[{"awards": "2332108 Loewy, Staci", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Technical Abstract This research evaluates whether the small Coats Land crustal block of East Antarctica is a tectonic tracer linking Kalahari and southern Laurentia within the Neoproterozoic supercontinent of Rodinia across an orogenic suture. A Pan-African (~600 Ma) suture separates the small Coats Land block from the main Mawson Craton indicating that this crustal block had an independent pre-Pan-African history. Existing data from the miniscule outcrops of bedrock in Coats Land provide critical clues to that paleogeography, suggesting that Laurentia collided with Kalahari across the Grenville-Namaqua/Natal-Maud orogen. The Coats Land block has only three small groups of bedrock exposures, two form nunataks and the third occurs in a cliff face. The two nunataks comprise granophyre and rhyolite contemporaneous with the ca. 1.1 Ga Keweenawan, mid-continent rift, volcanics of Laurentia and its proposed southwestern extension in El Paso, TX. Moreover, the Pb isotopes of the Coats Land and Keweenawan rocks are identical, and paleomagnetic data are broadly supportive of the Coats Land block having been located adjacent to the present southern margin of the Laurentian craton. Metamorphic rocks from the cliff face exposure lithologically resemble basement rocks of the El Paso, TX. The proposed research will further existing geochemical and geochronologic studies of specimens previously collected from Coats Land and new and existing samples of rocks collected near El Paso, Texas for detailed comparison. Analyses include zircon U-Pb dating and Hf and O isotope analysis, and whole rock geochemistry and Pb, Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotope analysis. This research will make maximum use of existing material from this extremely remote part of Antarctica to test this hypothesis. Researchers will collaborate with 2 well-established education-outreach programs in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Undergraduate research assistants will be recruited from the Jackson Scholars Program (JSP). Researchers will provide a field- and lab-based seminar on reconstructing Rodinia for the JSP and will conduct research with high school students during GeoFORCE 12th grade summer academy. Non-technical Abstract This research evaluates whether the small Coats Land crustal block of East Antarctica is a piece of ancestral North America (Laurentia) that was transferred to southern Africa (Kalahari) during ~ 1 Ga collision, and subsequent breakup, of the two continents during the formation of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia. Coats Land is separated from the adjacent Mawson Craton of Antarctica by ~600 Ma continental sutures indicating that Coats Land had an independent history prior to 600 Ma. Existing data from the miniscule outcrops of bedrock in Coats Land provide critical clues to that paleogeography, suggesting that Laurentia collided with Kalahari. The Coats Land block has only three small groups of bedrock exposures, two form nunataks and the third occurs in a cliff face. The two nunataks comprise granophyre and rhyolite contemporaneous with the ca. 1.1 Ga Keweenawan, mid-continent rift, volcanics of Laurentia and its proposed southwestern extension in El Paso, TX. Moreover, the Pb isotopes of the Coats Land and Keweenawan rocks are identical, and paleomagnetic data are broadly supportive of the Coats Land block having been located adjacent to the present southern margin of the Laurentian craton. Metamorphic rocks from the cliff face exposure lithologically resemble basement rocks of the El Paso, TX. The proposed research will further existing geochemical and geochronologic studies of specimens previously collected from Coats Land and new and existing samples of rocks collected near El Paso, Texas for detailed comparison. Analyses include zircon U-Pb dating and Hf and O isotope analysis, and whole rock geochemistry and Pb, Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotope analysis. This research will make maximum use of existing material from this extremely remote part of Antarctica to test this hypothesis. Researchers will collaborate with 2 well-established education-outreach programs in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Undergraduate research assistants will be recruited from the Jackson Scholars Program (JSP). Researchers will provide a field- and lab-based seminar on reconstructing Rodinia for the JSP and will conduct research with high school students during GeoFORCE 12th grade summer academy. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Coats Land; Geochronology; ISOTOPES; Rodina; zircons; Paleogeography; Isotopes; PLATE TECTONICS; Texas", "locations": "Coats Land; Texas; Rodina", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Loewy, Staci; Dalziel, Ian W.", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Antarctica within Rodinia: Testing the Laurentia Connection", "uid": "p0010500", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2322117 Buckley, Bradley", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: This project focuses on a group of ecologically important species of fishes which inhabit the frigid waters of Antarctica. They represent a key link in the polar food web as they are prey for penguins, seals and toothed whales. These fish have evolved in the constant, extreme cold for millions of years and therefore, are very sensitive to the increasing water temperatures associated with global warming. These studies will investigate the impacts of incremental heat exposure on the biology of these fishes by examining their ability to respond, or inability to respond, to elevated temperatures. The project will employ cutting-edge technology to examine responses at the cellular level that may help these environmentally sensitive fishes adapt to the challenges of global warming. The primary goal is to increase our collective understanding of how polar ecosystems are likely to be impacted in the coming decades. Part 2: The proposed research is designed to use an existing bank of frozen tissues from a species of cold-adapted Antarctic fish to investigate protein-level responses to heat stress. These samples were collected earlier in the PI\u0027s career during fieldwork at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Four tissues (control as well as heat- stressed) will be analyzed via mass spectrometry to characterize their proteome, defined as the entire complement of proteins in a sample. This includes both identification and quantification of these proteins. The goal is to determine what mechanisms of response to elevated temperature are available to the extremely cold-adapted, stenothermic fishes of Antarctica. Follow-up analyses will use immunoblotting (Western blotting) with antibodies specific to a sub-set of proteins revealed to be heat-responsive in the proteomic analyses. As this is a Mid-Career Advancement Award, training and mentorship in proteomic analyses for the PI will be supported, with time spent at the partner institution, the University of California, Davis. Intellectual Merit While there has been an increase in the use of genomic technologies to probe gene expression profiles in Antarctic species, few studies exist looking at protein level changes during exposure to heat stress in these organisms. Therefore, the proposed studies would represent a large leap forward in our understanding of how these environmentally sensitive species can, or cannot, respond at the cellular level as the Earth continues to warm and water temperatures rise. As proteins do the \"work\" in the cell, it\u0027s vital to understand which proteins are present and in what quantity and how dynamic this \"proteome\" is during stress. The proposed studies would provide this information for thousands of proteins, using already existing samples. The findings would be entirely novel and would allow us a much better picture of how animals that evolved in the cold for millions of years are likely to respond to climate change. Broader Impacts The PI has established relationships with several regional K-12 institutions and will continue to provide outreach in the form of classroom visits and the creation of classroom curricula. The PI has an on-going collaboration with the Oregon Coast Aquarium (Newport, OR) to create novel teaching materials for grades 6-8. The Aquarium has partners in surrounding school districts and will help disseminate videos about marine biology and climate change. Modules concerning polar species will be created under this proposal. An interactive website will be created demonstrating the Antarctic food web. All of the proteomic analyses and libraries generated under this award will be made publicly available for use by any interested researcher. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "McMurdo Sound; Fish; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; WATER TEMPERATURE; Antarctic; FISH", "locations": "McMurdo Sound; Antarctic", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Buckley, Bradley; Kueltz, Dietmar", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "MCA: Cellular Responses to Thermal Stress in Antarctic Fishes: Dynamic Re-structuring of the Proteome in Extreme Stenotherms", "uid": "p0010501", "west": null}, {"awards": "2029777 Matrai, Patricia", "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, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award provides funding in support of participation by U.S. graduate students and early career researchers for the 2019 Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) and Gordon Research Conference (GRC) Polar Marine Science meetings to be held in Ventura, CA May 22-28, 2021. The 2021 GRC event is entitled \u201cIntegrating Ocean Physics and Biogeochemistry to Assess Polar Ecosystem Sensitivity to Rapid Change\u201d. Gordon conferences on this topic are held every two years and provide a key forum to discuss cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary marine research highlighted as an international priority topic. The conference plan is designed to provide powerful insights into the present and future states of polar marine ecosystems, including the local and regional aspects of ocean circulation, sea ice dynamics, biogeochemical fluxes, biodiversity, ecosystem health and human well-being. This event will bring together an interdisciplinary group of students and young researchers from many fields working in Polar regions. Exchanges of this type are essential for ensuring that U.S. scientists and engineers maintain international research leadership in in polar regions. Participants will have an opportunity to present their work in the form of oral presentations or posters while interacting with some of the most eminent researchers in the field. The GRS and GRC will address fundamental aspects, which are related to the grand environmental and sustainability challenges facing mankind. Specific emphasis will be given to defining the next generation challenges in polar region research. The unique format of the Gordon Research Conferences with invited talks, limited attendance, and ample time for interactions will provide early career scientists with ample opportunities for discussions and networking. Particular emphasis will be placed on encouraging student and post-doc participation from a broad range of institutions. The GRC-PPS will be widely advertised in the community and the participation and application for travel support by junior scientists will be strongly encouraged. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Il Ciocco, Italy; Arctic; AQUATIC SCIENCES; SEA ICE; Polar; Atmosphere; MARINE SEDIMENTS; Ecology; Sea Ice; Antarctic", "locations": "Il Ciocco, Italy; Arctic; Antarctic; Polar", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Matrai, Patricia; Babin, Marcel", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "2021 Polar Marine Science GRC and GRS", "uid": "p0010496", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1953993 Atkinson, Brian; 1953960 Smith, Selena", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sat, 19 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Nontechnical Description Flowering plants are the dominant land plant group on Earth today. They play essential roles in climate-life interactions and are fundamental for human well-being (health, food, materials). Despite their importance to us, their early evolution has remained enigmatic. Without the geological context of how these plants evolved, we will not fully understand their roles in regulating climate and structuring environments. This is important as terrestrial ecosystems today are undergoing many changes. The fossil record indicates that critical events relating to the early diversification of flowering plants occurred during the Cretaceous period (145\u201366 million years ago). Recent discoveries of fossil flowers and fruits from this time period have significantly furthered our understanding of early flowering plant evolution. However, the majority of these discoveries are from the Northern Hemisphere while similar discoveries from the Southern Hemisphere are relatively lacking. This project will address this paucity of data by collecting and describing Late Cretaceous flowering plant fossils from Western Antarctica and placing them in evolutionary frameworks to better understand early flowering plant evolution, biogeographic history, and Antarctica\u2019s role in the formation of modern ecosystems. Western Antarctica is the only place in the Southern Hemisphere that is reported to contain Late Cretaceous-aged (100\u201366 million years ago) three-dimensionally preserved flowers and fruits. Therefore, the recovery and study of these fossils can meaningfully further our understanding of the early phases of flowering plant evolution. This work will result in the description of new species that will be placed in evolutionary analyses and biogeographic frameworks, which will help clarify the Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants in the Southern Hemisphere. These fossils will provide insights that will allow us to anticipate which plants might thrive in a warming Antarctic and world. Part II: Technical Description The Late Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants (angiosperms) in the Southern Hemisphere is poorly understood due in part to the limited amount of well-characterized fossil plant reproductive structures. Paleobotanical studies indicate that Antarctica was an important area for the Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants and is the only place in the Southern Hemisphere that is known to contain permineralized Late Cretaceous-aged angiosperm reproductive structures. The proposed research will elucidate Antarctica\u2019s role in the evolution of angiosperms and assembly of modern ecosystems by recovering and characterizing Late Cretaceous Antarctic angiosperms, placing them within a phylogenetic context, and testing for biogeographic links between North America and Gondwana as has been observed for animals. Fieldwork will be conducted in the James Ross Basin of West Antarctica where previous reports and preliminary data indicate the presence of Late Cretaceous-aged floras that include structurally preserved reproductive structures. The exceptional preservation of these fossils allows us to record data essential for placing them in a phylogenetic framework from which their evolutionary and biogeographical context can be determined. The taxonomically informative and well-preserved angiosperm reproductive structures within the James Ross Basin are of a crucial age and from an important geographic area for understanding the phylogenetic diversification of Southern Hemisphere angiosperms and ecosystems. Collected fossils will be examined using standard physical techniques and microCT imaging. The study of these fossils will result in the description of new species and possibly higher taxa and provide a unique perspective into the floral diversity and composition of West Antarctica during the Cretaceous. In addition, the fossils will be placed within a phylogenetic framework, which will help to elucidate which lineages were diversifying 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": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Angiosperms; Cretaceous; Antarctica; PLANTS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Atkinson, Brian; Smith, Selena", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Unearthing Antarctica\u0027s role in the Late Cretaceous Evolution of Flowering Plants", "uid": "p0010486", "west": null}, {"awards": "1939139 Scherer, Reed; 1939146 Siddoway, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-120 -66,-117.5 -66,-115 -66,-112.5 -66,-110 -66,-107.5 -66,-105 -66,-102.5 -66,-100 -66,-97.5 -66,-95 -66,-95 -67.1,-95 -68.2,-95 -69.3,-95 -70.4,-95 -71.5,-95 -72.6,-95 -73.7,-95 -74.8,-95 -75.9,-95 -77,-97.5 -77,-100 -77,-102.5 -77,-105 -77,-107.5 -77,-110 -77,-112.5 -77,-115 -77,-117.5 -77,-120 -77,-120 -75.9,-120 -74.8,-120 -73.7,-120 -72.6,-120 -71.5,-120 -70.4,-120 -69.3,-120 -68.2,-120 -67.1,-120 -66))", "dataset_titles": "Pliocene diatom abundance, IODP 379-U1532; Population morphometrics of the Southern Ocean diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis related to Sea Surface Temperature; U-Pb zircon and apatite fission track dates for IRD (ice-rafted cobbles and mineral grains) from IODP379 drill sites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601769", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Diatom", "people": "Furlong, Heather; Scherer, Reed Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Pliocene diatom abundance, IODP 379-U1532", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601769"}, {"dataset_uid": "601804", "doi": "10.15784/601804", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sea Surface Temperature; Southern Ocean", "people": "Ruggiero, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Population morphometrics of the Southern Ocean diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis related to Sea Surface Temperature", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601804"}, {"dataset_uid": "601828", "doi": "10.15784/601828", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Geochronology; Marie Byrd Land; Subglacial Bedrock; Thermochronology", "people": "Siddoway, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "U-Pb zircon and apatite fission track dates for IRD (ice-rafted cobbles and mineral grains) from IODP379 drill sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601828"}], "date_created": "Tue, 20 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I, Non-technical Abstract Concerns that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) might be susceptible to releasing its ice as giant icebergs into the Southern Ocean due to a warming climate, raising global sea level, were first expressed more than 40 years ago. To best-assess this threat, scientists need to know whether such events occurred in the geologically recent past, during warm intervals of past glacial-interglacial cycles. Ocean drilling near the most vulnerable sector of the WAIS, in 2019, yielded seafloor geologic records demonstrating times when icebergs dropped large volumes of sands and pebbles, called ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in deep water of the Amundsen Sea. Occurring together with IRD that was eroded from bedrock beneath the ice sheets, there are abundant microfossils of diatoms (algal plankton), which indicate high biological productivity