USAP-DC

{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Rutford Ice Stream"}

[{"awards": "2048315 Zoet, Lucas", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Till flux dependence on effective pressure", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "602003", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Zoet, Lucas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Till flux dependence on effective pressure", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/602003"}], "date_created": "Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Many Antarctic glaciers are discharging ice to the sea and contributing to global sea-level rise at an accelerating pace. However, future rates of ice discharged remain uncertain in part because of incomplete characterization of processes occurring at the ice-bed interface. In particular, ice-bed interface processes depend sensitively on the subglacial effective pressure, N (overburden pressure minus basal water pressure), but limited knowledge of how N changes in space and time have inhibited the realistic incorporation of N into ice discharge estimates. N has only been directly measured in a few locations. Marine-acoustics researchers have proposed a seismic-wave propagation theory that relates N of water-saturated granular sediments, similar to the subglacial tills that are prevalent under Antarctic glaciers, to the seismic-wave reflection characteristics. This project will conduct novel lab experiments to constrain and test the theory, then investigate how N varies in space and time in Antarctica from the existing active-seismic data with the insights gained from the experiments. The outcome of this work could be applied to a large volume of existing and future active-seismic data, allowing for the possibility of increased mapping of N both in space and time. This could in turn lead to improved understanding of glacier and ice-sheet dynamics and ultimately reduce uncertainties in future projections of sea-level rise originating from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, or any other ice mass underlain by till. Subglacial effective pressure, N, is one of the key parameters required for estimating glacial motion but is notoriously hard to measure. Common techniques for estimating N have been the labor-intensive practice of measuring it directly from boreholes and connected moulins or inferring it from surface-velocity inversions. This project will test, calibrate and implement the theory of seismic-wave propagation that relates N of water-saturated granular sediments, developed for marine sediments, to subglacial conditions. A large-diameter ring-shear device will be used to shear temperate ice over a range of known till types at controlled N values, simulating subglacial slip over a deformable bed. The ring shear will be outfitted with an acoustic signal generating/sensing system that will allow continuous measurements of the seismic reflection amplitude of the ice-bed interface. These data will be used to relate reflection amplitudes directly to N in a situation where porosity and grain-size distribution can be measured. Till types will include end member fine- and course-grained tills, as well as a synthetic till generated to replicate Whillans Ice Stream. Even if N is found to only have a second-order effect on reflection amplitude and that porosity is the dominant factor, the experiments will still provide a much-needed constraint for interpreting existing active-seismic data in terms of porosity. The findings from the experiments will be used to reanalyze existing active-seismic data to investigate how N varies with space and time. Specifically, this work will reanalyze seismic data collected on Whillans, Kamb and Rutford Ice Streams where grain-size distributions are known from subglacial sediment-core samples. The results of this project could provide a novel technique to greatly increase our understanding of subglacial hydrology and dependency of ice flow on subglacial effective pressure. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Wisconsin; GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTION", "locations": "Wisconsin", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Zoet, Lucas", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Estimating Subglacial Effective Pressure with Active-source Seismic Data", "uid": "p0010550", "west": null}, {"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": "Icequake Catalog from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, January 2019; 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": "https://www.fdsn.org/networks/detail/5B_2018/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601932", "doi": "10.15784/601932", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Grounding Line; Icequakes; Passive Seismic; QuakeMigrate; Rutford Ice Stream; Seismic Event Detection; Seismology", "people": "Alley, Richard; Lee, Ian R.J.; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Icequake Catalog from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, January 2019", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601932"}], "date_created": "Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Anandakrishnan/1643961 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. 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. 