{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Interior"}
[{"awards": "2023355 Schmandt, Brandon", "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, 20 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Nontechnical\u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003eUnlike other locations on the globe Antarctica is not known for having large earthquakes and the remote nature and harsh conditions make it difficult to install and maintain seismometers for earthquake detection. Some researchers believe the lack of large earthquakes is due to the continent being surrounded by inactive tectonic margins. However, in the last two decades, scientists have discovered that more earthquakes occur in the interior of the continent than previously observed. This suggests that there are many earthquakes missing from historic earthquake catalogs. This study aims to find the missing earthquakes using novel earthquake detection and location techniques from seismic data collected from temporary and permanent seismic stations in Antarctica over the last 25 years. Locating these earthquakes will help understand if and where earthquakes are located in Antarctica and will help in planning future seismic deployments. As part of the project broader impacts, a field expedition with the Girls on Rock program will be conducted to teach high school age girls, and especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, data visualization techniques using scientific data. \u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003ePart 2: Technical\u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003eThe spatial distribution of seismicity and the number of moderate magnitude earthquakes in Antarctica is not well-defined. The current catalog of earthquakes may be biased by uneven and sparse seismograph distribution on the continent. We will mine existing broadband seismic data from both permanent and temporary deployments to lower the earthquake detection threshold across Interior Antarctica, with a focus on tectonic earthquakes. The hypothesis is that Interior Antarctica has abundant moderate magnitude earthquakes, previously undetected. These earthquakes are likely collocated with major tectonic features such as the Transantarctic Mountains, the suspected Vostok collision zone, the West Antarctic Rift System, the crustal compositional boundary between East and West Antarctica, and the Cretaceous East Antarctic Rift. Previous seismic deployments have recorded earthquakes in the Antarctic interior, suggesting there are many earthquakes missing from the current catalog. We propose to use novel earthquake location techniques designed for automated detection and location using 25 years of continuous data archived at IRIS from PASSCAL experiments and permanent stations. The approach will use STA/LTA detectors on the first arrival P-wave to 90 degrees distance, Reverse Time Imaging to locate events, and beamforming at dense arrays strategically located on cratons for enhanced detection and location. The combination of detection and location techniques used in this work has not been used on teleseismic body waves, although similar methods have worked well for surface wave studies. If successful the project would provide an excellent training dataset for future scrutiny of newly discovered Antarctic seismicity with machine learning approaches and/or new targeted data collection. We plan to collaborate with Girls on Rock, a local and international organization committed to building a culturally diverse community in science, art, and wilderness exploration, in a summer field expedition and integrating computer coding into post-field scientific projects.\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": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Seismic Events; Icequakes; TECTONICS; Earthquakes", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Polar Special Initiatives; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schmandt, Brandon", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "EAGER: Lowering the detection threshold of Antarctic seismicity to reveal undiscovered intraplate deformation", "uid": "p0010450", "west": -180.0}, {"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:\u003cbr/\u003eThis 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.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTechnical Description:\u003cbr/\u003eThe 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": "2333940 Zhong, Shijie", "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, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Satellite observations of Earth?s surface gravity and elevation changes indicate rapid melting of ice sheets in recent decades in northern Antarctica Peninsula and Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica. This rapid melting may lead to significant global sea level rise which is a major societal concern. Measurements from the Global Positioning System (GPS) show rapid land uplift in these regions as the ice sheets melt. When an ice sheet melts, the melt water flows to oceans, causing global sea level to rise. However, the sea level change at a given geographic location is also influenced by two other factors associated with the ice melting process: 1) the vertical motion of the land and 2) gravitational attraction. The vertical motion of the land is caused by the change of pressure force on the surface of the solid Earth. For example, the removal of ice mass reduces the pressure force on the land, leading to uplift of the land below the ice sheet, while the addition of water in oceans increases the pressure force on the seafloor, causing it to subside. The sea level always follows the equipotential surface of the gravity which changes as the mass on the Earth?s surface (e.g., the ice and water) or/and in its interiors (e.g., at the crust-mantle boundary) is redistributed. Additionally, the vertical motion of the land below an ice sheet has important effects on the evolution and stability of the ice sheet and may determine whether the ice sheet will rapidly collapse or gradually stabilize. The main goal of this project is to build an accurate and efficient computer model to study the displacement and deformation of the Antarctic crust and mantle in response to recent ice melting. The project will significantly improve existing and publicly available computer code, CitcomSVE. The horizontal and vertical components of the Earth?s surface displacement depends on mantle viscosity and elastic properties of the Earth. Although seismic imaging studies demonstrate that the Antarctica mantle is heterogeneous, most studies on the ice-melting induced deformation in Antarctica have assumed that mantle viscosity and elastic properties only vary with the depth due to computational limitations. In this project, the new computational method in CitcomSVE avoids such assumptions and makes it possible to include realistic 3-D mantle viscosity and elastic properties in computing the Antarctica crustal and mantle displacement. This project will interpret the GPS measurements of the surface displacements in northern Antarctica Peninsula and Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica and use the observations to place constraints on mantle viscosity and deformation mechanisms. The project will also seek to predict the future land displacement Antarctica, which will lead to a better understand of Antarctica ice sheets. Finally, the project has direct implications for the study of global sea level change and the dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet. Technical Description Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is important for understanding not only fundamental science questions including mantle viscosity, mantle convection and lithospheric deformation but also societally important questions of global sea-level change, polar ice melting, climate change, and groundwater hydrology. Studies of rock deformation in laboratory experiments, post-seismic deformation, and mantle dynamics indicate that mantle viscosity is temperature- and stress-dependent. Although the effects of stress-dependent (i.e., non-Newtonian) viscosity and transient creep rheology on GIA process have been studied, observational evidence remains elusive. There has been significant ice mass loss in recent decades in northern Antarctica Peninsula (NAP) and Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) of West Antarctica. The ice mass loss has caused rapid bedrock uplift as measured by GPS techniques which require surprisingly small upper mantle viscosity of ~1018 Pas. The rapid uplifts may have important feedback effects on ongoing ice melting because of their influence on grounding line migration, and the inferred small viscosity may have implications for mantle rheology and deformation on decadal time scales. The main objective of the project is to test hypotheses that the GPS observations in NAP and ASE regions are controlled by 3-D non-Newtonian or/and transient creep viscosity by developing new GIA modeling capability based on finite element package CitcomSVE. The project will carry out the following three tasks: Task 1 is to build GIA models for the NAP and ASE regions to examine the effects of 3-D temperature-dependent mantle viscosity on the surface displacements and to test hypothesis that the 3-D mantle viscosity improves the fit to the GPS observations. Task 2 is to test the hypothesis that non-Newtonian or/and transient creep rheology controls GIA process on decadal time scales by computing GIA models and comparing model predictions with GPS observations for the NAP and ASE regions. Task 3 is to implement transient creep (i.e., Burgers model) rheology into finite element package CitcomSVE for modeling the GIA process on global and regional scales and to make the package publicly available to the scientific community. The project will develop the first numerical GIA model with Burgers transient rheology and use the models to examine the effects of 3-D temperature-dependent viscosity, non-Newtonian viscosity and transient rheology on GIA-induced surface displacements in Antarctica. The project will model the unique GPS observations of unusually large displacement rates in the NAP and ASE regions to place constraints on mantle rheology and to distinguish between 3-D temperature-dependent, non-Newtonian and transient mantle viscosity. The project will expand the capability of the publicly available software package CitcomSVE for modeling viscoelastic deformation and tidal deformation on global and regional scales. The project will advance our understanding in lithospheric deformation and mantle rheology on decadal time scales, which helps predict grounding line migration and understand ice sheet stability in West Antarctica. The project will strengthen the open science practice by improving the publicly available code CitcomSVE at github.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS; CRUSTAL MOTION; COMPUTERS; GLACIER MASS BALANCE/ICE SHEET MASS BALANCE", "locations": "WAIS", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Zhong, Shijie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e COMPUTERS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Investigating Effects of Transient and Non-Newtonian Mantle Viscosity on Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Process and their Implications for GPS Observations in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010441", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2224679 Miller, Lauren; 2224681 Venturelli, Ryan; 2224680 Prothro, Lindsay", "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.\r\n\r\nThis 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.", "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": "1542756 Koutnik, Michelle", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -77,-179.5 -77,-179 -77,-178.5 -77,-178 -77,-177.5 -77,-177 -77,-176.5 -77,-176 -77,-175.5 -77,-175 -77,-175 -77.9,-175 -78.8,-175 -79.7,-175 -80.6,-175 -81.5,-175 -82.4,-175 -83.3,-175 -84.2,-175 -85.1,-175 -86,-175.5 -86,-176 -86,-176.5 -86,-177 -86,-177.5 -86,-178 -86,-178.5 -86,-179 -86,-179.5 -86,180 -86,177.5 -86,175 -86,172.5 -86,170 -86,167.5 -86,165 -86,162.5 -86,160 -86,157.5 -86,155 -86,155 -85.1,155 -84.2,155 -83.3,155 -82.4,155 -81.5,155 -80.6,155 -79.7,155 -78.8,155 -77.9,155 -77,157.5 -77,160 -77,162.5 -77,165 -77,167.5 -77,170 -77,172.5 -77,175 -77,177.5 -77,-180 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Beardmore Glacier model in \u0027icepack\u0027", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200339", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Beardmore Glacier model in \u0027icepack\u0027", "url": "https://github.com/danshapero/beardmore"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In this project we investigated glaciers that drain ice from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Transantarctic Mountains into the present-day Ross Ice Shelf. The outlet glaciers that flow through the Transantarctic Mountains have thinned significantly over the past 15,000 years, especially as they retreated from Last Glacial Maximum highstands to their present-day grounding lines. At certain locations and for certain glaciers, rocks or bedrock have been sampled to provide constraints on the timing of when ice retreated from these locations. In the locations where geochronological data are available we can use these data as direct constraints on ice-flow models that simulate ice elevation change over time. The intellectual merit of this work is using ice-flow models to spatially and temporally extrapolate between these limited geochronological data points, which enables new understanding of glacier evolution. \r\n\r\nThe mountainous topography in this region is complex, and there are limited measurements of the topography beneath the ice of the Transantarctic outlet glaciers. Since the topography of the glacier bed is an important control on ice flow and is a necessary boundary condition in models we developed a new gridded bed product at Beardmore Glacier, the one location where sufficient data were available, and we compared this to continent-scale gridded bed products. We found that for this glacier, the BedMachine v1 product was reasonably similar to the Beardmore Glacier bed topography measurements; our limited evaluation suggests that the BedMachine product may be sufficient at other Transantarctic outlets where bed measurements are not available, but that other compilations of bed topography data that do not include information about ice flow directions do not provide reliable results. Using these data and available geochronological constraints we investigated Beardmore Glacier evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum using simplified (flowline) models of ice flow.\r\n\r\nIn addition to flowline modeling at Beardmore Glacier, we developed a flow-model setup using the open-source \u0027icepack\u0027 model that uses the shallow stream equations and resolves flow in both the x and y directions. The key value added over flowline (or parameterized flowband) models is that this can capture converging and diverging ice flow, variable side wall and bottom drag, and other geometric complexities. In these simulations we can evaluate the past accumulation, ice influx, and ice outflux to compare controls on deglaciation to data constraints on the chronology of deglaciation.\r\n\r\nWe also used a flowline model to investigate the Darwin-Hatherton Glacier System. Exposure ages and radiocarbon ages of glacial deposits at four locations alongside Hatherton and Darwin glaciers record several hundred meters of late Pleistocene to early Holocene thickening relative to present. Deglaciation was relatively complex at this site, and we also found that Byrd glacier likely contributed ice to the catchment of the Darwin-Hatherton glacier system during the last glacial maximum, and that subsequent convergent flow from Byrd and Mulock glaciers during deglaciation complicated the response of the Darwin-Hatherton system. These new insights can be used on their own to better understand local deglaciation, and can also be used to evaluate regional or continent-scale model calculations.\r\n\r\nSeparately, we investigated the general response of outlet glaciers to different sources of climate forcing. We found that outlet glaciers have a characteristically different response over time to surface-mass-balance forcing applied over the interior than to oceanic forcing applied at the grounding line. Our models demonstrated that ocean forcing first engages the fast, local response and then the slow adjustment of interior ice, whereas surface-mass-balance forcing is dominated by the slow interior adjustment. These insights contributed to our general understanding of how outlet glaciers may have evolved over time.\r\n\r\nOur new model investigations provide a framework that can be applied at other Transantarctic outlet glaciers where geochronological data are available. In particular, our \u0027icepack\u0027 setup is an archived and documented resource for the community. These tools are available for future investigations, including additional investigations at Beardmore Glacier and at other Transantarctic Mountain outlet glaciers. Scientific broader impacts include that this contributes to our understanding of the past behavior of East Antarctic ice, which provides an important constraint on the future evolution of Antarctica. Our team has engaged in public outreach and has engaged students in this research. Two graduate students led in aspects of this work, and have since gone on to research positions after their PhD.", "east": -175.0, "geometry": "POINT(170 -81.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS; Transantarctic Mountains; GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESS", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Koutnik, Michelle; Smith, Ben; Conway, Howard; Shapero, Daniel", "platforms": null, "repo": "GitHub", "repositories": "GitHub", "science_programs": null, "south": -86.0, "title": "Holocene Deglaciation of the Western Ross Embayment: Constraints from East Antarctic Outlet Glaciers", "uid": "p0010398", "west": 155.0}, {"awards": "1643961 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -83,-79.8 -83,-79.6 -83,-79.4 -83,-79.2 -83,-79 -83,-78.8 -83,-78.6 -83,-78.4 -83,-78.2 -83,-78 -83,-78 -83.2,-78 -83.4,-78 -83.6,-78 -83.8,-78 -84,-78 -84.2,-78 -84.4,-78 -84.6,-78 -84.8,-78 -85,-78.2 -85,-78.4 -85,-78.6 -85,-78.8 -85,-79 -85,-79.2 -85,-79.4 -85,-79.6 -85,-79.8 -85,-80 -85,-80 -84.8,-80 -84.6,-80 -84.4,-80 -84.2,-80 -84,-80 -83.8,-80 -83.6,-80 -83.4,-80 -83.2,-80 -83))", "dataset_titles": "Rutford Ice Stream short period data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200336", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/5B_2018", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Rutford Ice Stream short period data", "url": "http://fdsn.adc1.iris.edu/networks/detail/5B_2018/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Anandakrishnan/1643961\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to study conditions under the Rutford Ice Stream, a large glacier that flows from the interior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf and then on to the ocean. The speed and volume of ice delivered to the ocean by this and similar glaciers is central to the question of sea-level change in the coming decades: if the volume of ice carried by Rutford to the ocean increases, then it will contribute to a rise in sea level. Numerical models of glacier flow that are used to forecast future conditions must include a component that accounts for the sliding of the ice over its bed. The sliding process is poorly modeled because of lack of detailed information about the bottom of glaciers, leading to increased uncertainty in the ice-flow models. Data from this project will provide such information. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eDuring this project, in collaboration with researchers at the British Antarctic Survey, a detailed survey of the properties of the bed of Rutford Ice Stream will be carried out. These surveys include using seismic instruments (which are sensitive to naturally occurring earthquakes within glaciers--called icequakes) to monitor the distribution of those icequakes at the bed. The locations, size, and timing of icequakes are controlled by the properties of the bed such as porosity, water pressure, and stress. As part of this project, a hole will be drilled to the bed of the glacier to monitor water pressures and to extract a sample of the basal material. By comparing the pressure variations with icequake production, the properties of the basal material over a large area can be better determined. Those results will aid in the application of numerical models by informing their description of the sliding process. This award requires field work in Antarctica.\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": -78.0, "geometry": "POINT(-79 -84)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Seismicity; Ice Dynamic; Rutford Ice Stream", "locations": "Rutford Ice Stream", "north": -83.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "platforms": null, "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.0, "title": "Rutford Ice Stream Cooperative Research Program with British Antarctic Survey", "uid": "p0010392", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "1917176 Siddoway, Christine; 1916982 Teyssier, Christian; 1917009 Thomson, Stuart", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-160.16 -67.15,-154.572 -67.15,-148.984 -67.15,-143.39600000000002 -67.15,-137.808 -67.15,-132.22 -67.15,-126.632 -67.15,-121.04400000000001 -67.15,-115.456 -67.15,-109.868 -67.15,-104.28 -67.15,-104.28 -68.165,-104.28 -69.18,-104.28 -70.19500000000001,-104.28 -71.21000000000001,-104.28 -72.225,-104.28 -73.24,-104.28 -74.255,-104.28 -75.27,-104.28 -76.285,-104.28 -77.3,-109.868 -77.3,-115.456 -77.3,-121.044 -77.3,-126.632 -77.3,-132.22 -77.3,-137.808 -77.3,-143.396 -77.3,-148.98399999999998 -77.3,-154.572 -77.3,-160.16 -77.3,-160.16 -76.285,-160.16 -75.27,-160.16 -74.255,-160.16 -73.24,-160.16 -72.225,-160.16 -71.21000000000001,-160.16 -70.19500000000001,-160.16 -69.18,-160.16 -68.165,-160.16 -67.15))", "dataset_titles": "Apatite fission track thermochronology data for detrital minerals, offshore clasts, and bedrock; U-Pb detrital zircon geochronological data, obtained by LA-ICP-MS", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200332", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "in progress", "science_program": null, "title": "U-Pb detrital zircon geochronological data, obtained by LA-ICP-MS", "url": ""}, {"dataset_uid": "200333", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "in progress", "science_program": null, "title": "Apatite fission track thermochronology data for detrital minerals, offshore clasts, and bedrock", "url": ""}], "date_created": "Wed, 19 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Sediment records off the coast of Marie Byrd Land (MBL), Antarctica suggest frequent and dramatic changes in the size of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) over short (tens of thousands of years) and long (millions of years) time frames in the past. WAIS currently overrides much of MBL and covers the rugged and scoured bedrock landscape. The ice sheet carved narrow linear troughs that reach depths of two to three thousand meters below sea level as outlet glaciers flowed from the interior of the continent to the oceans. As a result, large volumes of fragmented continental bedrock were carried out to the seabed. The glaciers cut downward into a region of crystalline rocks (i.e. granite) that display a significant temperature change as a function of rock depth. The strong geothermal gradient in the bedrock is favorable for determining when the bedrock became exhumed, or \"uncovered\" by action of the overriding icesheet or other processes. Our approach takes advantage of a reference horizon, or paleogeotherm, established when high-T mineral thermochronometers across Marie Byrd Land (MBL) cooled from temperatures of \u003e800\u00b0 C to 300\u00b0 C, due to rapid regional extension at ~100 Ma . The event imparted a signature through which the subsequent Cenozoic landscape history can be explored: MBL\u0027s elevated geothermal gradient, sustained during the Cenozoic, created favorable conditions for sensitive apatite and zircon low-T thermochronometers to record bedrock cooling related to glacial incision. \r\n\r\nAnalyzing the chemistry of minerals (zircon and apatite) within fragments of eroded rock will reveal the rate and timing of the bedrock erosion and development of topography in West Antarctica. This collaborative project addresses the following questions: When did the land become high enough for a large ice sheet to form? What was the regional pre-glacial topography? Under what climate conditions, and at what point in the growth of an ice sheet, did glaciers begin to cut sharply into bedrock to form the narrow troughs that flow seaward? The research will lead to greater understanding of past Antarctic ice sheet fluctuations and identify precise timing of glacial incisionm which will clarify the onset of WAIS glacier incision and assess the evolution of Cenozoic paleo-topography. The collaborative project provides training for one graduate and 8 undergraduate students in STEM. These students, together with PIs, will refine West Antarctic ice sheet history and obtain results that pertain to the international societal response to contemporary ice sheet change and its global consequences. \r\n\r\nThe methods used for the research include: \r\n\u2022Low-temperature (T) thermochronology and Pecube 3-D thermo-kinematic modeling, applied to the timing and characterizatio episodes of glacial erosional incision. \r\n\u2022Single-grain double- and triple-dating of zircon and apatite, to determine the detailed crustal thermal evolution of the region, enabling the research team to identify the comparative topographic influences on glaciation versus bedrock uplift induced by Eocene to present tectonism/magmatism. \r\n\r\nStudents and PIs employed state-of-the-art analytical facilities in Arizona and Minnesota, expanding the geo- and thermochronologic history of MBL from bedrock samples and offshore sedimentary deposits. The temperature and time data we acquired will provide constraints on paleotopography, isostasy, and the thermal evolution of MBL that will be modeled in 3D using Pecube model simulations. Within hot crust, less incision is required to expose bedrock containing the distinct thermochronometric profile; a prediction we are testing through use of inverse Pecube 3-D models of the thermal field through which bedrock and detrital samples cooled. Using results from Pecube, the ICI-Hot team will examine time-varying topography formed in response to changes in erosion rates, topographic relief, geothermal gradient and/or flexural isostatic rigidity. These effects are manifestations of dynamic processes in the WAIS, including ice sheet loading, ice volume fluctuations, relative motion upon crustal faults, and magmatism-related elevation increase across the MBL dome. The project makes use of pre-existing sample collections housed at the US Polar Rock Repository, IODP\u0027s Gulf Coast Core Repository, and the OSU Marine and Geology Repository. 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": -104.28, "geometry": "POINT(-132.22 -72.225)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Marie Byrd Land; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Zircon; Subglacial Topography; FIELD SURVEYS; TECTONICS; Ice Sheet; Thermochronology; Apatite; ROCKS/MINERALS/CRYSTALS; Erosion; United States Of America; LABORATORY", "locations": "United States Of America; Marie Byrd Land", "north": -67.15, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC", "persons": "Siddoway, Christine; Thomson, Stuart; Teyssier, Christian", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "in progress", "repositories": "in progress", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.3, "title": "Collaborative Research: Ice sheet erosional interaction with hot geotherm in West Antarctica", "uid": "p0010386", "west": -160.16}, {"awards": "1654922 de la Pena, Santiago", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "dataset_titles": " South Pole Weather and Accumulation Measurements 2017-2020", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601591", "doi": "10.15784/601591", "keywords": "Accumulation; Antarctica; Snow; South Pole; Surface Mass Balance", "people": "de la Pe\u00f1a, Santiago", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " South Pole Weather and Accumulation Measurements 2017-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601591"}], "date_created": "Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "To obtain observations of temporal variability of firn processes in Antarctica, we designed a cost-efficient, reliable, and easily deployable firn monitoring system capable of operating with little or no maintenance over a period of several seasons. The prototype station was installed in December 2017 in the vicinity of the geographical South Pole and at a short distance from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station in Antarctica. The data presented was acquired between December of 2017 and January of 2020. During the first year, of the months without sunlight the longest period without SMB measurements was 22 days, yielding enough measurements to obtain monthly estimates of every variable. During the polar night of 2019, a technical issue related to extreme cold prevented the data logger attached to the CRNCs to record correctly so the sensor was placed under a stand-by mode until the 2nd of December 2019 when temperatures raised. Firn compaction, temperature and wind were recorded continuously during the 2-year period with the exception of a couple of weeks during the Austral winter. The project finalized in January 2020 and the system was taken down on January 15th. ", "east": 0.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "South Pole; SNOW", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Astrophysics and Geospace Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "de la Pe\u00f1a, Santiago", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "EAGER: An Operational System to Measure Surface Mass Balance Deep in the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet", "uid": "p0010360", "west": 0.0}, {"awards": "1543454 Dunbar, Nelia; 1543361 Kurbatov, Andrei", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "dataset_titles": "Cryptotephra in SPC-14 ice core; SPICEcore visable tephra", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601667", "doi": "10.15784/601667", "keywords": "Antarctica; Electron Microprobe; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; South Pole; Tephra", "people": "Iverson, Nels", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPICEcore visable tephra", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601667"}, {"dataset_uid": "601666", "doi": "10.15784/601666", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryptotephra; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; South Pole; SPICEcore; Tephra", "people": "Yates, Martin; Hartman, Laura; Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Helmick, Meredith", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Cryptotephra in SPC-14 ice core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601666"}], "date_created": "Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic ice core tephra records tend to be dominated by proximal volcanism and infrequently contain tephra from distal volcanoes within and off of the continent. Tephra layers in East Antarctic ice cores are largely derived from Northern Victoria Land volcanoes. For example, 43 out of 55 tephra layers in Talos Dome ice core are from local volcanoes. West Antarctic ice cores are dominated by tephra from Marie Byrd Land volcanoes. Thirty-six out of the 52 tephra layers in WAIS are from Mt. Berlin or Mt.Takahe. It would be expected that the majority of the tephra layers found in cores on and adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea should be from Sub-Antarctic islands (e.g., South Sandwich and South Shetland Islands). Unfortunately, these records are poorly characterized, making correlations to the source volcanoes very unlikely.\r\n\r\nThe South Pole ice core (SPICEcore) is uniquely situated to capture the volcanic records from all of these regions of the continent, as well as sub-tropical eruptions with significant global climate signatures. Twelve visible tephra layers have been characterized in SPICEcore and represent tephra produced by volcanoes from the Sub-Antarctic Islands (6), Marie Byrd Land (5), and one from an unknown sub-tropical eruption, likely from South America. Three of these tephra layers correlate to other ice core tephra providing important \u201cpinning points\u201d for timescale calibrations, recently published (Winski et al, 2019). Two tephra layers from Marie Byrd Land correlate to WAIS Divide ice core tephra (15.226ka and 44.864ka), and one tephra eruptive from the South Sandwich Island can be correlated EPICA Dome C, Vostok, and RICE (3.559ka). An additional eight cryptotephra have been characterized, and one layer geochemically correlates with the 1257 C.E. eruption of Samalas volcano in Indonesia.\r\n\r\nSPICEcore does not have a tephra record dominated by one volcanic region. Instead, it contains more of the tephra layers derived from off-continent volcanic sources. The far-travelled tephra layers from non-Antarctic sources improve our understanding of tephra transport to the interior of Antarctica. The location in the middle of the continent along with the longer transport distances from the local volcanoes has allowed for a unique tephra record to be produced that begins to link more of future ice core records together.\r\n\r\n", "east": 0.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "VOLCANIC DEPOSITS; South Pole", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dunbar, Nelia; Iverson, Nels; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Tephrochronology of a South Pole Ice Core", "uid": "p0010311", "west": 0.0}, {"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": "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"}], "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.\r\n\r\nThis 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.", "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": "2138556 Halberstadt, Anna Ruth", "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, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project combines numerical simulations and geologic data to explore fundamental knowledge gaps regarding the interpretation and use of marine and terrestrial datasets. This work will produce an ensemble of continent-wide coupled ice sheet and glacial isostatic adjustment simulations, constrained with comprehensive existing geologic data, to reproduce a history of deglacial Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution that is compatible with the geologic record as well as glaciologically and gravitationally self-consistent. Comparison between simulations and data is improved through high-resolution nested ice sheet modeling techniques, which provide unprecedented context for exposure age data generally located in regions of complex topography. Numerical simulations will be performed with systematically varied parameters and boundary conditions, and can thus support an investigation of (1) chronological mismatches between terrestrial thinning and marine ice sheet retreat during the mid-Holocene, and (2) how marine grounding-line dynamics are propagated upstream to coastal outlet glaciers and further interior under a variety of different scenarios.