean. These investigators plan to develop a 15+ year time-series of vertical carbon transfer for the Western Antarctic Peninsula; a highly productive Antarctic ecosystem. This region is also rapid transition to warmer temperatures leading to reduced sea ice coverage. This work will help researchers better understand how the carbon cycle in the Western Antarctic Peninsula will respond to climate change. The researchers will develop the first large-scale time-series of carbon flux anywhere in the ocean. This research will also support the education and training of a graduate student and support the integration of concepts in Antarctic research into two undergraduate courses designed for non-science majors and advanced earth science students. The researchers will also develop educational modules for introducing elementary and middle-school age students to important concepts such as gross and net primary productivity, feedbacks in the marine and atmospheric systems, and the differences between correlation and causation. Results from this proposal will also be incorporated into a children’s book, “Plankton do the Strangest Things”, that is targeted at 5-7 year olds and is designed to introduce them to the incredible diversity and fascinating adaptations of microscopic marine organisms. This research seeks to leverage 6 years (2015-2020) of 234Th samples collected on Palmer LTER program, 5 years of prior measurements (2009-2010, 2012-2014), and upcoming cruises (2021-2023) to develop a time-series of summertime particle flux in the WAP that stretches for 15 years. The 238U-234Th disequilibrium approach utilizes changes in the activity of the particle-active radio-isotope 234Th relative to its parent nuclide 238U to quantify the flux of sinking carbon out of the surface ocean (over a time-scale of ~one month). This proposal will fund 234Th analyses from nine years’ worth of cruises (2015-2023) and extensive analyses designed to investigate the processes driving inter-annual variability in the BCP. These include: 1) physical modeling to quantify the importance of advection and diffusion in the 234Th budget, 2) time-series analyses of particle flux, and 3) statistical modeling of the relationships between particle flux and multiple presumed drivers (biological, chemical, physical, and climate indices) measured by collaborators in the Palmer LTER program. This multi-faceted approach is critical for linking the measurements to models and for predicting responses to climate change. It will also test the hypothesis that export flux is decreasing in the northern WAP, increasing in the southern WAP, and increasing when integrated over the entire region as a result of earlier sea ice retreat and a larger ice-free zone. The project will also investigate relationships between carbon export and multiple potentially controlling factors including: primary productivity, algal biomass and taxonomic composition, biological oxygen saturation, zooplankton biomass and taxonomic composition, bacterial production, temperature, wintertime sea ice extent, date of sea ice retreat, and climate modes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part 1: Non-technical description: It is well known that the Southern Ocean plays an important role in global carbon cycling and also receives a disproportionately large influence of climate change. The role of marine viruses on ocean productivity is largely understudied, especially in this global region. This team proposes to use combination of genomics, flow cytometry, and network modeling to test the hypothesis that viral biogeography, infection networks, and viral impacts on microbial metabolism can explain variations in net community production (NCP) and carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. The project includes the training of a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and undergraduate students. It also includes the development of a new Polar Sci ReachOut program in partnership with the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History especially targeted to middle-school students and teachers and the general public. The team will also produce a Science for Tomorrow (SFT) program for use in middle schools in metro-Detroit communities and lead a summer Research Experience for Teachers (RET) fellows. Part 2: Technical description: The study will leverage hundreds of existing samples collected for microbes and viruses from the Antarctic Circumpolar Expedition (ACE). These samples provide the first contiguous survey of viral diversity and microbial communities around Antarctica. Viral networks are being studied in the context of biogeochemical data to model community networks and predict net community production (NCP), which will provide a way to evaluate the role of viruses in Southern Ocean carbon cycling. Using cutting edge molecular and flow cytometry approaches, this project addresses the following questions: 1) How/why are Southern Ocean viral populations distributed across environmental gradients? 2a) Do viruses interfere with "keystone" metabolic pathways and biogeochemical processes of microbial communities in the Southern Ocean? 2b) Does nutrient availability or other environmental variables drive changes in virus-microbe infection networks in the Southern Ocean? Results will be used to develop and evaluate generative models of NCP predictions that incorporate the importance of viral traits and virus-host interactions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Ross Sea, Antarctica, is one of the last large intact marine ecosystems left in the world, yet is facing increasing pressure from commercial fisheries and environmental change. It is the most productive stretch of the Southern Ocean, supporting an array of marine life, including Antarctic toothfish – the region’s top fish predator. While a commercial fishery for toothfish continues to grow in the Ross Sea, fundamental knowledge gaps remain regarding toothfish ecology and the impacts of toothfish fishing on the broader Ross Sea ecosystem. Recognizing the global value of the Ross Sea, a large (>2 million km2) marine protected area was adopted by the multi-national Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 2016. This research will fill a critical gap in the knowledge of Antarctic toothfish and deepen understanding of biological-physical interactions for fish ecology, while contributing to knowledge of impacts of fishing and environmental change on the Ross Sea system. This work will further provide innovative tools for studying connectivity among geographically distinct fish populations and for synthesizing and assessing the efficacy of a large-scale marine protected area. In developing an integrated research and education program in engaged scholarship, this project seeks to train the next generation of scholars to engage across the science-policy-public interface, engage with Southern Ocean stakeholders throughout the research process, and to deepen the public’s appreciation of the Antarctic. A major research priority among Ross Sea scientists is to better understand the life history of the Antarctic toothfish and test the efficacy of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) in protecting against the impacts of overfishing and climate change. Like growth rings of a tree, fish ear bones, called otoliths, develop annual layers of calcium carbonate that incorporates elements from their environment. Otoliths offer information on the fish’s growth and the surrounding ocean conditions. Hypothesizing that much of the Antarctic toothfish life cycle is structured by ocean circulation, this research employs a multi-disciplinary approach combining age and growth work with otolith chemistry testing, while also utilizing GIS mapping. The project will measure life history parameters as well as trace elements and stable isotopes in otoliths in three distinct sets collected over the last four decades in the Ross Sea. The information will be used to quantify the transport pathways Antarctic toothfish use across their life history, and across time, in the Ross Sea. The project will assess if toothfish populations from the Ross Sea are connected more widely across the Antarctic. By comparing life history and otolith chemistry data across time, the researchers will assess change in life history parameters and spatial dynamics and seek to infer if these changes are driven by fishing or climate change. Spatially mapping of these data will allow an assessment of the efficacy of the Ross Sea MPA in protecting toothfish and where further protections might be needed. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cores drilled through the Antarctic ice sheet provide a remarkable window on the evolution of Earth’s climate and unique samples of the ancient atmosphere. The clear link between greenhouse gases and climate revealed by ice cores underpins much of the scientific understanding of climate change. Unfortunately, the existing data do not extend far enough back in time to reveal key features of climates warmer than today. COLDEX, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, will solve this problem by exploring Antarctica for sites to collect the oldest possible record of past climate recorded in the ice sheet. COLDEX will provide critical information for understanding how Earth’s near-future climate may evolve and why climate varies over geologic time. New technologies will be developed for exploration and analysis that will have a long legacy for future research. An archive of old ice will stimulate new research for the next generations of polar scientists. COLDEX programs will galvanize that next generation of polar researchers, bring new results to other scientific disciplines and the public, and help to create a more inclusive and diverse scientific community. Knowledge of Earth’s climate history is grounded in the geologic record. This knowledge is gained by measuring chemical, biological and physical properties of geologic materials that reflect elements of climate. Ice cores retrieved from polar ice sheets play a central role in this science and provide the best evidence for a strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate on geologic timescales. The goal of COLDEX is to extend the ice-core record of past climate to at least 1.5 million years by drilling and analyzing a continuous ice core in East Antarctica, and to much older times using discontinuous ice sections at the base and margin of the ice sheet. COLDEX will develop and deploy novel radar and melt-probe tools to rapidly explore the ice, use ice-sheet models to constrain where old ice is preserved, conduct ice coring, develop new analytical systems, and produce novel paleoclimate records from locations across East Antarctica. The search for Earth’s oldest ice also provides a compelling narrative for disseminating information about past and future climate change and polar science to students, teachers, the media, policy makers and the public. COLDEX will engage and incorporate these groups through targeted professional development workshops, undergraduate research experiences, a comprehensive communication program, annual scientific meetings, scholarships, and broad collaboration nationally and internationally. COLDEX will provide a focal point for efforts to increase diversity in polar science by providing field, laboratory, mentoring and networking experiences for students and early career scientists from groups underrepresented in STEM, and by continuous engagement of the entire COLDEX community in developing a more inclusive scientific culture. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part 1: Non-technical description: With support from the Office of Polar Programs, this project will evaluate how an important part of the food web in the coastal ocean of Antarctica will respond to climate change. The focal study organism in the plankton is a shelled mollusk, the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica, an Southern Ocean organism that this known to respond to climate driven changes in ocean acidification and ocean warming. Ocean acidification, the lowering of ocean pH via the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the surface of the ocean, is a change in the ocean that is expected to cross deleterious thresholds of pH within decades. This study will improve understanding of how pteropods will respond, which will provide insight into predicting the resilience of the Antarctic marine ecosystem during future changes, one of the planet’s last marine wildernesses. The project will use tools of molecular biology to examine specifically how gene expression is modulated in the pteropods, and further, how the changes and regulation of genes act to resist the stress of low pH and high temperature. In addition, this project supports the training of Ph.D. graduate students and advances the goal of inclusive excellence in STEM and in marine sciences, in particular. The students involved in this project are from groups traditionally under-represented in marine science including first-generation college students. Overall, the project contributes to the development of the U.S. work force and contributes to diversity and inclusive excellence in the geosciences. Part 2: Technical description: The overarching goal of this project is to investigate the molecular response of the Antarctic thecosome pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica to ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming. The project will investigate changes in the epigenome of juvenile L. h. antarctica, by assessing the dynamics of DNA methylation in response to three scenarios of environmental conditions that were simulated in laboratory mesocosm CO2 experiments: (1) present-day pCO2 conditions for summer and winter, (2) future ocean acidification expected within 10-15 years, and (3) a multiple stressor experiment to investigate synergistic interaction of OA and high temperature stress. Recent lab-based mesocosm experiment research showed significant changes in the dynamics of global DNA methylation in the pteropod genome, along with variation in gene expression in response to abiotic changes. Thus, it is clear that juvenile L. h. antarctica are capable of mounting a substantial epigenetic response to ocean acidification. However, it is not known how DNA methylation, as an epigenetic process, is modulating changes in the transcriptome. In order to address this gap in the epigenetic knowledge regarding pteropods, the project will use next-generation sequencing approaches (e.g., RNA sequencing and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing) to integrate changes in methylation status with changes in gene expression in juvenile pteropods. Overall, this investigation is an important step in exploring environmental transcriptomics and phenotypic plasticity of an ecologically important member of Southern Ocean macrozoooplankton in response to anthropogenic climate change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Weddell Gyre is one of the major components of the Southern Ocean circulation system, linking heat and carbon fluxes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the continental margins. Water masses entering the Weddell Gyre are modified as they move in a great circular route around the gyre margin and change through processes involving air-sea-cryosphere interactions as well as through ocean eddies that mix properties across the gyre boundaries. Some of the denser water masses exit the gyre through pathways along the northern boundary, and ultimately ventilate the global deep ocean as Antarctic Bottom Water. While in-situ and satellite observations, as well as computer modeling efforts, provide estimates of the large-scale average flow within the gyre, details of the smaller-scale, or "mesoscale" eddy flow remain elusive. The proposed research will quantify mixing due to mesoscale eddies within the Weddell Gyre, as well as the transport of incoming deep water from the northeast, thought to be a result of transient eddies. Since the Weddell Gyre produces source water for about 40% of Antarctic Bottom Water formation, understanding the dynamics in this region helps to identify causes of documented changes in global bottom waters. This in turn, will give insight into how climate change is affecting global oceans, through modification of dense polar waters and Antarctic Bottom Water characteristics. This project aims to track 153 RAFOS-enabled Argo floats in the ice-covered regions of the Weddell Gyre. The resultant tracks along with all available Argo and earlier float data will be used to calculate Eulerian and Lagrangian means and eddy statistics for the Weddell Gyre. The study will link RAFOS tracks with Argo profiles under ice, allowing one to characterize the importance of eddies in water column modification at critical ice-edge boundaries and leads. With RAFOS tracks near the northeastern limit of the gyre, the project will investigate the eddy-driven processes of incoming Circumpolar Deep Water, to understand better the mechanisms and volume fluxes involved. Previous work shows that a large fraction of the mean circulation in the southern and western limits of the gyre, where it contacts the Antarctic continent, occurs in a narrow boundary layer above the slope. The research here will integrate this flow structure into a complete interior and boundary layer mean circulation synthesis. The findings and products from the proposed work will improve the positioning of Argo profiles in the polar regions, which would allow for more accurate climatological maps and derived quantities. Estimates of meso-scale mixing may serve as a foundation for the development of new parameterization schemes employed in climate models, as well as local and global ocean circulation models in polar regions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Southern Ocean accounts for ~40% of the total ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide despite covering only 20% of the global ocean surface, and is particularly rich in long-lived eddies. These eddies, or large ocean whirlpools which can be observed from space, can alter air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide in ways that are not yet fully understood. New observations from autonomous platforms measuring ocean carbon content suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in ocean carbon fluxes which can be linked to these dynamic eddy features. Due to computational and time limitations, ocean eddies are not explicitly represented in most global climate simulations, limiting our ability to understand the role eddies play in the ocean carbon cycle. This study will explore the impact of eddies on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean using both simulated- and observation-based strategies and the findings will improve our understanding of the ocean’s role in the carbon cycle and in global climate. While this work will primarily be focused on the Southern Ocean, the results will be globally applicable. The researchers will also broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography among middle school-age girls in the University of South Florida’s Oceanography Camp for Girls by augmenting existing lessons with computational methods in oceanography. This project aims to quantify the impacts of mesoscale eddy processes on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the Southern Ocean. For the modeling component, the investigators will explore relationships between eddies, ocean carbon content, and air-sea CO2 fluxes within the 1/6-degree resolution Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate (B-SOSE). They investigators will produce high-resolution composites of the carbon content and physical structure within both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies by region, quantify the influence of these eddies on the overall simulated air-sea CO2 flux, and diagnose the physical mechanisms driving this influence. For the observational component, the investigators will match eddies observed via satellite altimetry to ocean carbon observations and characterize observed relationships between eddies and ocean carbon content with a focus on Southern Ocean winter observations where light limits biological processes, allowing isolation of the contribution of physical processes. This work will also provide motivation for higher resolution and better eddy parameterizations in climate models, more mesoscale biogeochemical observations, and integration of satellite sea surface height data into efforts to map air-sea fluxes of CO2. Each summer, the PI delivers a lab lesson at the University of South Florida Oceanography Camp for Girls, recognized by NSF as a “Model STEM Program for Women and Girls” focused on broadening participation by placing emphasis on recruiting a diverse group of young women. As part of this project, the existing interactive Jupyter Notebook-based Python coding Lab lesson will be augmented with a B-SOSE-themed modeling component, which will broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography and data science, and expose campers to computational methods in oceanography. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Southern Ocean accounts for ~40% of the total ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide despite covering only 20% of the global ocean surface, and is particularly rich in long-lived eddies. These eddies, or large ocean whirlpools which can be observed from space, can alter air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide in ways that are not yet fully understood. New observations from autonomous platforms measuring ocean carbon content suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in ocean carbon fluxes which can be linked to these dynamic eddy features. Due to computational and time limitations, ocean eddies are not explicitly represented in most global climate simulations, limiting our ability to understand the role eddies play in the ocean carbon cycle. This study will explore the impact of eddies on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes in the Southern Ocean using both simulated- and observation-based strategies and the findings will improve our understanding of the ocean’s role in the carbon cycle and in global climate. While this work will primarily be focused on the Southern Ocean, the results will be globally applicable. The researchers will also broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography among middle school-age girls in the University of South Florida’s Oceanography Camp for Girls by augmenting existing lessons with computational methods in oceanography. This project aims to quantify the impacts of mesoscale eddy processes on ocean carbon content and air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the Southern Ocean. For the modeling component, the investigators will explore relationships between eddies, ocean carbon content, and air-sea CO2 fluxes within the 1/6-degree resolution Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate (B-SOSE). They investigators will produce high-resolution composites of the carbon content and physical structure within both cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies by region, quantify the influence of these eddies on the overall simulated air-sea CO2 flux, and diagnose the physical mechanisms driving this influence. For the observational component, the investigators will match eddies observed via satellite altimetry to ocean carbon observations and characterize observed relationships between eddies and ocean carbon content with a focus on Southern Ocean winter observations where light limits biological processes, allowing isolation of the contribution of physical processes. This work will also provide motivation for higher resolution and better eddy parameterizations in climate models, more mesoscale biogeochemical observations, and integration of satellite sea surface height data into efforts to map air-sea fluxes of CO2. Each summer, the PI delivers a lab lesson at the University of South Florida Oceanography Camp for Girls, recognized by NSF as a “Model STEM Program for Women and Girls” focused on broadening participation by placing emphasis on recruiting a diverse group of young women. As part of this project, the existing interactive Jupyter Notebook-based Python coding Lab lesson will be augmented with a B-SOSE-themed modeling component, which will broaden interest in physical and chemical oceanography and data science, and expose campers to computational methods in oceanography. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project seeks to make detailed measurements of the oxygen content of the surface ocean along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Detailed maps of changes in net oxygen content will be combined with measurements of the surface water chemistry and phytoplankton distributions. The project will determine the extent to which on-shore or offshore phytoplankton blooms along the peninsula are likely to lead to different amounts of carbon being exported to the deeper ocean. The project team members will participate in the development of new learning tools at the Museum of Life and Science. They will also teach secondary school students about aquatic biogeochemistry and climate, drawing directly from the active science supported by this grant. The project will analyze oxygen in relation to argon that will allow determination of the physical and biological contributions to surface ocean oxygen dynamics. These assessments will be combined with spatial and temporal distributions of nutrients (iron and macronutrients) and irradiances. This will allow the investigators to unravel the complex interplay between ice dynamics, iron and physical mixing dynamics as they relate to Net Community Production (NCP) in the region. NCP measurements will be normalized to Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) and be used to help identify area of "High Biomass and Low NCP" and those with "Low Biomass and High NCP" as a function of microbial plankton community composition. The team will use machine learning methods- including decision tree assemblages and genetic programming- to identify plankton groups key to facilitating biological carbon fluxes. Decomposing the oxygen signal along the West Antarctic Peninsula will also help elucidate biotic and abiotic drivers of the O2 saturation to further contextualize the growing inventory of oxygen measurements (e.g. by Argo floats) throughout the global oceans.
This award supports a project to investigate the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) to global climate change over the last two Glacial/Interglacial cycles. The intellectual merit of the project is that despite its importance to Earth's climate system, we currently lack a full understanding of AIS sensitivity to global climate change. This project will reconstruct and precisely date the history of marine-based ice in the Ross Sea sector over the last two glacial/interglacial cycles, which will enable a better understanding of the potential driving mechanisms (i.e., sea-level rise, ice dynamics, ocean temperature variations) for ice fluctuations. This will also help to place present ice?]sheet behavior in a long-term context. During the last glacial maximum (LGM), the AIS is known to have filled the Ross Embayment and although much has been done both in the marine and terrestrial settings to constrain its extent, the chronology of the ice sheet, particularly the timing and duration of the maximum and the pattern of initial recession, remains uncertain. In addition, virtually nothing is known of the penultimate glaciation, other than it is presumed to have been generally similar to the LGM. These shortcomings greatly limit our ability to understand AIS evolution and the driving mechanisms behind ice sheet fluctuations. This project will develop a detailed record of ice extent and chronology in the western Ross Embayment for not only the LGM, but also for the penultimate glaciation (Stage 6), from well-dated glacial geologic data in the Royal Society Range. Chronology will come primarily from high-precision Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Carbon-14 (14C) and multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)-Mass Spectrometry (MS) 234Uranium/230Thorium dating of lake algae and carbonates known to be widespread in the proposed field area.
Hall/1643248 This award supports a project to reconstruct the behavior of a portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (the Ross Ice Sheet), using glacial geologic mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits contained in glacial moraines, at the end of the last glacial period. The results will be compared with other dating methods that will be used on alpine glaciers that terminated in the mountains of the Royal Society Range in East Antarctica during the last glacial maximum and whose landforms intersect with those of the Ross Ice Sheet. Results from this comparison will contribute to a better understanding of the Antarctic ice sheet during the most recent global warming that ended the last ice age. This period is of interest since it will help inform our understanding of Antarctic ice sheet behavior in a future climate warming. Such data also will help inform models that attempt to simulate not only the behavior of the ice sheet during the end of the last ice age, but also its future response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. The work will contribute to the education and training of both graduate and undergraduate students and results from the work will be incorporated in classes at the University of Maine. Results derived from the research will be disseminated to the public through lectures and visits to K-12 classrooms and data from this project will be downloadable from a University of Maine web site, as well as from public data repositories. The Antarctic Ice Sheet exerts a key control on global sea levels, both past and future, and strongly influences Southern Hemisphere and even global climate and ocean circulation. And yet a complete understanding of the evolution of the ice sheet over the last glacial cycle and of the mechanisms that caused it to advance and retreat is still lacking. Of particular interest is the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the global warming that ended the last ice age, because it yields important clues about likely future ice-sheet behavior under a warming climate. In this project, scientists will reconstruct the thinning history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross Sea sector during the last glacial/interglacial transition on the headlands of the southern Royal Society Range. They will use a combination of glacial geomorphological mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits enclosed within recessional moraines. Finally, this record will be compared with a beryllium- and radiocarbon-dated chronology that will be produced of adjacent independent alpine glaciers that terminated on land during the last glacial maximum and whose deposits show cross-cutting relationships with those of the ice sheet. Results from this comparison will bear on the behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the termination of the last ice age. This work will support six students, including at least three undergraduates, and involves field work in the Antarctic.
Correlating ecosystem responses to past climate forcing is highly dependent on the use of reliable techniques for establishing the age of events (dating techniques). In Antarctic dry regions (land areas without glaciers), carbon-14 dating has been used to assess the ages of organic deposits left behind by ancient lakes. However, the reliability of the ages is debatable because of possible contamination with "old carbon" from the surrounding landscape. The proposed research will attempt to establish two alternate dating techniques, in situ carbon-14 cosmogenic radionuclide exposure dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), as reliable alternate dating methods for lake history in Antarctic dry areas that are not contaminated by the old carbon. The end goal will be to increase scientific understanding of lake level fluctuation in the lakes of Taylor Valley, Antarctica so that inference about past climate, glacier, and ecosystem response can be inferred. The results of this study will provide a coarse-scale absolute chronology for lake level history in Taylor Valley, demonstrate that exposure dating and OSL are effective means to understand the physical dynamics of ancient water bodies, and increase the current understanding of polar lacustrine and ice sheet responses to past and present climatic changes. These chronologies will allow polar lake level fluctuations to be correlated with past changes in global and regional climate, providing information critical for understanding and modeling the physical responses of these environments to modern change. This research supports a PhD student; the student will highlight this work with grade school classes in the United States. This research aims to establish in situ carbon-14 exposure dating and OSL as reliable alternate (to carbon-14 of organic lake deposits) geochronometers that can be used to settle the long-disputed lacustrine history and chronology of Taylor Valley, Antarctica and elsewhere. Improved lake level history will have significant impacts for the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) site as the legacy of fluctuating lake levels of the past affects the distribution of organic matter and nutrients, and impacts biological connectivity valley-wide. This work will provide insight into the carbon reservoir of large glacial lakes in the late Holocene and have implications for previously reported radiocarbon chronologies. OSL samples will be analyzed in the Desert Research Institute Luminescence Laboratory in Reno, NV. For the in situ carbon-14 work, rock samples extracted from boulders and bedrock surfaces will be prepared at Tulane University. The prepared in situ carbon-14 samples will be analyzed at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The two datasets will be combined to produce a reliable, coarse scale chronology for late Quaternary lake level fluctuations in Taylor Valley. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Antarctic groundwater drives the regional carbon cycle and can accelerate permafrost thaw shaping Antarctic surface features. However, groundwater extent, flow, and processes on a continent virtually locked in ice are poorly understood. The proposed work investigates the interplay between groundwater, sediment, and ice in Antarctica's cold desert landscape to determine when, where, and why Antarctic groundwater is flowing, and how it may evolve Antarctic frozen deserts from dry and stable to wet and dynamic. Mapping the changing extent of Antarctic near-surface groundwater requires the ability to measure soil moisture rapidly and repeatedly over large areas. The research will capture changes in near-surface groundwater distribution through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mapping approach. The project integrates a diverse range of sensors with new UAV technologies to provide a higher-resolution and more frequent assessment of Antarctic groundwater extent and composition than can be accomplished using satellite observations alone. To complement the research objectives, the PI will develop a new UAV summer field school, the Geosciences UAV Academy, focused on training undergraduate-level UAV pilots in conducting novel earth sciences research using cutting edge imaging tools. The integration of research and technology will prepare students for careers in UAV-related industries and research. The project will deliver new UAV tools and workflows for soil moisture mapping relevant to arid regions including Antarctica as well as temperate desert and dryland systems and will train student research pilots to tackle next generation airborne challenges. Water tracks are the basic hydrological unit that currently feeds the rapidly-changing permafrost and wetlands in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Despite the importance of water tracks in the MDV hydrologic cycle and their influence on biogeochemistry, little is known about how these water tracks control the unique brine processes operating in Antarctic ice-free areas. Both groundwater availability and geochemistry shape Antarctic microbial communities, connecting soil geology and hydrology to carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. The objectives of this CAREER proposal are to 1) map water tracks to determine the spatial distribution and seasonal magnitude of groundwater impacts on the MDV near-surface environment to determine how near-surface groundwater drives permafrost thaw and enhances chemical weathering and biogeochemical cycling; 2) establish a UAV academy training earth sciences students to answer geoscience questions using drone-based platforms and remote sensing techniques; and 3) provide a formative step in the development of the PI as a teacher-scholar. UAV-borne hyperspectral imaging complemented with field soil sampling will determine the aerial extent and timing of inundation, water level, and water budget of representative water tracks in the MDV. Soil moisture will be measured via near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy while bulk chemistry of soils and groundwater will be analyzed via ion chromatography and soil x-ray fluorescence. Sedimentological and hydrological properties will be determined via analysis of intact core samples. These data will be used to test competing hypotheses regarding the origin of water track solutions and water movement through seasonal wetlands. The work will provide a regional understanding of groundwater sources, shallow groundwater flux, and the influence of regional hydrogeology on solute export to the Southern Ocean and on soil/atmosphere linkages in earth's carbon budget. The UAV school will 1) provide comprehensive instruction at the undergraduate level in both how and why UAVs can advance geoscience research and learning; and 2) provide educational infrastructure for an eventual self-sustaining summer program for undergraduate UAV education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Microbial mats are found throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys where summer snowmelt provides liquid water that allows these mats to flourish. Researchers have long studied the environmental conditions microbial mats need to grow. Despite these efforts, it has been difficult to develop a broad picture of these unique ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology now provide researchers an exciting new tool to study these special Antarctic ecosystems from space using the unique spectral signatures associated with microbial mats. This new technology not only offers the promise that microbial mats can be mapped and studied from space, this research will also help protect these delicate environments from potentially harmful human impacts that can occur when studying them from the ground. This project will use satellite imagery and spectroscopic techniques to identify and map microbial mat communities and relate their properties and distributions to both field and lab-based measurements. This research provides an exciting new tool to help document and understand the distribution of a major component of the Antarctic ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal of this project is to establish quantitative relationships between spectral signatures derived from orbit and the physiological status and biogeochemical properties of microbial mat communities in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as measured by field and laboratory analyses on collected samples. The goal wioll be met by (1) refining atmospheric correction techniques using in situ radiometric rectification to derive accurate surface spectra; (2) collecting multispectral orbital images concurrent with in situ sampling and spectral measurements in the field to ensure temporal comparability; (3) measuring sediment, water, and microbial mat samples for organic and inorganic carbon content, essential biogeochemical nutrients, and chlorophyll-a to determine relevant mat characteristics; and (4) quantitatively associating these laboratory-derived characteristics with field-derived and orbital spectral signatures and parameters. The result of this work will be a more robust quantitative link between the distribution of microbial mat communities and their biogeochemical properties to landscape-scale spectral signatures. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.
Antarctic Ice Sheet stability remains a large uncertainty in predicting future sea level. Presently, the greatest ice mass loss is observed in locations where relatively warm water comes into contact with glaciers and ice shelves, melting them from below. This has led researchers to hypothesize that the interactions that occur between the ocean and the ice are important for determining ice sheet stability and that increased warm water presence will accelerate Antarctic ice mass loss and lead to greater sea level rise in the coming century. To better predict future ice sheet behavior, it is critical to understand past ice-ocean interactions around Antarctica, especially during warm periods and at times when Earth’s climate was undergoing major changes. Past Antarctic ice mass and environmental conditions like ocean temperature can be reconstructed using sediments, which capture an environmental record as they accumulate on the ocean floor. By looking at sediment composition and by analyzing geochemical signatures within the sediment, it is possible to piece together a record of climate change on hundred- to million-year timescales. This project will reconstruct upper ocean temperatures and Antarctic ice retreat/advance cycles from 2.6 to 0.7 million years ago, which encompasses the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a time in Earth’s history that marks the shift from 41-thousand year glacial cycles to 100-thousand year glacial cycles. A record will be generated from existing sediment cores collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382. The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; ~1.25–0.7 Ma) marks the shift from glacial-interglacial cycles paced by obliquity (~41 kyr cycles) to those paced by eccentricity (~100-kyr cycles). This transition occurred despite little variation in Earth’s orbital parameters, suggesting a role for internal climate feedbacks. The MPT was accompanied by decreasing atmospheric pCO2, increasing deep ocean carbon storage, and changes in deep water formation and distribution, all of which are linked to Antarctic margin atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions. However, Pleistocene records that document such interactions are rarely preserved on the shelf due to repeated Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) advance; instead, they are preserved in deep Southern Ocean basins. This project takes advantage of the excellent preservation and recovery of continuous Pleistocene sediment sequences collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382 to test the following hypotheses: 1) Southern Ocean upper ocean temperatures vary on orbital timescales during the early to middle Pleistocene (2.6–0.7 Ma), and 2) Southern Ocean temperatures co-vary with AIS advance/retreat cycles. Paleotemperatures will be reconstructed using the TetraEther indeX of 86 carbons (TEX86), a proxy that utilizes marine archaeal biomarkers. The Scotia Sea TEX86-based paleotemperature record will be compared to records of AIS variability, including ice rafted debris. Expedition 382 records will be compared to orbitally paced climatic time series and the benthic oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and bottom water temperature to determine if a correlation exists between upper ocean temperature, AIS retreat/advance, and orbital climate forcing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Non-technical Summary The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on the planet. This 5-yr time-series program will build on an ongoing international collaboration with scientists from the Chilean Antarctic Program to evaluate the role of temperature, light absorbing particles, snow-algae growth, and their radiative forcing effects on snow and ice melt in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. There is strong evidence that these effects may be intensifying due to a warming climate. Rising temperatures can increase the growth rate of coastal snow algae as well as enhance the input of particles from sources such as the long-range transport of black carbon to the Antarctic continent from intensifying Southern Hemisphere wildfire seasons. Particle and algae feedbacks can have immediate local impacts on snow melt and long-term regional impacts on climate because reduced snow cover alters how the Antarctic continent interacts with the rest of the global climate. A variety of ground-based and remote sensing data collected across multiple spatial scales will be used. Ground measurements will be compared to satellite imagery to develop novel computer algorithms to map ice algal bloom effects under changing climates. The project is expected to fundamentally advance knowledge of the spatial and temporal snow algae growing season, which is needed to quantify impacts on regional snow and ice melt. The program also has a strong partnership with the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators to involve cruise passengers as citizen scientists for sample collection. Antarctic research results will be integrated into undergraduate curricula and research opportunities through studies to LAPs and snow algae in the Pacific Northwest. The PI will recruit and train a diverse pool of students in cryosphere climate related research methods on Mt. Baker in Western Washington. Trained undergraduate will then serve as instructors for a local Snow School that takes middle school students to Mt. Baker to learn about snow science. Resulting datasets from Antarctica and Mt. Baker will be used in University classes to explore regional effects of climate change. Along with enhancing cryosphere-oriented place-based undergraduate field courses in the Pacific Northwest, the PI will recruit and train a diverse pool of undergraduate students to serve as instructors for the Mt. Baker Snow School program. This award will advance our understanding of cryosphere-climate feedbacks, which are likely changing and will continue to evolve in a warming world, while also increasing under-represented student engagement in the polar geosciences. Part 2: Technical Summary Rapid and persistent climate warming in the Western Antarctic Peninsula is likely resulting in intensified snow-algae growth and an extended bloom season in coastal areas. Similarly, deposition of light absorbing particles (LAPs) onto Antarctica cryosphere surfaces, such as black carbon from intensifying Southern Hemisphere wildfire seasons, and dust from the expansion of ice-free regions in the Antarctic Peninsula, may be increasing. The presence of snow algae blooms and LAPs enhance the absorption of solar radiation by snow and ice surfaces. This positive feedback creates a measurable radiative forcing, which can have immediate local and long-term regional impacts on albedo, snow melt and downstream ecosystems. This project will investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of snow algae, black carbon and dust across the Western Antarctica Peninsula region, their response to climate warming, and their role in regional snow and ice melt. Data will be collected across multiple spatial scales from in situ field measurements and sample collection to imagery from ground-based photos and high resolution multi-spectral satellite sensors. Ground measurements will inform development and application of novel algorithms to map algal bloom extent through time using 0.5-3m spatial resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery. Results will be used to improve snow algae parameterization in a new version of the Snow Ice Aerosol Radiation model (SNICARv3) that includes bio-albedo feedbacks, eventually informing models of ice-free area expansion through incorporation of SNICARv3 in the Community Earth System Model. Citizen scientists will be mentored and engaged in the research through an active partnership with the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators that frequently visits the region. The cruise ship association will facilitate sampling to develop a unique snow algae observing network to validate remote sensing algorithms that map snow algae with high-resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery from space. These time-series will inform instantaneous and interannual radiative forcing calculations to assess impacts of snow algae and LAPs on regional snow melt. Quantifying the spatio-temporal growing season of snow algae and impacts from black carbon and dust will increase our ability to model their impact on snow melt, regional climate warming and ice-free expansion in the Antarctic Peninsula region. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Schmittner, Andreas; Haight, Andrew ; Clark, Peter
No dataset link provided
This project investigates Antarctic ice-ocean interactions of the last 20,000 years. The Antarctic ice sheet is an important component of Earth’s climate system, as it interacts with the atmosphere, the surrounding Southern Ocean, and the underlaying solid Earth. The ice sheet is also the largest potential contributor to future sea-level rise and a major uncertainty in climate projections. Climate change may trigger instabilities that may lead to fast and irreversible collapse of parts of the ice sheet. However, little is known about how interactions between the Antarctic ice sheet and the rest of the climate system affect its behavior, climate, and sea level, partly because most climate models currently do not have fully-interactive ice-sheet components. The project team will construct a numerical climate model that includes an interactive Antarctic ice sheet, improving computational infrastructure for research. The model code will be made freely available to the public on a code-sharing site. In addition, the team will synthesize paleoclimate data and compare these with model simulations. This model-data comparison will test three scientific hypotheses regarding past changes in deep-ocean circulation, ice sheet, carbon, and sea level. The project will contribute to a better understanding of ice-ocean interactions and past climate variability. The project will test ideas that ice-ocean interactions have been important for setting deep ocean circulation and carbon storage during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. The new model will consist of three existing and well-tested components: (1) an isotope-enabled climate-carbon cycle model of intermediate complexity; (2) a model of the combined Antarctic ice sheet, solid Earth, and sea level; and (3) an iceberg model. The coupling will include ocean-temperature effects on basal melting of ice shelves; freshwater fluxes from the ice sheet to the ocean; and calving, transport and melting of icebergs. Once constructed and optimized, the model will be applied to simulate the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. Differences between model versions with full, partial, or no coupling will be used to investigate the effects of ice-ocean interactions on the Meridional Overturning Circulation, deep ocean carbon storage, and ice-sheet fluctuations. Paleoclimate data synthesis will include temperature, carbon and nitrogen isotopes, radiocarbon ages, protactinium-thorium ratios, neodymium isotopes, carbonate ion, dissolved oxygen, relative sea level, and terrestrial cosmogenic ages into one multi-proxy database with a consistent updated chronology. The project will support an early-career scientist, one graduate student, undergraduate students, and new and ongoing national and international collaborations. Outreach activities in collaboration with a local science museum will benefit rural communities in Oregon by improving their climate literacy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The overall goal of this project is to determine the effect of past changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet on global sea level. At the peak of the last ice age 25,000 years ago, sea level was 120 meters (400 feet) lower than it is at present because water that is now part of the ocean was instead part of expanded glaciers and ice sheets in North America, Eurasia, and Antarctica. Between then and now, melting and retreat of this land ice caused sea level to rise. In this project, we aim to improve our understanding of how changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet contributed to this process. The overall strategy to accomplish this involves (i) visiting areas in Antarctica that are not now covered by ice; (ii) looking for geological evidence, specifically rock surface and sediment deposits, that indicates that these areas were covered by thicker ice in the past; and (iii) determining the age of these geological surfaces and deposits. This project addresses the final part of this strategy -- determining the age of Antarctic glacial rock surfaces or sediment deposits -- using a relatively new technique that involves measuring trace elements in rock surfaces that are produced by cosmic-ray bombardment after the rock surfaces are exposed by ice retreat. By applying this method to rock samples collected in previous visits to Antarctica, the timing of past expansion and contraction of the ice sheet can be determined. The main scientific outcomes expected from this project are (i) improved understanding of how Antarctic Ice Sheet changes contributed to past global sea level rise; and (ii) improved understanding of modern observed Antarctic Ice Sheet changes in a longer-term context. This second outcome will potentially improve predictions of future ice sheet behavior. Other outcomes of the project include training of individual undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the development of a new course on sea level change to be taught at Tulane University in New Orleans, a city that is being affected by sea level change today. This project will use measurements of in-situ-produced cosmogenic carbon-14 in quartz from existing samples collected at several sites in Antarctica to resolve major ambiguities in existing Last Glacial Maximum to present ice sheet reconstructions. This project is important because of the critical nature of accurate reconstructions of ice sheet change in constraining reconstructions of past sea level change. Although carbon-14 is most commonly exploited as a geochronometer through its production in the upper atmosphere and incorporation into organic materials, it is also produced within the crystal lattice of rocks and minerals that are exposed to the cosmic-ray flux at the Earth's surface. In this latter case, its concentration is proportional to the duration of surface exposure, and measurements of in-situ-produced carbon-14 can be used to date geological events that form or expose rock surfaces, for example, ice sheet expansion and retreat. Although carbon-14 is one of several trace radionuclides that can be used for this purpose, it is unique among them in that its half-life is short relative to the time scale of glacial-interglacial variations. Thus, in cases where rock surfaces in polar regions have been repeatedly covered and uncovered by ice sheet change during many glacial-interglacial cycles, carbon-14 measurements are uniquely suited to accurately dating the most recent episode of ice sheet advance and retreat. We aim to use this property to improve our understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet change at a number of critically located sites at which other surface exposure dating methods have yielded ambiguous results. Geographically, these are focused in the Weddell Sea embayment of Antarctica, which is an area where the geometry of the Antarctic continent potentially permits large glacial-interglacial changes in ice volume but where existing geologic records of ice sheet change are particularly ambiguous. In addition, in-situ carbon-14 measurements, applied where independently constrained deglaciation chronologies already exist, can potentially allow us to date the last period of ice sheet advance as well as the most recent retreat.
Bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice cores have been used to directly reconstruct atmospheric composition, and its links to Antarctic and global climate, over the last 800,000 years. Previous field expeditions to the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, Antarctica, have recovered ice cores that extend as far back as 2.7 million years, by far the oldest polar ice samples yet recovered. These ice cores extend direct observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and indirect records of Antarctic climate into a period of Earth's climate history that represents a plausible geologic analogue to future anthropogenic climate change. The results demonstrate a smaller glacial-interglacial variability of climate and greenhouse gases, and a persistent linkage between Antarctic climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide, between 1 and 2 million years ago. Through this project, the team will return to the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area to recover additional ice cores that date to 2 million years or older. The climate records developed from these ice cores will provide new insights into the chemical composition of the atmosphere and Antarctic climate during times of comparable or even greater warmth than the present day. Project results will help answer questions about issues associated with anthropogenic change including the relationship between temperature change and the mass balance of Antarctic ice and the relationship between atmospheric greenhouse gases and global climate change. Earth has been cooling, and ice sheets expanding, over the past ~52 million years. Superimposed on this cooling are periodic changes in Earth's climate system driven by variations in the eccentricity, precession, and obliquity of Earth's orbit around the Sun. Climate reconstructions based on measurements of oxygen isotopes in foraminiferal calcite indicate that, from ~2.8 to 1.2 million years before present (Ma), Earth's climate system oscillated between glacial and interglacial states every ~40,000 years (the "40k world"). Between 1.2-0.8 Ma and continuing to the present, the period of glacial cycles increased in amplitude and lengthened to ~100,000 years (the "100k world"). Ice cores preserve ancient air that allows direct reconstructions of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane. They also archive proxy records of regional climate, mean ocean temperature, global oxygen cycling, and the aridity of nearby continents. Studies of stratigraphically continuous ice cores, extending to 800,000 years before present, have demonstrated that atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly linked to climate, and it is of great interest to extend the ice-core record into the 40k world. Recent discoveries of well-preserved ice dating from 1.0 to 2.7 Ma from ice cores drilled in the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area (BIA), Antarctica, demonstrate the potential to retrieve stratigraphically discontinuous old ice at shallow depths (<200 meters). This project will continue this work by retrieving new large-volume ice cores and measuring paleoclimate properties in both new and existing ice from the Allan Hills BIA. The experimental objectives are to more fully characterize fundamental properties of the climate system and the carbon cycle during the 40k world. Project results will have implications for Pleistocene climate change, and will provide new constraints on the processes that regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, and oxygen on geologic timescales. Given a demonstrated age of the ice at the Allan Hills BIA of at least 2 million years, the team will drill additional cores to prospect for ice that predates the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at the Plio-Pleistocene transition (~2.8 Ma). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical description: Methane is one of the more effective atmospheric gases at retaining heat in the lower atmosphere and the earth’s crust contains large quantities of methane. Research that identifies the factors that control methane’s release into the atmosphere is critical to understanding and mitigating climate change. One of the most effective natural processes that inhibits the release of methane from aquatic habitats is a community of bacteria and Archaea (microbes) that use the chemical energy stored in methane, transforming methane into less-climate-sensitive compounds. The amount of methane that may be released in Antarctica is unknown, and it is unclear which microbes consume the methane before it is released from the ocean in Antarctica. This project will study one of the few methane seeps known in Antarctica to advance our understanding of which microbes inhibit the release of methane in marine environments. The research will also identify if methane is a source of energy for other Antarctic organisms. The researchers will analyze the microbial species associated with methane consumption over several years of field and laboratory research based at an Antarctic US station, McMurdo. This project clearly expands the fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes outlined as a goal in the Antarctic solicitation. This research communicates and produces educational material for K-12, college, and graduate students to inspire and inform the public about the role Antarctic ecosystems play in the global environment. This project also provides a young professor an opportunity to establish himself as an expert in the field of Antarctic microbial ecology to help solidify his academic career. Part II: Technical description: Microbes act as filter to methane release from the ocean into the atmosphere, where microbial chemosynthetic production harvests the chemical energy stored in this greenhouse gas. In spite of methane reservoirs in Antarctica being as large as Arctic permafrost, we know only a little about the taxa or dominant processes involved in methane consumption in Antarctica. The principal investigator will undertake a genomic and transcriptomic study of microbial communities developed and still developing after initiation of methane seepage in McMurdo Sound. An Antarctic methane seep was discovered at this location in 2012 after it began seeping in 2011. Five years after it began releasing methane, the methane-oxidizing microbial community was underdeveloped and methane was still escaping from the seafloor. This project will be essential in elucidating the response of microbial communities to methane release and identify how methane oxidation occurs within the constraints of the low polar temperatures. This investigation is based on 4 years of field sampling and will establish a time series of the development of cold seep microbial communities in Antarctica. A genome-to-ecosystem approach will establish how the Southern Ocean microbial community is adapted to prevent methane release into the ocean. As methane is an organic carbon source, results from this study will have implications for the Southern Ocean carbon cycle. Two graduate students will be trained and supported with undergraduates participating in laboratory activities. The researcher aims to educate, inspire and communicate about Antarctic methane seeps to a broad community. A mixed-media approach, with videos, art and education in schools will be supported in collaboration with a filmmaker, teachers and a visual artist. Students will be trained in filmmaking and K-12 students from under-represented communities will be introduced to Antarctic science through visual arts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical description: Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems have the potential to either slow down or hasten the pace of climate change. The direction depends in part on both plant and microbial responses to warming. This study uses Antarctica as a model ecosystem to study the carbon balance of a simplified ecosystem (simplified compared to terrestrial ecosystems elsewhere) in response to a warming treatment. Carbon balance is dictated by sequestered carbon (through photosynthesis) and released carbon (plant and microbial respiration). Hence, to best assess plant and microbial responses to warming, this study uses a plant gradient that starts at the glacier (no plants, only soil microbes) to an old site entirely covered by plants. Experimental warming in the field is achieved by open-top chambers that warm the air and soil inside. The net ecosystem carbon exchange, the net result of sequestered and released carbon, will be measured in warmed and control plots with a state-of-the art gas exchange machine. Laboratory temperature incubation studies will supplement field work to attribute changes in carbon fluxes to individual plant species and soil microbial taxa (i.e., “species”). Data from this study will feed into earth system climate change models. The importance of this study will be shared with the broader community through the production of a video series created by an award-winning science media production company, an Antarctic blog, and through interactions with schools in the United States (on-site through Skype and in-person visits). Part II: Technical description: Responses of the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems to warming will feed back to the pace of climate change, but the size and direction of this feedback are poorly constrained. Least known are the effects of warming on carbon losses from soil, and clarifying the major microbial controls is an important research frontier. This study uses a series of experiments and observations to investigate microbial, including autotrophic taxa, and plant controls of net ecosystem productivity in response to warming in intact ecosystems. Field warming is achieved using open-top chambers paired with control plots, arrayed along a productivity gradient. Along this gradient, incoming and outgoing carbon fluxes will be measured at the ecosystem-level. The goal is to tie warming-induced shifts in net ecosystem carbon balance to warming effects on soil microbes and plants. The field study will be supplemented with lab temperature incubations. Because soil microbes dominate biogeochemical cycles in Antarctica, a major focus of this study is to determine warming responses of bacteria, fungi and archaea. This is achieved using a cutting-edge stable isotope technique, quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) developed by the proposing research team, that can identify the taxa that are active and involved in processing new carbon. This technique can identify individual microbial taxa that are actively participating in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients (through combined use of 18O-water and 13C-bicarbonate) and thus can be distinguished from those that are simply present (cold-preserved). The study further assesses photosynthetic uptake of carbon by the vegetation and their sensitivity to warming. Results will advance research in climate change, plant and soil microbial ecology, and ecosystem modeling. Science communication will be achieved through an informative video series, a daily Antarctic blog, and online- and in-person visits to schools in the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical summary: The Amundsen Sea is adjacent to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and hosts the most productive coastal ecosystem in all of Antarctica, with vibrant green waters visible from space and an atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake rate ten times higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is also an area highly impacted by climate change and glacier ice loss. Upwelling of warm deep water is causing melt under the ice sheet, which is contributing to sea level rise and added nutrient inputs to the region. This is a project that is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate of Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget and the investigators associated with its own country. In this collaboration, the US team will undertake biogeochemical sampling alongside a UK-funded physical oceanographic program to evaluate the contribution of micronutrients such as iron from glacial meltwater to ecosystem productivity and carbon cycling. Measurements will be incorporated into computer simulations to examine ecosystem responses to further glacial melting. Results will help predict future impacts on the region and determine whether the climate sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea ecosystem represents the front line of processes generalizable to the greater Antarctic. This study is aligned with the large International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) and will make data available to the full scientific community. The program will provide training for undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral, and early-career scientists in both science and communication. The team will also develop out-of-school science experiences for middle and high schoolers related to climate change and Antarctica. Part II: Technical summary: The Amundsen Sea hosts the most productive polynya in all of Antarctica, with atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake rates ten times higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is vulnerable to climate change, experiencing rapid losses in sea ice, a changing icescape and some of the fastest melting glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a process being studied by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. The biogeochemical composition of the outflow from the glaciers surrounding the Amundsen Sea is largely unstudied. In collaboration with a UK-funded physical oceanographic program, ARTEMIS is using shipboard sampling for trace metals, carbonate system, nutrients, organic matter, and microorganisms, with biogeochemical sensors on autonomous vehicles to gather data needed to understand the impact of the melting ice sheet on both the coastal ecosystem and the regional carbon cycle. These measurements, along with access to the advanced physical oceanographic measurements will allow this team to 1) bridge the gap between biogeochemistry and physics by adding estimates of fluxes and transport of limiting micronutrients; 2) provide biogeochemical context to broaden understanding of the global significance of ocean-ice shelf interactions; 3) determine processes and scales of variability in micronutrient supply that drive the ten-fold increase in carbon dioxide uptake, and 4) identify small-scale processes key to iron and carbon cycling using optimized field sampling. Observations will be integrated into an ocean model to enhance predictive capabilities of regional ocean function. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The goal of this project is to discover whether the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, provides a guide to sea-ice conditions in nearshore Antarctica today and in the past. Scallops may grow slower and live longer in habitats where sea ice persists for many years, limited by food, compared to habitats where sea ice melts out annually. Also, the chemicals retained in the shell during growth may provide crucial habitat information related to not only changing sea-ice conditions but also the type of food, whether it is recycled from the seafloor or produced by algae blooming when sea ice has melted. Unlocking the ecological imprint captured within the shell of the Antarctic Scallop will increase our understanding of changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica. Further, because the Antarctic scallop had relatives living at the time when the Antarctic ice sheet first appeared, the scallop shell record may contain information on the stability of the ice sheet and the history of Antarctic shallow seas. Funding will also be integral for training a new generation of geoscientists in fossil and chemical forensics related to shallow sea habitats in Antarctica. Scallops are worldwide in distribution, are integral for structuring marine communities have an extensive fossil record dating to the late Devonian, and are increasingly recognized as important paleoenvironmental proxies because they are generally well preserved in the sediment and rock record. The primary goal of this project is to assess the differences in growth, lifespan, and chemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) archived in the shell of the Antarctic scallop that may be indicative of two ice states: persistent (multiannual) sea ice at Explorers Cove (EC) and annual sea ice (that melts out every year) at Bay of Sails (BOS), western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. This project will investigate growth and lifespan proxies (physical and geochemical) and will use high-resolution records of stable oxygen isotopes to determine if a melt-water signal is archived in A. colbecki shells and whether that signal captures the differing ice behavior at two sites (EC versus BOS). Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in association with trace elements will be used to examine subannual productivity spikes indicative of phytoplankton blooms, which are predicted to be more pronounced during open ocean conditions. Small growth increments in the outer calcite layer will be assessed to determine if they represent fortnightly growth, if so, they could provide a high-resolution proxy for monthly environmental processes. Unlocking the environmental archive preserved in A. colbecki shells may prove to be an important proxy for understanding changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica's past. Funding will support a Ph.D. student and undergraduates from multiple institutions working on independent research projects. Web content focused on Antarctic marine communities will be designed for museum outreach, reaching thousands of middle-school children each year. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Viruses are prevalent in aquatic environments where they reach up to five hundred million virus particles in a teaspoon of water. Ongoing discovery of viruses seems to confirm current understanding that all forms of life can host and be infected by viruses and that viruses are one of the largest reservoirs of unexplored genetic diversity on Earth. This study aims to better understand interactions between specific viruses and phytoplankton hosts and determine how these viruses may affect different algal groups present within lakes of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. These lakes (Ace, Organic and Deep)were originally derived from the ocean and contain a broad range of saline conditions with a similarly broad range of physicochemical characteristics resulting from isolation and low external influence for thousands of years. These natural laboratories allow examination of microbial processes and interactions that would be difficult to characterize elsewhere on earth. The project will generate extensive genomic information that will be made freely available. The project will also leverage the study of viruses and the genomic approaches employed to advance the training of undergraduate students and to engage and foster an understanding of Antarctic science and studies of microbes during a structured informal education program in Maine for the benefit of high school students. By establishing the dynamics and interactions of (primarily) specific dsDNA virus groups in different habitats with different redox conditions throughout seasonal and inter annual cycles the project will learn about the biotic and abiotic factors that influence microbial community dynamics. This project does not require fieldwork in Antarctica. Instead, the investigators will leverage already collected and archived samples from three lakes that have concurrent measures of physicochemical information. Approximately 2 terabyte of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) (including metagenomes, SSU rRNA amplicons and single virus genomes) will be generated from selected available samples through a Community Science Program (CSP) funded by the Joint Genome Institute. The investigators will employ bioinformatics to interrogate those sequence databases. In particular, they will focus on investigating the presence, phylogeny and co-occurrence of polintons, polinton-like viruses, virophages and large dsDNA phytoplankton viruses as well as of their putative eukaryotic microbial hosts. Bioinformatic analyses will be complemented with quantitative digital PCR and microbial association network analysis to detect specific virus?virus?host interactions from co-occurrence spatial and temporal patterns. Multivariate analysis and network analyses will also be performed to investigate which abiotic factors most closely correlate with phytoplankton and virus abundances, temporal dynamics, and observed virus-phytoplankton associations within the three lakes. The results of this project will improve understanding of phytoplankton and their viruses as vital components of the carbon cycle in Antarctic, marine-derived aquatic environments, and likely in any other aquatic environment. Overall, this work will advance understanding of the genetic underpinnings of adaptations in unique Antarctic environments.
The chemical composition of diatom fossils in the Southern Ocean provides information about the environmental history of Antarctica, including sea ice extent, biological production, and ocean nutrient distribution. The sea ice zone is an important habitat for a group of diatoms, largely from the genus Chaetoceros, that have a unique life cycle stage under environmental stress, when they produce a structure called a resting spore. Resting spores are meant to reseed the surface ocean when conditions are more favorable. The production of these heavy resting spores tends to remove significant amounts of carbon and silicon, essential nutrients, out of the surface ocean. As a result, this group has the potential to remove carbon from the surface ocean and can impact the sedimentary record scientists use to reconstruct environmental change. This project explores the role of resting spores in the sedimentary record using the nitrogen isotopic signature of these fossils and how those measurements are used to estimate carbon cycle changes. The work will include laboratory incubations of these organisms to answer if and how the chemistry of the resting spores differs from that of a typical diatom cell. The incubation results will be used to evaluate nutrient drawdown in sea ice environments during two contrasting intervals in earth history, the last ice age and the warm Pliocene. This work should have significant impact on how the scientific community considers the impact of seasonal sea ice cover in the Southern Ocean in terms of how it responds to and regulates global climate. The project provides training and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Ongoing research efforts in Antarctic earth sciences will be disseminated through an interactive display at the home institution. The work proposed here will address uncertainties in how Chaetoceros resting spores record surface nutrient conditions in their nitrogen stable isotopic composition, the relative impact of their specific signal with respect to the full sedimentary assemblage, and their potential to bias or enhance environmental reconstructions in the sea ice zone. Measurements of nitrogen stable isotopes of nitrate, biomass, and diatom-bound nitrogen and silicon-to-nitrogen ratios of individual species grown in the laboratory will be used to quantify how resting spores record nutrient drawdown in the water column and to what degree their signature is biased toward low nutrient conditions. These relationships will be used to inform diatom-bound nitrogen isotope reconstructions of nutrient drawdown from a Pliocene coastal polyna and an open ocean core that spans the last glacial maximum. This proposal capitalizes on the availability of Southern Ocean isolates of Chaetoceros spp. collected in 2017 for the proposed culture work and archived sediment cores and/or existing data. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Western Antarctica is one of the fastest warming locations on Earth. Its changing climate will lead to an increase in sea-level and will also alter regional water temperature and chemistry. These changes will directly alter the microbes that inhabit the ecosystem. Microbes are the smallest forms of life on Earth, but they are also the most abundant. They drive cycling of essential nutrients, such as carbon and nitrogen that are found in ocean sediments. In this way they form the foundation of the food chain that supports larger and more complex life. However, we do not know much about how different communities of microbes break down sediments in Antarctica and this will influence the chemistry of those waters. This research will determine how communities of microbes on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic sediments using genetic and chemical data. This data will identify the species in the community, what enzymes they are producing and what chemical reactions they are driving. This research will create broader impacts as the data will be used to create in-class activities that improve a student’s data analysis and critical thinking skills. The data will be used in graduate, undergraduate and K-12 classrooms. This research will provide genetic and enzymatic insight into how microbial communities in benthic sediments on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic matter. The current understanding of how benthic microbial communities respond to and then degrade complex organic matter in Antarctica is fragmented. Recent work suggests benthic microbial communities are shaped by organic matter availability. However, those studies were observational and did not directly examine community function. A preliminary study of metagenomic data from western Antarctic marine sediments, indicates a genetic potential for organic matter degradation but functional data was not been collected. Other studies have examined either enzyme activity or metagenomic potential, but few have been able to directly connect the two. To address this gap in knowledge, this study will utilize metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, coupled with microcosm experiments, enzyme assays, and geochemical data. It will examine Antarctic microbial communities from the Ross Sea, the Bransfield Strait and Weddell Sea to document how the relationship between a communities’ enzymatic activity and the genes used to degrade complex organic matter is related to sediment breakdown. The data will expand our current knowledge of microbial genetic potential and provide a solid understanding of enzyme function as it relates to degradation of complex organic matter in those marine sediments. It will thereby improve our understanding of temperature change on the chemistry of Antarctic seawater. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Non-technical description: Predicting how polar ice sheets will respond to future global warming is difficult because all the processes that contribute to their melting are not well understood. This is important because the more ice on land that melts, the higher sea levels will rise. The most significant uncertainty in current estimates of sea-level rise in the coming decades is the potential contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One way to increase our knowledge about how large ice sheets respond to climate change in response to natural factors is to examine the geologic past. Natural global warming (and cooling) events in Earth’s history provide examples that we can use to better understand processes, interactions, and responses we can’t directly observe today. One such time period, approximately three million years ago (known as the Pliocene), was the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as high as they are today and, therefore, represents a time period to study to better understand the ice sheet response to a warming climate. Specifically, this project is interested in understanding how ocean currents near Antarctica, which transport heat and store carbon, behaved during these past climate events. The history of past ice sheet-ocean interactions are recorded in sediments that were deposited, layer upon layer, in the deep sea offshore Antarctica. In January-February 2018, a team of scientists and crew set sail to the Ross Sea, offshore west Antarctica, on the scientific ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution to recover such sediment archives. This project focuses on a sediment core from that expedition, which captures the relatively warm Pliocene time interval, as well as the subsequent transition into cooler climates typical of the past two million years. The researchers will analyze the sediment with multiple complementary measurements, including: grain size, composition, chemistry of organic matter, physical structures, microfossil type and abundance, and more. These analyses will be done by the research team, including several students, at their respective laboratories and will then integrated into a unified record of ice sheet-ocean interactions. Ultimately, the results will be used to improve modeled projections of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet could respond to future climate change. Part II: Technical description: Geological records from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) margin demonstrate that the ice sheet oscillated in response to orbital variations in insolation (i.e., ~400, 100, 41, and 20 kyr), and it appears to be more sensitive to specific frequencies that regulate mean annual insolation (i.e., 41-kyr obliquity), particularly when the ice sheet extends into marine environments and is impacted by ocean circulation. However, the relationship between orbital forcing and the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is unconstrained. Thus, a knowledge gap exists in understanding how changing insolation impacts ice marginal and Southern Ocean conditions that directly influence ventilation of the global ocean. The researchers hypothesize that insolation-driven changes directly affected the production and export of AABW to the Southern Ocean from the Pliocene through the Pleistocene. For example, obliquity amplification during the warmer Pliocene may have led to enhanced production and export of dense waters from the shelf due to reduced AIS extent, which, in turn, led to greater AABW outflow. To determine the relationship of AABW production to orbital regime, they plan to reconstruct both from a single, continuous record from the levee of Hillary Canyon, a major conduit of AABW outflow, on the Ross Sea continental rise. To test their hypothesis, they will analyze sediment from IODP Site U1524 (recovered in 2018 during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374) and focus on three data sets. (1) They will use the occurrence, frequency, and character of mm-scale turbidite beds as a proxy of dense-shelf-water cascading outflow and AABW production. They will estimate the down-slope flux via numerical modeling of turbidity current properties using morphology, grain size, and bed thickness as input parameters. (2) They will use grain-size data, physical properties, XRF core scanning, CT imaging, and hyperspectral imaging to guide lithofacies analysis to infer processes occurring during glacial, deglacial, and interglacial periods. Statistical techniques and optimization methods will be applied to test for astronomical forcing of sedimentary packages in order to provide a cyclostratigraphic framework and interpret the orbital-forcing regime. (3) They will use bulk sedimentary carbon and nitrogen abundance and isotope data to determine how relative contributions of terrigenous and marine organic matter change in response to orbital forcing. All of these data will be integrated with sedimentological records to deconvolve organic matter production from its deposition or remobilization due to AABW outflow as a function of the oscillating extent of the AIS. These data sets will be integrated into a unified chronostratigraphy to determine the relationship between AABW outflow and orbital-forcing scenarios under the varying climate regimes of the Plio-Pleistocene. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Around 252 million years ago, a major mass extinction wiped out upwards of 90% of species on Earth. Coincident with this extinction, the Antarctic portion of the supercontinent of Pangea transitioned to a warmer climatic regime and became devoid of glaciers. Little is known about the survivors of the extinction in Antarctica, although it has been hypothesized that the continent's high latitude location shielded it from the worst of the extinction's effects. The Shackleton Glacier region is the best place to study this extinction in Antarctica because it exposes an abundance of correct age rocks and relevant fossils were found there in the 1960s and 1980s. For this research, paleontologists will study fossil vertebrates that span from about 260 to 240 million years ago to understand how life evolved at high latitudes in the face of massive climate change. In addition, geologists will use fossil soils and fossil plant matter to more precisely reconstruct the climate of Antarctica across this extinction boundary. These data will allow for a more complete understanding of ancient climates and how Antarctic life compared to that at lower latitudes. Undergraduate and graduate students will be actively involved in this research. Public engagement in Antarctic science will be accomplished at several natural history museums. This three-year project will examine the evolution of Permo-Triassic paleoenvironments and their vertebrate communities by conducting fieldwork in the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica. The team will characterize the Permo-Triassic boundary within Shackleton area strata and correlate it to other stratigraphic successions in the region (e.g. via stable carbon isotope stratigraphy of fossilized plant organic matter). The researchers will use multiple types of data to assess the paleoenvironment, including: 1) paleosol morphology; 2) paleosol geochemistry; 3) pedogenic organic matter; and 4) fossil wood chronology and stable isotopes. The Fremouw Formation of Antarctica preserves the highest paleolatitude (~70° S) tetrapod fauna of the entire Triassic and thus has the potential to shed important light on the evolution of polar life during the early Mesozoic. The biology of Triassic vertebrates from Antarctica will be compared to conspecifics from lower paleolatitudes through analysis of growth in bone and tusk histology. An interdisciplinary approach will be used to address relationships between environmental change, faunal composition, and biogeographic patterns in the context of the high-latitude strata preserved in the Buckley and Fremouw formations in the Shackleton Glacier region.
The coastal Antarctic is undergoing great environmental change. Physical changes in the environment, such as altered sea ice duration and extent, have a direct impact on the phytoplankton and bacteria species which form the base of the marine foodweb. Photosynthetic phytoplankton are the ocean's primary producers, transforming (fixing) CO2 into organic carbon molecules and providing a source of food for zooplankton and larger predators. When phytoplankton are consumed by zooplankton, or killed by viral attack, they release large amounts of organic carbon and nutrients into the environment. Heterotrophic bacteria must eat other things, and function as "master recyclers", consuming these materials and converting them to bacterial biomass which can feed larger organisms such as protists. Some protists are heterotrophs, but others are mixotrophs, able to grow by photosynthesis or heterotrophy. Previous work suggests that by killing and eating bacteria, protists and viruses may regulate bacterial populations, but how these processes are regulated in Antarctic waters is poorly understood. This project will use experiments to determine the rate at which Antarctic protists consume bacteria, and field studies to identify the major bacterial taxa involved in carbon uptake and recycling. In addition, this project will use new sequencing technology to obtain completed genomes for many Antarctic marine bacteria. To place this work in an ecosystem context this project will use microbial diversity data to inform rates associated with key microbial processes within the PALMER ecosystem model. This project addresses critical unknowns regarding the ecological role of heterotrophic marine bacteria in the coastal Antarctic and the top-down controls on bacterial populations. Previous work suggests that at certain times of the year grazing by heterotrophic and mixotrophic protists may meet or exceed bacterial production rates. Similarly, in more temperate waters bacteriophages (viruses) are thought to contribute significantly to bacterial mortality during the spring and summer. These different top-down controls have implications for carbon flow through the marine foodweb, because protists are grazed more efficiently by higher trophic levels than are bacteria. This project will use a combination of grazing experiments and field observations to assess the temporal dynamics of mortality due to temperate bacteriophage and protists. Although many heterotrophic bacterial strains observed in the coastal Antarctic are taxonomically similar to strains from other regions, recent work suggest that they are phylogenetically and genetically distinct. To better understand the ecological function and evolutionary trajectories of key Antarctic marine bacteria, their genomes will be isolated and sequenced. Then, these genomes will be used to improve the predictions of the paprica metabolic inference pipeline, and our understanding of the relationship between heterotrophic bacteria and their major predators in the Antarctic marine environment. Finally, researchers will modify the Regional Test-Bed Model model to enable microbial diversity data to be used to optimize the starting conditions of key parameters, and to constrain the model's data assimilation methods. There is an extensive education and outreach component to this project that is designed to engage students and the public in diverse activities centered on Antarctic microbiota and marine sciences. A new module on Antarctic marine science will be developed for the popular Sally Ride Science program, and two existing undergraduate courses at UC San Diego will be strengthened with laboratory modules introducing emerging technology, and with cutting-edge polar science. A PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher will be supported by this project. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Overview and Intellectual merit: This project extends and combines historical and recent ocean data sets to investigate ice-ocean-interactions along the Pacific continental margin of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The synthesis focuses on the strikingly different environments on and near the cold Ross Sea and warm Amundsen Sea continental shelves, where available measurements reach back to ~1958 and 1994, respectively. On the more extensively covered Ross Sea continental shelf, multiple reoccupations of ocean stations and transects are used to extend our knowledge of long-term ocean freshening and the mass balance of the world?s largest ice shelf. On the more rugged Amundsen Sea continental shelf, which contains the earth?s fastest melting ice shelves, continuing research on observed thermohaline variability also pursues connections between outer shelf shoals and vulnerable ice shelf grounding zones. This interdisciplinary work updates a prior study of ice shelf response to ocean thermal forcing, and uses chemical tracers to measure changes in shelf, deep and bottom water transformations and production rates. Broader Impacts : Recent and potential future rates of sea level rise are the primary broad-scale impacts of the ice and ocean changes revealed by observations in the study area. The overriding question is whether global and regional sea levels will accelerate gradually, allowing carbon usage reductions to head off the worst consequences, or so rapidly that they will contribute to major social and economic upheavals. Collaborations and data acquired by foreign vessels are also utilized to better understand the causes of rapid change in these shelf seas and ice shelves, along with associated wider implications. Data that are re-gridded, re-edited or newly collated will be archived, and results made available via presentations, publications, and press releases if warranted. This proposal does not require fieldwork in the Antarctic This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Earth's mantle influences the movement of tectonic plates and volcanism on the surface. One way to understand the composition and nature of the Earth's mantle is by studying the chemistry of basalts, which originate by volcanic eruptions of partially melting mantle rocks. This study will establish the budget and distribution of volatile elements (hydrogen, carbon, fluorine, chlorine, sulfur) in volcanic basalts to better understand the composition of the Earth's interior. Volatiles influence mantle melting, magma crystallization, magma migration and volcanic eruptions. Their abundances and spatial distribution provide important constraints on models of mantle flow and temperature. Moreover, volatiles are key constituents of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Establishing the cycles of volatiles between the Earth's interior and surface is of fundamental importance to understand the long-term evolution of our planet. This project supports a graduate student and research scientist at Brown University. It promotes the collaboration with geochemists from eleven institutions representing six different countries: USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Argentina, South Korea and Japan, and utilizes several NSF-funded USA analytical facilities. Communication of results will occur through: 1) peer-reviewed journals, presentations at conferences and invited university lectures, 2) hands-on science learning activities for local elementary and high school classes, and 3) outreach to the general audience through public lectures. Over the last 60 years of funded research, the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby ocean ridges have been extensively investigated providing information on the origin of the magmatism, and the composition, structure, temperature and evolution of the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle. Diverse hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of the magmatism in the Antarctic Peninsula, from flux melting of the mantle wedge during devolatilization of the subducted Phoenix plate, to adiabatic decompression melting of a carbonated and hydrous asthenosphere, to melting of a volatile-rich metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle. All proposed hypotheses invoke the role of volatiles. Surprisingly, data on the volatile contents of basalts and mantle from this region are non-existent. This is a significant omission from the geochemical data set, given the important role volatile elements play in the generation and composition of magmas and their sources. The focus of our research is to examine the regional variations in volatile contents (C, H, F, S, Cl) in geochemically well-characterized Pliocene-recent basalts from the Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix ridge. Our goal is to establish the budget and distribution of volatiles in the mantle to understand 1) the processes responsible for the generation of chemically diverse basalts in close spatial and temporal proximity and 2) the nature (lithology, composition and temperature) of the heterogeneous mantle source beneath the Antarctic Peninsula and Phoenix ridge.
Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification and ocean warming will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient), carbon dioxide enriched, and elevated temperature seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative "winners" and some will be relative "losers" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod "winners" and two key amphipod "losers". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Over the past century, climate science has constructed an extensive record of Earth’s ice age cycles through the chemical and isotopic characterization of various geologic archives such as polar ice cores, deep-ocean sediments, and cave speleothems. These climatic archives provide an insightful picture of ice age cycles and of the related large global sea level fluctuations triggered by these significant climate rhythms. However, such records still provide limited insight as to how or which of Earth’s ice sheets contributed to higher sea levels during past warm climate periods. This is of particular importance for our modern world: the Antarctic ice sheet is currently the world’s largest freshwater reservoir, which, if completely melted, would raise the global sea level by over 60 meters (200 feet). Yet, geologic records of Antarctic ice sheet sensitivity to warm climates are particularly limited and difficult to obtain, because the direct records of ice sheet geometry smaller than the modern one are still buried beneath the mile-thick ice covering the continent. Therefore, it remains unclear how much this ice sheet contributed to past sea level rise during warm climate periods or how it will respond to the anticipated near-future climate warming. In the proposed research we seek to develop sub-ice chemical precipitates—minerals that form in lakes found beneath the ice sheet—as a climatic archive, one that records how the Antarctic ice sheet responded to past climatic change. These sub-ice mineral formations accumulated beneath the ice for over a hundred thousand years, recording the changes in chemical and isotopic subglacial properties that occur in response to climate change. Eventually these samples were eroded by the ice sheet and moved to the Antarctic ice margin where they were collected and made available to study. This research will utilize advanced geochemical, isotopic and geochronologic techniques to develop record of the Antarctica ice sheet’s past response to warm climate periods, directly informing efforts to understand how Antarctica will response to future warming. Efforts to improve sea level forecasting on a warming planet have focused on determining the temperature, sea level and extent of polar ice sheets during Earth’s past warm periods. Large uncertainties, however, in reconstructions of past and future sea levels, result from the poorly constrained climate sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice sheet (AIS). This research project aims to develop the use of subglacial precipitates as an archive the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) past response to climate change. The subglacial precipitates from East Antarctica form in water bodies beneath Antarctic ice and in doing so provide an entirely new and unique measure of how the AIS responds to climate change. In preliminary examination of these precipitates, we identified multiple samples consisting of cyclic opal and calcite that spans hundreds of thousands of years in duration. Our preliminary geochemical characterization of these samples indicates that the observed mineralogic changes result from a cyclic change in subglacial water compositions between isotopically and chemically distinct waters. Opal-forming waters are reduced (Ce* <1 and high Fe/Mn) and exhibit elevated 234U/238U compositions similar to the saline groundwater brines found at the periphery of the AIS. Calcite-forming waters, are rather, oxidized and exhibit δ18O compositions consistent with derivation from the depleted polar plateau (< -50 ‰). 234U-230Th dates permit construction of a robust timeseries describing these mineralogic and compositional changes through time. Comparisons of these time series with other Antarctic climate records (e.g., ice core records) reveal that calcite forming events align with millennial scale changes in local temperature or “Antarctic isotopic maximums”, which represent Southern Hemisphere warm periods resulting in increased Atlantic Meridional overturing circulation. Ultimately, this project seeks to develop a comprehensive model as to how changes in the thermohaline cycle induce a glaciologic response which in turn induces a change in the composition of subglacial waters and the mineralogic phase recorded within the precipitate archive. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Between Sept. 1, 2022 and April 27, 2023, a Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Saildrone collected underway chemical, meteorological and physical data in the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean. Measurements were made at high spatial and temporal resolution ( ~ 5-km and 1 hour) and include observations of ocean and atmosphere pCO2, air temperature and humidity, wind, ocean skin temperature, SST, salinity, ocean color (Chlorophyll α, CDOM), dissolved oxygen, and ocean current velocity between roughly 13.5°E and 82°E and between the Sub Tropical Front (STF) and the Subantarctic Front (SAF). The mission track spanned from the Agulhas Return Current south of South Africa to the northern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current downstream of the Kerguelen Plateau. The primary goal of the mission was to collect data within cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies to quantify CO2 fluxes to better understand physical processes (upwelling and downwelling) that that can contribute to carbon cycling in addition to the biological pump.
Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.
As glaciers creep across the landscape, they can act as earthmovers, plucking up rocks and grinding them into fine sediments. Glaciers have moved across the Antarctic landscape over thousands to millions of years, leaving these ground-up sediments in their wake. This study builds on pilot discoveries by the investigators that revealed remarkably large and variable measurements of surface area in glacially-derived fine-grained sediments found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), one of the few landscapes on the Antarctic continent not currently covered by ice. Surface area is key to chemical weathering, the process by which rock is converted to soils as ions are carried away in streams and groundwater. These chemical weathering processes are also one of the primary means by which the Earth system naturally removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hence, high surface areas observed in sediments implies high "weatherability" which in turn translates to more potential carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, chemical weathering in high surface area glacial sediments may have significant impacts on Earth's carbon cycle. The researchers will measure the chemical and physical properties of sediments previously collected from the Dry Valleys to understand what factors lead to production of sediment with high-surface area and potential "weather ability" and investigate how sediment produced in these glacial systems could ultimately impact Earth's carbon budget. Results from this research will help scientists (including modelers) refine predictions of the effects of melting glaciers- and attendant exposure of glacial sediment? on atmospheric carbon levels. These results may also contribute to applied research efforts on development of carbon-dioxide removal technologies utilizing principles of rock weathering. In addition to the scientific benefits, this research will involve several students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, including science education undergraduates, thus contributing to training of the next-generation STEM workforce. Physical weathering produces fresh surfaces, greatly enhancing specific surface area (SSA) and reactive surface area (RSA) of primary minerals. Quantifying SSA and RSA of sediments is key to determining dissolution and leaching rates during natural weathering, but few data exist on distribution of sediment SA, particularly in glacial and fluvial systems. Pilot data from glacial stream systems in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley (located in the MDV) exhibit remarkably high and variable values in both SSA and RSA, values that in some cases greatly exceed values from muds in temperate glacial systems. This discovery motivates the current research, which aims to investigate the hypothesis that high and variable SAs of muds within Wright and Taylor Valleys reflect textural and/or compositional inheritance from the differing depositional settings within the MDV, biologic controls, dust additions, and/or pedogenic processes. These hypotheses will be tested by sedimentologically, mineralogically, and geochemically characterizing muds from glacially derived sediment deposited in various environments (cold vs. wet based glaciation; fluvial, lacustrine, dust, and drift deposits) and of varying age (Miocene to Modern) from the MDV and quantifying variation of SA and reactivity. Comparisons with analyzed muds from temperate glacial systems will enable polar-temperate comparisons. Analyses will focus on muds of previously collected sediment from the MDVs. Grain size and SSA will be measured by Laser Analysis and N2 adsorption BET, respectively. After carbonate removal, samples will be re-analyzed for SSA, and muds characterized geochemically. Mineralogy and bulk chemistry will also be assessed on co-occurring sand fractions, and textural attributes documented. SSA-normalized dissolution experiments will be used to compare solutes released from sediments to determine RSAs. Results will be integrated with the various sedimentologic and geochemical analyses to test the posed hypotheses. Ultimately, this research should shed light on how weathering in Antarctic systems contributes to global carbon cycling.
The Southern Ocean serves as the planet's major uptake region for the oceanic uptake of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The current generation of coupled climate models (atmosphere-ocean-land) are used to make future climate projections, but are known to exhibit significant biases in observed ocean carbon uptake. These numerical models are known to lack the resolution (space and time) to adequately represent many of the mesoscale processes and features known to effect important roles in air-sea exchange. To account for the ocean mesoscale (10km - 100km) phenomena, such as jets, fronts, meanders and eddies known to be crucial for bio-physical interactions of CO2 fluxes, this project will progressively increase model resolution from coarse to finer grid spacing, furthering our understanding of mesoscale processes. The study will focus on regions of interest, the austral South Pacific, and the Drake Passage. Both regions are to some extent well observed. These two regions are topographically constrained pathways constituent pathways of the Atlantic Circumpolar Current, and exhibit enhanced eddy activity. The numerical output will be compared with observations and a suite of bio-geochemical tracers will be used to examine biophysical interaction processes, occurring at fronts and eddies. The results from the study can provide process and specific metrics and diagnostics to assess and calibrate the global climate carbon models. A Ph.D. and an undergraduate intern will be trained and gain research insight. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project contributes to the joint initiative launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to substantially improve decadal and longer-term projections of ice loss and sea-level rise originating from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. The Thwaites Glacier system dominates the contribution to sea-level rise from Antarctica. Predicting how this system will evolve in coming decades, and thereby its likely contribution to sea level, requires detailed understanding of how it has responded to changes in climate and oceanographic conditions in the past. This project will provide a record of regional sea-level change by establishing chronologies for raised marine beaches as well as the timing and duration of periods of retreat of Thwaites Glacier during the past 10,000 years by sampling and dating bedrock presently covered by Thwaites Glacier via subglacial drilling. Together with climatic and oceanographic conditions from other records, these will provide boundary conditions for past-to-present model simulations as well as those used to predict future glacier changes under a range of climate scenarios. Specifically, the project will test the hypothesis--implied by existing geological evidence from the region--that present rapid retreat of the Thwaites Glacier system is reversible. The team aims to utilize two approaches: 1. To reconstruct relative sea level during the Holocene, it will map and date raised marine and shoreline deposits throughout Pine Island Bay. Chronological constraints on sea-level change will be provided by radiocarbon dating of organic material in landforms and sediments that are genetically related to past sea level, such as shell fragments, bones of marine fauna, and penguin guano. 2. To obtain geological evidence for past episodes of grounding-line retreat, the team will apply cosmogenic-nuclide exposure-dating of subglacial bedrock. Using drill systems recently developed for subglacial bedrock recovery, the team will obtain subglacial bedrock from sites where ice thickness is dynamically linked to grounding-line position in the Thwaites system (specifically in the Hudson Mountains, and near Mount Murphy). Observation of significant cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations--the team will primarily measure Beryllium-10 and in situ Carbon-14--in these samples would provide direct, unambiguous evidence for past episodes of thinning linked to grounding-line retreat as well as constraints on their timing and duration. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part 1: Nitrification is the conversion of ammonium to nitrate by a two-step process involving two different guilds of microorganisms: ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizers. The process is central to the global nitrogen cycle, affecting everything from retention of fertilizer on croplands to removal of excess nitrogen from coastal waters before it can cause blooms of harmful algae. It also produces nitrous oxide, an ozone-destroying, greenhouse gas. The energy derived from both steps of nitrification is used to convert inorganic carbon into microbial biomass. The biomass produced contributes to the overall food web production of the Southern Ocean and may be a particularly important subsidy during winter when low light levels restrict the other major source of biomass, primary production by single-celled plants. This project addresses three fundamental questions about the biology and geochemistry of polar oceans, with a focus on the process of nitrification. The first question the project will address concerns the contribution of chemoautotrophy (based on nitrification) to the overall supply of organic carbon to the food web of the Southern Ocean. Previous measurements indicate that it contributes about 9% to the Antarctic food web on an annual basis, but those measurements did not include the additional production associated with nitrite oxidation. The second question to be addressed is related to the first and concerns the coupling between the steps of the process. The third seeks to determine the significance of the contribution of other sources of nitrogen, (specifically organic nitrogen and urea released by other organisms) to nitrification because these contributions may not be assessed by standard protocols. Measurements made by others suggest that urea in particular might be as important as ammonium to nitrification in polar regions. This project will result in training a postdoctoral researcher and provide undergraduate students opportunities to gain hand-on experience with research on microbial geochemistry. The Palmer LTER (PAL) activities have focused largely on the interaction between ocean climate and the marine food web affecting top predators. Relatively little effort has been devoted to studying processes related to the microbial geochemistry of nitrogen cycling as part of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, yet these are a major themes at other sites. This work will contribute substantially to understanding an important aspect of nitrogen cycling and bacterioplankton production in the PAL-LTER study area. The team will be working synergistically and be participating fully in the education and outreach efforts of the Palmer LTER, including making highlights of the findings available for posting to their project web site and participating in any special efforts they have in the area of outreach. Part 2: The proposed work will quantify oxidation rates of 15N supplied as ammonium, urea and nitrite, allowing us to estimate the contribution of urea-derived N and complete nitrification (ammonia to nitrate) to chemoautotrophy and bacterioplankton production in Antarctic coastal waters. The project will compare these estimates to direct measurements of the incorporation of 14C into organic matter the dark for an independent estimate of chemoautotrophy. The team aims to collect samples spanning the water column: from surface water (~10 m), winter water (50-100 m) and circumpolar deep water (>150 m); on a cruise surveying the continental shelf and slope west of the Antarctic Peninsula in the austral summer of 2018. Other samples will be taken to measure the concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and urea, for qPCR analysis of the abundance of relevant microorganisms, and for studies of related processes. The project will rely on collaboration with the existing Palmer LTER to ensure that ancillary data (bacterioplankton abundance and production, chlorophyll, physical and chemical variables) will be available. The synergistic activities of this project along with the LTER activities will provide a unique opportunity to assess chemoautotrophy in context of the overall ecosystem?s dynamics- including both primary and secondary production processes.
The Earth's climate has changed through time and during the Eocene Epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) there was a transition from 'greenhouse' to 'icehouse' conditions. During the Eocene, a shift to cooler temperatures at high latitudes resulted in the inception of polar glaciation. This in turn affected the environment for living organisms. This project looks to uncover the interaction between biological, oceanographic, and climate systems for the Eocene in Antarctica using chemical analysis of fossil shark teeth collected during past expeditions. The combination of paleontological and geochemical analyses will provide insight to the past ecology and ocean conditions; climate models will be applied to test the role of tectonics, greenhouse gas concentration and ocean circulation on environmental change during this time period. The study contributes to understanding the interaction of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean circulation. This project also seeks to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the geosciences workforce with efforts targeted to undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and early career faculty. The research goal is to elucidate the processes leading from the Eocene greenhouse to Oligocene icehouse conditions. Previous explanations for this climate shift centers on Antarctica, where tectonic configurations influenced oceanic gateways, ocean circulation reduced heat transport, and/or greenhouse gas declines prompted glaciation. The team will reconstruct watermass, current, and climate fluctuations proximal to the Antarctic Peninsula using geochemical indicators (oxygen and neodymium isotope composition) from fossil shark teeth collected from Seymour Island. The approach builds on previous shark paleontological studies, incorporates geochemical analyses for environmental reconstruction (i.e., temperature gradients and ocean circulation), and tests hypotheses on Earth System dynamics using novel global climate model simulations with geochemical tracers. This project will advance global climate modeling capabilities with experiments that consider Eocene tectonic configuration within isotope-enabled climate model simulations. A comparison of geochemical results from Eocene climate simulations and empirical records of shark teeth will reveal processes and mechanisms central to the Eocene Antarctic climatic shift. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds the largest volume of freshwater on the planet, in total enough to raise sea level by almost two hundred feet. Even minor adjustments in the volume of ice stored have major implications for coastlines and climates around the world. The question motivating this project is how did the ice grow to cover the continent over thirty million years ago when Antarctica changed from a warmer environment to an ice-covered southern continent? The seafloor of Prydz Bay, a major drainage basin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), has been drilled previously to recover sediments dating from millions of years prior to and across the time when inception of continental ice sheets occurred in Antarctica. The last remnants of plant material found as 'biomarkers' in the ocean sediments record the chemical signatures of rain and snowfall that fed the plants and later the expanding glaciers. Sediment carried by glaciers was also deposited on the seafloor and can be analyzed to discover how glaciers flowed across the landscape. Here, the researchers will identify precipitation changes that result from, and drive, ice sheet growth. This study will gather data and further analyze samples from the seafloor sediment archives of the International Ocean Discovery Program's (IODP) core repositories. Ultimately these findings can help inform temperature-precipitation-ice linkages within climate and ice sheet models. The project will support the training of three female, early career scientists (PhD & MS students, and research technician) and both PIs and the PhD student will continue their engagement with broadening participation efforts (e.g., Women in Science and Engineering Program; local chapters of Society for the advancement of Native Americans and Chicanos in Science and other access programs) to recruit undergraduate student participants from underrepresented minorities at both campuses and from local community colleges. Antarctic earth science education materials will be assisted by professional illustrations to be open access and used in public education and communication efforts to engage local communities in Los Angeles CA and Columbia SC. The researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of South Carolina will together study the penultimate moment of the early Cenozoic greenhouse climate state: the ~4 million years of global cooling that culminated in the Eocene/Oligocene transition (~34 Ma). Significant gaps remain in the understanding of the conditions that preceded ice expansion on Antarctica. In particular, the supply of raw material for ice sheets (i.e., moisture) and the timing, frequency, and duration of precursor glaciations is poorly constrained. This collaborative proposal combines organic and inorganic proxies to examine how Antarctic hydroclimate changed during the greenhouse to icehouse transition. The central hypothesis is that the hydrological cycle weakened as cooling proceeded. Plant-wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes (hydroclimate proxies) and Hf-Nd isotopes of lithogenous and hydrogenous sediments (mechanical weathering proxies) respond strongly and rapidly to precipitation and glacial advance. This detailed and sensitive combined approach will test whether there were hidden glaciations (and/or warm events) that punctuated the pre-icehouse interval. Studies will be conducted on Prydz Bay marine sediment cores in a depositional area for products of weathering and erosion that were (and are) transported through Lambert Graben from the center of Antarctica. The project will yield proxy information about the presence of plants and the hydroclimate of Antarctica and the timing of glacial advance, and is expected to show drying associated with cooling and ice-sheet growth. The dual approach will untangle climate signals from changes in fluvial versus glacial erosion of plant biomarkers. This proposal is potentially transformative because the combination of organic and inorganic proxies can reveal rapid transitions in aridity and glacial expansion, that may have been missed in slower-response proxies and more distal archives. The research is significant as hydroclimate seems to be a key player in the temperature-cryosphere hysteresis. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Accurate parameterizations of the air-sea fluxes of CO2 into the Southern Ocean, in particular at high wind velocity, are needed to better assess how projections of global climate warming in a windier world could affect the ocean carbon uptake, and alter the ocean heat budget at high latitudes. Air-sea fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat (water vapor) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are to be measured continuously underway on cruises using micrometeorological eddy covariance techniques adapted to ship-board use. The measured gas transfer velocity (K) is then to be related to other parameters known to affect air-sea-fluxes. A stated goal of this work is the collection of a set of direct air-sea flux measurements at high wind speeds, conditions where parameterization of the relationship of gas exchange to wind-speed remains contentious. The studies will be carried out at sites in the Southern Ocean using the USAP RV Nathaniel B Palmer as measurment platform. Co-located pCO2 data, to be used in the overall analysis and enabling internal consistency checks, are being collected from existing underway systems aboard the USAP research vessel under other NSF awards.