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": -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; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.0, "title": "Rutford Ice Stream Cooperative Research Program with British Antarctic Survey", "uid": "p0010392", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "0125602 Padman, Laurence; 0125252 Padman, Laurence", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -40.231,-144 -40.231,-108 -40.231,-72 -40.231,-36 -40.231,0 -40.231,36 -40.231,72 -40.231,108 -40.231,144 -40.231,180 -40.231,180 -45.2079,180 -50.1848,180 -55.1617,180 -60.1386,180 -65.1155,180 -70.0924,180 -75.0693,180 -80.0462,180 -85.0231,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -85.0231,-180 -80.0462,-180 -75.0693,-180 -70.0924,-180 -65.1155,-180 -60.1386,-180 -55.1617,-180 -50.1848,-180 -45.2079,-180 -40.231))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic Tide Gauge Database, version 1; AntTG_Database_Tools; CATS2008: Circum-Antarctic Tidal Simulation version 2008; CATS2008_v2023: Circum-Antarctic Tidal Simulation 2008, version 2023; pyTMD; TMD_Matlab_Toolbox_v2.5", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601235", "doi": "10.15784/601235", "keywords": "Antarctica; Inverse Modeling; Model Data; Ocean Currents; Sea Surface; Tidal Models; Tides", "people": "Padman, Laurence; Howard, Susan L.; Erofeeva, Svetlana", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CATS2008: Circum-Antarctic Tidal Simulation version 2008", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601235"}, {"dataset_uid": "200158", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "pyTMD", "url": "https://github.com/tsutterley/pyTMD"}, {"dataset_uid": "200157", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "TMD_Matlab_Toolbox_v2.5", "url": "https://github.com/EarthAndSpaceResearch/TMD_Matlab_Toolbox_v2.5"}, {"dataset_uid": "601358", "doi": "10.15784/601358", "keywords": "Antarctica; Oceans; Sea Surface Height; Tide Gauges; Tides", "people": "Padman, Laurence; Howard, Susan L.; King, Matt", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Tide Gauge Database, version 1", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601358"}, {"dataset_uid": "601772", "doi": "10.15784/601772", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Inverse Modeling; Model Data; Ocean Currents; Oceans; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean; Tide Model; Tides", "people": "Greene, Chad A.; Howard, Susan L.; Sutterley, Tyler; Erofeeva, Svetlana; Padman, Laurence", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CATS2008_v2023: Circum-Antarctic Tidal Simulation 2008, version 2023", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601772"}, {"dataset_uid": "200156", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "AntTG_Database_Tools", "url": "https://github.com/EarthAndSpaceResearch/AntTG_Database_Tools"}], "date_created": "Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The ocean tide is a large component of total variability of ocean surface height and currents in the seas surrounding Antarctica, including under the floating ice shelves. Maximum tidal height range exceeds 7 m (near the grounding line of Rutford Ice Stream) and maximum tidal currents exceed 1 m/s (near the shelf break in the northwest Ross Sea). Tides contribute to several important climate and ecosystems processes including: ocean mixing, production of dense bottom water, flow of warm Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelves, melting at the bases of ice shelves, fracturing of the ice sheet near a glacier or ice stream\u2019s grounding line, production and decay of sea ice, and sediment resuspension. Tide heights and, in particular, currents can change as the ocean background state changes, and as the geometry of the coastal margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet varies through ice shelf thickness changes and ice-front and grounding-line advances or retreats. For satellite-based studies of ocean surface height and ice shelf thickness changes, tide heights are a source of substantial noise that must be removed. Similarly, tidal currents can also be a substantial noise signal when trying to estimate mean ocean currents from short-term measurements such as from acoustic Doppler current profilers mounted on ships and CTD rosettes. Therefore, tide models play critical roles in understanding current and future ocean and ice states, and as a method for removing tides in various measurements. A paper in Reviews of Geophysics (Padman, Siegfried and Fricker, 2018, see list of project-related publications below) provides a detailed review of tides and tidal processes around Antarctica.\r\n\nThis project provides a gateway to tide models and a database of tide height coefficients at the Antarctic Data Center, and links to toolboxes to work with these models and data.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e GAUGES \u003e TIDE GAUGES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Tide Gauges; OCEAN CURRENTS; Sea Surface Height; USAP-DC; GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTION; Tides; Antarctica; MODELS; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -40.231, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Arctic System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Howard, Susan L.; Padman, Laurence; Erofeeva, Svetlana; King, Matt", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GitHub; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Ocean Tides around Antarctica and in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010116", "west": -180.0}]

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