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; MODELS; AMD; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Post Doc/Travel", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Halberstadt, Anna Ruth", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "OPP-PRF: High-resolution Nested Antarctic Ice Sheet Modeling to Reconcile Marine and Terrestrial Geologic Data", "uid": "p0010278", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744927 Mitrovica, Jerry; 1745015 Zimmerer, Matthew; 1744949 Campbell, Seth", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-145 -74,-141.6 -74,-138.2 -74,-134.8 -74,-131.4 -74,-128 -74,-124.6 -74,-121.2 -74,-117.8 -74,-114.4 -74,-111 -74,-111 -74.6,-111 -75.2,-111 -75.8,-111 -76.4,-111 -77,-111 -77.6,-111 -78.2,-111 -78.8,-111 -79.4,-111 -80,-114.4 -80,-117.8 -80,-121.2 -80,-124.6 -80,-128 -80,-131.4 -80,-134.8 -80,-138.2 -80,-141.6 -80,-145 -80,-145 -79.4,-145 -78.8,-145 -78.2,-145 -77.6,-145 -77,-145 -76.4,-145 -75.8,-145 -75.2,-145 -74.6,-145 -74))", "dataset_titles": "Mt. Waesche ground-penetrating radar data 2018-2019", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601490", "doi": "10.15784/601490", "keywords": "Antarctica; GPR; Mt. Waesche", "people": "Braddock, Scott", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mt. Waesche ground-penetrating radar data 2018-2019", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601490"}], "date_created": "Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Projecting future changes in West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) volume and global sea level rise in response to anthropogenic climate warming requires dynamic ice sheet models, which are enhanced by testing and calibrating with geologic evidence. Successfully modeling WAIS behavior during past collapse events \r\nprovides a basis for predictions of future sea level change. Exposure ages of erratics and bedrock throughout west Antarctica constrain higher-than-present WAIS geometry during the LGM and the last deglaciation. Quantifying the past surface elevation from the interior of the ice sheet is especially useful as it directly constrains ice thickness and volume where most of the mass is located. Data that determines WAIS geometry during the last interglacial, the last time that climate was warmer than present and when global sea level was 3-6 m higher, is critical for empirically constraining changes in WAIS volume and its contribution to sea level, as well as, to calibrate ice sheet models. These datasets are essentially non-\r\nexistent, as such evidence is now covered by the WAIS. Initial results from ground-penetrating radar surveys indicate ice depths around 1200 m. ", "east": -111.0, "geometry": "POINT(-128 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Mt. Waesche; USA/NSF; SNOW/ICE; GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESS; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; LABORATORY; LAVA COMPOSITION/TEXTURE; Amd/Us; AMD; USAP-DC", "locations": "Mt. Waesche", "north": -74.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Braddock, Scott; Campbell, Seth; Ackert, Robert; Zimmerer, Matthew; Mitrovica, Jerry", "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": -80.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Constraining West Antarctic Ice Sheet elevation during the last interglacial", "uid": "p0010272", "west": -145.0}, {"awards": "1445205 Putkonen, Jaakko", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((157.6 -83.2,157.62 -83.2,157.64 -83.2,157.66 -83.2,157.68 -83.2,157.7 -83.2,157.72 -83.2,157.74 -83.2,157.76 -83.2,157.78 -83.2,157.8 -83.2,157.8 -83.21,157.8 -83.22,157.8 -83.23,157.8 -83.24,157.8 -83.25,157.8 -83.26,157.8 -83.27,157.8 -83.28,157.8 -83.29,157.8 -83.3,157.78 -83.3,157.76 -83.3,157.74 -83.3,157.72 -83.3,157.7 -83.3,157.68 -83.3,157.66 -83.3,157.64 -83.3,157.62 -83.3,157.6 -83.3,157.6 -83.29,157.6 -83.28,157.6 -83.27,157.6 -83.26,157.6 -83.25,157.6 -83.24,157.6 -83.23,157.6 -83.22,157.6 -83.21,157.6 -83.2))", "dataset_titles": "Cosmogenic-Nuclide data at ICE-D; Old Ice, Ong Valley, Transantarctic Mountains", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601665", "doi": "10.15784/601665", "keywords": "Antarctica; Buried Ice; Cosmogenic Isotopes; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Old Ice; Ong Valley", "people": "Bergelin, Marie; Putkonen, Jaakko", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Old Ice, Ong Valley, Transantarctic Mountains", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601665"}, {"dataset_uid": "200295", "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/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Finding the oldest ice on Earth can tell us about the climate and life forms in the distant past\r\n\r\nRecently we discovered a mile wide and hundreds of feet thick ice body in Antarctica that is buried under just a few feet of dirt. Thus far our analyses of the dirt suggest that the ice is over million years old. Generally, glacial ice contains tiny bubbles and dirt that was deposited and locked in the ice by the ancient snowfall and today still holds small samples of the atmospheric gases and everything else that was carried by the winds in the past. Such samples may include the amount of greenhouse gases, plant pollen, microbes, and mineral dust. Therefore the glaciers are like archives where we can access and study the Earth\u2019s history with samples that are unavailable anywhere else. Ice survives poorly on Earth\u2019s surface and therefore currently only few ice samples are known that are approximately million years old. Our site has a high potential to harbor perhaps the oldest ice on Earth. However, first we need to sample and date the ice. Our research will also help us understand how these pockets of buried ice can survive such unusually long periods of time. Such understanding will help us study the landforms and history of not only Antarctica but also the Mars where similar dirt covered glaciers are found today.\r\n\r\nWe propose to collect regolith samples through the approximately 1 m thick cover and to core the buried ice in Ong Valley down to 10 m depth to determine the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations both in the regolith and in the embedded mineral matter suspended in the ice. The systematics of the target cosmogenic nuclides (10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne) such as half-lives, isotope production rates, production pathways, and related attenuation lengths allow us to uniquely determine the age of the ice and the rate the ice is sublimating. Our existing samples and analyses reveal accumulation of mineral matter at the base of surficial debris layer and the surface erosion of this debris by eolian processes. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity: Our main objective is to unequivocally determine the age and sublimation rate of two buried massive ice bodies in time scale of thousands to millions of years. The slow sublimation is a fundamentally Antarctic process, and may have altered most of the currently ice-free areas throughout the continent. Similar large, debris covered ice bodies have been recently discovered in Mars as well. Our results may transform the understanding of the longevity of the buried ice bodies and potentially reveal the oldest ice ever found in the interior of the Antarctica. If proven old and slowly sublimating, this buried ice can potentially yield direct information about the atmospheric chemistry, ancient life forms, and geology of greater antiquity than the currently available and sampled ice bodies. The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity: The results will be relevant to researchers in glaciology, paleoclimatology, planetary geology, and biology. Several students will participate in the project and do field work in Antarctica, work in lab, attend meetings, attend outreach activities, and produce videos. A graduate student will prepare his/her thesis on a topic closely related to the objectives of the proposed research. The results of the research will be published in scientific meetings and publications.\r\n", "east": 157.8, "geometry": "POINT(157.7 -83.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; USA/NSF; FIELD SURVEYS; Transantarctic Mountains; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; AMD; Amd/Us", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -83.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "putkonen, jaakko; Balco, Gregory; Morgan, Daniel", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "ICE-D; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -83.3, "title": "Collaborative Research: Long Term Sublimation/Preservation of Two Separate, Buried Glacier Ice Masses, Ong Valley, Southern Transantarctic Mountains", "uid": "p0010231", "west": 157.6}, {"awards": "1443556 Thomson, Stuart; 1443342 Licht, Kathy", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Apatite (U-Th)/He and TREE Data Central Transantarctic Mountains", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601462", "doi": "10.15784/601462", "keywords": "Antarctica; Beardmore Glacier; Erosion; Landscape Evolution; Shackleton Glacier; Transantarctic Mountains; (U-Th)/He", "people": "Thomson, Stuart; Hemming, Sidney R.; Reiners, Peter; He, John; Licht, Kathy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Apatite (U-Th)/He and TREE Data Central Transantarctic Mountains", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601462"}], "date_created": "Wed, 09 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctica is almost entirely covered by ice, in places over two miles thick. This ice hides a landscape that is less well known than the surface of Mars and represents one of Earth\u0027s last unexplored frontiers. Ice-penetrating radar images provide a remote glimpse of this landscape including ice-buried mountains larger than the European Alps and huge fjords twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The goal of this project is to collect sediment samples derived from these landscapes to determine when and under what conditions these features formed. Specifically, the project seeks to understand the landscape in the context of the history and dynamics of the overlying ice sheet and past mountain-building episodes. This project accomplishes this goal by analyzing sand collected during previous sea-floor drilling expeditions off the coast of Antarctica. This sand was supplied from the continent interior by ancient rivers when it was ice-free over 34 million year ago, and later by glaciers. The project will also study bedrock samples from rare ice-free parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The primary activity is to apply multiple advanced dating techniques to single mineral grains contained within this sand and rock. Different methods and minerals yield different dates that provide insight into how Antarctica?s landscape has eroded over the many tens of millions of years during which sand was deposited offshore. The dating techniques that are being developed and enhanced for this study have broad application in many branches of geoscience research and industry. The project makes cost-effective use of pre-existing sample collections housed at NSF facilities including the US Polar Rock Repository, the Gulf Coast Core Repository, and the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility. The project will contribute to the STEM training of two graduate and two undergraduate students, and includes collaboration among four US universities as well as international collaboration between the US and France. The project also supports outreach in the form of a two-week open workshop giving ten students the opportunity to visit the University of Arizona to conduct STEM-based analytical work and training on Antarctic-based projects. Results from both the project and workshop will be disseminated through presentations at professional meetings, peer-reviewed publications, and through public outreach and media.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe main objective of this project is to reconstruct a chronology of East Antarctic subglacial landscape evolution to understand the tectonic and climatic forcing behind landscape modification, and how it has influenced past ice sheet inception and dynamics. Our approach focuses on acquiring a record of the cooling and erosion history contained in East Antarctic-derived detrital mineral grains and clasts in offshore sediments deposited both before and after the onset of Antarctic glaciation. Samples will be taken from existing drill core and marine sediment core material from offshore Wilkes Land (100\u00b0E-160\u00b0E) and the Ross Sea. Multiple geo- and thermo-chronometers will be employed to reconstruct source region cooling history including U-Pb, fission-track, and (U-Th)/He dating of zircon and apatite, and 40Ar/39Ar dating of hornblende, mica, and feldspar. This offshore record will be augmented and tested by applying the same methods to onshore bedrock samples in the Transantarctic Mountains obtained from the US Polar Rock Repository and through fieldwork. The onshore work will additionally address the debated incision history of the large glacial troughs that cut the range, now occupied by glaciers draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. This includes collection of samples from several age-elevation transects, apatite 4He/3He thermochronometry, and Pecube thermo-kinematic modeling. Acquiring an extensive geo- and thermo-chronologic database will also provide valuable new information on the poorly known ice-hidden geology and tectonics of subglacial East Antarctica that has implications for improving supercontinent reconstructions and understanding continental break-up.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; LANDSCAPE; AGE DETERMINATIONS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; GLACIAL PROCESSES; Transantarctic Mountains; USA/NSF; Thermochronology; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; TRACE ELEMENTS; Provenance Analysis; AMD; LANDFORMS; GLACIAL LANDFORMS", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thomson, Stuart; Reiners, Peter; Licht, Kathy", "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": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: East Antarctic Glacial Landscape Evolution (EAGLE): A Study using Combined Thermochronology, Geochronology and Provenance Analysis", "uid": "p0010188", "west": null}, {"awards": "1246151 Bromirski, Peter; 1246416 Stephen, Ralph", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -77,-179.5 -77,-179 -77,-178.5 -77,-178 -77,-177.5 -77,-177 -77,-176.5 -77,-176 -77,-175.5 -77,-175 -77,-175 -77.4,-175 -77.8,-175 -78.2,-175 -78.6,-175 -79,-175 -79.4,-175 -79.8,-175 -80.2,-175 -80.6,-175 -81,-175.5 -81,-176 -81,-176.5 -81,-177 -81,-177.5 -81,-178 -81,-178.5 -81,-179 -81,-179.5 -81,180 -81,179 -81,178 -81,177 -81,176 -81,175 -81,174 -81,173 -81,172 -81,171 -81,170 -81,170 -80.6,170 -80.2,170 -79.8,170 -79.4,170 -79,170 -78.6,170 -78.2,170 -77.8,170 -77.4,170 -77,171 -77,172 -77,173 -77,174 -77,175 -77,176 -77,177 -77,178 -77,179 -77,-180 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Collaborative Research: Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-Induced Vibrations and Collaborative Research: Mantle Structure and Dynamics of the Ross Sea from a Passive Seismic Deployment on the Ross Ice Shelf. International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks. ; Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-induced Vibrations 2015/2016, UNAVCO, Inc., GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200207", "doi": "10.7914/SN/XH_2014", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-Induced Vibrations and Collaborative Research: Mantle Structure and Dynamics of the Ross Sea from a Passive Seismic Deployment on the Ross Ice Shelf. International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks. ", "url": "http://www.fdsn.org/networks/detail/XH_2014/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200209", "doi": "10.7283/58E3-GA46", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-induced Vibrations 2015/2016, UNAVCO, Inc., GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://doi.org/10.7283/58E3-GA46"}], "date_created": "Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project intended to discover, through field observations and numerical simulations, how ocean wave-induced vibrations on ice shelves in general, and the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS), in particular, can be used (1) to infer spatial and temporal variability of ice shelf mechanical properties, (2) to infer bulk elastic properties from signal propagation characteristics, and (3) to determine whether the RIS response to infragravity (IG) wave forcing observed distant from the front propagates as stress waves from the front or is \"locally\" generated by IG wave energy penetrating the RIS cavity. The intellectual merit of the work is that ocean gravity waves are dynamic elements of the global ocean environment, affected by ocean warming and changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns. Their evolution may thus drive changes in ice-shelf stability by both mechanical interactions, and potentially increased basal melting, which in turn feed back on sea level rise. Gravity wave-induced signal propagation across ice shelves depends on ice shelf and sub-shelf water cavity geometry (e.g. structure, thickness, crevasse density and orientation), as well as ice shelf physical properties. Emphasis will be placed on observation and modeling of the RIS response to IG wave forcing at periods from 75 to 300 s. Because IG waves are not appreciably damped by sea ice, seasonal monitoring will give insights into the year-round RIS response to this oceanographic forcing. The 3-year project will involve a 24-month period of continuous data collection spanning two annual cycles on the RIS. RIS ice-front array coverage overlaps with a synergistic Ross Sea Mantle Structure (RSMS) study, giving an expanded array beneficial for IG wave localization. The ice-shelf deployment will consist of sixteen stations equipped with broadband seismometers and barometers. Three seismic stations near the RIS front will provide reference response/forcing functions, and measure the variability of the response across the front. A linear seismic array orthogonal to the front will consist of three stations in-line with three RSMS stations. Passive seismic array monitoring will be used to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of ocean wave-induced signal sources along the front of the RIS and estimate ice shelf structure, with the high-density array used to monitor and localize fracture (icequake) activity. The broader impacts include providing baseline measurements to enable detection of ice-shelf changes over coming decades which will help scientists and policy-makers respond to the socio-environmental challenges of climate change and sea-level rise. A postdoctoral scholar in interdisciplinary Earth science will be involved throughout the course of the research. Students at Cuyamaca Community College, San Diego County, will develop and manage a web site for the project to be used as a teaching tool for earth science and oceanography classes, with development of an associated web site on waves for middle school students.\n\r\nUnderstanding and being able to anticipate changes in the glaciological regime of the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) and West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are key to improving sea level rise projections due to ongoing ice mass loss in West Antarctica. The fate of the WAIS is a first-order climate change and global societal issue for this century and beyond that affects coastal communities and coastal infrastructure globally. \r\n\r\nIce shelf--ocean interactions include impacts from tsunami, ocean swell (10-30s period), and very long period ocean waves that impact ice shelves and produce vibrations that induce a variety of seismic signals detected by seismometers buried in the ice shelf surface layer, called firn. To study the wave-induced vibrations in the RIS, an extensive seismic array was deployed from Nov. 2014 to Nov. 2016. This unique seismometer array deployment on an ice shelf made continuous observations of the response of the RIS to ocean wave impacts from ocean swell and very long period waves. An extensive description of the project motivation and background (including photos and videos of the deployment operations), and list of published studies of analyses of the seismic data collected by this project, are available at the project website https://iceshelfvibes.ucsd.edu. \r\n\r\nTwo types of seismic signals detected by the seismic array are most prevalent: flexural gravity waves (plate waves) and icequakes (signals analogous to those from earthquakes but from fracturing of the ice). \r\nLong period ocean waves flex the ice shelf at the same period as the ocean waves, with wave energy at periods greater than ocean swell more efficient at coupling energy into flexing the ice shelf. Termed flexural gravity waves or plate waves (Chen et al., 2018), their wave-induced vibrations can reach 100\u2019s of km from the ice edge where they are excited, with long period wave energy propagating in the water layer below the shelf coupled with the ice shelf flexure. Flexural gravity waves at very long periods (\u003e 300 s period), such as from tsunami impacts (Bromirski et al., 2017), can readily reach grounding zones and may play a role in long-term grounding zone evolution. \r\nSwell-induced icequake activity was found to be most prevalent at the shelf front during the austral summer (January \u2013 March) when seasonal sea ice is absent and the associated damping of swell by sea ice is minimal (Chen et al., 2019). \r\n\r\nIn addition to the seismic array, a 14 station GPS (global positioning system) array was installed during seismic data retrieval and station servicing operations in October-November 2015. The GPS stations, co-located with seismic stations, extended from the shelf front southward to about 415 km at interior station RS18. Due to logistical constraints associated with battery weight during installation, only one station (at DR10) operated year-round. The GPS data collected give a detailed record of changes in iceflow velocity that are in close agreement with the increasing velocity estimates approaching the shelf front from satellite observations. Importantly, the year-round data at DR10 show an unprecedented seasonal cycle of changes in iceflow velocity, with a speed-up in northward (seaward) ice flow during Jan.-May and then a velocity decrease from June-Sep. (returning to the long-term mean flow velocity). This annual ice flow velocity change cycle has been attributed in part to seasonal changes in ice shelf mass (thinning, reducing buttressing) due to melting at the RIS basal (bottom) surface from intrusion of warmer ocean water (Klein et al., 2020). ", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(177.5 -79)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTION; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; Iris; Ross Ice Shelf", "locations": "Ross Ice Shelf", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bromirski, Peter; Gerstoft, Peter; Stephen, Ralph", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS; UNAVCO", "science_programs": null, "south": -81.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-induced Vibrations", "uid": "p0010169", "west": -175.0}, {"awards": "1643551 Hansen, Samantha", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Investigating Ultra-low Velocity Zones (ULVZs) using an Antarctic Dataset", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601265", "doi": "10.15784/601265", "keywords": "Antarctica; Core-Mantle Boundary; ScP; Southern Hemisphere; Ultra-Low Velocity Zones", "people": "Carson, Sarah; Garnero, Edward; Yu, Shule; Rost, Sebastian; Hansen, Samantha", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Investigating Ultra-low Velocity Zones (ULVZs) using an Antarctic Dataset", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601265"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-Technical Project Description\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis research will study Ultralow Velocity Zones (ULVZs), located in Earth\u0027s interior on top of the boundary between the Earth\u0027s solid mantle and its fluid outer core. The ULVZs are so named because seismic waves passing through the Earth slow down dramatically when they encounter these zones. While ULVZs are thought to be related to melting processes, there is growing controversy regarding their origin and the role they play in the thermal and chemical evolution of our planet. The ULVZs may include the largest magma chambers in Earth\u0027s interior. Currently, researchers have only searched 40% of Earth\u0027s core-mantle boundary for the ULVZs and this project would use existing seismic data to map an unexplored area under Antarctica and interpret the nature of the ULVZs. This project will support two graduate students and create opportunities for undergraduate involvement. Project results will be published in scientific journals, presented at science fairs, and communicated through the researchers\u0027 websites. The research team will also take part in the NSF-sponsored PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) program to communicate the science to students and the broader community. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTechnical Project Description\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe National Research Council has highlighted high-resolution imaging of core-mantle boundary (CMB) structure as a high-priority, emerging research opportunity in the Earth Sciences since anomalies along the CMB likely play a critical role in the thermal and chemical evolution of our planet. Of particular interest are ultralow velocity zones (ULVZs), thin laterally-varying boundary layers associated with dramatic seismic velocity decreases and increases in density that are seen just above the CMB. Many questions exist regarding the origin of ULVZs, but incomplete seismic sampling of the lowermost mantle has limited our ability to map global ULVZ structure in detail. Using recently collected data from the Transantarctic Mountains Northern Network (TAMNNET) in Antarctica, this project will use core-reflected seismic phases (ScP, PcP, and ScS) to investigate ULVZ presence/absence along previously unexplored sections of the CMB. The data sampling includes the southern boundary of the Pacific Large Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP), a dominant feature in global shear wave tomography models, and will allow the researchers to examine a possible connection between ULVZs and LLSVPs. The main objectives of the project are to: 1) use TAMNNET data to document ULVZ presence/absence in previously unexplored regions of the lowermost mantle with array-based approaches; 2) model the data with 1- and 2.5-D wave propagation tools to obtain ULVZ properties and to assess trade-offs among the models; 3) use high quality events to augment the densely-spaced TAMNNET data with that from the more geographically-distributed, open-access Antarctic stations to increase CMB coverage with single-station analyses; and 4) explore the implications of ULVZ solution models for origin, present-day dynamics, and evolution, including their connection to other deep mantle structures, like LLSVPs.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe project aims to provide new constraints on ULVZs, including their potential connection to LLSVPs, and thus relates to other seismic and geodynamic investigations focused on processes within the Earth?s interior. This project will promote a new research collaboration between The University of Alabama (UA) and Arizona State University (ASU), each of which brings specific strengths to the initiative.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Antarctica; SEISMIC PROFILE; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hansen, Samantha", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Seismic Investigations of ULVZ Structure", "uid": "p0010136", "west": null}, {"awards": "1443213 Kaplan, Michael; 1443433 Licht, Kathy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((159 -83.8,159.5 -83.8,160 -83.8,160.5 -83.8,161 -83.8,161.5 -83.8,162 -83.8,162.5 -83.8,163 -83.8,163.5 -83.8,164 -83.8,164 -83.87,164 -83.94,164 -84.01,164 -84.08,164 -84.15,164 -84.22,164 -84.29,164 -84.36,164 -84.43,164 -84.5,163.5 -84.5,163 -84.5,162.5 -84.5,162 -84.5,161.5 -84.5,161 -84.5,160.5 -84.5,160 -84.5,159.5 -84.5,159 -84.5,159 -84.43,159 -84.36,159 -84.29,159 -84.22,159 -84.15,159 -84.08,159 -84.01,159 -83.94,159 -83.87,159 -83.8))", "dataset_titles": "10Be and 26Al cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure data; 3He input data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601375", "doi": "10.15784/601375", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cosmogenic Dating; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Kaplan, Michael; Winckler, Gisela; Schaefer, Joerg", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "10Be and 26Al cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601375"}, {"dataset_uid": "601376", "doi": "10.15784/601376", "keywords": "Antarctica; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Winckler, Gisela; Schaefer, Joerg; Kaplan, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "3He input data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601376"}], "date_created": "Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Sediments deposited by the Antarctic ice sheet are an archive of its history with time and help geologists to determine how the remote interior of the ice sheet has changed over the past several hundred thousand years. This project will focus on the formation and dynamics of moraines (accumulations of dirt and rocks that are incorporated in the glacier surface or have been pushed along by the glacier as it moves) near the blue ice area of Mt. Achernar in the central Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica.. The study will improve basic understanding of the formation of these moraines. Fieldwork at the site will focus on imaging the internal structure of the moraine to determine the processes by which it, and others like it, form over time. Additional analyses will include measurements of ice flow and collection of rock samples to determine the timing of debris deposition and the changes in the sources of sediments from deep within the Antarctic continent. The project will provide both graduate and undergraduate students training in paleoclimate studies, geology, and numerical modeling approaches. The broader impacts of the proposed work include hands on training in the Earth Sciences for graduate and undergraduate students, collaboration with colleagues in New Zealand and Sweden to provide an international research experience for students from the US, and three educational modules to be delivered by student researchers regarding Antarctica\u0027s role in global environments. The research is societally relevant and multidisciplinary and the topics are ideal for sharing with the public. All research findings will be made publicly available to others via timely publication in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and all data will be submitted to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and excess samples will be provided to the U.S. Polar Rock Repository.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eDirect observations of ice sheet history from the margins of Antarctica\u0027s polar plateau are essential for testing numerical ice sheet models, and the laterally extensive, blue-ice moraines of the Mt. Achernar Moraine complex in the central Transantarctic Mountains contain a unique and nearly untapped direct, quasi-continuous record of ice sheet change over multiple glacial cycles. The project objectives include improved understanding of processes and rates of blue ice moraine formation, as well as identifying the topographic, glaciological, and climatic controls on their evolution. Data to be collected with fieldwork in Antarctica include: imaging of internal ice structure with ground-penetrating radar, measurement of ice flow velocity and direction with a global positioning system (GPS) array, analysis of debris concentration and composition in glacier ice, state-of-the-art cosmogenic multi-nuclide analyses to determine exposure ages of moraine debris, mapping of trimlines and provenance analysis. Numerical model simulations, constrained by field data, will be used to evaluate the factors influencing changes in glacier flow that potentially impact the accumulation of the moraine debris. All together, the new data and modeling efforts will improve conceptual models of blue ice moraine formation, and thereby make them a more valuable proxy for developing a better understanding of the history of the ice sheet.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(161.5 -84.15)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENTS; GLACIAL PROCESSES; Mt. Achernar; ABLATION ZONES/ACCUMULATION ZONES; GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Transantarctic Mountains; GLACIATION; USAP-DC; ICE MOTION; AMD; LABORATORY; Amd/Us", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Mt. Achernar; Antarctica", "north": -83.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kaplan, Michael; Schaefer, Joerg; Winckler, Gisela; Licht, Kathy", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Multidisciplinary Analysis of Antarctic Blue Ice Moraine Formation and their Potential as Climate Archives over Multiple Glacial Cycles", "uid": "p0010131", "west": 159.0}, {"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": "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": "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": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "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": "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": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey ice thickness data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601297"}, {"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": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey surface elevation data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601298"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "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. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSubglacial 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. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe 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. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePotential 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.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThese 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. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOne 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": "9319854 Bell, Robin; 9319369 Blankenship, Donald; 9319877 Finn, Carol", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-155 -77.5,-150 -77.5,-145 -77.5,-140 -77.5,-135 -77.5,-130 -77.5,-125 -77.5,-120 -77.5,-115 -77.5,-110 -77.5,-105 -77.5,-105 -78.2,-105 -78.9,-105 -79.6,-105 -80.3,-105 -81,-105 -81.7,-105 -82.4,-105 -83.1,-105 -83.8,-105 -84.5,-110 -84.5,-115 -84.5,-120 -84.5,-125 -84.5,-130 -84.5,-135 -84.5,-140 -84.5,-145 -84.5,-150 -84.5,-155 -84.5,-155 -83.8,-155 -83.1,-155 -82.4,-155 -81.7,-155 -81,-155 -80.3,-155 -79.6,-155 -78.9,-155 -78.2,-155 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": "SOAR-BSB Airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project; SOAR-IRE airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project; SOAR-TKD airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project; SOAR-WAZ Airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601289", "doi": "10.15784/601289", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Gravity Data; Marie Byrd Land; Potential Field; Solid Earth; WAIS", "people": "Bell, Robin; Arko, Robert A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-TKD airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601289"}, {"dataset_uid": "601290", "doi": "10.15784/601290", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Gravity Data; Marie Byrd Land; Potential Field; Solid Earth; WAIS", "people": "Bell, Robin; Arko, Robert A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-IRE airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601290"}, {"dataset_uid": "601291", "doi": "10.15784/601291", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Gravity Data; Marie Byrd Land; Potential Field; Solid Earth; WAIS", "people": "Arko, Robert A.; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-WAZ Airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601291"}, {"dataset_uid": "601288", "doi": "10.15784/601288", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Gravity Data; Marie Byrd Land; Solid Earth; WAIS", "people": "Bell, Robin; Arko, Robert A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-BSB Airborne gravity data for the CASERTZ/WAIS project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601288"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to conduct an integrated geophysical survey over a large portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) toward an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the ice sheet and the nature of the lithosphere beneath the ice sheet. West Antarctica is characterized by two kinds of the Earth s most dynamic systems, a continental rift (the West Antarctic Rift System) and a marine based ice sheet (the WAIS). Active continental rift systems, caused by divergent plate motions, result in thinned continental crust. Associated with the thin crust are fault-bounded sedimentary basins, active volcanism, and elevated heat flow. Marine ice sheets are characterized by rapidly moving streams of ice, penetrating and draining a slowly moving ice reservoir. Evidence left by past marine ice sheets indicates that they may have a strongly non- linear response to long-term climate change which results in massive and rapid discharges of ice. Understanding the evolution of the ice stream system and its interaction with the interior ice is the key to understanding this non-linear response. Subglacial geology and ice dynamics are generally studied in isolation, but evidence is mounting that the behavior of the West Antarctic ice streams may be closely linked to the nature of the underlying West Antarctic rift system. The fast moving ice streams appear to glide on a lubricating layer of water-saturated till. This till requires easily eroded sediment and a source of water, both of which may be controlled by the geology of the rift system; the sediments from the fault-bounded basins and the water from the elevated heat flux associated with active lithospheric extension. This project represents an interdisciplinary aerogeophysical study to characterize the lithosphere of the West Antarctic rift system beneath critical regions of the WAIS. The objective is to determine the effects of the rift architect ure, as manifested by the distribution of sedimentary basins and volcanic constructs, on the ice stream system. The research tool is a unique geophysical aircraft with laser altimetry, ice penetrating radar, aerogravity, and aeromagnetic systems integrated with a high precision kinematic GPS navigation system. It is capable of imaging both the surface and bed of the ice sheet while simultaneously measuring the gravity and magnetic signature of the subglacial lithosphere. Work to be done under this award will build on work already completed in the southern sector of central West Antarctica and it will focus on the region of the Byrd Subglacial Basin and Ice Stream D. The ice sheet in these regions is completely covered by satellite imagery and so this project will be integrated with remote sensing studies of the ice stream. The changing dynamics of Ice Stream D, as with other West Antarctic ice streams, seem to be correlated with changes in the morphological provinces of the underlying rift system. The experimental targets proceed from the divide of the interior ice, downstream through the onset of streaming to the trunk of Ice Stream D. This study will be coordinated with surface glaciological investigations of Ice Stream D and will be used to guide cooperative over-snow seismic investigations of the central West Antarctic rift system. The data will also be used to select a site for future deep ice coring along the crest of the WAIS. These data represent baseline data for long term global change monitoring work and represent crucial boundary conditions for ice sheet modeling efforts.", "east": -105.0, "geometry": "POINT(-130 -81)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; MAGNETIC FIELD; GRAVITY FIELD; Antarctica; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Marie Byrd Land; Airborne Gravity", "locations": "Marie Byrd Land; Antarctica", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bell, Robin; Blankenship, Donald D.; Finn, C. A.", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Lithospheric Controls on the Behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Corridor Aerogeophysics of Eastern Ross Transect Zone", "uid": "p0010094", "west": -155.0}, {"awards": "1443552 Paul Winberry, J.; 1443356 Conway, Howard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-175 -82.7,-173.9 -82.7,-172.8 -82.7,-171.7 -82.7,-170.6 -82.7,-169.5 -82.7,-168.4 -82.7,-167.3 -82.7,-166.2 -82.7,-165.1 -82.7,-164 -82.7,-164 -82.77,-164 -82.84,-164 -82.91,-164 -82.98,-164 -83.05,-164 -83.12,-164 -83.19,-164 -83.26,-164 -83.33,-164 -83.4,-165.1 -83.4,-166.2 -83.4,-167.3 -83.4,-168.4 -83.4,-169.5 -83.4,-170.6 -83.4,-171.7 -83.4,-172.8 -83.4,-173.9 -83.4,-175 -83.4,-175 -83.33,-175 -83.26,-175 -83.19,-175 -83.12,-175 -83.05,-175 -82.98,-175 -82.91,-175 -82.84,-175 -82.77,-175 -82.7))", "dataset_titles": "2015_Antarctica_Ground; Geophysical data from Crary Ice Rise, Ross Sea Embayment", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601181", "doi": "10.15784/601181", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bed Elevation; Crary Ice Rise; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPR; Ice Penetrating Radar; Ice Sheet Elevation; Ice Shelf; Ice Thickness; Internal Stratigraphy; Radar; Ross Ice Shelf; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Surface Elevation", "people": "Koutnik, Michelle; Conway, Howard; Paden, John; Winberry, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geophysical data from Crary Ice Rise, Ross Sea Embayment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601181"}, {"dataset_uid": "200177", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "CReSIS/ku.edu", "science_program": null, "title": "2015_Antarctica_Ground", "url": "https://data.cresis.ku.edu/data/accum/2015_Antarctica_Ground/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 06 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Recent observations and model results suggest that collapse of the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica may already be underway. However, the timeline of collapse and the effects of ongoing climatic and oceanographic changes are key unanswered questions. Complete disintegration of the ice sheet would raise global sea level by more than 3 m, which would have significant societal impacts. Improved understanding of the controls on ice-sheet evolution is needed to make better predictions of ice-sheet behavior. Results from numerical models show that buttressing from surrounding ice shelves and/or from small-scale grounded ice rises should act to slow the retreat and discharge of ice from the interior ice sheet. However, there are very few field observations with which to develop and validate models. Field observations conducted in the early 1980s on Crary Ice Rise in the Ross Sea Embayment are a notable exception. This project will revisit Crary Ice Rise with new tools to make a suite of measurements designed to address questions about how the ice rise affects ice discharge from the Ross Sea sector of West Antarctica. The team will include a graduate and undergraduate student, and will participate in a range of outreach activities.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eNew tools including radar, seismic, and GPS instruments will be used to conduct targeted geophysical measurements both on Crary Ice Rise and across its grounding line. The project will use these new measurements, together with available ancillary data to inform a numerical model of grounding line dynamics. The model and measurements will be used to address the (1) How has the ice rise evolved over timescales ranging from: the past few decades; the past millennia after freeze-on; and through the deglaciation? (2) What history of ice dynamics is preserved in the radar-detected internal stratigraphy? (3) What dynamical effect does the presence/absence of the ice rise have on discharge of the Ross Ice Streams today? (4) How is it contributing to the slow-down of the proximal Whillans and Mercer ice streams? (5) What dynamical response will the ice rise have under future environmental change?", "east": -164.0, "geometry": "POINT(-169.5 -83.05)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR ECHO SOUNDERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctica; USA/NSF; AMD; USAP-DC; Radar; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -82.7, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Conway, Howard; Koutnik, Michelle; Winberry, Paul", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "CReSIS/ku.edu; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -83.4, "title": "Collaborative Research: Grounding Line Dynamics: Crary Ice Rise Revisited", "uid": "p0010026", "west": -175.0}, {"awards": "1758224 Salvatore, Mark", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -83,-178 -83,-176 -83,-174 -83,-172 -83,-170 -83,-168 -83,-166 -83,-164 -83,-162 -83,-160 -83,-160 -83.4,-160 -83.8,-160 -84.2,-160 -84.6,-160 -85,-160 -85.4,-160 -85.8,-160 -86.2,-160 -86.6,-160 -87,-162 -87,-164 -87,-166 -87,-168 -87,-170 -87,-172 -87,-174 -87,-176 -87,-178 -87,180 -87,178 -87,176 -87,174 -87,172 -87,170 -87,168 -87,166 -87,164 -87,162 -87,160 -87,160 -86.6,160 -86.2,160 -85.8,160 -85.4,160 -85,160 -84.6,160 -84.2,160 -83.8,160 -83.4,160 -83,162 -83,164 -83,166 -83,168 -83,170 -83,172 -83,174 -83,176 -83,178 -83,-180 -83))", "dataset_titles": "Laboratory Hyperspectral Reflectance Data of Central Transantarctic Mountain Rocks and Sediments; Orbital imagery used for SpecMap project", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002735", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PGC", "science_program": null, "title": "Orbital imagery used for SpecMap project", "url": "https://www.pgc.umn.edu/projects/specmap/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601163", "doi": "10.15784/601163", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Remote Sensing; Rocks; Solid Earth; Spectroscopy; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Salvatore, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Laboratory Hyperspectral Reflectance Data of Central Transantarctic Mountain Rocks and Sediments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601163"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit:\u003cbr/\u003eIce free rock outcrops in the Transantarctic Mountains provide the only accessible windows into the interior of the ice covered Antarctic continent; they are extremely remote and difficult to study. This region also hosts the highest latitude ice-free valley systems on the planet. Based on two interdisciplinary workshops, the Transantarctic region near the Shackleton Glacier has been identified as a high priority site for further studies, with a field camp proposed for the 2015-2016 Antarctic field season. The geology of this region has been studied since the heroic era of Antarctic exploration, in the early 1900s, but geologic mapping has not been updated in more than forty years, and existing maps are at poor resolution (typically 1:250,000).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project would utilize the WorldView-2 multispectral orbital dataset to supplement original geologic mapping efforts near the proposed 2015-2016 Shackleton Glacier camp. The WorldView-2 satellite is the only multispectral orbiting sensor capable of imaging the entirety of the Transantarctic Mountains, and all necessary data are currently available to the Polar Geospatial Center. High-latitude atmospheric correction of multispectral data for geologic investigations has only recently been tested, but has never been applied to WorldView-2 data, and never for observations of this type. Therefore, this research will require technique refinements and methodological developements to accomplish the goals. Atmospheric correction refinements and spectral validation will be made possible by laboratory spectroscopic measurements of rock samples currently stored at the U.S. Polar Rock Repository, at the Ohio State University. This project will result in spectral unit identification and boundary mapping at a factor of four higher resolution (1:62,500) than previous geologic mapping efforts, and more detailed investigations (1:5,123) are possible at resolutions more than a factor of forty-eight improved over previous geologic maps. Validated spectral mapping at these improved resolutions will allow for detailed lithologic, and potentially biologic, mapping using existing satellite imagery. This will greatly enhance planning capabilities, thus maximizing the efficiency of the scientific research and support logistics associated with the Shackleton Glacier deep field camp.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts:\u003cbr/\u003eThe proposed work will have multiple impacts on the broader scientific community. First, the refinement of existing atmospheric correction methodologies, and the development of new spectral mapping techniques, may substantially improve our ability to remotely investigate geologic surfaces throughout Antarctica. The ability to validate this orbital dataset will be of use to both current and future geologic, environmental, and biologic studies, potentially across the entire continent. The project will yield a specific spectral mapping product (at a scale of 1:62,500) to the scientific community by a targeted date of 01 March 2014, in order to support proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation for the proposed 2015/2016 Shackleton Glacier camp. High-resolution spectral mapping products (up to a maximum resolution of 2 meters per pixel) will also be generated for regions of particular scientific interest. The use of community based resources, such as Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) imagery and U.S. Polar Rock Repository rock samples, will generate new synergistic and collaborative research possibilities within the Antarctic research community. In addition, the lead PI (Salvatore) is an early career scientist who is active in both Antarctic and planetary remote sensing. There are overlaps in the calibration, correction, and validation of remote spectral datasets for Antarctic and planetary applications which can lead to benefits and insights to an early career PI, as well as the two communities.", "east": -160.0, "geometry": "POINT(180 -85)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; GEOCHEMISTRY; LANDSCAPE; REFLECTED INFRARED; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -83.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Salvatore, Mark", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "PGC", "repositories": "PGC; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -87.0, "title": "EAGER: Surface Variability and Spectral Analyses of the Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010020", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0838947 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0839142 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0839107 Powell, Ross; 0838764 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; 0838855 Jacobel, Robert; 0839059 Powell, Ross; 0838763 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Basal melt rates of the Ross Ice Shelf near the Whillans Ice Stream grounding line; Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD); Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats - Robotic Access to Grounding-zones for Exploration and Science (RAGES); IRIS ID#s 201035, 201162, 201205; IRIS offers free and open access to a comprehensive data store of raw geophysical time-series data collected from a large variety of sensors, courtesy of a vast array of US and International scientific networks, including seismometers (permanent and temporary), tilt and strain meters, infrasound, temperature, atmospheric pressure and gravimeters, to support basic research aimed at imaging the Earth\u0027s interior.; Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Biomarker Data Set; Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Palynomorph Data Set; Radar Studies of Subglacial Lake Whillans and the Whillans Ice Stream Grounding Zone; The IRIS DMC archives and distributes data to support the seismological research community.; UNAVCO ID#s WHL1, WHL2, LA02, LA09 (full data link not provided)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601234", "doi": "10.15784/601234", "keywords": "ACL; Antarctica; Biomarker; BIT Index; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Scherer, Reed Paul; Askin, Rosemary; Coenen, Jason; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla; Warny, Sophie; Baudoin, Patrick", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Biomarker Data Set", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601234"}, {"dataset_uid": "600155", "doi": "10.15784/600155", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Oceans; Southern Ocean; WISSARD", "people": "Powell, Ross", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats - Robotic Access to Grounding-zones for Exploration and Science (RAGES)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600155"}, {"dataset_uid": "600154", "doi": "10.15784/600154", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Lake Whillans; Paleoclimate; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Subglacial Lake; WISSARD", "people": "Powell, Ross", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability and Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600154"}, {"dataset_uid": "001405", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS offers free and open access to a comprehensive data store of raw geophysical time-series data collected from a large variety of sensors, courtesy of a vast array of US and International scientific networks, including seismometers (permanent and temporary), tilt and strain meters, infrasound, temperature, atmospheric pressure and gravimeters, to support basic research aimed at imaging the Earth\u0027s interior.", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/hq/data_and_software"}, {"dataset_uid": "001406", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "The IRIS DMC archives and distributes data to support the seismological research community.", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/"}, {"dataset_uid": "609594", "doi": "10.7265/N54J0C2W", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPR; GPS; Radar; Whillans Ice Stream", "people": "Jacobel, Robert", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Radar Studies of Subglacial Lake Whillans and the Whillans Ice Stream Grounding Zone", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609594"}, {"dataset_uid": "601122", "doi": "10.15784/601122", "keywords": "Antarctica; Flexure Zone; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Ice-Shelf Basal Melting; Ice-Shelf Strain Rate", "people": "Begeman, Carolyn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Basal melt rates of the Ross Ice Shelf near the Whillans Ice Stream grounding line", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601122"}, {"dataset_uid": "000148", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS ID#s 201035, 201162, 201205", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000150", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "UNAVCO ID#s WHL1, WHL2, LA02, LA09 (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://www.unavco.org/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601245", "doi": "10.15784/601245", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pollen; West Antarctica; WISSARD", "people": "Askin, Rosemary; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla; Scherer, Reed Paul; Warny, Sophie; Baudoin, Patrick; Coenen, Jason", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Paleogene marine and terrestrial development of the West Antarctic Rift System: Palynomorph Data Set", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601245"}], "date_created": "Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The LISSARD project (Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) is one of three research components of the WISSARD integrative initiative (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF\u0027s Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. The LISSARD component of WISSARD focuses on the role of active subglacial lakes in determining how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet loses mass to the global ocean and influences global sea level changes. The importance of Antarctic subglacial lakes has only been recently recognized, and the lakes have been identified as high priority targets for scientific investigations because of their unknown contributions to ice sheet stability under future global warming scenarios. LISSARD has several primary science goals: A) To provide an observational basis for improving treatments of subglacial hydrological and mechanical processes in models of ice sheet mass balance and stability; B) To reconstruct the past history of ice stream stability by analyzing archives of past basal water and ice flow variability contained in subglacial sediments, porewater, lake water, and basal accreted ice; C) To provide background understanding of subglacial lake environments to benefit RAGES and GBASE (the other two components of the WISSARD project); and D) To synthesize data and concepts developed as part of this project to determine whether subglacial lakes play an important role in (de)stabilizing Antarctic ice sheets. We propose an unprecedented synthesis of approaches to studying ice sheet processes, including: (1) satellite remote sensing, (2) surface geophysics, (3) borehole observations and measurements and, (4) basal and subglacial sampling. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eINTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Ice Penetrating Radar; Antarctic; Subglacial Lake; Subglacial Hydrology; Grounding Line; Sea Level Rise; Bed Reflectivity; Ice Sheet Stability; Stability; Radar; Sub-Ice-Shelf; Geophysics; Biogeochemical; LABORATORY; Sediment; Sea Floor Sediment; Ice Thickness; Model; Ice Stream Stability; Basal Ice; SATELLITES; Ice Sheet Thickness; Subglacial; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctic Ice Sheet; Ice Sheet; FIELD SURVEYS; Surface Elevation; Geochemistry; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Not provided", "locations": "Antarctic; Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tulaczyk, Slawek; Fisher, Andrew; Powell, Ross; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Jacobel, Robert; Scherer, Reed Paul", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES \u003e SATELLITES", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "IRIS; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WISSARD", "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability \u0026 Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake \u0026 Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD)", "uid": "p0000105", "west": null}, {"awards": "1141866 Conway, Howard; 1141889 Winberry, J. Paul", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Beardmore Glacier High-Frequency Impulse Radar Data; Geophysical measurements Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica; Project code ZF for passive seismic and 17-030 for active source", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000210", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Project code ZF for passive seismic and 17-030 for active source", "url": "https://ds.iris.edu/mda/17-030"}, {"dataset_uid": "601121", "doi": "10.15784/601121", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Thickness; Radar", "people": "Conway, Howard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geophysical measurements Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601121"}, {"dataset_uid": "601713", "doi": "10.15784/601713", "keywords": "Antarctica; Beardmore Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPR; Ice Penetrating Radar; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Christianson, Knut; Hoffman, Andrew; Conway, Howard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Beardmore Glacier High-Frequency Impulse Radar Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601713"}], "date_created": "Sun, 09 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Conway/1141866\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to conduct a suite of experiments to study spatial and temporal variations of basal conditions beneath Beardmore Glacier, an East Antarctic outlet glacier that discharges into the Ross Sea Embayment. The intellectual merit of the project is that it should help verify whether or not global warming will play a much larger role in the future mass balance of ice sheets than previously considered. Recent observations of rapid changes in discharge of fast-flowing outlet glaciers and ice streams suggest that dynamical responses to warming could affect that ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Assessment of possible consequences of these responses is hampered by the lack of information about the basal boundary conditions. The leading hypothesis is that variations in basal conditions exert strong control on the discharge of outlet glaciers. Airborne and surface-based radar measurements of Beardmore Glacier will be made to map the ice thickness and geometry of the sub-glacial trough and active and passive seismic experiments, together with ground-based radar and GPS measurements will be made to map spatial and temporal variations of conditions at the ice-bed interface. The observational data will be used to constrain dynamic models of glacier flow. The models will be used to address the primary controls on the dynamics of Antarctic outlet glaciers, the conditions at the bed, their spatial and temporal variation, and how such variability might affect the sliding and flow of these glaciers. The work will also explore whether or not these outlet glaciers could draw down the interior of East Antarctica, and if so, how fast. The study will take three years including two field seasons to complete and results from the work will be disseminated through public and professional meetings and journal publications. All data and metadata will be made available through the NSIDC web portal. The broader impacts of the work are that it will help elucidate the fundamental physics of outlet glacier dynamics which is needed to improve predictions of the response of ice sheets to changing environmental conditions. The project will also provide support for early career investigators and will provide training and support for one graduate and two undergraduate students. All collaborators are currently involved in scientific outreach and graduate student education and they are committed to fostering diversity.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Conway, Howard; Winberry, Paul", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: East Antarctic Outlet Glacier Dynamics", "uid": "p0000437", "west": null}, {"awards": "1443126 MacAyeal, Douglas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.1631 -77.9007,166.19736 -77.9007,166.23162 -77.9007,166.26588 -77.9007,166.30014 -77.9007,166.3344 -77.9007,166.36866 -77.9007,166.40292 -77.9007,166.43718 -77.9007,166.47144 -77.9007,166.5057 -77.9007,166.5057 -77.90423,166.5057 -77.90776,166.5057 -77.91129,166.5057 -77.91482,166.5057 -77.91835,166.5057 -77.92188,166.5057 -77.92541,166.5057 -77.92894,166.5057 -77.93247,166.5057 -77.936,166.47144 -77.936,166.43718 -77.936,166.40292 -77.936,166.36866 -77.936,166.3344 -77.936,166.30014 -77.936,166.26588 -77.936,166.23162 -77.936,166.19736 -77.936,166.1631 -77.936,166.1631 -77.93247,166.1631 -77.92894,166.1631 -77.92541,166.1631 -77.92188,166.1631 -77.91835,166.1631 -77.91482,166.1631 -77.91129,166.1631 -77.90776,166.1631 -77.90423,166.1631 -77.9007))", "dataset_titles": "McMurdo Ice Shelf AWS data; McMurdo Ice Shelf GPS survey of vertical motion; Supraglacial Lake Depths on McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica; Time-lapse video of McMurdo Ice Shelf surface melting and hydrology", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601116", "doi": "10.15784/601116", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Subglacial And Supraglacial Water Depth; Supraglacial Lake; Supraglacial Meltwater; Water Depth", "people": "Banwell, Alison; MacAyeal, Douglas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Supraglacial Lake Depths on McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601116"}, {"dataset_uid": "601106", "doi": "10.15784/601106", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Hydrology; Ice Shelf; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Surface Hydrology; Surface Mass Balance; Weather Station Data", "people": "MacAyeal, Douglas; Banwell, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Ice Shelf AWS data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601106"}, {"dataset_uid": "601113", "doi": "10.15784/601113", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Supraglacial Meltwater", "people": "MacAyeal, Douglas; Banwell, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Time-lapse video of McMurdo Ice Shelf surface melting and hydrology", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601113"}, {"dataset_uid": "601107", "doi": "10.15784/601107", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPS; Ice Flow Velocity; Ice Shelf; Ice-Shelf Flexure; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Surface Melt", "people": "Banwell, Alison; MacAyeal, Douglas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Ice Shelf GPS survey of vertical motion", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601107"}], "date_created": "Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Meltwater lakes that sit on top of Antarctica\u0027s floating ice shelves have likely contributed to the dramatic changes seen in Antarctica\u0027s glacial ice cover over the past two decades. In 2002, the 1,600-square-kilometer Larsen B Ice Shelf located on the Eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, for example, broke into thousands of small icebergs, which subsequently floated away as a result of the formation of more than 2,000 meltwater lakes on its surface over the prior decade. Our research project addresses the reasons why surface lakes form on Antarctic ice shelves and how these surface lakes subsequently contribute to the forces that may contribute to ice-shelf breakup like that of the Larsen B. Our project focuses primarily on making precise global positioning system (GPS) measurements of ice-shelf bending in response to the filling and draining of a surface lake on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. The observed vertical displacements (on the order of tens of centimeters) in response to lake filling will be used to calibrate and test computer simulation models that predict the response of ice shelves to surface lakes more generally and in a variety of future climate conditions. Our project will make hourly measurements of both vertical ice-shelf movements (using GPS surveying instruments) and of temperature and sunlight conditions (that drive melting) around a surface lake located close to the McMurdo Station airfield. Following this initial data-gathering effort, computer simulations and other more theoretical analysis will be undertaken to determine the suitability of the chosen McMurdo Ice Shelf surface lake as a field-laboratory for continued study. Ultimately, the research will contribute to understanding of the glaciological processes that link climate change to rising sea level. A successful outcome of the research will allow glaciologists to better assess the processes that promote or erode the influence Antarctic ice shelves have in controlling the transfer of ice from the interior of Antarctica into the ocean. The project will undertake two outreach activities: (1) web-posting of a field-activity journal and (2) establishing an open-access glaciological teaching and outreach web-sharing site for the International Glaciological Society.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe proposed project seeks to experimentally verify a theory of ice-shelf instability proposed to explain the explosive break-up of Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002. This theory holds that the filling and draining of supraglacial lakes on floating ice shelves induces sufficient flexure stress within the ice to (a) induce upward/downward propagating fractures originating at the base/surface of the ice shelf that (b) dissect the ice shelf into fragments that tend to have widths less than about half the ice thickness. The significance of narrow widths is that they promote capsize of the ice-shelf fragments during the break-up process. This capsize releases large amounts of gravitational potential energy (comparable to thousands of kilotons of TNT for the Larsen B Ice Shelf) thereby promoting explosiveness of the Larsen B event. The observational motivation for experimentally verifying the surface-lake mechanism for ice-shelf breakup is based on the fact that \u003e2,000 surface lakes developed on the Larsen B Ice Shelf in the decade prior to its break up, and that these lakes were observed (via satellite imagery) to drain in a coordinated fashion during the day prior to the initiation of the break up.