Nontechnical Description Glacier ice loss from Antarctica has the potential to lead to a significant rise in global sea level. One line of evidence for accelerated glacier ice loss has been an increase in the rate at which the land has been rising across the Antarctic Peninsula as measured by GPS receivers. However, GPS observations of uplift are limited to the last two decades. One goal of this study is to determine how these newly observed rates of uplift compare to average rates of uplift across the Antarctic Peninsula over a longer time interval. Researchers will reconstruct past sea levels using the age and elevation of ancient beaches now stranded above sea level on the low-lying coastal hills of the Antarctica Peninsula to determine the rate of uplift over the last 5,000 years. The researchers will also analyze the structure of the beaches using ground-penetrating radar and the characteristics of beach sediments to understand how sea-level rise and past climate changes are recorded in beach deposits. The benefits of these new records will be threefold: (1) they will help determine the natural variability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and relative sea level (2) they will provide new insight about uplift and the structure of the Earth's interior; and 3) they will help researchers refine the methods used to determine the age of geologic deposits. The study results will be shared in outreach events at K-12 schools and with visitors of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. Three graduate students will be supported through this project. Technical description Paleo sea-level data is critical for reconstructing the size and extent of past ice sheets, documenting increased uplift following glacial retreat, and correcting gravity-based measurements of ice-mass loss for the impacts of post-glacial rebound. However, there are only 14 sites with relative sea-level data for Antarctica compared to over 500 sites used in a recent study of the North American Ice-Sheet complex. The purpose of this project is to use optically stimulated luminescence to date a series of newly discovered raised beaches along the eastern Antarctic Peninsula and an already known, but only preliminarily dated, series of raised beaches in the South Shetland Islands. Data to be collected at the raised beaches include the age and elevation, ground-penetrating radar profiles, and the roundness of cobbles and the lithology of ice-rafted debris. The study will test three hypotheses: (1) uplift rates have increased in modern times relative to the late Holocene across the Antarctic Peninsula, (2) the sea-level history at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is distinctly different than that of the South Shetland Islands, and (3) cobble roundness and the source of ice-rafted debris on raised beaches varied systematically through time reflecting the climate history of the northern Antarctic Peninsula.
Scientists established more than 30 years ago that the climate-related variability of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over Earth's ice-age cycles was regulated by the ocean. Hypotheses to explain how the ocean regulates atmospheric carbon dioxide have long been debated, but they have proven to be difficult to test. Work proposed here will test one leading hypothesis, specifically that the ocean experienced greater density stratification during the ice ages. That is, with greater stratification during the ice ages and slower replacement of deep water by cold dense water formed near the poles, the deep ocean would have held more carbon dioxide, which is produced by biological respiration of the organic carbon that constantly rains to the abyss in the form of dead organisms and organic debris that sink from the sunlit surface ocean. To test this hypothesis, the degree of ocean stratification during the last ice age and the rate of deep-water replacement will be constrained by comparing the radiocarbon ages of organisms that grew in the surface ocean and at the sea floor within a critical region around Antarctica, where most of the replacement of deep waters occurs. Completing this work will contribute toward improved models of future climate change. Climate scientists rely on models to estimate the amount of fossil fuel carbon dioxide that will be absorbed by the ocean in the future. Currently the ocean absorbs about 25% of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. Most of this carbon is absorbed in the Southern Ocean (the region around Antarctica). How this will change in the future is poorly known. Models have difficulty representing physical conditions in the Southern Ocean accurately, thereby adding substantial uncertainty to projections of future ocean uptake of carbon dioxide. Results of the proposed study will provide a benchmark to test the ability of models to simulate ocean processes under climate conditions distinctly different from those that occur today, ultimately leading to improvement of the models and to more reliable projections of future absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean. The proposed work will add a research component to an existing scientific expedition to the Southern Ocean, in the region between the Ross Sea and New Zealand, that will collect sediment cores at three to five locations down the northern flank of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at approximately 170°W. The goal is to collect sediments at each location deposited since early in the peak of the last ice age. This region is unusual in the Southern Ocean in that sediments deposited during the last ice age contain foraminifera, tiny organisms with calcium carbonate shells, in much greater abundance than in other regions of the Southern Ocean. Foraminifera are widely used as an archive of several geochemical tracers of past ocean conditions. In the proposed work the radiocarbon age of foraminifera that inhabited the surface ocean will be compared with the age of contemporary specimens that grew on the seabed. The difference in age between surface and deep-swelling organisms will be used to discriminate between two proposed mechanisms of deep water renewal during the ice age: formation in coastal polynyas around the edge of Antarctica, much as occurs today, versus formation by open-ocean convection in deep-water regions far from the continent. If the latter mechanism prevails, then it is expected that surface and deep-dwelling foraminifera will exhibit similar radiocarbon ages. In the case of dominance of deep-water formation in coastal polynyas, one expects to find very different radiocarbon ages in the two populations of foraminifera. In the extreme case of greater ocean stratification during the last ice age, one even expects the surface dwellers to appear to be older than contemporary bottom dwellers because the targeted core sites lie directly under the region where the oldest deep waters return to the surface following their long circuitous transit through the deep ocean. The primary objective of the proposed work is to reconstruct the water mass age structure of the Southern Ocean during the last ice age, which, in turn, is a primary factor that controls the amount of carbon dioxide stored in the deep sea. In addition, the presence of foraminifera in the cores to be recovered provides a valuable resource for many other paleoceanographic applications, such as: 1) the application of nitrogen isotopes to constrain the level of nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean and, thus, the efficiency of the ocean?s biological pump, 2) the application of neodymium isotopes to constrain the transport history of deep water masses, 3) the application of boron isotopes and boron/calcium ratios to constrain the pH and inorganic carbon system parameters of ice-age seawater, and 4) the exploitation of metal/calcium ratios in foraminifera to reconstruct the temperature (Mg/Ca) and nutrient content (Cd/Ca) of deep waters during the last ice age at a location near their source near Antarcitca.
Antarctic krill are essential in the Southern Ocean as they support vast numbers of marine mammals, seabirds and fishes, some of which feed almost exclusively on krill. Antarctic krill also constitute a target species for industrial fisheries in the Southern Ocean. The success of Antarctic krill populations is largely determined by the ability of their young to survive the long, dark winter, where food is extremely scarce. To survive the long-dark winter, young Antarctic krill must have a high-quality diet in autumn. However, warming in certain parts of Antarctica is changing the dynamics and quality of the polar food web, resulting in a shift in the type of food available to young krill in autumn. It is not yet clear how these dynamic changes are affecting the ability of krill to survive the winter. This project aims to fill an important gap in current knowledge on an understudied stage of the Antarctic krill life cycle, the 1-year old juveniles. The results derived from this work will contribute to the development of improved bioenergetic, population and ecosystem models, and will advance current scientific understanding of this critical Antarctic species. This CAREER project's core education and outreach objectives seek to enhance education and increase diversity within STEM fields. An undergraduate course will be developed that will integrate undergraduate research and writing in way that promotes authentic scientific inquiry and analysis of original research data by the students, and that enhances their communication skills. A graduate course will be developed that will promote students' skills in communicating their own research to a non-scientific audience. Graduate students will be supported through the proposed study and will gain valuable research experience. Traditionally underserved undergraduate students will be recruited to conduct independent research under the umbrella of the larger project. Throughout each field season, the research team will maintain a weekly blog that will include short videos, photographs and text highlighting the research, as well as their experiences living and working in Antarctica. The aim of the blog will be to engage the public and increase awareness and understanding of Antarctic ecosystems and the impact of warming, and of the scientific process of research and discovery. In this 5-year CAREER project, the investigator will use a combination of empirical and theoretical techniques to assess the effects of diet on 1-year old krill in autumn-winter. The research is centered on four hypotheses: (H1) autumn diet affects 1-year old krill physiology and condition at the onset of winter; (H2) autumn diet has an effect on winter physiology and condition of 1-year old krill under variable winter food conditions; (H3) the rate of change in physiology and condition of 1-year old krill from autumn to winter is dependent on autumn diet; and (H4) the winter energy budget of 1-year old krill will vary between years and will be dependent on autumn diet. Long-term feeding experiments and in situ sampling will be used to measure changes in the physiology and condition of krill in relation to their diet and feeding environment. Empirically-derived data will be used to develop theoretical models of growth rates and energy budgets to determine how diet will influence the overwinter survival of 1-year old krill. The research will be integrated with an education and outreach plan to (1) develop engaging undergraduate and graduate courses, (2) train and develop young scientists for careers in polar research, and (3) engage the public and increase their awareness and understanding. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Tremblay, Marissa; Granger, Darryl; Balco, Gregory; Lamp, Jennifer
No dataset link provided
. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Nontechnical Description Scientists study the Earth's past climate in order to understand how the climate will respond to ongoing global change in the future. One of the best analogs for future climate might the period that occurred approximately 3 million years ago, during an interval known as the mid-Pliocene Warm Period. During this period, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was similar to today's and sea level was 15 or more meters higher, due primarily to warming and consequent ice sheet melting in polar regions. However, the temperatures in polar regions during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are not well determined, in part because we do not have records like ice cores that extend this far back in time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a new type of climate substitute, known as cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry. This project focuses on an area of Antarctica called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In this area, climate models suggest that temperatures were more than 10 C warmer during the mid-Pliocene than they are today, but indirect geologic observations suggest that temperatures may have been similar to today. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are also a place where rocks have been exposed to Earth surface conditions for several million years, and where this new climate substitute can be readily applied. The team will reconstruct temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period in order to resolve the discrepancy between models and indirect geologic observations and provide much-needed constraints on the sensitivity of Antarctic ice sheets to warming temperatures. The temperature reconstructions generated in this project will have scientific impact in multiple disciplines, including climate science, glaciology, geomorphology, and planetary science. In addition, the project will (1) broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by supporting two early-career female principal investigators, (2) build STEM talent through the education and training of a graduate student, (3) enhance infrastructure for research via publication of a publicly-accessible, open-source code library, and (4) be broadly disseminated via social media, blog posts, publications, and conference presentations. Part II: Technical Description The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3-3.3 million years ago) is the most recent interval of the geologic past when atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 400 ppm and is widely considered an analog for how Earth’s climate system will respond to current global change. Climate models predict polar amplification - the occurrence of larger changes in temperatures at high latitudes than the global average due to a radiative forcing - both during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and due to current climate warming. However, the predicted magnitude of polar amplification is highly uncertain in both cases. The magnitude of polar amplification has important implications for the sensitivity of ice sheets to warming and the contribution of ice sheet melting to sea level change. Proxy-based constraints on polar surface air temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are sparse to non-existent. In Antarctica, there is only indirect evidence for the magnitude of warming during this time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a newly developed technique called cosmogenic noble gas (CNG) paleothermometry. CNG paleothermometry utilizes the diffusive behavior of cosmogenic 3He in quartz to quantify the temperatures rocks experience while exposed to cosmic-ray particles within a few meters of the Earth’s surface. The very low erosion rates and subzero temperatures characterizing the McMurdo Dry Valleys make this region uniquely suited for the application of CNG paleothermometry for addressing the question: what temperatures characterized the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period? To address this question, the team will collect bedrock samples at several locations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys where erosion rates are known to be low enough that cosmic ray exposure extends into the mid-Pliocene or earlier. They will pair cosmogenic 3He measurements, which will record the thermal histories of our samples, with measurements of cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne, which record samples exposure and erosion histories. We will also make in situ measurements of rock and air temperatures at sample sites in order to quantify the effect of radiative heating and develop a statistical relationship between rock and air temperatures, as well as conduct diffusion experiments to quantify the kinetics of 3He diffusion specific to each sample. This suite of observations will be used to model permissible thermal histories and place constraints on temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period interval of cosmic-ray exposure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Southern Ocean in the vicinity of Antarctica is a region characterized by seasonally-driven marine phytoplankton blooms that are often dominated by microalgal species which produce large amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). DMSP can be converted to the compound dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is a molecule that can escape into the atmosphere where it is known to have strong condensation properties that are involved in regional cloud formation. Production of DMSP can influence the diversity and composition of microbial assemblages in seawater and the types and activities of microbes in the seawater will likely affect the magnitude of DMSP\DMS production. The proposal aims to examine the role of DMSP in structuring the microbial communities in Antarctic waters and how this structuring may influence DMSP cycling. The project will leverage the Antarctic research to introduce concepts and data linking microbial diversity and biogeochemistry to a range of audiences (including high school and undergraduate students in Maine). The project will also engage teacher and students in rural K-8 schools and will allow a collaboration with a science writer and illustrator who will join the team in the field. The writer will use the southern ocean experience as the setting for a poster and a book about the proposed research and the scientists studying extreme environments. The project will examine (1) the extent to which the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters influences the composition and diversity of bacterial and protistan assemblages; (2) conversely, whether the composition and diversity of southern ocean protistan and bacterial assemblages influence the magnitude and rates of DMSP cycling; (3) the expression of DMSP degradation genes by marine bacteria seasonally and in response to additions of DMSP; and, to synthesize these results by quantifying (4) the microbial networks resulting from the presence of DMSP-producers and DMSP-consumers along with their predators, all involved in the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters. The work will be accomplished by conducting continuous growth experiments with DMSP-amended natural samples during field sampling of different microbial communities present in summer and fall. Data from the molecular (such as 16S/ 18S tag sequences, DMSP-cycle gene transcripts) and biogeochemical (such as biogenic sulfur cycling, bacterial production, microbial biomass) investigations will be integrated via network analysis.
The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis "Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.
Mak/1443482 This project will compare current atmospheric conditions with those of the remote past prior to human influence. This is important in order to understand the impact of human activities on Earth's atmosphere, and to determine the stability of the composition of the atmosphere in the past. How humans have impacted Earth?s atmospheric composition is important for developing accurate predictions of future global atmospheric conditions. In addition to training students, the investigators will support continuing education of high school science teachers on Long Island through specifically tailored, interactive seminars on various topics in earth science, atmospheric sciences, physics and biology. A pilot program at Mount Sinai School District, near Stony Brook University will be the first implementation of this program. The investigators plan to reconstruct historical variations in the sources of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) from measurements of the concentration and stable isotopic abundance of carbon monoxide ([CO], 13CO and C18O) in the South Pole Ice Core, which is being drilled in 2014-2016. The goal is to strategically sample and reconstruct the relative variations in CO source strengths over the past 20,000 years. These will be the first measurements to extend the CO record beyond 650 years before present, back to the last glacial maximum. Both atmospheric chemical processes and variations in CO sources can impact the CO budget, and variations in the CO budget are useful in identifying and quantifying chemistry-climate interactions.
The waters of the Ross Sea continental shelf are among the most productive in the Southern Ocean, and may comprise a significant regional oceanic sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this region, primary production can be limited by the supply of dissolved iron to surface waters during the growing season. Water-column observations, sampling and measurements are to be carried out in the late autumn-early winter time frame on the Ross Sea continental shelf and coastal polynyas (Terra Nova Bay and Ross Ice Shelf polynyas), in order to better understand what drives the biogeochemical redistribution of micronutrient iron species during the onset of convective mixing and sea-ice formation at this time of year, thereby setting conditions for primary production during the following spring. The spectacular field setting and remote, hostile conditions that accompany the proposed field study present exciting possibilities for STEM education and training. At the K-12 level, the project seeks to support the development of educational outreach materials targeting elementary and middle school students, pre-service science teachers, and in-service science teachers.
Brook/1246465 This award supports a project to measure the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the WAIS Divide ice core covering the time period 25,000 to 60,000 years before present, and to analyze the isotopic composition of CO2 in selected time intervals. The research will improve understanding of how and why atmospheric CO2 varied during the last ice age, focusing particularly on abrupt transitions in the concentration record that are associated with abrupt climate change. These events represents large perturbations to the global climate system and better information about the CO2 response should inform our understanding of carbon cycle-climate feedbacks and radiative forcing of climate. The research will also improve analytical methods in support of these goals, including completing development of sublimation methods to replace laborious mechanical crushing of ice to release air for analysis. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that it will increase knowledge about the magnitude and timing of atmospheric CO2 variations during the last ice age, and their relationship to regional climate in Antarctica, global climate history, and the history of abrupt climate change in the Northern Hemisphere. The temporal resolution of the proposed record will in most intervals be ~ 4 x higher than previous data sets for this time period, and for selected intervals up to 8-10 times higher. Broader impacts of the proposed work include a significant addition to the amount of data documenting the history of the most important long-lived greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and more information about carbon cycle-climate feedbacks - important parameters for predicting future climate change. The project will contribute to training a postdoctoral researcher, research experience for an undergraduate and a high school student, and outreach to local middle school and other students. It will also improve the analytical infrastructure at OSU, which will be available for future projects.
The depletion of stratospheric ozone over Antarctica leads to abnormally high levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from the sun reaching the surface of the ocean. This phenomenon is predicted to continue for the next half century, despite bans on ozone-destroying pollutants. Phytoplankton in the near surface ocean are subjected to variable amounts of UVR and contain a lot of lipids (fats). Because phytoplankton are at the base of the food chain their lipids makes their way into the Antarctic marine ecosystem's food web. The molecular structures of phytoplankton lipids are easily altered by UVR. When this happens, their lipids can be transformed from healthy molecules into potentially harmful molecules(oxylipins) known to be disruptive to reproductive and developmental processes. This project will use state-of-the-art molecular methods to answer questions about extent to which UVR damages lipid molecules in phytoplankton, and how these resultant molecules might effect the food chain in the ocean near Antarctica. Lipid peroxidation is often invoked as consequence of increased exposure of phytoplankton to UVR-produced reactive oxygen species (ROS), but the literature is practically silent on peroxidized lipids and their byproducts (i.e. oxylipins) in the ocean. In waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), spring-time blooms of diatoms contribute significantly to overall marine primary production. Oxylipins from diatoms can be highly bioactive; their impact on zooplankton grazers, bacteria, and other phytoplankton has been the subject of intense study. However, almost all of this work has focused on the production of oxylipins via enzymatic pathways, not by pathways involving UVR and/or ROS. Furthermore, rigorous experimental work on the effects of oxylipins has been confined almost exclusively to pure cultures and artificial communities. Thus, the true potential of these molecules to disrupt carbon cycling is very poorly-constrained, and is entirely unknown in the waters of the WAP. Armed with new highly-sensitive, state-of-the-art analytical techniques based on high-mass-resolution mass spectrometry, the principal investigator and his research group have begun to uncover an exquisite diversity of oxylipins in natural WAP planktonic communities. These techniques will be applied to understand the connections between UVR, ROS, oxylipins, and carbon cycling. The project will answer the question of how UVR, via ROS, affects oxylipin production by diatoms in WAP surface waters in controlled experiments conducted at a field station. With the answer to this question in hand, the project will also seek to answer how this phenomenon impacts the flow of carbon, particularly the export of organic carbon from the system, during a research cruise. The level of UVR-induced stresses experienced by oxylipin-rich planktonic communities in the WAP is unique, making Antarctica the only location for answering these fundamental questions. Major activities will include laboratory experiments with artificial membranes and diatom cultures, as well field experiments with phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacteria in WAP waters.
General Statement: The continental shelf region west of the Antarctic Peninsula has recently undergone dramatic changes and ecosystem shifts, and the community of organisms that live in, or feed off, the sea floor sediments is being impacted by species invasions from the north. Previous studies of these sediments indicate that this community may consume much more of the regional productivity than previously estimated, suggesting that sediments are a rich and important component of this ecosystem and one that may be ripe for dramatic change. Furthermore, under richer sediment conditions, iron is mobilized and released back to the water column. Since productivity in this ecosystem is thought to be limited by the availability of iron, increased rates of iron release from these sediments could stimulate productivity and promote greater overall ecosystem change. In this research, a variety of sites across the shelf region will be sampled to accurately evaluate the role of sediments in consuming ecosystem productivity and to estimate the current level of iron release from the sediments. This project will provide a baseline set of sediment results that will present a more complete picture of the west Antarctic shelf ecosystem, will allow for comparison with water column measurements and for evaluation of the fundamental workings of this important ecosystem. This is particularly important since high latitude systems may be vulnerable to the effects of climate fluctuations. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be trained. Presentations will be made at scientific meetings, at other universities, and at outreach events. A project web site will present key results to the public and explain how this new information improves understanding of Antarctic ecosystems. Technical Description of Project: In order to determine the role of sediments within the west Antarctic shelf ecosystem, this project will determine the rates of sediment organic matter oxidation at a variety of sites across the Palmer Long Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) study region. To estimate the rates of release of iron and manganese from the sediments, these same sites will be sampled for detailed vertical distributions of the concentrations of these metals both in the porewaters and in important mineral phases. Since sediment sampling will be done at LTER sites, the sediment data can be correlated with the rich productivity data set from the LTER. In detail, the project: a) will determine the rates of oxygen consumption, organic carbon oxidation, nutrient release, and iron mobilization by shelf sediments west of the Antarctic Peninsula; b) will investigate the vertical distribution of diagenetic reactions within the sediments; and c) will assess the regional importance of these sediment rates. Sediment cores will be used to determine sediment-water fluxes of dissolved oxygen, total carbon dioxide, nutrients, and the vertical distributions of these dissolved compounds, as well as iron and manganese in the pore waters. Bulk sediment properties of porosity, organic carbon and nitrogen content, carbonate content, biogenic silica content, and multiple species of solid-phase iron, manganese, and sulfur species will also be determined. These measurements will allow determination of total organic carbon oxidation and denitrification rates, and the proportion of aerobic versus anaerobic respiration at each site. Sediment diagenetic modeling will link the processes of organic matter oxidation to metal mobilization. Pore water and solid phase iron and manganese distributions will be used to model iron diagenesis in these sediments and to estimate the iron flux from the sediments to the overlying waters. Finally, the overall regional average and distribution of the sediment processes will be compared with the distributions of seasonally averaged chlorophyll biomass and productivity.
The western Antarctic Peninsula has become a model for understanding cold water communities and how they may be changing in Antarctica and elsewhere. Brown macroalgae (seaweeds) form extensive undersea forests in the northern portion of this region where they play a key role in providing both physical structure and a food (carbon) source for shallow water communities. Yet between Anvers Island (64 degrees S latitude) and Adelaide Island (67 S latitude) these macroalgae become markedly less abundant and diverse. This is probably because the habitat to the south is covered by more sea ice for a longer period, and the sea ice reduces the amount of light that reaches the algae. The reduced macroalgal cover undoubtedly impacts other organisms in the food web, but the ways in which it alters sea-floor community processes and organization is unknown. This project will quantitatively document the macroalgal communities at multiple sites between Anvers and Adelaide Islands using a combination of SCUBA diving, video surveys, and algal collections. Sea ice cover, light levels, and other environmental parameters on community structure will be modelled to determine which factors have the largest influence. Impacts on community structure, food webs, and carbon flow will be assessed through a mixture of SCUBA diving and video surveys. Broader impacts include the training of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, as well as numerous informal public education activities including lectures, presentations to K-12 groups, and a variety of social media-based outreach. Macroalgal communities are more abundance and diverse to the north along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, perhaps due to the greater light availability that is associated with shorter period of sea-ice cover. This project will determine the causes and community level consequence of this variation in algal community structure. First, satellite data on sea ice extent and water turbidity will be used to select study sites between 64 S and 69 S where the extent of annual sea ice cover is the primary factor influencing subsurface light levels. Then, variations in macroalgal cover across these study sites will be determined by video line-transect surveys conducted by SCUBA divers. The health, growth, and physiological status of species found at the different sites will be determined by quadrat sampling. The relative importance of macroalgal-derived carbon to the common invertebrate consumers in the foodweb will be assessed with stable isotope and fatty acid biomarker techniques. This will reveal how variation in macroalgal abundance and species composition across the sea ice cover gradient impacts sea floor community composition and carbon flow throughout the food web. In combination, this work will facilitate predictions of how the ongoing reductions in extent and duration of sea ice cover that is occurring in the region as a result of global climate change will impact the structure of nearshore benthic communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The geological structure and history of Antarctica remains poorly understood because much of the continental crust is covered by ice. Here, the PIs will analyze over 15 years of seismic data recorded by numerous projects in Antarctica to develop seismic structural models of the continent. The seismic velocity models will reveal features including crustal thinning due to rifting in West Antarctica, the structures associated with mountain building, and the boundaries between different tectonic blocks. The models will be compared to continents that are better understood geologically to constrain the tectonic evolution of Antarctica. In addition, the work will provide better insight into how the solid earth interacts with and influences the development of the ice sheet. Surface heat flow will be mapped and used to identify regions in Antarctica with potential melting at the base of the ice sheet. This melt can lead to reduced friction and lower resistance to ice sheet movement. The models will help to determine whether the earth response to ice mass changes occurs over decades, hundreds, or thousands of years. Estimates of mantle viscosity calculated from the seismic data will be used to better understand the pattern and timescales of the response of the solid earth to changes in ice mass in various parts of Antarctica. The study will advance our knowledge of the structure of Antarctica by constructing two new seismic models and a thermal model using different but complementary methodologies. Because of the limitations of different seismic analysis methods, efforts will be divided between a model seeking the highest possible resolution within the upper 200 km depth in the well instrumented region (Bayesian Monte-Carlo joint inversion), and another model determining the structure of the entire continent and surrounding oceans extending through the mantle transition zone (adjoint full waveform inversion). The Monte-Carlo inversion will jointly invert Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities from earthquakes and ambient noise correlation along with P-wave receiver functions and Rayleigh H/V ratios. The inversion will be done in a Bayesian framework that provides uncertainty estimates for the structural model. Azimuthal anisotropy will be determined from Rayleigh wave velocities, providing constraints on mantle fabric and flow patterns. The seismic data will also be inverted for temperature structure, providing estimates of lithospheric thickness and surface heat flow. The larger-scale model will cover the entire continent as well as the surrounding oceans, and will be constructed using an adjoint inversion of phase differences between three component seismograms and synthetic seismograms calculated in a 3D earth model using the spectral element method. This model will fit the entire waveforms, including body waves and both fundamental and higher mode surface waves. Higher resolution results will be obtained by using double-difference methods and by incorporating Green's functions from ambient noise cross-correlation, and solving for both radial and azimuthal anisotropy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Brook/1643722 This award supports a project to measure the concentration of the gas methane in air trapped in an ice core collected from the South Pole. The data will provide an age scale (age as a function of depth) by matching the South Pole methane changes with similar data from other ice cores for which the age vs. depth relationship is well known. The ages provided will allow all other gas measurements made on the South Pole core (by the PI and other NSF supported investigators) to be interpreted accurately as a function of time. This is critical because a major goal of the South Pole coring project is to understand the history of rare gases in the atmosphere like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ethane, propane, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide. Relatively little is known about what controls these gases in the atmosphere despite their importance to atmospheric chemistry and climate. Undergraduate assistants will work on the project and be introduced to independent research through their work. The PI will continue visits to local middle schools to introduce students to polar science, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) as part of the project. Methane concentrations from a major portion (2 depth intervals, excluding the brittle ice-zone which is being measured at Penn State University) of the new South Pole ice core will be used to create a gas chronology by matching the new South Pole ice core record with that from the well-dated WAIS Divide ice core record. In combination with measurements made at Penn State, this will provide gas dating for the entire 50,000-year record. Correlation will be made using a simple but powerful mid-point method that has been previously demonstrated, and other methods of matching records will be explored. The intellectual merit of this work is that the gas chronology will be a fundamental component of this ice core project, and will be used by the PI and other investigators for dating records of atmospheric composition, and determining the gas age-ice age difference independently of glaciological models, which will constrain processes that affected firn densification in the past. The methane data will also provide direct stratigraphic markers of important perturbations to global biogeochemical cycles (e.g., rapid methane variations synchronous with abrupt warming and cooling in the Northern Hemisphere) that will tie other ice core gas records directly to those perturbations. A record of the total air content will also be produced as a by-product of the methane measurements and will contribute to understanding of this parameter. The broader impacts include that the work will provide a fundamental data set for the South Pole ice core project and the age scale (or variants of it) will be used by all other investigators working on gas records from the core. The project will employ an undergraduate assistant(s) in both years who will conduct an undergraduate research project which will be part of the student's senior thesis or other research paper. The project will also offer at least one research position for the Oregon State University Summer REU site program. Visits to local middle schools, and other outreach activities (e.g. laboratory tours, talks to local civic or professional organizations) will also be part of the project.
9978236 Bell Abstract This award, provided by the Office of Polar Programs under the Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Program, supports a geophysical study of Lake Vostok, a large lake beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Subglacial ecosystems, in particular subglacial lake ecosystems are extreme oligotrophic environments. These environments, and the ecosystems which may exist within them, should provide key insights into a range of fundamental questions about the development of Earth and other bodies in the Solar System including: 1) the processes associated with rapid evolutionary radiation after the extensive Neoproterozoic glaciations; 2) the overall carbon cycle through glacial and interglacial periods; and 3) the possible adaptations organisms may require to thrive in environments such as on Europa, the ice covered moon of Jupiter. Over 70 subglacial lakes have been identified beneath the 3-4 kilometer thick ice of Antarctica. One lake, Lake Vostok, is sufficiently large to be clearly identified from space with satellite altimetry. Lake Vostok is similar to Lake Ontario in area but with a much larger volume including measured water depths of 600 meters. The overlying ice sheet is acting as a conveyer belt continually delivering new water, nutrients, gas hydrates, sediments and microbes as the ice sheet flows across the lake. The goal of this program is to determine the fundamental boundary conditions for this subglacial lake as an essential first step toward understanding the physical processes within the lake. An aerogeophysical survey over the lake and into the surrounding regions will be acquired to meet this goal. This data set includes gravity, magnetic, laser altimetry and ice penetrating radar data and will be used to compile a basic set of ice surface elevation, subglacial topography, gravity and magnetic anomaly maps. Potential field methods widely used in the oil industry will be modified to estimate the subglacial topography from gravity data where the ice penetrating radar will be unable to recover the depth of the lake. A similar method can be modified to estimate the thickness of the sediments beneath the lake from magnetic data. These methods will be tested and applied to subglacial lakes near South Pole prior to the Lake Vostok field campaign and will provide valuable comparisons to the planned survey. Once the methods have been adjusted for the Lake Vostok application, maps of the water cavity and sediment thickness beneath the lake will be produced. These maps will become tools to explore the geologic origin of the lake. The two endmember models are, first, that the lake is an active tectonic rift such as Lake Baikal and, second, the lake is the result of glacial scouring. The distinct characteristics of an extensional rift can be easily identified with our aerogeophysical survey. The geological interpretation of the airborne geophysical survey will provide the first geological constraints of the interior of the East Antarctic continent based on modern data. In addition, the underlying geology will influence the ecosystem within the lake. One of the critical issues for the ecosystem within the lake will be the flux of nutrients. A preliminary estimation of the regions of freezing and melting based on the distance between distinctive internal layers observed on the radar data will be made. These basic boundary conditions will provide guidance for a potential international effort aimed at in situ exploration of the lake and improve the understanding of East Antarctic geologic structures.
In the past, Earth's climate underwent dramatic changes that influenced physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes on a global scale. Such changes left an imprint in Earth's atmosphere, as shown by the variability in abundances of trace gases like carbon dioxide and methane. In return, changes in the atmospheric trace gas composition affected Earth's climate. Studying compositional variations of the past atmosphere helps us understand the history of interactions between global biogeochemical cycles and Earth?s climate. The most reliable information on past atmospheric composition comes from analysis of air entrapped in polar ice cores. This project aims to generate ice-core records of relatively short-lived, very-low-abundance trace gases to determine the range of past variability in their atmospheric levels and investigate the changes in global biogeochemical cycles that caused this variability. This project measures three such gases: carbonyl sulfide, methyl chloride, and methyl bromide. Changes in carbonyl sulfide can indicate changes in primary productivity and photosynthetic update of carbon dioxide. Changes in methyl chloride and methyl bromide significantly impact natural variability in stratospheric ozone. In addition, the processes that control atmospheric levels of methyl chloride and methyl bromide are shared with those controlling levels of atmospheric methane. The measurements will be made in the new ice core from the South Pole, which is expected to provide a 40,000-year record. The primary focus of this project is to develop high-quality trace gas records for the entire Holocene period (the past 11,000 years), with additional, more exploratory measurements from the last glacial period including the period from 29,000-36,000 years ago when there were large changes in atmospheric methane. Due to the cold temperatures of the South Pole ice, the proposed carbonyl sulfide measurements are expected to provide a direct measure of the past atmospheric variability of this gas without the large hydrolysis corrections that are necessary for interpretation of measurements from ice cores in warmer settings. Furthermore, we will test the expectation that contemporaneous measurements from the last glacial period in the deep West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core will not require hydrolysis loss corrections. With respect to methyl chloride, we aim to verify and improve the existing Holocene atmospheric history from the Taylor Dome ice core in Antarctica. The higher resolution of our measurements compared with those from Taylor Dome will allow us to derive a more statistically significant relationship between methyl chloride and methane. With respect to methyl bromide, we plan to extend the existing 2,000-year database to 11,000 years. Together, the methyl bromide and methyl chloride records will provide strong measurement-based constraints on the natural variability of stratospheric halogens during the Holocene period. In addition, the methyl bromide record will provide insight into the correlation between methyl chloride and methane during the Holocene period due to common sources and sinks.
Collaborative Proposal: A field and laboratory examination of the diatom N and Si isotope proxies: Implications for assessing the Southern Ocean biological pump The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and associated climate changes make understanding the role of the ocean in large scale carbon cycle a priority. Geologic samples allow exploration of potential mechanisms for carbon dioxide drawdown during glacial periods through the use of geochemical proxies. Nitrogen and silicon isotope signatures from fossil diatoms (microscopic plants) are used to investigate changes in the physical supply and biological demand for nutrients (like nitrogen and silicon and carbon) in the Southern Ocean. The project will evaluate the use the nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies through a series of laboratory experiments and Southern Ocean field sampling. The results will provide quantification of real relationships between nitrogen and silicon isotopes and nutrient usage in the Southern Ocean and allow exploration of the role of other factors, including biological diversity, ice cover, and mixing, in altering the chemical signatures recorded by diatoms. Seafloor sediment samples will be used to evaluate how well the signal created in the water column is recorded by fossil diatoms buried in the seafloor. Improving the nutrient isotope proxies will allow for a more quantitative understanding of the role of polar biology in regulating natural variation in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The project will also result in the training of a graduate student and development of outreach materials targeting a broad popular audience. This project seeks to test the fidelity of the diatom nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies, two commonly used paleoceanographic tools for investigating the role of the Southern Ocean biological pump in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial-interglacial timescales. Existing ground-truthing data, including culture experiments, surface sediment data and downcore reconstructions, all suggest that nutrient utilization is the primary driver of isotopic variation in the Southern Ocean. However, strong contribution of interspecific variation is implied by recent culture results. Moreover, field and laboratory studies present some contradictory results in terms of the relative importance of interspecific variation and of inferred post-depositional alteration of the nutrient isotope signals. Here, a first order test of the N and Si diatom nutrient isotope paleo-proxies, involving water column dissolved and particulate sampling and laboratory culturing of field-isolates, is proposed. Southern Ocean water, biomass, live diatoms and fossil diatom sampling will be conducted to investigate species and assemblage related variability in diatom nitrogen and silicon isotopes and their relationship to surface nutrient fields and early diagenesis. Access to fresh materials produced in an analogous environmental context to the sediments of primary interest is critical for making robust paleoceanographic reconstructions. Field sampling will occur along 175°W, transecting the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from the subtropics to the marginal ice edge. Collection of water, sinking/suspended particles and multi-core samples from 13 stations and 3 shipboard incubation experiments will be used to test four proposed hypotheses that together evaluate the significance of existing culture results and seek to allow the best use of diatom nutrient isotope proxies in evaluating the biological pump.
The research seeks to further quantify the input of atmospheric Fe into the sparsely sampled Southern Ocean (SO), specifically in the vicinity of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and adjacent continental shelf waters in the Drake Passage. This is typically a high nutrient low chlorophyll region where surface trace metal and primary productivity data are suggestive of Fe limitation. The WAP is characterized by high productivity in the austral summer, and at this time may be in the path of northern dust (aeolian Fe) input or subject to melt influx of elevated Fe accumulated from glacial and present-day sea ice sources. Primary scientific questions are: (1) to what extent does atmospheric Fe contribute to nutrient cycles and ecosystem dynamics in the SO? (2) How is warming climate occurring in the WAP affecting the aerosol composition of the maritime atmosphere. The primary productivity of the Southern Ocean is key to understanding oceanic uptake of anthropogenic greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
Nontechnical project description Globally, 500 million people live near and are threatened by active volcanoes. An important step in mitigating volcanic hazards is understanding the variables that influence the explosivity of eruptions. The rate at which a magma ascends from the reservoir within the Earth to the surface is one such variable. However, magma ascent rates are particularly difficult to determine because of the lack of reliable methods for investigating the process. This research applies a new approach to study magma storage depths and ascent rates at the Erebus volcanic province of Antarctica, one of Earth's largest alkaline volcanic centers. Small pockets of magma that become trapped within growing olivine crystals are called melt inclusions. The concentrations of water and carbon dioxide in these melt inclusions preserve information on the depth of magma reservoirs. Changes to the concentration and isotopic composition of water in the inclusions provide information on how long it took for the host magma to rise to the surface. In combination, these data from samples of olivine-rich volcanic deposits in the Erebus volcanic province will be used to determine the depths at which magmas are stored and their ascent rates. The project results will provide a framework for understanding volcanic hazards associated with alkaline volcanism worldwide. In addition, this project facilitates collaboration among three institutions, and provides an important educational opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher. Technical project description The depths at which magmas are stored, their pre-eruptive volatile contents, and the rates at which they ascend to the Earth's surface are important controls on the dynamics of volcanic eruptions. Basaltic magmas are likely to be vapor undersaturated as they begin their ascent from the mantle through the crust, but volatile solubility drops with decreasing pressure. Once vapor saturation is achieved and the magma begins to degas, its pre-eruptive volatile content is determined largely by the depth at which it resides within the crust. Magma stored in deeper reservoirs tend to experience less pre-eruptive degassing and to be richer in volatiles than magma shallower reservoirs. Eruptive style is influenced by the rate at which a magma ascends from the reservoir to the surface through its effect on the efficiency of vapor bubble nucleation, growth, and coalescence. The proposed work will advance our understanding of pre-eruptive storage conditions and syn-eruptive ascent rates through a combined field and analytical research program. Volatile measurements from olivine-hosted melt inclusions will be used to systematically investigate magma storage depths and ascent rates associated with alkaline volcanism in the Erebus volcanic province. A central goal of the project is to provide a spatial and temporal framework for interpreting results from studies of present-day volcanic processes at Mt Erebus volcano. The Erebus volcanic province of Antarctica is especially well suited to this type of investigation because: (1) there are many exposed mafic scoria cones, fissure vents, and hyaloclastites (exposed in sea cliffs) that produced rapidly quenched, olivine-rich tephra; (2) existing volatile data for Ross Island MIs show that magma storage was relatively deep compared to many mafic volcanic systems; (3) some of the eruptive centers ejected mantle xenoliths, allowing for comparison of ascent rates for xenolith-bearing and xenolith-free eruptions, and comparison of ascent rates for those bearing xenoliths with times estimated from settling velocities; and (4) the cold, dry conditions in Antarctica result in excellent tephra preservation compared to tropical and even many temperate localities. The project provides new tools for assessing volcanic hazards, facilitates collaboration involving researchers from three different institutions (WHOI, U Wyoming, and U Oregon), supports the researchers' involvement in teaching, advising, and outreach, and provides an educational opportunity for a promising young postdoctoral researcher. Understanding the interrelationships among magma volatile contents, reservoir depths, and ascent rates is vital for assessing volcanic hazards associated with alkaline volcanism across the globe.
The response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to future climatic changes is recognized as the greatest uncertainty in projections of future sea level. An understanding of past ice fluctuations affords insight into ice-sheet response to climate and sea-level change and thus is critical for improving sea-level predictions. This project will examine deglaciation of the southern Ross Sea over the past few thousand years to document oscillations in Antarctic ice volume during a period of relatively stable climate and sea level. We will help quantify changes in ice volume, improve understanding of the ice dynamics responsible, and examine the implications for future sea-level change. The project will train future scientists through participation of graduate students, as well as undergraduates who will develop research projects in our laboratories. Previous research indicates rapid Ross Sea deglaciation as far south as Beardmore Glacier early in the Holocene epoch (which began approximately 11,700 years before present), followed by more gradual recession. However, deglaciation in the later half of the Holocene remains poorly constrained, with no chronological control on grounding-line migration between Beardmore and Scott Glaciers. Thus, we do not know if mid-Holocene recession drove the grounding line rapidly back to its present position at Scott Glacier, or if the ice sheet withdrew gradually in the absence of significant climate forcing or eustatic sea level change. The latter possibility raises concerns for future stability of the Ross Sea grounding line. To address this question, we will map and date glacial deposits on coastal mountains that constrain the thinning history of Liv and Amundsen Glaciers. By extending our chronology down to the level of floating ice at the mouths of these glaciers, we will date their thinning history from glacial maximum to present, as well as migration of the Ross Sea grounding line southwards along the Transantarctic Mountains. High-resolution dating will come from Beryllium-10 surface-exposure ages of erratics collected along elevation transects, as well as Carbon-14 dates of algae within shorelines from former ice-dammed ponds. Sites have been chosen specifically to allow close comparison of these two dating methods, which will afford constraints on Antarctic Beryllium-10 production rates.