in the open ocean. The new sediment cores provide a complete, uninterrupted record of a time of dramatic fluctuations of ice sheet extent that occurred over the last 3 million years. Therefore, they provide the means to obtain clear answers to the question whether ice sheet collapse occurred in the past and offering clues to its potential future. This project will investigate sediment intervals where IRD coincides with evidence of high diatom production, to test whether these two criteria indicate rapid ice sheet collapse. Geochemical analysis of IRD pebbles will help trace the source of the icebergs to likely on-land sites. By analyzing conditions of high diatom and IRD accumulation in deep ocean sediment, where local coastal influences can be avoided, we will assess oceanographic and climatic conditions associated with past ice sheet collapse events. Diatoms provide powerful evidence of temperature and ocean productivity changes in the past, that, when linked to time, can translate into rates of ice sheet drawdown. These results will provide critical data for designing, constraining and testing the next suite computer models that can determine the likelihood and timing of future ice sheet collapse in a warming world. The project will include training of undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, and the public will be introduced to Antarctic science and engaged through several different outreach efforts. Part 2, Technical Abstract New drillcores from the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica (IODP Expedition 379) contain a continuous record of oceanographic changes and iceberg rafted debris (IRD) spanning the last 5 million years. This study aims to identify the signature of retreat/collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in these continental margin, deep-sea sediments by quantitatively analyzing, in detail, diatom and IRD records across glacial-interglacial lithostratigraphic transitions to establish the timing and frequency of Late Pliocene and Pleistocene WAIS collapse events. The investigators will secure age constraints and diagnostic observations of marine paleoenvironmental conditions for selected interglacial intervals of cores from sites U1532 and U1533, using high resolution micropaleontology of diatom assemblages coupled with microstratigraphic analysis of IRD depositional events, while petrography, geochronology and thermochronology of iceberg rafted clasts will provide evidence of iceberg sources and pathways. Depositional paleotemperatures will be assessed via a new paleotemperature proxy based on quantitative assessment of morphologic changes in the dominant Southern Ocean diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis. Their results will contribute to parameterization of new ice sheet models that seek to reconstruct and forecast West Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior. This project will directly contribute to undergraduate education at an undergraduate-only college and at a public university that serves a demographic typified by first generation university students and underrepresented groups. Spanning geology, geochemistry, sedimentology, paleontology and paleoceanography, the proposed work will allow undergraduate students to develop diverse skills through hands-on research within a collaborative team that is dedicated to societally relevant research. The two graduate students will conduct original research and work alongside/mentor undergraduates, making for a well-rounded research experience that prepares them for success in future academic or employment sectors. The discoveries that come from this deep-sea record from West Antarctica will be communicated by students and investigators at national and international conferences and an array of public science outreach events. 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": -95.0, "geometry": "POINT(-107.5 -71.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ICEBERGS; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; Amundsen Sea; MICROFOSSILS", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e NEOGENE \u003e PLIOCENE", "persons": "Scherer, Reed Paul; Siddoway, Christine", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Testing the Linchpin of WAIS Collapse with Diatoms and IRD in Pleistocene and Late Pliocene Strata of the Resolution Drift, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010451", "west": -120.0}, {"awards": "2137375 Schmidt, Steven; 2137376 Porazinska, Dorota; 2137378 Varsani, Arvind; 2137377 Bergstrom, Anna", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cryoconite holes are sediment-filled melt holes in the surface of glaciers that can be important sites of active microbial life in an otherwise mostly frozen and barren landscape. Previous studies in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica suggest that viral infections of microbes, and a general lack of fertilizers (i.e., nutrients), may be important factors shaping the development and functioning of microbial communities in cryoconite holes. The researchers propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects diversity (number of species) and overall abundance of microbes, and how the diversity and abundance of microbes in turn affects the diversity, abundance, and infection type of viruses that parasitize the microbes in cryoconite sediments. The researchers will use sediments previously collected from Antarctic glaciers that have varying concentrations of viruses and nutrients, to set up a nutrient-addition experiment to determine how nutrients affect microbial and viral population dynamics. The results will deepen our understanding of how microbial communities in general are shaped by nutrients and viruses and give new insights into the functioning of viruses in extremely cold environments. The researchers will publish their findings in scientific journals and will share their discoveries with K-12 students from rural schools in collaboration with the Pinhead Institute and will connect undergraduate students from under-represented minorities to polar research through participation in the university\u2019s Science, Technology, Engineering \u0026 Mathematics Routes Uplift Research Program. Outreach will be achieved through videos produced and distributed by a professional science communicator. The research advances a National Science Foundation goal of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes by utilizing the unique characteristics of the Antarctic region as a science observing platform. The Principal Investigators propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects microbial diversity and abundances and their cascading effects on virus diversity, abundance, and mode of infection (lysis vs. lysogeny) in Antarctic cryoconite holes. Cryoconite holes are ideal natural microcosms for manipulative studies, not available in other cryospheric ecosystems. The PIs will use previously collected cryoconite from across a gradient of both viral diversity and nutrient levels to address questions about key limiting nutrients and microbial-viral community dynamics in cryoconite sediments. Nutrient manipulation experiments will be conducted in a growth chamber that closely approximates the light and temperature regime of in situ cryoconite holes to test three core hypotheses: (1) phosphorus availability limits microbial productivity and abundance in cryoconite holes; (2) relaxing nutrient limitation in cryoconite from low-diversity glaciers will increase species diversity, leading microbial communities to resemble those found on more nutrient-rich glaciers; (3) relaxing nutrient limitation will increase the diversity and abundance of viruses by increasing the availability of suitable hosts, and decrease the prevalence of lysogenic infections. By manipulating nutrient limitation within a realistic range, this project will help verify hypothesized phosphorus limitation of Antarctic cryoconite holes and will extend understanding of the connections between nutrients, diversity, and viral infection dynamics in the cryosphere more generally. A better understanding of these dynamics in cryoconite sediments improves the ability of scientists to forecast future impacts of environmental changes in the cryosphere. 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": "AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS; Taylor Valley", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Varsani, Arvind; Porazinska, Dorota; Schmidt, Steven; Bergstrom, Anna", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Role of Nutrient Limitation and Viral Interactions on Antarctic Microbial Community Assembly: A Cryoconite Microcosm Study", "uid": "p0010418", "west": null}, {"awards": "2037963 Smith, Heidi", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 11 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Glacial ice cores serve as a museum back in time, providing detailed records of past climatic conditions. In addition to chronological records such as temperature, chemistry and gas composition, ice provides a unique environment for preserving microbes and other biological materials through time. These microbes provide invaluable insight into the physiological capabilities necessary for survival in the Earth\u2019s cryosphere and other icy planetary bodies, yet little is known about them. This award supports fundamental research into the activity of microbes in ice, and directly supports major research priorities regarding Antarctic biota identified in the 2015 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research. The broader impacts of this work are that it will be relevant to researchers across paleoclimate and biological fields. It will support two early career researchers, a graduate and an undergraduate student who will conduct laboratory analyses, participate in outreach activities, publish papers in scientific journals and present at conferences. This work will use previously collected ice cores to investigate englacial microbial activity from the Holocene back to the Last Glacial Maximum from the blue ice area of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. The proposal identified making significant contributions to 1) investing how Antarctic organisms evolve and adapt to changing environment, 2) understanding how microbes alter the preservation of paleorecord-relevant gas and trace element information in ice cores, and 3) identifying microbial life in cores and their activity in relation to dust depositional events. Two recently developed complementary techniques (bio-orthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging and deuterium isotope probing) in combination with Raman Confocal Microspectroscopy will be used to assess and quantify microbial activity in ice. During phase one of the project, these methods will be optimized using deaccessioned ice cores available at the National Science Foundation\u2019s Ice Core Facility. In phase two, ice cores in a time series from the Taylor Glacier will be analyzed for geochemistry and microbial activity. Research results will provide a comprehensive view of englacial microbial communities, including their metabolic diversity and activity, and the effect of geochemical parameters on microbial assemblages from different climate periods. Given the dearth of information available on englacial microbial communities, the results of this research will be of particular significance. 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": "Microbial Activity; LABORATORY; Paleoclimate; CAMP; Taylor Glacier; Microbiology; Alaska; ICE CORE RECORDS", "locations": "CAMP; Alaska; Taylor Glacier", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Heidi; Foreman, Christine; Dieser, Markus", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Life in Ice: Probing Microbial Englacial Activity through Time", "uid": "p0010385", "west": null}, {"awards": "1645087 Catchen, Julian", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly and Circadian Gene Repertoire of the Patagonia Blennie Eleginops maclovinus\u2014The Closest Ancestral Proxy of Antarctic Cryonotothenioids; Evaluating Illumina-, Nanopore-, and PacBio-based genome assembly strategies with the bald notothen, Trematomus borchgrevinki; Genomics of Secondarily Temperate Adaptation in the Only Non-Antarctic Icefish", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200380", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Genomics of Secondarily Temperate Adaptation in the Only Non-Antarctic Icefish", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA857989"}, {"dataset_uid": "200381", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly and Circadian Gene Repertoire of the Patagonia Blennie Eleginops maclovinus\u2014The Closest Ancestral Proxy of Antarctic Cryonotothenioids", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA917608"}, {"dataset_uid": "200331", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbs3", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Evaluating Illumina-, Nanopore-, and PacBio-based genome assembly strategies with the bald notothen, Trematomus borchgrevinki", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbs3"}, {"dataset_uid": "200330", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI ", "science_program": null, "title": "Evaluating Illumina-, Nanopore-, and PacBio-based genome assembly strategies with the bald notothen, Trematomus borchgrevinki", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA861284"}], "date_created": "Mon, 10 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "As plate tectonics pushed Antarctica into a polar position, by ~34 million years ago, the continent and its surrounding Southern Ocean (SO) became geographically and thermally isolated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Terrestrial and marine glaciation followed, resulting in extinctions as well as the survival and radiation of unique flora and fauna. The notothenioid fish survived and arose from a common ancestral stock into tax with 120 species that dominates today?s SO fish fauna. The Notothenioids evolved adaptive traits including novel antifreeze proteins for survival in extreme cold, but also suffered seemingly adverse trait loss including red blood cells in the icefish family, and the ability to mount cellular responses to mitigate heat stress ? otherwise ubiquitous across all life. This project aims to understand how the notothenoid genomes have changed and contributed to their evolution in the cold. The project will sequence, analyze and compare the genomes of two strategic pairs of notothenioid fishes representing both red-blooded and white-blooded species. Each pair will consist of one Antarctic species and one that has readapted to the temperate waters of S. America or New Zealand. The project will also compare the Antarctic species genomes to a genome of the closet non-Antarctic relative representing the temperate notothenioid ancestor. The work aims to uncover the mechanisms that enabled the adaptive evolution of this ecologically vital group of fish in the freezing Southern Ocean, and shed light on their adaptability to a warming world. The finished genomes will be made available to promote and advance Antarctic research and the project will host a symposium of Polar researchers to discuss the cutting edge developments regarding of genomic adaptations in the polar region. Despite subzero, icy conditions that are perilous to teleost fish, the fish fauna of the isolated Southern Ocean (SO) surrounding Antarctica is remarkably bountiful. A single teleost group ? the notothenioid fishes ? dominate the fauna, comprising over 120 species that arose from a common ancestor. When Antarctica became isolated and SO temperatures began to plunge in early Oligocene, the prior temperate fishes became extinct. The ancestor of Antarctic notothenioids overcame forbidding polar conditions and, absent niche competition, it diversified and filled the SO. How did notothenioids adapt to freezing environmental selection pressures and achieve such extraordinary success? And having specialized to life in chronic cold for 30 myr, can they evolve in pace with today?s warming climate to stay viable? Past studies of Antarctic notothenioid evolutionary adaptation have discovered various remarkable traits including the key, life-saving antifreeze proteins. But life specialized to cold also led to paradoxical trait changes such as the loss of the otherwise universal heat shock response, and of the O2-transporting hemoglobin and red blood cells in the icefish family. A few species interestingly regained abilities to live in temperate waters following the escape of their ancestor out of the freezing SO. This proposed project is the first major effort to advance the field from single trait studies to understanding the full spectrum of genomic and genetic responses to climatic and environmental change during notothenioid evolution, and to evaluate their adaptability to continuing climate change. To this end, the project will sequence the genomes of four key species that embody genomic responses to different thermal selection regimes during notothenioids? evolutionary history, and by comparative analyses of genomic structure, architecture and content, deduce the responding changes. Specifically, the project will (i) obtain whole genome assemblies of the red-blooded T. borchgrevinki and the S. American icefish C. esox; (ii) using the finished genomes from (i) as template, obtain assemblies of the New Zealand notothenioid N. angustata, and the white-blooded icefish C. gunnari, representing a long (11 myr) and recent (1 myr) secondarily temperate evolutionary history respectively. Genes that are under selection in the temperate environment but not in the Antarctic environment can be inferred to be directly necessary for that environment ? and the reverse is also true for genes under selection in the Antarctic but not in the temperate environment. Further, genes important for survival in temperate waters will show parallel selection between N. angustata and C. esox despite the fact that the two fish left the Antarctic at far separated time points. Finally, gene families that expanded due to strong selection within the cold Antarctic should show a degradation of duplicates in the temperate environment. The project will test these hypotheses using a number of techniques to compare the content and form of genes, the structure of the chromosomes containing those genes, and through the identification of key characters, such as selfish genetic elements, introns, and structural variants.