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe field-observation component of the project will focus on a supraglacial lake on the McMurdo Ice Shelf where there is persistent summer season surface melting. The lake will be studied during a single provisional field season to determine whether grooming of surrounding surface streams and shorelines with heavy construction equipment will allow surface water to be manually encouraged to fill the lake. If successfully encouraged to develop, the McMurdo Ice Shelf surface lake will allow measurements of key ice-shelf flexure and stress variables needed to develop the theory of ice-shelf surface lakes without having to access the much more logistically demanding surface lakes of ice-shelves located elsewhere in Antarctica. Data to be gathered during the 6-week provisional field season include: energy- and water-balance parameters determining how the surface lake grows and fills, and various global positioning system measurements of the vertical bending of the ice sheet in response to the changing meltwater load contained within the surface lake. These data will be used to (1) constrain a computer model of viscoelastic flexure and possible fracture of the ice shelf in response to the increasing load of meltwater in the lake, and (2) determine whether continued study of the incipient surface-meltwater lake features on the McMurdo Ice Shelf provides a promising avenue for constraining the more-general behavior of surface meltwater lakes on other ice shelves located in warmer parts of Antarctica. Computer models constrained by the observational data obtained from the field project will inform energy- and water-balance models of ice shelves in general, and allow more accurate forecasts of changing ice-shelf conditions surrounding the inland ice of Antarctica. The project will create the first-ever ground-based observations useful for spawning the development of models capable of predicting viscoelastic and fracture behavior of ice shelves in response to supraglacial lake evolution, including slow changes due to energy balance effects, as well as fast changes due to filling and draining.", "east": 166.5057, "geometry": "POINT(166.3344 -77.91835)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AWOS", "locations": null, "north": -77.9007, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "MacAyeal, Douglas", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e AWOS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.936, "title": "Impact of Supraglacial Lakes on Ice-Shelf Stability", "uid": "p0000138", "west": 166.1631}, {"awards": "1543452 Blankenship, Donald", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((90 -64,97 -64,104 -64,111 -64,118 -64,125 -64,132 -64,139 -64,146 -64,153 -64,160 -64,160 -64.6,160 -65.2,160 -65.8,160 -66.4,160 -67,160 -67.6,160 -68.2,160 -68.8,160 -69.4,160 -70,153 -70,146 -70,139 -70,132 -70,125 -70,118 -70,111 -70,104 -70,97 -70,90 -70,90 -69.4,90 -68.8,90 -68.2,90 -67.6,90 -67,90 -66.4,90 -65.8,90 -65.2,90 -64.6,90 -64))", "dataset_titles": "EAGLE/ICECAP II GEOPHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS (SURFACE AND BED ELEVATION, ICE THICKNESS, GRAVITY DISTURBANCE AND MAGNETIC ANOMALIES); EAGLE/ICECAP II INSTRUMENT MEASUREMENTS (LASER, MAGNETICS and POSITIONING); EAGLE/ICECAP II RADARGRAMS; EAGLE/ICECAP II Raw data (gps, raw serial packet data, raw radar records, gravimeter data and camera images); ICECAP Basal Interface Specularity Content Profiles: IPY and OIB", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200043", "doi": "http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.26179/5bcff4afc287d", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AADC", "science_program": null, "title": "EAGLE/ICECAP II RADARGRAMS", "url": "https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4346_EAGLE_ICECAP_LEVEL2_RADAR_DATA"}, {"dataset_uid": "200044", "doi": "https://dx.doi.org/10.26179/5bbedd001756b", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AADC", "science_program": null, "title": "EAGLE/ICECAP II Raw data (gps, raw serial packet data, raw radar records, gravimeter data and camera images)", "url": "https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4346_EAGLE_ICECAP_LEVEL0_RAW_DATA"}, {"dataset_uid": "200042", "doi": "http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.26179/5bcfef4e3a297", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AADC", "science_program": null, "title": "EAGLE/ICECAP II INSTRUMENT MEASUREMENTS (LASER, MAGNETICS and POSITIONING)", "url": "https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4346_EAGLE_ICECAP_Level1B_AEROGEOPHYSICS"}, {"dataset_uid": "601371", "doi": "10.15784/601371", "keywords": "Antarctica; East Antarctica; ICECAP; Ice Penetrating Radar; Radar Echo Sounder; Radar Echo Sounding; Subglacial Hydrology", "people": "Greenbaum, Jamin; Schroeder, Dustin; Young, Duncan A.; Blankenship, Donald D.; Roberts, Jason; Siegert, Martin; van Ommen, Tas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ICECAP Basal Interface Specularity Content Profiles: IPY and OIB", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601371"}, {"dataset_uid": "200041", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.26179/5bcfffdabcf92", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AADC", "science_program": null, "title": "EAGLE/ICECAP II GEOPHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS (SURFACE AND BED ELEVATION, ICE THICKNESS, GRAVITY DISTURBANCE AND MAGNETIC ANOMALIES)", "url": "https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4346_EAGLE_ICECAP_LEVEL2_AEROGEOPHYSICS"}], "date_created": "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Previous studies of the Indo-Pacific region of Antarctica show that the margin of the ice sheet in this region has advanced and retreated into deep interior basins many times in the past. The apparent instability of this region makes it an important target for study in terms of understanding the future of the East Antarctic ice sheet and sea level rise. This project will study a number of processes that control the ice-shelf stability of this region, with the aim of improving projections of the rate and magnitude of future sea-level rise. This project will engage a range of students and train this next generation of scientists in the complex, interdisciplinary issue of ice-ocean interaction. The project will integrate geophysical data collected from aircraft over three critical sections of the East Antarctic grounding line (Totten Glacier, Denman Glacier, and Cook Ice Shelf) with an advanced ocean model. Using Australian and French assets, the team will collect new data around Denman Glacier and Cook Ice Shelf whereas analysis of Totten Glacier will be based on existing data. The project will assess three hypotheses to isolate the processes that drive the differences in observed grounding line thinning among these three glaciers: 1. bathymetry and large-scale ocean forcing control cavity circulation; 2. ice-shelf draft and basal morphology control cavity circulation; 3. subglacial freshwater input across the grounding line controls cavity circulation. The key outcomes of this new project will be to: 1. evaluate of ice-ocean coupling in areas of significant potential sea-level contribution; 2. relate volume changes of grounded and floating ice to regional oceanic heat transport and sub-ice shelf ocean dynamics in areas of significant potential sea-level and meridional overturning circulation impacts; and 3. improve boundary conditions to evaluate mass, heat, and freshwater budgets of East Antarctica\u0027s continental margins.", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(125 -67)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e MAGNETIC FIELD/ELECTRIC FIELD INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETOMETERS \u003e GEOMET 823A; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR ECHO SOUNDERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BT-67; Antarctica; GLACIER TOPOGRAPHY/ICE SHEET TOPOGRAPHY; USAP-DC; SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY; GRAVITY ANOMALIES; MAGNETIC ANOMALIES; Polar; Sea Floor", "locations": "Antarctica; Sea Floor; Polar", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Young, Duncan A.; Grima, Cyril; Blankenship, Donald D.", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PROPELLER \u003e BT-67", "repo": "AADC", "repositories": "AADC; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "East Antarctic Grounding Line Experiment (EAGLE)", "uid": "p0000254", "west": 90.0}, {"awards": "1341284 Swanger, Kate", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77.5,161.2 -77.5,161.4 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.8 -77.5,162 -77.5,162.2 -77.5,162.4 -77.5,162.6 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,163 -77.5,163 -77.525,163 -77.55,163 -77.575,163 -77.6,163 -77.625,163 -77.65,163 -77.675,163 -77.7,163 -77.725,163 -77.75,162.8 -77.75,162.6 -77.75,162.4 -77.75,162.2 -77.75,162 -77.75,161.8 -77.75,161.6 -77.75,161.4 -77.75,161.2 -77.75,161 -77.75,161 -77.725,161 -77.7,161 -77.675,161 -77.65,161 -77.625,161 -77.6,161 -77.575,161 -77.55,161 -77.525,161 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Paragraph for Laypersons:\u003cbr/\u003eThis research focuses on the history of rock glaciers and buried glacial ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Rock glaciers are flowing mixtures of ice and sediments common throughout alpine and high-latitude regions on Earth and Mars. Despite similar appearances, rock glaciers can form under highly variable environmental and hydrological conditions. The main research questions addressed here are: 1) what environmental and climatological conditions foster long-term preservation of rock glaciers in Antarctica, 2) what role do rock glaciers play in Antarctic landscape evolution and the local water cycle, and 3) what can rock glaciers reveal about the extent and timing of previous glacial advances? The project will involve two Antarctic field seasons to image the interior of Antarctic rock glaciers using ground-penetrating radar, to gather ice cores for chemical analyses, and to gather surface sediments for dating. The Dry Valleys host the world?s southernmost terrestrial ecosystem (soil, stream and lake micro-organisms and mosses); rock glaciers and ground-ice are an important and poorly-studied source of meltwater and nutrients for these ecosystems. This research will shed light on the glacial and hydrological history of the Dry Valleys region and the general environmental conditions the foster rock glaciers, features that generally occur in warmer and/or wetter locations. The research will provide support for five graduate/undergraduate students, who will actively gather data in the field, followed by interpretation, dissemination and presentation of the data. Additionally, the researchers will participate in a range of educational activities including outreach with local K-12 in the Lowell, MA region, such as summer workshops and classroom visits with hands-on activities. A series of time-lapse images of hydrological processes, and videos of researchers in the field, will serve as a dramatic centerpiece in community and school presentations.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eParagraph for Scientific Community:\u003cbr/\u003eRock glaciers are common in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, but are concentrated in a few isolated regions: western Taylor Valley, western Wright Valley, Pearse Valley and Bull Pass. The investigators hypothesize that the origin and age of these features varies by region: that rock glaciers in Pearse and Taylor valley originated as buried glacier ice, whereas rock glaciers in Wright Valley formed through permafrost processes, such as mobilization of ice-rich talus. To address these hypotheses, the project will: 1) develop relative and absolute chronologies for the rock glaciers through field mapping and optically stimulated luminescence dating of overlying sediments, 2) assess the origin of clean-ice cores through stable isotopic analyses, and 3) determine if present-day soil-moisture and temperature conditions are conducive to rock glacier formation/preservation. The proposed research will provide insight into the spatial and temporal distribution of buried glacier ice and melt-water-derived ground ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with implications for glacial history, as well as the potential role of rock glaciers in the regional hydrologic cycle (and the role of ground-ice as a source for moisture and nutrient for local ecosystems). The project will provide general constraints on the climatic and hydrologic conditions that foster permafrost rock glaciers, features that generally occur under warmer and wetter conditions than those found in the present-day McMurdo Dry Valleys. The application of OSL and cosmogenic exposure\u003cbr/\u003edating is novel to rock glaciers, geomorphic features that have proven difficult to date, despite their ubiquity in Antarctica and their potential scientific importance. The research will provide support for five graduate/undergraduate students, who will participate in the field work, followed by interpretation, dissemination and presentation of the data. The researchers will participate in a range of educational activities including outreach with local K-12 in the Lowell, MA region, such as summer workshops and classroom visits with hands-on activities.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(162 -77.625)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Swanger, Kate", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.75, "title": "Origin and Climatic Significance of Rock Glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Assessing Spatial and Temporal Variability", "uid": "p0000297", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "0632136 Nyblade, Andrew; 0632322 Wilson, Terry", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-20 -70,-1 -70,18 -70,37 -70,56 -70,75 -70,94 -70,113 -70,132 -70,151 -70,170 -70,170 -72,170 -74,170 -76,170 -78,170 -80,170 -82,170 -84,170 -86,170 -88,170 -90,151 -90,132 -90,113 -90,94 -90,75 -90,56 -90,37 -90,18 -90,-1 -90,-20 -90,-20 -88,-20 -86,-20 -84,-20 -82,-20 -80,-20 -78,-20 -76,-20 -74,-20 -72,-20 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS); University NAVSTAR Consortium (UNAVCO)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000131", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "University NAVSTAR Consortium (UNAVCO)", "url": "http://www.unavco.org/data/gps-gnss/data-access-methods/dai2/app/dai2.html#groupingMod=contains;grouping=POLENET%20-%20ANET;scope=Station;sampleRate=normal"}, {"dataset_uid": "000132", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/mda/YT?timewindow=2007-2018"}], "date_created": "Thu, 22 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project constructs POLENET a network of GPS and seismic stations in West Antarctica to understand how the mass of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) changes with time. The information is ultimately used to predict sea level rise accompanying global warming and interpret climate change records. The GPS (global positioning system) stations measure vertical and horizontal movements of bedrock, while the seismic stations characterize physical properties of the ice/rock interface, lithosphere, and mantle. Combined with satellite data, this project offers a more complete picture of the ice sheet\u0027s current state, its likely change in the near future, and its overall size during the last glacial maximum. This data will also be used to infer sub-ice sheet geology and the terrestrial heat flux, critical inputs to models of glacier movement. As well, this project improves tomographic models of the earth\u0027s deep interior and core through its location in the Earth\u0027s poorly instrumented southern hemisphere. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts of this project are varied. The work is relevant to society for improving our understanding of the impacts of global warming on sea level rise. It also supports education at the postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate levels, and outreach to groups underrepresented in the sciences. As an International Polar Year contribution, this project establishes a legacy of infrastructure for polar measurements. It also involves an international collaboration of twenty four countries. For more information see IPY Project #185 at IPY.org. NSF is supporting a complementary Arctic POLENET array being constructed in Greenland under NSF Award #0632320.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(75 -80)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Bedrock; Ice/Rock Interface; Climate Change; Seismic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; FIELD SURVEYS; LABORATORY; Not provided; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Mass Balance; COMPUTERS; Sub-Ice Sheet Geology; Sea Level; Terrestrial Heat Flux", "locations": "Antarctica; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wilson, Terry; Bevis, Michael; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Wiens, Douglas; Aster, Richard; Smalley, Robert; Nyblade, Andrew; Winberry, Paul; Hothem, Larry; Dalziel, Ian W.; Huerta, Audrey D.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e COMPUTERS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "UNAVCO", "repositories": "IRIS; UNAVCO", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: IPY: POLENET-Antarctica: Investigating Links Between Geodynamics and Ice Sheets", "uid": "p0000315", "west": -20.0}, {"awards": "0944199 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "WAIS Divide Sonic Log Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609592", "doi": "10.7265/N5T72FD2", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Core Records; Physical Properties; Sonic Log; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "McCarthy, Michael; Waddington, Edwin D.; Matsuoka, Kenichi; Kluskiewicz, Dan; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Sonic Log Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609592"}], "date_created": "Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0944199/Matsuoka\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to test the hypothesis that abrupt changes in fabric exist and are associated with both climate transitions and volcanic eruptions. It requires depth-continuous measurements of the fabric. By lowering a new logging tool into the WAIS Divide borehole after the completion of the core drilling, this project will measure acoustic-wave speeds as a function of depth and interpret it in terms of ice fabrics. This interpretation will be guided by ice-core-measured fabrics at sparse depths. This project will apply established analytical techniques for the ice-sheet logging and estimate depth profiles of both compressional- and shear-wave speeds at short intervals (~ 1 m). Previous logging projects measured only compressional-wave speeds averaged over typically 5-7 m intervals. Thus the new logger will enable more precise fabric interpretations. Fabric measurements using thin sections have revealed distinct fabric patterns separated by less than several meters; fabric measurements over a shorter period are crucial. At the WAIS Divide borehole, six two-way logging runs will be made with different observational parameters so that multiple wave-propagation modes will be identified, yielding estimates of both compressional- and shear-wave speeds. Each run takes approximately 24 hours to complete; we propose to occupy the boreholes in total eight days. The logging at WAIS Divide is temporarily planned in December 2011, but the timing is not critical. This project?s scope is limited to the completion of the logging and fabric interpretations. Results will be immediately shared with other WAIS Divide researchers. Direct benefits of this data sharing include guiding further thin-section analysis of the fabric, deriving a precise thinning function that retrieves more accurate accumulation history and depth-age scales. The PIs of this project have conducted radar and seismic surveys in this area and this project will provide a ground truth for these regional remote-sensing assessments of the ice interior. In turn, these remote sensing means can extend the results from the borehole to larger parts of the central West Antarctica. This project supports education for two graduate students for geophysics, glaciology, paleoclimate, and polar logistics. The instrument that will be acquired in this project can be used at other boreholes for ice-fabric characterizations and for englacial hydrology (wetness of temperate ice).", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e PROBES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS Divide; GROUND STATIONS; Western Divide Core; Antarctic Ice Sheet", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; WAIS Divide", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Matsuoka, Kenichi; Kluskiewicz, Dan; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; McCarthy, Michael; Waddington, Edwin D.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND STATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Collaborative research: acoustic logging of the WAIS Divide borehole", "uid": "p0000051", "west": null}, {"awards": "0636883 Bell, Robin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((20 -75,23 -75,26 -75,29 -75,32 -75,35 -75,38 -75,41 -75,44 -75,47 -75,50 -75,50 -76.5,50 -78,50 -79.5,50 -81,50 -82.5,50 -84,50 -85.5,50 -87,50 -88.5,50 -90,47 -90,44 -90,41 -90,38 -90,35 -90,32 -90,29 -90,26 -90,23 -90,20 -90,20 -88.5,20 -87,20 -85.5,20 -84,20 -82.5,20 -81,20 -79.5,20 -78,20 -76.5,20 -75))", "dataset_titles": "Data portal at Lamont for airborne data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000111", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Data portal at Lamont for airborne data", "url": "http://wonder.ldeo.columbia.edu/wordpress/"}], "date_created": "Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Bell/0636883\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award support a project to study the role that subglacial water plays in the overall stability of major ice sheets. An estimated 22,000 km3 of water is currently stored within Antarctica\u0027s subglacial lakes. Movement of this water occurs through a complex and largely inferred drainage system in both East and West Antarctica. Geomorphic evidence for the catastrophic drainage of subglacial lakes documents repeated events. These major flood events appear to have drained the largest subglacial lakes situated in the relatively stable interior of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Emerging evidence suggests there is a close connection between significant subglacial lakes and the onset of the Recovery Ice Stream one of the largest in East Antarctica. Our preliminary analysis of the Recovery Lakes region, East Antarctica suggests a direct linkage between lakes and streaming ice flow, specifically the 800 km long Recovery Ice Stream and its tributaries. Located just upslope of the Recovery Ice Stream, the Recovery Lakes Region is composed of 3 well-defined lakes and a fourth, ambiguous, \u0027lake-like\u0027 feature. While other large lakes have a localized impact on ice surface slope, the Recovery Lakes Region lakes are coincident with an abrupt regional change in the ice sheet surface slope. Satellite imagery demonstrates that the downslope margin of this lake area contains distinct flow strips and crevasses: both indicative of increasing ice velocities. The discovery of a series of large lakes coincident with the onset of rapid ice flow in East Antarctica clearly links subglacial lakes and ice sheet dynamics for the first time. The evidence linking the onset of streaming in the Recovery Drainage Ice Stream to the series of large subglacial lakes raises the fundamental question: How can subglacial lakes trigger the onset of ice streaming? We advance two possible mechanisms: (i) Subglacial lakes can produce accelerated ice flow through the drainage of lake water beneath the ice sheet downslope of the lakes. (ii) Subglacial lakes can produce accelerated ice flow accelerated ice flow by modifying the basal thermal gradient via basal accretion over the lakes so when the ice sheet regrounds basal melting dominates. To evaluate the contribution of lake water and the changing basal thermal gradient, we propose an integrated program incorporating satellite imagery analysis, a series of reconnaissance aerogeophysical profiles over the Recovery Lake Region and the installation of continuous GPS sites over the Recovery Lakes. This analysis and new data will enable us (1) to produce a velocity field over the Recovery Lakes Region, (2) to map the ice thickness changes over the lakes due to acceleration triggered thinning, basal melting and freezing, (3) determine the depth and possible the tectonic origin of the Recovery Lakes and (4) determine the stability of these lakes over time. These basic data sets will enable us to advance our understanding of how subglacial lakes trigger the onset of streaming. The intellectual merit of this project is that it will be the first systematic analysis of ice streams triggering the onset of ice streams. This work has profound implications for the modeling of ice sheet behavior in the future, the geologic record of abrupt climate changes and the longevity of subglacial lakes. The broader impacts of the project are programs that will reach students of all ages through undergraduates involved in the research, formal presentations in teacher education programs and ongoing public outreach efforts at major science museums. Subglacial Antarctic lake environments are emerging as a premier, major frontier for exploration during the IPY 2007-2009.", "east": 50.0, "geometry": "POINT(35 -82.5)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e AEM; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e IMAGING RADARS \u003e IMAGING RADAR SYSTEMS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e ALTIMETERS \u003e LIDAR/LASER ALTIMETERS \u003e LIDAR ALTIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "DHC-6; Basal Melting; Ice Stream; Ice Thickness; Velocity; Ice Stream Stability; Basal Freezing; Antarctica; Drainage; Aerogeophysical; Subglacial Lake; Flood Event", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -75.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S.", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PROPELLER \u003e DHC-6", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Subglacial Lakes and the Onset of Ice Streaming: Recovery Lakes", "uid": "p0000702", "west": 20.0}, {"awards": "0542164 Taylor, Michael", "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": "Quantifying the Role of Short-Period Gravity Waves on the Antarctic Mesospheric Dynamics Using an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600060", "doi": "10.15784/600060", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Meteorology; Radiosonde; South Pole", "people": "Taylor, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Quantifying the Role of Short-Period Gravity Waves on the Antarctic Mesospheric Dynamics Using an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600060"}], "date_created": "Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "A focused plan is presented to investigate the role and importance of short period (\u003c1 hour) gravity waves on the dynamics of the Antarctic Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region (~80-100 km). Excited primarily by deep convection, frontal activity, topography, and strong wind shears in the lower atmosphere, these waves transport energy and momentum upwards where they have a profound influence on the MLT dynamics. Most of the wave forcing is expected to occur at mid-and low-latitudes where such sources predominate. However, short-period waves (exhibiting similar characteristics to mid-latitude events) have now been detected in copious quantities from research sites on the Antarctic Peninsula and the coastal regions exhibiting strong anisotropy in their dominant horizontal motions (and hence their momentum fluxes). Radiosonde measurements have established the existence of ubiquitous gravity wave activity at South Pole but, to date, there have been no detailed measurements of the properties of short-period waves at MLT heights deep in the Antarctic interior. In particular, the South Pole Station is uniquely situated to investigate the filtering and penetration of these waves into the MLT region, a substantial fraction of which may be ducted waves traveling over vast geographic distances (several thousand km). Novel image measurements at South Pole Station combined with existing measurement programs will provide an unprecedented capability for quantifying the role of these gravity waves on the regional MLT dynamics over central Antarctica. This research also contributes to the training and education of both the graduate and undergraduate students.", "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 Astrophysics and Geospace Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Taylor, Michael", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Quantifying the Role of Short-Period Gravity Waves on the Antarctic Mesospheric Dynamics Using an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper", "uid": "p0000684", "west": -180.0}, {"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.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis 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.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis 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": "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": "0003619 Dalziel, Ian", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG9810", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002092", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9810"}, {"dataset_uid": "002678", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9810", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9810"}], "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 collaborative research program to initiate a Global Positioning System (GPS) network to measure crustal motions in the bedrock surrounding and underlying the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Evaluation of the role of both tectonic and ice-induced crustal motions of the WAIS bedrock is a critical goal for understanding past, present, and future dynamics of WAIS and its potential role in future global change scenarios, as well as improving our understanding of the role of Antarctica in global plate motions. The extent of active tectonism in West Antarctica is largely speculative, as few data exist that constrain its geographic distribution, directions, or rates of deformation. Active tectonism and the influence of bedrock on the WAIS have been highlighted recently by geophysical data indicating active subglacial volcanism and control of ice streaming by the presence of sedimentary basins. The influence of bedrock crustal motion on the WAIS and its future dynamics is a fundamental issue. Existing GPS projects are located only on the fringe of the ice sheet and do not address the regional picture. It is important that baseline GPS measurements on the bedrock around and within the WAIS be started so that a basis is established for detecting change.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTo measure crustal motions, this project will build a West Antarctica GPS Network (WAGN) of at least 15 GPS sites across the interior of West Antarctica (approximately the size of the contiguous United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast) over a two-year period beginning in the Antarctic field season 2001-2002. The planned network is designed using the Multi-modal Occupation Strategy (MOST), in which a small number of independent GPS \"roving\" receivers make differential measurements against a network of continuous GPS stations for comparatively short periods at each site. This experimental strategy, successfully implemented by a number of projects in California, S America, the SW Pacific and Central Asia, minimizes logistical requirements, an essential element of application of GPS geodesy in the scattered and remote outcrops of the WAIS bedrock.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe WAGN program will be integrated with the GPS network that has been established linking the Antarctic Peninsula with South America through the Scotia arc (Scotia Arc GPS Project (SCARP)). It will also interface with stations currently measuring motion across the Ross Embayment, and with the continent-wide GIANT program of the Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information Systems of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The GPS network will be based on permanent monuments set in solid rock outcrops that will have near-zero set-up error for roving GPS occupations, and that can be directly converted to a continuous GPS site when future technology makes autonomous operation and satellite data linkage throughout West Antarctica both reliable and economical. The planned network both depends on and complements the existing and planned continuous networks. It is presently not practical, for reasons of cost and logistics, to accomplish the measurements proposed herein with either a network of continuous stations or traditional campaigns.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe proposed WAGN will complement existing GPS projects by filling a major gap in coverage among several discrete crustal blocks that make up West Antarctica, a critical area of potential bedrock movements. If crustal motions are relatively slow, meaningful results will only begin to emerge within the five-year maximum period of time for an individual funded project. Hence this proposal is only to initiate the network and test precision and velocities at the most critical sites. Once built, however, the network will yield increasingly meaningful results with the passage of time. Indeed, the slower the rates turn out to be, the more important an early start to measuring. It is anticipated that the results of this project will initiate an iterative process that will gradually resolve into an understanding of the contributions from plate rotations and viscoelastic and elastic motions resulting from deglaciation and ice mass changes. Velocities obtained from initial reoccupation of the most critical sites will dictate the timing of a follow-up proposal for reoccupation of the entire network when detectable motions have occurred.", "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": "Dalziel, Ian W.", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: A GPS Network to Determine Crustal Motions in the Bedrock of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Phase I - Installation", "uid": "p0000859", "west": null}, {"awards": "0632399 Jefferies, Stuart", "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": "Tomographic Imaging of the Velocity and Magnetic Fields in the Sun\u0027s Atmosphere", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600152", "doi": "10.15784/600152", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cosmos; Satellite Remote Sensing; Sun", "people": "Jefferies, Stuart M.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Tomographic Imaging of the Velocity and Magnetic Fields in the Sun\u0027s Atmosphere", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600152"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The proposal is to develop an instrument that can simultaneously measure the sound speed and magnetic fields at three heights in the solar atmosphere. The instrument will use magneto-optical filters tuned to the solar absorption lines at 422 nm (Ca I), 589 nm (Na D2), and 770 nm (K) to make measurements of Doppler velocities and longitudinal magnetic field. These lines form in the mid- and low-chromosphere and photosphere, respectively. In addition, the instrument will also use a Fabry-Perot etalon as a narrowband filter to measure the intensity variations of the 1083 nm (He I) line that is formed high in the chromosphere and which shows the location of the \"foot points\" of coronal holes. Together, the four lines will allow studying wave motions throughout the solar atmosphere. The instrument will record images of the Sun every 10 seconds with a spatial resolution of 1 arc-second. Thus, the project will be fostering the development of existing magneto-optical filter technology to a new level. Upon construction, the telescope will be tested at South Pole for a long period of uninterrupted observations. Both the local and global helioseismic analysis procedures will be utilized to identify and to characterize different types of waves present in the solar atmosphere. These observations will allow determining the structure and dynamics of the Sun\u0027s atmosphere through seismic measurements and, thus, improve the atmosphere models, assess the role of waves in heating the chromosphere/corona and driving the solar wind, and better understand how the Sun\u0027s atmosphere couples to the interior. The broader impact of the proposed project is two fold. First, there is a potential benefit to the science and to the society because it is believed that the solar atmosphere is a \"home\" to many phenomena that can have a direct effect on the solar activity, including flares, coronal mass ejections, and the solar wind. Understanding the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere will therefore lead to a better understanding of the Sun-Earth connection. The collected data will be made available to other researchers at DVDs. The broader audience of general public will be reached through presentations at high schools, libraries, and community events, and news articles in the general press. Most of the research materials will also be placed in the Web.", "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 Astrophysics and Geospace Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jefferies, Stuart M.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Tomographic Imaging of the Velocity and Magnetic Fields in the Sun\u0027s Atmosphere", "uid": "p0000526", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0230285 Wilson, Terry", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((152.833 -75.317,154.4897 -75.317,156.1464 -75.317,157.8031 -75.317,159.4598 -75.317,161.1165 -75.317,162.7732 -75.317,164.4299 -75.317,166.0866 -75.317,167.7433 -75.317,169.4 -75.317,169.4 -75.9186,169.4 -76.5202,169.4 -77.1218,169.4 -77.7234,169.4 -78.325,169.4 -78.9266,169.4 -79.5282,169.4 -80.1298,169.4 -80.7314,169.4 -81.333,167.7433 -81.333,166.0866 -81.333,164.4299 -81.333,162.7732 -81.333,161.1165 -81.333,159.4598 -81.333,157.8031 -81.333,156.1464 -81.333,154.4897 -81.333,152.833 -81.333,152.833 -80.7314,152.833 -80.1298,152.833 -79.5282,152.833 -78.9266,152.833 -78.325,152.833 -77.7234,152.833 -77.1218,152.833 -76.5202,152.833 -75.9186,152.833 -75.317))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP-0230285/OPP-0230356\u003cbr/\u003ePIs: Wilson, Terry J./Hothem, Larry D.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to conduct GPS measurements of bedrock crustal motions in an extended Transantarctic Mountains Deformation network (TAMDEF) to document neotectonic displacements due to tectonic deformation within the West Antarctic rift and/or to mass change of the Antarctic ice sheets. Horizontal displacements related to active neotectonic rifting, strike-slip translations, and volcanism will be tightly constrained by monitoring the combined TAMDEF and Italian VLNDEF networks of bedrock GPS stations along the Transantarctic Mountains and on offshore islands in the Ross Sea. Glacio-isostatic adjustments due to deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum and to modern mass change of the ice sheets will be modeled from GPS-derived crustal motions together with new information from other programs on the configurations, thicknesses, deglaciation history and modern mass balance of the ice sheets. Tectonic and rheological information from ongoing structural and seismic investigations in the Victoria Land region will also be integrated in the modeling. The integrative and iterative modeling will yield a holistic interpretation of neotectonics and ice sheet history that will help us to discriminate tectonic crustal displacements from viscoelastic/elastic glacio-isostatic motions. These results will provide key information to interpret broad, continental-scale crustal motion patterns detected by sparse, regionally distributed GPS continuous trackers and by spaceborne instruments. This study will contribute to international programs focused on Antarctic neotectonic and global change issues.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eStrategies to meet these science objectives include repeat surveys of key sites in the existing TAMDEF network, extension of the array of TAMDEF sites southward about 250 km along the Transantarctic Mountains, linked measurements with the VLNDEF network, and integration of quasi-continuous trackers within the campaign network. By extending the array of bedrock sites southward, these measurements will cross gradients in predicted vertical motion due to viscoelastic rebound. The southward extension will also allow determination of the southern limit of the active Terror Rift and will provide a better baseline for constraints on any ongoing tectonic displacements across the West Antarctic rift system as a whole that might be possible using GPS data collected by the West Antarctic GPS Network. This project will also investigate unique aspects of GPS geodesy in Antarctica to determine how the error spectrum compares to mid-latitude regions and to identify the optimum measurement and data processing schemes for Antarctic conditions. The geodetic research will improve position accuracies within our network and will also yield general recommendations for deformation monitoring networks in polar regions.