The Antarctic marine ecosystem is highly productive and supports a diverse range of ecologically and commercially important species. A key species in this ecosystem is Antarctic krill, which in addition to being commercially harvested, is the principle prey of a wide range of marine organisms including penguins, seals and whales. The aim of this study is to use penguins and other krill predators as sensitive indicators of past changes in the Antarctic marine food web resulting from climate variability and the historic harvesting of seals and whales by humans. Specifically this study will recover and analyze modern (<20 year old), historic (20-200 year old) and ancient (200-10,000 year old) penguin and other krill predator tissues to track their past diets and population movements relative to shifts in climate and the availability of Antarctic krill. Understanding how krill predators were affected by these factors in the past will allow us to better understand how these predators, the krill they depend on, and the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole will respond to current challenges such as global climate change and an expanding commercial fishery for Antarctic krill. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This project will support the cross-institutional training of undergraduate and graduate students in advanced analytical techniques in the fields of ecology and biogeochemistry. In addition, this project includes educational outreach aimed encouraging participation in science careers by engaging K-12 students in scientific issues related to Antarctica, penguins, marine ecology, biogeochemistry, and global climate change. This research will help place recent ecological changes in the Southern Ocean into a larger historical context by examining decadal and millennial-scale shifts in the diets and population movements of Antarctic krill predators (penguins, seals, and squid) in concert with climate variability and commercial harvesting. This will be achieved by coupling advanced stable and radio isotope techniques, particularly compound-specific stable isotope analysis, with unprecedented access to modern, historical, and well-preserved paleo-archives of Antarctic predator tissues dating throughout the Holocene. This approach will allow the project to empirically test if observed shifts in Antarctic predator bulk tissue stable isotope values over the past millennia were caused by climate-driven shifts at the base of the food web in addition to, or rather than, shifts in predator diets due to a competitive release following the historic harvesting of krill eating whale and seals. In addition, this project will track the large-scale abandonment and reoccupation of penguin colonies around Antarctica in response to changes in climate and sea ice conditions over the past several millennia. These integrated field studies and laboratory analyses will provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms that influenced past shifts in the diets and population movements of charismatic krill predators such as penguins. This will allow for improved projections of the ecosystem consequences of future climate change and anthropogenic harvesting scenarios in the Antarctica that are likely to affect the availability of Antarctic krill.
Phytoplankton blooms in the coastal waters of the Ross Sea, Antarctica are typically dominated by either diatoms or Phaeocystis Antarctica (a flagellated algae that often can form large colonies in a gelatinous matrix). The project seeks to determine if an association of bacterial populations with Phaeocystis antarctica colonies can directly supply Phaeocystis with Vitamin B12, which can be an important co-limiting micronutrient in the Ross Sea. The supply of an essential vitamin coupled with the ability to grow at lower iron concentrations may put Phaeocystis at a competitive advantage over diatoms. Because Phaeocystis cells can fix more carbon than diatoms and Phaeocystis are not grazed as efficiently as diatoms, the project will help in refining understanding of carbon dynamics in the region as well as the basis of the food web webs. Such understanding also has the potential to help refine predictive ecological models for the region. The project will conduct public outreach activities and will contribute to undergraduate and graduate research. Engagement of underrepresented students will occur during summer student internships. A collaboration with Italian Antarctic researchers, who have been studying the Terra Nova Bay ecosystem since the 1980s, aims to enhance the project and promote international scientific collaborations. The study will test whether a mutualistic symbioses between attached bacteria and Phaeocystis provides colonial cells a mechanism for alleviating chronic Vitamin B12 co-limitation effects thereby conferring them with a competitive advantage over diatom communities. The use of drifters in a time series study will provide the opportunity to track in both space and time a developing algal bloom in Terra Nova Bay and to determine community structure and the physiological nutrient status of microbial populations. A combination of flow cytometry, proteomics, metatranscriptomics, radioisotopic and stable isotopic labeling experiments will determine carbon and nutrient uptake rates and the role of bacteria in mitigating potential vitamin B12 and iron limitation. Membrane inlet and proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry will also be used to estimate net community production and release of volatile organic carbon compounds that are climatically active. Understanding how environmental parameters can influence microbial community dynamics in Antarctic coastal waters will advance an understanding of how changes in ocean stratification and chemistry could impact the biogeochemistry and food web dynamics of Southern Ocean ecosystems.
ABSTRACT Intellectual Merit: The high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (δ15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2. Broader impacts: This study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project.
Abstract During the Early Pliocene, 4.8 to 3.4 million years ago, warmer-than-present global temperatures resulted in a retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Understanding changes in ocean dynamics during times of reduced ice volume and increased temperatures in the geologic past will improve the predictive models for these conditions. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop a new oxygen isotope record of Pliocene oceanographic conditions near the Antarctic continent. Oxygen isotope values from the carbonate tests of benthic foraminifera have become the global standard for paleo-oceanographic studies, but foraminifera are sparse in high-latitude sediment cores. This research will instead make use of oxygen isotope measurements from diatom silica preserved in a marine sediment core from the Ross Sea. The project is the first attempt at using this method and will advance understanding of global ocean dynamics and ice sheet-ocean interactions during the Pliocene. The project will foster the professional development of two early-career scientists and serve as training for graduate and undergraduate student researchers. The PIs will use this project to introduce High School students to polar/oceanographic research, as well as stable isotope geochemistry. Collaboration with teachers via NSTA and Polar Educators International will ensure the implementation of excellent STEM learning activities and curricula for younger students. Technical Description This project will produce a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from well-dated diatom rich sediments that have been cross-correlated with global benthic foraminifera oxygen isotope records. Diatom silica frustules deposited during the Early Pliocene and recovered by the ANDRILL Project (AND-1B) provide ideal material for this objective. Diatomite unites in the AND-1B core are nearly pure, with little evidence of opal formation. A diatom oxygen isotope record from this core offers the potential to constrain lingering uncertainties about Ross Sea and Southern Ocean paleoceanography and Antarctic Ice Sheet history during a time of high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Specifically, oxygen isotope variations will be used to constrain changes in the water temperature and/or freshwater flux in the Pliocene Ross Sea. Diatom species data from the AND-1B core have been used to infer variations in the extent and duration of seasonal sea ice coverage, sea surface temperatures, and mid-water advection onto the continental shelf. However, the diatom oxygen isotope record will provide the first direct measure of water/oxygen isotope values at the Antarctic continental margin during the Pliocene.
The temperature of the earth is controlled, in part, by heat trapping gases that include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Despite their importance to climate, direct measurements of these gases in the atmosphere are limited to the last 50 years at best. Air trapped in ice cores extends those data back hundreds of millennia, and measurements of greenhouse gases in ice cores underpin much of our understanding of global chemical cycles relevant to modern climate change. Existing records vary in quality and detail. The proposed work fills gaps in our knowledge of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide over the last 10,000 years. New measurements from an ice core from the South Pole will be used to determine what role changes in ocean and land based processes played in controlling these gases, which decreased during the first 2,000 years of this time period, then gradually increased toward the present. The work will address a major controversy over whether early human activities could have impacted the atmosphere, and provide data to improve mathematical models of the land-ocean-atmosphere system that predict how future climate change will impact the composition of the atmosphere and climate. For nitrous oxide the work will improve on existing concentration records and provide a novel, detailed Holocene stable isotope record. It will also develop measurement of the isotopomers of nitrous oxide and explore their utility for understanding aspects of the Holocene nitrous oxide budget. The primary goal is to determine if marine and/or terrestrial emissions of nitrous oxide change in response to changes in Holocene climate. A new Holocene isotopic record for carbon dioxide (stable carbon and oxygen isotopes), will improve the precision of existing records by a factor 5 and increase the temporal resolution. These data will be used to evaluate controversial hypotheses about why carbon dioxide concentrations changed in the Holocene and provide insight into millennial scale processes in the carbon cycle, which are not resolved by current isotopic data. A graduate student will receive advanced training during and the student and principle investigator will conduct outreach efforts targeted at local middle school students. The proposed work will also contribute to teaching efforts by the PI and to public lectures on climate and climate change. The results will be disseminated through publications, data archive, and the OSU Ice Core Lab web site. New analytical methods of wide utility will also be developed and documented.
Rapid changes in the extent and thickness of sea ice during the austral spring subject microorganisms within or attached to the ice to large fluctuations in temperature, salinity, light and nutrients. This project aims to identify cellular responses in sea-ice algae to increasing temperature and decreasing salinity during the spring melt along the western Antarctic Peninsula and to determine how associated changes at the cellular level can potentially affect dynamic, biologically driven processes. Understanding how sea-ice algae cope with, and are adapted to, their environment will not only help predict how polar ecosystems may change as the extent and thickness of sea ice change, but will also provide a better understanding of the widespread success of photosynthetic life on Earth. The scientific context and resulting advances from the research will be communicated to the general public through outreach activities that includes work with Science Communication Fellows and the popular Polar Science Weekend at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. The project will provide student training to college students as well as provide for educational experiences for K-12 school children. There is currently a poor understanding of feedback relationships that exist between the rapidly changing environment in the western Antarctic Peninsula region and sea-ice algal production. The large shifts in temperature and salinity that algae experience during the spring melt affect critical cellular processes, including rates of enzyme-catalyzed reactions involved in photosynthesis and respiration, and the production of stress-protective compounds. These changes in cellular processes are poorly constrained but can be large and may have impacts on local ecosystem productivity and biogeochemical cycles. In particular, this study will focus on the thermal sensitivity of enzymes and the cycling of compatible solutes and exopolymers used for halo- and cryo-protection, and how they influence primary production and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. Approaches will include field sampling during spring melt, incubation experiments of natural sea-ice communities under variable temperature and salinity conditions, and controlled manipulation of sea-ice algal species in laboratory culture. Employment of a range of techniques, from fast repetition rate fluorometry and gross and net photosynthetic measurements to metabolomics and enzyme kinetics, will tease apart the mechanistic effects of temperature and salinity on cell metabolism and primary production with the goal of quantifying how these changes will impact biogeochemical processes along the western Antarctic Peninsula. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Brook 1543267 Approximately half of the human caused carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere are absorbed by the ocean, which reduces the amount of global warming associated with these emissions. Much of this carbon uptake occurs in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where water from the deep ocean comes to the surface. How much water "up-wells," and therefore how much carbon is absorbed, is believed to depend on the strength and location of the major westerly winds in the southern hemisphere. These wind patterns have been shifting southward in recent decades, and future changes could impact the global carbon cycle and promote the circulation of relatively warm water from the deep ocean on to the continental shelf, which contributes to enhanced Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise. Understanding of the westerly winds and their role in controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the circulation of ocean water is therefore very important. The work supported by this award will study past movement of the SH westerlies in response to natural climate variations. Of particular interest is the last deglaciation (20,000 to 10,000 years ago), when the global climate made a transition from an ice age climate to the current warm period. During this period, atmospheric carbon dioxide rose from about 180 ppm to 270 parts per million, and one leading hypothesis is that the rise in carbon dioxide was driven by a southward movement of the southern hemisphere westerlies. The broader impacts of the work include a perspective on past movement of the southern hemisphere westerlies and their link to atmospheric carbon dioxide, which could guide projections of future oceanic carbon dioxide uptake, with strong societal benefits; international collaboration with German scientists; training of a postdoctoral investigator; and outreach to public schools. This project will investigate whether the abundance of a noble gas, krypton-86, trapped in Antarctic ice cores, records atmospheric pressure variability, and whether or not this pressure variability can be used to infer past movement of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. The rationale for the project is that models of air movement in the snow pack (firn) in Antarctica indicate that pressure variations drive air movement that disturbs the normal enrichment in krypton-86 caused by gravitational settling of gases. Calculations predict that the krypton-86 deviation from gravitational equilibrium reflects the magnitude of pressure variations. In turn, atmospheric data show that pressure variability over Antarctica is linked to the position of the southern hemisphere westerly winds. Preliminary data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core show a large excursion in krypton-86 during the transition from the last ice age to the current warm period. The investigators will perform krypton-86 analysis on ice core and firn air samples to establish whether the Kr-86 deviation is linked to pressure variability, refine the record of krypton isotopes from the WAIS Divide ice core, investigate the role of pressure variability in firn air transport using firn air models, and investigate how barometric pressure variability in Antarctica is linked to the position/strength of the SH westerlies in past and present climates.
Microbial mats are found throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys where summer snowmelt provides liquid water that allows these mats to flourish. Researchers have long studied the environmental conditions microbial mats need to grow. Despite these efforts, it has been difficult to develop a broad picture of these unique ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology now provide researchers an exciting new tool to study these special Antarctic ecosystems from space using the unique spectral signatures associated with microbial mats. This new technology not only offers the promise that microbial mats can be mapped and studied from space, this research will also help protect these delicate environments from potentially harmful human impacts that can occur when studying them from the ground. This project will use satellite imagery and spectroscopic techniques to identify and map microbial mat communities and relate their properties and distributions to both field and lab-based measurements. This research provides an exciting new tool to help document and understand the distribution of a major component of the Antarctic ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal of this project is to establish quantitative relationships between spectral signatures derived from orbit and the physiological status and biogeochemical properties of microbial mat communities in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as measured by field and laboratory analyses on collected samples. The goal wioll be met by (1) refining atmospheric correction techniques using in situ radiometric rectification to derive accurate surface spectra; (2) collecting multispectral orbital images concurrent with in situ sampling and spectral measurements in the field to ensure temporal comparability; (3) measuring sediment, water, and microbial mat samples for organic and inorganic carbon content, essential biogeochemical nutrients, and chlorophyll-a to determine relevant mat characteristics; and (4) quantitatively associating these laboratory-derived characteristics with field-derived and orbital spectral signatures and parameters. The result of this work will be a more robust quantitative link between the distribution of microbial mat communities and their biogeochemical properties to landscape-scale spectral signatures. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Proposal Title: Collaborative Research: Seasonal Sea Ice Production in the Ross Sea, Antarctica (working title changed from submitted title) Institutions: UT-San Antonio; Columbia University; Naval Postgraduate School; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; UC@Boulder The one place on Earth consistently showing increases in sea ice area, duration, and concentration is the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Satellite imagery shows about half of the Ross Sea increases are associated with changes in the austral fall, when the new sea ice is forming. The most pronounced changes are also located near polynyas, which are areas of open ocean surrounded by sea ice. To understand the processes driving the sea ice increase, and to determine if the increase in sea ice area is also accompanied by a change in ice thickness, this project will conduct an oceanographic cruise to the polynyas of the Ross Sea in April and May, 2017, which is the austral fall. The team will deploy state of the art research tools including unmanned airborne systems (UASs, commonly called drones), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Using these tools and others, the team will study atmospheric, oceanic, and sea ice properties and processes concurrently. A change in sea ice production will necessarily change the ocean water below, which may have significant consequences for global ocean circulation patterns, a topic of international importance. All the involved institutions will be training students, and all share the goal of expanding climate literacy in the US, emphasizing the role high latitudes play in the Earth's dynamic climate. The main goal of the project is to improve estimates of sea ice production and water mass transformation in the Ross Sea. The team will fully capture the spatial and temporal changes in air-ice-ocean interactions when they are initiated in the austral fall, and then track the changes into the winter and spring using ice buoys, and airborne mapping with the newly commissioned IcePod instrument system, which is deployed on the US Antarctic Program's LC-130 fleet. The oceanographic cruise will include stations in and outside of both the Terra Nova Bay and Ross Ice Shelf polynyas. Measurements to be made include air-sea boundary layer fluxes of heat, freshwater, and trace gases, radiation, and meteorology in the air; ice formation processes, ice thickness, snow depth, mass balance, and ice drift within the sea ice zone; and temperature, salinity, and momentum in the ocean below. Following collection of the field data, the team will improve both model parameterizations of air-sea-ice interactions and remote sensing algorithms. Model parameterizations are needed to determine if sea-ice production has increased in crucial areas, and if so, why (e.g., stronger winds or fresher oceans). The remote sensing validation will facilitate change detection over wider areas and verify model predictions over time. Accordingly this project will contribute to the international Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) goal of measuring essential climate variables continuously to monitor the state of the ocean and ice cover into the future.
Intellectual Merit: Evidence from the eastern Ross Sea continental shelf indicates that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet advanced and retreated during the last glacial cycle, but it is unclear whether the ice sheet advanced to the shelf edge or just to the middle shelf. These two end-member scenarios offer different interpretations as to why, how, and when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillated. The PI proposes to acquire seismic, multibeam, and core data from Whales Deep, to evaluate the timing and duration of two advances of grounded ice to the outer and middle shelf of the Whales Deep Basin, a West Antarctic Ice Sheet paleo ice stream trough in eastern Ross Sea. Grounding events are represented by seismically resolvable Grounding Zone Wedges. The PI will collect radiocarbon dates on in situ benthic foraminifera from the grounding zone diamict as well as ramped pyrolysis radiocarbon dates on acid insoluble organics from open-marine mud overlying the grounding zone diamict. Using these data the PI will calculate the duration of the two grounding events. Furthermore, the PI will test a numerical model prediction that West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat must have involved melting at the marine terminus of the ice sheet. Pore-water from the grounding zone diamict will be extracted from piston cores to determine salinity and δ18O values that should indicate if significant melting occurred at the grounding line. Broader impacts: The data collected will provide constraints on the timing and pattern of Last Glacial Maximum advance and retreat that can be incorporated into interpretations of ice-surface elevation changes. The proposed activities will provide valuable field and research training to undergraduate/graduate students and a Louisiana high-school science teacher. The research will be interactively shared with middle- and high-school science students and with visitors to the LSU Museum of Natural Science Weekend-Science Program.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is naturally emitted into the oceans by geologic seeps and microbial production. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes, researchers have learned that bacteria and archaea can create a "sediment filter" that oxidizes methane prior to its release. Antarctica is thought to contain large reservoirs of organic carbon buried beneath its ice which could a quantity of methane equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic and yet we know almost nothing about the methane oxidizing microbes in this region. How these microbial communities develop and potentially respond to fluctuations in methane levels is an under-explored avenue of research. A bacterial mat was recently discovered at 78 degrees south, suggesting the possible presence of a methane seep, and associated microbial communities. This project will explore this environment in detail to assess the levels and origin of methane, and the nature of the microbial ecosystem present. An expansive bacterial mat appeared and/or was discovered at 78 degrees south in 2011. This site, near McMurdo Station Antarctica, has been visited since the mid-1960s, but this mat was not observed until 2011. The finding of this site provides an unusual opportunity to study an Antarctic marine benthic habitat with active methane cycling and to examine the dynamics of recruitment and community succession of seep fauna including bacteria, archaea, protists and metazoans. This project will collect the necessary baseline data to facilitate further studies of Antarctic methane cycling. The concentration and source of methane will be determined at this site and at potentially analogous sites in McMurdo Sound. In addition to biogeochemical characterization of the sites, molecular analysis of the microbial community will quantify the time scales on which bacteria and archaea respond to methane input and provide information on rates of community development and succession in the Southern Ocean. Project activities will facilitate the training of at least one graduate student and results will be shared at both local and international levels. A female graduate student will be mentored as part of this project and data collected will form part of her dissertation. Lectures will be given in K-12 classrooms in Oregon to excite students about polar science. National and international audiences will be reached through blogs and presentations at a scientific conference. The PI's previous blogs have been used by K-12 classrooms as part of their lesson plans and followed in over 65 countries.
In order to understand what environmental conditions might look like for future generations, we need to turn to archives of past times when the world was indeed warmer, before anyone was around to commit them to collective memory. The geologic record of Earth's past offers a glimpse of what could be in store for the future. Research by Ivany and her team looks to Antarctica during a time of past global warmth to see how seasonality of temperature and rainfall in coastal settings are likely to change in the future. They will use the chemistry of fossils (a natural archive of these variables) to test a provocative hypothesis about near-monsoonal conditions in the high latitudes when the oceans are warm. If true, we can expect high-latitude shipping lanes to become more hazardous and fragile marine ecosystems adapted to constant cold temperatures to suffer. With growing information about how human activities are likely to affect the planet in the future, we will be able to make more informed decisions about policies today. This research involves an international team of scholars, including several women scientists, training of graduate students, and a public museum exhibit to educate children about how we study Earth's ancient climate and what we can learn from it. Antarctica is key to an understanding how Earth?s climate system works under conditions of elevated CO2. The poles are the most sensitive regions on the planet to climate change, and the equator-to-pole temperature gradient and the degree to which high-latitude warming is amplified are important components for climate models to capture. Accurate proxy data with good age control are therefore critical for testing numerical models and establishing global patterns. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island is the only documented marine section from the globally warm Eocene Epoch exposed in outcrop on the continent; hence its climate record is integral to studies of warming. Early data suggest the potential for strongly seasonal precipitation and runoff in coastal settings. This collaboration among paleontologists, geochemists, and climate modelers will test this using seasonally resolved del-18O data from fossil shallow marine bivalves to track the evolution of seasonality through the section, in combination with independent proxies for the composition of summer precipitation (leaf wax del-D) and local seawater (clumped isotopes). The impact of the anticipated salinity stratification on regional climate will be evaluated in the context of numerical climate model simulations. In addition to providing greater clarity on high-latitude conditions during this time of high CO2, the combination of proxy and model results will provide insights about how Eocene warmth may have been maintained and how subsequent cooling came about. As well, a new approach to the analysis of shell carbonates for 87Sr/86Sr will allow refinements in age control so as to allow correlation of this important section with other regions to clarify global climate gradients. The project outlined here will develop new and detailed paleoclimate records from existing samples using well-tuned as well as newer proxies applied here in novel ways. Seasonal extremes are climate parameters generally inaccessible to most studies but critical to an understanding of climate change; these are possible to resolve in this well-preserved, accretionary-macrofossil-bearing section. This is an integrated study that links marine and terrestrial climate records for a key region of the planet across the most significant climate transition in the Cenozoic.
Gases trapped in ice cores have revealed astonishing things about the greenhouse gas composition of the past atmosphere, including the fact that carbon dioxide concentrations never rose above 300 parts per million during the last 800,000 years. This places today's concentration of 400 parts per million in stark contrast. Furthermore, these gas records show that natural sources of greenhouse gas such as oceans and ecosystems act as amplifiers of climate change by increasing emissions of gases during warmer periods. Such amplification is expected to occur in the future, adding to the human-produced gas burden. The South Pole ice core will build upon these prior findings by expanding the suite of gases to include, for the first time, those potent trace gases that both trapped heat and depleted ozone during the past 40,000 years. The present project on inert gases and methane in the South Pole ice core will improve the dating of this crucial record, to unprecedented precision, so that the relative timing of events can be used to learn about the mechanism of trace gas production and destruction, and consequent climate change amplification. Ultimately, this information will inform predictions of future atmospheric chemical cleansing mechanisms and climate in the context of our rapidly changing atmosphere. This award also engages young people in the excitement of discovery and polar research, helping to entrain the next generations of scientists and educators. Education of graduate students, a young researcher (Buizert), and training of technicians, will add to the nation?s human resource base. This award funds the construction of the gas chronology for the South Pole 1500m ice core, using measured inert gases (d15N and d40Ar--Nitrogen and Argon isotope ratios, respectively) and methane in combination with a next-generation firn densification model that treats the stochastic nature of air trapping and the role of impurities on densification. The project addresses fundamental gaps in scientific understanding that limit the accuracy of gas chronologies, specifically a poor knowledge of the controls on ice-core d15N and the possible role of layering and impurities in firn densification. These gaps will be addressed by studying the gas enclosure process in modern firn at the deep core site. The work will comprise the first-ever firn air pumping experiment that has tightly co-located measurements of firn structural properties on the core taken from the same borehole. The project will test the hypothesis that the lock-in horizon as defined by firn air d15N, CO2, and methane is structurally controlled by impermeable layers, which are in turn created by high-impurity content horizons in which densification is enhanced. Thermal signals will be sought using the inert gas measurements, which improve the temperature record with benefits to the firn densification modeling. Neon, argon, and oxygen will be measured in firn air and a limited number of deep core samples to test whether glacial period layering was enhanced, which could explain low observed d15N in the last glacial period. Drawing on separate volcanic and methane synchronization to well-dated ice cores to create independent ice and gas tie points, independent empirical estimates of the gas age-ice age difference will be made to check the validity of the firn densification model-inert gas approach to calculating the gas age-ice age difference. These points will also be used to test whether the anomalously low d15N seen during the last glacial period in east Antarctic ice cores is due to deep air convection in the firn, or a missing impurity dependence in the firn densification models. The increased physical understanding gained from these studies, combined with new high-precision measurements, will lead to improved accuracy of the gas chronology of the South Pole ice core, which will enhance the overall science return from this gas-oriented core. This will lead to clarification of timing of atmospheric gas variations and temperature, and aid in efforts to understand the biogeochemical feedbacks among trace gases. These feedbacks bear on the future response of the Earth System to anthropogenic forcing. Ozone-depleting substances will be measured in the South Pole ice core record, and a precise gas chronology will add value. Lastly, by seeking a better understanding of the physics of gas entrapment, the project aims to have an impact on ice-core science in general.
This EAGER project will compare gene expression patterns in the planktonic communities under ice covers that form in coastal embayment's in the Antarctic Peninsula. Previous efforts taking advantage of unique ice conditions in November and December of 2015 allowed researchers to conduct an experiment to examine the role of sea ice cover on microbial carbon and energy transfer during the winter-spring transition. The EAGER effort will enable the researchers to conduct the "omics" analyses of the phytoplankton to determine predominant means by which energy is acquired and used in these settings. This EAGER effort will apply new expertise to fill an existing gap in ecological observations along the West Antarctic Peninsula. The principle product of the proposed work will be a novel dataset to be analyzed and by an early career researcher from an underserved community (veteran). The critical baseline data contained in this dataset enable a comparison of eukaryotic and prokaryotic gene expression patterns to establish the relative importance of chemoautotrophy, heterotrophy, mixotrophy, and phototrophy during the experiments. this information and data will be made immediately available to the broader scientific community, and will enable the development of further hypotheses on ecosystem change as sea ice cover changes in the region. Very little gene expression data is currently available for the Antarctic marine environment, and no gene expression data is available during the ecologically critical winter to spring transition. Moreover, ice cover in bays is common along the West Antarctic Peninsula yet the opportunity to study cryptophyte phytoplankton physiology beneath such ice conditions in coastal embayments is rare.
Aydin/1644245 This award supports a project to measure ethane in ice core air extracted from the recently drilled intermediate depth South Pole ice core (SPICECORE). Ethane is an abundant hydrocarbon in the atmosphere. The ice core samples that will be used in this analysis will span about 150 years before present to about 55,000 years before present and therefore, ethane emissions linked to human activities are not a subject of this study. The study will focus on quantifying the variability in the natural sources of ethane and the processes that govern its removal from the atmosphere. A long-term ice core ethane record will provide new knowledge on the chemistry of Earth?s atmosphere during time periods when human influence was either much smaller than present day or non-existent. The broader impacts of this work include education and training of students and a contribution to a better understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere in the past and how it has been impacted by past changes in climate. Natural sources that emit ethane are both geologic (e.g. seeps, vents, mud volcanoes etc.) and pyrogenic (wild fires) which is commonly called biomass burning. Ethane is removed from the atmosphere via oxidation reactions. The ice core ethane measurements have great potential as a proxy for gaseous emissions from biomass burning. This is especially true for time periods preceding the industrial revolution when atmospheric variability of trace gases was largely controlled by natural processes. Another objective of this study is to improve understanding of the causes of atmospheric methane variability apparent which are in the existing ice core records. Methane is a simpler hydrocarbon than ethane and more abundant in the atmosphere. Even though the project does not include any methane measurements; the commonalities between the sources and removal of atmospheric ethane and methane mean that ethane measurements can be used to gain insight into the causes of changes in atmospheric methane levels. The broader impacts of the project include partial support for one Ph.D. student and support for undergraduate researchers at UC Irvine. The PIs group currently has 4 undergraduate researchers. The PI and the graduate students in the UCI ice core laboratory regularly participate in on- and off-campus activities such as laboratory tours and lectures directed towards educating high-school students and science teachers, and the local community at large about the scientific value of polar ice cores as an environmental record of our planet's past. The results of this research will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to policy-relevant activities such as the IPCC Climate Assessment. Data resulting from this project will be archived in a national data repository. This award does not have field work in Antarctica.
Bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice cores permit the direct reconstruction of atmospheric composition and allow us to link greenhouse gases and global climate over the last 800,000 years. Previous field expeditions to the Allan Hills blue ice area, Antarctica, have recovered ice cores that date to one million years, the oldest ice cores yet recovered from Antarctica. These records have revealed that interglacial CO2 concentrations decreased by 800,000 years ago and that, in the warmer world 1 million years ago, CO2 and Antarctic temperature were linked as during the last 800,000 years. This project will return to the Allan Hills blue ice area to recover additional ice cores that date to 1 million years or older. The climate records developed from the drilled ice cores will provide new insights into the chemical composition of the atmosphere and Antarctic climate during times of comparable or even greater warmth than the present day. Our results will help answer questions about issues associated with anthropogenic change. These include the relationship between temperature change and the mass balance of Antarctic ice; precipitation and aridity variations associated with radiatively forced climate change; and the climate significance of sea ice extent. The project will entrain two graduate students and a postdoctoral scholar, and will conduct outreach including workshops to engage teachers in carbon science and ice cores. Between about 2.8-0.9 million years ago, Earth's climate was characterized by 40,000-year cycles, driven or paced by changes in the tilt of Earth's spin axis. Much is known about the "40,000-year" world from studies of deep-sea sediments, but our understanding of climate change during this period is incomplete because we lack records of Antarctic climate and direct records of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. We propose to address these issues by building on our recent studies of ancient ice from the Main Ice Field, Allan Hills, Antarctica. During previous field seasons we recovered ice extending, discontinuously, from 0.1-1.0 million years old. Ice was dated by measuring the 40Ar/38Ar (Argon) ratio of the trapped gases. Our discovery of million year-old ice demonstrates that there is gas-record-quality ice from the 40,000-year world in the Allan Hills Main Ice Field. We have identified two different sites, each overlying bedrock at ~ 200 m depth, that are attractive targets for coring ice dating to 1 million years and older. This project aims to core the ice at these two sites, re-occupy a previous site with million year-old ice and drill it down to the bedrock, and generate 10-20 short (~10-meter) cores in areas where our previous work and terrestrial meteorite ages suggest ancient surface ice. We plan to date the ice using the 40Ar/38Ar ages of trapped Argon. We also plan to characterize the continuity of our cores by measuring the deuterium and oxygen isotope ratios in the ice, methane, ratios of Oxygen and Argon to Nitrogen in trapped gas, the Nitrogen-15 isotope (d15N) of Nitrogen, and the Oxygen-18 isotope (d18O) of Oxygen. As the ice may be stratigraphically disturbed, these measurements will provide diagnostic properties for assessing the continuity of the ice-core records. Successful retrieval of ice older than one million years will provide the opportunity for follow-up work to measure the CO2 concentration and other properties within the ice to inform on the temperature history of the Allan Hills region, dust sources and source-area aridity, moisture sources, densification conditions, global average ocean temperature, and greenhouse gas concentrations. We will analyze the data in the context of leading hypotheses of the 40,000-year world and the Mid-Pleistocene Transition to the 100,000-year world. We expect to advance understanding of climate dynamics during these periods.
Climate change projections for this century suggest that the Southern Ocean will be the first region to be affected by seawater chemistry changes associated with enhanced carbon dioxide (CO2). Additionally, regions of the Southern Ocean are warming faster than any other locations on the planet. Ocean acidification and warming may act synergistically to impair the performance of different organisms by simultaneously increasing metabolic needs and reducing oxygen transport. However, no studies have measured krill acid-base regulation, metabolism, growth, or reproduction in the context of ocean acidification or synergistic 'greenhouse' conditions of elevated CO2 and temperature. In the present project, the investigators will conduct both short and prolonged exposure experiments at Palmer Station, Antarctica to determine the responses of Euphausia superba to elevated CO2 and temperature. The investigators will test hypotheses related to acid-base compensation and acclimation of various life stages of krill to elevated CO2 and temperature. Furthermore, they will determine these impacts on feeding, respiration, metabolism, growth, and reproduction. The Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is a key component of Antarctic food webs as they are a primary food source for many of the top predators in the Southern Ocean including baleen whales, seals, penguins, and other sea birds. This project will determine the responses of Antarctic krill exposed to elevated CO2 and temperature and whether or not krill have the capacity to fully compensate under future ocean conditions. The proposed field effort will be complemented by an extensive broader impact effort focused on bringing marine science to both rural and urban high school students in the Midwest (Kansas). The core educational objectives of this proposal are to 1) instruct students about potential careers in marine science, 2) engage students and promote their interest in the scientific process, critical thinking, and applications of science, mathematics, and technology, and 3) and increase student and teacher awareness and understanding of the oceans and global climate change, with special focus on the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. Finally, this project will engage undergraduate and graduate students in the production, analysis, presentation and publication of datasets.
The Palmer Antarctica LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site has been in operation since 1990. The goal of all the LTER sites is to conduct policy-relevant research on ecological questions that require tens of years of data, and cover large geographical areas. For the Palmer Antarctica LTER, the questions are centered around how the marine ecosystem west of the Antarctica peninsula is responding to a climate that is changing as rapidly as any place on the Earth. For example, satellite observations over the past 35 years indicate the average duration of sea ice cover is now ~90 days (3 months!) shorter than it was. The extended period of open water has implications for many aspects of ecosystem research, with the concurrent decrease of Adèlie penguins within this region regularly cited as an exemplar of climate change impacts in Antarctica. Cutting edge technologies such as autonomous underwater (and possibly airborne) vehicles, seafloor moorings, and numerical modeling, coupled with annual oceanographic cruises, and weekly environmental sampling, enables the Palmer Antarctica LTER to expand and bridge the time and space scales needed to assess climatic impacts. This award includes for the first time study of the roles of whales as major predators in the seasonal sea ice zone ecosystem. The team will also focus on submarine canyons, special regions of enhanced biological activity, along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The current award's overarching research question is: How do seasonality, interannual variability, and long term trends in sea ice extent and duration influence the structure and dynamics of marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling? Specific foci within the broad question include: 1. Long-term change and ecosystem transitions. What is the sensitivity or resilience of the ecosystem to external perturbations as a function of the ecosystem state? 2. Lateral connectivity and vertical stratification. What are the effects of lateral transports of freshwater, heat and nutrients on local ocean stratification and productivity and how do they drive changes in the ecosystem? 3. Top-down controls and shifting baselines. How is the ecosystem responding to the cessation of whaling and subsequent long-term recovery of whale stocks? 4. Foodweb structure and biogeochemical processes. How do temporal and spatial variations in foodweb structure influence carbon and nutrient cycling, export, and storage? The broader impacts of the award leverage local educational partnerships including the Sandwich, MA STEM Academy, the New England Aquarium, and the NSF funded Polar Learning and Responding (PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership at Columbia's Earth Institute to build new synergies between Arctic and Antarctic, marine and terrestrial scientists and students, governments and NGOs. The Palmer Antarctic LTER will also conduct appropriate cross LTER site comparisons, and serve as a leader in information management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic, and LTER communities.
Non-Technical Summary: About 80 million years ago, the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the vicinity of what is now James Ross Island experienced an episode of rapid subsidence, creating a broad depositional basin that collected sediments eroding from the high mountains to the West. This depression accumulated a thick sequence of fossil-rich, organic-rich sediments of the sort that are known to preserve hydrocarbons, and for which Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom have overlapping territorial claims. The rocks preserve one of the highest resolution records of the biological and climatic events that led to the eventual death of the dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (about 66 million years ago). A previous collaboration between scientists from the Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA) and NSF-supported teams from Caltech and the University of Washington were able to show that this mass extinction event started nearly 50,000 years before the sudden impact of an asteroid. The asteroid obviously hit the biosphere hard, but something else knocked it off balance well before the asteroid hit. A critical component of the previous work was the use of reversals in the polarity of the Earth?s magnetic field as a dating tool ? magnetostratigraphy. This allowed the teams to correlate the pattern of magnetic reversals from Antarctica with elsewhere on the planet. This includes data from a major volcanic eruption (a flood basalt province) that covered much of India 65 million years ago. The magnetic patterns indicate that the Antarctic extinction started with the first pulse of this massive eruption, which was also coincident with a rapid spike in polar temperature. The Argentinian and US collaborative teams will extend this magnetic polarity record back another ~ 20 million years in time, and expand it laterally to provide magnetic reversal time lines across the depositional basin. They hope to recover the end of the Cretaceous Long Normal interval, which is one of the most distinctive events in the history of Earth?s magnetic field. The new data should refine depositional models of the basin, allow better estimates of potential hydrocarbon reserves, and allow biotic events in the Southern hemisphere to be compared more precisely with those elsewhere on Earth. Other potential benefits of this work include exposing several US students and postdoctoral fellows to field based research in Antarctica, expanding the international aspects of this collaborative work via joint IAA/US field deployments, and follow-up laboratory investigations and personnel exchange of the Junior scientists. Technical Description of Project The proposed research will extend the stratigraphic record in the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary sediments (~ 83 to 65 Ma before present) of the James Ross Basin, Antarctica, using paleo-magnetic methods. Recent efforts provided new methods to analyze these rocks, yielding their primary magnetization, and producing both magnetic polarity patterns and paleomagnetic pole positions. This provided the first reliable age constraints for the younger sediments on Seymour Island, and quantified the sedimentation rate in this part of the basin. The new data will allow resolution of the stable, remnant magnetization of the sediments from the high deposition rate James Ross basin (Tobin et al., 2012), yielding precise chronology/stratigraphy. This approach will be extended to the re-maining portions of this sedimentary basin, and will allow quantitative estimates for tectonic and sedimentary processes between Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time. The proposed field work will refine the position of several geomagnetic reversals that occurred be-tween the end of the Cretaceous long normal period (Chron 34N, ~ 83 Ma), and the lower portion of Chron 31R (~ 71 Ma). Brandy Bay provides the best locality for calibrating the stratigraphic position of the top of the Cretaceous Long Normal Chron, C34N. Although the top of the Cretaceous long normal Chron is one of the most important correlation horizons in the entire geological timescale, it is not properly correlated to the southern hemisphere biostratigraphy. Locating this event, as well as the other reversals, will be a major addition to understanding of the geological history of the Antarctic Peninsula. These data will also help refine tectonic models for the evolution of the Southern continents, which will be of use across the board for workers in Cretaceous stratigraphy (including those involved in oil exploration). This research is a collaborative effort with Dr. Edward Olivero of the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas (CADIC/CONICET) and Prof. Augusto Rapalini of the University of Buenos Aires. The collaboration will include collection of samples on their future field excursions to important targets on and around James Ross Island, supported by the Argentinian Antarctic Program (IAA). Argentinian scientists and students will also be involved in the US Antarctic program deployments, proposed here for the R/V Laurence Gould, and will continue the pattern of joint international publication of the results.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.
This CAREER proposal will support an early career female PI to establish an integrated research and education program in the fields of polar biology and environmental microbiology, focusing on single-celled eukaryotes (protists) in high latitude ice-covered Antarctic lakes systems. Protists play important roles in energy flow and material cycling, and act as both primary producers (fixing inorganic carbon by photosynthesis) and consumers (preying on bacteria by phagotrophic digestion). The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) located in Victoria Land, Antarctica, harbor microbial communities which are isolated in the unique aquatic ecosystem of perennially ice-capped lakes. The lakes support exclusively microbial consortia in chemically stratified water columns that are not influenced by seasonal mixing, allochthonous inputs, or direct human impact. This project will exploit permanently stratified biogeochemistry that is unique across the water columns of several MDV lakes to address gaps in our understanding of protist trophic function in aquatic food webs. The proposed research will examine (1) the impact of permanent biogeochemical gradients on protist trophic strategy, (2) the effect of major abiotic drivers (light and nutrients) on the distribution of two key mixotrophic and photoautotrophic protist species, and (3) the effect of episodic nutrient pulses on mixotroph communities in high latitude (ultraoligotrophic) MDV lakes versus low latitude (eutrophic) watersheds. The project will impact the fields of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology by combining results from field, laboratory and in situ incubation studies to synthesize new models for the protist trophic roles in the aquatic food web. The research component of this proposed project will be tightly integrated with the development of two new education activities designed to exploit the inherent excitement associated with polar biological research. The educational objectives are: 1) to establish a teaching module in polar biology in a core undergraduate course for microbiology majors; 2) to develop an instructional module to engage middle school girls in STEM disciplines. Undergraduates and middle school girls will also work with a doctoral student on his experiments in local Ohio watersheds.
Intellectual Merit: The PI hypothesizes that bedforms found in the Central and Joides troughs can be interpreted as having been formed by rapid retreat, and possible collapse of an ice stream that occupied this area. To test this hypothesis, the PI proposes to conduct a detailed marine geological and geophysical survey of Central and Joides Troughs in the western Ross Sea. This project will bridge gaps between the small and isolated areas previously surveyed and will acquire a detailed sedimentological record of the retreating grounding line. The PI will reconstruct the retreat history of the Central and Joides troughs to century-scale resolution using radiocarbon dating methods and by looking at geomorphic features that are formed at regular time intervals. Existing multibeam, deep tow side-scan sonar, and core data will provide a framework for this research. The western Ross Sea is an ideal study area to investigate a single ice stream and the dynamics controlling its stability, including interactions between both East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Broader impacts: This proposal includes a post-doc, a graduate and two undergraduate students. The post-doc is involved with teaching an in-service K-12 teacher development and training course at Rice University for high-need teachers with a focus on curriculum enhancement. The project fosters collaboration for the PI and students with researchers at Louisiana State University and international colleagues at the Institute for Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The results from this project could lead to a better understanding of ice sheet and ice stream stability. This project will yield implications for society's understanding of climate change, as this work improves understanding of the behavior of ice sheets and their links to global climate.
Intellectual Merit: The PI requests support to analyze sediments from multi-cores and mega-cores previously collected from beneath the former Larsen B and Larsen A ice shelves. These unique cores will allow the PI to develop a time-integrated understanding of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse off the East Antarctic Peninsula over time periods as short as 5 years following ice shelf collapse up to >170 years after collapse. High latitudes are responding to climate change more rapidly than the rest of the planet and the disappearance of ice shelves are a key manifestation of climate warming. The PI will investigate the newly created benthic environments and associated ecosystems that have resulted from the re-initiation of fresh planktonic material to the sediment-water interface. This proposal will use a new geochemical technique, based on naturally occurring 14C that can be used to assess the distribution and inventory of recently produced organic carbon accumulating in the sediments beneath the former Larsen A and B ice shelves. The PI will couple 14C measurements with 210Pb analyses to assess turnover times for sedimentary labile organic matter. By comparing the distributions and inventories of labile organic matter as well as the bioturbation intensities among different locations as a function of time following ice shelf collapse/retreat, the nature and timing of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse can be assessed. Broader impacts: This study will provide important information characterizing changes occurring on the seafloor after the collapse of ice shelves. This research will support the research project of a graduate student. This project brings together researchers from both the European community and the LARISSA Project.