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Genome Assembly; FISH; McMurdo Sound; Icefish; SHIPS; Notothenioid; Puerto Natales, Chile", "locations": "McMurdo Sound; Puerto Natales, Chile", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Catchen, Julian; Cheng, Chi-Hing", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "NCBI", "repositories": "Dryad; NCBI; NCBI ", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Evolutionary Genomic Responses in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0010384", "west": null}, {"awards": "1924730 Lazzara, Matthew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "AMRC Automatic Weather Station project data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200316", "doi": "10.48567/1hn2-nw60", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AMRDC", "science_program": null, "title": "AMRC Automatic Weather Station project data", "url": "https://doi.org/10.48567/1hn2-nw60"}], "date_created": "Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network is the most extensive surficial meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its data stations. Its prime focus is also as a long term observational record, to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations measure air-temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction at a nominal surface height of ~ 2-3m. Other parameters such as relative humidity and snow accumulation may also be taken. The surface observations from the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network are also used operationally, for forecast purposes, and in the planning of field work. Surface observations made from the network have also been used to check the validity of satellite and remote sensing observations. The proposed effort informs our understanding of the Antarctic environment and its weather and climate trends over the past few decades. The research has implications for potential future operations and logistics for the US Antarctic Program during the winter season. As a part of this endeavor, all project participants will engage in a coordinated outreach effort to bring the famous Antarctic \"cold\" to public seminars, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate classrooms, and senior citizen centers. This project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network to determine how large-scale modes of climate variability impact Antarctic weather and climate, how the surface observations from the AWS network are linked to surface layer and boundary layer processes. Consideration will also be given to low temperature physical environments such as may be encountered during Antarctic winter, and the best ways to characterize these, and other ?cold pool? phenomena. Observational data from the AWS are collected via Iridium network, or DCS Argos aboard either NOAA or MetOp polar orbiting satellites and thus made available in near real time to operational and synoptic weather forecasters over the GTS (WMO Global Telecommunication System). Being able to support improvements in numerical weather prediction and climate modeling will have lasting impacts on Antarctic science and logistical support. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SURFACE TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE; Antarctica; SURFACE WINDS; HUMIDITY; AIR TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERIC WINDS; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lazzara, Matthew; Welhouse, Lee J", "platforms": null, "repo": "AMRDC", "repositories": "AMRDC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Automatic Weather Station Program 2019-2022", "uid": "p0010370", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network is the most extensive surficial meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its data stations. Its prime focus is also as a long term observational record, to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations measure air-temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction at a nominal surface height of ~ 2-3m. Other parameters such as relative humidity and snow accumulation may also be taken. The surface observations from the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network are also used operationally, for forecast purposes, and in the planning of field work. Surface observations made from the network have also been used to check the validity of satellite and remote sensing observations. The proposed effort informs our understanding of the Antarctic environment and its weather and climate trends over the past few decades. The research has implications for potential future operations and logistics for the US Antarctic Program during the winter season. As a part of this endeavor, all project participants will engage in a coordinated outreach effort to bring the famous Antarctic \"cold\" to public seminars, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate classrooms, and senior citizen centers.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network to determine how large-scale modes of climate variability impact Antarctic weather and climate, how the surface observations from the AWS network are linked to surface layer and boundary layer processes. Consideration will also be given to low temperature physical environments such as may be encountered during Antarctic winter, and the best ways to characterize these, and other ?cold pool? phenomena. Observational data from the AWS are collected via Iridium network, or DCS Argos aboard either NOAA or MetOp polar orbiting satellites and thus made available in near real time to operational and synoptic weather forecasters over the GTS (WMO Global Telecommunication System). Being able to support improvements in numerical weather prediction and climate modeling will have lasting impacts on Antarctic science and logistical support.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "HUMIDITY; SURFACE WINDS; SURFACE PRESSURE; INCOMING SOLAR RADIATION; SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": null, "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Automatic Weather Station Program 2019-2022", "uid": "p0010371", "west": null}, {"awards": "1853377 Shero, Michelle", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -76,162.6 -76,163.2 -76,163.8 -76,164.4 -76,165 -76,165.6 -76,166.2 -76,166.8 -76,167.4 -76,168 -76,168 -76.2,168 -76.4,168 -76.6,168 -76.8,168 -77,168 -77.2,168 -77.4,168 -77.6,168 -77.8,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.8,162 -77.6,162 -77.4,162 -77.2,162 -77,162 -76.8,162 -76.6,162 -76.4,162 -76.2,162 -76))", "dataset_titles": "Weddell seal dive behavior and rhythmicity from 2010-2012 in the Ross Sea; Weddell seal iron dynamics and oxygen stores across lactation", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601835", "doi": "10.15784/601835", "keywords": "Aerobic; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Weddell Seal", "people": "Shero, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell seal dive behavior and rhythmicity from 2010-2012 in the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601835"}, {"dataset_uid": "601587", "doi": "10.15784/601587", "keywords": "Aerobic; Antarctica; Dive Capacity; Iron; McMurdo Sound; Weddell Seal", "people": "Shero, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell seal iron dynamics and oxygen stores across lactation", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601587"}], "date_created": "Tue, 09 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Within any population, some individuals perform better than others. These individuals may survive longer or produce more offspring. Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica, provide an unparalleled opportunity to investigate how an animal\u0027s physiology, behavior, and genetic make-up contribute to lifetime reproductive success because they have been the subject of a long-term population monitoring study and are easily accessible during their reproductive season. This project will distinguish key differences in energy allocation, reproductive timing, and dive capacities between female Weddell seals with a history of frequently producing pups (\"high-quality\" group), versus females that have produced pups only infrequently (\"low-quality\" group). For each group of females, physiology and behavior during the nursing period will be analyzed to assess whether investments influence their probability of reproducing the following year. Whole genomes will be compared between groups to identify underlying genes that govern reproductive success and population stability in a long-lived mammal. This collaborative project will provide research opportunities and training to several undergraduate and graduate students at the three participating institutions. Results will be broadly disseminated through presentations and peer-reviewed publications, and to students via an extensive public outreach collaboration with museum programming, curriculum-aligned science lessons, and pedagogy training. Within any wild animal population there is substantial heterogeneity in reproductive rates and animal fitness. Not all individuals contribute to the population equally; some are able to produce more offspring than others and thus are considered to be of higher quality. This study aims to distinguish which physiological mechanisms (energy dynamics, aerobic capacity, and fertility) and underlying genetic factors make some Weddell seal females particularly successful at producing pups year after year, while others produce far fewer pups than the population average. In this project, an Organismal Energetics approach will identify key differences between high- and low-quality females in how they balance current and future reproductive success by tracking lactation costs, midsummer foraging success and pregnancy rates, and overwinter foraging patterns and live births the next year. Repeated sampling of individuals\u0027 physiological status (body composition, endocrinology, ovulation and pregnancy timing), will be paired with a whole-genome sequencing study. The second component of this study uses a Genome to Phenome approach to better understand how genetic differences between high- and low-quality females directly correspond to functional differences in transcription, translation, and ultimately phenotype. This component will contribute to the functional analysis and annotation of the Weddell seal genome. In combination, this project will make strides towards distinguishing the roles that plastic (physiological, behavioral) and fixed (genetic) factors play in complex, multifaceted traits such as fitness in a long-lived wild mammal. The project partners with established programs to implement extensive educational and outreach activities that will ensure wide dissemination to educators, students, and the public. It will contribute to a marine mammal exhibit at the Pink Palace Museum, and a PolarTREC science educator will participate in field work in Antarctica. This award is co-funded by the GEO-OPP-Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems Program, BIO-IOS-Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "McMurdo; MAMMALS", "locations": "McMurdo", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shero, Michelle; Hindle, Allyson; Burns, Jennifer; Briggs, Brandon", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Physiological and Genetic Correlates of Reproductive Success in High- versus Low-Quality Weddell seals", "uid": "p0010369", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "2114502 Tinto, Kirsteen", "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, 19 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). An important part of understanding future climate change is predicting changes in how fast the ice in Antarctica is moving. If ice flows more quickly towards the ocean, it will have a direct impact on sea level rise. One of the things that can influence the ice flow is the type of rock below the ice coverage in Antarctica. Sedimentary basins are large regions where sedimentary rocks accumulated in the past, often under ancient seas. It has been observed that where there are sediments below the ice, the ice can flow faster. This project seeks to understand what is below the ice and how the underlying rock influences the ice flow. Is it hard, crystalline rock? Is it a sedimentary basin? What is the relationship between sediments and ice flow? The answers to these questions will be addressed by using a combination of available data and geophysical methods. Information from well-known rock-types will be used to train the computer to recognize these features by using an application of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, which will help the characterization and identification of unknown sedimentary basins beneath the ice. The results of this project will be disseminated to a broad audience by holding workshops for teacher and students to explain our findings under the ice and to introduce the machine learning technique. Open-source codes used during this project will be made available for use in higher-level classrooms as well as in further studies. To date, no comprehensive distribution of onshore and offshore sedimentary basins over Antarctica has been developed. A combination of large-scale datasets will be used to characterize known basins and identify new sedimentary basins to produce the first continent-wide mapping of sedimentary basins and provide improved basal parametrizations conditions that have the potential to support more realistic ice sheet models. Available geophysical compilations of data and the location of well-known sedimentary basins will be used to apply an ensemble machine learning algorithm. The machine learning algorithm will learn complex relationships by voting among a collection of randomized decision trees. The gravity signal related to sedimentary basins known from other (e.g. seismic) techniques will be evaluated and unknown basins from aerogravity data regression analyses will be proposed by calculating a gravity residual that reflects density inhomogeneities. The gravimetric sedimentary basins identified from the regression analyses will be compared with an independent method of identifying sedimentary distribution, the Werner deconvolution method of estimating depth to magnetic sources. The hypothesis, which is sedimentary basins are correlated to fast ice flow behavior, will be tested by comparing the location of the sedimentary basins with locations of high ice flow by using available ice velocity observations. A relationship between sedimentary basins and ice streams will be defined qualitatively and quantitatively, aiming to evaluate if there are ice streams where no sedimentary basins are reported, or sedimentary basins with no ice streams related. The findings of these project can confirm if the presence of abundant sediments is a pre-requisite for ice streaming. Analyzing previously known sedimentary basins and identifying new ones in Antarctica is central to evaluating the influence of subglacial sediments on the ice sheet flow. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GRAVITY ANOMALIES; ICE SHEETS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Constantino, Renata", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Pan-Antarctic Assessment of Sedimentary Basins and the Onset of Streaming Ice Flow from Machine Learning and Aerogravity Regression Analyses", "uid": "p0010351", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2139497 Balco, Gregory", "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, 21 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will conduct basic research into geological dating techniques that are useful for determining the age of glacial deposits in polar regions, Antarctica in particular. These techniques are necessary for determining how large the polar ice sheets were in the geologic past, including during past periods of warm climate that likely resemble present and near-future conditions. Thus, they represent an important technical capability needed for estimating the response of polar ice sheets to climate warming. Because changes in the size of polar ice sheets are the largest potential contribution to future global sea-level change, this capability is also relevant to understanding likely sea-level impacts of future climate change. The research in this project comprises several observational and experimental approaches to improving the speed, efficiency, cost, and accuracy of these techniques, as well as a scientific outreach program aimed at making the resulting capabilities more broadly available to other researchers. The project supports a postdoctoral scholar and contributes to human resources development in polar and climate science. The project focuses on several areas of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry, which is a geochemical dating method that relies on the production and decay of cosmic-ray-produced radionuclides in surface rocks. Measurements of these nuclides can be used to quantify the duration of surface exposure and ice cover at locations in Antarctica that are covered and uncovered by changes in the size of the Antarctic ice sheets, thus providing a means of reconstructing past ice-sheet change. The first proposed set of experiments are aimed at implementing a \u0027virtual mineral separation\u0027 approach to cosmogenic noble gas analysis that may allow measurement of nuclide concentrations in certain minerals without physically separating the minerals from the host rock. If feasible, this would realize significant speed and cost improvements for this type of analysis. A second set of experiments will focus on means of identifying and quantifying non-cosmogenic background inventories of some relevant nuclides, which is intended to improve the measurement sensitivity and precision for cosmic-ray-produced inventories of these nuclides. A third focus area aims to improve capabilities to measure multiple cosmic-ray-produced nuclides in the same sample, which has the potential to improve the accuracy of dating methods based on these nuclides and to expand the situations in which these methods can be applied. If successful, these experiments are likely to improve a number of applications of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry relevant to Antarctic research, including subglacial bedrock exposure dating, dating of multimillion-year-old glacial deposits, and surface-process studies useful in understanding landform evolution and ecosystem dynamics. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "California; LABORATORY; AMD; GEOCHEMISTRY; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; USA/NSF", "locations": "California", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Balco, Gregory", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Targeted Basic Research to Enable Antarctic Science Applications of Cosmogenic-Nuclide Geochemistry", "uid": "p0010343", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1543367 Shubin, Neil", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((158.3 -77.5,158.54000000000002 -77.5,158.78 -77.5,159.02 -77.5,159.26 -77.5,159.5 -77.5,159.74 -77.5,159.98 -77.5,160.22 -77.5,160.45999999999998 -77.5,160.7 -77.5,160.7 -77.605,160.7 -77.71,160.7 -77.815,160.7 -77.92,160.7 -78.025,160.7 -78.13,160.7 -78.235,160.7 -78.34,160.7 -78.445,160.7 -78.55,160.45999999999998 -78.55,160.22 -78.55,159.98 -78.55,159.74 -78.55,159.5 -78.55,159.26 -78.55,159.02 -78.55,158.78 -78.55,158.54000000000002 -78.55,158.3 -78.55,158.3 -78.445,158.3 -78.34,158.3 -78.235,158.3 -78.13,158.3 -78.025,158.3 -77.92,158.3 -77.815,158.3 -77.71,158.3 -77.605,158.3 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian); Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian) 2 (2018-2019)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601580", "doi": "10.15784/601580", "keywords": "Acanthodii; Antarctica; Chondrichthyes; Early Vertebrates; Osteolepiformes; Paleontology; Placodermi; Transantarctic Mountains; Vertebrate Evolution", "people": "Daeschler, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601580"}, {"dataset_uid": "601584", "doi": "10.15784/601584", "keywords": "Acanthodii; Antarctica; Chondrichthyes; Early Vertebrates; Osteolepiformes; Paleontology; Placodermi; Transantarctic Mountains; Vertebrate Evolution", "people": "Daeschler, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Vertebrate Fossils from the Aztec Siltstone (Mid-Late Devonian) 2 (2018-2019)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601584"}], "date_created": "Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This research will provide new insights into the relationships and history of sharks, fish and limbed animals. Understanding these relationships forms the backbone for both basic and applied science because fish often serve as models of human traits and diseases. Some of the main lines of evidence for these relationships come from fossils in rocks over 380 million years old that were originally deposited as ancient rivers and streams. Because rocks of this type and age are abundantly exposed along a number of the dry valleys and mountains of Antarctica, the investigation of these areas holds exceptional promise for discoveries that can have a broad impact. The fieldwork will involve geological mapping and assessment of the rocks with detailed reconnaissance for the fossils that they may hold. Fossil discoveries form the backbone for public communication of the methods and results of scientific research-- these studies will be used as vehicles for training of students at multiple levels as well as communication of science to the broader non-science citizen base. The discovery, description, and analysis of Middle to Late Devonian (390-355 Million years ago) vertebrates and depositional environments provide important data on the emergence of novel anatomical structures, faunas, and habitats during a critical interval in the history of life and earth. Biological innovation during this time includes the early evolution of freshwater fish, the origins of major groups of vertebrates (e.g., sharks, lobe and ray-finned fish, tetrapods), and the expansion and elaboration of non-marine ecosystems. Accordingly, expanding our knowledge of vertebrate diversity during the Middle and Late Devonian will provide new evidence on the relationships of the major groups of vertebrates, the assembly of novelties that ultimately enabled tetrapods to invade land, the origin and early evolution of sharks and their relatives, and the assembly and expansion of non-marine ecosystems generally. The Aztec Siltstone of Antarctica Middle-Late Devonian; Givetian-Frasnian Stages) has exceptional potential to produce new paleontological evidence of these events and to illuminate the temporal, ecological, and geographic context in which they occurred. It is essentially fossiliferous throughout its known exposure range, something that is rare for Middle-Late Devonian non-marine rocks anywhere in the world. In addition, fine-grained meandering stream deposits are abundantly exposed in the Aztec Siltstone and are recognized as an important locus for the discovery of well-preserved Devonian fish, including stem tetrapods and their relatives. Given the exceedingly fossiliferous nature of the Aztec Siltstone, the large number of taxa known only from partial material, and the amount of promising exposure yet to be worked, a dedicated reconnaissance, collection, and research effort is designed to recover important new fossil material and embed it in a stratigraphic and sedimentological context. The first major objective of this study is the recovery, preparation, and description of Middle-Late Devonian fossil taxa. Ensuing investigation of the phylogenetic affinities, taphonomic occurrence, and stratigraphic position of fossil assemblages will allow both local and global comparisons of biotic diversity. These analyses will inform: 1) higher level phylogenetic hypotheses of jawed vertebrates, 2) biostratigraphic and biogeographic analysis of the distribution of the Middle-Late Devonian fish, and 3) paleobiological investigation of the elaboration of terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The broader impacts are derived from the utility of paleontology and Antarctic expeditionary science as educational tools with powerful narratives. Specific goals include affiliations with local urban secondary schools (using established relationships for broadening participation) and collegiate and graduate training. Wider dissemination of knowledge to the general public is a direct product of ongoing interactions with national and international media (print, television, internet).", "east": 160.7, "geometry": "POINT(159.5 -78.025)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Transantarctic Mountains; USA/NSF; MACROFOSSILS; Fossils; USAP-DC", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e DEVONIAN", "persons": "Shubin, Neil; Daeschler, Edward B", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.55, "title": "Middle-Late Devonian Vertebrates of Antarctica", "uid": "p0010340", "west": 158.3}, {"awards": "2201129 Fischer, Karen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Crustal thicknesses in Antarctica from Sp receiver functions; Lithospheric thicknesses in Antarctica from Sp receiver functions", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601899", "doi": "10.15784/601899", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; LAB; Lithosphere; Lithospheric Thickness", "people": "Brown, Sarah; Fischer, Karen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Lithospheric thicknesses in Antarctica from Sp receiver functions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601899"}, {"dataset_uid": "601898", "doi": "10.15784/601898", "keywords": "Antarctica; Crust; Cryosphere; Moho", "people": "Brown, Sarah; Fischer, Karen", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Crustal thicknesses in Antarctica from Sp receiver functions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601898"}], "date_created": "Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The western portion of the Antarctic continent is very active in terms of plate tectonic processes that can produce significant variations in the Earths mantle temperature as well as partial melting of the mantle. In addition to these internal processes, the ice sheet in western Antarctica is melting due to Earths warming climate and adding water to the ocean. These changes in ice mass cause adjustments in rocks within the Earth\u0027s crust, allowing the surface to rebound in some locations and fall in others, altering the geographical pattern of sea-level change. However, the solid Earth response depends strongly on the strength of the rocks at a wide range of timescales which is not well-known and varies with temperature and other rock properties. This project has three primary goals. (1) It will assess how processes such as rifting, mantle upwelling and lithospheric instability have altered the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere of western Antarctica, contributing to a planet-wide understanding of these processes. (2) It will use new measurements of mantle and crust properties to estimate the rate at which heat from the solid Earth flows into the base of the ice, which is important for modeling the rates at which the ice melts and flows. (3) It will places bounds on mantle viscosity, which is key for modeling the interaction of the solid Earth with changing ice and water masses and their implications for sea-level rise. To accomplish these goals, new resolution of crust and mantle structure will be obtained by analyzing seismic waves from distant earthquakes that have been recorded at numerous seismic stations in Antarctica. These analyses will include new combinations of seismic wave data that provide complementary information about mantle temperature, heat flow and viscosity. This project will provide educational and career opportunities to a Brown University graduate student, undergraduates from groups underrepresented in science who will come to Brown University for a summer research program, and other undergraduates. The project will bring together faculty and students for a seminar at Brown that explores the connections between the solid Earth and ice processes in Antarctica. Project research will be incorporated in outreach to local public elementary schools and high schools. This research addresses key questions about mantle processes and properties in western Antarctica. What are the relative impacts of rifting, mantle plumes, and lithospheric delamination in the evolution of the lithosphere and asthenosphere? Where is topography isostatically compensated, and where are dynamic processes such as plate flexure or tractions from 3-D mantle flow required? What are the bounds on heat flow and mantle viscosity, which represent important inputs to models of ice sheet evolution and its feedback from the solid Earth? To address these questions, this project will measure mantle and crust properties using seismic tools that have not yet been applied in Antarctica: regional-scale measurement of mantle attenuation from surface waves; Sp body wave phases to image mantle velocity gradients such as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary; and surface wave amplification and ellipticity. The resulting models of seismic attenuation and velocity will be jointly interpreted to shed new light on temperature, bulk composition, volatile content, and partial melt, using a range of laboratory-derived constitutive laws, while considering data from mantle xenoliths. To test the relative roles of rifting, mantle plumes, and delamination, and to assess isostatic support for Antarctic topography, the predictions of these processes will be compared to the new models of crust and mantle properties. To improve bounds on western Antarctic heat flow, seismic attenuation and velocity will be used in empirical comparisons and in direct modeling of vertical temperature gradients. To better measure mantle viscosity at the timescales of glacial isostatic adjustment, frequency-dependent viscosity will be estimated from the inferred mantle conditions. This project will contribute to the education and career development of the following: a Brown University Ph.D. student, Brown undergraduates, and undergraduates from outside the university will be involved through the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) Leadership Alliance NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site which focuses on geoscience summer research experiences for underrepresented students. The project will be the basis for a seminar at Brown that explores the connections between the solid Earth and cryosphere in Antarctica and will contribute to outreach in local public elementary and high schools. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; West Antarctica; USA/NSF; SEISMIC SURFACE WAVES; AMD; PLATE TECTONICS; Amd/Us; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fischer, Karen; Dalton, Colleen", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Probing the Western Antarctic Lithosphere and Asthenosphere with New Approaches to Imaging Seismic Wave Attenuation and Velocity", "uid": "p0010339", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1745082 Beilman, David; 1745068 Booth, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.4 -62.4,-63.910000000000004 -62.4,-63.42 -62.4,-62.93000000000001 -62.4,-62.440000000000005 -62.4,-61.95 -62.4,-61.46 -62.4,-60.97 -62.4,-60.480000000000004 -62.4,-59.99 -62.4,-59.5 -62.4,-59.5 -62.7,-59.5 -63,-59.5 -63.3,-59.5 -63.6,-59.5 -63.900000000000006,-59.5 -64.2,-59.5 -64.5,-59.5 -64.80000000000001,-59.5 -65.10000000000001,-59.5 -65.4,-59.99 -65.4,-60.480000000000004 -65.4,-60.97 -65.4,-61.46 -65.4,-61.95 -65.4,-62.440000000000005 -65.4,-62.93000000000001 -65.4,-63.42 -65.4,-63.910000000000004 -65.4,-64.4 -65.4,-64.4 -65.10000000000001,-64.4 -64.80000000000001,-64.4 -64.5,-64.4 -64.2,-64.4 -63.900000000000006,-64.4 -63.6,-64.4 -63.3,-64.4 -63,-64.4 -62.7,-64.4 -62.4))", "dataset_titles": "LMG2002 Expedtition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200222", "doi": "10.7284/908802", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG2002 Expedtition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG2002"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Warming on the western Antarctic Peninsula in the later 20th century has caused widespread changes in the cryosphere (ice and snow) and terrestrial ecosystems. These recent changes along with longer-term climate and ecosystem histories will be deciphered using peat deposits. Peat accumulation can be used to assess the rate of glacial retreat and provide insight into ecological processes on newly deglaciated landscapes in the Antarctic Peninsula. This project builds on data suggesting recent ecosystem transformations that are linked to past climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide a timeline to assess the extent and rate of recent glacial change. The study will produce a climate record for the coastal low-elevation terrestrial region, which will refine the major climate shifts of up to 6 degrees C in the recent past (last 12,000 years). A novel terrestrial record of the recent glacial history will provide insight into observed changes in climate and sea-ice dynamics in the western Antarctic Peninsula and allow for comparison with off-shore climate records captured in sediments. Observations and discoveries from this project will be disseminated to local schools and science centers. The project provides training and career development for a postdoctoral scientist as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The research presents a new systematic survey to reconstruct ecosystem and climate change for the coastal low-elevation areas on the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) using proxy records preserved in late Holocene peat deposits. Moss and peat samples will be collected and analyzed to generate a comprehensive data set of late-Holocene climate change and ecosystem dynamics. The goal is to document and understand the transformations of landscape and terrestrial ecosystems on the western AP during the late Holocene. The testable hypothesis is that coastal regions have experienced greater climate variability than evidenced in ice-core records and that past warmth has facilitated dramatic ecosystem and cryosphere response. A primary product of the project is a robust reconstruction of late Holocene climate changes for coastal low-elevation terrestrial areas using multiple lines of evidence from peat-based biological and geochemical proxies, which will be used to compare with climate records derived from marine sediments and ice cores from the AP region. These data will be used to test several ideas related to novel peat-forming ecosystems (such as Antarctic hairgrass bogs) in past warmer climates and climate controls over ecosystem establishment and migration to help assess the nature of the Little Ice Age cooling and cryosphere response. The chronology of peat cores will be established by radiocarbon dating of macrofossils and Bayesian modeling. The high-resolution time series of ecosystem and climate changes will help put the observed recent changes into a long-term context to bridge climate dynamics over different time scales. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -59.5, "geometry": "POINT(-61.95 -63.900000000000006)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; ISOTOPES; USAP-DC; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEDIMENTS; Amd/Us; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctic Peninsula; AMD; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; USA/NSF; RADIOCARBON", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -62.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Beilman, David; Booth, Robert", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.4, "title": "Collaborative Research: Reconstructing Late Holocene Ecosystem and Climate Shifts from Peat Records in the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010337", "west": -64.4}, {"awards": "2037598 Alberto, Filipe; 2037670 Heine, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -76,162.8 -76,163.6 -76,164.4 -76,165.2 -76,166 -76,166.8 -76,167.6 -76,168.4 -76,169.2 -76,170 -76,170 -76.3,170 -76.6,170 -76.9,170 -77.2,170 -77.5,170 -77.8,170 -78.1,170 -78.4,170 -78.7,170 -79,169.2 -79,168.4 -79,167.6 -79,166.8 -79,166 -79,165.2 -79,164.4 -79,163.6 -79,162.8 -79,162 -79,162 -78.7,162 -78.4,162 -78.1,162 -77.8,162 -77.5,162 -77.2,162 -76.9,162 -76.6,162 -76.3,162 -76))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 23 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Climate change is changing the number of sea-ice free days in coastal polar environments, which is impacting Antarctic communities. This study will evaluate the change in macroalgae (seaweed) communities to increased light availability in order to predict if macroalgae will be able to spread to newly ice-free locations faster than invertebrates (e.g., sponges, bryozoans, tunicates, and polychaetes) in shallow underwater rocky habitats. Study sites will include multiple locations in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica. This study will establish patterns in plant properties, genetic diversity and reproductive characteristics of two species of seaweeds, Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata in relation to depth and light. Long-term changes will be assesed by comparing to results from a survey in 1980. This will be the first study in the region to estimate the potential effects of climate, in particular reductions in annual sea ice cover and resulting increase in light intensity and duration, on shifts in macroalgal communities in McMurdo Sound. Three-dimensional photogrammetry will also be used to evaluate benthic community structure on the newly discovered offshore Dellbridge Seamount. Visualization from the video footage will be shared with web-based interactive applications to engage and educate the public in polar ecology and factors causing changes in marine community ecosystem structure in this important region. This project is evaluating macroalgae biogeography in Antarctic coastal waters near McMurdo Sound, a relatively understudied region that is experiencing large changes in fast sea ice coverage. The population ecology and genetic diversity of nearshore shallow and deeper offshore benthic macroalgal communities of Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata will be assessed for percentage cover, biomass, blade length, and reproductive characteristics at seven locations: Cape Royds, Cape Evans, Little Razorback Islands, Turtle Rock, Arrival Heights, Granite Harbor, and Dellbridge Seamount in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The team is also assessing differential reproductive successes at different depths and comparing results to populations surveyed in 1980. The genetic diversity of the two species is being estimated using a combination of whole genome sequencing and species-specific microsatellite genetic markers. Samples from this study will be compared to samples collected from other regions in Antarctica such as the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. In addition, a macroalgal assemblage and 3D models of the community structure will be generated using photogrammetry from the newly discovered Dellbridge Seamount that is located 2 km offshore in McMurdo Sound. With the addition of photogrammetry and 3D visualization to this research, web-based applications will be used to engage and educate the public in subtidal polar ecology, population genetics, and the importance of Antarctic science to their lives. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(166 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; McMurdo Sound; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS); USA/NSF", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Heine, John; Goldberg, Nisse; Alberto, Filipe", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Biogeography, Population Genetics, and Ecology of two Common Species of Fleshy Red Algae in McMurdo Sound", "uid": "p0010322", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "2019719 Brook, Edward", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "2019-2020 Allan Hills Field Report; 2022-23 Allan Hills Intermediate Ice Core Site Selection Field Report; 2023-2024 Allan Hills End-of-Season Science Report; Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) flight based HDF5/matlab format data; Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) transect based (science organized) unfocused data; Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) flight based data HDF5/matlab format; Airborne Radar Data: 2023-24 (CXA2) transect based (science organized) unfocused data; ALHIC2201 and ALHIC2302 3D ECM and Layer Orientations; Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report; Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022; Allan Hills I-188 Field Season Report 2022-2023; Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O; CO2 and CH4 from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; COLDEX VHF MARFA Open Polar Radar radargrams; Concentration and flux of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020; MOT data (Xe/Kr) from Allan Hills ice cores ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903; NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles; NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets; NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles; NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets; NSF COLDEX Ice Penetrating Radar Derived Grids of the Southern Flank of Dome C; NSF COLDEX/Open Polar Radar Example Delay Doppler Classification of Englacial Reflectors; NSF COLDEX Raw MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar data; Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions and associated d-excess of ice from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Rare earth elemental concentrations of leached ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area; Replicate O-17-excess by continuous flow laser spectroscopy for an ice core section at Summit, Greenland; Rising Seas: Representations of Antarctica, Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise in U.S. Newspaper Coverage; Snapshot record of CO2 and CH4 from the Allan Hills, Antarctica, ranging from 400,000 to 3 million years old; Social network analysis to understand participant engagement in transdisciplinary team science: a large U.S. science and technology center case study; Strontium and neodymium isotope compositions of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200434", "doi": "10.18738/T8/99IEOG", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/99IEOG"}, {"dataset_uid": "601620", "doi": "10.15784/601620", "keywords": "18O; Allan Hills; Allan Hills Blue Ice; Antarctica; Blue Ice; Delta 15N; Delta 18O; Dole Effect; Firn Thickness; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Chronology; Ice Core Records", "people": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills CMC3 ice core d18Oatm, d15N, dO2/N2, dAr/N2, d40/36Ar, d40/38Ar 2021 \u0026 2022", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601620"}, {"dataset_uid": "200467", "doi": "doi:10.15784/601825", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Concentration and flux of ice core dust from ALHIC1903 drilled at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601825"}, {"dataset_uid": "601659", "doi": "10.15784/601659", "keywords": "Antarctica; 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Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Shaya, Margot; Epifanio, Jenna; Horlings, Annika; Manos, John-Morgan; Conway, Howard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Allan Hills I-188 Field Season Report 2022-2023", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601826"}, {"dataset_uid": "601824", "doi": "10.15784/601824", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Coldex; Cryosphere", "people": "Mayo, Emalia; Epifanio, Jenna; Marks Peterson, Julia; Higgins, John; Brook, Edward J.; Shackleton, Sarah; Carter, Austin; Manos, John-Morgan; Hudak, Abigail; Banerjee, Asmita; Morton, Elizabeth; Jayred, Michael; Goverman, Ashley", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2023-2024 Allan Hills End-of-Season Science Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601824"}, {"dataset_uid": "601819", "doi": "10.15784/601819", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Zajicek, Anna; Higgins, John; Shackleton, Sarah; Morgan, Jacob; Epifanio, Jenna; Kuhl, Tanner; Morton, Elizabeth; Nesbitt, Ian; Carter, Austin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2019-2020 Allan Hills Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601819"}, {"dataset_uid": "601854", "doi": "10.15784/601854", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere", "people": "Kirkpatrick, Liam; Shackleton, Sarah; Fudge, T. J.; Carter, Austin; Marks Peterson, Julia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "ALHIC2201 and ALHIC2302 3D ECM and Layer Orientations", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601854"}, {"dataset_uid": "200435", "doi": "10.18738/T8/PNBFOL", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Riegl Laser Altimeter Level 2 Geolocated Surface Elevation Triplets", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/PNBFOL"}, {"dataset_uid": "200462", "doi": "10.18738/T8/KHUT1U", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2023-24 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/KHUT1U"}, {"dataset_uid": "200461", "doi": "10.18738/T8/6T5JS6", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Texas Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "NSF COLDEX 2022-23 Level 2 Basal Specularity Content Profiles", "url": "https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/6T5JS6"}, {"dataset_uid": "601669", "doi": "10.15784/601669", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; GPR; Ice Core; Report", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Nesbitt, Ian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "I-165-M GPR Field Report 2019-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601669"}, {"dataset_uid": "601697", "doi": "10.15784/601697", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Apres; Ice Core; Ice Penetrating Radar; Temperature Profiles", "people": "Conway, Howard; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "2022-23 Allan Hills Intermediate Ice Core Site Selection Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601697"}, {"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Higgins, John; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Brook, Edward; Mayewski, Paul A.; Introne, Douglas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601863", "doi": null, "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Isotope Data", "people": "Introne, Douglas; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Kurbatov, Andrei V.; Mayewski, Paul A.; Brook, Edward; Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills ice water stable isotope record for dD, d18O", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601863"}, {"dataset_uid": "601895", "doi": "10.15784/601895", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Noble Gas", "people": "Higgins, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Heavy noble gases (Ar/Xe/Kr) from ALHIC1901, 1902, and 1903", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601895"}, {"dataset_uid": "200420", "doi": "10.18738/T8/J38CO5", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OPR", "science_program": null, "title": "Airborne Radar Data: 2022-23 (CXA1) flight based HDF5/matlab format data", "url": "https://data.cresis.ku.edu/data/rds/2022_Antarctica_BaslerMKB/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601696", "doi": "10.15784/601696", "keywords": "Allan Hills; Antarctica; Ice Core", "people": "Shackleton, Sarah; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Allan Hills", "title": "Allan Hills 2022-23 Shallow Ice Core Field Report", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601696"}, {"dataset_uid": "601768", "doi": "10.15784/601768", "keywords": "Antarctica; Coldex; East Antarctic Plateau; Glaciology; Radar Echo Sounder", "people": "Kerr, Megan; Buhl, Dillon; Ng, Gregory; Chan, Kristian; Kempf, Scott D.; Greenbaum, Jamin; Blankenship, Donald D.; Young, Duncan A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "COLDEX", "title": "NSF COLDEX Raw MARFA Ice Penetrating Radar data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601768"}, {"dataset_uid": "200419", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "University Digital Conservancy", "science_program": null, "title": "Rising Seas: Representations of Antarctica, Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise in U.S. Newspaper Coverage", "url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11299/265195"}], "date_created": "Sat, 21 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cores drilled through the Antarctic ice sheet provide a remarkable window on the evolution of Earth\u2019s climate and unique samples of the ancient atmosphere. The clear link between greenhouse gases and climate revealed by ice cores underpins much of the scientific understanding of climate change. Unfortunately, the existing data do not extend far enough back in time to reveal key features of climates warmer than today. COLDEX, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, will solve this problem by exploring Antarctica for sites to collect the oldest possible record of past climate recorded in the ice sheet. COLDEX will provide critical information for understanding how Earth\u2019s near-future climate may evolve and why climate varies over geologic time. New technologies will be developed for exploration and analysis that will have a long legacy for future research. An archive of old ice will stimulate new research for the next generations of polar scientists. COLDEX programs will galvanize that next generation of polar researchers, bring new results to other scientific disciplines and the public, and help to create a more inclusive and diverse scientific community. Knowledge of Earth\u2019s climate history is grounded in the geologic record. This knowledge is gained by measuring chemical, biological and physical properties of geologic materials that reflect elements of climate. Ice cores retrieved from polar ice sheets play a central role in this science and provide the best evidence for a strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate on geologic timescales. The goal of COLDEX is to extend the ice-core record of past climate to at least 1.5 million years by drilling and analyzing a continuous ice core in East Antarctica, and to much older times using discontinuous ice sections at the base and margin of the ice sheet. COLDEX will develop and deploy novel radar and melt-probe tools to rapidly explore the ice, use ice-sheet models to constrain where old ice is preserved, conduct ice coring, develop new analytical systems, and produce novel paleoclimate records from locations across East Antarctica. The search for Earth\u2019s oldest ice also provides a compelling narrative for disseminating information about past and future climate change and polar science to students, teachers, the media, policy makers and the public. COLDEX will engage and incorporate these groups through targeted professional development workshops, undergraduate research experiences, a comprehensive communication program, annual scientific meetings, scholarships, and broad collaboration nationally and internationally. COLDEX will provide a focal point for efforts to increase diversity in polar science by providing field, laboratory, mentoring and networking experiences for students and early career scientists from groups underrepresented in STEM, and by continuous engagement of the entire COLDEX community in developing a more inclusive scientific culture. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; AMD; Antarctica; Amd/Us; Coldex; USAP-DC; FIELD SURVEYS; ICE DEPTH/THICKNESS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Polar Special Initiatives; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.; Neff, Peter", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "Texas Data Repository", "repositories": "OPR; Texas Data Repository; UMN University Digital Conservancy; University Digital Conservancy; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "COLDEX", "south": -90.0, "title": "Center for Oldest Ice Exploration", "uid": "p0010321", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1643174 Padman, Laurence; 1643285 Joughin, Ian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-104 -73,-102.2 -73,-100.4 -73,-98.6 -73,-96.8 -73,-95 -73,-93.2 -73,-91.4 -73,-89.6 -73,-87.8 -73,-86 -73,-86 -73.8,-86 -74.6,-86 -75.4,-86 -76.2,-86 -77,-86 -77.8,-86 -78.6,-86 -79.4,-86 -80.2,-86 -81,-87.8 -81,-89.6 -81,-91.4 -81,-93.2 -81,-95 -81,-96.8 -81,-98.6 -81,-100.4 -81,-102.2 -81,-104 -81,-104 -80.2,-104 -79.4,-104 -78.6,-104 -77.8,-104 -77,-104 -76.2,-104 -75.4,-104 -74.6,-104 -73.8,-104 -73))", "dataset_titles": "Beta Version of Plume Model; Data associated with Ice-Shelf Retreat Drives Recent Pine Island Glacier Speedup and Ocean-Induced Melt Volume Directly Paces Ice Loss from Pine Island Glacier; icepack; Pine Island Basin Scale Model", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200313", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Beta Version of Plume Model", "url": "https://github.com/icepack/plumes"}, {"dataset_uid": "200314", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "icepack", "url": "https://github.com/icepack/icepack"}, {"dataset_uid": "200315", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Pine Island Basin Scale Model", "url": "https://github.com/fastice/icesheetModels"}, {"dataset_uid": "200290", "doi": "http://hdl.handle.net/1773/46687", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Uni. Washington ResearchWorks Archive", "science_program": null, "title": "Data associated with Ice-Shelf Retreat Drives Recent Pine Island Glacier Speedup and Ocean-Induced Melt Volume Directly Paces Ice Loss from Pine Island Glacier", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6069/2MZZ-6B61"}], "date_created": "Fri, 13 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 3-4 meters. Ice-sheet volume falls, and sea level increases, when more ice is lost to the ocean by glacier flow than is replaced by snowfall. Glacier speed is reduced when ice shelves, which are the floating extensions of the ice sheets, are present. Processes that affect ice shelf thickness and extent therefore influence the rates of grounded ice loss and sea-level rise. West Antarctica is currently losing ice, at an accelerating rate, with most loss occurring in the Amundsen Sea region via discharge from Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. This loss was initiated by increased circulation of relatively warm ocean water beneath these glacier\u0027s ice shelves, causing them to thin by melting. However, this melting also depends on how the changing shape of the ice shelves affects the ocean circulation beneath them and the speeds of the grounded glaciers upstream. Limited understanding of these processes leads to uncertainties in estimates of future ice loss. This interdisciplinary project brings together glaciologists and oceanographers from three US institutions to study the interactions between changing glacier flow, ice shelf shape and extent, and ocean circulation. Data and numerical models will be used to identify the key processes that determine how rapidly this region can shed ice. The project team will train postdocs and graduate students in cutting-edge modeling techniques, and educate the public about Antarctic ice loss through talks, school science fairs, and Seattle Science Center\u0027s annual Polar Science Weekend. The project team will conduct simulations, using a combination of ice-sheet and ocean models, to reduce uncertainties in projected ice loss from Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers by: (i) assessing how ice-shelf melt rates will change as the ice-shelf cavities evolve through melting and grounding-line retreat, and (ii) improving understanding of the sensitivity of sub-shelf melt rates to changes in ocean state on the nearby continental shelf. These studies will reduce uncertainty on ice loss and sea-level rise estimates, and lay the groundwork for development of future fully-coupled ice-sheet/ocean models. The project will first develop high-resolution ice-shelf-cavity circulation models driven by modern observed regional ocean state and validated with estimates of melt derived from satellite observations. Next, an ice-flow model will be used to estimate the future grounding retreat. An iterative process with the ocean-circulation and ice-flow models will then simulate melt rates at each stage of retreat. These results will help assess the validity of the hypothesis that unstable collapse of the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica is underway, which was based on simplified models of melt rate. These models will also provide a better understanding of the sensitivity of melt to regional forcing such as changes in Circumpolar Deep Water temperature and wind-driven changes in thermocline height. Finally, several semi-coupled ice-ocean simulations will help determine the influence of the ocean-circulation driven melt over the next several decades. 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Within the drylands on Earth, the Antarctic deserts, represented in this study by the McMurdo Dry Valleys, exemplify life in extreme environments with scarce water, low temperatures and long periods of darkness during the polar winter. There is a scarcity of methods to determine water availability, data necessary to predict which species are successful in the drylands, unless measurements are done manually or with field instruments. This project aims to develop a new method of determining soil moisture and use the new data to identify locations suitable for life. Combining these habitats with known species distributions in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, results from this project will predict which species should be present, and also what is the expected species distribution in a changing environment. In this way the project takes advantage of a combination of methods, from recent remote sensing products, ecological models and 30 years of field collections to bring a prediction of how life might change in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in a warmer, and possibly, moister future climate. This project benefits the National Science Foundation goals of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic biota and the processes that sustain life in extreme environments. The knowledge acquired in this project will be disseminated to other drylands through training of high-school curricular programming in Native American communities of the SouthWest. Part II: Technical description: Terrestrial environments in Antarctica are characterized by low liquid water supply, sub-zero temperatures and the polar night in winter months. During summer, melting of snow patches, seasonal steams from glacial melt and vicinity to lakes provide a variety of environments that maintain life, not yet studied at landscape-scale level for habitat suitability and the processes that drive them. This project proposes to integrate remote sensing, hydrological models and ecological models to establish habitat suitability for species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys based on water availability. The approach is at a landscape level in order to establish present-day and future scenarios of species distribution. There are four main objectives: remote sensing development of moisture levels in soils, combining biological and soil data, building and calibrating models of habitat suitability by combining species distribution and environmental variability and applying statistical species distribution model. The field data to develop habitat suitability and calibration of models will leverage a the 30-year dataset collected by the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research program. Mechanistic models developed will be essential to predict species distribution in future climate scenarios. Training of post-doctoral researchers and a graduate student will prepare for the next generation of Antarctic scientists. Results from this project will train high-school students from native American communities in the SouthWest where similar desert conditions exist. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.83, "geometry": "POINT(162.855 -77.625)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ACTIVE LAYER; Taylor Valley; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; AMD; MODELS; USA/NSF", "locations": "Taylor Valley", "north": -77.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Salvatore, Mark; Gooseff, Michael N.; Sokol, Eric; Barrett, John", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.78, "title": "Collaborative Research: Moving Beyond the Margins: Modeling Water Availability and Habitable Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Polar Desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys", "uid": "p0010316", "west": 161.88}, {"awards": "1643534 Cassar, Nicolas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-83 -62,-80.3 -62,-77.6 -62,-74.9 -62,-72.2 -62,-69.5 -62,-66.8 -62,-64.1 -62,-61.4 -62,-58.7 -62,-56 -62,-56 -63.1,-56 -64.2,-56 -65.3,-56 -66.4,-56 -67.5,-56 -68.6,-56 -69.7,-56 -70.8,-56 -71.9,-56 -73,-58.7 -73,-61.4 -73,-64.1 -73,-66.8 -73,-69.5 -73,-72.2 -73,-74.9 -73,-77.6 -73,-80.3 -73,-83 -73,-83 -71.9,-83 -70.8,-83 -69.7,-83 -68.6,-83 -67.5,-83 -66.4,-83 -65.3,-83 -64.2,-83 -63.1,-83 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Palmer LTER 18S rRNA gene metabarcodin; rDNA amplicon sequencing of WAP microbial community", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200286", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "rDNA amplicon sequencing of WAP microbial community", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRR6162326/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200285", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Palmer LTER 18S rRNA gene metabarcodin", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA508517"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project seeks to make detailed measurements of the oxygen content of the surface ocean along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Detailed maps of changes in net oxygen content will be combined with measurements of the surface water chemistry and phytoplankton distributions. The project will determine the extent to which on-shore or offshore phytoplankton blooms along the peninsula are likely to lead to different amounts of carbon being exported to the deeper ocean. The project team members will participate in the development of new learning tools at the Museum of Life and Science. They will also teach secondary school students about aquatic biogeochemistry and climate, drawing directly from the active science supported by this grant. The project will analyze oxygen in relation to argon that will allow determination of the physical and biological contributions to surface ocean oxygen dynamics. These assessments will be combined with spatial and temporal distributions of nutrients (iron and macronutrients) and irradiances. This will allow the investigators to unravel the complex interplay between ice dynamics, iron and physical mixing dynamics as they relate to Net Community Production (NCP) in the region. NCP measurements will be normalized to Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) and be used to help identify area of \"High Biomass and Low NCP\" and those with \"Low Biomass and High NCP\" as a function of microbial plankton community composition. The team will use machine learning methods- including decision tree assemblages and genetic programming- to identify plankton groups key to facilitating biological carbon fluxes. Decomposing the oxygen signal along the West Antarctic Peninsula will also help elucidate biotic and abiotic drivers of the O2 saturation to further contextualize the growing inventory of oxygen measurements (e.g. by Argo floats) throughout the global oceans.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-69.5 -67.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "West Antarctica; USAP-DC; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; AMD; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; Amd/Us", "locations": "West Antarctica", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cassar, Nicolas", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "NCBI", "repositories": "NCBI", "science_programs": null, "south": -73.0, "title": "Biological and Physical Drivers of Oxygen Saturation and Net Community Production Variability along the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0010303", "west": -83.0}, {"awards": "1643248 Hall, Brenda", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.3 -77.8,163.43 -77.8,163.56 -77.8,163.69 -77.8,163.82 -77.8,163.95 -77.8,164.08 -77.8,164.21 -77.8,164.34 -77.8,164.47 -77.8,164.6 -77.8,164.6 -77.85,164.6 -77.9,164.6 -77.95,164.6 -78,164.6 -78.05,164.6 -78.1,164.6 -78.15,164.6 -78.2,164.6 -78.25,164.6 -78.3,164.47 -78.3,164.34 -78.3,164.21 -78.3,164.08 -78.3,163.95 -78.3,163.82 -78.3,163.69 -78.3,163.56 -78.3,163.43 -78.3,163.3 -78.3,163.3 -78.25,163.3 -78.2,163.3 -78.15,163.3 -78.1,163.3 -78.05,163.3 -78,163.3 -77.95,163.3 -77.9,163.3 -77.85,163.3 -77.8))", "dataset_titles": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data; Marshall Valley U-Series Data; Pyramid Trough Radiocarbon Data; Walcott Glacier area radiocarbon data; Walcott Glacier Exposure Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601528", "doi": "10.15784/601528", "keywords": "234U/230Th Dating; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Last Glacial Maximum; Marshall Drift; Marshall Valley; MIS 6; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley U-Series Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601528"}, {"dataset_uid": "601615", "doi": "10.15784/601615", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Howchin Glacier; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range; Walcott Glacier", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Walcott Glacier area radiocarbon data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601615"}, {"dataset_uid": "601614", "doi": "10.15784/601614", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Pyramid Trough; Radiocarbon; Radiocarbon Dates; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Pyramid Trough Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601614"}, {"dataset_uid": "601616", "doi": "10.15784/601616", "keywords": "Antarctica; Beryllium-10; Exposure Age; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; McMurdo Sound; Royal Society Range; Walcott Glacier", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Walcott Glacier Exposure Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601616"}, {"dataset_uid": "601529", "doi": "10.15784/601529", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marshall Valley; Radiocarbon; Ross Sea Drift; Royal Society Range", "people": "Hall, Brenda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Marshall Valley Radiocarbon Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601529"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Hall/1643248 This award supports a project to reconstruct the behavior of a portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (the Ross Ice Sheet), using glacial geologic mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits contained in glacial moraines, at the end of the last glacial period. The results will be compared with other dating methods that will be used on alpine glaciers that terminated in the mountains of the Royal Society Range in East Antarctica during the last glacial maximum and whose landforms intersect with those of the Ross Ice Sheet. Results from this comparison will contribute to a better understanding of the Antarctic ice sheet during the most recent global warming that ended the last ice age. This period is of interest since it will help inform our understanding of Antarctic ice sheet behavior in a future climate warming. Such data also will help inform models that attempt to simulate not only the behavior of the ice sheet during the end of the last ice age, but also its future response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. The work will contribute to the education and training of both graduate and undergraduate students and results from the work will be incorporated in classes at the University of Maine. Results derived from the research will be disseminated to the public through lectures and visits to K-12 classrooms and data from this project will be downloadable from a University of Maine web site, as well as from public data repositories. The Antarctic Ice Sheet exerts a key control on global sea levels, both past and future, and strongly influences Southern Hemisphere and even global climate and ocean circulation. And yet a complete understanding of the evolution of the ice sheet over the last glacial cycle and of the mechanisms that caused it to advance and retreat is still lacking. Of particular interest is the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the global warming that ended the last ice age, because it yields important clues about likely future ice-sheet behavior under a warming climate. In this project, scientists will reconstruct the thinning history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross Sea sector during the last glacial/interglacial transition on the headlands of the southern Royal Society Range. They will use a combination of glacial geomorphological mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits enclosed within recessional moraines. Finally, this record will be compared with a beryllium- and radiocarbon-dated chronology that will be produced of adjacent independent alpine glaciers that terminated on land during the last glacial maximum and whose deposits show cross-cutting relationships with those of the ice sheet. Results from this comparison will bear on the behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the termination of the last ice age. This work will support six students, including at least three undergraduates, and involves field work in the Antarctic.", "east": 164.6, "geometry": "POINT(163.95 -78.05)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; Royal Society Range; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; AMD; LABORATORY; GLACIAL LANDFORMS", "locations": "Royal Society Range", "north": -77.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hall, Brenda; Denton, George", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.3, "title": "Response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the last great global warming", "uid": "p0010301", "west": 163.3}, {"awards": "1744954 Lubin, Dan", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-148.81 -81.65)", "dataset_titles": "Siple Dome Surface Energy Flux", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601540", "doi": "10.15784/601540", "keywords": "Antarctica; Siple Dome; Spectroscopy", "people": "Ghiz, Madison; Lubin, Dan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Siple Dome Surface Energy Flux", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601540"}], "date_created": "Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Atmospheric warming has been a major factor in the loss of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. In West Antarctica, oceanic warming is presently regarded as the largest source of stress on both the ice-shelves and at the grounding lines of the ice sheets. The loss of ice shelf buttressing and grounding line retreat may have already induced irreversible loss of Thwaites Glacier. To advance predictive models more data is needed regarding both water-induced fracturing on an ice shelf and marine ice cliff instability near the grounding line. This project will help advance understanding of atmospheric circulation and solar radiation over West Antarctica and the Ross Ice Shelf that lead to surface melting. In support of this project, and incorporating Antarctic science from this work, UCSD educators will sponsor a workshop series for exemplary middle and/or high school science teachers designed to address this need. Teacher participants will be carefully selected for their demonstrated leadership skills and will eventually become part of an cadre of \"master\" science teachers who will serve as local leaders in disseminating strategies and tools for addressing the NGSS (Ca Next Gen. of Sci. Eng. Stds.) to teachers throughout the county. For the summer field seasons requested, UCSD scientists will deploy a suite instruments to measure downwelling and net shortwave and longwave fluxes, sensible and latent heat fluxes, and near-surface meteorology. This suite of instruments will be self-reliant with power requirements and will be supportable in the field with a single Twin Otter aircraft. The investigators plan to deploy this suite as a remote ice camp with a field party of 2-3 personnel, making measurements for at up to one month during each of the sampled summer field seasons. These measurements will be analyzed and interpreted to determine mesoscale conditions that govern surface melt in West Antarctica, in the context of improving coupled climate model parameterizations. 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": -148.81, "geometry": "POINT(-148.81 -81.65)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ICE SHEETS; Siple Dome; USAP-DC; ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION; AMD; FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; USA/NSF", "locations": "Siple Dome", "north": -81.65, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lubin, Dan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -81.65, "title": "Surface Energy Balance on West Antarctica and the Ross Ice Shelf", "uid": "p0010296", "west": -148.81}, {"awards": "2039419 Swanger, Kate", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77.3,161.2 -77.3,161.4 -77.3,161.6 -77.3,161.8 -77.3,162 -77.3,162.2 -77.3,162.4 -77.3,162.6 -77.3,162.8 -77.3,163 -77.3,163 -77.35,163 -77.4,163 -77.45,163 -77.5,163 -77.55,163 -77.6,163 -77.65,163 -77.7,163 -77.75,163 -77.8,162.8 -77.8,162.6 -77.8,162.4 -77.8,162.2 -77.8,162 -77.8,161.8 -77.8,161.6 -77.8,161.4 -77.8,161.2 -77.8,161 -77.8,161 -77.75,161 -77.7,161 -77.65,161 -77.6,161 -77.55,161 -77.5,161 -77.45,161 -77.4,161 -77.35,161 -77.3))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free region in Antarctica and home to a seasonally active hydrologic system, with streams and saline lakes. Streams are fed by summer meltwater from local glaciers and snowbanks. Therefore, streamflow is tied to summer climate conditions such as air temperatures, ground temperatures, winds, and incoming solar radiation. Based on 50 years of monitoring, summer stream activity has been observed to change, and it likely varied during the geologic past in response to regional climate change and fluctuating glaciers. Thus, deposits from these streams can address questions about past climate, meltwater, and lake level changes in this region. How did meltwater streamflow respond to past climate change? How did streamflow vary during periods of glacial advance and retreat? At what times did large lakes fill many of the valleys and what was their extent? The researchers plan to acquire a record of stream activity for the Dry Valleys that will span the three largest valleys and a time period of about 100,000 years. This record will come from a series of active and ancient alluvial fans that were deposited by streams as they flowed from valley sidewalls onto valley floors. The study will provide a long-term context with which to assess recent observed changes to stream activity and lake levels. The research will be led by two female mid-career investigators and contribute significantly to student research opportunities and education. The research will contribute to graduate and undergraduate education by including students in both field and laboratory research, as well as incorporating data and results into the classroom. The research will be disseminated to K-12 and non-scientific communities through outreach that includes professional development training for K-12 teachers in eastern Massachusetts, development of hands-on activities, visits to K-12 classrooms, and STEM education and literacy activities in North Carolina. The PIs propose to constrain rates of fluvial deposition and periods of increased fluvial activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. During 50 years of hydrologic monitoring in the Dry Valleys, scientists have observed that streams exhibit significant response to summer conditions. Previous studies of glacial and lacustrine deposits indicate regional glacier advance in the Dry Valleys during recent interglacial periods and high lake levels during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with potentially significant low and high stands during the Holocene. However, the geologic record of meltwater activity is poorly constrained. The PIs seek to develop the first spatially-extensive record of stream deposition in the Dry Valleys by analyzing and dating alluvial fans. Given that alluvial fans are deposited by summer meltwater streams in a relatively stable tectonic setting, this record will serve as a proxy of regional summer climate conditions. Meltwater streams are an important component of the regional hydrologic system, connecting glaciers to lakes and affecting ecosystems and soils. A record of fluvial deposition is key to understanding the relationship between past climate change and regional hydrology. The proposed research will include remote- and field-based mapping of alluvial fans, stream channels, and meltwater sources as well as modeling potential incoming solar radiation to the fans and moisture sources during the austral summer. In the field, the PIs will document stratigraphy, collect near-surface sediments from 25 fans across four valleys (Taylor, Pearse, Wright, and Victoria), and collect 2- to 3-m vertical cores of ice-cemented sediments from three alluvial fan complexes. The PIs will then conduct depositional dating of fluvial sands via optically stimulated luminescence, and analyze mineralogy and bulk major element chemistry with X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. From these analyses, the PIs propose to (1) determine the timing of local- to regional-scale periods of high fluvial deposition, (2) calculate depositional rates, and (3) constrain depositional environments and sediment provenance. Given that many of the alluvial fans occur below the hypothesized maximum extents of glacially-dammed lakes in Wright and Victoria valleys, detailed stratigraphy, sediment provenance, and OSL dating of these fans could shed light on ongoing debates regarding the timing and extent of LGM and post-LGM lakes. The work will support a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD student, and many undergraduate and master\u2019s students in cross-disciplinary research that spans stratigraphy, geochemistry, paleoclimatology and physics. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(162 -77.55)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; SEDIMENTS; USA/NSF; AMD; Dry Valleys; USAP-DC", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Swanger, Kate", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: Holocene and Late Pleistocene Stream Deposition in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica as a Proxy for Glacial Meltwater and Paleoclimate", "uid": "p0010285", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1744998 Fogt, Ryan; 1745089 Raphael, Marilyn", "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": "Antarctic Sea Ice Reconstructions", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200261", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5709767.v1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Figshare", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Sea Ice Reconstructions", "url": "https://figshare.com/collections/Antarctic_Sea_Ice_Reconstructions/5709767"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In contrast to the Arctic, sea ice cover in most Antarctic regions has increased since 1979. The area-integrated total sea ice extent grew to record maximum values in four of the last six years, yet the 2015-16 summer was marked by record low ice cover. While impressive, it is difficult to assess the significance of these very recent records in the context of longer term variability, since the continuous satellite record only dates back to 1978. The limited length of the continuous sea ice record, is a significant confounding factor in ascertaining whether the observed current changes are due to natural variability alone, or represent a forced anthropogenic response. As a result, the scientific understanding of the Antarctic sea ice trends remains poor, as does confidence in projections of future Antarctic sea ice trends. To address this challenge, this project seeks to reconstruct sea ice extent and sea ice concentration, using the relationships between satellite-observed sea ice, sea level pressure, tropical sea surface temperature, ENSO indices, some proxy data (ice cores, etc.), and in situ Southern Ocean temperature data. The aim of the study is to collect and combine these ancillary records as accurately as possible while retaining the variability associated with the intrinsic uncertainty in the available field data. A range of statistical methods for modelling the relationship between satellite era sea-ice data using flexible regression, Bayesian and multivariate dynamic spatial temporal (MDST) methods will be used. The study will entrain cross-disciplinary training of undergraduate and a graduate student at UCLA and Ohio University. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; Amd/Us; SEA ICE; USAP-DC; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fogt, Ryan", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Figshare", "repositories": "Figshare", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Understanding Contemporary Variability in Antarctic Sea Ice: Ensemble Reconstruction of Sea Ice Extent and Concentration for the 20th Century", "uid": "p0010284", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1643394 Buizert, Christo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -65,-144 -65,-108 -65,-72 -65,-36 -65,0 -65,36 -65,72 -65,108 -65,144 -65,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,180 -72.5,180 -75,180 -77.5,180 -80,180 -82.5,180 -85,180 -87.5,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87.5,-180 -85,-180 -82.5,-180 -80,-180 -77.5,-180 -75,-180 -72.5,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions; GISP2 and WAIS Divide Ice Cores 60,000 Year Surface Temperature Reconstructions; WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200255", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/32632"}, {"dataset_uid": "200257", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "GISP2 and WAIS Divide Ice Cores 60,000 Year Surface Temperature Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/34133"}, {"dataset_uid": "200256", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/24530"}], "date_created": "Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ISOTOPES; Antarctica; USA/NSF; AMD; ICE CORE RECORDS; USAP-DC; VOLCANIC DEPOSITS; MODELS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -65.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Buizert, Christo; Wettstein, Justin", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Timing and Spatial Expression of the Bipolar Seesaw in Antarctica from Synchronized Ice Cores", "uid": "p0010279", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "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": "Geologic data provide crucial insights into Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics; for example, progressive exposure of mountain peaks emerging from the ice sheet reveal ice elevation changes, and the past \u2018footprint\u2019 of marine-based ice sheets is imprinted on the seafloor. Numerical ice sheet simulations can link these geologic records in space and time to make larger-scale inferences about continent-wide ice sheet evolution. This work integrates both marine and terrestrial geologic datasets with numerical simulations to investigate Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior (and contribution to global sea level) throughout the last deglaciation, ~20,000 years ago until present. Specifically, this research addresses two issues regarding the relationship between simulations and data and their use in reconstructing past ice-sheet behavior: (1) Geologic records from the modern seafloor suggest significantly earlier retreat of marine-based ice compared to terrestrial records of mountain peak exposure (ice thinning). Computer experiments investigate several hypotheses for this mismatch in timing. (2) Exposure age data (terrestrial measurements recording ice elevation changes) are often interpreted to reflect ice dynamics hundreds of kilometers away from the study site. This work uses simulations to explore the linkage between ice elevation changes \u2018upstream\u2019 as glaciers flow through mountainous regions and ice dynamics further \u2018downstream\u2019 where ice contacts the ocean. This work will produce a publicly available, customizable, and easily accessible toolkit for comparing simulations and data, including a database of geologic records to use as constraints. The project is interdisciplinary, bridging a communication gap between the ice-sheet simulations and geologic data-collecting communities. 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. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; 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": "1656126 Koppers, Anthony", "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": "OSU Marine and Geology Repository", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200245", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OSU-MGR", "science_program": null, "title": "OSU Marine and Geology Repository", "url": "https://osu-mgr.org/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Nontechnical Description The Antarctic core collection, curated at Florida State University since 1963, is one of the world?s premier marine geology collections. Consisting of irreplaceable sediment cores, this archive has greatly advanced the understanding of the Earth system, past and present, and will remain critical to future studies of the Earth. Given Oregon State University?s (OSU) leadership in marine research and long track record providing state-of-the-art curatorial services through the OSU Marine and Geology Repository, this facility will provide world-class curatorial stewardship of the Antarctic core collection for decades to come. The Antarctic core collection will be co-located and co-managed with the current OSU collection in a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will contain more than 30 km of refrigerated sediment core from the world?s oceans and will be housed in a new 33,000 SFT facility purchased in 2009 by OSU and upgraded in 2016-17. The total refrigerated space can hold both collections comfortably and has at least five decades of expansion space. The co-location and co-management of these two collections, paired with a modern suite of analytical facilities, will lead to greater collaboration, cross-pollination of ideas, and availability of enhanced technical services and capabilities for a growing user group that increasingly relies on marine sediments. The facility will employ a comprehensive community interaction plan that takes advantage of the new OSU Marine and Geology Repository building with a 32-person seminar room, its large 1,044 square foot core lab, and ten adjoining analytical laboratories, which will provide scientific and experiential learning opportunities for students, the general public, and the Earth Sciences research community. The facility will organize small group meetings, sampling parties and summer schools that will complement ongoing support for teaching, training and learning through the use of the repository in graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 classes and Research Experience for Undergraduate programs. The repository is open to the general public for tours and presentations, and the data products derived from the facility will be disseminated via the repository website at http://osu-mgr.org/ and other national databases. Technical Description The Antarctic and the Southern Ocean National Collection of Rock and Sediment Cores currently housed at Florida State University will be relocated to Oregon State University (OSU) and housed along with the OSU Marine and Geology Repository. Oregon State University investigators will co-manage the Antarctic core collection and the Marine and Geology Repository as a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will be housed a new 33,000 square foot building with refrigerated space that can hold both collections with approximately five decades of expansion space. The co-location and co-management of these two collections offers unique curatorial synergies, cost savings, and improved capabilities to support both the research and educational needs of a wider marine and Antarctic communities. The facility will house a 32-person seminar room, a large 1,044 square foot core lab that allows layout, inspection and examination of cores, and adjoining analytical laboratories that will provide quantitative analysis as well as experiential learning opportunities for students.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Dredge Samples; MARINE SEDIMENTS; Amd/Us; AMD; SHIPS; USAP-DC; Antarctica; USA/NSF; Sediment Core", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Koppers, Anthony; Stoner, Joseph", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "OSU-MGR", "repositories": "OSU-MGR", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Curatorial Stewardship of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean National Collection of Rock and Sediment Cores at the OSU Marine and Geology Repository", "uid": "p0010262", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1954241 O\u0027\u0027Brien, Kristin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 17 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description: Global climate warming is increasing the frequency and severity of low oxygen events in marine and freshwater environments worldwide, and these events threaten the health of aquatic ecosystems and the viability of fish populations. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica has historically been a stable, icy-cold, and oxygen-rich environment, but is now warming at an unprecedented rate and faster than all other regions in the Southern hemisphere. Antarctic fishes have evolved in sub-zero temperatures that have been stable over long periods of time with traits allowing them to thrive in frigid waters, but with diminished resilience to warming temperatures. Presently little is known about the ability of Antarctic fishes to withstand hypoxic, or low-oxygen, conditions that often accompany warming. This research will investigate the hypoxia tolerance of four species of Antarctic fishes, including two species of icefishes that lack the oxygen-carrying protein, hemoglobin, which may compromise their ability to oxygenate tissues under hypoxic conditions. The hypoxia tolerance of four Antarctic fish species will be compared to that of a related fish species inhabiting warmer coastal regions of South America. Physiological and biochemical responses to hypoxia will be evaluated and compared amongst the five species to bolster our predictions of the capacity of Antarctic fishes to cope with a changing environment. This research will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and a postdoctoral research fellow. A year-long seminar series hosted by the Aquarium of the Pacific will feature female scientists who work in Antarctica to inspire youth in the greater Los Angeles area to pursue careers in science. Part 2: Technical description: The overarching hypothesis to be tested in this project is that the long evolution of Antarctic notothenioid fishes in a cold, oxygen-rich environment has reduced their capacity to mount a robust physiological, biochemical, and molecular response to hypoxia compared to related, cold-temperate fish species. Hypoxia tolerance will be compared among the red-blooded Antarctic notothenioids, Notothenia coriiceps and Notothenia rossii; the hemoglobinless Antarctic icefishes, Chaenocephalus aceratus and Chionodraco rastrospinosus; and the basal, cold-temperate notothenioid, Eleginops maclovinus, a species that has never inhabited waters south of the Polar Front. The minimum level of oxygen required to sustain maintenance metabolic requirements (O2crit) will be quantified. Animals will then be exposed to 65% of O2crit for 48 hours, and responses to hypoxia will be evaluated by measuring hematocrit and hemoglobin levels, as well as metabolites in brain, liver, glycolytic and cardiac muscles. Maximal activities of key enzymes of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism will be quantified to assess capacities for synthesizing ATP in hypoxic conditions. Gill remodeling will be analyzed using light and scanning electron microscopy. The molecular response to hypoxia will be characterized in liver and brains by quantifying levels of the master transcriptional regulator of oxygen homeostasis, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), and hypoxic gene expression will be quantified using RNA-Seq. Cell cultures will be used to determine if a previously identified insertion mutation in notothenioid HIF-1 affects the ability of HIF-1 to drive gene expression and thus, hypoxia tolerance. The results of this project will provide the most comprehensive assessment of the hypoxia tolerance of Antarctic fishes to date. Broader impacts include research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and a postdoctoral research associate, with a focus on involving Native Alaskan students in research. In partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, a year-long public seminar series will be held, showcasing the research and careers of 9 women who conduct research in Antarctica. The goal of the series is to cultivate and empower a community of middle and high school students in the greater Los Angeles area to pursue their interests in science and related fields, and to enhance the public engagement capacities of research scientists so that they may better inspire youth and early career scientists in STEM fields. 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": "Palmer Station; FIELD SURVEYS; USAP-DC; AMD; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; FISH", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "ANT LIA: Hypoxia Tolerance in Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0010246", "west": null}, {"awards": "1746087 Tarrant, Ann", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -60,-77.5 -60,-75 -60,-72.5 -60,-70 -60,-67.5 -60,-65 -60,-62.5 -60,-60 -60,-57.5 -60,-55 -60,-55 -61,-55 -62,-55 -63,-55 -64,-55 -65,-55 -66,-55 -67,-55 -68,-55 -69,-55 -70,-57.5 -70,-60 -70,-62.5 -70,-65 -70,-67.5 -70,-70 -70,-72.5 -70,-75 -70,-77.5 -70,-80 -70,-80 -69,-80 -68,-80 -67,-80 -66,-80 -65,-80 -64,-80 -63,-80 -62,-80 -61,-80 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Calanoides acutus: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA757455; Calanus propinquus: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA669816; Expedition data of LMG1901; Rhincalanus gigas: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA666170", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200239", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Rhincalanus gigas: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA666170", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA666170"}, {"dataset_uid": "200125", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1901", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1901"}, {"dataset_uid": "200283", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Calanus propinquus: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA669816", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA669816"}, {"dataset_uid": "200284", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI", "science_program": null, "title": "Calanoides acutus: Transcriptome and gene expression data; BioProject PRJNA757455", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA757455"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Animals in the polar oceans have adapted to dramatic seasonal changes in day length, food availability, and ice cover, as well as to consistently cold waters. This project focuses on the adaptations of copepods - small animals that live in the water column and are an important food source to many different predators. The field studies will take place in the western Antarctic Peninsula, an environment and ecosystem that is rapidly changing. Antarctic copepods have developed particular feeding and behavioral strategies to survive in their very seasonal environment, however it is not known how each of these species will respond to environmental change. The overall goal of this project is to examine and compare these adaptations across species and to understand how each species responds to short-term changes in food availability. The project contains three main objectives: the first objective is to compare the sets of genes across species, especially looking at genes related to storage of energy from food. The second objective is to measure and compare the responses of copepods to changes in food availability. The third objective is to determine how variation across the western Antarctic Pensinsula habitat affects the feeding condition of the copepods. To make the data more useful to the broader research community, a database will be developed enabling easy comparison of genetic information between copepod species. This project will provide hands-on training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate student and will seek to recruit students from underrepresented groups. Results and scientific concepts will be shared through outreach activities, including an expedition blog, a series of interactive animations, and public presentations. Polar marine organisms have adapted to dramatic seasonal changes in photoperiod, light intensity, and ice cover, as well as to cold but stable thermal environments. The western Antarctic Peninsula, the focal region for the field studies, has experienced rapid warming and ice melt. While it is difficult to predict exactly how physical conditions in this region will change, effects on species distributions have already been documented. Large Antarctic copepods in the families Calanidae and Rhincalanidae are dominant components of the mesozooplankton that use different metabolic and behavioral strategies to optimize their use of a highly seasonal food supply. The overall goal of this project is to leverage molecular approaches to examine the physiological and metabolic adaptations at the individual and species level. The project focuses on three main objectives: the first objective is to characterize the gene complement and stage-specific gene expression patterns in Antarctic copepods within an evolutionary context. The second objective is to measure and compare the physiological and molecular responses of juvenile copepods to variable feeding conditions. The third objective is to characterize metabolic variation within natural copepod populations. The metabolically diverse Antarctic copepods also provide an excellent opportunity to compare mechanisms regulating energy storage and utilization and to test hypotheses regarding the roles of specific genes. The field studies will aim to utilize information from an ongoing long term research program (the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research), which complements the ongoing program and provides extensive context for this project. To make the data more useful to the research community, a database will be developed facilitating comparison of transcriptomes between copepod species. This project will provide hands-on training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students. Efforts will be made to recruit students who are members of underrepresented minorities. Results and scientific concepts will be broadly disseminated through an expedition blog, a series of interactive animations, and public presentations. 