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn education and outreach program is planned and will be targeted at non-science-major undergraduate students taking Earth System Science at Ohio State University. The objective will be to illuminate the research process for nonscientists. This effort will educate students on the process of science and inform them about Antarctica and how it relates to global science issues.", "east": 169.4, "geometry": "POINT(161.1165 -78.325)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "GPS", "locations": null, "north": -75.317, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wilson, Terry", "platforms": "SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e NAVIGATION SATELLITES \u003e GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) \u003e GPS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -81.333, "title": "Collaborative Research: Transantarctic Mountains Deformation Network: GPS Measurements of Neotectonic Motion in the Antarctic Interior", "uid": "p0000574", "west": 152.833}, {"awards": "0126146 Miller, Molly", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(171 -83.75)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, provides funds for a study to investigate paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic in central interior Antarctica. The 4 km thick sequence of sedimentary rocks, known as the Beacon Supergroup, in the Beardmore Glacier area records 90 million years of Permian through Jurassic history of this high-paleolatitude sector of Gondwana. It accumulated in a foreland basin with a rate of subsidence approximately equal to the rate of deposition. The deposits have yielded diverse vertebrate fossils, in situ fossil forests, and exceptionally well preserved plant fossils. They give a unique glimpse of glacial, lake, and stream/river environments and ecosystems and preserve an unparalleled record of the depositional, paleoclimatic, and tectonic history of the area. The excellent work done to date provides a solid base of information on which to build understanding of conditions and processes.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project is a collaborative study of this stratigraphic section that will integrate sedimentologic, paleontologic, and ichnologic observations to answer focused questions, including: (1) What are the stratigraphic architecture and alluvial facies of Upper Permian to Jurassic rocks in the Beardmore area?; (2) In what tectonostratigraphic setting were these rocks deposited?; (3) Did vertebrates inhabit the cold, near-polar, Permian floodplains, as indicated by vertebrate burrows, and can these burrows be used to identify, for the first time, the presence of small early mammals in Mesozoic deposits?; and (4) How did bottom-dwelling animals in lakes and streams use substrate ecospace, how did ecospace use at these high paleolatitudes differ from ecospace use in equivalent environments at low paleolatitudes, and what does burrow distribution reveal about seasonality of river flow and thus about paleoclimate? Answers to these questions will (1) clarify the paleoclimatic, basinal, and tectonic history of this part of Gondwana, (2) elucidate the colonization of near-polar ecosystems by vertebrates, (3) provide new information on the environmental and paleolatitudinal distributions of early mammals, and (4) allow semi-quantitative assessment of the activity and abundance of bottom-dwelling animals in different freshwater environments at high and low latitudes. In summary, this project will contribute significantly to an understanding of paleobiology and paleoecology at a high latitude floodplain setting during a time in Earth history when the climate was much different than today.", "east": 171.0, "geometry": "POINT(171 -83.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Beardmore Glacier; FIELD SURVEYS; Paleoclimate; Permian; Paleontology; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Sedimentologic; Ichnologic; Stratigraphic; Gondwana", "locations": "Beardmore Glacier", "north": -83.75, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e JURASSIC; PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN; PHANEROZOIC \u003e MESOZOIC \u003e TRIASSIC", "persons": "Miller, Molly", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -83.75, "title": "Collaborative Research: Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic Fauna, Environment, Climate and Basinal History: Beardmore Glacier Area, Transantarctic Mountains", "uid": "p0000736", "west": 171.0}, {"awards": "0337858 Goodge, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This work will determine the age and provenance of glacially derived marine sediments from the coastal regions of Wilkes Land, Antarctica. These deposits may offer insight into the history of the East Antarctic Shield (EAS), which is amongst the oldest sections of continental crust on Earth, but cannot be studied directly because of nearly complete ice sheet coverage. The study will use Australian National University\u0027s SHRIMP ion microprobe to date zircon and monazite found in the sediments. Samples of interest include polymictic pebble and cobble clasts obtained from dredge hauls of tills, as well as sand-matrix fractions from cores of glacial diamicts on the continental margin. Individual clasts of igneous and metamorphic rocks from tills will be selected for zircon and/or monazite age dating, whereas detrital zircons from stratified and non-stratified diamictons will be analyzed for composite zircon provenance analysis. In addition, detrital zircon ages will be determined for Beacon Supergroup sandstones to evaluate recycling of zircon in Phanerozoic basins. Integration of ages obtained from both sources will provide a good representation of the EAS terrains underlying the Wilkes Land ice sheet. This project will allow us to learn more about the remote continental interior and improve our ability to interpret past ice-flow patterns without further environmental impact on Antarctica. The results will improve our understanding of Precambrian tectonics and crustal evolution, and help target future over-ice geophysical surveys and basement drilling projects currently under consideration. In terms of broader impacts, the project will provide educational and training opportunities for undergraduate students in Earth science.", "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": "Goodge, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Glacial proxies of East Antarctic shield basement in Wilkes Land, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000725", "west": null}, {"awards": "9814816 Blankenship, Donald", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-129 -80.5,-128.4 -80.5,-127.8 -80.5,-127.2 -80.5,-126.6 -80.5,-126 -80.5,-125.4 -80.5,-124.8 -80.5,-124.2 -80.5,-123.6 -80.5,-123 -80.5,-123 -80.55,-123 -80.6,-123 -80.65,-123 -80.7,-123 -80.75,-123 -80.8,-123 -80.85,-123 -80.9,-123 -80.95,-123 -81,-123.6 -81,-124.2 -81,-124.8 -81,-125.4 -81,-126 -81,-126.6 -81,-127.2 -81,-127.8 -81,-128.4 -81,-129 -81,-129 -80.95,-129 -80.9,-129 -80.85,-129 -80.8,-129 -80.75,-129 -80.7,-129 -80.65,-129 -80.6,-129 -80.55,-129 -80.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9814816\u003cbr/\u003eBlankenship\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a four year project to develop of better understanding the ice streams of the Ross Sea Embayment (A--F) which drain the interior West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) by rapidly moving vast quantities of ice to the calving front of the Ross Ice Shelf. The project will examine the role of these ice streams as buffers between the interior ice and the floating ice shelves. The reasons for their fast flow, the factors controlling their current grounding-line-, margin-, and head-positions are crucial to any attempt at modeling the WAIS system and predicting the future of the ice sheet. For the Antarctic ice streams of the Siple Coast, the transition from no-sliding (or all internal deformation) to motion dominated by sliding is defined as the \"onset-region\". To fully understand (and adequately model) the WAIS, this onset region must be better understood. The lateral margins of the ice streams are also a transition that need better explanation. Hypotheses on controls of the location of the onset region range from the \"purely-glaciologic\" to the \"purely-geologic. Thus, to model the ice sheet accurately, the basal boundary conditions (roughness, wetness, till properties) and a good subglacial geologic map, showing the distribution, thickness, and properties of the sedimentary basins, are required. These parameters can be estimated from seismic, radar, and other geophysical methods. The transition region of ice stream D will be studied in detail with this coupled geophysical experiment. In addition, selected other locations on ice streams C \u0026 D will be made, to compare and contrast conditions with the main site on ice stream D. Site-selection for the main camp will be based on existing radar, GPS, and satellite data as well as input from the modeling community.", "east": -123.0, "geometry": "POINT(-126 -80.75)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e GPR", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -80.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blankenship, Donald D.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -81.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Characterizing the Onset of Ice Stream Flow: A Ground Geophysical Field Program", "uid": "p0000603", "west": -129.0}, {"awards": "0232042 Finn, Carol", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((139.27539 -82.35733,142.369695 -82.35733,145.464 -82.35733,148.558305 -82.35733,151.65261 -82.35733,154.746915 -82.35733,157.84122 -82.35733,160.935525 -82.35733,164.02983 -82.35733,167.124135 -82.35733,170.21844 -82.35733,170.21844 -82.516831,170.21844 -82.676332,170.21844 -82.835833,170.21844 -82.995334,170.21844 -83.154835,170.21844 -83.314336,170.21844 -83.473837,170.21844 -83.633338,170.21844 -83.792839,170.21844 -83.95234,167.124135 -83.95234,164.02983 -83.95234,160.935525 -83.95234,157.84122 -83.95234,154.746915 -83.95234,151.65261 -83.95234,148.558305 -83.95234,145.464 -83.95234,142.369695 -83.95234,139.27539 -83.95234,139.27539 -83.792839,139.27539 -83.633338,139.27539 -83.473837,139.27539 -83.314336,139.27539 -83.154835,139.27539 -82.995334,139.27539 -82.835833,139.27539 -82.676332,139.27539 -82.516831,139.27539 -82.35733))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 16 Aug 2005 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 Transantarctic Mountains and an adjacent region of East Antarctica. The East Antarctic shield is one of Earth\u0027s oldest and largest cratonic assemblies, with a long-lived Archean to early Paleozoic history. Long-standing interest in the geologic evolution of this shield has been rekindled over the past decade by tectonic models linking East Antarctica with other Precambrian crustal elements in the Rodinia and Gondwanaland supercontinents. It is postulated that the Pacific margin of East Antarctica was rifted from Laurentia during late Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia, and it then developed as an active plate boundary during subsequent amalgamation of Gondwanaland in the earliest Paleozoic. If true, the East Antarctic shield played a key role in supercontinent transformation at a time of global changes in plate configuration, terrestrial surficial process, sea level, and marine geochemistry and biota. A better understanding of the geological evolution of the East Antarctic shield is therefore critical for studying Precambrian crustal evolution in general, as well as resource distribution, biosphere evolution, and glacial and climate history during later periods of Earth history. Because of nearly complete coverage by the polar ice cap, however, Antarctica remains the single most geologically unexplored continent. Exposures of cratonic basement are largely limited to coastal outcrops in George V Land and Terre Adelie (Australian sector), the Prince Charles Mountains and Enderby Land (Indian sector), and Queen Maud Land (African sector), where the geology is reasonably well-known. By contrast, little is known about the composition and structure of the shield interior. Given the extensive ice cover, collection of airborne geophysical data is the most cost-effective method to characterize broad areas of sub-ice basement and expand our knowledge of the East Antarctic shield interior. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will conduct an airborne magnetic survey (coupled with ground-based gravity measurements) across an important window into the shield where it is exposed in the Nimrod Glacier area of the central Transantarctic Mountains. Specific goals are to:\u003cbr/\u003e1. Characterize the magnetic and gravity signature of East Antarctic crustal basement exposed at the Ross margin (Nimrod Group),\u003cbr/\u003e2. Extend the magnetic data westward along a corridor across the polar ice cap in order to image the crust in ice-covered areas,\u003cbr/\u003e3. Obtain magnetic data over the Ross Orogen in order to image the ice-covered boundary between basement and supracrustal rocks, allowing us to better constrain the geometry of fundamental Ross structures, and\u003cbr/\u003e4. Use the shape, trends, wavelengths, and amplitudes of magnetic anomalies to define magnetic domains in the shield, common building blocks for continent-scale studies of Precambrian geologic structure and evolution.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eHigh-resolution airborne magnetic data will be collected along a transect extending from exposed rocks of the Nimrod Group across the adjacent polar ice cap. The Nimrod Group represents the only bona fide Archean-Proterozoic shield basement exposed for over 2500 km of the Pacific margin of Antarctica. This survey will characterize the geologically well-known shield terrain in this sector using geophysical methods for the first time. This baseline over the exposed shield will allow for better interpretation of geophysical patterns in other ice-covered regions and can be used to target future investigations. In collaboration with colleagues from the BGR (Germany), a tightly-spaced, \"draped\" helicopter magnetic survey will be flown during the 2003-04 austral summer, to be complemented by ground measurements of gravity over the exposed basement. Data reduction, interpretation and geological correlation will be completed in the second year. This project will enhance the education of students, the advancement of under-represented groups, the research instrumentation of the U.S. Antarctic Program, partnerships between the federal government and institutions of higher education, and cooperation between national research programs. It will benefit society through the creation of new basic knowledge about the Antarctic continent, which in turn may help with applied research in other fields such as the glacial history of Antarctica.", "east": 170.21844, "geometry": "POINT(154.746915 -83.154835)", "instruments": "SOLAR/SPACE OBSERVING INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC FIELD/ELECTRIC FIELD INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAM", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Central Transantarctic Mountains; Aeromagnetic Data; HELICOPTER; DHC-6; Not provided", "locations": "Central Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -82.35733, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Finn, C. A.; FINN, CAROL", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PROPELLER \u003e DHC-6; AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e ROTORCRAFT/HELICOPTER \u003e HELICOPTER; Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -83.95234, "title": "Collaborative Research: Geophysical Mapping of the East Antarctic Shield Adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains", "uid": "p0000249", "west": 139.27539}, {"awards": "9977306 Ryan, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(167.16 -77.5)", "dataset_titles": "B-Be-Li Abundance and Isotope Data: Mt. Erebus-McMurdo Volcanics", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600020", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Ryan, Jeffrey", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "B-Be-Li Abundance and Isotope Data: Mt. Erebus-McMurdo Volcanics", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600020"}], "date_created": "Thu, 19 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Subduction zones are the one place on Earth where materials from the surface (water, sediments and crustal rocks) can be carried into our planet\u0027s deep interior. To quantify this process of subduction-zone recycling, we need to understand both the input of sediments and crust to trenches, and all geochemical outputs related to the subduction process. While the chemical outputs represented by magmatism at volcanic arcs and in back-arc settings have been widely studied, little is known about possible subduction-related outfluxes through the shallow forearc, between the arc and the trench. We are attempting to characterize the \"forearc flux\" by examining serpentinites which are rising diapirically through the forearc mantle and crust in the Mariana arc-trench system. Our work will complete efforts begun (with NSF support) several years ago, and will characterize these samples (and the slab-derived fluids which helped to create them) for radiogenic isotopes, lithium and oxygen isotopes, and the \"fluid-mobile\" elements Cs, Rb, U, As, Pb, and Sb. Our work will allow us to characterize both the chemical inventories of species that are released from subducting slabs beneath forearcs, and the magnitude of this flux, for comparison with results for trench inputs (being collected as part of ODP Leg 125), and existing data for arc volcanic outputs in the Mariana system.", "east": 167.16, "geometry": "POINT(167.16 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Mount Erebus; Mcmurdo Volcanic Group; Not provided; Crary Mountains", "locations": "Crary Mountains; Mount Erebus", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Marine Geology and Geophysics", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ryan, Jeffrey", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.5, "title": "The Role of the Forearc in Subduction Zone Chemical Cycles: Elemental and Isotopic Signatures of Forearc Serpentinites, ODP Leg 125", "uid": "p0000244", "west": 167.16}, {"awards": "9526979 White, James", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Siple Dome Core Date from Measurement of the d18O of Paleoatmospheric Oxygen", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609123", "doi": "10.7265/N5TX3C95", "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": "White, James; Bender, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Siple Dome Core Date from Measurement of the d18O of Paleoatmospheric Oxygen", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609123"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is for support for a program to measure the stable isotope (deuterium to hydrogen and oxygen-18 to oxygen-16) concentrations of ice cores retrieved from Siple Dome as part of the West Antarctic ice sheet program. In addition, the deuterium excess of samples from the Taylor Dome ice core will be determined. This project will approach the question of rapid climate change using ice cores to determine the history of temperature changes, moisture source changes, and elevational changes in the West Antarctic ice sheet. Results from ice cores taken to date in the interior of Antarctica (East and West) are surprisingly lacking in indications of abrupt climate changes, such as those that have been observed in the GISP2 ice core from Summit, Greenland. This work will address the question of whether rapid climate changes, which are known to have occurred in other parts of the southern hemi-sphere, may have also occurred in the coastal regions of West Antarctica. There is some indication from existing records of isotopes in ice cores that the West Antarctic ice sheet may have flushed ice in the past (as evidenced by large changes in elevation of the ice sheet).", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; LABORATORY; WAISCORES; GROUND STATIONS; Siple Coast; Glaciology; Snow; D18O; Isotope; Thermometry; Ice Sheet; Siple; Accumulation; Ice Core; Siple Dome; Stratigraphy; Densification; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided", "locations": "Antarctica; Siple; Siple Coast; Siple Dome", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "White, James; Bender, Michael", "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": null, "title": "Isotopic Measurements on the WAIS/Siple Dome Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000063", "west": null}]
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Project Title/Abstract/Map | NSF Award(s) | Date Created | PIs / Scientists | Dataset Links and Repositories | Abstract | Bounds Geometry | Geometry | Selected | Visible | |||||||
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EAGER: Lowering the detection threshold of Antarctic seismicity to reveal undiscovered intraplate deformation
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2023355 |
2024-02-20 | Schmandt, Brandon | No dataset link provided | Part 1: Nontechnical<br/> <br/>Unlike other locations on the globe Antarctica is not known for having large earthquakes and the remote nature and harsh conditions make it difficult to install and maintain seismometers for earthquake detection. Some researchers believe the lack of large earthquakes is due to the continent being surrounded by inactive tectonic margins. However, in the last two decades, scientists have discovered that more earthquakes occur in the interior of the continent than previously observed. This suggests that there are many earthquakes missing from historic earthquake catalogs. This study aims to find the missing earthquakes using novel earthquake detection and location techniques from seismic data collected from temporary and permanent seismic stations in Antarctica over the last 25 years. Locating these earthquakes will help understand if and where earthquakes are located in Antarctica and will help in planning future seismic deployments. As part of the project broader impacts, a field expedition with the Girls on Rock program will be conducted to teach high school age girls, and especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, data visualization techniques using scientific data. <br/> <br/>Part 2: Technical<br/> <br/>The spatial distribution of seismicity and the number of moderate magnitude earthquakes in Antarctica is not well-defined. The current catalog of earthquakes may be biased by uneven and sparse seismograph distribution on the continent. We will mine existing broadband seismic data from both permanent and temporary deployments to lower the earthquake detection threshold across Interior Antarctica, with a focus on tectonic earthquakes. The hypothesis is that Interior Antarctica has abundant moderate magnitude earthquakes, previously undetected. These earthquakes are likely collocated with major tectonic features such as the Transantarctic Mountains, the suspected Vostok collision zone, the West Antarctic Rift System, the crustal compositional boundary between East and West Antarctica, and the Cretaceous East Antarctic Rift. Previous seismic deployments have recorded earthquakes in the Antarctic interior, suggesting there are many earthquakes missing from the current catalog. We propose to use novel earthquake location techniques designed for automated detection and location using 25 years of continuous data archived at IRIS from PASSCAL experiments and permanent stations. The approach will use STA/LTA detectors on the first arrival P-wave to 90 degrees distance, Reverse Time Imaging to locate events, and beamforming at dense arrays strategically located on cratons for enhanced detection and location. The combination of detection and location techniques used in this work has not been used on teleseismic body waves, although similar methods have worked well for surface wave studies. If successful the project would provide an excellent training dataset for future scrutiny of newly discovered Antarctic seismicity with machine learning approaches and/or new targeted data collection. We plan to collaborate with Girls on Rock, a local and international organization committed to building a culturally diverse community in science, art, and wilderness exploration, in a summer field expedition and integrating computer coding into post-field scientific projects.<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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Magma Sources, Residence and Pathways of Mount Erebus Phonolitic Volcano, Antarctica, from Magnetotelluric Resistivity Structure
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1443522 |
2024-02-05 | Wannamaker, Philip |
|
General Description:<br/>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.<br/><br/>Technical Description:<br/>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. | 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)) | POINT(167.7 -77.525) | false | false | |||||||
Investigating Effects of Transient and Non-Newtonian Mantle Viscosity on Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Process and their Implications for GPS Observations in Antarctica
|
2333940 |
2024-01-08 | Zhong, Shijie | No dataset link provided | Satellite observations of Earth?s surface gravity and elevation changes indicate rapid melting of ice sheets in recent decades in northern Antarctica Peninsula and Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica. This rapid melting may lead to significant global sea level rise which is a major societal concern. Measurements from the Global Positioning System (GPS) show rapid land uplift in these regions as the ice sheets melt. When an ice sheet melts, the melt water flows to oceans, causing global sea level to rise. However, the sea level change at a given geographic location is also influenced by two other factors associated with the ice melting process: 1) the vertical motion of the land and 2) gravitational attraction. The vertical motion of the land is caused by the change of pressure force on the surface of the solid Earth. For example, the removal of ice mass reduces the pressure force on the land, leading to uplift of the land below the ice sheet, while the addition of water in oceans increases the pressure force on the seafloor, causing it to subside. The sea level always follows the equipotential surface of the gravity which changes as the mass on the Earth?s surface (e.g., the ice and water) or/and in its interiors (e.g., at the crust-mantle boundary) is redistributed. Additionally, the vertical motion of the land below an ice sheet has important effects on the evolution and stability of the ice sheet and may determine whether the ice sheet will rapidly collapse or gradually stabilize. The main goal of this project is to build an accurate and efficient computer model to study the displacement and deformation of the Antarctic crust and mantle in response to recent ice melting. The project will significantly improve existing and publicly available computer code, CitcomSVE. The horizontal and vertical components of the Earth?s surface displacement depends on mantle viscosity and elastic properties of the Earth. Although seismic imaging studies demonstrate that the Antarctica mantle is heterogeneous, most studies on the ice-melting induced deformation in Antarctica have assumed that mantle viscosity and elastic properties only vary with the depth due to computational limitations. In this project, the new computational method in CitcomSVE avoids such assumptions and makes it possible to include realistic 3-D mantle viscosity and elastic properties in computing the Antarctica crustal and mantle displacement. This project will interpret the GPS measurements of the surface displacements in northern Antarctica Peninsula and Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica and use the observations to place constraints on mantle viscosity and deformation mechanisms. The project will also seek to predict the future land displacement Antarctica, which will lead to a better understand of Antarctica ice sheets. Finally, the project has direct implications for the study of global sea level change and the dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet. Technical Description Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is important for understanding not only fundamental science questions including mantle viscosity, mantle convection and lithospheric deformation but also societally important questions of global sea-level change, polar ice melting, climate change, and groundwater hydrology. Studies of rock deformation in laboratory experiments, post-seismic deformation, and mantle dynamics indicate that mantle viscosity is temperature- and stress-dependent. Although the effects of stress-dependent (i.e., non-Newtonian) viscosity and transient creep rheology on GIA process have been studied, observational evidence remains elusive. There has been significant ice mass loss in recent decades in northern Antarctica Peninsula (NAP) and Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) of West Antarctica. The ice mass loss has caused rapid bedrock uplift as measured by GPS techniques which require surprisingly small upper mantle viscosity of ~1018 Pas. The rapid uplifts may have important feedback effects on ongoing ice melting because of their influence on grounding line migration, and the inferred small viscosity may have implications for mantle rheology and deformation on decadal time scales. The main objective of the project is to test hypotheses that the GPS observations in NAP and ASE regions are controlled by 3-D non-Newtonian or/and transient creep viscosity by developing new GIA modeling capability based on finite element package CitcomSVE. The project will carry out the following three tasks: Task 1 is to build GIA models for the NAP and ASE regions to examine the effects of 3-D temperature-dependent mantle viscosity on the surface displacements and to test hypothesis that the 3-D mantle viscosity improves the fit to the GPS observations. Task 2 is to test the hypothesis that non-Newtonian or/and transient creep rheology controls GIA process on decadal time scales by computing GIA models and comparing model predictions with GPS observations for the NAP and ASE regions. Task 3 is to implement transient creep (i.e., Burgers model) rheology into finite element package CitcomSVE for modeling the GIA process on global and regional scales and to make the package publicly available to the scientific community. The project will develop the first numerical GIA model with Burgers transient rheology and use the models to examine the effects of 3-D temperature-dependent viscosity, non-Newtonian viscosity and transient rheology on GIA-induced surface displacements in Antarctica. The project will model the unique GPS observations of unusually large displacement rates in the NAP and ASE regions to place constraints on mantle rheology and to distinguish between 3-D temperature-dependent, non-Newtonian and transient mantle viscosity. The project will expand the capability of the publicly available software package CitcomSVE for modeling viscoelastic deformation and tidal deformation on global and regional scales. The project will advance our understanding in lithospheric deformation and mantle rheology on decadal time scales, which helps predict grounding line migration and understand ice sheet stability in West Antarctica. The project will strengthen the open science practice by improving the publicly available code CitcomSVE at github. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Circum-Antarctic Processes from Archived Marine Sediment Cores (ANTS)
|
2224679 2224681 2224680 |
2023-02-24 | 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. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Holocene Deglaciation of the Western Ross Embayment: Constraints from East Antarctic Outlet Glaciers
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1542756 |
2022-12-12 | Koutnik, Michelle; Smith, Ben; Conway, Howard; Shapero, Daniel |
|
In this project we investigated glaciers that drain ice from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Transantarctic Mountains into the present-day Ross Ice Shelf. The outlet glaciers that flow through the Transantarctic Mountains have thinned significantly over the past 15,000 years, especially as they retreated from Last Glacial Maximum highstands to their present-day grounding lines. At certain locations and for certain glaciers, rocks or bedrock have been sampled to provide constraints on the timing of when ice retreated from these locations. In the locations where geochronological data are available we can use these data as direct constraints on ice-flow models that simulate ice elevation change over time. The intellectual merit of this work is using ice-flow models to spatially and temporally extrapolate between these limited geochronological data points, which enables new understanding of glacier evolution. The mountainous topography in this region is complex, and there are limited measurements of the topography beneath the ice of the Transantarctic outlet glaciers. Since the topography of the glacier bed is an important control on ice flow and is a necessary boundary condition in models we developed a new gridded bed product at Beardmore Glacier, the one location where sufficient data were available, and we compared this to continent-scale gridded bed products. We found that for this glacier, the BedMachine v1 product was reasonably similar to the Beardmore Glacier bed topography measurements; our limited evaluation suggests that the BedMachine product may be sufficient at other Transantarctic outlets where bed measurements are not available, but that other compilations of bed topography data that do not include information about ice flow directions do not provide reliable results. Using these data and available geochronological constraints we investigated Beardmore Glacier evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum using simplified (flowline) models of ice flow. In addition to flowline modeling at Beardmore Glacier, we developed a flow-model setup using the open-source 'icepack' model that uses the shallow stream equations and resolves flow in both the x and y directions. The key value added over flowline (or parameterized flowband) models is that this can capture converging and diverging ice flow, variable side wall and bottom drag, and other geometric complexities. In these simulations we can evaluate the past accumulation, ice influx, and ice outflux to compare controls on deglaciation to data constraints on the chronology of deglaciation. We also used a flowline model to investigate the Darwin-Hatherton Glacier System. Exposure ages and radiocarbon ages of glacial deposits at four locations alongside Hatherton and Darwin glaciers record several hundred meters of late Pleistocene to early Holocene thickening relative to present. Deglaciation was relatively complex at this site, and we also found that Byrd glacier likely contributed ice to the catchment of the Darwin-Hatherton glacier system during the last glacial maximum, and that subsequent convergent flow from Byrd and Mulock glaciers during deglaciation complicated the response of the Darwin-Hatherton system. These new insights can be used on their own to better understand local deglaciation, and can also be used to evaluate regional or continent-scale model calculations. Separately, we investigated the general response of outlet glaciers to different sources of climate forcing. We found that outlet glaciers have a characteristically different response over time to surface-mass-balance forcing applied over the interior than to oceanic forcing applied at the grounding line. Our models demonstrated that ocean forcing first engages the fast, local response and then the slow adjustment of interior ice, whereas surface-mass-balance forcing is dominated by the slow interior adjustment. These insights contributed to our general understanding of how outlet glaciers may have evolved over time. Our new model investigations provide a framework that can be applied at other Transantarctic outlet glaciers where geochronological data are available. In particular, our 'icepack' setup is an archived and documented resource for the community. These tools are available for future investigations, including additional investigations at Beardmore Glacier and at other Transantarctic Mountain outlet glaciers. Scientific broader impacts include that this contributes to our understanding of the past behavior of East Antarctic ice, which provides an important constraint on the future evolution of Antarctica. Our team has engaged in public outreach and has engaged students in this research. Two graduate students led in aspects of this work, and have since gone on to research positions after their PhD. | POLYGON((-180 -77,-179.5 -77,-179 -77,-178.5 -77,-178 -77,-177.5 -77,-177 -77,-176.5 -77,-176 -77,-175.5 -77,-175 -77,-175 -77.9,-175 -78.8,-175 -79.7,-175 -80.6,-175 -81.5,-175 -82.4,-175 -83.3,-175 -84.2,-175 -85.1,-175 -86,-175.5 -86,-176 -86,-176.5 -86,-177 -86,-177.5 -86,-178 -86,-178.5 -86,-179 -86,-179.5 -86,180 -86,177.5 -86,175 -86,172.5 -86,170 -86,167.5 -86,165 -86,162.5 -86,160 -86,157.5 -86,155 -86,155 -85.1,155 -84.2,155 -83.3,155 -82.4,155 -81.5,155 -80.6,155 -79.7,155 -78.8,155 -77.9,155 -77,157.5 -77,160 -77,162.5 -77,165 -77,167.5 -77,170 -77,172.5 -77,175 -77,177.5 -77,-180 -77)) | POINT(170 -81.5) | false | false | |||||||