Like no other region on Earth, the northern Antarctic Peninsula represents a spectacular natural laboratory of climate change and provides the opportunity to study the record of past climate and ecological shifts alongside the present-day changes in one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. This award supports the cryospheric and oceano-graphic components of an integrated multi-disciplinary program to address these rapid and fundamental changes now taking place in Antarctic Peninsula (AP). By making use of a marine research platform (the RV NB Palmer and on-board helicopters) and additional logistical support from the Argentine Antarctic program, the project will bring glaciologists, oceanographers, marine geologists and biologists together, working collaboratively to address fundamentally interdisciplinary questions regarding climate change. The project will include gathering a new, high-resolution paleoclimate record from the Bruce Plateau of Graham Land, and using it to compare Holocene- and possibly glacial-epoch climate to the modern period; investigating the stability of the remaining Larsen Ice Shelf and rapid post-breakup glacier response ? in particular, the roles of surface melt and ice-ocean interactions in the speed-up and retreat; observing the contribution of, and response of, oceanographic systems to ice shelf disintegration and ice-glacier interactions. Helicopter support on board will allow access to a wide range of glacial and geological areas of interest adjacent to the Larsen embayment. At these locations, long-term in situ glacial monitoring, isostatic uplift, and ice flow GPS sites will be established, and high-resolution ice core records will be obtained using previously tested lightweight drilling equipment. Long-term monitoring of deep water outflow will, for the first time, be integrated into changes in ice shelf extent and thickness, bottom water formation, and multi-level circulation by linking near-source observations to distal sites of concentrated outflow. The broader impacts of this international, multidisciplinary effort are that it will significantly advance our understanding of linkages amongst the earth's systems in the Polar Regions, and are proposed with international participation (UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Argentina) and interdisciplinary engagement in the true spirit of the International Polar Year (IPY). It will also provide a means of engaging and educating the public in virtually all aspects of polar science and the effects of ongoing climate change. The research team has a long record of involving undergraduates in research, educating high-performing graduate students, and providing innovative and engaging outreach products to the K-12 education and public media forums. Moreover, forging the new links both in science and international Antarctic programs will provide a continuing legacy, beyond IPY, of improved understanding and cooperation in Antarctica.
This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change. Independent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models.
Interest in the reduced alkalinity of high latitude waters under conditions of enhanced CO2 uptake from the atmosphere have been the impetus of numerous recent studies of bio-stressors in the polar marine environment. The project seeks to improve our understanding of the variance of coastal Southern Ocean carbonate species (CO2 system), its diurnal and inter-annual variability, by acquiring autonomous, high frequency observations from an Antarctic coastal mooring(s). A moored observing system co-located within the existing Palmer LTER array will measure pH, CO2 partial pressure, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen with 3-hour frequency in this region of the West Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf. Such observations will help estimate the dominant physical and biological controls on the seasonal variations in the CO2 system in coastal Antarctic waters, including the sign, seasonality and the flux of the net annual air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide. The Palmer LTER site is experiencing rapid ecological change in the West Antarctic Peninsula, a region that is warming at rates faster than any other region of coastal Antarctica.
Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project seeks to drive a transformative shift in our understanding of the crucial role of the Southern Ocean in taking up anthropogenic carbon and heat, and resupplying nutrients from the abyss to the surface. An observational program will generate vast amounts of new biogeochemical data that will provide a greatly improved view of the dynamics and ecosystem responses of the Southern Ocean. A modeling component will apply these observations to enhancing understanding of the current ocean, reducing uncertainty in projections of future carbon and nutrient cycles and climate. Because it serves as the primary gateway through which the intermediate, deep, and bottom waters of the ocean interact with the surface layers and thus the atmosphere, the Southern Ocean has a profound influence on the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon and heat as well as nutrient resupply from the abyss to the surface. Yet it is the least observed and understood region of the world ocean. The oceanographic community is on the cusp of two major advances that have the potential to transform understanding of the Southern Ocean. The first is the development of new biogeochemical sensors mounted on autonomous profiling floats that allow sampling of ocean biogeochemistry and acidification in 3-dimensional space with a temporal resolution of five to ten days. The SOCCOM float program proposed will increase the average number of biogeochemical profiles measured per month in the Southern Ocean by ~10-30x. The second is that the climate modeling community now has the computational resources and physical understanding to develop fully coupled climate models that can represent crucial mesoscale processes in the Southern Ocean, as well as corresponding models that assimilate observations to produce a state estimate. Together with the observations, this new generation of models provides the tools to vastly improve understanding of Southern Ocean processes and the ability to quantitatively assess uptake of anthropogenic carbon and heat, as well as nutrient resupply, both today and into the future. In order to take advantage of the above technological and modeling breakthroughs, SOCCOM will implement the following research programs: * Theme 1: Observations. Scripps Institution of Oceanography will lead a field program to expand the number of Southern Ocean autonomous profiling floats and equip them with sensors to measure pH, nitrate, and oxygen. The University of Washington and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute will design, build, and oversee deployment of the floats. Scripps will also develop a mesoscale eddying Southern Ocean state estimate that assimilates physical and biogeochemical data into the MIT ocean general circulation model. * Theme 2: Modeling. University of Arizona and Princeton University, together with NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), will use SOCCOM observations to develop data/model assessment metrics and next-generation model analysis and evaluation, with the goal of improving process level understanding and reducing the uncertainty in projections of our future climate. Led by Climate Central, an independent, non-profit journalism and research organization that promotes understanding of climate science, SOCCOM will collaborate with educators and media professionals to inform policymakers and the public about the challenges of climate change and its impacts on marine life in the context of the Southern Ocean. In addition, the integrated team of SOCCOM scientists and educators will: * communicate data and results of the SOCCOM efforts quickly to the public through established data networks, publications, broadcast media, and a public portal; * train a new generation of diverse ocean scientists, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows versed in field techniques, data calibration, modeling, and communication of research to non-scientists; * transfer new sensor technology and related software to autonomous instrument providers and manufacturers to ensure that they become widely useable.
This project focuses on an important group of photosynthetic algae in the Southern Ocean (SO), diatoms, and the roles associated bacterial communities play in modulating their growth. Diatom growth fuels the SO food web and balances atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering the carbon used for growth to the deep ocean on long time scales as cells sink below the surface. The diatom growth is limited by the available iron in the seawater, most of which is not freely available to the diatoms but instead is tightly bound to other compounds. The nature of these compounds and how phytoplankton acquire iron from them is critical to understanding productivity in this region and globally. The investigators will conduct experiments to characterize the relationship between diatoms, their associated bacteria, and iron in open ocean and inshore waters. Experiments will involve supplying nutrients at varying nutrient ratios to natural phytoplankton assemblages to determine how diatoms and their associated bacteria respond to different conditions. This will provide valuable data that can be used by climate and food web modelers and it will help us better understand the relationship between iron, a key nutrient in the ocean, and the organisms at the base of the food web that use iron for photosynthetic growth and carbon uptake. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project supports early career senior investigators and the training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as outreach activities with middle school Girl Scouts in Rhode Island, inner city middle and high school age girls in Virginia, and middle school girls in Florida. The project combines trace metal biogeochemistry, phytoplankton cultivation, and molecular biology to address questions regarding the production of iron-binding compounds and the role of diatom-bacterial interactions in this iron-limited region. Iron is an essential micronutrient for marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton growth in the SO is limited by a lack of sufficient iron, with important consequences for carbon cycling and climate in this high latitude regime. Some of the major outstanding questions in iron biogeochemistry relate to the organic compounds that bind >99.9% of dissolved iron in surface oceans. The investigators' prior research in this region suggests that production of strong iron-binding compounds in the SO is linked to diatom blooms in waters with high nitrate to iron ratios. The sources of these compounds are unknown but the investigators hypothesize that they may be from bacteria, which are known to produce such compounds for their own use. The project will test three hypotheses concerning the production of these iron-binding compounds, limitations on the biological availability of iron even if present in high concentrations, and the roles of diatom-associated bacteria in these processes. Results from this project will provide fundamental information about the biogeochemical trigger, and biological sources and function, of natural strong iron-binding compound production in the SO, where iron plays a critical role in phytoplankton productivity, carbon cycling, and climate regulation.
1043471/Kaplan This award supports a project to obtain the first set of isotopic-based provenance data from the WAIS divide ice core. A lack of data from the WAIS prevents even a basic knowledge of whether different sources of dust blew around the Pacific and Atlantic sectors of the southern latitudes. Precise isotopic measurements on dust in the new WAIS ice divide core are specifically warranted because the data will be synergistically integrated with other high frequency proxies, such as dust concentration and flux, and carbon dioxide, for example. Higher resolution proxies will bridge gaps between our observations on the same well-dated, well-preserved core. The intellectual merit of the project is that the proposed analyses will contribute to the WAIS Divide Project science themes. Whether an active driver or passive recorder, dust is one of the most important but least understood components of regional and global climate. Collaborative and expert discussion with dust-climate modelers will lead to an important progression in understanding of dust and past atmospheric circulation patterns and climate around the southern latitudes, and help to exclude unlikely air trajectories to the ice sheets. The project will provide data to help evaluate models that simulate the dust patterns and cycle and the relative importance of changes in the sources, air trajectories and transport processes, and deposition to the ice sheet under different climate states. The results will be of broad interest to a range of disciplines beyond those directly associated with the WAIS ice core project, including the paleoceanography and dust- paleoclimatology communities. The broader impacts of the project include infrastructure and professional development, as the proposed research will initiate collaborations between LDEO and other WAIS scientists and modelers with expertise in climate and dust. Most of the researchers are still in the early phase of their careers and hence the project will facilitate long-term relationships. This includes a graduate student from UMaine, an undergraduate student from Columbia University who will be involved in lab work, in addition to a LDEO Postdoctoral scientist, and possibly an additional student involved in the international project PIRE-ICETRICS. The proposed research will broaden the scientific outlooks of three PIs, who come to Antarctic ice core science from a variety of other terrestrial and marine geology perspectives. Outreach activities include interaction with the science writers of the Columbia's Earth Institute for news releases and associated blog websites, public speaking, and involvement in an arts/science initiative between New York City's arts and science communities to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and public perception.
Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.
Intellectual Merit: Southern Ocean processes play an important role in Late Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change. However, the direct influence of newly upwelled warm nutrient-rich Circumpolar Deep Water on the Antarctic cryosphere remains speculative. The PI proposes to test the hypothesis that Circumpolar Deep Water-derived ocean heat negatively impacts the mass-balance of Antarctica?s ice sheets during deglaciations using precisely dated late Quaternary paleoceanographic studies of Antarctic margin sediments and a suite of geochemical proxies measured on three existing glacial marine sediment cores from the Prydz Channel, Antarctica. Specifically, the PI will use these data to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system; evaluate the timing, speed, and style of retreat of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system during the last deglaciation, and to assess the impact of Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system in the Late Quaternary. Diatom bound radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques will be used to obtain precise stratigraphic age control for the Prydz Channel siliceous muddy ooze intervals. In addition, the PI will measure sedimentary 10Be concentrations to determine the origin of the siliceous muddy ooze units and to track past changes in the position of the ice shelf front. Broader impacts: This proposal will support an early career female scientist and will provide professional development and research experiences for women/minority graduate and undergraduate students. The PI will take advantage of USF?s Oceanography Camp for Girls.
Hall/1246170 This award supports a project to reconstruct past ice-surface elevations from detailed glacial mapping and dating of moraines (using 14C dates of algae from former ice-marginal ponds and 10Be surface exposure ages) in the region of the Darwin-Hatherton Glaciers in Antarctica in order to try and resolve very different interpretations that currently exist about the glacial history in the region. The results will be integrated with existing climate and geophysical data into a flow-line model to gain insight into glacier response to climate and ice-dynamics perturbations during the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Antarctica. The work will contribute to a better understanding of both LGM ice thickness and whether or not there is any evidence that Antarctica contributed to Meltwater Pulse (MWP)-1A a very controversial topic in Antarctic glacial geology. The intellectual merit of the work relates to the fact that reconstructing past fluctuations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is critical for understanding the sensitivity of ice volume to sea-level and climatic change. Constraints on past behavior help put ongoing changes into context and provide a basis for predicting future sea-level rise. Broader impacts include the support of two graduate and two undergraduate students, as well as a female early-career investigator. Graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project from planning and field mapping to geochronological analyses, interpretation, synthesis and reporting. Two undergraduates will work on lab-based research from the project. The project also will include visits to K-12 classrooms to talk about glaciers and climate change, correspondence with teachers and students from the field, and web-based outreach. This award has field work in Antarctica.
Intellectual Merit: This project will use sediment cores from the Victoria Land Basin (VLB), Antarctica, to study secondary (diagenetic) carbonate minerals, as indicators of the basin?s fluid-flow history, within the well-constrained tectonic, depositional, and climatic context provided by sediment cores. This study will provide insights into subsurface processes in Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica and their relationships with the region?s climatic, cryospheric, and tectonic history. The work will utilize cores previously recovered by US-sponsored stratigraphic drilling projects (CIROS, CRP, and ANDRILL projects). This work is motivated by the unexpected discovery of dense brine in the subsurface of Southern McMurdo Sound during drilling by the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound project. The presence of the brine is intriguing because it contradicts previous models for the origin of subsurface fluids that called upon large contributions from glacial melt water. Project objectives involve documenting the distribution of the brine (and potentially other fluids) via characterization of diagenetic precipitates. The approach will involve integration of petrographic and geochemical data (including conventional carbon, oxygen, and ?clumped? isotopes) to fully characterize diagenetic phases and allow development of a robust paragenetic history. This work will provide novel insights into the Cenozoic evolution of the VLB and, more broadly, the role of glacial processes in generating subsurface fluids. Broader impacts: Results from this project will help understand the origins of brines, groundwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs in analogous modern and ancient deposits elsewhere, which is of broad interest. This project will support the training of one graduate and one undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) providing learning opportunities in sedimentary geology and diagenesis, fields with wide applicability. This proposal emphasizes rapid dissemination of results to the scientific community via conference presentations and contributions to peer-reviewed publications. The results will be integrated into education activities designed to develop skills in petrography and diagenesis, which are highly sought after in the energy sector. The project will generate a well-constrained dataset that allows direct linkage of diagenetic phases to environmental and tectonic change across a large sedimentary basin which will provide the basis for a comprehensive case study in an upper-level course (Sedimentary Petrography and Diagenesis) at UNL. In addition, online exercises will be developed and submitted to an open-access site (SEPM Stratigraphy Web) dedicated to sedimentary geology.
Ocean acidification (OA) poses a serious threat, particularly to organisms that precipitate calcium carbonate from seawater. One organism with an aragonite shell that is a key to high latitude ecosystems is the pteropod. With OA, the pteropod shell will thin because the aragonite is highly soluble. As the shell thins, it changes the mass distribution and buoyancy of the animal, which will affect locomotion and through it, all locomotion dependent behavior such as foraging, mating, predator avoidance and migratory patterns. A lower shell weight will be counterbalanced by a smaller mucus web potentially decreasing ingestion rates and carbon flux rates. This interdisciplinary research relies on biological studies of swimming behavior of the pteropod mollusk Limacina helicina in their natural environments with fluid mechanics analyses of swimming hydrodynamics via 3D tomographic particle-image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This work will: (a) determine how the L. helicina uses its 'wings' (parapodia) to propel itself; (b) examine whether its locomotory kinematics provide efficient propulsion; (c) identify the factors that influence swimming trajectory and 'wobble'; and (d) synthesize all data and insights into guidelines for the potential use of pteropod swimming behavior as a bioassay for OA. The loss of these sentinels of anthropogenic increases in CO2 may result in an ecological shift since thecosome pteropods are responsible for ingesting nearly half the primary production in the Southern Ocean and also serve as a primary food resource to upper trophic levels like fish. Since locomotory data can be gathered immediately, the bioassay being developed in this proposal may serve as an early warning of the impending onset of OA effects on this important member of the plankton. Students and researchers will collaborate in a rich interdisciplinary research environment by working with a biological oceanographer, a fluid mechanics expert and a CFD expert coupled with the teamsmanship needed for work in the Antarctic. By setting up a one-of-a-kind 3D tomography system for visualizing flow around planktonic organisms in Norway and at Palmer Station, we increase international exchange of state-of-the-art techniques. The educational impact of the current research will be multiplied by including in the research team, undergraduate students, high-school students and underrepresented minorities in addition to graduate students.
Intellectual Merit: This research will investigate how Antarctic peatbanks have responded to documented past warm climates on the Western Antarctic Peninsula over the last 1000 years. The work will extend understanding of climate controls on peat carbon accumulation to Antarctic peatbanks thus enabling a bi-polar perspective of ?first responder? ecosystem processes under warmer climate conditions. Understanding climate and ecosystem histories will help reveal processes and mechanisms that control the functioning of these and other polar ecosystems. Specifically, the investigators will evaluate outcomes of ?natural climate-warming experiments? that have occurred in the AP region at 65 degrees south over the last 1000 years. They will focus on two warm climate intervals in the Western Antarctic Peninsula: (1) the recent and ongoing warming of up to 6°C in the last century, and (2) the Medieval Warm Period that occurred ~800 years ago. By collecting and analyzing peat cores and other biological and environmental data, the investigators will derive an independent temperature reconstruction from oxygen isotopes of moss cellulose over the last 1000 years to assess peatbank carbon response to documented warm climate conditions. The overall goal of the proposed project is to document formation ages and temporal changes in carbon-accumulating ecosystems over the last millennium in response to climate change as reconstructed from independent proxies. Also, their data will allow the investigators to understand the nature of reconstructed climate change in relation to atmosphere circulation and ocean conditions. Broader impacts: This research is directly relevant to understanding polar processes affecting soil carbon dynamics and will support an early career researcher. This project will provide training for undergraduate students, graduate student and a postdoctoral fellow and will develop teaching modules and outreach activities on polar climate and ecosystem changes.
This proposed research aims to produce high resolution, precise and accurate records of deep water temperatures in the Drake Passage over the past ~40,000 years, by applying the newly developed carbonate clumped isotope thermometer to a unique collection of modern and fossil deep-sea corals, and thus advance the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in modulating global climate. In addition, this study will provide further evaluation on the potential of this new thermometer to derive accurate estimates of past ocean temperatures from deep-sea coral skeletons. Funding will support an early-career junior scientist and a graduate student. Despite its crucial role in modulating global climate, rates and amplitudes of environmental changes in the Southern Ocean are often difficult to constrain. In particular, the knowledge about the deep water temperatures in the Southern Ocean during the last glacial cycle is extremely limited. This results both from the lack of well-dated climate archives for the deep Southern Ocean and from the fact that most existing temperature proxies (e.g. del18O and Mg/Ca of foraminifera and corals) suffer from the biological 'vital effects'. The latter is especially problematic; it causes substantial challenges in interpreting these geochemical proxies and can lead to biases equivalent to tens of degrees in temperature estimates. Recent development of carbonate clumped isotope thermometer, holds new promises for reconstructing deep water temperatures in the Southern Ocean, since calibration studies of this thermometer in deep-sea corals suggest it is largely free of vital effects. This proposed research seeks to refine the calibration of carbonate clumped isotope thermometer in deep-sea corals at low temperatures, improve the experimental methods to obtain high precision in temperature estimates, and then apply this thermometer to a unique collection of modern and fossil deep-sea corals collected from the Drake Passage during two recent Office of Polar Programs (OPP)-funded cruises, that have already been dated by radiocarbon and U-series methods. By combining the reconstructed temperatures with the radiocarbon and U-Th ages for these deep-sea corals, this study will explore the relationships between these temperature changes and global climate changes.
The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has experienced unprecedented warming and shifts in sea ice cover over the past fifty years. How these changes impact marine microbial communities, and subsequently how these shifts in the biota may affect the carbon cycle in surface waters is unknown. This work will examine how these ecosystem-level changes affect microbial community structure and function. This research will use modern metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to test the hypothesis that the introduction of organic matter from spring phytoplankton blooms drives turnover in microbial communities. This research will characterize patterns in bacterial and archaeal succession during the transition from the austral winter at two long-term monitoring sites: Palmer Station in the north and Rothera Station in the south. This project will also include microcosm incubations to directly assess the effects of additions of organic carbon and melted sea ice on microbial community structure and function. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of the roles of both rare and abundant microorganisms in carbon cycling within the WAP region, and how these communities may shift in structure and function in response to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. The research will provide training opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students and will enhance international collaborations with the British Antarctic Survey.
Taylor/0944348<br/><br/>This award supports renewal of funding of the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office (SCO). The Science Coordination Office (SCO) was established to represent the research community and facilitates the project by working with support organizations responsible for logistics, drilling, and core curation. During the last five years, 26 projects have been individually funded to work on this effort and 1,511 m of the total 3,470 m of ice at the site has been collected. This proposal seeks funding to continue the SCO and related field operations needed to complete the WAIS Divide ice core project. Tasks for the SCO during the second five years include planning and oversight of logistics, drilling, and core curation; coordinating research activities in the field; assisting in curation of the core in the field; allocating samples to individual projects; coordinating the sampling effort; collecting, archiving, and distributing data and other information about the project; hosting an annual science meeting; and facilitating collaborative efforts among the research groups. The intellectual merit of the WAIS Divide project is to better predict how human-caused increases in greenhouse gases will alter climate requires an improved understanding of how previous natural changes in greenhouse gases influenced climate in the past. Information on previous climate changes is used to validate the physics and results of climate models that are used to predict future climate. Antarctic ice cores are the only source of samples of the paleo-atmosphere that can be used to determine previous concentrations of carbon dioxide. Ice cores also contain records of other components of the climate system such as the paleo air and ocean temperature, atmospheric loading of aerosols, and indicators of atmospheric transport. The WAIS Divide ice core project has been designed to obtain the best possible record of greenhouse gases during the last glacial cycle (last ~100,000 years). The site was selected because it has the best balance of high annual snowfall (23 cm of ice equivalent/year), low dust Antarctic ice that does not compromise the carbon dioxide record, and favorable glaciology. The main science objectives of the project are to investigate climate forcing by greenhouse gases, initiation of climate changes, stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and cryobiology in the ice core. The project has numerous broader impacts. An established provider of educational material (Teachers? Domain) will develop and distribute web-based resources related to the project and climate change for use in K?12 classrooms. These resources will consist of video and interactive graphics that explain how and why ice cores are collected, and what they tell us about future climate change. Members of the national media will be included in the field team and the SCO will assist in presenting information to the general public. Video of the project will be collected and made available for general use. Finally, an opportunity will be created for cryosphere students and early career scientists to participate in field activities and core analysis. An ice core archive will be available for future projects and scientific discoveries from the project can be used by policy makers to make informed decisions.
McConnell/1142166 This award supports a project to use unprecedented aerosol and continuous gas (methane, carbon monoxide) measurements of the deepest section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core to investigate rapid climate changes in Antarctica during the ~60,000 year long Marine Isotope Stage 3 period of the late Pleistocene. These analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation of the WAIS Divide ice core to yield the highest time resolution glaciochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core for this time period. The research will expand already funded discrete gas measurements and extend currently funded continuous aerosol measurements on the WAIS Divide ice core from ~25,000 to ~60,000 years before present, spanning Heinrich events 3 to 6 and Antarctic Isotope Maximum (AIM, corresponding to the Northern Hemisphere Dansgaard-Oeschger) events 3 to 14. With other high resolution Greenland cores and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The intellectual merit of the work is that it will be used to address the science goals of the WAIS Divide project including the identification of dust and biomass burning tracers such as black carbon and carbon monoxide which reflect mid- and low-latitude climate and atmospheric circulation patterns, and fallout from these sources affects marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. Similarly, sea salt and ocean productivity tracers reflect changes in sea ice extent, marine primary productivity, wind speeds above the ocean, and atmospheric circulation. Volcanic tracers address the relationship between northern, tropical, and southern climates as well as stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet and sea level change. When combined with other gas records from WAIS Divide, the records developed here will transform understanding of mid- and low-latitude drivers of Antarctic, Southern Hemisphere, and global climate rapid changes and the timing of such changes. The broader impacts of the work are that it will enhance infrastructure through expansion of continuous ice core analytical techniques, train students and support collaboration between two U.S. institutions (DRI and OSU). All data will be made available to the scientific community and the public and will include participation the WAIS Divide Outreach Program. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement is planned. Student recruitment will be made from under-represented groups building on a long track record. Broad outreach will be achieved through collaborations with the global and radiative modeling communities, NESTA-related and other educational outreach efforts, and public lectures. This proposed project does not require field work in the Antarctic.
Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.
EAGER: Collaborative Research: Habitability of Antarctic lakes and detectability of microbial life in icy environments by autonomous year-round instrumentation, is supported by the Antarctic Integrated System Science (AISS) and the Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems (AOE) programs within the Antarctic Sciences section in the Division of Polar Programs within the Geosciences Directorate of the National Sciences Foundation (NSF). The funds will allow the measurement of year-round properties of the microbes and the surrounding water in Lake Bonney, a lake with four meters of permanent ice cover over forty meters of liquid water in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. NSF funds will be used to support the deployment, and the science enabled by the deployment, and NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) funds will be used to purchase the equipment. Intellectual Merit: This research will be the first to make year-round measurements of the microbial community, and several associated environmental variables, in the continuously liquid portions of Lake Bonney, Antarctica. Three different types of equipment will be deployed in each of the lobes of Lake Bonney. The first instrument is an ITP (an ice-tethered profiler) that will measure physical parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll throughout the full depth of the liquid water portion of the lake, making measurements at least once each week. The second and third instruments will be used to collect discrete water samples at least every two weeks to determine A) the biological community (assessing metabolic and phylogenetic diversity) and B) the geochemistry (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, and dissolved inorganic nitrogen species). Such samplers have never been used to measure these properties year-round in the Antarctic. Cold temperatures, bottom lake water salinities that are four times greater than the ocean, the thick permanent ice cover, and the lack of sunlight to recharge batteries all present significant challenges for the project, thus classifying the work as an early, high-risk, high-reward activity (the acronym EAGER stands for Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research). Broader Impacts: There is much interest in understanding the ecosystems of the Polar regions in an era of climate change. Logistical limitations dictate much of this work only take place in the summer, until new autonomous technologies can open the door for year-round measurements. This award will be the first to attempt year-round microbial sampling in Antarctica. The McMurdo Dry Valleys region is also the site of a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, and the research conducted on this project with benefit from, and contribute to, the larger LTER project. The instruments used in the project will be purchased by NASA, so two separate agencies have agreed to explore the feasibility of an early stage project. There will be at least three graduate student trained during the project, and the team will also participate in outreach activities at several venues including the Crow Reservation in Montana.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are among the coldest, driest habitats on the planet. Previous research has documented the presence of surprisingly diverse microbial communities in the soils of the Dry Valleys despite these extreme conditions. However, the degree to which these organisms are active is unknown; it is possible that much of this diversity reflects microbes that have blown into this environment that are subsequently preserved in these cold, dry conditions. This research will use modern molecular techniques to answer a fundamental question regarding these communities: which organisms are active and how do they live in such extreme conditions? The research will include manipulations to explore how changes in water, salt and carbon affect the microbial community, to address the role that these organisms play in nutrient cycling in this environment. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of how life adapts to such extreme conditions as well as the role of dormancy in the life history of microorganisms. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will be made available through a high-profile web-based portal. The research will support two graduate students, two undergraduate research assistants and a postdoctoral fellow. The results will be incorporated into a webinar targeted to secondary and post-secondary educators and a complimentary hands-on class activity kit will be developed and made available to various teacher and outreach organizations.
Severinghaus/0839031 <br/><br/>This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>This award supports a project to develop a precise gas-based chronology for an archive of large-volume samples of the ancient atmosphere, which would enable ultra-trace gas measurements that are currently precluded by sample size limitations of ice cores. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that it will provide a critical test of the "clathrate hypothesis" that methane clathrates contributed to the two abrupt atmospheric methane concentration increases during the last deglaciation 15 and 11 kyr ago. This approach employs large volumes of ice (>1 ton) to measure carbon-14 on past atmospheric methane across the abrupt events. Carbon-14 is an ideal discriminator of fossil sources of methane to the atmosphere, because most methane sources (e.g., wetlands, termites, biomass burning) are rich in carbon-14, whereas clathrates and other fossil sources are devoid of carbon-14. The proposed work is a logical extension to Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, of an approach pioneered at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet over the past 7 years. The Greenland work found higher-than-expected carbon-14 values, likely due in part to contaminants stemming from the high impurity content of Greenland ice and the interaction of the ice with sediments from the glacier bed. The data also pointed to the possibility of a previously unknown process, in-situ cosmogenic production of carbon-14 methane (radiomethane) in the ice matrix. Antarctic ice in Taylor Glacier is orders of magnitude cleaner than the ice at the Greenland site, and is much colder and less stratigraphically disturbed, offering the potential for a clear resolution of this puzzle and a definitive test of the cosmogenic radiomethane hypothesis. Even if cosmogenic radiomethane in ice is found, it still may be possible to reconstruct atmospheric radiomethane with a correction enabled by a detailed understanding of the process, which will be sought by co-measuring carbon-14 in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The broader impacts of the proposed work are that the clathrate test may shed light on the stability of the clathrate reservoir and its potential for climate feedbacks under human-induced warming. Development of Taylor Glacier as a "horizontal ice core" would provide a community resource for other researchers. Education of one postdoc, one graduate student, and one undergraduate, would add to human resources. This award has field work in Antarctica.
Spectacular blooms of Phaeocystis antarctica in the Ross Sea, Antarctica are the source of some of the world's highest concentrations of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). The flux of DMS from the oceans to the atmosphere in this region and its subsequent gas phase oxidation generates aerosols that have a strong influence on cloud properties and possibly climate. In the oceans, DMS and DMSP are quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur, and energy flows in marine food webs, especially in the Ross Sea. Despite its central role in carbon and sulfur biogeochemistry in the Ross Sea, surprisingly little is known about the physiological functions of DMSP in P. Antarctica. The research will isolate and characterize DMSP lyases from P. antarctica, with the goal of obtaining amino acid and gene sequence information on these important enzymes. The physiological studies will focus on the effects of varying intensities of photosynthetically active radiation, with and without ultraviolet radiation as these are factors that we have found to be important controls on DMSP and DMS dynamics. The research also will examine the effects of prolonged darkness on the dynamics of DMSP and related compounds in P. antarctica, as survival of this species during the dark Antarctic winter and at sub-euphotic depths appears to be an important part of the Phaeocystis? ecology. A unique aspect of this work is the focus on measurements of intracellular MSA, which if detected, would provide strong evidence for in vivo radical scavenging functions for methyl sulfur compounds. The study will advance understanding of what controls DMSP cycling and ultimately DMS emissions from the Ross Sea and also provide information on what makes P. antarctica so successful in this extreme environment. The research will directly benefit and build on several interrelated ocean-atmosphere programs including the International Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) program. The PIs will participate in several activities involving K-12 education, High School teacher training, public education and podcasting through the auspices of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Discovery Hall program and SUNY ESF. Two graduate students will be employed full time, and six undergraduates (2 each summer) will be trained as part of this project.
This award supports a detailed, molecular level characterization of dissolved organic carbon and microbes in Antarctic ice cores. Using the most modern biological (genomic), geochemical techniques, and advanced chemical instrumentation researchers will 1) optimize protocols for collecting, extracting and amplifying DNA from deep ice cores suitable for use in next generation pyrosequencing; 2) determine the microbial diversity within the ice core; and 3) obtain and analyze detailed molecular characterizations of the carbon in the ice by ultrahigh resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). With this pilot study investigators will be able to quantify the amount of material (microbial biomass and carbon) required to perform these characterizations, which is needed to inform future ice coring projects. The ultimate goal will be to develop protocols that maximize the yield, while minimizing the amount of ice required. The broader impacts include education and outreach at both the local and national levels. As a faculty mentor with the American Indian Research Opportunities and BRIDGES programs at Montana State University, Foreman will serve as a mentor to a Native American student in the lab during the summer months. Susan Kelly is an Education and Outreach Coordinator with a MS degree in Geology and over 10 years of experience in science outreach. She will coordinate efforts for comprehensive educational collaboration with the Hardin School District on the Crow Indian Reservation in South-central Montana.
Aydin/1043780 This award supports the analysis of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) in a deep ice core from West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS-D), Antarctica. COS is the most abundant sulfur gas in the troposphere and a precursor of stratospheric sulfate. It has a large terrestrial COS sink that is tightly coupled to the photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary goal of this project is to develop high a resolution Holocene record of COS from the WAIS-D 06A ice core. The main objectives are 1) to assess the natural variability of COS and the extent to which its atmospheric variability was influenced by climate variability, and 2) to examine the relationship between changes in atmospheric COS and CO2. This project also includes low-resolution sampling and analysis of COS from 10,000-30,000 yrs BP, covering the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene. The goal of this work is to assess the stability of COS in ice core air over long time scales and to establish the COS levels during the last glacial maximum and the magnitude of the change between glacial and interglacial conditions. The results of this work will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to environmental assessments such as the WMO Stratospheric Ozone Assessment and IPCC Climate Assessment. This project will support a PhD student and undergraduate researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and will create summer research opportunities for undergraduates from non-research active Universities.
Intellectual Merit: The PIs propose to quantify the hillslope water, solute, and carbon budgets for Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, using water tracks to investigate near-surface geological processes and challenge the paradigm that shallow groundwater is minimal or non-exixtant. Water tracks are linear zones of high soil moisture that route shallow groundwater downslope in permafrost dominated soils. Four hypotheses will be tested: 1) water tracks are important pathways for water and solute transport; 2) water tracks transport more dissolved silica than streams in Taylor Valley indicating they are the primary site of chemical weathering for cold desert soils and bedrock; 3) water tracks that drain highland terrains are dominated by humidity-separated brines while water tracks that drain lowland terrains are dominated by marine aerosols; 4) water tracks are the sites of the highest terrestrial soil carbon concentrations and the strongest CO2 fluxes in Taylor Valley and their carbon content increases with soil age, while carbon flux decreases with age. To test these hypotheses the PIs will carry out a suite of field measurements supported by modeling and remote sensing. They will install shallow permafrost wells in water tracks that span the range of geological, climatological, and topographic conditions in Taylor Valley. Multifrequency electromagnetic induction sounding of the upper ~1 m of the permafrost will create the first comprehensive map of soil moisture in Taylor Valley, and will permit direct quantification of water track discharge across the valley. The carbon contents of water track soils will be measured and linked to global carbon dynamics. Broader impacts: Non-science majors at Oregon State University will be integrated into the proposed research through a new Global Environmental Change course focusing on the scientific method in Antarctica. Three undergraduate students, members of underrepresented minorities, will be entrained in the research, will contribute to all aspects of field and laboratory science, and will present results at national meetings.
The research combines interdisciplinary study in geology, paleontology, and biology, using stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses, to examine how climate change and resource utilization have influenced population distribution, movement, and diet in penguins during the mid-to-late Holocene. Previous investigations have demonstrated that abandoned colonies contain well-preserved remains that can be used to examine differential responses of penguins to climate change in various sectors of Antarctica. As such, the research team will investigate abandoned and active pygoscelid penguin (Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo) colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea regions, and possibly Prydz Bay, in collaboration with Chinese scientists during four field seasons. Stable isotope analyses will be conducted on recovered penguin tissues and prey remains in guano to address hypotheses on penguin occupation history, population movement, and diet in relation to climate change since the late Pleistocene. The study will include one Ph.D., two Masters and 16 undergraduate students in advanced research over the project period. Students will be exposed to a variety of fields, the scientific method, and international scientific research. They will complete field and lab research for individual projects or Honor's theses for academic credit. The project also will include web-based outreach, lectures to middle school students, and the development of interactive exercises that highlight hypothesis-driven research and the ecology of Antarctica. Two undergraduate students in French and Spanish languages at UNCW will be hired to assist in translating the Web page postings for broader access to this information.
Intellectual Merit: Sinking particles are a major element of the biological pump and they are commonly assigned to two fates: mineralization in the water column and accumulation at the seafloor. However, there is another fate of export hidden within the vertical decline of carbon, the transformation of sinking organic matter to fine suspended and/or dissolved organic fractions. This process has been suggested but has rarely been observed or quantified. As a result, it is presumed that the solubilized fraction is largely mineralized over short time scales. However, global ocean surveys of dissolved organic carbon are demonstrating a significant water column accumulation of organic matter under high productivity environments. This proposal will investigate the transformation of organic particles from sinking to solubilized phases of the export flux in the Ross Sea. The Ross Sea experiences high export particle production, low dissolved organic carbon export with overturning circulation, and the area has a predictable succession of production and export events. In addition, the basin is shallow (< 000 m) so the products the PIs will target are relatively concentrated. To address the proposed hypothesis, the PIs will use both well-established and novel biochemical and optical measures of export production and its fate. The outcomes of this work will help researchers close the carbon budget in the Ross Sea. Broader impacts: This research will support graduate and undergraduate students and will provide undergraduates and pre-college students with field-based research experience. Scientifically, this research will increase understanding of carbon sinks in the Ross Sea and will help develop new tools for identifying, quantifying, and tracking that carbon. The PIs will interface with K-12 students through daily reports from the field and through educational modules developed by several of the PIs in collaboration with science education specialists and college students. A K-12 educator will be included on the research cruises. Outreach will be through COSEE Florida and the Maritime Center in Norfolk, VA.
1143619/Severinghaus This award supports a project to extend the study of gases in ice cores to those gases whose small molecular diameters cause them to escape rapidly from ice samples (the so-called "fugitive gases"). The work will employ helium, neon, argon, and oxygen measurements in the WAIS Divide ice core to better understand the mechanism of the gas close-off fractionation that occurs while air bubbles are incorporated into ice. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is that corrections for this fractionation using neon (which is constant in the atmosphere) may ultimately enable the first ice core-based atmospheric oxygen and helium records. Neon may also illuminate the mechanistic link between local insolation and oxygen used for astronomical dating of ice cores. Helium measure-ments in the deepest ~100 m of the core will also shed light on the stratigraphic integrity of the basal ice, and serve as a probe of solid earth-ice interaction at the base of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Past atmospheric oxygen records, currently unavailable prior to 1989 CE, would reveal changes in the size of the terrestrial biosphere carbon pool that accompany climate variations and place constraints on the biogeochemical feedback response to future warming. An atmospheric helium-3/helium-4 record would test the hypothesis that the solar wind (which is highly enriched in helium-3) condensed directly into Earth?s atmosphere during the collapse of the geomagnetic field that occurred 41,000 years ago, known as the Laschamp Event. Fugitive-gas samples will be taken on-site immediately after recovery of the ice core by the PI and one postdoctoral scholar, under the umbrella of an existing project to support replicate coring and borehole deepening. This work will add value to the scientific return from field work activity with little additional cost to logistical resources. The broader impacts of the work on atmospheric oxygen are that it may increase understanding of how terrestrial carbon pools and atmospheric greenhouse gas sources will respond in a feedback sense to the coming warming. Long-term atmospheric oxygen trends are also of interest for understanding biogeochemical regulatory mechanisms and the impact of atmospheric evolution on life. Helium records have value in understanding the budget of this non-renewable gas and its implications for space weather and solar activity. The project will train one graduate student and one postdoctoral scholar. The fascination of linking solid earth, cryosphere, atmosphere, and space weather will help to entrain and excite young scientists and efforts to understand the Earth as a whole interlinked system will provide fuel to outreach efforts at all ages.
1245659/Petrenko This award supports a project to use the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, ablation zone to collect ice samples for a range of paleoenvironmental studies. A record of carbon-14 of atmospheric methane (14CH4) will be obtained for the last deglaciation and the Early Holocene, together with a supporting record of CH4 stable isotopes. In-situ cosmogenic 14C content and partitioning of 14C between different species (14CH4, C-14 carbon monoxide (14CO) and C-14 carbon dioxide (14CO2)) will be determined with unprecedented precision in ice from the surface down to ~67 m. Further age-mapping of the ablating ice stratigraphy will take place using a combination of CH4, CO2, δ18O of oxygen gas and H2O stable isotopes. High precision, high-resolution records of CO2, δ13C of CO2, nitrous oxide (N2O) and N2O isotopes will be obtained for the last deglaciation and intervals during the last glacial period. The potential of 14CO2 and Krypton-81 (81Kr) as absolute dating tools for glacial ice will be investigated. The intellectual merit of proposed work includes the fact that the response of natural methane sources to continuing global warming is uncertain, and available evidence is insufficient to rule out the possibility of catastrophic releases from large 14C-depleted reservoirs such as CH4 clathrates and permafrost. The proposed paleoatmospheric 14CH4 record will improve our understanding of the possible magnitude and timing of CH4 release from these reservoirs during a large climatic warming. A thorough understanding of in-situ cosmogenic 14C in glacial ice (production rates by different mechanisms and partitioning between species) is currently lacking. Such an understanding will likely enable the use of in-situ 14CO in ice at accumulation sites as a reliable, uncomplicated tracer of the past cosmic ray flux and possibly past solar activity, as well as the use of 14CO2 at both ice accumulation and ice ablation sites as an absolute dating tool. Significant gaps remain in our understanding of the natural carbon cycle, as well as in its responses to global climate change. The proposed high-resolution, high-precision records of δ13C of CO2 would provide new information on carbon cycle changes both during times of rising CO2 in a warming climate and falling CO2 in a cooling climate. N2O is an important greenhouse gas that increased by ~30% during the last deglaciation. The causes of this increase are still largely uncertain, and the proposed high-precision record of N2O concentration and isotopes would provide further insights into N2O source changes in a warming world. The broader impacts of proposed work include an improvement in our understanding of the response of these greenhouse gas budgets to global warming and inform societally important model projections of future climate change. The continued age-mapping of Taylor Glacier ablation ice will add value to this high-quality, easily accessible archive of natural environmental variability. Establishing 14CO as a robust new tracer for past cosmic ray flux would inform paleoclimate studies and constitute a valuable contribution to the study of the societally important issue of climate change. The proposed work will contribute to the development of new laboratory and field analytical systems. The data from the study will be made available to the scientific community and the broad public through the NSIDC and NOAA Paleoclimatology data centers. 1 graduate student each will be trained at UR, OSU and SIO, and the work will contribute to the training of a postdoc at OSU. 3 UR undergraduates will be involved in fieldwork and research. The work will support a new, junior UR faculty member, Petrenko. All PIs have a strong history of and commitment to scientific outreach in the forms of media interviews, participation in filming of field projects, as well as speaking to schools and the public about their research, and will continue these activities as part of the proposed work. This award has field work in Antarctica.
ASPIRE is an NSF-funded project that will examine the ecology of the Amundsen Sea during the Austral summer of 2010. ASPIRE includes an international team of trace metal and carbon chemists, phytoplankton physiologists, microbial and zooplankton ecologists, and physical oceanographers, that will investigate why and how the Amundsen Sea Polynya is so much more productive than other polynyas and whether interannual variability can provide insight to climate-sensitive mechanisms driving carbon fluxes. This project will compliment the existing ASPIRE effort by using 1) experimental manipulations to understand photoacclimation of the dominant phytoplankton taxa under conditions of varying light and trace metal abundance, 2) nutrient addition bioassays to determine the importance of trace metal versus nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton growth, and 3) a numerical ecosystem model to understand the importance of differences in mixing regime, flow field, and Fe sources in controlling phytoplankton bloom dynamics and community composition in this unusually productive polynya system. The research strategy will integrate satellite remote sensing, field-based experimental manipulations, and numerical modeling. Outreach and education include participation in Stanford's Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford's School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center. Undergraduate participation and training will include support for both graduate students and undergraduate assistants.
The albedo, or reflection coefficient, is a measure of the diffuse reflectivity of an irradiated surface. With the sunlit atmosphere as a light source, and sea-ice as a diffuse reflecting surface, the albedo would be the fraction of incident light that is returned to the atmosphere. A perfect (white) reflecting surface would have an albedo of 1; a perfect (black) absorbing surface would have an albedo of 0. The albedo of sea-ice is needed to assess the solar energy budget of the marginal ice zone, to compute the partial solar bands in radiation budgets in general circulation and earth system models, and is also needed to interpret remote sensing imagery data products. Applications requiring albedos further into the near IR, out to 2500nm, are assumed or approximated. Modern spectral radiometers, such as will be used in this campaign on a Southern Ocean voyage from Hobart to Antarctica, can extend these measurements of albedo from 350 to 2500nm, allowing earlier estimates to be verified, or corrected. Surfaces to be encountered on this research cruise are expected to include open water, grease ice, nila ice, pancake ice, young grey ice, young grey-white ice, along with first year ice. The presence of variable amounts of snow on these surfaces is also of interest. Light absorbing impurities in the snow and ice, including black carbon and organic matter (brown carbon) are different from those found in Arctic Sea ice, the Antarctic being so remote from combustion sources. This may allow better understanding of the seasonal cycles, energy budgets and their recent trends in spatial extent and thickness. The project will also broaden the educational experiences of both US and Australian students participating in the measurement campaign
The proposed research will investigate the interacting and potentially synergistic influence of two oceanographic features - ocean acidification and the projected rise in mean sea surface temperature - on the performance of Notothenioids, the dominant fish of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Understanding the joint effects of acidification and temperature rise on these fish is a vital component of predicting the resilience of coastal marine ecosystems. Notothenioids have repeatedly displayed a narrow window of physiological tolerances when subjected to abiotic stresses. Given that evolutionary adaptation may have led to finely-tuned traits with narrow physiological limits in these organisms, this system provides a unique opportunity to examine physiological trade-offs associated with acclimation to the multi-stressor environment expected from future atmospheric CO2 projections. Understanding these trade-offs will provide valuable insight into the capacity species have for responses to climate change via phenotypic plasticity. As an extension to functional measurements, this study will use evolutionary approaches to map variation in physiological responses onto the phylogeny of these fishes and the genetic diversity within species. These approaches offer insight into the historical constraints and future potential for evolutionary optimization. The research will significantly expand the genomic resources available to polar researchers and will support the training of graduate students and a post doc at an EPSCoR institution. Research outcomes will be incorporated into classroom curriculum.
Barbeau, David; Hemming, Sidney R.; Barbeau, David Jr
No dataset link provided
Intellectual Merit: Recent geochemical, sequence stratigraphic, and integrated investigations of marine strata from several continental margins and ocean basins suggest that ephemeral ice sheets may have existed on Antarctica during parts of the Cretaceous and early Paleogene. However, atmospheric carbon dioxide estimates for this time are as much as four times modern levels. With such greenhouse conditions, the presence of Antarctic ice sheets would imply that our current understanding of Earth?s climate system, and specifically the interpreted thresholds of Antarctic glaciation and deglaciation should be reconsidered. The proposed research will compare the quantity and provenance of Cretaceous sediments in the Larsen basin of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula with the exhumation chronology and composition of potential sediment source terranes on the peninsula and in adjacent regions. New outcrop stratigraphic analyses with improvements in the age models from radioisotopic approaches will be integrated to determine the amount of detrital sediment fluxed to the Larsen basin between key chronostratigraphic surfaces. Microtextural analysis of quartz sand and silt grains will help determine whether the Larsen basin detrital sediment originated from glacial weathering. These preliminary results will test the viability of the proposed approach to assess the controversial Cretaceous Antarctic glaciation hypothesis. Broader impacts: The proposed work will partially support a PhD, a MSc, and three undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina. The PIs will publicize this work through volunteer speaking engagements and the development of videos and podcasts. They also commit to prompt publication of the results and timely submission of data to archives. The development/improvement of the Larsen basin age model will benefit ongoing research in paleobiology, paleoclimate and biogeography. Development of the glauconite K-Ar and Rb-Sr chronometers could be an important outcome beyond the direct scope of the proposed research.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth's organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls' schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.
Severinghaus/0944343<br/><br/>This award supports a project to develop both a record of past local temperature change at the WAIS Divide site, and past mean ocean temperature using solubility effects on atmospheric krypton and xenon. The two sets of products share some of the same measurements, because the local temperature is necessary to make corrections to krypton and xenon, and thus synergistically support each other. Further scientific synergy is obtained by the fact that the mean ocean temperature is constrained to vary rather slowly, on a 1000-yr timescale, due to the mixing time of the deep ocean. Thus rapid changes are not expected, and can be used to flag methodological problems if they appear in the krypton and xenon records. The mean ocean temperature record produced will have a temporal resolution of 500 years, and will cover the entire 3400 m length of the core. This record will be used to test hypotheses regarding the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) variations, including the notion that deep ocean stratification via a cold salty stagnant layer caused atmospheric CO2 drawdown during the last glacial period. The local surface temperature record that results will synergistically combine with independent borehole thermometry and water isotope records to produce a uniquely precise and accurate temperature history for Antarctica, on a par with the Greenland temperature histories. This history will be used to test hypotheses that the ?bipolar seesaw? is forced from the North Atlantic Ocean, which makes a specific prediction that the timing of Antarctic cooling should slightly lag abrupt Greenland warming. The WAIS Divide ice core is expected to be the premier atmospheric gas record of the past 100,000 years for the foreseeable future, and as such, making this set of high precision noble gas measurements adds value to the other gas records because they all share a common timescale and affect each other in terms of physical processes such as gravitational fractionation. Broader impact of the proposed work: The clarification of timing of atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic surface temperature, along with deep ocean temperature, will aid in efforts to understand the feedbacks among CO2, temperature, and ocean circulation. These feedbacks bear on the future response of the Earth System to anthropogenic forcing. A deeper understanding of the mechanism of deglaciation, and the role of atmospheric CO2, will go a long way towards clarifying a topic that has become quite confused in the public mind in the public debate over climate change. Elucidating the role of the bipolar seesaw in ending glaciations and triggering CO2 increases may also provide an important warning that this represents a potential positive feedback, not currently considered by IPCC. Education of one graduate student, and training of one technician, will add to the nation?s human resource base. Outreach activities will be enhanced and will to continue to entrain young people in discovery, and excitement will enhance the training of the next generation of scientists and educators.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>This award supports a project to use the WAIS Divide deep core to investigate the Last Deglaciation at sub-annual resolution through an integrated set of chemical and biological analyses. The intellectual merit of the project is that these analyses, combined with others, will take advantage of the high snow accumulation WAIS Divide site yielding the highest time resolution glacio-biogeochemical and gas record of any deep Antarctic ice core. With other high resolution Greenland cores (GISP2 and GRIP) and lower resolution Antarctic cores, the combined record will yield new insights into worldwide climate dynamics and abrupt change. The proposed chemical, biological, and elemental tracer measurements will also be used to address all of the WAIS Divide science themes. The broader impacts of the project include education and outreach activities such as numerous presentations to local K-12 students; opportunities for student and teacher involvement in the laboratory work; a teacher training program in Earth sciences in the heavily minority Santa Ana, Compton, and Costa Mesa, California school districts; and development of high school curricula. Extensive graduate and undergraduate student involvement also is planned and will include one post doctoral associate, one graduate student, and undergraduate hourly involvement at DRI; a graduate student and undergraduates at University of California, Irvine (UCI); and a post doctoral fellow at MSU. Student recruitment will be made from underrepresented groups building on a long track record of involvement and will include the NSF funded California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) and the Montana American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO).<br/><br/>This award does not involve field work in Antarctica.
Intellectual Merit: Diatom abundance in sediment cores is typically used as a proxy for paleo primary productivity. This record is complicated by variable preservation, with most loss occurring in the water column via dissolution and zooplankton grazing. This study will investigate preservational biases via a series of controlled experiments to create proxies of original productivity based on morphological changes associated with diatom dissolution and fracture. The PIs will utilize fresh diatoms from culture. Specific objectives include: (1) Linking changes in diatom morphology to availability of dissolved silica and other physical and chemical parameters; (2) Documenting the dissolution process under controlled conditions; (3) Assessment of changes in morphology and diatom surface roughness with increased dissolution; (4) Documenting the physical effects of grazing and fecal pellet formation on diatom fragmentation and dissolution; and (5) Analyzing the impact of diatom dissolution on silica and carbon export. These objectives will be achieved by growing Southern Ocean diatom species in the laboratory under differing physical and chemical conditions; controlled serial dissolution experiments on cultured diatoms; analysis of the dissolution process by imaging frustules under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and with micro-analysis of surface texture by atomic force microscopy (AFM); making the cultures available to krill and other live zooplankton crustaceans in order to analyze the specific effects of grazing and pelletization on diatom morphology; and comparing experimental results with natural plankton, sediment trap material, and selected Holocene, Pleistocene and Pliocene sediment core material. Broader impacts: This work will contribute to understanding of the use of diatom abundance as an indicator of paleoproductivity. The proposed experiments are multi-disciplinary in nature. Importantly, the project was designed, and the proposal largely written, by a Ph.D. candidate. The research proposed here will lead to peer-reviewed publications and provide a base for future studies over the course of an extremely promising scientific career. The project will also support an undergraduate research student at NIU. The PI is heavily involved in science outreach, including classroom visits, museum events and webinars related to evolution and climate change, and is active with NSF-funded outreach activities linked to the ANDRILL and WISSARD programs. He will continue these efforts with this project.
Intellectual Merit: The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) is a study of ocean mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) which runs west to east all around the continent of Antarctica, south of the other continents. This current system is somewhat of a barrier to transport of heat, carbon dioxide and other important ocean constituents between the far south and the rest of the ocean, and mixing processes play an important role in those transports. DIMES is a multi-investigator cooperative project, led by physical oceanographers in the U.S. and in the U.K. A passive tracer and an array of sub-surface floats were deployed early in 2009 more than 2000 km west of Drake Passage on a surface of constant density about 1500 m deep between the Sub Antarctic Front and the Polar Front of the ACC. In early 2010 a U.S. led research cruise sampled the tracer, turbulence levels, and the velocity and density profiles that govern the generation of that turbulence, and additional U.K. led research cruises in 2011 and 2012 continue this sampling as the tracer has made its way through Drake Passage, into the Scotia Sea, and over the North Scotia Ridge, a track of more than 3000 km. The initial results show that diapycnal, i.e., vertical, mixing west of Drake Passage where the bottom is relatively smooth is no larger than in most other regions of the open ocean. In contrast, there are strong velocity shears and intense turbulence levels over the rough topography in Drake Passage and diapycnal diffusivity of the tracer more than 10 times larger in Drake Passage and to the east than west of Drake Passage. The DIMES field program continues with the U.S. team collecting new velocity and turbulence data in the Scotia Sea. It is anticipated that the tracer will continue passing through the Scotia Sea until at least early 2014. The U.K. partners have scheduled sampling of the tracer on cruises at the North Scotia Ridge and in the eastern and central Scotia Sea in early 2013 and early 2014. The current project will continue the time series of the tracer at Drake Passage on two more U.S. led cruises, in late 2012 and late 2013. Trajectories through the Scotia Sea estimated from the tracer observations, from neutrally buoyant floats, and from numerical models will be used to accurately estimate mixing rates of the tracer and to locate where the mixing is concentrated. During the 2013 cruise the velocity and turbulence fields along high-resolution transects along the ACC and across the ridges of Drake Passage will be measured to see how far downstream of the ridges the mixing is enhanced, and to test the hypothesis that mixing is enhanced by breaking lee waves generated by flow over the rough topography. Broader Impacts: DIMES (see web site at http://dimes.ucsd.edu) involves many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Two graduate students, who would become expert in ocean turbulence and the processes generating it, will continue be trained on this project. The work in DIMES is ultimately motivated by the need to understand the overturning circulation of the global ocean. This circulation governs the transport and storage of heat and carbon dioxide within the huge oceanic reservoir, and thus plays a major role in regulating the earth?s climate. Understanding the circulation and how it changes in reaction to external forces is necessary to the understanding of past climate change and of how climate might change in the future, and is therefore of great importance to human well-being. The data collected and analyzed by the DIMES project will be assembled and made publicly available at the end of the project. The DIMES project is a process experiment sponsored by the U.S. CLIVAR (Climate variability and predictability) program.
Krill, Euphausia superba, is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem and provides the trophic link between microscopic plankton and charismatic megafauna such as penguins and whales. Recent evidence suggests krill may not be exclusively planktonivorous, which introduces the potential of new pathways of carbon flux through krill based ecosystems. A change in our view of krill from one of being herbivores to omnivores opens up several questions. Climate induced change in the extent, thickness and duration of overlying sea ice coverage is expected to change the prey fields available to krill, and to have subsequent effects on the suite of predators supported by krill. The nature of this benthic prey?krill link, which may be crucial in those parts of the seasonal cycle other than the well studied spring bloom, is yet to be determined. DNA techniques will be used to identify and quantify the prey organisms. This project will measure the in situ feeding ecology and behavior of krill and, ultimately, the success of this key species. An overall goal is to investigate seasonal changes in Euphausia superba in-situ feeding and swimming behavior in the Wilhelmina Bay region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) area, known to be a region of changing climate. Understanding the biological impacts of climate change is important to societal and economic goals. The project scientists will additionally team with a marine and environmental reporting group to design presentations for an annual journalist meeting.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>Light quality and availability are likely to change in polar ecosystems as ice coverage and thickness decrease. How microbes adjust to these and other changes will have huge impacts on the polar marine ecosystems. Little is known about photoheterotrophic prokaryotes, which are hypothesized to gain a metabolic advantage by harvesting light energy in addition to utilizing dissolved organic matter (DOM). Photoheterotrophy is not included in current models of carbon cycling and energy flow. This research will examine three questions: 1. Are photoheterotrophic microbes present and active in Antarctic waters in winter and summer? 2. Does community structure of photoheterotrophs shift between summer and winter? 3. Which microbial groups assimilate more DOM in light than in the dark? The research will test hypotheses about activity of photoheterotrophs in winter and in summer, shifts in community structure between light and dark seasons and the potentially unique impacts of photoheterotrophs on biogeochemical processes in the Antarctic. The project will directly support a graduate student, will positively impact the NSF REU program at the College of Marine and Earth Studies, and will include students from the nation?s oldest historical minority college. The results will be featured during weekly tours of Lewes facilities (about 1000 visitors per year) and during Coast Day, an annual open-house that attracts about 10,000 visitors.
Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake's history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.
The glacial streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial mats that are a probable source of fixed C and N to the Valleys. The research will examine the interplay between the microbial mats in the ephemeral glacial streams and the microbiota of the hyporheic soils (wetted soil zone) underlying and adjacent to those mats. It is hypothesized that the mats are important sources of organic carbon and fixed nitrogen for the soil communities of the hyporheic zone, and release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) that serves the entire Dry Valley ecosystem. Field efforts will entail both observational and experimental components. Direct comparisons will be made between the mats and microbial populations underlying naturally rehydrated and desiccated mat areas, and between mat areas in the melt streams of the Adams and Miers Glaciers in Miers Valley. Both physiological and phylogenetic indices of the soil microbiota will be examined. Observations will include estimates of rates of mat carbon and nitrogen fixation, soil respiration and leucine and thymidine uptake (as measures of protein & DNA synthesis, respectively) by soil bacteria, bacterial densities and their molecular ecology. Experimental manipulations will include experimental re-wetting of soils and observations of the time course of response of the microbial community. The research will integrate modern molecular genetic approaches (ARISA-DNA fingerprinting and ultra deep 16S rDNA microbial phylogenetic analysis) with geochemistry to study the diversity, ecology, and function of microbial communities that thrive in these extreme environments. The broader impacts of the project include research and educational opportunities for graduate students and a postdoctoral associate. The P.I.s will involve undergraduates as work-study students and in REU programs, and will participate in educational and outreach programs.
The ocean plays a critical role in sequestering CO2 by exporting fixed carbon to the deep ocean through the biological pump. There is a pressing need to understand the systematics of carbon export in the Southern Ocean in the context of global warming because of the sensitivity of this region to climate change, already manifested as significant temperature increases. Numerous studies have indicated that Fe supply is a primary control on phytoplankton biomass and productivity in the Southern Ocean. The results from previous cruises in Feb-Mar 2004 and Jul-Aug 2006 have revealed the major natural Fe fertilization from Fe-rich shelf waters to the Fe-limited high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) Antarctic Circumpolar Current Surface Water (ASW) in the southern Drake Passage, producing a series of phytoplankton blooms. Remaining questions include: How is natural Fe transported to the euphotic zone through small-meso-large scale horizontal-vertical transport and mixing in different HNLC ACC areas? How does plankton community structure evolve in response to a natural Fe addition, how does Fe speciation respond to biogeochemical processes, and how is Fe recycled to determine the longevity of phytoplankton blooms? How does the export of POC evolve as a function of upwelling-mixing, Fe addition-recycling and bacteria-plankton structure? This synthesis proposal will address these fundamental questions using a unique dataset combining multiyear physical, Fe and biogeochemical data collected between 2004 and 2006 from 2 NSF-funded Fe fertilization experiment cruises and 3 Antarctic Marine Living Resource (AMLR) cruises in the southern Drake Passage and southwestern Scotia Sea through collaboration with scientists in the AMLR program and US Southern Ocean GLOBEC projects. All investigators involved in this study are engaged in graduate and undergraduate instruction, and mentoring of postdoctoral researchers. Each P.I. will incorporate key elements of the proposed syntheses in our lectures, problem sets and group projects. The project includes support to convene a 4-5 day international workshop on natural Fe fertilization at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The workshop will include scientists from United Kingdom, France and Germany who have conducted natural Fe fertilization experiments, and Korea and China who are planning to conduct natural Fe fertilization experiments. The participation of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars will be especially encouraged. The results will be published in a Deep-Sea Research II special issue.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>This award supports a project to develop a robust analytical technique for measuring the stable isotopes of CO2 in air trapped in polar ice, and to reconstruct the ä13C of CO2 over the last glacial to interglacial transition (20,000 to 10,000 years BP) and through the Holocene. The bulk of these measurements will be made on newly cored ice from the WAIS Divide Ice Core. A robust record ä13C of CO2 will be a valuable addition to the rich data produced from this project. The intellectual merit of the proposed work relates to the fact that explaining glacial-interglacial changes in atmospheric CO2 remains a major challenge for paleoclimatology. The lack of a coherent, widely accepted explanation underscores uncertainties in the basic mechanisms that control the carbon cycle, and that lack of understanding limits our ability to confidently predict how the carbon cycle will change in the future, in the face of a potentially major perturbation of both global temperature and the CO2 content of the atmosphere. A widely accepted record of this parameter could transform our understanding of how the carbon cycle and climate change are linked. The broader impacts of the work include training of graduate student at OSU who will conduct much of the lab work and will also participate in fieldwork at the WAIS Divide Core site. The student will also participate in a number of organized outreach efforts and will develop his own outreach effort, through weblogs and other communication of his research. The PIs will communicate the results from this project to a variety of audiences through academic courses and public talks. The proposed work addresses a major topic in biogeochemistry, the origin of glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles. The results are relevant to understanding changes in the carbon cycle due to human activities because the lack of clear understanding of past variations contributes to public uncertainty about the importance of modern climate change. The proposed funding will also contribute to analytical infrastructure at OSU and develop an analytical capability for an ice core measurement currently not available in the United States.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). <br/><br/>Most organisms meet their carbon and energy needs using photosynthesis (phototrophy) or ingestion/assimilation of organic substances (heterotrophy). However, a nutritional strategy that combines phototrophy and heterotrophy - mixotrophy - is geographically and taxonomically widespread in aquatic systems. While the presence of mixotrophs in the Southern Ocean is known only recently, preliminary evidence indicates a significant role in Southern Ocean food webs. Recent work on Southern Ocean dinoflagellate, Kleptodinium, suggests that it sequesters functional chloroplasts of the bloom-forming haptophyte, Phaeocystis antarctica. This dinoflagellate is abundant in the Ross Sea, has been reported elsewhere in the Southern Ocean, and may have a circumpolar distribution. By combining nutritional modes. mixotrophy may offer competitive advantages over pure autotrophs and heterotrophs. <br/><br/>The goals of this project are to understand the importance of alternative nutritional strategies for Antarctic species that combine phototrophic and phagotrophic processes in the same organism. The research will combine field investigations of plankton and ice communities in the Southern Ocean with laboratory experiments on Kleptodinium and recently identified mixotrophs from our Antarctic culture collections. The research will address: 1) the relative contributions of phototrophy and phagotrophy in Antarctic mixotrophs; 2) the nature of the relationship between Kleptodinium and its kleptoplastids; 3) the distributions and abundances of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium in the Southern Ocean during austral spring/summer; and 4) the impacts of mixotrophs and Kleptodinium on prey populations, the factors influencing these behaviors and the physiological conditions of these groups in their natural environment. The project will contribute to the maintenance of a culture collection of heterotrophic, phototrophic and mixotrophic Antarctic protists that are available to the scientific community, and it will train graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University. Research findings and activities will be summarized for non-scientific audiences through the PIs' websites and through other public forums, and will involve middle school teachers via collaboration with COSEE-New England.
The mechanisms enabling bacteria to be metabolically active at very low temperatures are of considerable importance to polar microbial ecology, astrobiology, climate and cryopreservation. This research program has two main objectives. The first is to investigate metabolic activities and gene expression of polar marine psychrophilic bacteria when confronted with freezing conditions at temperatures above the eutectic of seawater (<54C) to unveil cold adaptation mechanisms with relevance to wintertime sea-ice ecology. The second objective is to discern if psychrophilic processes of leucine incorporation into proteins, shown to occur to -196C, amount to metabolic activity providing for the survival of cells or are merely biochemical reactions still possible in flash-frozen samples without any effect on survival. We will examine extracellular and intracellular processes of psychrophilic activity above and below the eutectic by (i) determining the temperature range of metabolic activities such as DNA synthesis, carbon utilization, respiration and ATP generation using radioactive tracer technology, including a control at liquid helium temperature (-268.9C), (ii) analyzing gene expression in ice using whole genome and microarray analyses and iii) examining the role of exopolymeric substances (EPS) and ice micro-physics for the observed activity using an in-situ microscopy technique. Results of the proposed research can be expected to aid in the determination of cellular and genetic strategies that allow cells to maintain activity at extremely low temperatures within an icy matrix and/or to resume activity again when more growth-permissive conditions are encountered. The research is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving three different institutions with participants in Oceanography, Genomics, and Geophysical Sciences. The proposed activity will support the beginning professional career of a female researcher and will serve as the basis for several undergraduate student laboratory projects.
This award supports a project to create new, unprecedented high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) records spanning intervals of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period and the early Holocene. The proposed work will utilize high-precision methods on existing ice cores from high accumulation sites such as Siple Dome and Byrd Station, Antarctica and will improve our understanding of how fast CO2 can change naturally, how its variations are linked with climate, and, combined with a coupled climate-carbon cycle model, will clarify the role of terrestrial and oceanic processes during past abrupt changes of climate and CO2. The intellectual merit of this work is that CO2 is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and understanding its past variations, its sources and sinks, and how they are linked to climate change is a major goal of the climate research community. This project will produce high quality data on centennial to multi-decadal time scales. Such high-resolution work has not been conducted before because of insufficient analytical precision, slow experimental procedures in previous studies, or lack of available samples. The proposed research will complement future high-resolution studies from WAIS Divide ice cores and will provide ice core CO2 records for the target age intervals, which are in the zone of clathrate formation in the WAIS ice cores. Clathrate hydrate is a phase composed of air and ice. CO2 analyses have historically been less precise in clathrate ice than in ?bubbly ice? such as the Siple Dome ice core that will be analyzed in the proposed project. High quality, high-resolution results from specific intervals in Siple Dome that we propose to analyze will provide important data for verifying the WAIS Divide record. The broader impacts of the work are that current models show a large uncertainty of future climate-carbon cycle interactions. The results of this proposed work will be used for testing coupled carbon cycle-climate models and may contribute to reducing this uncertainty. The project will contribute to the training of several undergraduate students and a full-time technician. Both will learn analytical techniques and the basic science involved. Minorities and female students will be highly encouraged to participate in this project. Outreach efforts will include participation in news media interviews, at a local festival celebrating art, science and technology, and giving seminar presentations in the US and foreign countries. The OSU ice core laboratory has begun a collaboration with a regional science museum and is developing ideas to build an exhibition booth to make public be aware of climate change and ice core research. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and at other similar archives per the OPP data policy.
Since 1990, Palmer LTER (PAL) research has been guided by the hypothesis that variability in the polar marine ecosystem is mechanistically coupled to changes in the annual advance, retreat and spatial extent of sea ice. Since that time, the hypothesis has been modified to incorporate climate migration, i.e. the displacement of a cold, dry polar climate by a warm, moist climate regime in the northern component of the PAL region, producing fundamental changes in food web structure and elemental cycling. The observed northern changes are affecting all trophic levels and elemental cycling, and the primary mechanism of change involves match-mismatch dynamics. The proposed research builds on previous findings, with a new emphasis on process studies and modeling to elucidate the mechanistic links between teleconnections, climate change, physical oceanographic forcing and ecosystem dynamics. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that regional warming and sea ice decline associated with historical and on-going climate migration in the northern part of the study area have altered key phenological relationships, leading to changes in species distributions, increasing trophic mismatches and changes in habitat, food availability, ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Through targeted process studies linked to numerical model simulations, the research also will test the hypothesis that deep cross-shelf canyons characterizing the core study region are focal areas for ecosystem processes that result in predictable, elevated food resources for top-predators. The effort includes the addition of 3 new PIs: a zooplankton ecologist with expertise in biogeochemical fluxes, a phytoplankton ecologist focusing on bio-optics and autonomous observations using gliders, and a numerical simulation modeler specializing in coupled global models of ocean circulation, plankton ecology and biogeochemical cycles. The program will add trace metal sampling and analysis, moored physical oceanographic sensors, a moored sediment trap in the south, drifting sediment traps and stable carbon (del 13C) and nitrogen (del 15N) isotope analyses. Missions lasting up to 45 days using gliders deployed before, during and after summer cruises will, along with moorings and satellite remote sensing of sea ice, ocean color, sea surface temperatures and wind fields, greatly extend the observational program in space and time. <br/><br/>Since its inception, PAL has been a leader in Information Management to enable knowledge-building within and beyond the Antarctic, oceanographic and LTER communities. PAL has designed and deployed a new information infrastructure with a relational database architecture to facilitate data distribution and sharing. The Education and Outreach program capitalizes on the public's fascination with Antarctica to promote scientific literacy from kindergarten students to adult citizens concerned with climate change and environmental sustainability. Through communicating results to the public and working with scientific assessment bodies (e.g., IPCC) and Antarctic Treaty parties to protect Earth's last frontier, PAL researchers contribute to the national scientific agenda and the greater public benefit.
This project studies the Permian-Triassic extinction event as recorded in sedimentary rocks from the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Two hundred and fifty million years ago most life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. The cause is a subject of great debate. Researchers have identified a unique stratigraphic section near Shackleton glacier laid down during the extinction event. Organic matter from these deposits will be analyzed by density gradient centrifugation (DGC), which will offer detailed information on the carbon isotope composition. The age of these layers will be precisely dated by U/Pb-zircon-dating of intercalated volcanics. Combined, these results will offer detailed constraints on the timing and duration of carbon isotope excursions during the extinction, and offer insight into the coupling of marine and terrestrial carbon cycles. The broader impacts of this project include graduate and undergraduate student research, K12 outreach and teacher involvement, and societal relevance of the results, since the P/T extinction may have been caused by phenomena such as methane release, which could accompany global warming.
Brook 0739766<br/><br/>This award supports a project to create a 25,000-year high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from the WAIS Divide ice core. The site has high ice accumulation rate, relatively cold temperatures, and annual layering that should be preserved back to 40,000 years, all prerequisite for preserving a high quality, well-dated CO2 record. The new record will be used to examine relationships between Antarctic climate, Northern Hemisphere climate, and atmospheric CO2 on glacial-interglacial to centennial time scales, at unprecedented temporal resolution. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is simply that CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that humans directly impact, and understanding the sources, sinks, and controls of atmospheric CO2 is a major goal for the global scientific community. Accurate chronology and detailed records are primary requirements for developing and testing models that explain and predict CO2 variability. The proposed work has several broader impacts. It contributes to the training of a post-doctoral researcher, who will transfer to a research faculty position during the award period and who will participate in graduate teaching and guest lecture in undergraduate courses. An undergraduate researcher will gain valuable lab training and conduct independent research. Bringing the results of<br/>the proposed work to the classroom will enrich courses taught by the PI. Outreach efforts will expose pre-college students to ice core research. The proposed work will enhance the laboratory facilities for ice core research at OSU, insuring that the capability for CO2 measurements exists for future projects. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and other similar archives, per OPP policy. Highly significant results will be disseminated to the news media through OSU?s very effective News and Communications group. Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas that humans are directly changing. Understanding how CO2 and climate are linked on all time scales is necessary for predicting the future behavior of the carbon cycle and climate system, primarily to insure that the appropriate processes are represented in carbon cycle/climate models. Part of the proposed work emphasizes the relationship of CO2 and abrupt climate change. Understanding how future abrupt change might impact the carbon cycle is an important issue for society.
Areas of the Southern Ocean have spectacular blooms of phytoplankton during the austral spring and early summer. One of the dominant phytoplankton species, the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, is a prolific producer of the organic sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and Phaeocystis blooms are associated with some of the world's highest concentrations of DMSP and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). Sulfur, in the form of DMS, is transferred from the oceans to the atmosphere and can affect the chemistry of precipitation and influence cloud properties and possibly climate. DMSP and DMS are also quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur and energy flows in many marine food webs, although very little information is available on these processes in high latitude systems. <br/><br/>This project will study how solar radiation and iron cycling affect DMSP and DMS production by phytoplankton, and the subsequent utilization of these labile forms of organic matter by the microbial food web. Four interrelated hypotheses will be tested in field-based experiments and in situ observations: 1) solar radiation, including enhanced UV-B due to seasonal ozone depletion, plays an important role in determining the net ecosystem production of DMS in the Ross Sea; 2) development of shallow mixed layers promotes the accumulation of DMS in surface waters, because of enhanced exposure of plankton communities to high doses of solar radiation; 3) DMSP production and turnover represent a significant part of the carbon and sulfur flux through polar food webs; 4) bloom development and resulting nutrient depletion (e.g., iron) will result in high production rates of DMSP and high DMS concentrations and atmospheric fluxes. Results from this study will greatly improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms controlling DMSP and DMS concentrations in polar waters, thereby improving our ability to predict DMS fluxes to the atmosphere from this important climatic region. <br/><br/>Both Drs. Kieber and Kiene actively engage high school, undergraduate and graduate students in their research and are involved in formal programs that target underrepresented groups (NSF-REU and the American Chemical Society-SEED). This project will continue this type of educational outreach. The PIs also teach undergraduate and graduate courses and incorporation of research experiences into their classes will enrich student learning experiences.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>An interdisciplinary team of researchers will focus on describing the high productivity patchiness observed in phytoplankton blooms in the mid to late summer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Key hypotheses to be tested and extended are that intrusions of nutrient and micro nutrient (e.g. Fe) rich water masses of the Antarctic modified circumpolar deep water (CDW) up onto continental shelves act to control the biogeochemical response of a large area of the productive Ross Sea coastal region. It is believed that this enhanced productivity may be a significant contributing factor to the global carbon cycle. <br/><br/>A novel sampling strategy to be used to test the above hypotheses will employ a remotely controlled deep (1000m) glider (AUV) to locate and map CDW in near real time measuring C (conductivity), T (temperature), D (pressure) and apparent optical properties, and which will serve to direct further ship-based sampling. <br/><br/>The adaptive coordination of a polar research vessel with an AUV additionally provides an opportunity to engage in formal and informal education and public outreach on issues in polar research.
Areas of the Southern Ocean have spectacular blooms of phytoplankton during the austral spring and early summer. One of the dominant phytoplankton species, the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, is a prolific producer of the organic sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and Phaeocystis blooms are associated with some of the world's highest concentrations of DMSP and its volatile degradation product, dimethylsulfide (DMS). Sulfur, in the form of DMS, is transferred from the oceans to the atmosphere and can affect the chemistry of precipitation and influence cloud properties and possibly climate. DMSP and DMS are also quantitatively significant components of the carbon, sulfur and energy flows in many marine food webs, although very little information is available on these processes in high latitude systems. <br/><br/>This project will study how solar radiation and iron cycling affect DMSP and DMS production by phytoplankton, and the subsequent utilization of these labile forms of organic matter by the microbial food web. Four interrelated hypotheses will be tested in field-based experiments and in situ observations: 1) solar radiation, including enhanced UV-B due to seasonal ozone depletion, plays an important role in determining the net ecosystem production of DMS in the Ross Sea; 2) development of shallow mixed layers promotes the accumulation of DMS in surface waters, because of enhanced exposure of plankton communities to high doses of solar radiation; 3) DMSP production and turnover represent a significant part of the carbon and sulfur flux through polar food webs; 4) bloom development and resulting nutrient depletion (e.g., iron) will result in high production rates of DMSP and high DMS concentrations and atmospheric fluxes. Results from this study will greatly improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms controlling DMSP and DMS concentrations in polar waters, thereby improving our ability to predict DMS fluxes to the atmosphere from this important climatic region. <br/><br/>Both Drs. Kieber and Kiene actively engage high school, undergraduate and graduate students in their research and are involved in formal programs that target underrepresented groups (NSF-REU and the American Chemical Society-SEED). This project will continue this type of educational outreach. The PIs also teach undergraduate and graduate courses and incorporation of research experiences into their classes will enrich student learning experiences.
Abstract<br/><br/><br/>By using a tool-box of particle flux and characterization techniques appropriate to the study of particulate organic carbon fluxes out of the upper sunlit zone, WHOI researchers will attempt to evaluate the so called 'biological pump' term at the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL) site in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The goal of these measurements is to describe the seasonal dynamics of production, export (sinking) and at-depth remineralization rates of organic matter produced in the Antarctic photic zone. This should lead to a better understanding of the biogeochemical controls on the carbon cycle in this difficult to access region. Additionally, how much of the newly fixed organic carbon is exported off the shelf, effectively driving an influx of atmospheric (including anthropogenic) CO2 to be sequestered into the deep ocean is not presently known. Comparison of prior time series sediment traps in the WAP seem to indicate smaller sinking C fluxes than other, as equally as productive Antarctic coastal regions, e.g. the Ross Sea. New observations and modeling activities will attempt to explain this discrepancy, and to account for the apparently inefficient particle export. <br/><br/><br/>"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
Polar oceans are the main sites of deep-water formation and are critical to the exchange of heat and carbon between the deep ocean and the atmosphere. This award ?Historic perspectives on climate and biogeography from deep-sea corals in the Drake Passage? will address the following specific research questions: What was the radiocarbon content of the Southern Ocean during the last glacial maximum and during past rapid climate change events? and What are the major controls on the past and present distribution of cold-water corals within the Drake Passage and adjacent continental shelves? Testing these overall questions will allow the researchers to better understand how processes in the Southern Ocean are linked to climate change over millennia. This award is being funded by the Antarctic Earth Sciences Program of NSF?s Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. <br/><br/>INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The skeletons of deep-sea corals are abundant in the Southern Ocean, and can be dated using U-series techniques making them a useful archive of oceanographic history. By pairing U-series and radiocarbon analyses the awardees can reconstruct the radiocarbon content of seawater in the past, allowing them to address the research questions raised above. Collection of living deep-sea corals along with environmental data will allow them to address the broader biogeography questions posed above as well. The awardees are uniquely qualified to answer these questions in their respective labs via cutting edge technologies, and they have shown promising results from a preliminary pilot cruise to the area in 2008.<br/><br/>BROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: The proposed paleoclimate research will make significant advances toward constraining the Southern Ocean?s influence on global climate, specifically it should help set the bounds for the upper limits on how fast the ocean circulation might change in this region of the world, which is of high societal relevance in this era of changing climate. Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating undergraduate through post-doctoral students into research programs; ii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by providing information via a cruise website and in-school talks, iii) making the data collected available to the wider research community via data archives such as Seamounts Online and the Seamount Biogeographic Network and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as interviews in the popular media.
This award supports a project to make measurements of methane and other trace gases in firn air collected at South Pole, Antarctica. The analyses will include: methane isotopes (delta-13CH4 and delta-DCH4), light non-methane hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, and n-butane), sulfur gases (COS, CS2), and methyl halides (CH3Cl and CH3Br). The atmospheric burdens of these trace gases reflect changes in atmospheric OH, biomass burning, biogenic activity in terrestrial, oceanic, and wetland ecosystems, and industrial/agricultural activity. The goal of this project is to develop atmospheric histories for these trace gases over the last century through examination of depth profiles of these gases in South Pole firn air. The project will involve two phases: 1) a field campaign at South Pole, Antarctica to drill two firn holes and fill a total of ~200 flasks from depths reaching 120 m, 2) analysis of firn air at University of California, Irvine, Penn State University, and several other collaborating laboratories. Atmospheric histories will be inferred from the measurements using a one dimensional advective/diffusive model of firn air transport. This study will provide new information about the recent changes in atmospheric levels of these gases, providing about a 90 year long time series record that connects the earlier surface and firn air measurements to present day. The project will also explore the possibility of in- situ production of light non-methane hydrocarbons in firn air that is relevant to the interpretation of ice core records. The broader impacts of this research are that it has the potential for significant societal impact by improving our understanding of climate change and man's input to the atmosphere. The results of this work will be disseminated through the peer review process, and will contribute to environmental assessments, such as the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Assessment and the Word Meteorological Organization (WMO) Stratospheric Ozone Assessment. This research will provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and will contribute to a teacher training program for K-12 teachers in minority school districts.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The proposal seeks funds to continue a follow-up analytical work of deep-sea corals collected in the Drake Passage during a research cruise. The project's goal is paleo-climate research looking to constrain the depth structure and time evolution of the radiocarbon content of the Southern Ocean during the glacial and deglaciation. Radiocarbon is a versatile tracer of past climate; its radioactive decay provides an internal clock with which to assess the rates of processes, and it can be used to trace the movement of carbon through the Earth's system. It enters the ocean through air-sea gas exchange, so processes that limits this will, therefore, reduce the radiocarbon content of both surface and deep waters. The Southern Ocean is a critical location for exchange of heat and carbon between the deep-ocean and atmospheric reservoirs, and the deep waters formed there fill large volumes of the global deep and intermediate oceans. As strong currents tend to scour away sediments, carbonate preservation is limited, and radiocarbon reservoir ages are poorly constrained, many traditional paleoceanographic techniques become impractical. It is proposed to alleviate these difficulties analyzing the chemical composition of deep-sea coral skeletons. Their aragonitic skeletons can be precisely dated using U-series decay, and when coupled with radiocarbon analyses will allow to calculate the C14/C12 ratio of the past water column.
Edwards/0739780<br/><br/>This award supports a project to develop a 2,000-year high-temporal resolution record of biomass burning from the analysis of black carbon in the WAIS Divide bedrock ice core. Pilot data for the WAIS WD05A core demonstrates that we now have the ability to reconstruct this record with minimal impact on the amount of ice available for other projects. The intellectual merit of this project is that black carbon (BC) aerosols result solely from combustion and play a critical but poorly quantified role in global climate forcing and the carbon cycle. When incorporated into snow and ice, BC increases absorption of solar radiation making seasonal snow packs, mountain glaciers, polar ice sheets, and sea ice much more vulnerable to climate warming. BC emissions in the Southern Hemisphere are dominated by biomass burning in the tropical regions of Southern Africa, South America and South Asia. Biomass burning, which results from both climate and human activities, alters the atmospheric composition of greenhouse gases, aerosols and perturbs key biogeochemical cycles. A long-term record of biomass burning is needed to aid in the interpretation of ice core gas composition and will provide important information regarding human impacts on the environment and climate before instrumental records. The broader impacts of the project are that it represents a paradigm shift in our ability to reconstruct the history of fire from ice core records and to understand its impact on atmospheric chemistry and climate over millennial time scales. This type of data is especially needed to drive global circulation model simulations of black carbon aerosols, which have been found to be an important component of global warming and which may be perturbing the hydrologic cycle. The project will also employ undergraduate students and is committed to attracting underrepresented groups to the physical sciences. The project?s outreach component will be conducted as part of the WAIS project outreach program and will reach a wide audience.
Convincing evidence now confirms that polar regions are changing rapidly in response to human activities. Changes in sea ice extent and thickness will have profound implications for productivity, food webs and carbon fluxes at high latitudes, since sea ice biota are a significant source of biogenic matter for the ecosystem. While sea ice is often thought to be a barrier to gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, it more likely functions as a source or sink for climate-active gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting organohalogens, due in part to activities of microbes embedded in the sea ice matrix. This project brings together experienced US and Swedish investigators to examine the controls by sea-ice biota on the production and degradation of key climate-active gases in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. We hypothesize that 1) the physical properties of the sea-ice environment will determine the community structure and activities of the sea ice biota; 2) the productivity, biomass, physiological state and species composition of ice algae will determine the production of specific classes of organic carbon, including organohalogens; 3) heterotrophic co-metabolism within the ice will break down these compounds to some extent, depending on the microbial community structure and productivity, and 4) the sea ice to atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and organohalogens will be inversely related. This project will build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers and also train young scientists, including members of underrepresented groups. Dissemination of results will include the scientific literature, and public outreach venues including interactions with a PolarTrec teacher.
*** 9726186 Pilskaln This proposed work is a study of the biological production and export flux of biogenic matter in response to ventilation of intermediate and deep water masses within the Polar Front zone. It is a collaborative work between the University of Maine and the Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE). The shipboard work is proposed for the Chinese antarctic resupply vessel off Prydz Bay in the Indian Ocean sector. In the austral Spring, this region experiences phytoplankton blooms that are thought to be the result of nutrient transport by the ventilation of intermediate and deep water masses. On an annual basis, it is believed that such blooms are the primary source of particulate organic carbon and biogenic silica flux to the ocean bottom. At this time however no data exists on the amount of particulate organic matter that sinks through the water column, leaving the quantitative relationships between production and export largely undefined in this region. The initial phase of the work consists of setting out a time-series sediment trap mooring at approximately 64 deg S latitude and 73 deg E longitude to take advantage of the historical data set that CHINARE has obtained in this area over the past decade. The biweekly to monthly trap samples will be analyzed for their organic constituents, and in conjunction with primary productivity observations will provide the basic data from which export values can be derived. This work will be carried out in collaboration with the State Oceanic Administration of the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition. In addition to providing time on the antarctic resupply vessel, the SOA will sponsor the shipboard primary productivity experiments and the supporting hydrographic measurements. The collaborating American scientists will provide guidance in making these observations to standards developed for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, and provide the hardware for the moored sediment trap. There will be a mutual sharing between the U.S. and Chinese investigators of all samples and data sets, and the data analysis will be carried out jointly. ***
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>The Amundsen Sea Polynya is areally the most productive Antarctic polynya, exhibits higher chlorophyll levels during peak bloom and greater interannual variability than the better-studied Ross Sea Polynya ecosystem. Polynyas may be the key to understanding the future of polar regions as their extent is expected to increase with anthropogenic warming. The project will examine 1) sources of iron to the Amundsen Sea Polynya as a function of climate forcing, 2) phytoplankton community structure in relation to iron supply and mixed-layer depths, 3) the efficiency of the biological pump of carbon to depth and 4) the net flux of carbon as a function of climate and micronutrient forcing. The research also will compare results for the Amundsen Sea to existing data synthesis and modeling efforts for the Palmer LTER and Ross Sea. The project will 1) build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers; 2) investigate climate change implications with broad societal relevance; 3) train new researchers; 4) encourage participation in research science by underrepresented groups, and 5) involve broad dissemination of results via scientific literature and public outreach, including close interactions with NSF-supported PolarTrec and COSEE K-12 teachers.