Rutford Ice Stream Cooperative Research Program with British Antarctic Survey
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1643961 |
2022-11-16 | Anandakrishnan, Sridhar |
|
Anandakrishnan/1643961<br/><br/>This award supports a project to study conditions under the Rutford Ice Stream, a large glacier that flows from the interior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf and then on to the ocean. The speed and volume of ice delivered to the ocean by this and similar glaciers is central to the question of sea-level change in the coming decades: if the volume of ice carried by Rutford to the ocean increases, then it will contribute to a rise in sea level. Numerical models of glacier flow that are used to forecast future conditions must include a component that accounts for the sliding of the ice over its bed. The sliding process is poorly modeled because of lack of detailed information about the bottom of glaciers, leading to increased uncertainty in the ice-flow models. Data from this project will provide such information. <br/><br/>During this project, in collaboration with researchers at the British Antarctic Survey, a detailed survey of the properties of the bed of Rutford Ice Stream will be carried out. These surveys include using seismic instruments (which are sensitive to naturally occurring earthquakes within glaciers--called icequakes) to monitor the distribution of those icequakes at the bed. The locations, size, and timing of icequakes are controlled by the properties of the bed such as porosity, water pressure, and stress. As part of this project, a hole will be drilled to the bed of the glacier to monitor water pressures and to extract a sample of the basal material. By comparing the pressure variations with icequake production, the properties of the basal material over a large area can be better determined. Those results will aid in the application of numerical models by informing their description of the sliding process. This award requires field work in Antarctica.<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. | POLYGON((-80 -83,-79.8 -83,-79.6 -83,-79.4 -83,-79.2 -83,-79 -83,-78.8 -83,-78.6 -83,-78.4 -83,-78.2 -83,-78 -83,-78 -83.2,-78 -83.4,-78 -83.6,-78 -83.8,-78 -84,-78 -84.2,-78 -84.4,-78 -84.6,-78 -84.8,-78 -85,-78.2 -85,-78.4 -85,-78.6 -85,-78.8 -85,-79 -85,-79.2 -85,-79.4 -85,-79.6 -85,-79.8 -85,-80 -85,-80 -84.8,-80 -84.6,-80 -84.4,-80 -84.2,-80 -84,-80 -83.8,-80 -83.6,-80 -83.4,-80 -83.2,-80 -83)) | POINT(-79 -84) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Ice sheet erosional interaction with hot geotherm in West Antarctica
|
1917176 1916982 1917009 |
2022-10-19 | Siddoway, Christine; Thomson, Stuart; Teyssier, Christian |
|
Sediment records off the coast of Marie Byrd Land (MBL), Antarctica suggest frequent and dramatic changes in the size of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) over short (tens of thousands of years) and long (millions of years) time frames in the past. WAIS currently overrides much of MBL and covers the rugged and scoured bedrock landscape. The ice sheet carved narrow linear troughs that reach depths of two to three thousand meters below sea level as outlet glaciers flowed from the interior of the continent to the oceans. As a result, large volumes of fragmented continental bedrock were carried out to the seabed. The glaciers cut downward into a region of crystalline rocks (i.e. granite) that display a significant temperature change as a function of rock depth. The strong geothermal gradient in the bedrock is favorable for determining when the bedrock became exhumed, or "uncovered" by action of the overriding icesheet or other processes. Our approach takes advantage of a reference horizon, or paleogeotherm, established when high-T mineral thermochronometers across Marie Byrd Land (MBL) cooled from temperatures of >800° C to 300° C, due to rapid regional extension at ~100 Ma . The event imparted a signature through which the subsequent Cenozoic landscape history can be explored: MBL's elevated geothermal gradient, sustained during the Cenozoic, created favorable conditions for sensitive apatite and zircon low-T thermochronometers to record bedrock cooling related to glacial incision. Analyzing the chemistry of minerals (zircon and apatite) within fragments of eroded rock will reveal the rate and timing of the bedrock erosion and development of topography in West Antarctica. This collaborative project addresses the following questions: When did the land become high enough for a large ice sheet to form? What was the regional pre-glacial topography? Under what climate conditions, and at what point in the growth of an ice sheet, did glaciers begin to cut sharply into bedrock to form the narrow troughs that flow seaward? The research will lead to greater understanding of past Antarctic ice sheet fluctuations and identify precise timing of glacial incisionm which will clarify the onset of WAIS glacier incision and assess the evolution of Cenozoic paleo-topography. The collaborative project provides training for one graduate and 8 undergraduate students in STEM. These students, together with PIs, will refine West Antarctic ice sheet history and obtain results that pertain to the international societal response to contemporary ice sheet change and its global consequences. The methods used for the research include: •Low-temperature (T) thermochronology and Pecube 3-D thermo-kinematic modeling, applied to the timing and characterizatio episodes of glacial erosional incision. •Single-grain double- and triple-dating of zircon and apatite, to determine the detailed crustal thermal evolution of the region, enabling the research team to identify the comparative topographic influences on glaciation versus bedrock uplift induced by Eocene to present tectonism/magmatism. Students and PIs employed state-of-the-art analytical facilities in Arizona and Minnesota, expanding the geo- and thermochronologic history of MBL from bedrock samples and offshore sedimentary deposits. The temperature and time data we acquired will provide constraints on paleotopography, isostasy, and the thermal evolution of MBL that will be modeled in 3D using Pecube model simulations. Within hot crust, less incision is required to expose bedrock containing the distinct thermochronometric profile; a prediction we are testing through use of inverse Pecube 3-D models of the thermal field through which bedrock and detrital samples cooled. Using results from Pecube, the ICI-Hot team will examine time-varying topography formed in response to changes in erosion rates, topographic relief, geothermal gradient and/or flexural isostatic rigidity. These effects are manifestations of dynamic processes in the WAIS, including ice sheet loading, ice volume fluctuations, relative motion upon crustal faults, and magmatism-related elevation increase across the MBL dome. The project makes use of pre-existing sample collections housed at the US Polar Rock Repository, IODP's Gulf Coast Core Repository, and the OSU Marine and Geology Repository. 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. | POLYGON((-160.16 -67.15,-154.572 -67.15,-148.984 -67.15,-143.39600000000002 -67.15,-137.808 -67.15,-132.22 -67.15,-126.632 -67.15,-121.04400000000001 -67.15,-115.456 -67.15,-109.868 -67.15,-104.28 -67.15,-104.28 -68.165,-104.28 -69.18,-104.28 -70.19500000000001,-104.28 -71.21000000000001,-104.28 -72.225,-104.28 -73.24,-104.28 -74.255,-104.28 -75.27,-104.28 -76.285,-104.28 -77.3,-109.868 -77.3,-115.456 -77.3,-121.044 -77.3,-126.632 -77.3,-132.22 -77.3,-137.808 -77.3,-143.396 -77.3,-148.98399999999998 -77.3,-154.572 -77.3,-160.16 -77.3,-160.16 -76.285,-160.16 -75.27,-160.16 -74.255,-160.16 -73.24,-160.16 -72.225,-160.16 -71.21000000000001,-160.16 -70.19500000000001,-160.16 -69.18,-160.16 -68.165,-160.16 -67.15)) | POINT(-132.22 -72.225) | false | false | |||||||
EAGER: An Operational System to Measure Surface Mass Balance Deep in the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
|
1654922 |
2022-08-02 | de la Peña, Santiago |
|
To obtain observations of temporal variability of firn processes in Antarctica, we designed a cost-efficient, reliable, and easily deployable firn monitoring system capable of operating with little or no maintenance over a period of several seasons. The prototype station was installed in December 2017 in the vicinity of the geographical South Pole and at a short distance from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station in Antarctica. The data presented was acquired between December of 2017 and January of 2020. During the first year, of the months without sunlight the longest period without SMB measurements was 22 days, yielding enough measurements to obtain monthly estimates of every variable. During the polar night of 2019, a technical issue related to extreme cold prevented the data logger attached to the CRNCs to record correctly so the sensor was placed under a stand-by mode until the 2nd of December 2019 when temperatures raised. Firn compaction, temperature and wind were recorded continuously during the 2-year period with the exception of a couple of weeks during the Austral winter. The project finalized in January 2020 and the system was taken down on January 15th. | POINT(0 -90) | POINT(0 -90) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Tephrochronology of a South Pole Ice Core
|
1543454 1543361 |
2022-04-01 | Dunbar, Nelia; Iverson, Nels; Kurbatov, Andrei V. |
|
Antarctic ice core tephra records tend to be dominated by proximal volcanism and infrequently contain tephra from distal volcanoes within and off of the continent. Tephra layers in East Antarctic ice cores are largely derived from Northern Victoria Land volcanoes. For example, 43 out of 55 tephra layers in Talos Dome ice core are from local volcanoes. West Antarctic ice cores are dominated by tephra from Marie Byrd Land volcanoes. Thirty-six out of the 52 tephra layers in WAIS are from Mt. Berlin or Mt.Takahe. It would be expected that the majority of the tephra layers found in cores on and adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea should be from Sub-Antarctic islands (e.g., South Sandwich and South Shetland Islands). Unfortunately, these records are poorly characterized, making correlations to the source volcanoes very unlikely. The South Pole ice core (SPICEcore) is uniquely situated to capture the volcanic records from all of these regions of the continent, as well as sub-tropical eruptions with significant global climate signatures. Twelve visible tephra layers have been characterized in SPICEcore and represent tephra produced by volcanoes from the Sub-Antarctic Islands (6), Marie Byrd Land (5), and one from an unknown sub-tropical eruption, likely from South America. Three of these tephra layers correlate to other ice core tephra providing important “pinning points” for timescale calibrations, recently published (Winski et al, 2019). Two tephra layers from Marie Byrd Land correlate to WAIS Divide ice core tephra (15.226ka and 44.864ka), and one tephra eruptive from the South Sandwich Island can be correlated EPICA Dome C, Vostok, and RICE (3.559ka). An additional eight cryptotephra have been characterized, and one layer geochemically correlates with the 1257 C.E. eruption of Samalas volcano in Indonesia. SPICEcore does not have a tephra record dominated by one volcanic region. Instead, it contains more of the tephra layers derived from off-continent volcanic sources. The far-travelled tephra layers from non-Antarctic sources improve our understanding of tephra transport to the interior of Antarctica. The location in the middle of the continent along with the longer transport distances from the local volcanoes has allowed for a unique tephra record to be produced that begins to link more of future ice core records together. | POINT(0 -90) | POINT(0 -90) | false | false | |||||||
Weddell Gyre Mean Circulation and Eddy Statistics from Floats
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2148517 |
2022-03-25 | Hancock, Cathrine; Speer, Kevin |
|
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. | 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)) | POINT(-15 -65) | false | false | |||||||
OPP-PRF: High-resolution Nested Antarctic Ice Sheet Modeling to Reconcile Marine and Terrestrial Geologic Data
|
2138556 |
2021-11-09 | Halberstadt, Anna Ruth | No dataset link provided | This project combines numerical simulations and geologic data to explore fundamental knowledge gaps regarding the interpretation and use of marine and terrestrial datasets. This work will produce an ensemble of continent-wide coupled ice sheet and glacial isostatic adjustment simulations, constrained with comprehensive existing geologic data, to reproduce a history of deglacial Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution that is compatible with the geologic record as well as glaciologically and gravitationally self-consistent. Comparison between simulations and data is improved through high-resolution nested ice sheet modeling techniques, which provide unprecedented context for exposure age data generally located in regions of complex topography. Numerical simulations will be performed with systematically varied parameters and boundary conditions, and can thus support an investigation of (1) chronological mismatches between terrestrial thinning and marine ice sheet retreat during the mid-Holocene, and (2) how marine grounding-line dynamics are propagated upstream to coastal outlet glaciers and further interior under a variety of different scenarios. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Constraining West Antarctic Ice Sheet elevation during the last interglacial
|
1744927 1745015 1744949 |
2021-10-22 | Braddock, Scott; Campbell, Seth; Ackert, Robert; Zimmerer, Matthew; Mitrovica, Jerry |
|
Projecting future changes in West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) volume and global sea level rise in response to anthropogenic climate warming requires dynamic ice sheet models, which are enhanced by testing and calibrating with geologic evidence. Successfully modeling WAIS behavior during past collapse events provides a basis for predictions of future sea level change. Exposure ages of erratics and bedrock throughout west Antarctica constrain higher-than-present WAIS geometry during the LGM and the last deglaciation. Quantifying the past surface elevation from the interior of the ice sheet is especially useful as it directly constrains ice thickness and volume where most of the mass is located. Data that determines WAIS geometry during the last interglacial, the last time that climate was warmer than present and when global sea level was 3-6 m higher, is critical for empirically constraining changes in WAIS volume and its contribution to sea level, as well as, to calibrate ice sheet models. These datasets are essentially non- existent, as such evidence is now covered by the WAIS. Initial results from ground-penetrating radar surveys indicate ice depths around 1200 m. | POLYGON((-145 -74,-141.6 -74,-138.2 -74,-134.8 -74,-131.4 -74,-128 -74,-124.6 -74,-121.2 -74,-117.8 -74,-114.4 -74,-111 -74,-111 -74.6,-111 -75.2,-111 -75.8,-111 -76.4,-111 -77,-111 -77.6,-111 -78.2,-111 -78.8,-111 -79.4,-111 -80,-114.4 -80,-117.8 -80,-121.2 -80,-124.6 -80,-128 -80,-131.4 -80,-134.8 -80,-138.2 -80,-141.6 -80,-145 -80,-145 -79.4,-145 -78.8,-145 -78.2,-145 -77.6,-145 -77,-145 -76.4,-145 -75.8,-145 -75.2,-145 -74.6,-145 -74)) | POINT(-128 -77) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Long Term Sublimation/Preservation of Two Separate, Buried Glacier Ice Masses, Ong Valley, Southern Transantarctic Mountains
|
1445205 |
2021-07-16 | putkonen, jaakko; Balco, Gregory; Morgan, Daniel |
|
Finding the oldest ice on Earth can tell us about the climate and life forms in the distant past Recently we discovered a mile wide and hundreds of feet thick ice body in Antarctica that is buried under just a few feet of dirt. Thus far our analyses of the dirt suggest that the ice is over million years old. Generally, glacial ice contains tiny bubbles and dirt that was deposited and locked in the ice by the ancient snowfall and today still holds small samples of the atmospheric gases and everything else that was carried by the winds in the past. Such samples may include the amount of greenhouse gases, plant pollen, microbes, and mineral dust. Therefore the glaciers are like archives where we can access and study the Earth’s history with samples that are unavailable anywhere else. Ice survives poorly on Earth’s surface and therefore currently only few ice samples are known that are approximately million years old. Our site has a high potential to harbor perhaps the oldest ice on Earth. However, first we need to sample and date the ice. Our research will also help us understand how these pockets of buried ice can survive such unusually long periods of time. Such understanding will help us study the landforms and history of not only Antarctica but also the Mars where similar dirt covered glaciers are found today. We propose to collect regolith samples through the approximately 1 m thick cover and to core the buried ice in Ong Valley down to 10 m depth to determine the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations both in the regolith and in the embedded mineral matter suspended in the ice. The systematics of the target cosmogenic nuclides (10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne) such as half-lives, isotope production rates, production pathways, and related attenuation lengths allow us to uniquely determine the age of the ice and the rate the ice is sublimating. Our existing samples and analyses reveal accumulation of mineral matter at the base of surficial debris layer and the surface erosion of this debris by eolian processes. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity: Our main objective is to unequivocally determine the age and sublimation rate of two buried massive ice bodies in time scale of thousands to millions of years. The slow sublimation is a fundamentally Antarctic process, and may have altered most of the currently ice-free areas throughout the continent. Similar large, debris covered ice bodies have been recently discovered in Mars as well. Our results may transform the understanding of the longevity of the buried ice bodies and potentially reveal the oldest ice ever found in the interior of the Antarctica. If proven old and slowly sublimating, this buried ice can potentially yield direct information about the atmospheric chemistry, ancient life forms, and geology of greater antiquity than the currently available and sampled ice bodies. The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity: The results will be relevant to researchers in glaciology, paleoclimatology, planetary geology, and biology. Several students will participate in the project and do field work in Antarctica, work in lab, attend meetings, attend outreach activities, and produce videos. A graduate student will prepare his/her thesis on a topic closely related to the objectives of the proposed research. The results of the research will be published in scientific meetings and publications. | POLYGON((157.6 -83.2,157.62 -83.2,157.64 -83.2,157.66 -83.2,157.68 -83.2,157.7 -83.2,157.72 -83.2,157.74 -83.2,157.76 -83.2,157.78 -83.2,157.8 -83.2,157.8 -83.21,157.8 -83.22,157.8 -83.23,157.8 -83.24,157.8 -83.25,157.8 -83.26,157.8 -83.27,157.8 -83.28,157.8 -83.29,157.8 -83.3,157.78 -83.3,157.76 -83.3,157.74 -83.3,157.72 -83.3,157.7 -83.3,157.68 -83.3,157.66 -83.3,157.64 -83.3,157.62 -83.3,157.6 -83.3,157.6 -83.29,157.6 -83.28,157.6 -83.27,157.6 -83.26,157.6 -83.25,157.6 -83.24,157.6 -83.23,157.6 -83.22,157.6 -83.21,157.6 -83.2)) | POINT(157.7 -83.25) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: East Antarctic Glacial Landscape Evolution (EAGLE): A Study using Combined Thermochronology, Geochronology and Provenance Analysis
|
1443556 1443342 |
2021-06-09 | Thomson, Stuart; Reiners, Peter; Licht, Kathy |
|
Antarctica is almost entirely covered by ice, in places over two miles thick. This ice hides a landscape that is less well known than the surface of Mars and represents one of Earth's last unexplored frontiers. Ice-penetrating radar images provide a remote glimpse of this landscape including ice-buried mountains larger than the European Alps and huge fjords twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The goal of this project is to collect sediment samples derived from these landscapes to determine when and under what conditions these features formed. Specifically, the project seeks to understand the landscape in the context of the history and dynamics of the overlying ice sheet and past mountain-building episodes. This project accomplishes this goal by analyzing sand collected during previous sea-floor drilling expeditions off the coast of Antarctica. This sand was supplied from the continent interior by ancient rivers when it was ice-free over 34 million year ago, and later by glaciers. The project will also study bedrock samples from rare ice-free parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The primary activity is to apply multiple advanced dating techniques to single mineral grains contained within this sand and rock. Different methods and minerals yield different dates that provide insight into how Antarctica?s landscape has eroded over the many tens of millions of years during which sand was deposited offshore. The dating techniques that are being developed and enhanced for this study have broad application in many branches of geoscience research and industry. The project makes cost-effective use of pre-existing sample collections housed at NSF facilities including the US Polar Rock Repository, the Gulf Coast Core Repository, and the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility. The project will contribute to the STEM training of two graduate and two undergraduate students, and includes collaboration among four US universities as well as international collaboration between the US and France. The project also supports outreach in the form of a two-week open workshop giving ten students the opportunity to visit the University of Arizona to conduct STEM-based analytical work and training on Antarctic-based projects. Results from both the project and workshop will be disseminated through presentations at professional meetings, peer-reviewed publications, and through public outreach and media. The main objective of this project is to reconstruct a chronology of East Antarctic subglacial landscape evolution to understand the tectonic and climatic forcing behind landscape modification, and how it has influenced past ice sheet inception and dynamics. Our approach focuses on acquiring a record of the cooling and erosion history contained in East Antarctic-derived detrital mineral grains and clasts in offshore sediments deposited both before and after the onset of Antarctic glaciation. Samples will be taken from existing drill core and marine sediment core material from offshore Wilkes Land (100°E-160°E) and the Ross Sea. Multiple geo- and thermo-chronometers will be employed to reconstruct source region cooling history including U-Pb, fission-track, and (U-Th)/He dating of zircon and apatite, and 40Ar/39Ar dating of hornblende, mica, and feldspar. This offshore record will be augmented and tested by applying the same methods to onshore bedrock samples in the Transantarctic Mountains obtained from the US Polar Rock Repository and through fieldwork. The onshore work will additionally address the debated incision history of the large glacial troughs that cut the range, now occupied by glaciers draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. This includes collection of samples from several age-elevation transects, apatite 4He/3He thermochronometry, and Pecube thermo-kinematic modeling. Acquiring an extensive geo- and thermo-chronologic database will also provide valuable new information on the poorly known ice-hidden geology and tectonics of subglacial East Antarctica that has implications for improving supercontinent reconstructions and understanding continental break-up. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Dynamic Response of the Ross Ice Shelf to Wave-induced Vibrations
|
1246151 1246416 |
2021-04-15 | Bromirski, Peter; Gerstoft, Peter; Stephen, Ralph | This award supports a project intended to discover, through field observations and numerical simulations, how ocean wave-induced vibrations on ice shelves in general, and the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS), in particular, can be used (1) to infer spatial and temporal variability of ice shelf mechanical properties, (2) to infer bulk elastic properties from signal propagation characteristics, and (3) to determine whether the RIS response to infragravity (IG) wave forcing observed distant from the front propagates as stress waves from the front or is "locally" generated by IG wave energy penetrating the RIS cavity. The intellectual merit of the work is that ocean gravity waves are dynamic elements of the global ocean environment, affected by ocean warming and changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns. Their evolution may thus drive changes in ice-shelf stability by both mechanical interactions, and potentially increased basal melting, which in turn feed back on sea level rise. Gravity wave-induced signal propagation across ice shelves depends on ice shelf and sub-shelf water cavity geometry (e.g. structure, thickness, crevasse density and orientation), as well as ice shelf physical properties. Emphasis will be placed on observation and modeling of the RIS response to IG wave forcing at periods from 75 to 300 s. Because IG waves are not appreciably damped by sea ice, seasonal monitoring will give insights into the year-round RIS response to this oceanographic forcing. The 3-year project will involve a 24-month period of continuous data collection spanning two annual cycles on the RIS. RIS ice-front array coverage overlaps with a synergistic Ross Sea Mantle Structure (RSMS) study, giving an expanded array beneficial for IG wave localization. The ice-shelf deployment will consist of sixteen stations equipped with broadband seismometers and barometers. Three seismic stations near the RIS front will provide reference response/forcing functions, and measure the variability of the response across the front. A linear seismic array orthogonal to the front will consist of three stations in-line with three RSMS stations. Passive seismic array monitoring will be used to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of ocean wave-induced signal sources along the front of the RIS and estimate ice shelf structure, with the high-density array used to monitor and localize fracture (icequake) activity. The broader impacts include providing baseline measurements to enable detection of ice-shelf changes over coming decades which will help scientists and policy-makers respond to the socio-environmental challenges of climate change and sea-level rise. A postdoctoral scholar in interdisciplinary Earth science will be involved throughout the course of the research. Students at Cuyamaca Community College, San Diego County, will develop and manage a web site for the project to be used as a teaching tool for earth science and oceanography classes, with development of an associated web site on waves for middle school students. Understanding and being able to anticipate changes in the glaciological regime of the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) and West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are key to improving sea level rise projections due to ongoing ice mass loss in West Antarctica. The fate of the WAIS is a first-order climate change and global societal issue for this century and beyond that affects coastal communities and coastal infrastructure globally. Ice shelf--ocean interactions include impacts from tsunami, ocean swell (10-30s period), and very long period ocean waves that impact ice shelves and produce vibrations that induce a variety of seismic signals detected by seismometers buried in the ice shelf surface layer, called firn. To study the wave-induced vibrations in the RIS, an extensive seismic array was deployed from Nov. 2014 to Nov. 2016. This unique seismometer array deployment on an ice shelf made continuous observations of the response of the RIS to ocean wave impacts from ocean swell and very long period waves. An extensive description of the project motivation and background (including photos and videos of the deployment operations), and list of published studies of analyses of the seismic data collected by this project, are available at the project website https://iceshelfvibes.ucsd.edu. Two types of seismic signals detected by the seismic array are most prevalent: flexural gravity waves (plate waves) and icequakes (signals analogous to those from earthquakes but from fracturing of the ice). Long period ocean waves flex the ice shelf at the same period as the ocean waves, with wave energy at periods greater than ocean swell more efficient at coupling energy into flexing the ice shelf. Termed flexural gravity waves or plate waves (Chen et al., 2018), their wave-induced vibrations can reach 100’s of km from the ice edge where they are excited, with long period wave energy propagating in the water layer below the shelf coupled with the ice shelf flexure. Flexural gravity waves at very long periods (> 300 s period), such as from tsunami impacts (Bromirski et al., 2017), can readily reach grounding zones and may play a role in long-term grounding zone evolution. Swell-induced icequake activity was found to be most prevalent at the shelf front during the austral summer (January – March) when seasonal sea ice is absent and the associated damping of swell by sea ice is minimal (Chen et al., 2019). In addition to the seismic array, a 14 station GPS (global positioning system) array was installed during seismic data retrieval and station servicing operations in October-November 2015. The GPS stations, co-located with seismic stations, extended from the shelf front southward to about 415 km at interior station RS18. Due to logistical constraints associated with battery weight during installation, only one station (at DR10) operated year-round. The GPS data collected give a detailed record of changes in iceflow velocity that are in close agreement with the increasing velocity estimates approaching the shelf front from satellite observations. Importantly, the year-round data at DR10 show an unprecedented seasonal cycle of changes in iceflow velocity, with a speed-up in northward (seaward) ice flow during Jan.-May and then a velocity decrease from June-Sep. (returning to the long-term mean flow velocity). This annual ice flow velocity change cycle has been attributed in part to seasonal changes in ice shelf mass (thinning, reducing buttressing) due to melting at the RIS basal (bottom) surface from intrusion of warmer ocean water (Klein et al., 2020). | POLYGON((-180 -77,-179.5 -77,-179 -77,-178.5 -77,-178 -77,-177.5 -77,-177 -77,-176.5 -77,-176 -77,-175.5 -77,-175 -77,-175 -77.4,-175 -77.8,-175 -78.2,-175 -78.6,-175 -79,-175 -79.4,-175 -79.8,-175 -80.2,-175 -80.6,-175 -81,-175.5 -81,-176 -81,-176.5 -81,-177 -81,-177.5 -81,-178 -81,-178.5 -81,-179 -81,-179.5 -81,180 -81,179 -81,178 -81,177 -81,176 -81,175 -81,174 -81,173 -81,172 -81,171 -81,170 -81,170 -80.6,170 -80.2,170 -79.8,170 -79.4,170 -79,170 -78.6,170 -78.2,170 -77.8,170 -77.4,170 -77,171 -77,172 -77,173 -77,174 -77,175 -77,176 -77,177 -77,178 -77,179 -77,-180 -77)) | POINT(177.5 -79) | false | false | ||||||||
Collaborative Research: Antarctic Seismic Investigations of ULVZ Structure
|
1643551 |
2020-10-09 | Hansen, Samantha |
|
Non-Technical Project Description<br/><br/>This research will study Ultralow Velocity Zones (ULVZs), located in Earth's interior on top of the boundary between the Earth's solid mantle and its fluid outer core. The ULVZs are so named because seismic waves passing through the Earth slow down dramatically when they encounter these zones. While ULVZs are thought to be related to melting processes, there is growing controversy regarding their origin and the role they play in the thermal and chemical evolution of our planet. The ULVZs may include the largest magma chambers in Earth's interior. Currently, researchers have only searched 40% of Earth's core-mantle boundary for the ULVZs and this project would use existing seismic data to map an unexplored area under Antarctica and interpret the nature of the ULVZs. This project will support two graduate students and create opportunities for undergraduate involvement. Project results will be published in scientific journals, presented at science fairs, and communicated through the researchers' websites. The research team will also take part in the NSF-sponsored PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) program to communicate the science to students and the broader community. <br/><br/><br/>Technical Project Description<br/><br/>The National Research Council has highlighted high-resolution imaging of core-mantle boundary (CMB) structure as a high-priority, emerging research opportunity in the Earth Sciences since anomalies along the CMB likely play a critical role in the thermal and chemical evolution of our planet. Of particular interest are ultralow velocity zones (ULVZs), thin laterally-varying boundary layers associated with dramatic seismic velocity decreases and increases in density that are seen just above the CMB. Many questions exist regarding the origin of ULVZs, but incomplete seismic sampling of the lowermost mantle has limited our ability to map global ULVZ structure in detail. Using recently collected data from the Transantarctic Mountains Northern Network (TAMNNET) in Antarctica, this project will use core-reflected seismic phases (ScP, PcP, and ScS) to investigate ULVZ presence/absence along previously unexplored sections of the CMB. The data sampling includes the southern boundary of the Pacific Large Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP), a dominant feature in global shear wave tomography models, and will allow the researchers to examine a possible connection between ULVZs and LLSVPs. The main objectives of the project are to: 1) use TAMNNET data to document ULVZ presence/absence in previously unexplored regions of the lowermost mantle with array-based approaches; 2) model the data with 1- and 2.5-D wave propagation tools to obtain ULVZ properties and to assess trade-offs among the models; 3) use high quality events to augment the densely-spaced TAMNNET data with that from the more geographically-distributed, open-access Antarctic stations to increase CMB coverage with single-station analyses; and 4) explore the implications of ULVZ solution models for origin, present-day dynamics, and evolution, including their connection to other deep mantle structures, like LLSVPs.<br/><br/>The project aims to provide new constraints on ULVZs, including their potential connection to LLSVPs, and thus relates to other seismic and geodynamic investigations focused on processes within the Earth?s interior. This project will promote a new research collaboration between The University of Alabama (UA) and Arizona State University (ASU), each of which brings specific strengths to the initiative. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Multidisciplinary Analysis of Antarctic Blue Ice Moraine Formation and their Potential as Climate Archives over Multiple Glacial Cycles
|
1443213 1443433 |
2020-09-29 | Kaplan, Michael; Schaefer, Joerg; Winckler, Gisela; Licht, Kathy |
|