9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.
IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron<br/>limitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton<br/>distribution in the Ross Sea<br/><br/>The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, accounting for approximately 25% of total anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the oceans, mainly via primary production. In the Ross Sea, primary production is dominated by two taxa that are distinct in location and timing. Diatoms dominate in the shallow mixed layer of the continental shelf, whereas the colony forming Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) dominate in the more deeply mixed, open regions. Significantly, both groups have vastly different nutrient utilization characteristics, and support very different marine food webs. Their responses to climate change, and the implications for carbon export, are unclear. Previous studies show that light availability and the quality of the light climate (static versus dynamic) play a major role in defining where and when the different phytoplankton taxa bloom. However, iron (Fe) limitation of the algal communities in both the sub-Arctic and the Southern Ocean is now well documented. Moreover, phytoplankton Fe demand varies as a function of irradiance. The main hypothesis of the proposed research is: The interaction between Fe limitation and dynamic irradiance governs phytoplankton distributions in the Ross Sea. Our strategy to test this hypothesis is three-fold: 1) The photoacclimation of the different phytoplankton taxa to different light conditions under Fe limitation will be investigated in experiments in the laboratory under controlled Fe conditions. 2) The photophysiological mechanisms found in these laboratory experiments will then be tested in the field on two cruises with international IPY partners. 3) Finally, data generated during the lab and field parts of the project will be used to parameterize a dynamic light component of the Coupled Ice Atmosphere and Ocean (CIAO) model of the Ross Sea. Using the improved model, we will run future climate scenarios to test the impact of climate change on the phytoplankton community structure, distribution, primary production and carbon export in the Southern Ocean. The proposed research complies with IPY theme" Understanding Environmental change in Polar Regions" and includes participation in an international cruise. Detailed model descriptions and all of the results generated from these studies will be made public via a DynaLiFe website. Improving the CIAO model will give us and other IPY partners the opportunity to test the ecological consequences of physiological characteristics observed in Antarctic phytoplankton under current and future climate scenarios. Outreach will include participation in Stanford's Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford's School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center.
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in greater oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide can impact marine organisms both via decreased carbonate saturation that affects calcification rates and via disturbance to acid-base (metabolic) physiology. Pteropod molluscs (Thecosomata) form shells made of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate that is highly soluble, suggesting that these organisms may be particularly sensitive to increasing carbon dioxide and reduced carbonate ion concentration. Thecosome pteropods, which dominate the calcium carbonate export south of the Antarctic Polar Front, will be the first major group of marine calcifying organisms to experience carbonate undersaturation within parts of their present-day geographical ranges as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. An unusual, co-evolved relationship between thecosomes and their specialized gymnosome predators provides a unique backdrop against which to assess the physiological and ecological importance of elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Pteropods are functionally important components of the Antarctic ecosystem with potential to influence phytoplankton stocks, carbon export, and dimethyl sulfide levels that, in turn, influence global climate through ocean-atmosphere feedback loops. The research will quantify the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on a dominant aragonitic pteropod, Limacina helicina, and its specialist predator, the gymnosome Clione antarctica, in the Ross Sea through laboratory experimentation. Results will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific understanding in this field. The project involves collaboration between researchers at a predominantly undergraduate institution with a significant enrollment of students that are typically underrepresented in the research environment (California State University San Marcos - CSUSM) and at a Ph.D.-granting institution (University of Rhode Island - URI). The program will promote education and learning through the joint education of undergraduate students and graduate students at CSUSM and URI as part of a research team, as well as through the teaching activities of the principal investigators. Dr. Keating, CSUSM professor of science education, will participate in the McMurdo fieldwork and lead the outreach opportunities for the project.
Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers, disintegrating ice shelves, and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. Our preliminary study of two icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea, an area of high iceberg concentration, showed significant delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by significant enhancement of phytoplankton and zooplankton/micronekton abundance, and primary production surrounding the icebergs. We hypothesize that nutrient enrichment by free-drifting icebergs will increase primary production and sedimentation of organic carbon, thus increasing the draw-down and sequestration of CO2 in the Southern Ocean and impacting the global carbon cycle. Our research addresses the following questions:1) What is the relationship between the physical dynamics of free-drifting icebergs and the Fe and nutrient distributions of the surrounding water column? 2) What is the relationship between Fe and nutrient distributions associated with free-drifting icebergs and the organic carbon dynamics of the ice-attached and surrounding pelagic communities (microbes, zooplankton, micronekton)? 3) What is impact on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the mixed layer? An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to examine iceberg structure and dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and carbon cycling that includes measurement of trace element, nutrient and radionuclide distributions; organic carbon dynamics mediated by microbial, ice-attached and zooplankton communities; and particulate organic carbon export fluxes. Results from this project will further our understanding of the relationship between climate change and carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Our findings will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) as part of the SIOExplorer: Digital Library Project. The OEC allows users to access content, which is classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, and volunteers are important participants in the proposed field and laboratory work. For the K-12 level, a professional writer of children's books will participate in cruises to produce an account of the expedition and a daily interactive website.
Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers, disintegrating ice shelves, and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. Our preliminary study of two icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea, an area of high iceberg concentration, showed significant delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by significant enhancement of phytoplankton and zooplankton/micronekton abundance, and primary production surrounding the icebergs. We hypothesize that nutrient enrichment by free-drifting icebergs will increase primary production and sedimentation of organic carbon, thus increasing the draw-down and sequestration of CO2 in the Southern Ocean and impacting the global carbon cycle. Our research addresses the following questions:1) What is the relationship between the physical dynamics of free-drifting icebergs and the Fe and nutrient distributions of the surrounding water column? 2) What is the relationship between Fe and nutrient distributions associated with free-drifting icebergs and the organic carbon dynamics of the ice-attached and surrounding pelagic communities (microbes, zooplankton, micronekton)? 3) What is impact on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the mixed layer? An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to examine iceberg structure and dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and carbon cycling that includes measurement of trace element, nutrient and radionuclide distributions; organic carbon dynamics mediated by microbial, ice-attached and zooplankton communities; and particulate organic carbon export fluxes. Results from this project will further our understanding of the relationship between climate change and carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Our findings will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) as part of the SIOExplorer: Digital Library Project. The OEC allows users to access content, which is classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, and volunteers are important participants in the proposed field and laboratory work. For the K-12 level, a professional writer of children's books will participate in cruises to produce an account of the expedition and a daily interactive website.
The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of climate warming on Earth, with an increase of 5degrees C in the mean winter temperature in 50 years. Impacts on upper trophic levels are evident, though there have been few, if any studies that have considered the impacts on bacterioplankton in the Southern Ocean. This proposal will characterize the winter bacterioplankton genome, transcriptome, and proteome and discover those features (community composition, genes up-regulated, and proteins expressed) that are essential to winter bacterioplankton survival and livelihood. We have assembled a polar ocean ecology and genomics network including strategic partnerships with Palmer LTER, the British Antarctic Survey's ocean metagenome program, US and Canadian scientists studying the Arctic Ocean genome, an Australian colleague who specialized in archaeal proteomics, and French colleagues studying Sub-Antarctic and Coastal Adelie Land marine bacterioplankton. The primary objectives of this program are: 1 Describe the differences in diversity and genomic content between austral winter and summer bacterioplankton communities. 2. Investigate the winter-time bacterioplankton growth and cellular signals (mRNA and proteins expressed) in order to understand the specific adaptations key to survival. <br/><br/>Our results will extend from the Antarctic to the Arctic - as the cold, dark, carbon-limited deep seas linking these two systems have many common features. Education and outreach activities target (i) undergraduate and graduate students, hopefully including minority students recruited through the Diversity in Research in Environmental and Marine Sciences (DREAMS) Program at VIMS; (ii) a broad audience with our education and outreach partnerships with The Cousteau Society and with the Census for Antarctic Marine Life program. Data and links to external databases will be listed on the http://genex2.dri.edu website. Sequence data will be publicly accessible in GenBank and IMG-M databases.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. <br/><br/>Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - "ka" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments.<br/><br/>Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant "cold-tongue" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition).<br/><br/>This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of "zero-age" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses.<br/><br/>Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.
The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will conduct a set of process-oriented experiments designed to elucidate the controls of phytoplankton productivity, growth and accumulation as well as the mechanisms which control bacterial abundance and productivity in Antarctic waters. Specifically, the relative photosynthetic and nutrient (nitrate, ammonium) characteristics of diatom- vs. Phaeocystis- dominated assemblages will be examined to test if Phaeocystis simply grows faster under spring conditions in the Ross Sea. Phytoplankton and bacterial biomass, productivity and their interactions will be measured to elucidate the complex physical-chemical-biological interactions which occur. Substantial understanding of the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions will result from this research. Finally, because the Antarctic is the ocean's largest high-nutrient, low biomass system, and hence has the greatest potential for sequestering carbon dioxide, knowledge of the dynamics of the Ross Sea phytoplankton will also increase our understanding of the carbo n cycle of the Southern Ocean.
Recent studies of marine ecosystems show conflicting evidence for trophic cascades, and in particular the relative strength of the crustacean zooplankton-phytoplankton link. The Ross Sea is a natural laboratory for investigating this apparent conflict. It is a site of seasonally high abundances of phytoplankton, characterized by regions of distinct phytoplankton taxa; the southcentral polynya is strongly dominated by the colony-forming prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, while coastal regions of this sea are typically dominated by diatoms or flagellate species. Recent studies indicate that, while the south-central polynya exhibits a massive phytoplankton bloom, the poor food quality of P. antarctica for many crustacean zooplankton prevents direct utilization of much of this phytoplankton bloom. Rather, evidence suggests that indirect utilization of this production may be the primary mechanism by which carbon and energy become available to those higher trophic levels. Specifically, we hypothesize that nano and microzooplankton constitute an important food source for crustacean zooplankton (largely copepods and juvenile euphausiids) during the summer period in the Ross Sea where the phytoplankton assemblage is dominated by the prymnesiophyte. In turn, we also hypothesize that predation by copepods (and other Crustacea) controls and structures the species composition of these protistan assemblages. We will occupy stations in the south-central Ross Sea Polynya (RSP) and Terra Nova Bay (TNB) during austral summer to test these hypotheses. We hypothesize that the diatom species that dominate the phytoplankton assemblage in TNB constitute a direct source of nutrition to herbivorous/omnivorous zooplankton (relative to the situation in the south-central RSP). That is, the contribution of heterotrophic protists to crustacean diets will be reduced in TNB. Our research will address fundamental gaps in our knowledge of food web structure and trophic cascades, and provide better understanding of the flow of carbon and energy within the biological community of this perennially cold sea. The PIs will play active roles in public education (K-12) via curriculum development (on Antarctic biology) and teacher trainer activities in the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE-West), an innovative, NSF-funded program centered at USC and UCLA.
This project seeks to examine the importance of icebergs to the pelagic ecosystem of the North-West Weddell Sea. Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. The highest concentration of icebergs occurs in the NW Weddell Sea, where they drift in a clockwise pattern to the northeast, following the contours of the Antarctic Peninsula through an area dubbed "Iceberg Alley". Little is known about the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the pelagic ecosystem of the Weddell Sea or on the Southern Ocean as a whole. It is hypothesized that as drifting islands, icebergs of small to intermediate size (< 10 km in largest dimension) impart unique physical, chemical and biological characteristics to the surrounding water. Three general questions will be asked to address this hypothesis: 1) What are the dynamics (approximate size, abundance and spatial distribution) of free-drifting icebergs on temporal scales of days to months, based on correlation of field measurements with imagery derived from satellite sensors? 2) What is the relationship between the size of free-drifting icebergs and the structure of the associated pelagic communities? 3) What is the estimated combined impact of free-drifting icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea on the biological characteristics of the pelagic zone? This interdisciplinary study will use standard oceanographic sampling coupled with unique methodology for staging shipboard data from all types of sensors and survey methods to determine the sphere of influence for a diverse set of biological factors as a function of iceberg size. The exploratory research proposed here will provide critical data on the effects of atmospheric warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The recent prevalence of free drifting icebergs in the Southern Ocean should have a pronounced enrichment effect on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem, altering community dynamics. Enhanced primary production associated with these icebergs could influence the global carbon cycle since the Southern Ocean is considered a major sink for excess CO2 from the atmosphere. <br/>The proposed research will include an innovative education component through the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC), whose focus is to provide a comprehensive view of the oceans, intelligible to non-scientists and researchers alike, with direct access to state-of-the-art databases and selected websites. The OEC will allow users to access content which has been classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. The results from this iceberg project will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the OEC, providing databases documenting the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. These data then will be extrapolated to evaluate the impact of icebergs on the ecosystem of the Weddell Sea. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers and volunteers are an important part of the proposed field and laboratory work.
The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990's. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica's glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth's magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.
This award supports a two year program to produce a new reconstruction of ice extent, elevation and thickness at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) for the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Peninsula. One field season on Livingston Island will involve mapping the areal extent and geomorphology of glacial drift and determining the elevation and distribution of trimlines. In addition, ice flow direction will be determined by mapping and measuring the elevation of erosional features and the position of erratic boulders. One of the main goals of this work will be to demonstrate whether or not organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating exists in the South Shetland Islands. If so, the age of the deposits will be determined by measuring the carbon-14 age of plant, algal, and fungal remains preserved at the base of the deposits, as well as incorporated marine shells, seal skin and other organic material that may be found in raised beach deposits. Another goal will be to concentrate on the development of relative sea-level curves from 2-3 key areas to show whether or not construction of such curves for the South Shetland Islands is possible. The new reconstruction of ice extent, elevation and thickness at the Last Glacial Maximum for the South Shetland Islands which will be produced by this work will be useful in studies of ocean circulation and ice dynamics in the vicinity of the Drake Passage. It will also contribute to the production of a deglacial chronology which will afford important clues about the mechanisms controlling ice retreat in this region of the southern hemisphere.
9317598 Asper The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will focus on the collection of vertical flux samples which will be analyzed for carbon, nitrogen and total mass flux and also provided to the other investigators for their specific analyses. Profiles of the abundance of large aggregates in the water column using a non- contact photographic method will be made. These data will be used to complement other particle determinations, to investigate the role of these aggregates in particle flux and to determine the mechanisms of particle export as a function of season and phytoplankton species. The end result will be a better understanding of the bloom processes and significant contributions to the data base on aggregates and export mechanisms in this environment.
The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. The focus of this proposal is the role of microzooplankton in controlling the production and fate of carbon during the two types of blooms. Objectives are: 1) to determine biomass, abundance, size and selected species composition of primary producer assemblages, 2) to determine similar features of nano- and microplanktonic heterotrophic assemblages, 3) to measure total community grazing on heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton, 4) to examine which grazers are the major herbivores and bacterivores, and 5) to measure the contribution of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton egesta, sinking of algal cells and colonies, and sinking of protozoan assemblages associated with detritus to the total carbon flux from the euphotic zone through 250 m depth. Water samples for abundance and biomass determinations will be taken and samples will be examined with epifluorescence microscopy. Grazing rates will be measured using the dilution grazing technique and the dual-isotope radiolabeling single cell method. Carbon fluxes will be determined on sinking material collected with particle interceptor traps at the base of the euphotic zone and two deeper depths, using microscopical analysis . An understanding of these processes and other fundamental processes studied by collaborating investigators will contribute to the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in present, past and predicted future sequestration of carbon, as well as in other global elemental cycles.
OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith<br/>OPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster<br/><br/>Primary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.
96-14028 Dymond This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. This work is one of forty-four projects that are collaborating in the Southern Ocean Experiment, a three-year effort south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone to track the flow of carbon through its organic and inorganic pathways from the air-ocean interface through the entire water column into the bottom sediment. The experiment will make use of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and the R/V Thompson. This component, a collaborative study by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University, and the New Zealand Oceanographic Institution, concerns the export of particulate forms of carbon downward from the upper ocean. The observations will be obtained from an array of time- series sediment traps, and will be analyzed to quantify export fluxes from the Subtropical Front to the Ross Sea, over an 18- months period beginning the early austral summer of 1996. The measurement program will two annual phytoplankton blooms. The southern ocean provides a unique opportunity to investigate the processes controlling export flux in contrasting biogeochemical ocean zones demarcated by oceanic fronts. The temperature changes at the fronts coincide with gradients in nutrient concentrations and plankton ecology, resulting in a large latitudinal change in the ratio of calcium to silica taken up by the phytoplankton communities. This experiment will provide data on how the biological pump operates in the Southern Ocean and how it could potentially impact the level of atmospheric c arbon dioxide. The observed export fluxes of organic carbon, nitrogen, inorganic carbon, biogenic silica and alumina are central to the goals of the JGOFS program.
The Antarctic Peninsula region exhibits one of the largest warming trends in the world. Climate change in this region will reduce the duration of winter sea-ice cover, altering both the pelagic ecosystem and bentho-pelagic coupling. We postulate that shelf benthic ecosystems are highly suitable for tracking climate change because they act as "low-pass" filters, removing high-frequency seasonal noise and responding to longer-term trends in pelagic ecosystem structure and export production. We propose to conduct a 3-year study of bentho-pelagic coupling along a latitudinal climate gradient on the Antarctic Peninsula to explore the potential impacts of climate change (e.g., reduction in sea-ice duration) on Antarctic shelf ecosystems. We will conduct three cruises during summer and winter regimes along a 5- station transect from Smith Island to Marguerite Bay, evaluating a broad range of benthic ecological and biogeochemical processes. Specifically, we will examine the feeding strategies of benthic deposit feeders along this climatic gradient to elucidate the potential response of this major trophic group to climatic warming. In addition, we will (1) quantify carbon and nitrogen cycling and burial at the seafloor and (2) document changes in megafaunal, macrofaunal, and microbial community structure along this latitudinal gradient. We expect to develop predictive insights into the response of Antarctic shelf ecosystems to some of the effects of climate warming (e.g., a reduction in winter sea-ice duration). The proposed research will considerably broaden the ecological and carbon-flux measurements made as parts of the Palmer Station LTER and GLOBEC programs by providing a complementary benthic component. This project also will promote science education from the 9th grade to graduate-student levels. We will partner with the NSF-sponsored Southeastern Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence to reach students of all races in all areas of NC, SC and GA. The project will also benefit students at the post secondary level by supporting three graduate and two undergraduate students. During each of the three field excursions, NCSU and UH students will travel to Chile and Antarctica to participate in scientific research. Lastly, all three PIs will incorporate material from this project into their undergraduate and graduate courses.
The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. <br/>This project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.
This project seeks to examine the importance of icebergs to the pelagic ecosystem of the North-West Weddell Sea. Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. The highest concentration of icebergs occurs in the NW Weddell Sea, where they drift in a clockwise pattern to the northeast, following the contours of the Antarctic Peninsula through an area dubbed "Iceberg Alley". Little is known about the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the pelagic ecosystem of the Weddell Sea or on the Southern Ocean as a whole. It is hypothesized that as drifting islands, icebergs of small to intermediate size (< 10 km in largest dimension) impart unique physical, chemical and biological characteristics to the surrounding water. Three general questions will be asked to address this hypothesis: 1) What are the dynamics (approximate size, abundance and spatial distribution) of free-drifting icebergs on temporal scales of days to months, based on correlation of field measurements with imagery derived from satellite sensors? 2) What is the relationship between the size of free-drifting icebergs and the structure of the associated pelagic communities? 3) What is the estimated combined impact of free-drifting icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea on the biological characteristics of the pelagic zone? This interdisciplinary study will use standard oceanographic sampling coupled with unique methodology for staging shipboard data from all types of sensors and survey methods to determine the sphere of influence for a diverse set of biological factors as a function of iceberg size. The exploratory research proposed here will provide critical data on the effects of atmospheric warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The recent prevalence of free drifting icebergs in the Southern Ocean should have a pronounced enrichment effect on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem, altering community dynamics. Enhanced primary production associated with these icebergs could influence the global carbon cycle since the Southern Ocean is considered a major sink for excess CO2 from the atmosphere. <br/>The proposed research will include an innovative education component through the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC), whose focus is to provide a comprehensive view of the oceans, intelligible to non-scientists and researchers alike, with direct access to state-of-the-art databases and selected websites. The OEC will allow users to access content which has been classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. The results from this iceberg project will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the OEC, providing databases documenting the impact of free-drifting icebergs on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. These data then will be extrapolated to evaluate the impact of icebergs on the ecosystem of the Weddell Sea. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers and volunteers are an important part of the proposed field and laboratory work.
OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith OPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster Primary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.
This project is an interdisciplinary study, titled Research on Ocean-Atmosphere Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Ross Sea (ROAVERRS), of atmospheric forcing, ocean hydrography, sea ice dynamics, primary productivity, and pelagic-benthic coupling in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica. The primary goal is to examine how changes in aspects of the polar climate system, in this case wind and temperature, combine to influence marine productivity on a large antarctic continental shelf. In the Ross Sea, katabatic winds and mesocyclones influence the spatial and temporal distribution of sea ice as well as the upper ocean mixed layer depth, and thus control primary production within the sea ice as well as in the open water system. The structure, standing stock and productivity of bottom- dwelling biological communities are also linked to meteorological processes through interseasonal and interannual variations in horizontal and vertical fluxes of organic carbon produced in the upper ocean. Linkages among the atmospheric, oceanic, and biological systems will be investigated during a three-year field study of the southwestern Ross Sea ecosystem. Direct measurements will include regional wind and air temperatures derived from automatic weather stations; ice cover, ice movement, and sea surface temperatures derived from a variety of satellite-based sensors; hydrographic characteristics of the upper ocean and primary productivity in the ice and in the water derived from research cruises and satellite studies; vertical flux of organic material and water movement derived from oceanographic moorings containing sediment traps and current meters, and the abundance, distribution, and respiration rates of biological communities on the sea floor, derived from box cores, benthic photographs and shipboard incubations. Based on archived meteorological data, it is expected that the atmospheric variability during the study period will be such that changes in airflow pat terns and their influence on oceanographic and biological patterns can be monitored, and their direct and indirect linkages that are the focus of the research can be deduced. Results from this study will contribute to our knowledge of atmospheric and oceanic forcing of marine ecosystems, and lead to a better understanding of marine ecosystem response to climatic variations. ***
The annual advance and retreat of pack ice may be the major physical determinant of spatial/temporal changes in the structure and function of antarctic marine communities. Interannual cycles and/or trends in the annual extent of pack ice may also have significant effects on all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. Historical records indicate a 6 to 8 year cycle in the maximum extent of pack ice in the winter. During this decade winters were colder in 1980 and 1981, and again in 1986 and 1987. In order to understand the interactions between pack ice and ecosystem dynamics, especially the influences of the well- documented interannual variability in ice cover on representative populations, a long-term ecological research (LTER) site has been established in the Antarctic Peninsula region near Palmer Station. The LTER project, will conduct comprehensive measurements of ice-dominated ecosystems in this region with a focus on primary production, krill populations and swarms and seabirds. A primary emphasis will be placed on the development of ecosystem models that will provide a predictive capability for issues related to global environmental change. This proposal will add to the existing LTER project detailed studies of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and associated bioelements. The microbiology and carbon flux component of LTER will provide measurements of a suite of core parameters relevant to the carbon cycle and will test several hypotheses pertaining to carbon flux, including bacterial productivity and nutrient regeneration.
Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present "interglacial" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.
The Shackleton Fracture Zone (SFZ) in Drake Passage of the Southern Ocean defines a boundary between low and high phytoplankton waters. Low chlorophyll water flowing through the southern Drake Passage emerges as high chlorophyll water to the east, and recent evidence indicates that the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF) is steered south of the SFZ onto the Antarctic Peninsula shelf where mixing between the water types occurs. The mixed water is then advected off-shelf with elevated iron and phytoplankton biomass. The SFZ is therefore an ideal natural laboratory to improve the understanding of plankton community responses to natural iron fertilization, and how these processes influence export of organic carbon to the ocean interior. The bathymetry of the region is hypothesized to influence mesoscale circulation and transport of iron, leading to the observed patterns in phytoplankton biomass. The position of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is further hypothesized to influence the magnitude of the flow of ACC water onto the peninsula shelf, mediating the amount of iron transported into the Scotia Sea. To address these hypotheses, a research cruise will be conducted near the SFZ and to the east in the southern Scotia Sea. A mesoscale station grid for vertical profiles, water sampling, and bottle incubation enrichment experiments will complement rapid surface surveys of chemical, plankton, and hydrographic properties. Distributions of manganese, aluminum and radium isotopes will be determined to trace iron sources and estimate mixing rates. Phytoplankton and bacterial physiological states (including responses to iron enrichment) and the structure of the plankton communities will be studied. The primary goal is to better understand how plankton productivity, community structure and export production in the Southern Ocean are affected by the coupling between bathymetry, mesoscale circulation, and distributions of limiting nutrients. The proposed work represents an interdisciplinary approach to address the fundamental physical, chemical and biological processes that contribute to the abrupt transition in chl-a which occurs near the SFZ. Given recent indications that the Southern Ocean is warming, it is important to advance the understanding of conditions that regulate the present ecosystem structure in order to predict the effects of climate variability. This project will promote training and learning across a broad spectrum of groups. Funds are included to support postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. In addition, this project will contribute to the development of content for the Polar Science Station website, which has been a resource since 2001 for instructors and students in adult education, home schooling, tribal schools, corrections education, family literacy programs, and the general public.
9528807 Gordon The proposed project is part of a multi-institutional integrated study of the outflow of newly formed bottom water from the Weddell Sea and its dispersion into the South Atlantic Ocean. It builds upon earlier successful studies of the inflow of intermediate water masses into the Eastern Weddell Sea, their modification within the Weddell Gyre, and their interaction with bottom water formation processes in the western Weddell Sea. The study is called Deep Ocean Ventilation Through Antarctic Intermediate Layers (DOVETAIL) and includes six components involving hydrographic measurements, natural tracer experiments, and modeling studies. The study will be centered east of the Drake Passage where water masses from the Weddell Sea and the Scotia Sea come together in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence, and will be carried out in cooperation with the national antarctic programs of Germany and Spain. This particular component concerns observations of the temperature and salinity structure, as well as the chemical nature of the water column in the confluence region. The study has four related objectives. The first is to assess the quantity and the physical and chemical characteristics of Weddell Sea source waters for the confluence. The second is to describe the dominant processes associated with spreading and sinking of dense antarctic waters within the Weddell-Scotia Confluence. The third is to estimate the ventilation rate of the world ocean, and the fourth is to estimate seasonal fluctuations in the regional ocean transport and hydrographic structure and to assess the likely influence of seasonal to interannual variability on rates of ventilation by Weddell Sea waters. Ventilation of the deep ocean -- the rising of sub-surface water masses to the surface to be recharged with atmospheric gases and to give up heat to the atmosphere -- is a uniquely antarctic phenomenon that has significant consequences for global change by affecting the g lobal reservoir of carbon dioxide, and by modulating the amount and extent of seasonal sea ice in the southern hemisphere. This component will make systematic observations of the temperature salinity structure of the water and undertake an extensive sampling program for other chemical studies. The purpose is to identify the individual water masses and to relate their temperature and salinity characteristics to the modification processes within the Weddell Sea. ***
95-30398 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. The overall objectives of JGOFS are to determine and understand processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements, and to predict the response of marine biogeochemical processes to climate change. The Southern Ocean is critical in the global carbon cycle, as judged by its size and the physical processes which occur in it (e.g., deep and intermediate water formation), but its present quantitative role is uncertain. JGOFS objectives for the Southern Ocean study are as follows: 1) to constrain the fluxes of carbon (organic and inorganic) and to place these fluxes in the context of the contemporary carbon cycle; 2) to identify the factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of primary productivity and the fate of biogenic matter; 3) to determine the response of the Southern Ocean to natural climate perturbations; and 4) to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to climate change. In order to successfully address these objectives, a large field program has been designed to provide various investigators the opportunity to test specific hypotheses which relate to these broadly-defined objectives. We expect the field test to begin in September 1996, and last through March 1998 using two ships, the R.V. Palmer, and the R.V. Thompson. As most of the investigators will use hydrographic and nutrient data from these cruises, this proposal requests funds for the support of the analysis of nutrient concentrations during these thirteen crui ses. A team of oceanographic experts from a variety of institutions has been assembled to complete these analyses; furthermore, the data will be scrutinized for errors and provided in a timely fashion to all PI's in the project, as well as to the relevant oceanographic data storage facilities. The hydrography and coring groups have been put together using the successful model for the Arabian Sea JGOFS study, and in conjunction with the nutrient data (supported under a separate proposal), will form a large portion of the Southern Ocean JGOFS database which both field investigators and modelers will use to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.
9317379 Foster This project is study of the deep and bottom water formation processes of the antarctic continental shelf off Wilkes Land between 145 deg E longitude and 160 deg E longitude. The project is to be carried out jointly with an Australian oceanographic project. Preliminary work in 1985 has shown that hydrographic sections in this area are quite similar to those of known deep water formation regions in the southern Weddell Sea. This project will include the year-long deployment of six current meter moorings, and tracer studies (oxygen, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, stable isotopes, and nutrients) to test whether shelf waves and tides are the principal mechanism for mixing shelf water with the off-shore intermediate water. Two oceanographic cruises are planned for this work: a cruise of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer in February 1995, and a cruise of the Australian ship R/V Aurora Australis in February 1996. ***
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a marine geological investigation of the Amundsen Sea region toward a better understanding of the deglaciation history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The WAIS may be inherently unstable because it is the last marine-based ice sheet in the world. Unlike other embayments in West Antarctica, major ice streams draining into the Amundsen Sea from the interior of the WAIS lack buttressing ice shelves. Mass balance data for the distal portions of these ice streams (Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers) appear to be in balance or may be becoming negative. Because both ice streams have beds that slope downward toward the center of the ice sheet, grounding-line recession resulting from either continued thinning or sea-level rise could trigger irreversible grounding-line retreat, leading to ice-sheet disintegration and consequent global sea-level rise. The limited marine geological and geophysical data available from the Amundsen Sea suggest that grounded ice or an ice shelf occupied the inner Amundsen Sea embayment until perhaps as recently as 1000 to 2000 years ago, and this ice may have retreated rapidly in historic time. This project, a study of the marine geology and geophysics of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf from 100 degrees W to 130 degrees W, is designed to address the Amundsen Sea part of WAIS Science Plan Priority Goal H2: "What is the deglaciation history in the eastern Ross, the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas?" This project will examine bathymetric data of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf to determine the positions of former ice-steam channels, and to aid in choosing sites for sediment coring. Single-channel seismic reflection studies will be conducted in order to determine sediment-thickness patterns, to aid in choice of coring sites, and to locate and identify morphologic features indicative of former grounded ice (e.g., moraines, scours, flutes, striations, till wedges and deltas, etc.). Coring will be concentrated along former ice flow-lines. Core samples will be analyzed in the laboratory for sedimentology, to determine whether of not basal tills are present (indicating former grounded ice and its former extent), and for calcareous and siliceous microfossils. The chronology of grounding-line and ice-shelf retreat from a presumed Last Glacial Maximum position near the shelf break will be established using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) carbon-14 dates of acid-insoluble particulate organic carbon. This project will share ship time in the Amundsen Sea with a physical oceanographic project. Marine geologic data and samples collected will be integrated with findings of other investigators toward developing a comprehensive interpretation of the history of the WAIS.
This project uses radiocarbon in deep-sea corals to understand the Southern Ocean's role in modulating global climate. A key site of deep-water formation, the Southern Ocean is critical to exchange of heat and carbon between the deep-ocean and atmosphere. Changes in it may be linked to low atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial maximum through increased biologic carbon draw down or decreased air-sea CO2 exchange. Testing these hypotheses is challenging because of the scarcity of suitable records of the Southern Ocean's biogeochemistry and circulation. The aragonitic skeletons of deep-sea corals may offer insight because they are well suited for radiocarbon analyses-reflective of the 14C content of the past water column--while also allowing for timing of events through U-series age measurements. Overall, these measurements will put new constraints on the extent of air-sea gas exchange, polar water-column stratification, and the flux of Southern-sourced deep water to the rest of the world's oceans. As a part of this work, new sections of the Drake Passage sea floor will be mapped and imaged, along with the present and past distributions of deep-sea corals and their habitats. <br/><br/><br/><br/>A significant broader impact of this work is characterizing the functioning of what may be a key control of atmospheric CO2 content, which could prove important for fully understanding the impacts of continued CO2 emissions and developing mitigation strategies. As well, the work will characterize deep marine ecologies that are poorly understood, but increasingly exploited as fisheries resources.
The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. <br/>This project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.
This proposal is for the continuation and expansion of an underway program on the R/V Laurence M. Gould to measure dissolved carbon dioxide gas (pCO2) along with occasional total carbon dioxide (TCO2) in surface waters on transects of Drake Passage. The added observations include dissolved oxygen, as well as nutrient and carbon-13. The proposed work is similar to the underway measurement program made aboard R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer, and complements similar surface temperature and current data.<br/>The Southern Ocean is an important component of the global carbon budget. Low surface temperatures with consequently low vertical stability, ice formation, and high winds produce a very active environment for the exchange of gaseous carbon dioxide between the atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs. The Drake Passage is the narrowest point through which the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts must pass, and is the most efficient location for the measurement of latitudinal gradients of gas exchange. The generated time series will contribute towards two scientific goals: the quantification of the spatial and temporal variability and trends of surface carbon dioxide, oxygen, nutrients and C-13, and an understanding of the dominant processes that contribute to the observed variability.
The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990's. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica's glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth's magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.
The proposed project will expand the suite of observations and lengthen the existing time series of underway surface dissolved carbon dioxide (pCO2) measurements transects across the Drake Passage on the R/VIB L.M. Gould. The additional observations include oxygen, nutrients and total CO2 (TCO2) concentrations, and the 13C to 12C ratio of TCO2. The continued and expanded time series will contribute towards two main scientific goals: the quantification of the spatial and temporal variability and the trends of surface carbon dioxide species in four major water mass regimes in the Drake Passage, and the understanding of the dominant processes and changes in those processes that contribute to the variability in surface pCO2 and the resulting air-sea flux of CO2 in the Drake Passage. The expanded program will also include the analysis of the 14C/12C of TCO2 and the specific study of the observations on one short wintertime cruise, with the objective of testing the hypothesis that the dissolved carbon dioxide in surface waters of the Drake Passage is determined by the degree of winter mixing. This is of special significance in light of two scenarios that may be affecting the ventilation of Southern Ocean deep water now and in the future: a decrease in water column stratification with the observations of higher zonal winds, or an increase in stratification due to higher precipitation and warming from climate change. If winter mixing determines the mean annual pCO2 in the Drake Passage, the increasing trend in atmospheric pCO2 should have little effect on sea surface pCO2.
This project studies fossils from two to three hundred million year old rocks in the Allan Hills area of Antarctica. Similar deposits from lower latitudes have been used to develop a model of Permo-Triassic climate, wherein melting of continental glaciers in the early Permian leads to the establishment of forests in a cold, wet climate. Conditions became warmer and dryer by the early Triassic, inhibiting plant growth until a moistening climate in the late Triassic allowed plant to flourish once again. This project will test and refine this model and investigate the general effects of climate change on landscapes and ecosystems using the unique exposures and well-preserved fossil and sediment records in the Allan Hills area. The area will be searched for fossil forests, vertebrate tracks and burrows, arthropod trackways, and subaqueously produced biogenic structures, which have been found in other areas of Antarctica. Finds will be integrated with previous paleobiologic studies to reconstruct and interpret ecosystems and their changes. Structures and rock types documenting the end phases of continental glaciation and other major episodic sedimentations will also be described and interpreted. This project contributes to understanding the: (1) evolution of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and how they were affected by the end-Permian extinction, (2) abundance and diversity of terrestrial and aquatic arthropods at high latitudes, (3) paleogeographic distribution and evolution of vertebrates and invertebrates as recorded by trace and body fossils; and (3) response of landscapes to changes in climate.<br/><br/>In terms of broader impacts, this project will provide an outstanding introduction to field research for graduate and undergraduate students, and generate related opportunities for several undergraduates. It will also stimulate exchange of ideas among research and primarily undergraduate institutions. Novel outreach activities are also planned to convey Earth history to the general public, including a short film on the research process and products, and paintings by a professional scientific illustrator of Permo-Traissic landscapes and ecosystems.
0125794<br/>Price<br/><br/>This award supports research in climatology, geosciences, and life in extreme environments to be carried out with a newly developed optical borehole logger. The logger fits into a fluid-filled borehole in glacial ice. It emits light at 370 nm in a horizontal plane in order to probe optical properties of particles embedded in the ice out to several meters from the borehole. After leaving the borehole, the light is partially absorbed and scattered by dust, biomolecules, or microbes. A fraction of the light is scattered back into the borehole and is detected by a system of seven phototubes, each of which collects light with high efficiency in a separate wavelength band. One of them collects light that scatters off of dust and air bubbles without wavelength shift, and serves as a dust logger. The other six are covered with notch filters that measure six different wavelength bands and measure the shape of the fluorescence spectrum of microbes and biomolecules. Thus, the same instrument serves as both a dust logger and a microbe logger. Applications include: 1) Precise chronologies and long-period solar variability. With a resolution of 1 to 2 cm for both GISP2 and Siple Dome, the logger will record annual dust maxima and evaluate claims of modulations of dust concentration with periods ranging from 11 yrs (the solar cycle) to 2300 yrs; 2) Volcanism and age-depth markers. Dozens of volcanic ash bands will be detectable and will serve as primary age-depth markers for other boreholes; 3) Microorganisms and biomolecules. The vertical distribution of living, dormant, and dead microbes can be logged, and searches for archaea and aeolian polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be made. The logging experiments will be carried out at Siple Dome and Dome C in Antarctica and at GISP2 and GRIP in Greenland.
This project answers a simple question: why are there so few fossils in sediment cores from Antarctica?s continental shelf? Antarctica?s benthos are as biologically rich as those of the tropics. Shell-secreting organisms should have left a trail throughout geologic time, but have not. This trail is particularly important because these organisms record regional climate in ways that are critical to interpreting the global climate record. This study uses field experiments and targeted observations of modern benthic systems to examine the biases inflicted by fossil preservation. By examining a spectrum of ice-affected habitats, this project provides paleoenvironmental insights into carbonate preservation, sedimentation rates, and burial processes; and will provide new approaches to reconstructing the Cenozoic history of Antarctica. Broader impacts include graduate and undergraduate research and education, development of undergraduate curricula to link art and science, K12 outreach, public outreach via the web, and societal relevance through improved understanding of records of global climate change.
The research will examine the relative importance of the physical and chemical controls on phytoplankton dynamics and carbon flux in continental margin regions of the Southern Ocean, and elucidate mechanisms by which plankton populations and carbon export might be altered by climate change. We specifically will address (1) how the phytoplankton on the continental margins of the southern Ocean respond to spatial and temporal changes in temperature, light, iron supply, and carbon dioxide levels, (2) how these factors initiate changes in phytoplankton assemblage structure, and (3) how carbon export and the efficiency of the biological pump are impacted by the biomass and composition of the phytoplankton. Two regions of study (the Amundsen and Ross Seas) will be investigated, one well studied (Ross Sea) and one poorly described (Amundsen Sea). It is hypothesized that each region will have markedly different physical forcing, giving rise to distinct chemical conditions and therefore biological responses. As such, the comparison of the two may give us insights into the mechanisms of how Antarctic continental margins will respond under changing environmental conditions. Broader impacts include participation by an international graduate student from Brazil, outreach via seminars to the general public, collaboration with the teachers-in-residence on the cruise, development of a cruise web site and interactive email exchanges with local middle school students while at sea
Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:<br/>o Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and<br/>photosynthetic rates?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. <br/>Antarctica?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population<br/>dynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience.
Abstract<br/><br/>The research will continue and extend the study in the Southern Ocean that was initiated during the Oden Southern Ocean 2006 expedition in collaboration with Swedish scientist Mellissa Chierici. We will quantify carbon flux through the food web in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) by measuring size fractionated primary and secondary production, grazing and carbon flux through nanoplankton (2-20 um), microplankton (20-200um), and mesoplankton (200-2000 um). Community structure, species abundance and size specific grazing rates will be quantified using a variety of techniques both underway and at ice stations along the MIZ. The proposed cruise track extends across the Drake Passage to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) with three station transects along a gradient from the open ocean through the marginal ice zone (MIZ) in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and into the Ross Sea Polynya. Ice stations along each transect will provide material to characterize production associated with annual ice. Underway measurements of primary and secondary production (chlorophyll, CDOM, microplankton, and mesoplankton) and hydrography (temperature, salinity, pH, DO, turbidity) will establish a baseline for future cruises and as support for other projects such as biogeochemical studies on carbon dioxide drawdown and trace metal work on primary production. The outcome of these measurements will be a description of nano to mesoplankton standing stocks, community structure, and carbon flux along the MIZ in the Bellinghausen and Amundsen Seas and the Ross Sea Polynya.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a significant chemical component in aquatic systems because it acts as an important carbon source for microorganisms, absorbs harmful radiation in sunlight, is able to complex metals, and can participate in important biogeochemical reactions. This study will investigate the biogeochemical cycling of DOM in a small coastal Antarctic pond, Pony Lake, located on Cape Royds, Ross Island. Because there are no higher plants present at this site all of the DOM in this lake is derived from microorganisms. Thus, Pony Lake is an ideal site to study the effect of physical, chemical, and microbial processes on the composition and character of the DOM pool. Finally, Pony Lake is also an ideal site to collect an International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) fulvic acid standard. Unlike other IHSS standards, this standard will not contain DOM components derived from higher land plants. To better understand the role of physical influences, the project will study the changes in the DOM pool as the lake evolves from ice-covered to ice-free conditions during the summer, as well as the relationship of DOM to the observed turnover of dominant microbial communities in the lake. Scientists will also monitor changes in microbial abundance, diversity, and productivity that may occur during the ice to open-water transition period. This research will provide much needed information regarding the relationship between microbial diversity and DOM biogeochemistry. Middle school science students will be active participants in this project through the Internet, while scientists are in the field, and in the lab.
Abstract<br/><br/>The research objective is (1) to determine the distributions and dynamics of a full suite of bioactive trace metals in dissolved and suspended particulate forms, along sampling transects of the Amundsen and Ross Seas. And (2) to test the sensitivity of overall cellular metal stoichiometry (metal/carbon ratios) to natural gradients in species assemblage and Fe availability. Our earlier findings from a single Ross Sea station and from a Drake Passage crossing suggest that Fe-limited phytoplankton cells are unusually enriched in Zn, Cu and Cd relative to biomass carbon, with strong implications for the biogeochemical cycling of these elements relative to carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. In collaboration with other researchers on the cruise, we will also measure metal stoichiometry of cells exposed to predicted 2010 temperature and carbon dioxide levels in shipboard incubation studies, as a window into possible effects of climate change on metals biogeochemistry in these regions. This proposal will support close international collaborations and lasting infrastructure development as US and Swedish scientists, and more importantly, their students, work toward shared the shared goal of understanding a region that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on the globe. Trace metal micro-nutrients are a key control on the productivity of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Our results will be made widely available through research publications and internet-available databases, and public outreach through COSEE at Rutgers University.