Sediments deposited by the Antarctic ice sheet are an archive of its history with time and help geologists to determine how the remote interior of the ice sheet has changed over the past several hundred thousand years. This project will focus on the formation and dynamics of moraines (accumulations of dirt and rocks that are incorporated in the glacier surface or have been pushed along by the glacier as it moves) near the blue ice area of Mt. Achernar in the central Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica.. The study will improve basic understanding of the formation of these moraines. Fieldwork at the site will focus on imaging the internal structure of the moraine to determine the processes by which it, and others like it, form over time. Additional analyses will include measurements of ice flow and collection of rock samples to determine the timing of debris deposition and the changes in the sources of sediments from deep within the Antarctic continent. The project will provide both graduate and undergraduate students training in paleoclimate studies, geology, and numerical modeling approaches. The broader impacts of the proposed work include hands on training in the Earth Sciences for graduate and undergraduate students, collaboration with colleagues in New Zealand and Sweden to provide an international research experience for students from the US, and three educational modules to be delivered by student researchers regarding Antarctica's role in global environments. The research is societally relevant and multidisciplinary and the topics are ideal for sharing with the public. All research findings will be made publicly available to others via timely publication in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and all data will be submitted to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and excess samples will be provided to the U.S. Polar Rock Repository.<br/><br/>Direct observations of ice sheet history from the margins of Antarctica's polar plateau are essential for testing numerical ice sheet models, and the laterally extensive, blue-ice moraines of the Mt. Achernar Moraine complex in the central Transantarctic Mountains contain a unique and nearly untapped direct, quasi-continuous record of ice sheet change over multiple glacial cycles. The project objectives include improved understanding of processes and rates of blue ice moraine formation, as well as identifying the topographic, glaciological, and climatic controls on their evolution. Data to be collected with fieldwork in Antarctica include: imaging of internal ice structure with ground-penetrating radar, measurement of ice flow velocity and direction with a global positioning system (GPS) array, analysis of debris concentration and composition in glacier ice, state-of-the-art cosmogenic multi-nuclide analyses to determine exposure ages of moraine debris, mapping of trimlines and provenance analysis. Numerical model simulations, constrained by field data, will be used to evaluate the factors influencing changes in glacier flow that potentially impact the accumulation of the moraine debris. All together, the new data and modeling efforts will improve conceptual models of blue ice moraine formation, and thereby make them a more valuable proxy for developing a better understanding of the history of the ice sheet. | POLYGON((159 -83.8,159.5 -83.8,160 -83.8,160.5 -83.8,161 -83.8,161.5 -83.8,162 -83.8,162.5 -83.8,163 -83.8,163.5 -83.8,164 -83.8,164 -83.87,164 -83.94,164 -84.01,164 -84.08,164 -84.15,164 -84.22,164 -84.29,164 -84.36,164 -84.43,164 -84.5,163.5 -84.5,163 -84.5,162.5 -84.5,162 -84.5,161.5 -84.5,161 -84.5,160.5 -84.5,160 -84.5,159.5 -84.5,159 -84.5,159 -84.43,159 -84.36,159 -84.29,159 -84.22,159 -84.15,159 -84.08,159 -84.01,159 -83.94,159 -83.87,159 -83.8)) | POINT(161.5 -84.15) | false | false | |||||||
Understanding the Boundary Conditions of the Lake Vostok Environment: A Site Survey for Future Work
|
9978236 |
2020-04-24 | Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S. | 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. <br/><br/>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. <br/><br/>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. <br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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. <br/><br/>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. | 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)) | POINT(105.5 -77.25) | false | false | ||||||||
Collaborative Research: Lithospheric Controls on the Behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Corridor Aerogeophysics of Eastern Ross Transect Zone
|
9319854 9319369 9319877 |
2020-04-24 | Bell, Robin; Blankenship, Donald D.; Finn, C. A. | This award supports a project to conduct an integrated geophysical survey over a large portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) toward an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the ice sheet and the nature of the lithosphere beneath the ice sheet. West Antarctica is characterized by two kinds of the Earth s most dynamic systems, a continental rift (the West Antarctic Rift System) and a marine based ice sheet (the WAIS). Active continental rift systems, caused by divergent plate motions, result in thinned continental crust. Associated with the thin crust are fault-bounded sedimentary basins, active volcanism, and elevated heat flow. Marine ice sheets are characterized by rapidly moving streams of ice, penetrating and draining a slowly moving ice reservoir. Evidence left by past marine ice sheets indicates that they may have a strongly non- linear response to long-term climate change which results in massive and rapid discharges of ice. Understanding the evolution of the ice stream system and its interaction with the interior ice is the key to understanding this non-linear response. Subglacial geology and ice dynamics are generally studied in isolation, but evidence is mounting that the behavior of the West Antarctic ice streams may be closely linked to the nature of the underlying West Antarctic rift system. The fast moving ice streams appear to glide on a lubricating layer of water-saturated till. This till requires easily eroded sediment and a source of water, both of which may be controlled by the geology of the rift system; the sediments from the fault-bounded basins and the water from the elevated heat flux associated with active lithospheric extension. This project represents an interdisciplinary aerogeophysical study to characterize the lithosphere of the West Antarctic rift system beneath critical regions of the WAIS. The objective is to determine the effects of the rift architect ure, as manifested by the distribution of sedimentary basins and volcanic constructs, on the ice stream system. The research tool is a unique geophysical aircraft with laser altimetry, ice penetrating radar, aerogravity, and aeromagnetic systems integrated with a high precision kinematic GPS navigation system. It is capable of imaging both the surface and bed of the ice sheet while simultaneously measuring the gravity and magnetic signature of the subglacial lithosphere. Work to be done under this award will build on work already completed in the southern sector of central West Antarctica and it will focus on the region of the Byrd Subglacial Basin and Ice Stream D. The ice sheet in these regions is completely covered by satellite imagery and so this project will be integrated with remote sensing studies of the ice stream. The changing dynamics of Ice Stream D, as with other West Antarctic ice streams, seem to be correlated with changes in the morphological provinces of the underlying rift system. The experimental targets proceed from the divide of the interior ice, downstream through the onset of streaming to the trunk of Ice Stream D. This study will be coordinated with surface glaciological investigations of Ice Stream D and will be used to guide cooperative over-snow seismic investigations of the central West Antarctic rift system. The data will also be used to select a site for future deep ice coring along the crest of the WAIS. These data represent baseline data for long term global change monitoring work and represent crucial boundary conditions for ice sheet modeling efforts. | POLYGON((-155 -77.5,-150 -77.5,-145 -77.5,-140 -77.5,-135 -77.5,-130 -77.5,-125 -77.5,-120 -77.5,-115 -77.5,-110 -77.5,-105 -77.5,-105 -78.2,-105 -78.9,-105 -79.6,-105 -80.3,-105 -81,-105 -81.7,-105 -82.4,-105 -83.1,-105 -83.8,-105 -84.5,-110 -84.5,-115 -84.5,-120 -84.5,-125 -84.5,-130 -84.5,-135 -84.5,-140 -84.5,-145 -84.5,-150 -84.5,-155 -84.5,-155 -83.8,-155 -83.1,-155 -82.4,-155 -81.7,-155 -81,-155 -80.3,-155 -79.6,-155 -78.9,-155 -78.2,-155 -77.5)) | POINT(-130 -81) | false | false | ||||||||
Collaborative Research: Grounding Line Dynamics: Crary Ice Rise Revisited
|
1443552 1443356 |
2019-05-06 | Conway, Howard; Koutnik, Michelle; Winberry, Paul |
|
Recent observations and model results suggest that collapse of the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica may already be underway. However, the timeline of collapse and the effects of ongoing climatic and oceanographic changes are key unanswered questions. Complete disintegration of the ice sheet would raise global sea level by more than 3 m, which would have significant societal impacts. Improved understanding of the controls on ice-sheet evolution is needed to make better predictions of ice-sheet behavior. Results from numerical models show that buttressing from surrounding ice shelves and/or from small-scale grounded ice rises should act to slow the retreat and discharge of ice from the interior ice sheet. However, there are very few field observations with which to develop and validate models. Field observations conducted in the early 1980s on Crary Ice Rise in the Ross Sea Embayment are a notable exception. This project will revisit Crary Ice Rise with new tools to make a suite of measurements designed to address questions about how the ice rise affects ice discharge from the Ross Sea sector of West Antarctica. The team will include a graduate and undergraduate student, and will participate in a range of outreach activities.<br/><br/>New tools including radar, seismic, and GPS instruments will be used to conduct targeted geophysical measurements both on Crary Ice Rise and across its grounding line. The project will use these new measurements, together with available ancillary data to inform a numerical model of grounding line dynamics. The model and measurements will be used to address the (1) How has the ice rise evolved over timescales ranging from: the past few decades; the past millennia after freeze-on; and through the deglaciation? (2) What history of ice dynamics is preserved in the radar-detected internal stratigraphy? (3) What dynamical effect does the presence/absence of the ice rise have on discharge of the Ross Ice Streams today? (4) How is it contributing to the slow-down of the proximal Whillans and Mercer ice streams? (5) What dynamical response will the ice rise have under future environmental change? | POLYGON((-175 -82.7,-173.9 -82.7,-172.8 -82.7,-171.7 -82.7,-170.6 -82.7,-169.5 -82.7,-168.4 -82.7,-167.3 -82.7,-166.2 -82.7,-165.1 -82.7,-164 -82.7,-164 -82.77,-164 -82.84,-164 -82.91,-164 -82.98,-164 -83.05,-164 -83.12,-164 -83.19,-164 -83.26,-164 -83.33,-164 -83.4,-165.1 -83.4,-166.2 -83.4,-167.3 -83.4,-168.4 -83.4,-169.5 -83.4,-170.6 -83.4,-171.7 -83.4,-172.8 -83.4,-173.9 -83.4,-175 -83.4,-175 -83.33,-175 -83.26,-175 -83.19,-175 -83.12,-175 -83.05,-175 -82.98,-175 -82.91,-175 -82.84,-175 -82.77,-175 -82.7)) | POINT(-169.5 -83.05) | false | false | |||||||
EAGER: Surface Variability and Spectral Analyses of the Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica
|
1758224 |
2019-03-14 | Salvatore, Mark |
|
Intellectual Merit:<br/>Ice free rock outcrops in the Transantarctic Mountains provide the only accessible windows into the interior of the ice covered Antarctic continent; they are extremely remote and difficult to study. This region also hosts the highest latitude ice-free valley systems on the planet. Based on two interdisciplinary workshops, the Transantarctic region near the Shackleton Glacier has been identified as a high priority site for further studies, with a field camp proposed for the 2015-2016 Antarctic field season. The geology of this region has been studied since the heroic era of Antarctic exploration, in the early 1900s, but geologic mapping has not been updated in more than forty years, and existing maps are at poor resolution (typically 1:250,000).<br/><br/>This project would utilize the WorldView-2 multispectral orbital dataset to supplement original geologic mapping efforts near the proposed 2015-2016 Shackleton Glacier camp. The WorldView-2 satellite is the only multispectral orbiting sensor capable of imaging the entirety of the Transantarctic Mountains, and all necessary data are currently available to the Polar Geospatial Center. High-latitude atmospheric correction of multispectral data for geologic investigations has only recently been tested, but has never been applied to WorldView-2 data, and never for observations of this type. Therefore, this research will require technique refinements and methodological developements to accomplish the goals. Atmospheric correction refinements and spectral validation will be made possible by laboratory spectroscopic measurements of rock samples currently stored at the U.S. Polar Rock Repository, at the Ohio State University. This project will result in spectral unit identification and boundary mapping at a factor of four higher resolution (1:62,500) than previous geologic mapping efforts, and more detailed investigations (1:5,123) are possible at resolutions more than a factor of forty-eight improved over previous geologic maps. Validated spectral mapping at these improved resolutions will allow for detailed lithologic, and potentially biologic, mapping using existing satellite imagery. This will greatly enhance planning capabilities, thus maximizing the efficiency of the scientific research and support logistics associated with the Shackleton Glacier deep field camp.<br/><br/>Broader impacts:<br/>The proposed work will have multiple impacts on the broader scientific community. First, the refinement of existing atmospheric correction methodologies, and the development of new spectral mapping techniques, may substantially improve our ability to remotely investigate geologic surfaces throughout Antarctica. The ability to validate this orbital dataset will be of use to both current and future geologic, environmental, and biologic studies, potentially across the entire continent. The project will yield a specific spectral mapping product (at a scale of 1:62,500) to the scientific community by a targeted date of 01 March 2014, in order to support proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation for the proposed 2015/2016 Shackleton Glacier camp. High-resolution spectral mapping products (up to a maximum resolution of 2 meters per pixel) will also be generated for regions of particular scientific interest. The use of community based resources, such as Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) imagery and U.S. Polar Rock Repository rock samples, will generate new synergistic and collaborative research possibilities within the Antarctic research community. In addition, the lead PI (Salvatore) is an early career scientist who is active in both Antarctic and planetary remote sensing. There are overlaps in the calibration, correction, and validation of remote spectral datasets for Antarctic and planetary applications which can lead to benefits and insights to an early career PI, as well as the two communities. | POLYGON((-180 -83,-178 -83,-176 -83,-174 -83,-172 -83,-170 -83,-168 -83,-166 -83,-164 -83,-162 -83,-160 -83,-160 -83.4,-160 -83.8,-160 -84.2,-160 -84.6,-160 -85,-160 -85.4,-160 -85.8,-160 -86.2,-160 -86.6,-160 -87,-162 -87,-164 -87,-166 -87,-168 -87,-170 -87,-172 -87,-174 -87,-176 -87,-178 -87,180 -87,178 -87,176 -87,174 -87,172 -87,170 -87,168 -87,166 -87,164 -87,162 -87,160 -87,160 -86.6,160 -86.2,160 -85.8,160 -85.4,160 -85,160 -84.6,160 -84.2,160 -83.8,160 -83.4,160 -83,162 -83,164 -83,166 -83,168 -83,170 -83,172 -83,174 -83,176 -83,178 -83,-180 -83)) | POINT(180 -85) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Integrative Study of Marine Ice Sheet Stability & Subglacial Life Habitats in W Antarctica - Lake & Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (LISSARD)
|
0838947 0839142 0839107 0838764 0838855 0839059 0838763 |
2018-09-10 | Tulaczyk, Slawek; Fisher, Andrew; Powell, Ross; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Jacobel, Robert; Scherer, Reed Paul | This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The LISSARD project (Lake and Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) is one of three research components of the WISSARD integrative initiative (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF's Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. The LISSARD component of WISSARD focuses on the role of active subglacial lakes in determining how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet loses mass to the global ocean and influences global sea level changes. The importance of Antarctic subglacial lakes has only been recently recognized, and the lakes have been identified as high priority targets for scientific investigations because of their unknown contributions to ice sheet stability under future global warming scenarios. LISSARD has several primary science goals: A) To provide an observational basis for improving treatments of subglacial hydrological and mechanical processes in models of ice sheet mass balance and stability; B) To reconstruct the past history of ice stream stability by analyzing archives of past basal water and ice flow variability contained in subglacial sediments, porewater, lake water, and basal accreted ice; C) To provide background understanding of subglacial lake environments to benefit RAGES and GBASE (the other two components of the WISSARD project); and D) To synthesize data and concepts developed as part of this project to determine whether subglacial lakes play an important role in (de)stabilizing Antarctic ice sheets. We propose an unprecedented synthesis of approaches to studying ice sheet processes, including: (1) satellite remote sensing, (2) surface geophysics, (3) borehole observations and measurements and, (4) basal and subglacial sampling. <br/><br/>INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. <br/><br/>BROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars. | None | None | false | false | ||||||||
Collaborative Research: East Antarctic Outlet Glacier Dynamics
|
1141866 1141889 |
2018-09-09 | Conway, Howard; Winberry, Paul |
|
Conway/1141866<br/><br/>This award supports a project to conduct a suite of experiments to study spatial and temporal variations of basal conditions beneath Beardmore Glacier, an East Antarctic outlet glacier that discharges into the Ross Sea Embayment. The intellectual merit of the project is that it should help verify whether or not global warming will play a much larger role in the future mass balance of ice sheets than previously considered. Recent observations of rapid changes in discharge of fast-flowing outlet glaciers and ice streams suggest that dynamical responses to warming could affect that ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Assessment of possible consequences of these responses is hampered by the lack of information about the basal boundary conditions. The leading hypothesis is that variations in basal conditions exert strong control on the discharge of outlet glaciers. Airborne and surface-based radar measurements of Beardmore Glacier will be made to map the ice thickness and geometry of the sub-glacial trough and active and passive seismic experiments, together with ground-based radar and GPS measurements will be made to map spatial and temporal variations of conditions at the ice-bed interface. The observational data will be used to constrain dynamic models of glacier flow. The models will be used to address the primary controls on the dynamics of Antarctic outlet glaciers, the conditions at the bed, their spatial and temporal variation, and how such variability might affect the sliding and flow of these glaciers. The work will also explore whether or not these outlet glaciers could draw down the interior of East Antarctica, and if so, how fast. The study will take three years including two field seasons to complete and results from the work will be disseminated through public and professional meetings and journal publications. All data and metadata will be made available through the NSIDC web portal. The broader impacts of the work are that it will help elucidate the fundamental physics of outlet glacier dynamics which is needed to improve predictions of the response of ice sheets to changing environmental conditions. The project will also provide support for early career investigators and will provide training and support for one graduate and two undergraduate students. All collaborators are currently involved in scientific outreach and graduate student education and they are committed to fostering diversity. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Impact of Supraglacial Lakes on Ice-Shelf Stability
|
1443126 |
2018-07-24 | MacAyeal, Douglas | Meltwater lakes that sit on top of Antarctica's floating ice shelves have likely contributed to the dramatic changes seen in Antarctica's glacial ice cover over the past two decades. In 2002, the 1,600-square-kilometer Larsen B Ice Shelf located on the Eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, for example, broke into thousands of small icebergs, which subsequently floated away as a result of the formation of more than 2,000 meltwater lakes on its surface over the prior decade. Our research project addresses the reasons why surface lakes form on Antarctic ice shelves and how these surface lakes subsequently contribute to the forces that may contribute to ice-shelf breakup like that of the Larsen B. Our project focuses primarily on making precise global positioning system (GPS) measurements of ice-shelf bending in response to the filling and draining of a surface lake on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. The observed vertical displacements (on the order of tens of centimeters) in response to lake filling will be used to calibrate and test computer simulation models that predict the response of ice shelves to surface lakes more generally and in a variety of future climate conditions. Our project will make hourly measurements of both vertical ice-shelf movements (using GPS surveying instruments) and of temperature and sunlight conditions (that drive melting) around a surface lake located close to the McMurdo Station airfield. Following this initial data-gathering effort, computer simulations and other more theoretical analysis will be undertaken to determine the suitability of the chosen McMurdo Ice Shelf surface lake as a field-laboratory for continued study. Ultimately, the research will contribute to understanding of the glaciological processes that link climate change to rising sea level. A successful outcome of the research will allow glaciologists to better assess the processes that promote or erode the influence Antarctic ice shelves have in controlling the transfer of ice from the interior of Antarctica into the ocean. The project will undertake two outreach activities: (1) web-posting of a field-activity journal and (2) establishing an open-access glaciological teaching and outreach web-sharing site for the International Glaciological Society.<br/><br/>The proposed project seeks to experimentally verify a theory of ice-shelf instability proposed to explain the explosive break-up of Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002. This theory holds that the filling and draining of supraglacial lakes on floating ice shelves induces sufficient flexure stress within the ice to (a) induce upward/downward propagating fractures originating at the base/surface of the ice shelf that (b) dissect the ice shelf into fragments that tend to have widths less than about half the ice thickness. The significance of narrow widths is that they promote capsize of the ice-shelf fragments during the break-up process. This capsize releases large amounts of gravitational potential energy (comparable to thousands of kilotons of TNT for the Larsen B Ice Shelf) thereby promoting explosiveness of the Larsen B event. The observational motivation for experimentally verifying the surface-lake mechanism for ice-shelf breakup is based on the fact that >2,000 surface lakes developed on the Larsen B Ice Shelf in the decade prior to its break up, and that these lakes were observed (via satellite imagery) to drain in a coordinated fashion during the day prior to the initiation of the break up.<br/><br/>The field-observation component of the project will focus on a supraglacial lake on the McMurdo Ice Shelf where there is persistent summer season surface melting. The lake will be studied during a single provisional field season to determine whether grooming of surrounding surface streams and shorelines with heavy construction equipment will allow surface water to be manually encouraged to fill the lake. If successfully encouraged to develop, the McMurdo Ice Shelf surface lake will allow measurements of key ice-shelf flexure and stress variables needed to develop the theory of ice-shelf surface lakes without having to access the much more logistically demanding surface lakes of ice-shelves located elsewhere in Antarctica. Data to be gathered during the 6-week provisional field season include: energy- and water-balance parameters determining how the surface lake grows and fills, and various global positioning system measurements of the vertical bending of the ice sheet in response to the changing meltwater load contained within the surface lake. These data will be used to (1) constrain a computer model of viscoelastic flexure and possible fracture of the ice shelf in response to the increasing load of meltwater in the lake, and (2) determine whether continued study of the incipient surface-meltwater lake features on the McMurdo Ice Shelf provides a promising avenue for constraining the more-general behavior of surface meltwater lakes on other ice shelves located in warmer parts of Antarctica. Computer models constrained by the observational data obtained from the field project will inform energy- and water-balance models of ice shelves in general, and allow more accurate forecasts of changing ice-shelf conditions surrounding the inland ice of Antarctica. The project will create the first-ever ground-based observations useful for spawning the development of models capable of predicting viscoelastic and fracture behavior of ice shelves in response to supraglacial lake evolution, including slow changes due to energy balance effects, as well as fast changes due to filling and draining. | POLYGON((166.1631 -77.9007,166.19736 -77.9007,166.23162 -77.9007,166.26588 -77.9007,166.30014 -77.9007,166.3344 -77.9007,166.36866 -77.9007,166.40292 -77.9007,166.43718 -77.9007,166.47144 -77.9007,166.5057 -77.9007,166.5057 -77.90423,166.5057 -77.90776,166.5057 -77.91129,166.5057 -77.91482,166.5057 -77.91835,166.5057 -77.92188,166.5057 -77.92541,166.5057 -77.92894,166.5057 -77.93247,166.5057 -77.936,166.47144 -77.936,166.43718 -77.936,166.40292 -77.936,166.36866 -77.936,166.3344 -77.936,166.30014 -77.936,166.26588 -77.936,166.23162 -77.936,166.19736 -77.936,166.1631 -77.936,166.1631 -77.93247,166.1631 -77.92894,166.1631 -77.92541,166.1631 -77.92188,166.1631 -77.91835,166.1631 -77.91482,166.1631 -77.91129,166.1631 -77.90776,166.1631 -77.90423,166.1631 -77.9007)) | POINT(166.3344 -77.91835) | false | false | ||||||||
East Antarctic Grounding Line Experiment (EAGLE)
|
1543452 |
2017-12-05 | Young, Duncan A.; Grima, Cyril; Blankenship, Donald D. | Previous studies of the Indo-Pacific region of Antarctica show that the margin of the ice sheet in this region has advanced and retreated into deep interior basins many times in the past. The apparent instability of this region makes it an important target for study in terms of understanding the future of the East Antarctic ice sheet and sea level rise. This project will study a number of processes that control the ice-shelf stability of this region, with the aim of improving projections of the rate and magnitude of future sea-level rise. This project will engage a range of students and train this next generation of scientists in the complex, interdisciplinary issue of ice-ocean interaction. The project will integrate geophysical data collected from aircraft over three critical sections of the East Antarctic grounding line (Totten Glacier, Denman Glacier, and Cook Ice Shelf) with an advanced ocean model. Using Australian and French assets, the team will collect new data around Denman Glacier and Cook Ice Shelf whereas analysis of Totten Glacier will be based on existing data. The project will assess three hypotheses to isolate the processes that drive the differences in observed grounding line thinning among these three glaciers: 1. bathymetry and large-scale ocean forcing control cavity circulation; 2. ice-shelf draft and basal morphology control cavity circulation; 3. subglacial freshwater input across the grounding line controls cavity circulation. The key outcomes of this new project will be to: 1. evaluate of ice-ocean coupling in areas of significant potential sea-level contribution; 2. relate volume changes of grounded and floating ice to regional oceanic heat transport and sub-ice shelf ocean dynamics in areas of significant potential sea-level and meridional overturning circulation impacts; and 3. improve boundary conditions to evaluate mass, heat, and freshwater budgets of East Antarctica's continental margins. | POLYGON((90 -64,97 -64,104 -64,111 -64,118 -64,125 -64,132 -64,139 -64,146 -64,153 -64,160 -64,160 -64.6,160 -65.2,160 -65.8,160 -66.4,160 -67,160 -67.6,160 -68.2,160 -68.8,160 -69.4,160 -70,153 -70,146 -70,139 -70,132 -70,125 -70,118 -70,111 -70,104 -70,97 -70,90 -70,90 -69.4,90 -68.8,90 -68.2,90 -67.6,90 -67,90 -66.4,90 -65.8,90 -65.2,90 -64.6,90 -64)) | POINT(125 -67) | false | false | ||||||||
Origin and Climatic Significance of Rock Glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Assessing Spatial and Temporal Variability
|
1341284 |
2017-10-09 | Swanger, Kate | No dataset link provided | Paragraph for Laypersons:<br/>This research focuses on the history of rock glaciers and buried glacial ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Rock glaciers are flowing mixtures of ice and sediments common throughout alpine and high-latitude regions on Earth and Mars. Despite similar appearances, rock glaciers can form under highly variable environmental and hydrological conditions. The main research questions addressed here are: 1) what environmental and climatological conditions foster long-term preservation of rock glaciers in Antarctica, 2) what role do rock glaciers play in Antarctic landscape evolution and the local water cycle, and 3) what can rock glaciers reveal about the extent and timing of previous glacial advances? The project will involve two Antarctic field seasons to image the interior of Antarctic rock glaciers using ground-penetrating radar, to gather ice cores for chemical analyses, and to gather surface sediments for dating. The Dry Valleys host the world?s southernmost terrestrial ecosystem (soil, stream and lake micro-organisms and mosses); rock glaciers and ground-ice are an important and poorly-studied source of meltwater and nutrients for these ecosystems. This research will shed light on the glacial and hydrological history of the Dry Valleys region and the general environmental conditions the foster rock glaciers, features that generally occur in warmer and/or wetter locations. The research will provide support for five graduate/undergraduate students, who will actively gather data in the field, followed by interpretation, dissemination and presentation of the data. Additionally, the researchers will participate in a range of educational activities including outreach with local K-12 in the Lowell, MA region, such as summer workshops and classroom visits with hands-on activities. A series of time-lapse images of hydrological processes, and videos of researchers in the field, will serve as a dramatic centerpiece in community and school presentations.<br/><br/>Paragraph for Scientific Community:<br/>Rock glaciers are common in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, but are concentrated in a few isolated regions: western Taylor Valley, western Wright Valley, Pearse Valley and Bull Pass. The investigators hypothesize that the origin and age of these features varies by region: that rock glaciers in Pearse and Taylor valley originated as buried glacier ice, whereas rock glaciers in Wright Valley formed through permafrost processes, such as mobilization of ice-rich talus. To address these hypotheses, the project will: 1) develop relative and absolute chronologies for the rock glaciers through field mapping and optically stimulated luminescence dating of overlying sediments, 2) assess the origin of clean-ice cores through stable isotopic analyses, and 3) determine if present-day soil-moisture and temperature conditions are conducive to rock glacier formation/preservation. The proposed research will provide insight into the spatial and temporal distribution of buried glacier ice and melt-water-derived ground ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with implications for glacial history, as well as the potential role of rock glaciers in the regional hydrologic cycle (and the role of ground-ice as a source for moisture and nutrient for local ecosystems). The project will provide general constraints on the climatic and hydrologic conditions that foster permafrost rock glaciers, features that generally occur under warmer and wetter conditions than those found in the present-day McMurdo Dry Valleys. The application of OSL and cosmogenic exposure<br/>dating is novel to rock glaciers, geomorphic features that have proven difficult to date, despite their ubiquity in Antarctica and their potential scientific importance. The research will provide support for five graduate/undergraduate students, who will participate in the field work, followed by interpretation, dissemination and presentation of the data. The researchers will participate in a range of educational activities including outreach with local K-12 in the Lowell, MA region, such as summer workshops and classroom visits with hands-on activities. | POLYGON((161 -77.5,161.2 -77.5,161.4 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.8 -77.5,162 -77.5,162.2 -77.5,162.4 -77.5,162.6 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,163 -77.5,163 -77.525,163 -77.55,163 -77.575,163 -77.6,163 -77.625,163 -77.65,163 -77.675,163 -77.7,163 -77.725,163 -77.75,162.8 -77.75,162.6 -77.75,162.4 -77.75,162.2 -77.75,162 -77.75,161.8 -77.75,161.6 -77.75,161.4 -77.75,161.2 -77.75,161 -77.75,161 -77.725,161 -77.7,161 -77.675,161 -77.65,161 -77.625,161 -77.6,161 -77.575,161 -77.55,161 -77.525,161 -77.5)) | POINT(162 -77.625) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: IPY: POLENET-Antarctica: Investigating Links Between Geodynamics and Ice Sheets
|
0632136 0632322 |
2015-01-22 | Wilson, Terry; Bevis, Michael; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Wiens, Douglas; Aster, Richard; Smalley, Robert; Nyblade, Andrew; Winberry, Paul; Hothem, Larry; Dalziel, Ian W.; Huerta, Audrey D. |
|
This project constructs POLENET a network of GPS and seismic stations in West Antarctica to understand how the mass of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) changes with time. The information is ultimately used to predict sea level rise accompanying global warming and interpret climate change records. The GPS (global positioning system) stations measure vertical and horizontal movements of bedrock, while the seismic stations characterize physical properties of the ice/rock interface, lithosphere, and mantle. Combined with satellite data, this project offers a more complete picture of the ice sheet's current state, its likely change in the near future, and its overall size during the last glacial maximum. This data will also be used to infer sub-ice sheet geology and the terrestrial heat flux, critical inputs to models of glacier movement. As well, this project improves tomographic models of the earth's deep interior and core through its location in the Earth's poorly instrumented southern hemisphere. <br/><br/><br/><br/>Broader impacts of this project are varied. The work is relevant to society for improving our understanding of the impacts of global warming on sea level rise. It also supports education at the postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate levels, and outreach to groups underrepresented in the sciences. As an International Polar Year contribution, this project establishes a legacy of infrastructure for polar measurements. It also involves an international collaboration of twenty four countries. For more information see IPY Project #185 at IPY.org. NSF is supporting a complementary Arctic POLENET array being constructed in Greenland under NSF Award #0632320. | POLYGON((-20 -70,-1 -70,18 -70,37 -70,56 -70,75 -70,94 -70,113 -70,132 -70,151 -70,170 -70,170 -72,170 -74,170 -76,170 -78,170 -80,170 -82,170 -84,170 -86,170 -88,170 -90,151 -90,132 -90,113 -90,94 -90,75 -90,56 -90,37 -90,18 -90,-1 -90,-20 -90,-20 -88,-20 -86,-20 -84,-20 -82,-20 -80,-20 -78,-20 -76,-20 -74,-20 -72,-20 -70)) | POINT(75 -80) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative research: acoustic logging of the WAIS Divide borehole
|
0944199 |
2014-09-03 | Matsuoka, Kenichi; Kluskiewicz, Dan; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; McCarthy, Michael; Waddington, Edwin D. |
|
0944199/Matsuoka<br/><br/>This award supports a project to test the hypothesis that abrupt changes in fabric exist and are associated with both climate transitions and volcanic eruptions. It requires depth-continuous measurements of the fabric. By lowering a new logging tool into the WAIS Divide borehole after the completion of the core drilling, this project will measure acoustic-wave speeds as a function of depth and interpret it in terms of ice fabrics. This interpretation will be guided by ice-core-measured fabrics at sparse depths. This project will apply established analytical techniques for the ice-sheet logging and estimate depth profiles of both compressional- and shear-wave speeds at short intervals (~ 1 m). Previous logging projects measured only compressional-wave speeds averaged over typically 5-7 m intervals. Thus the new logger will enable more precise fabric interpretations. Fabric measurements using thin sections have revealed distinct fabric patterns separated by less than several meters; fabric measurements over a shorter period are crucial. At the WAIS Divide borehole, six two-way logging runs will be made with different observational parameters so that multiple wave-propagation modes will be identified, yielding estimates of both compressional- and shear-wave speeds. Each run takes approximately 24 hours to complete; we propose to occupy the boreholes in total eight days. The logging at WAIS Divide is temporarily planned in December 2011, but the timing is not critical. This project?s scope is limited to the completion of the logging and fabric interpretations. Results will be immediately shared with other WAIS Divide researchers. Direct benefits of this data sharing include guiding further thin-section analysis of the fabric, deriving a precise thinning function that retrieves more accurate accumulation history and depth-age scales. The PIs of this project have conducted radar and seismic surveys in this area and this project will provide a ground truth for these regional remote-sensing assessments of the ice interior. In turn, these remote sensing means can extend the results from the borehole to larger parts of the central West Antarctica. This project supports education for two graduate students for geophysics, glaciology, paleoclimate, and polar logistics. The instrument that will be acquired in this project can be used at other boreholes for ice-fabric characterizations and for englacial hydrology (wetness of temperate ice). | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Subglacial Lakes and the Onset of Ice Streaming: Recovery Lakes
|
0636883 |
2013-04-02 | Bell, Robin; Studinger, Michael S. |
|
Bell/0636883<br/><br/>This award support a project to study the role that subglacial water plays in the overall stability of major ice sheets. An estimated 22,000 km3 of water is currently stored within Antarctica's subglacial lakes. Movement of this water occurs through a complex and largely inferred drainage system in both East and West Antarctica. Geomorphic evidence for the catastrophic drainage of subglacial lakes documents repeated events. These major flood events appear to have drained the largest subglacial lakes situated in the relatively stable interior of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Emerging evidence suggests there is a close connection between significant subglacial lakes and the onset of the Recovery Ice Stream one of the largest in East Antarctica. Our preliminary analysis of the Recovery Lakes region, East Antarctica suggests a direct linkage between lakes and streaming ice flow, specifically the 800 km long Recovery Ice Stream and its tributaries. Located just upslope of the Recovery Ice Stream, the Recovery Lakes Region is composed of 3 well-defined lakes and a fourth, ambiguous, 'lake-like' feature. While other large lakes have a localized impact on ice surface slope, the Recovery Lakes Region lakes are coincident with an abrupt regional change in the ice sheet surface slope. Satellite imagery demonstrates that the downslope margin of this lake area contains distinct flow strips and crevasses: both indicative of increasing ice velocities. The discovery of a series of large lakes coincident with the onset of rapid ice flow in East Antarctica clearly links subglacial lakes and ice sheet dynamics for the first time. The evidence linking the onset of streaming in the Recovery Drainage Ice Stream to the series of large subglacial lakes raises the fundamental question: How can subglacial lakes trigger the onset of ice streaming? We advance two possible mechanisms: (i) Subglacial lakes can produce accelerated ice flow through the drainage of lake water beneath the ice sheet downslope of the lakes. (ii) Subglacial lakes can produce accelerated ice flow accelerated ice flow by modifying the basal thermal gradient via basal accretion over the lakes so when the ice sheet regrounds basal melting dominates. To evaluate the contribution of lake water and the changing basal thermal gradient, we propose an integrated program incorporating satellite imagery analysis, a series of reconnaissance aerogeophysical profiles over the Recovery Lake Region and the installation of continuous GPS sites over the Recovery Lakes. This analysis and new data will enable us (1) to produce a velocity field over the Recovery Lakes Region, (2) to map the ice thickness changes over the lakes due to acceleration triggered thinning, basal melting and freezing, (3) determine the depth and possible the tectonic origin of the Recovery Lakes and (4) determine the stability of these lakes over time. These basic data sets will enable us to advance our understanding of how subglacial lakes trigger the onset of streaming. The intellectual merit of this project is that it will be the first systematic analysis of ice streams triggering the onset of ice streams. This work has profound implications for the modeling of ice sheet behavior in the future, the geologic record of abrupt climate changes and the longevity of subglacial lakes. The broader impacts of the project are programs that will reach students of all ages through undergraduates involved in the research, formal presentations in teacher education programs and ongoing public outreach efforts at major science museums. Subglacial Antarctic lake environments are emerging as a premier, major frontier for exploration during the IPY 2007-2009. | POLYGON((20 -75,23 -75,26 -75,29 -75,32 -75,35 -75,38 -75,41 -75,44 -75,47 -75,50 -75,50 -76.5,50 -78,50 -79.5,50 -81,50 -82.5,50 -84,50 -85.5,50 -87,50 -88.5,50 -90,47 -90,44 -90,41 -90,38 -90,35 -90,32 -90,29 -90,26 -90,23 -90,20 -90,20 -88.5,20 -87,20 -85.5,20 -84,20 -82.5,20 -81,20 -79.5,20 -78,20 -76.5,20 -75)) | POINT(35 -82.5) | false | false | |||||||
Quantifying the Role of Short-Period Gravity Waves on the Antarctic Mesospheric Dynamics Using an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper
|
0542164 |
2011-10-21 | Taylor, Michael |
|
A focused plan is presented to investigate the role and importance of short period (<1 hour) gravity waves on the dynamics of the Antarctic Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region (~80-100 km). Excited primarily by deep convection, frontal activity, topography, and strong wind shears in the lower atmosphere, these waves transport energy and momentum upwards where they have a profound influence on the MLT dynamics. Most of the wave forcing is expected to occur at mid-and low-latitudes where such sources predominate. However, short-period waves (exhibiting similar characteristics to mid-latitude events) have now been detected in copious quantities from research sites on the Antarctic Peninsula and the coastal regions exhibiting strong anisotropy in their dominant horizontal motions (and hence their momentum fluxes). Radiosonde measurements have established the existence of ubiquitous gravity wave activity at South Pole but, to date, there have been no detailed measurements of the properties of short-period waves at MLT heights deep in the Antarctic interior. In particular, the South Pole Station is uniquely situated to investigate the filtering and penetration of these waves into the MLT region, a substantial fraction of which may be ducted waves traveling over vast geographic distances (several thousand km). Novel image measurements at South Pole Station combined with existing measurement programs will provide an unprecedented capability for quantifying the role of these gravity waves on the regional MLT dynamics over central Antarctica. This research also contributes to the training and education of both the graduate and undergraduate students. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Glacial History of the Amundsen Sea Shelf
|
9814692 |
2010-05-04 | Kellogg, Thomas; Jacobs, Stanley |
|
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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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. | 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)) | POINT(0.000010000000003 -68.612155) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Plankton Community Structure and Iron Distribution in the Southern Drake Passage and Scotia Sea
|
0444134 |
2010-05-04 | Mitchell, B. |
|
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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: A GPS Network to Determine Crustal Motions in the Bedrock of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Phase I - Installation
|
0003619 |
2010-05-04 | Dalziel, Ian W. |
|
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a collaborative research program to initiate a Global Positioning System (GPS) network to measure crustal motions in the bedrock surrounding and underlying the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Evaluation of the role of both tectonic and ice-induced crustal motions of the WAIS bedrock is a critical goal for understanding past, present, and future dynamics of WAIS and its potential role in future global change scenarios, as well as improving our understanding of the role of Antarctica in global plate motions. The extent of active tectonism in West Antarctica is largely speculative, as few data exist that constrain its geographic distribution, directions, or rates of deformation. Active tectonism and the influence of bedrock on the WAIS have been highlighted recently by geophysical data indicating active subglacial volcanism and control of ice streaming by the presence of sedimentary basins. The influence of bedrock crustal motion on the WAIS and its future dynamics is a fundamental issue. Existing GPS projects are located only on the fringe of the ice sheet and do not address the regional picture. It is important that baseline GPS measurements on the bedrock around and within the WAIS be started so that a basis is established for detecting change.<br/><br/>To measure crustal motions, this project will build a West Antarctica GPS Network (WAGN) of at least 15 GPS sites across the interior of West Antarctica (approximately the size of the contiguous United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast) over a two-year period beginning in the Antarctic field season 2001-2002. The planned network is designed using the Multi-modal Occupation Strategy (MOST), in which a small number of independent GPS "roving" receivers make differential measurements against a network of continuous GPS stations for comparatively short periods at each site. This experimental strategy, successfully implemented by a number of projects in California, S America, the SW Pacific and Central Asia, minimizes logistical requirements, an essential element of application of GPS geodesy in the scattered and remote outcrops of the WAIS bedrock.<br/><br/>The WAGN program will be integrated with the GPS network that has been established linking the Antarctic Peninsula with South America through the Scotia arc (Scotia Arc GPS Project (SCARP)). It will also interface with stations currently measuring motion across the Ross Embayment, and with the continent-wide GIANT program of the Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information Systems of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The GPS network will be based on permanent monuments set in solid rock outcrops that will have near-zero set-up error for roving GPS occupations, and that can be directly converted to a continuous GPS site when future technology makes autonomous operation and satellite data linkage throughout West Antarctica both reliable and economical. The planned network both depends on and complements the existing and planned continuous networks. It is presently not practical, for reasons of cost and logistics, to accomplish the measurements proposed herein with either a network of continuous stations or traditional campaigns.<br/><br/>The proposed WAGN will complement existing GPS projects by filling a major gap in coverage among several discrete crustal blocks that make up West Antarctica, a critical area of potential bedrock movements. If crustal motions are relatively slow, meaningful results will only begin to emerge within the five-year maximum period of time for an individual funded project. Hence this proposal is only to initiate the network and test precision and velocities at the most critical sites. Once built, however, the network will yield increasingly meaningful results with the passage of time. Indeed, the slower the rates turn out to be, the more important an early start to measuring. It is anticipated that the results of this project will initiate an iterative process that will gradually resolve into an understanding of the contributions from plate rotations and viscoelastic and elastic motions resulting from deglaciation and ice mass changes. Velocities obtained from initial reoccupation of the most critical sites will dictate the timing of a follow-up proposal for reoccupation of the entire network when detectable motions have occurred. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Tomographic Imaging of the Velocity and Magnetic Fields in the Sun's Atmosphere
|
0632399 |
2010-03-10 | Jefferies, Stuart M. |
|
The proposal is to develop an instrument that can simultaneously measure the sound speed and magnetic fields at three heights in the solar atmosphere. The instrument will use magneto-optical filters tuned to the solar absorption lines at 422 nm (Ca I), 589 nm (Na D2), and 770 nm (K) to make measurements of Doppler velocities and longitudinal magnetic field. These lines form in the mid- and low-chromosphere and photosphere, respectively. In addition, the instrument will also use a Fabry-Perot etalon as a narrowband filter to measure the intensity variations of the 1083 nm (He I) line that is formed high in the chromosphere and which shows the location of the "foot points" of coronal holes. Together, the four lines will allow studying wave motions throughout the solar atmosphere. The instrument will record images of the Sun every 10 seconds with a spatial resolution of 1 arc-second. Thus, the project will be fostering the development of existing magneto-optical filter technology to a new level. Upon construction, the telescope will be tested at South Pole for a long period of uninterrupted observations. Both the local and global helioseismic analysis procedures will be utilized to identify and to characterize different types of waves present in the solar atmosphere. These observations will allow determining the structure and dynamics of the Sun's atmosphere through seismic measurements and, thus, improve the atmosphere models, assess the role of waves in heating the chromosphere/corona and driving the solar wind, and better understand how the Sun's atmosphere couples to the interior. The broader impact of the proposed project is two fold. First, there is a potential benefit to the science and to the society because it is believed that the solar atmosphere is a "home" to many phenomena that can have a direct effect on the solar activity, including flares, coronal mass ejections, and the solar wind. Understanding the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere will therefore lead to a better understanding of the Sun-Earth connection. The collected data will be made available to other researchers at DVDs. The broader audience of general public will be reached through presentations at high schools, libraries, and community events, and news articles in the general press. Most of the research materials will also be placed in the Web. | 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)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Transantarctic Mountains Deformation Network: GPS Measurements of Neotectonic Motion in the Antarctic Interior
|
0230285 |
2009-12-12 | Wilson, Terry | No dataset link provided | OPP-0230285/OPP-0230356<br/>PIs: Wilson, Terry J./Hothem, Larry D.<br/><br/>This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to conduct GPS measurements of bedrock crustal motions in an extended Transantarctic Mountains Deformation network (TAMDEF) to document neotectonic displacements due to tectonic deformation within the West Antarctic rift and/or to mass change of the Antarctic ice sheets. Horizontal displacements related to active neotectonic rifting, strike-slip translations, and volcanism will be tightly constrained by monitoring the combined TAMDEF and Italian VLNDEF networks of bedrock GPS stations along the Transantarctic Mountains and on offshore islands in the Ross Sea. Glacio-isostatic adjustments due to deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum and to modern mass change of the ice sheets will be modeled from GPS-derived crustal motions together with new information from other programs on the configurations, thicknesses, deglaciation history and modern mass balance of the ice sheets. Tectonic and rheological information from ongoing structural and seismic investigations in the Victoria Land region will also be integrated in the modeling. The integrative and iterative modeling will yield a holistic interpretation of neotectonics and ice sheet history that will help us to discriminate tectonic crustal displacements from viscoelastic/elastic glacio-isostatic motions. These results will provide key information to interpret broad, continental-scale crustal motion patterns detected by sparse, regionally distributed GPS continuous trackers and by spaceborne instruments. This study will contribute to international programs focused on Antarctic neotectonic and global change issues.<br/><br/>Strategies to meet these science objectives include repeat surveys of key sites in the existing TAMDEF network, extension of the array of TAMDEF sites southward about 250 km along the Transantarctic Mountains, linked measurements with the VLNDEF network, and integration of quasi-continuous trackers within the campaign network. By extending the array of bedrock sites southward, these measurements will cross gradients in predicted vertical motion due to viscoelastic rebound. The southward extension will also allow determination of the southern limit of the active Terror Rift and will provide a better baseline for constraints on any ongoing tectonic displacements across the West Antarctic rift system as a whole that might be possible using GPS data collected by the West Antarctic GPS Network. This project will also investigate unique aspects of GPS geodesy in Antarctica to determine how the error spectrum compares to mid-latitude regions and to identify the optimum measurement and data processing schemes for Antarctic conditions. The geodetic research will improve position accuracies within our network and will also yield general recommendations for deformation monitoring networks in polar regions.<br/><br/>An education and outreach program is planned and will be targeted at non-science-major undergraduate students taking Earth System Science at Ohio State University. The objective will be to illuminate the research process for nonscientists. This effort will educate students on the process of science and inform them about Antarctica and how it relates to global science issues. | POLYGON((152.833 -75.317,154.4897 -75.317,156.1464 -75.317,157.8031 -75.317,159.4598 -75.317,161.1165 -75.317,162.7732 -75.317,164.4299 -75.317,166.0866 -75.317,167.7433 -75.317,169.4 -75.317,169.4 -75.9186,169.4 -76.5202,169.4 -77.1218,169.4 -77.7234,169.4 -78.325,169.4 -78.9266,169.4 -79.5282,169.4 -80.1298,169.4 -80.7314,169.4 -81.333,167.7433 -81.333,166.0866 -81.333,164.4299 -81.333,162.7732 -81.333,161.1165 -81.333,159.4598 -81.333,157.8031 -81.333,156.1464 -81.333,154.4897 -81.333,152.833 -81.333,152.833 -80.7314,152.833 -80.1298,152.833 -79.5282,152.833 -78.9266,152.833 -78.325,152.833 -77.7234,152.833 -77.1218,152.833 -76.5202,152.833 -75.9186,152.833 -75.317)) | POINT(161.1165 -78.325) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic Fauna, Environment, Climate and Basinal History: Beardmore Glacier Area, Transantarctic Mountains
|
0126146 |
2007-06-20 | Miller, Molly | No dataset link provided | This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, provides funds for a study to investigate paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic in central interior Antarctica. The 4 km thick sequence of sedimentary rocks, known as the Beacon Supergroup, in the Beardmore Glacier area records 90 million years of Permian through Jurassic history of this high-paleolatitude sector of Gondwana. It accumulated in a foreland basin with a rate of subsidence approximately equal to the rate of deposition. The deposits have yielded diverse vertebrate fossils, in situ fossil forests, and exceptionally well preserved plant fossils. They give a unique glimpse of glacial, lake, and stream/river environments and ecosystems and preserve an unparalleled record of the depositional, paleoclimatic, and tectonic history of the area. The excellent work done to date provides a solid base of information on which to build understanding of conditions and processes.<br/><br/>This project is a collaborative study of this stratigraphic section that will integrate sedimentologic, paleontologic, and ichnologic observations to answer focused questions, including: (1) What are the stratigraphic architecture and alluvial facies of Upper Permian to Jurassic rocks in the Beardmore area?; (2) In what tectonostratigraphic setting were these rocks deposited?; (3) Did vertebrates inhabit the cold, near-polar, Permian floodplains, as indicated by vertebrate burrows, and can these burrows be used to identify, for the first time, the presence of small early mammals in Mesozoic deposits?; and (4) How did bottom-dwelling animals in lakes and streams use substrate ecospace, how did ecospace use at these high paleolatitudes differ from ecospace use in equivalent environments at low paleolatitudes, and what does burrow distribution reveal about seasonality of river flow and thus about paleoclimate? Answers to these questions will (1) clarify the paleoclimatic, basinal, and tectonic history of this part of Gondwana, (2) elucidate the colonization of near-polar ecosystems by vertebrates, (3) provide new information on the environmental and paleolatitudinal distributions of early mammals, and (4) allow semi-quantitative assessment of the activity and abundance of bottom-dwelling animals in different freshwater environments at high and low latitudes. In summary, this project will contribute significantly to an understanding of paleobiology and paleoecology at a high latitude floodplain setting during a time in Earth history when the climate was much different than today. | POINT(171 -83.75) | POINT(171 -83.75) | false | false | |||||||
Glacial proxies of East Antarctic shield basement in Wilkes Land, Antarctica
|
0337858 |
2007-06-05 | Goodge, John | No dataset link provided | This work will determine the age and provenance of glacially derived marine sediments from the coastal regions of Wilkes Land, Antarctica. These deposits may offer insight into the history of the East Antarctic Shield (EAS), which is amongst the oldest sections of continental crust on Earth, but cannot be studied directly because of nearly complete ice sheet coverage. The study will use Australian National University's SHRIMP ion microprobe to date zircon and monazite found in the sediments. Samples of interest include polymictic pebble and cobble clasts obtained from dredge hauls of tills, as well as sand-matrix fractions from cores of glacial diamicts on the continental margin. Individual clasts of igneous and metamorphic rocks from tills will be selected for zircon and/or monazite age dating, whereas detrital zircons from stratified and non-stratified diamictons will be analyzed for composite zircon provenance analysis. In addition, detrital zircon ages will be determined for Beacon Supergroup sandstones to evaluate recycling of zircon in Phanerozoic basins. Integration of ages obtained from both sources will provide a good representation of the EAS terrains underlying the Wilkes Land ice sheet. This project will allow us to learn more about the remote continental interior and improve our ability to interpret past ice-flow patterns without further environmental impact on Antarctica. The results will improve our understanding of Precambrian tectonics and crustal evolution, and help target future over-ice geophysical surveys and basement drilling projects currently under consideration. In terms of broader impacts, the project will provide educational and training opportunities for undergraduate students in Earth science. | None | None | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Characterizing the Onset of Ice Stream Flow: A Ground Geophysical Field Program
|
9814816 |
2007-02-13 | Blankenship, Donald D. | No dataset link provided | 9814816<br/>Blankenship<br/><br/>This award supports a four year project to develop of better understanding the ice streams of the Ross Sea Embayment (A--F) which drain the interior West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) by rapidly moving vast quantities of ice to the calving front of the Ross Ice Shelf. The project will examine the role of these ice streams as buffers between the interior ice and the floating ice shelves. The reasons for their fast flow, the factors controlling their current grounding-line-, margin-, and head-positions are crucial to any attempt at modeling the WAIS system and predicting the future of the ice sheet. For the Antarctic ice streams of the Siple Coast, the transition from no-sliding (or all internal deformation) to motion dominated by sliding is defined as the "onset-region". To fully understand (and adequately model) the WAIS, this onset region must be better understood. The lateral margins of the ice streams are also a transition that need better explanation. Hypotheses on controls of the location of the onset region range from the "purely-glaciologic" to the "purely-geologic. Thus, to model the ice sheet accurately, the basal boundary conditions (roughness, wetness, till properties) and a good subglacial geologic map, showing the distribution, thickness, and properties of the sedimentary basins, are required. These parameters can be estimated from seismic, radar, and other geophysical methods. The transition region of ice stream D will be studied in detail with this coupled geophysical experiment. In addition, selected other locations on ice streams C & D will be made, to compare and contrast conditions with the main site on ice stream D. Site-selection for the main camp will be based on existing radar, GPS, and satellite data as well as input from the modeling community. | POLYGON((-129 -80.5,-128.4 -80.5,-127.8 -80.5,-127.2 -80.5,-126.6 -80.5,-126 -80.5,-125.4 -80.5,-124.8 -80.5,-124.2 -80.5,-123.6 -80.5,-123 -80.5,-123 -80.55,-123 -80.6,-123 -80.65,-123 -80.7,-123 -80.75,-123 -80.8,-123 -80.85,-123 -80.9,-123 -80.95,-123 -81,-123.6 -81,-124.2 -81,-124.8 -81,-125.4 -81,-126 -81,-126.6 -81,-127.2 -81,-127.8 -81,-128.4 -81,-129 -81,-129 -80.95,-129 -80.9,-129 -80.85,-129 -80.8,-129 -80.75,-129 -80.7,-129 -80.65,-129 -80.6,-129 -80.55,-129 -80.5)) | POINT(-126 -80.75) | false | false | |||||||
Collaborative Research: Geophysical Mapping of the East Antarctic Shield Adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains
|
0232042 |
2005-08-16 | Finn, C. A.; FINN, CAROL | No dataset link provided | This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the Transantarctic Mountains and an adjacent region of East Antarctica. The East Antarctic shield is one of Earth's oldest and largest cratonic assemblies, with a long-lived Archean to early Paleozoic history. Long-standing interest in the geologic evolution of this shield has been rekindled over the past decade by tectonic models linking East Antarctica with other Precambrian crustal elements in the Rodinia and Gondwanaland supercontinents. It is postulated that the Pacific margin of East Antarctica was rifted from Laurentia during late Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia, and it then developed as an active plate boundary during subsequent amalgamation of Gondwanaland in the earliest Paleozoic. If true, the East Antarctic shield played a key role in supercontinent transformation at a time of global changes in plate configuration, terrestrial surficial process, sea level, and marine geochemistry and biota. A better understanding of the geological evolution of the East Antarctic shield is therefore critical for studying Precambrian crustal evolution in general, as well as resource distribution, biosphere evolution, and glacial and climate history during later periods of Earth history. Because of nearly complete coverage by the polar ice cap, however, Antarctica remains the single most geologically unexplored continent. Exposures of cratonic basement are largely limited to coastal outcrops in George V Land and Terre Adelie (Australian sector), the Prince Charles Mountains and Enderby Land (Indian sector), and Queen Maud Land (African sector), where the geology is reasonably well-known. By contrast, little is known about the composition and structure of the shield interior. Given the extensive ice cover, collection of airborne geophysical data is the most cost-effective method to characterize broad areas of sub-ice basement and expand our knowledge of the East Antarctic shield interior. <br/><br/>This project will conduct an airborne magnetic survey (coupled with ground-based gravity measurements) across an important window into the shield where it is exposed in the Nimrod Glacier area of the central Transantarctic Mountains. Specific goals are to:<br/>1. Characterize the magnetic and gravity signature of East Antarctic crustal basement exposed at the Ross margin (Nimrod Group),<br/>2. Extend the magnetic data westward along a corridor across the polar ice cap in order to image the crust in ice-covered areas,<br/>3. Obtain magnetic data over the Ross Orogen in order to image the ice-covered boundary between basement and supracrustal rocks, allowing us to better constrain the geometry of fundamental Ross structures, and<br/>4. Use the shape, trends, wavelengths, and amplitudes of magnetic anomalies to define magnetic domains in the shield, common building blocks for continent-scale studies of Precambrian geologic structure and evolution.<br/><br/>High-resolution airborne magnetic data will be collected along a transect extending from exposed rocks of the Nimrod Group across the adjacent polar ice cap. The Nimrod Group represents the only bona fide Archean-Proterozoic shield basement exposed for over 2500 km of the Pacific margin of Antarctica. This survey will characterize the geologically well-known shield terrain in this sector using geophysical methods for the first time. This baseline over the exposed shield will allow for better interpretation of geophysical patterns in other ice-covered regions and can be used to target future investigations. In collaboration with colleagues from the BGR (Germany), a tightly-spaced, "draped" helicopter magnetic survey will be flown during the 2003-04 austral summer, to be complemented by ground measurements of gravity over the exposed basement. Data reduction, interpretation and geological correlation will be completed in the second year. This project will enhance the education of students, the advancement of under-represented groups, the research instrumentation of the U.S. Antarctic Program, partnerships between the federal government and institutions of higher education, and cooperation between national research programs. It will benefit society through the creation of new basic knowledge about the Antarctic continent, which in turn may help with applied research in other fields such as the glacial history of Antarctica. | POLYGON((139.27539 -82.35733,142.369695 -82.35733,145.464 -82.35733,148.558305 -82.35733,151.65261 -82.35733,154.746915 -82.35733,157.84122 -82.35733,160.935525 -82.35733,164.02983 -82.35733,167.124135 -82.35733,170.21844 -82.35733,170.21844 -82.516831,170.21844 -82.676332,170.21844 -82.835833,170.21844 -82.995334,170.21844 -83.154835,170.21844 -83.314336,170.21844 -83.473837,170.21844 -83.633338,170.21844 -83.792839,170.21844 -83.95234,167.124135 -83.95234,164.02983 -83.95234,160.935525 -83.95234,157.84122 -83.95234,154.746915 -83.95234,151.65261 -83.95234,148.558305 -83.95234,145.464 -83.95234,142.369695 -83.95234,139.27539 -83.95234,139.27539 -83.792839,139.27539 -83.633338,139.27539 -83.473837,139.27539 -83.314336,139.27539 -83.154835,139.27539 -82.995334,139.27539 -82.835833,139.27539 -82.676332,139.27539 -82.516831,139.27539 -82.35733)) | POINT(154.746915 -83.154835) | false | false | |||||||
The Role of the Forearc in Subduction Zone Chemical Cycles: Elemental and Isotopic Signatures of Forearc Serpentinites, ODP Leg 125
|
9977306 |
2003-06-19 | Ryan, Jeffrey |
|
Subduction zones are the one place on Earth where materials from the surface (water, sediments and crustal rocks) can be carried into our planet's deep interior. To quantify this process of subduction-zone recycling, we need to understand both the input of sediments and crust to trenches, and all geochemical outputs related to the subduction process. While the chemical outputs represented by magmatism at volcanic arcs and in back-arc settings have been widely studied, little is known about possible subduction-related outfluxes through the shallow forearc, between the arc and the trench. We are attempting to characterize the "forearc flux" by examining serpentinites which are rising diapirically through the forearc mantle and crust in the Mariana arc-trench system. Our work will complete efforts begun (with NSF support) several years ago, and will characterize these samples (and the slab-derived fluids which helped to create them) for radiogenic isotopes, lithium and oxygen isotopes, and the "fluid-mobile" elements Cs, Rb, U, As, Pb, and Sb. Our work will allow us to characterize both the chemical inventories of species that are released from subducting slabs beneath forearcs, and the magnitude of this flux, for comparison with results for trench inputs (being collected as part of ODP Leg 125), and existing data for arc volcanic outputs in the Mariana system. | POINT(167.16 -77.5) | POINT(167.16 -77.5) | false | false | |||||||
Isotopic Measurements on the WAIS/Siple Dome Ice Cores
|
9526979 |
2003-06-16 | White, James; Bender, Michael |
|
This award is for support for a program to measure the stable isotope (deuterium to hydrogen and oxygen-18 to oxygen-16) concentrations of ice cores retrieved from Siple Dome as part of the West Antarctic ice sheet program. In addition, the deuterium excess of samples from the Taylor Dome ice core will be determined. This project will approach the question of rapid climate change using ice cores to determine the history of temperature changes, moisture source changes, and elevational changes in the West Antarctic ice sheet. Results from ice cores taken to date in the interior of Antarctica (East and West) are surprisingly lacking in indications of abrupt climate changes, such as those that have been observed in the GISP2 ice core from Summit, Greenland. This work will address the question of whether rapid climate changes, which are known to have occurred in other parts of the southern hemi-sphere, may have also occurred in the coastal regions of West Antarctica. There is some indication from existing records of isotopes in ice cores that the West Antarctic ice sheet may have flushed ice in the past (as evidenced by large changes in elevation of the ice sheet). | None | None | false | false |