0538683<br/>Lal<br/>This award supports a project to continue development of a new method for estimating solar activity in the past. It is based on measurements of the concentrations of in-situ produced C-14 in polar ice by cosmic rays, which depend only on (i) the cosmic ray flux, and (ii) ice accumulation rate. This is the only direct method available to date polar ice, since it does not involve any uncertain climatic transfer functions as are encountered in the applications of cosmogenic C-14 data in tree rings, or of Be-10 in ice and sediments. An important task is to improve on the temporal resolution during identified periods of high/low solar activity in the past 32 Kyr. The plan is to undertake a study of changes in the cosmic ray flux during the last millennium (1100-1825 A.D.), during which time 4 low and 1 high solar activity epoch has been identified from historical records. Sunspot data during most of these periods are sparse. Adequate ice samples are available from ice cores from the South Pole and from Summit, Greenland and a careful high resolution study of past solar activity levels during this period will be undertaken. The intellectual merit of the work includes providing independent verification of estimated solar activity levels from the two polar ice records of cosmic ray flux and greatly improve our understanding of solar-terrestrial relationships. <br/>The broader impacts include collaboration with other scientists who are experts in the application of the atmospheric cosmogenic C-14 and student training. Both undergraduates and a graduate student will be involved in the proposed research. Various forms of outreach will also be used to disseminate the results of this project, including public presentations and interactions with the media.
This award supports a project to measure the elemental and isotopic composition of firn air and occluded air in shallow boreholes and ice cores from the WAIS Divide site, the location of a deep ice-coring program planned for 2006-07 and subsequent seasons. The three primary objectives are: 1) to establish the nature of firn air movement and trapping at the site to aid interpretations of gas data from the deep core; 2) to expand the suite of atmospheric trace gas species that can be measured in ice and replicate existing records of other species; and 3) to inter-calibrate all collaborating labs to insure that compositional and isotopic data sets are inter-comparable. The program will be initiated with a shallow drilling program during the 05/06 field season which will recover two 300+m cores and firn air samples. The ice core and firn air will provide more than 700 years of atmospheric history that will be used to address a number of important questions related to atmospheric change over this time period. The research team consists of six US laboratories that also plan to participate in the deep core program. This collaborative research program has a number of advantages. First, the scientists will be able to coordinate sample allocation a priori to maximize the resolution and overlap of records of interrelated species. Second, sample registration will be exact, allowing direct comparison of all records. Third, a coherent data set will be produced at the same time and all PI.s will participate in interpreting and publishing the results. This will insure that the best possible understanding of gas records at the WAIS Divide site will be achieved, and that all work necessary to interpret the deep core is conducted in a timely fashion. The collaborative structure created by the proposal will encourage sharing of techniques, equipment, and ideas between the laboratories. The research will identify impacts of various industrial/agricultural activities and help to distinguish them from natural variations, and will include species for which there are no long records of anthropogenic impact. The work will also help to predict future atmospheric loadings. The project will contribute to training scientists at several levels, including seven undergraduates, two graduate students and one post doctoral fellow.
#0125098<br/>Steve Emslie<br/><br/>Occupation History and Diet of Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea Region<br/><br/>This project will build on previous studies to investigate the occupation history and diet of Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, with excavations of abandoned and active penguin colonies. Numerous active and abandoned colonies exist on the Victoria Land coast, from Cape Adare to Marble Point will be sampled. Some of these sites have been radiocarbon-dated and indicate a long occupation history for Adelie penguins extending to 13,000 years before present (B. P.). The material recovered from excavations, as demonstrated from previous investigations, will include penguin bones, tissue, and eggshell fragments as well as abundant remains of prey (fish bones, otoliths, squid beaks) preserved in ornithogenic (formed from bird guano) soils. These organic remains will be quantified and subjected to radiocarbon analyses to obtain a colonization history of penguins in this region. Identification of prey remains in the sediments will allow assessment of penguin diet. Other data (ancient DNA) from these sites will be analyzed through collaboration with New Zealand scientists. Past climatic conditions will be interpreted from published ice-core and marine-sediment records. These data will be used to test the hypothesis that Adelie penguins respond to climate change, past and present, in a predictable manner. In addition, the hypothesis that Adelie penguins alter their diet in accordance with climate, sea-ice conditions, and other marine environmental variables along a latitudinal gradient will be tested. Graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in this project and a project Web site will be developed to report results and maintain educational interaction between the PI and students at local middle and high schools in Wilmington, NC.
Denitrification is the main process by which fixed nitrogen is lost from ecosystems and the regulation of this process may directly affect primary production and carbon cycling over short and long time scales. Previous investigations of the role of bioactive metals in regulating denitrification in bacteria from permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of East Antarctica indicated that denitrifying bacteria can be negatively affected by metals such as copper, iron, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, silver and zinc; and that there is a distinct difference in denitrifying activity between the east and west lobes of the lake. Low iron concentrations were found to exacerbate the potential toxicity of the other metals, while silver has the potential to specifically inhibit denitrification because of its ability to interfere with copper binding in redox proteins, such as nitrite reductase and nitrous oxide reductase. High silver concentrations might prevent the functioning of nitrous oxide reductase in the same way that simple copper limitation does, thereby causing the buildup of nitrous oxide and resulting in a nonfunctional nitrogen cycle. Other factors, such as oxygen concentration, are likely also to affect bacterial activity in Lake Bonney. This project will investigate silver toxicity, general metal toxicity and oxygen concentration to determine their effect on denitrification in the lake by using a suite of "sentinel" strains of denitrifying bacteria (isolated from the lake) incubated in Lake Bonney water and subjected to various treatments. The physiological responses of these strains to changes in metal and oxygen concentration will be quantified by flow cytometric detection of single cell molecular probes whose sensitivity and interpretation have been optimized for the sentinel strains. Understanding the relationships between metals and denitrification is expected to enhance our understanding of not only Lake Bonney's unusual nitrogen cycle, but more generally, of the potential role of metals in the regulation of microbial nitrogen transformations.<br/><br/>The broader impacts of this work include not only a better understanding of regional biogeochemistry and global perspectives on these processes; but also the training of graduate students and a substantial outreach effort for school children.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis" as it relates to global carbon dioxide fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles.<br/><br/>Intellectual Merit<br/>This project will evaluate the burial rate of biogenic opal in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, both during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the Holocene, as a critical test of the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis". <br/><br/>The "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis" has been proposed recently to explain the glacial reduction in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere that has been reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores. Vast amounts of dissolved Si (silicic acid) are supplied to surface waters of the Southern Ocean by wind-driven upwelling of deep waters. Today, that dissolved Si is consumed almost quantitatively by diatoms who form skeletal structures composed of biogenic opal (a mineral form of silicon). According to the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis", environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean during glacial periods were unfavorable for diatom growth, leading to reduced (compared to interglacials) efficiency of dissolved Si utilization. Dissolved Si that was not consumed biologically in the glacial Southern ocean was then exported to the tropics in waters that sink in winter to depths of a few hundred meters along the northern fringes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and return some decades later to the sunlit surface in tropical regions of wind-driven upwelling. <br/><br/>An increase in the amount of dissolved Si that "leaks" out of the Southern Ocean and later upwells at low latitudes could shift the global average composition of phytoplankton toward a greater abundance of diatoms and fewer CaCO3-secreting taxa (especially coccolithophorids). Consequences of such a taxonomic shift in the ocean's phytoplankton assemblage include:<br/> a) an increase in the global average organic carbon/calcium carbonate ratio of particulate biogenic material sinking into the deep sea;<br/> b) a reduction in the preservation and burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments;<br/> c) an increase in ocean alkalinity as a consequence of the first two changes mentioned above, and;<br/> d) a lowering of atmospheric CO2 concentrations in response to increased alkalinity of ocean waters. <br/><br/>A complete assessment of the Silicic acid leakage hypothesis will require an evaluation of: (1) Si utilization efficiencies using newly-developed stable isotopic techniques; (2) opal burial rates in low-latitude upwelling regions; and (3) opal burial rates in the Southern Ocean. This project addresses the last of these topics. <br/><br/>Previous work has shown that there was little change in opal burial rate between the LGM and the Holocene in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. Preliminary results (summarized in this proposal) suggest that the Pacific may have been different, however, in that opal burial rates in the Pacific sector seem to have been lower during the LGM than during the Holocene, allowing for the possibility of "Si leakage" from this region. However, available results are too sparse to make any quantitative conclusions at this time. For that reason, we propose to make a comprehensive evaluation of opal burial rates in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. <br/><br/>Significance and Broader Impacts<br/>Determining the mechanism(s) by which the ocean has regulated climate-related changes in the CO2 content of the atmosphere has been the focus of a substantial effort by paleoceanographers over the past two decades. The Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis is a viable new candidate mechanism that warrants further exploration and testing. Completion of the proposed work will contribute significantly to that effort. <br/><br/>During the course of this work, several undergraduates will be exposed to paleoclimate research through their involvement in this project. Burckle and Anderson are both dedicated to the education and training of young scientists, and to the recruitment of women and under-represented minorities. To illustrate, two summer students (undergraduates) worked in Burckle's lab during the summer of 2002. One was a woman and the other (male) was a member of an under-represented minority. Anderson and Burckle will continue with similar recruitment efforts during the course of the proposed study. A minority student who has expressed an interest in working on this research during the summer of 2003 has already been identified.
The Shackleton Fracture Zone (SFZ) in the Drake Passage defines a boundary between low and high phytoplankton waters. West of Drake Passage, Southern Ocean waters south of the Polar Front and north of the Antarctic continent shelf have very low satellite-derived surface chlorophyll concentrations. Chlorophyll and mesoscale eddy kinetic energy are higher east of SFZ compared to values west of the ridge. In situ data from a 10-year survey of the region as part of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Antarctic Marine Living Resources program confirm the existence of a strong hydrographic and chlorophyll gradient in the region. An interdisciplinary team of scientists hypothesizes that bathymetry, including the 2000 m deep SFZ, influences mesoscale circulation and transport of iron leading to the observed phytoplankton patterns. To address this<br/>hypothesis, the team proposes to examine phytoplankton and bacterial physiological states (including responses to iron enrichment) and structure of the plankton communities from virus to zooplankton, the concentration and distribution of Fe, Mn, and Al, and mesoscale flow patterns near the SFZ. Relationships between iron concentrations and phytoplankton characteristics will be examined in the context of the mesoscale transport of trace nutrients to determine how much of the observed variability in phytoplankton biomass can be attributed to iron supply, and to determine the most important sources of iron to pelagic waters east of the Drake Passage. The goal is to better understand how plankton productivity and community structure in the Southern Ocean are affected by the coupling between bathymetry, mesoscale circulation, and limiting nutrient distributions.<br/><br/>The research program includes rapid surface surveys of chemical, plankton, and hydrographic properties complemented by a mesoscale station grid for vertical profiles, water sampling, and bottle incubation enrichment experiments. Distributions of manganese and aluminum will be determined to help distinguish aeolian, continental shelf and upwelling sources of iron. The physiological state of the phytoplankton will be monitored by active fluorescence methods sensitive to the effects of iron limitation. Mass concentrations of pigment, carbon and nitrogen will be obtained by analysis of filtered samples, cell size distributions by flow cytometry, and species identification by microscopy. Primary production and photosynthesis parameters (absorption, quantum yields, variable fluorescence) will be measured on depth profiles, during surface surveys and on bulk samples from enrichment experiments. Viruses and bacteria will be examined for abundances, and bacterial production will be assessed in terms of whether it is limited by either iron or organic carbon sources. The proposed work will improve our understanding of processes controlling distributions of iron and the response of plankton communities in the Southern Ocean. This proposal also includes an outreach component comprised of Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Teachers Experiencing the Antarctic and Arctic (TEA), and the creation of an educational website and K-12 curricular modules based on the project.
Abstract<br/><br/>This Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposal describes global change-related experimental research designed to take full advantage of a unique science opportunity on short notice, the leasing of the Oden to conduct ice-breaking operations in McMurdo Sound. <br/><br/>Our emphasis will be on using this opportunistic research platform to ask two questions about present day and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton communities. These are: 1. How will expected alterations in pCO2, pH, and Fe availability in the Southern Ocean, due to future anthropogenic climate change affect phytoplankton species assemblages, carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry, and remineralization processes? 2. What is the current role of organic co-factors (vitamins) in limiting or co-limiting (along with iron ) phytoplankton growth and production in the Antarctic margin? The research approach includes experimental incubations with variation in iron enrichment, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature. A second suite of experiments will examine co-limitation effects between vitamin B12 and Fe and B12 uptake kinetics. Changes in phytoplankton community structure, and carbon and nutrient cycling will be determined, in collaboration with many of the participating U.S. and Swedish investigators. Together, these two main objectives should allow us to obtain novel insights into the current and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton growth, productivity, and carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. In particular, the experiments in the Amundsen Sea represent a one-of-a-kind opportunity to understand algal dynamics and potential future responses to climate change in this little-studied ecosystem, and compare these results to those from the better-known Ross Sea. An important result of this study will be to build strong international collaborations with the Swedish marine science community. Additional broader impacts include participatin of an Hispanic Ph.D. student in cruise work and post-cruise analyses, and integration of results into graduate courses at the USC Catalina Lab facility. Public outreach will include presentations on global change impacts on the ocean targeted at audiences ranging from legislators and policymakers to the general public.
Saltzman/0636953<br/><br/>This award supports a project to measure methyl chloride, methyl bromide, and carbonyl sulfide in air extracted from Antarctic ice cores. Previous measurements in firn air and shallow ice cores suggest that the ice archive contains paleo-atmospheric signals for these gases. The goal of this study is to extend these records throughout the Holocene and into the last Glacial period to examine the behavior of these trace gases over longer time scales and a wider range of climatic conditions. These studies are exploratory, and both the stability of these trace gases and the extent to which they may be impacted by in situ processes will be assessed. This project will involve sampling and analyzing archived ice core samples from the Siple Dome, Taylor Dome, Byrd, and Vostok ice cores. The ice core samples will be analyzed by dry extraction, with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with isotope dilution. The ice core measurements will generate new information about the range of natural variability of these trace gases in the atmosphere. The intellectual merit of this project is that this work will provide an improved basis for assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on biogeochemical cycles, and new insight into the climatic sensitivity of the biogeochemical processes controlling atmospheric composition. The broader impact of this project is that there is a strong societal interest in understanding how man's activities impact the atmosphere, and how atmospheric chemistry may be altered by future climate change. The results of this study will contribute to the development of scenarios used for future projections of stratospheric ozone and climate change. In terms of human development, this project will support the doctoral dissertation of a graduate student in Earth System Science, and undergraduate research on polar ice core chemistry. This project will also contribute to the development of an Earth Sciences teacher training curriculum for high school teachers in the Orange County school system in collaboration with an established, NSF-sponsored Math and Science Partnership program (FOCUS).
0124049<br/>Berger<br/><br/>This award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the Dry Valleys of the McMurdo Sound region of Antarctica. Using a modified Livingstone corer, transects of long cores will be obtained from Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, Joyce, and Vanda. A multiparameter approach will be employed which is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of former water-level, glaciological, and paleoenvironmental data from Dry Valleys lakes. Estimates of hydrologic changes will come from different proxies, including grain size, stratigraphy, evaporite mineralogy, stable isotope and trace element chemistry, and diatom assemblage analysis. The chronology, necessary to integrate the cores with the geomorphological record, as well as for comparisons with Antarctic ice-core and glacial records, will come from Uranium-Thorium, Uranium-Helium, and Carbon-14 dating of carbonates, as well as luminescence sediment dating. Evaluation of the link between lake-level and climate will come from hydrological and energy-balance modelling. Combination of the more continuous lake-core sequences with the spatially extensive geomorphological record will result in an integrated Antarctic lake-level and paleoclimate dataset that extends back at least 30,000 years. This record will be compared to Dry Valleys glacier records and to the Antarctic ice cores to address questions of regional climate variability, and then to other Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere records to assess interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of climate change.
The Larsen Ice Shelf is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica and has continued a pattern of catastrophic decay since the mid 1990's. The proposed marine geologic work at the Larsen Ice Shelf builds upon our previous NSF-OPP funding and intends to test the working hypothesis that the Larsen B Ice Shelf system has been a stable component of Antarctica's glacial system since it formed during rising sea levels 10,000 years BP. This conclusion, if supported by observations from our proposed work, is an important first step in establishing the uniqueness and consequences of rapid regional warming currently taking place across the Peninsula. Our previous work in the Larsen A and B embayments has allowed us to recognize the signature of past ice shelf fluctuations and their impact on the oceanographic and biologic environments. We have also overcome many of the limitations of standard radiocarbon dating in Antarctic marine sequences by using variations in the strength of the earth's magnetic field for correlation of sediment records and by using specific organic compounds (instead of bulk sediment) for radiocarbon dating. We intend to pursue these analytical advances and extend our sediment core stratigraphy to areas uncovered by the most recent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf and areas immediately adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf. In addition to the core recovery program, we intend to utilize our unique access to the ice shelf front to continue our observations of the snow/ice stratigraphy, oceanographic character, and ocean floor character. Sediment traps will also be deployed in order to measure the input of debris from glaciers that are now surging in response to the ice shelf collapse. This proposal is a multi-institutional, international (USAP, Italy, and Canada) effort that combines the established expertise in a variety of disciplines and integrates the research plan into the educational efforts of primarily undergraduate institutions but including some graduate education. This is a three-year project with field seasons planned with flexibility in order to accommodate schedules for the RVIB L.M. Gould. The Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing greater warming than almost anywhere on Earth, perhaps associated with human-induced greenhouse effects. Our proposed work contributes to understanding of these changes where they are occurring first and with greatest magnitude and impact upon the environment.
9909665 Berger This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports project to test and develop approaches for using thermoluminescence techniques to determine the age of Antarctic marine sediments. Quaternary (last 2 million yrs) marine sediments surrounding Antarctica record the waxing and waning of ice shelves and ice sheets, and also other paleoclimatic information, yet accurate chronologies of these sediments are difficult to obtain. Such chronologies provide the essential foundation for study of geological processes in the past. Within the range of radiocarbon (14C) dating (less than 30-40 thousand yrs, note - "ka" below means 1000 yrs) 14C dates can be inaccurate because of a variable 14C reservoir effect, and beyond 30-40 ka few methods are applicable. Photon-stimulated-luminescence sediment dating (photonic dating) of eolian and waterlain deposits in temperate latitudes spans the range from decades to hundreds of ka, but marine sediments in and around Antarctica pose special difficulty because of the potentially restricted exposure to daylight (the clock-zeroing process) of most detrital grains before deposition. This proposal will test the clock-zeroing assumption in representative Antarctic glaciomarine depositional settings, and thereby determine the potential reliability of photonic dating of Antarctic marine sediments. Limited luminescence dating and signal-zeroing tests using glaciomarine and marine deposits have been conducted in the northern temperate and polar latitudes, but the effects on luminescence of the different glaciomarine depositional processes have never been studied in detail. Furthermore, the depositional settings around Antarctica are almost entirely polar, with consequent specific processes operating there. For example, transport of terrigenous suspensions by neutrally buoyant "cold-tongue" (mid-water) plumes may be common around Antarctica, yet the effect of such transport on luminescence zeroing is unknown. Typical marine cores near Antarctica may contain an unknown fraction of detrital grains from cold-tongue and near-bottom suspensions. Thus the extent to which the polar glaciomarine depositional processes around Antarctica may limit the potential accuracy of photonic dating of marine cores is unknown (age overestimates would result if grains are not exposed to daylight before deposition). This project will collect detrital grains from a variety of "zero-age" (modern) marine depositional settings within the Antarctic Peninsula, where representative Antarctic depositional processes have been documented and where logistics permit access. Suspensions will be collected from four fjords representing a transect from polar through subpolar conditions. Suspensions will be collected from two stations and from up to 3 depths (surface and 2 deep plumes) at each station. Sediment traps will be deployed at two of these fjord settings. As well, core-top sediments will be collected from several sites. All samples will be shielded from light and transported to Reno, Nevada, for luminescence analyses. Systematic study of the effectiveness of luminescence-clock-zeroing in Antarctic glaciomarine settings will determine if photonic dating can be reliable for future applications to Antarctic marine sediments. Refined sedimentological criteria for the selection of future samples for photonic dating are expected from this project. A photonic-dating capability would provide a numeric geochronometer extending well beyond the age range of 14C dating. Such a capability would permit answering a number of broader questions about the timing and extent of past glaciations near and on the Antarctic shelves.
Encarnaci_n OPP 9615398 Abstract Basement rocks of the Transantarctic Mountains are believed to record a change in the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana from a rifted passive margin to a tectonically active margin (Ross orogen). Recent hypothesis suggest that the passive margin phase resulted from Neoproterozoic rifting of Laurentia from Antarctica ("SWEAT" hypothesis). The succeeding active margin phase (Ross orogeny) was one of several tectonic events ("Pan African" events) that resulted from plate convergence/transpression that was probably a consequence of the assembly of components of the Gondwana supercontinent. Although these basement units provide one of the keys for understanding the break up and assembly of these major continental masses, few precise ages are available to address the following important issues: (1) Is there any pre-rift high-grade cratonal basement exposed along the Transantarctic Mountains, and what is/are its precise age? Is this age compatible with a Laurentia connection? (2) What is the age of potential rift/passive margin sediments (Beardmore Group) along the Queen Maud Mountains sector of the orogen? (3) What is the relative and absolute timing of magmatism and contractional deformation of supracrustal units in the orogen? Was deformation diachronous and thus possibly related to transpressional tectonics, or did it occur in a discrete pulse that is more compatible with a collision? How does contraction of the orogen fit in with emplacement of voluminous plutonic and volcanic rocks? The answers to these questions are central to understanding the kinematic evolution of this major orogenic belt and its role in Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic continental reconstructions and plate kinematics. Hence, this award supports funding for precise U-Pb dating, using zircon, monazite, baddeleyite, and/or titanite from a variety of magmatic rocks in the Queen Ma ud Mountains, which can address the foregoing problems. In addition to the issues above, precise dating of volcanics that are interbedded with carbonates containing probable Middle Cambrian fauna could potentially provide a calibration point for the Middle Cambrian, which will fill a gap in the absolute time scale for the early Paleozoic.
This award is for support for a program to reconstruct records of the isotopic composition of paleoatmospheric methane and nitrous oxide covering the last 200,000 years. High resolution measurements of the carbon-13 isotopic composition of methane from shallow ice cores will help to determine the relative contributions of biogenic (wetlands, rice fields and ruminants) and abiogenic (biomass burning and natural gas) methane emissions which have caused the concentrations of this gas to increase at an exponential rate during the anthropogenic period. Isotopic data on methane and nitrous oxide over glacial/interglacial timescales will help determine the underlying cause of the large concentration variations that are known to occur. This project will make use of a new generation mass spectrometer which is capable of generating precise isotopic information on nanomolar quantities of methane and nitrous oxide, which means that samples can be 1000 times smaller than those needed for a standard isotope ratio instrument. The primary objective of the work is to further our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles of these two greenhouse gases throughout the anthropogenic period as well as over glacial interglacial timescales.
Major portions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet float in the surrounding ocean, at the physical and intellectual boundaries of oceanography and glaciology. These ice shelves lose mass continuously by melting into the sea, and periodically by the calving of icebergs. Those losses are compensated by the outflow of grounded ice, and by surface accumulation and basal freezing. Ice shelf sources and sinks vary on several time scales, but their wastage terms are not yet well known. Reports of substantial ice shelf retreat, regional ocean freshening and increased ice velocity and thinning are of particular concern at a time of warming ocean temperatures in waters that have access to deep glacier grounding lines.<br/>This award supports a study of the attrition of Antarctic ice shelves, using recent ocean geochemical measurements and drawing on numerical modeling and remote sensing resources. In cooperation with associates at Columbia University and the British Antarctic Survey, measurements of chlorofluorocarbon, helium, neon and oxygen isotopes will be used to infer basal melting beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, and a combination of oceanographic and altimeter data will be used to investigate the mass balance of George VI Ice Shelf. Ocean and remote sensing observations will also be used to help refine numerical models of ice cavity circulations. The objectives are to reduce uncertainties between different estimates of basal melting and freezing, evaluate regional variability, and provide an update of an earlier assessment of circumpolar net melting.<br/>A better knowledge of ice shelf attrition is essential to an improved understanding of ice shelf response to climate change. Large ice shelf calving events can alter the ocean circulation and sea ice formation, and can lead to logistics problems such as those recently experienced in the Ross Sea. Broader impacts include the role of ice shelf meltwater in freshening and stabilizing the upper ocean, and in the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water, which can be traced far into the North Atlantic. To the extent that ice shelf attrition influences the flow of grounded ice, this work also has implications for ice sheet stability and sea level rise.
This project determines the recent history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) through a multidisciplinary study of the seabed in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. WAIS is perhaps the world's most critical ice sheet to sea level rise dut to near-future global warming. its history has been a key focus for the past decade, but there are significant questions as to whether WAIS was stable during the last glacial maximum--about 20,000 years ago--or undergoing advance and retreat. This project studies grounding zone translantions in Eastern Basin to constrain WAIS movements using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates multibeam bathymetry, seismic stratigraphy, sedimentology, diatom biostratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, 10Be concentration analyses, and numerical modeling.<br/><br/>The broader impacts include improving society's understanding of sea level rise linked to global warming; postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate education; and expanding the participation of groups underrepresented in Earth sciences through links with LSU's Geoscience Alliance to Encourage Minority Participation.
This award supports a two-year project to continue work developing the techniques to make carbon monoxide (CO) measurements in ice core samples. Carbon monoxide is an important atmospheric chemical constituent as it is a primary sink for hydroxyl radical (OH) (and therefore influences the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere) and because the concentrations of three major greenhouses gases , carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are directly tied to the concentration of CO. In light of recent anthropogenic increases in the emissions of CO, CO2, CH4 and NOx, it is desirable to understand this complex chemical system and the changes in the greenhouse forcing resulting from perturbation. Because it is difficult to test the accuracy of models for past and future conditions for which no direct atmospheric measurements of trace gas concentrations are available these measurements must be obtained in other ways. Polar ice cores provide a means to make these measurements. Further work is necessary to refine the analytical technique and additional measurements are necessary to investigate the accuracy of these results and to establish the nature of temporal trends in CO. It is anticipated that the CO record, combined with existing or new data for CO2, CH4 , N2O and other paleoclimate variables, will provide further constraints on model studies of the effect of changing atmospheric chemistry on greenhouse forcing.
Polar Programs, provides funds for a study of sediment cores from the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes. The Dry Valley lakes have a long history of fluctuating levels reflecting regional climate change. The history of lake level fluctuations is generally known from the LGM to early Holocene through 14C dates of buried organic matter in paleolake deposits. However, the youngest paleolake deposits available are between 8000 to 9000 14C yr BP, suggesting that lake levels were at or below current levels for much of the Holocene. Thus, any information about the lake history and climate controls for the Holocene is largely contained in bottom sediments. This project will attempt to extract paleoclimatic information from sediment cores for a series of closed-basin dry valley lakes under study by the McMurdo LTER site. This work involves multiple approaches to dating the sediments and use of several climate proxy approaches to extract century to millennial scale chronologies from Antarctic lacustrine deposits. This research uses knowledge on lake processes gained over the past eight years by the LTER to calibrate climate proxies from lake sediments. Proxies for lake depth and ice thickness, which are largely controlled by summer climate, are the focus of this work. This study focuses on four key questions: 1. How sensitively do dry valley lake sediments record Holocene environmental and climate variability? 2. What is the paleoclimatic variability in the dry valleys on a century and millennial scale throughout the Holocene? Especially, is the 1200 yr evaporative event unique, or are there other such events in the record? 3. Does a mid-Holocene (7000 to 5000 yr BP) climate shift occur in the dry valleys as documented elsewhere in the polar regions? 4. Is there evidence, in the dry valley lake record of the 1500 yr Holocene periodicities recently recognized in the Taylor Dome record? Core collection will be performed with LTER support using a state-of-the-art percussion/piston corer system that has been used successfully to retrieve long cores (10 to 20 m) from other remote polar locations. Analyses to be done include algal pigments, biogenic silica, basic geochemistry, organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen content, stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, carbonate phases, salt content and mineralogy, and grain size. In addition this project will pursue a multi-chronometer approach to assess the age of the core through optically-stimulated luminescence, 226Ra/230Th , 230Th/234U, and 14C techniques. New experimentation with U-series techniques will be performed to allow for greater precision in the dry valley lake sediments. Compound specific isotopes and lipid biomarkers , which are powerful tools for inferring past lake conditions, will also be assessed. Combined, these analyses will provide a new century to millennial scale continuous record of the Holocene climate change in the Ross Sea region.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports an interdisciplinary study of fluvial sediments in Antarctica for evidence of what caused the greatest of all mass extinctions in the history of life at the Permian-Triassic boundary. This boundary was, until recently, difficult to locate and thought to be unequivocally disconformable in Antarctica. New studies, particularly of carbon isotopic chemostratigraphy and of paleosols and root traces as paleoecosystem indicators, together with improved fossil plant, reptile and pollen biostratigraphy, now suggest that the precise location of the boundary might be identified and have led to local discovery of iridium anomalies, shocked quartz, and fullerenes with extraterrestrial noble gases. These anomalies are associated with a distinctive claystone breccia bed, similar to strata known in South Africa and Australia, and taken as evidence of deforestation. There is already much evidence from Antarctica and elsewhere that the mass extinction on land was abrupt and synchronous with extinction in the ocean. The problem now is what led to such death and destruction. Carbon isotopic values are so low in these and other Permian-Triassic boundary sections that there was likely to have been some role for catastrophic destabilization of methane clathrates. Getting the modeled amount of methane out of likely reservoirs would require such catastrophic events as bolide impact, flood-basalt eruption or continental-shelf collapse, which have all independently been implicated in the mass extinction and for which there is independent evidence. Teasing apart these various hypotheses requires careful re-examination of beds that appear to represent the Permian-Triassic boundary, and search for more informative sequences, as was the case for the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. This collaborative research on geochemistry and petrography of boundary beds and paleosols (by Retallack), on carbon isotopic variation through the boundary interval (by Jahren), and on fullerenes, iridium and helium (by Becker) is designed to test these ideas about the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica and to shed light on processes which contributed to this largest of mass extinctions on Earth. Fieldwork for this research will be conducted in the central Transantarctic Mountains and in Southern Victoria Land with an initial objective of examining the stratigraphic sequences for continuity across the boundary. Stratigraphic continuity is a critical element that must exist for the work to be successful. If fieldwork indicates sufficiently continuous sections, the full analytical program will follow fieldwork.
9909484 Lal This award is for support for three years of funding to develop a history of snow accumulation and physical processes occurring in the upper layers of ice deposited at several sites in Antarctica, using cosmogenic in-situ Carbon-14 (14C) and cosmogenic Beryllium-10 (10Be) as radiotracers. The proposed research emerges from recent studies of cosmogenic in-situ 14C in GISP2 Holocene and several Antarctic ice samples, which revealed marked differences in the 14C concentrations in the samples, compared to the theoretically expected values. The GISP2 samples have about the expected amount of 14C but the Antarctic samples are deficient by 30-50% or more. These results suggest that in slowly accumulating ice samples (such as occur in Antarctica), the cosmic ray implanted 14C is somehow partially lost, but quantitatively preserved in samples from areas of high accumulation. These results suggest that after deposition of the cosmogenic 14C, its concentration is decreased in firn due to processes such as recrystallization, sublimation/evaporation and redeposition. In order to quantify these processes, the atmospheric cosmogenic 10Be in ice samples will also be measured. Since 10Be and 14C have different responses to the firnification processes, their simultaneous study can help to elucidate the nature and importance of these processes. Samples from Taylor Dome, Vostok and Siple Dome will all be studied.
This award supports a study of the chemical composition of air in the snow layer (firn) in a region of "megadunes" near Vostok station, Antarctica. It will test the hypothesis that a deep "convective zone" of vigorous wind-driven mixing can prevent gas fractionation in the upper one-third of the polar firn layer. In the megadunes, ultralow snow accumulation rates lead to structural changes (large grains, pipes, and cracks) that make the permeability of firn to air movement orders of magnitude higher than normal. The unknown thickness of the convective zone has hampered the interpretation of ice core 15N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar ratios as indicators of past firn thickness, which is a key constraint on the climatically important variables of temperature, accumulation rate, and gas age-ice age difference. Studying this "extreme end-member" example will better define the role of the convective zone in gas reconstructions. This study will pump air from a profile of ~20 depths in the firn, to definitively test for the presence of a convective zone based on the fit of observed 15 N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar to a molecular- and eddy-diffusion model. Permeability measurements on the core and 2-D air flow modeling (in collaboration with M. Albert) will permit a more physically realistic interpretation of the isotope data and will relate mixing vigor to air velocities. A new proxy indicator of convective zone thickness will be tested on firn and ice core bubble air, based on the principle that isotopes of slow-diffusing heavy noble gases (Kr, Xe) should be more affected by convection than isotopes of fast-diffusing N2 . These tools will be applied to a test of the hypothesis that the megadunes and a deep convective zone existed at the Vostok site during glacial periods, which would explain the anomalously low 15N/14N and 40Ar/36Ar in the Vostok ice core glacial periods. The broader impacts of this work include 1) clarification of phase relationships of greenhouse gases and temperature in ice core records, with implications for understanding of past and future climates, 2) education of one graduate student, and 3) building of collaborative relationships with five investigators.
This award supports a three-year renewal project to complete measurement of cosmogenic nuclides in the Siple Dome ice core as part of the West Antarctic ice core program. The investigators will continue to measure profiles of Beryllium-10 (half-life = 1.5x10 6 years) and Chlorine-36 (half-life = 3.0x10 5 years) in the entire ice core which spans the time period from the present to about 100 kyr. It will be particularly instructive to compare the Antarctic record with the detailed Arctic record that was measured by these investigators as part of the GISP2 project. This comparison will help separate global from local effects at the different drill sites. Cosmogenic radionuclides in polar ice cores have been used to study the long-term variations in several important geophysical variables, including solar activity, geomagnetic field strength, atmospheric circulation, snow accumulation rates, and others. The time series of nuclide concentrations resulting from this work will be applied to several problem areas: perfecting the ice core chronology, deducing the history of solar activity, deducing the history of variations in the geomagnetic field, and studying the possible role of solar variations on climate. Comparison of Beryllium-10 and Chlorine-36 profiles in different cores will allow us to improve the ice core chronology and directly compare ice cores from different regions of the globe. Additional comparison with the Carbon-14 record will allow correlation of the ice core paleoenvironment record to other, Carbon-14 dated, paleoclimate records.
This award supports the analysis, in Antarctic ice cores, of the ozone depleting substances methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl chloride (CH3Cl), and the sulfur-containing gas, carbonyl sulfide (OCS). The broad scientific goal is to assess the level and variability of these gases in the preindustrial atmosphere. This information will allow testing of current models for sources and sinks of these gases from the atmosphere, and to indirectly assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on their biogeochemical cycles. Longer-term records will shed light on the climatic sensitivity of the atmospheric burden of these gases, and ultimately on the biogeochemical processes controlling them. These gases are present in ice at parts per trillion levels, and the current database consists entirely of a small number of measurements made in from a shallow ice core from Siple Dome, Antarctica. This project will involve studies of ice core samples from three Antarctic sites: Siple Station, Siple Dome, and South Pole. The sampling strategy is designed to accomplish several objectives: 1) to verify the atmospheric mixing ratios previously observed in shallow Siple Dome ice for OCS, CH3Br, and CH3Cl at sites with very different accumulation rates and surface temperatures; 2) to obtain a well-dated, high resolution record from a high accumulation rate site (Siple Station), that can provide overlap in mean gas age with Antarctic firn air samples; 3) explore Holocene variability in trace gas mixing ratios; and 4) to make the first measurements of these trace gases in Antarctic glacial ice. In terms of broader impact on society, this research will help to provide a stronger scientific basis for policy decisions regulating the production and use of ozone-depleting and climate-active gases. Specifically, the methyl bromide results will contribute to the current debate on the impact of recent regulation (via the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments) on atmospheric levels. Determination of pre-industrial atmospheric variability of ozone-depleting substances will help place more realistic constraints on scenarios used for future projections of stratospheric ozone and its climatic impacts. This research will involve the participation of both graduate and undergraduate students.
0125900<br/>Sowers<br/><br/>This award supports a project to improve the understanding of the biogeochemical processes that control CH4 emissions. Records of the concentration of methane in trapped gases in ice tell us about changes in atmospheric loading through time. Such records do not, however, provide information on the individual sources or sinks. One way to refine our understanding of the cycling of bioactive trace gases like methane is to use stable isotope records of trapped gases in ice cores. This project will measure the Deuterium/Hydrogen (D/H) ratio of methane trapped in shallow/recent ice (covering the last ~ 200 years) at Siple Dome, Antarctica. The proposed work will complement current efforts to measure the carbon-13 isotope ratio of methane in ice cores and will provide fundamental information on the various sources and sinks of atmospheric methane over the last 200 years.
0125981<br/>Sowers<br/><br/>This award supports a project to construct an isotopic record of atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide over the last century from South Pole firn air. Over the last 150 years, atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen in response to increased emissions from various anthropogenic activities. As this trend is liable to continue in the foreseeable future, it is important to understand the biogeochemical processes that contribute to the emissions of these two greenhouse gases. In this context, records of the variations in the atmospheric loading of trace gases found in ice cores and interstitial spaces in the snow near the surface of the ice sheet (firn air) provide fundamental boundary conditions for reconstructing historical emission records. One way to improve our understanding of the cycling of bioactive trace gases and their emission records is to use stable isotope tracers, which have been recorded in the ice cores and firn air. This project will develop records of carbon-13 and deuterium isotope ratios of methane, as well as the nitrogen-15, oxygen-18 and the isotopomer composition of nitrous oxide trapped in firn air samples collected in January 2001 at the South Pole. These measurements will allow isotopic records of these atmospheric gases to be reconstructed throughout the 20th century. Such records will help to establish the relative contribution of individual sources with a higher degree of confidence than is currently available.
This award supports the continued measurements of gas isotopes in the Vostok ice core, from Antarctica. One objective is to identify the phasing of carbon dioxide variations and temperature variations, which may place constraints on hypothesized cause and effect relationships. Identification of phasing has in the past been hampered by the large and uncertain age difference between the gases trapped in air bubbles and the surrounding ice. This work will circumvent this issue by employing an indicator of temperature in the gas phase. It is argued that 40Ar/39Ar behaves as a qualitative indicator of temperature, via an indirect relationship between temperature, accumulation rate, firn thickness, and gravitational fractionation of the gas isotopes. The proposed research will make nitrogen and argon isotope measurements on ~ 200 samples of ice covering Termination II (130,000 yr B.P.) and Termination IV (340,000 yr BP). The broader impacts may include a better understanding of the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in climate change.
This award is for support of a study to establish a quantitative nuclear method for determination of Antarctic ablation and accumulation rates and to provide correction factors for the carbon 14 ages of ice samples dated using trapped carbon 14. Recent studies have established the presence of cosmogenic in-situ produced carbon 14 in polar ice. In conjunction with estimated carbon 14 production rates, measured concentrations of carbon 14 per gram of ice yield, ablation rates which are in good agreement with the values determined from stake measurements. Similar studies to determine accumulation rates have been tested and the estimates are consistent with previous studies. This study will expand the preliminary work done to date in order to improve the 14CO and 14CO2 vacuum extraction techniques, by lowering blank levels and by obtaining more complete separation of 14CO and 14CO2.
9980691 Wahlen This award is for support for three years of funding to reconstruct the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon-13 isotope (d13C) concentration in ice cores from Antarctica over several climatic periods. Samples from the Holocene, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)-Holocene transition and glacial stadial/interstadial episodes will be examined. Samples from the Siple Dome ice core drilled in 1998/99 will be made, in addition to measurements from the Taylor Dome and Vostok ice cores. The major objectives are to investigate the phase relationships between variations in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, its carbon isotope composition, and temperature changes (indicated by 18dO and dD of the ice) during deglaciations as well as across rapid climate change events (e.g. Dansgaard-Oeschger events). This will help to determine systematic changes in the global carbon cycle during and between different climatic periods, and to ascertain if the widely spread northern hemisphere temperature stadial/interstadial events produced a global atmospheric carbon dioxide signal. Proven experimental techniques will be used.
This award is for support of a program to reconstruct the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (and the carbon-13 isotopes of carbon dioxide) over several intervals, including the Last Glacial Maximum-Holocene transition, interstadial episodes, the mid-Holocene, the last 1000 years and the penultimate glacial period, using ice from the Taylor Dome and Vostok ice cores. The major objective of this study is to investigate the phase relationship between variations of the greenhouse gases occluded in the ice cores and temperature changes (indicated by oxygen and deuterium isotopes) during the last deglaciation. In addition, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 1000 years and during the mid-Holocene will be determined in these cores.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research for construction of a long-term record of climate during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene to assess the annual seasonality in temperature on the coastal margin of Antarctica. Stable isotope and element compositions of well-preserved bivalve shells collected on Seymour Island will be the primary source of data used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. Seasonal temperature records collected through high-resolution sampling along growth structures in bivalve shells will allow seasonality to be assessed during different climate states and during periods of rapid climate change. In addition, high stratigraphic resolution will enable this project to detect the presence and frequency of short-lived thermal excursions that may have extended to such high latitudes. To compile a reliable temporal record of paleoclimate, two major avenues of investigation will be undertaken: 1) precise stratigraphic (and therefore, temporal) placement of fossils over a large geographic area will be employed through the use of a graphical technique employing geometric projections; 2) stable isotope and elemental analyses will be performed to derive paleotemperatures and to evaluate diagenetic alteration of shell materials. To provide realistic comparisons of paleotemperatures across stratigraphic horizons, this study will focus on a single taxon, thus avoiding complications due to the mixing of faunal assemblages that have been encountered in previous studies of this region. The near-shore marine fossil record on Seymour Island provides a unique opportunity to address many questions about the Antarctic paleoenvironment, including the relation between seasonality and different climate states, the influence of climate on biogeographic distribution of specific taxa, the effect of ice-volume changes on the stable isotope record from the late Cretaceous through the Eocene, and the plausibility of high-latitude bottom water formation during this time interval. In particular, information that will be collected concerning patterns of seasonality and the presence (or absence) of short-lived thermal excursions will be extremely valuable to an understanding of the response of high latitude sites during climate transitions from globally cool to globally warm conditions.
9530379 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. This work is one of forty-four projects that are collaborating in the Southern Ocean Experiment, a three- year effort south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone to track the flow of carbon through its organic and inorganic pathways from the air-ocean interface through the entire water column into the bottom sediment. The experiment will make use of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and the R/V Thompson. This component is a study of how naturally radioactive material in the ocean sediment may be used to reconstruct the flux of biogenic material through the water column to the sediment, and by inference, the productivity of the surface layers. There is evidence that the current surface conditions of high nutrient levels, but low chlorophyll levels do not extend back into colder climatic epochs, and that an examination of radionuclides may allow the reconstruction of rates of paleoproductivity. Two aspects of the biogeochemical cycling and physical transport of radionuclide tracers in the modern ocean will be investigated. In the first part, the concentration of a series of natural radionuclide tracers (thorium-230, protactinium-231, and Beryllium-10) in the Southern Ocean will be measured for their scavenging behavior both in the water column and in particulate material collected by sediment traps. The goal is to test the proposed use of radionuclide ratios as proxy variables for the export flux. In the second part, the concentration values will be introduced into an ocean general circulat ion model to evaluate the transport of radionuclides by the ocean circulation on scales that are larger than the spatial gradients in particle flux. These combined efforts will better define our ability to use radionuclide ratios to evaluate past changes in ocean productivity, and improve our understanding of the response of ocean productivity to climate variability. ***