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": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-67.5 -65)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ARTHROPODS; AMD; PELAGIC; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; PLANKTON; West Antarctic Shelf; Amd/Us; SHIPS", "locations": "West Antarctic Shelf", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tarrant, Ann", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "NCBI", "repositories": "NCBI; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "Physiological Ecology of \"Herbivorous\" Antarctic Copepods", "uid": "p0010239", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "1744871 Robinson, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblage from IODP Site U1357; Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary N isotopes from ODP Site 1098, Western Antarctic Peninsula; Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotopes from IODP Site U1357; Dissolved nutrients, cell counts, and nitrogen isotope measurements from Chaetoceros socialis culture experiments; ODP Site 1098 deglacial diatom assemblage; Sediment chemistry of ODP Site 1098", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601817", "doi": "10.15784/601817", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Wilkes Land", "people": "Dove, Isabel; Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotopes from IODP Site U1357", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601817"}, {"dataset_uid": "601818", "doi": "10.15784/601818", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Geochemistry; Sediment; Wilkes Land", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblage from IODP Site U1357", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601818"}, {"dataset_uid": "601727", "doi": "10.15784/601727", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved nutrients, cell counts, and nitrogen isotope measurements from Chaetoceros socialis culture experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601727"}, {"dataset_uid": "601777", "doi": "10.15784/601777", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ODP Site 1098 deglacial diatom assemblage", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601777"}, {"dataset_uid": "601778", "doi": "10.15784/601778", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere", "people": "Dove, Isabel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment chemistry of ODP Site 1098", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601778"}, {"dataset_uid": "601816", "doi": "10.15784/601816", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Cryosphere; Geochemistry; Sediment", "people": "Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca; Dove, Isabel; Jones, Colin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound and bulk sedimentary N isotopes from ODP Site 1098, Western Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601816"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The chemical composition of diatom fossils in the Southern Ocean provides information about the environmental history of Antarctica, including sea ice extent, biological production, and ocean nutrient distribution. The sea ice zone is an important habitat for a group of diatoms, largely from the genus Chaetoceros, that have a unique life cycle stage under environmental stress, when they produce a structure called a resting spore. Resting spores are meant to reseed the surface ocean when conditions are more favorable. The production of these heavy resting spores tends to remove significant amounts of carbon and silicon, essential nutrients, out of the surface ocean. As a result, this group has the potential to remove carbon from the surface ocean and can impact the sedimentary record scientists use to reconstruct environmental change. This project explores the role of resting spores in the sedimentary record using the nitrogen isotopic signature of these fossils and how those measurements are used to estimate carbon cycle changes. The work will include laboratory incubations of these organisms to answer if and how the chemistry of the resting spores differs from that of a typical diatom cell. The incubation results will be used to evaluate nutrient drawdown in sea ice environments during two contrasting intervals in earth history, the last ice age and the warm Pliocene. This work should have significant impact on how the scientific community considers the impact of seasonal sea ice cover in the Southern Ocean in terms of how it responds to and regulates global climate. The project provides training and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Ongoing research efforts in Antarctic earth sciences will be disseminated through an interactive display at the home institution. The work proposed here will address uncertainties in how Chaetoceros resting spores record surface nutrient conditions in their nitrogen stable isotopic composition, the relative impact of their specific signal with respect to the full sedimentary assemblage, and their potential to bias or enhance environmental reconstructions in the sea ice zone. Measurements of nitrogen stable isotopes of nitrate, biomass, and diatom-bound nitrogen and silicon-to-nitrogen ratios of individual species grown in the laboratory will be used to quantify how resting spores record nutrient drawdown in the water column and to what degree their signature is biased toward low nutrient conditions. These relationships will be used to inform diatom-bound nitrogen isotope reconstructions of nutrient drawdown from a Pliocene coastal polyna and an open ocean core that spans the last glacial maximum. This proposal capitalizes on the availability of Southern Ocean isolates of Chaetoceros spp. collected in 2017 for the proposed culture work and archived sediment cores and/or existing data. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; USAP-DC; Antarctica; ISOTOPES; MARINE SEDIMENTS; LABORATORY; USA/NSF; NITROGEN; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Rebecca", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "The nitrogen isotopic composition of diatom resting spores in Southern Ocean sediments: A source of bias and/or paleoenvironmental information?", "uid": "p0010234", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1952199 Schneider, David", "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": "Variable-resolution CESM2 over Antarctica (ANTSI): Monthly outputs used for evaluation", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200417", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.7335891", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Variable-resolution CESM2 over Antarctica (ANTSI): Monthly outputs used for evaluation", "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/7335892"}], "date_created": "Wed, 21 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is sensitive to and an indicator of climate change. While ice loss is largely driven by ocean warming, this might be mitigated by enhanced snowfall on the ice sheet. By developing an understanding of the processes governing snowfall variability and change on the AIS, this project will contribute to understanding the long-term role of the AIS as a contributor to sea-level rise. This project is strongly embedded in the collaborative, open-source framework of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) and will deliver new datasets of Antarctic precipitation for use by the research community. The project will help to build a diverse geoscience workforce by recruiting and training a student to be directly involved in the research through the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program. The project will leverage the Climate Model Intercomparison Project 6 climate model ensemble as a whole, and CESM2 in particular, to disentangle the major sources of uncertainty and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of Antarctic precipitation change, with a particular focus on the role of atmospheric circulation changes relative to the role of atmospheric warming. Using the variable resolution capabilities of CESM2, the team will provide the community with precipitation estimates at a very high horizontal resolution. The analyses will also use a forthcoming 100-member large ensemble. The project seeks to answer the following questions: 1) How well does the CESM2 represent the present-day Antarctic surface climate, precipitation, and surface mass balance, including the mean and its variability? 2) What is the sensitivity of simulated Antarctic precipitation to model resolution in present-day and future climates? 3) What are the roles of thermodynamics (warming atmosphere and ocean) and dynamics (changes in atmospheric circulation) in observed and projected snowfall changes? How do these break down into forced and internal variability? In particular, is there a significant forced precipitation trend due to circulation changes driven by stratospheric ozone depletion and recovery and increases in greenhouse gas concentration? 4) What processes and boundary conditions drive the ensemble spread of Antarctic precipitation in single-model and multi-model ensembles? How does the spread driven by initial surface conditions (including sea ice cover, surface fluxes, inversion strength) compare with the irreducible uncertainty due to internal climate system variability? This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; ICE SHEETS; Amd/Us; Antarctica; AMD; SNOW; MODELS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schneider, David; Datta, Rajashree Tri", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "Zenodo", "repositories": "Zenodo", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Uncertainty and Mechanisms of Antarctica\u2019s Changing Snowfall and its Role in Sea Level Change", "uid": "p0010233", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1746148 Sirovic, Ana", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((140 -65.5,140.8 -65.5,141.6 -65.5,142.4 -65.5,143.2 -65.5,144 -65.5,144.8 -65.5,145.6 -65.5,146.4 -65.5,147.2 -65.5,148 -65.5,148 -65.57,148 -65.64,148 -65.71,148 -65.78,148 -65.85,148 -65.92,148 -65.99,148 -66.06,148 -66.13,148 -66.2,147.2 -66.2,146.4 -66.2,145.6 -66.2,144.8 -66.2,144 -66.2,143.2 -66.2,142.4 -66.2,141.6 -66.2,140.8 -66.2,140 -66.2,140 -66.13,140 -66.06,140 -65.99,140 -65.92,140 -65.85,140 -65.78,140 -65.71,140 -65.64,140 -65.57,140 -65.5))", "dataset_titles": "Passive acoustic recording metadata from East Antarctica, Feb 2019", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601465", "doi": "10.15784/601465", "keywords": "Antarctica; East Antarctica", "people": "Sirovic, Ana", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Passive acoustic recording metadata from East Antarctica, Feb 2019", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601465"}], "date_created": "Tue, 13 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Understanding the interaction between blue whales and their prey is essential for understanding Antarctic ecosystem dynamics. In the austral summer of 2019 an international interdisciplinary research voyage will head to the Antarctic with the overall goal of mapping Antarctic krill and blue whale distributions to determine if foraging preferences of blue whales are dictated in part by the density and shape of Antarctic krill swarms. This research voyage will combine advanced research technologies (including autonomous underwater vehicles, short term-tags, photogrammetry, and ship-based, real-time passive listening and active echosounders) to answer questions about how the density, swarm shape and behavior of Antarctic krill influence Antarctic blue whales. U.S. participation on this voyage on an Australian research vessel will allow collection of concurrent predator and prey data through the use of passive listening and echosounders from a fixed mooring. By coupling moored data collection with the ship-based survey focusing on Antarctic blue whale behavior and krill dynamics, the project will contribute to the understanding of basic questions relating to the dynamics between blue whales and their prey as well as adding to the development of instrumentation and technologies that will enhance current capabilities for in situ observing on the continent and the surrounding ice-covered waters. The project will provide an educational platform for high school students and the general public to virtually experience Antarctica via \"virtual sailing\" through a project website and blog. Students and the general public also will be allowed the opportunity to participate in post-cruise data analysis. The Australian Antarctic Division and the University of Tasmania will lead an international voyage to the Antarctic in the austral summer of 2019. The overall goal of the voyage will be to map Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) distributions to determine if the foraging preferences of blue whales are dictated in part by the density and shape of Antarctic krill swarms. US participation in voyage will entail the deployment of passive and active acoustic instrumentation on a fixed mooring in concert with real-time acoustic and visual tracking and localizing of blue whales that will then allow better directing of ship operations towards aggregations of animals such that fine-scale acoustic tracking and prey field mapping can be achieved. This approach will be the first time such an acoustic system is deployed in Antarctica and used in an integrative fashion to assess foraging behaviors and krill. Thus, the project will advance understanding of the relationships between the acoustic ecology of blue whales, krill abundance, and blue whale densities. The technology deployment and testing will also be used to assess its potential use in ice-covered waters for similar studies in the future. Broader impacts of this project will occur through outreach and education, as well as through the collaborations with the broader international scientific community. The project will provide educational platforms for high school students and general public to virtually experience Antarctica. Research findings will be communicated to both the scientific community and the wider public through peer-reviewed publications, presentations, student lectures, seminars and communication through appropriate media channels by institutional communications teams. 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": 148.0, "geometry": "POINT(144 -65.85)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; AMD; USAP-DC; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; MAMMALS; PELAGIC; East Antarctica; USA/NSF; ACOUSTIC SCATTERING; FIELD SURVEYS; ARTHROPODS", "locations": "East Antarctica", "north": -65.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sirovic, Ana; Stafford, Kathleen", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.2, "title": "EAGER: Collaborative Research: Acoustic Ecology of Foraging Antarctic Blue Whales in the Vicinity of Antarctic Krill", "uid": "p0010228", "west": 140.0}, {"awards": "1643825 Bucklin, Ann", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-74.57 -60.9,-72.487 -60.9,-70.404 -60.9,-68.321 -60.9,-66.238 -60.9,-64.155 -60.9,-62.072 -60.9,-59.989 -60.9,-57.906 -60.9,-55.823 -60.9,-53.74 -60.9,-53.74 -61.537,-53.74 -62.174,-53.74 -62.811,-53.74 -63.448,-53.74 -64.085,-53.74 -64.722,-53.74 -65.359,-53.74 -65.996,-53.74 -66.633,-53.74 -67.27,-55.823 -67.27,-57.906 -67.27,-59.989 -67.27,-62.072 -67.27,-64.155 -67.27,-66.238 -67.27,-68.321 -67.27,-70.404 -67.27,-72.487 -67.27,-74.57 -67.27,-74.57 -66.633,-74.57 -65.996,-74.57 -65.359,-74.57 -64.722,-74.57 -64.085,-74.57 -63.448,-74.57 -62.811,-74.57 -62.174,-74.57 -61.537,-74.57 -60.9))", "dataset_titles": "Alongtrack data collected continuously by the ship\u0027s underway acquisition system from ARSV Laurence M. Gould cruise LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean in 2011 ; Bucklin, A., R.J. O\u0027Neill, D. Payne (2018) Antarctic salp genome and RNAseq transcriptome from ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Umitaka-Maru, R/V Polarstern LMG1110, UM-08-09, ANT-XXVII-2 in the Southern Ocean. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). ; Bucklin, A., R.J. O\u0027Neill, D. Payne (2018) Salp specimen log for genomic and transcriptomic study collected from ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Umitaka-Maru, R/V Polarstern LMG1110, UM-08-09, ANT-XXVII-2. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO).; CTD data from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from November to December 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ; CTD data from MOCNESS tows taken in the Antarctic in 2011 from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from November to December 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ; Scientific sampling event log from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from Nov. 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200229", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from November to December 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/559174/data"}, {"dataset_uid": "200227", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Bucklin, A., R.J. O\u0027Neill, D. Payne (2018) Salp specimen log for genomic and transcriptomic study collected from ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Umitaka-Maru, R/V Polarstern LMG1110, UM-08-09, ANT-XXVII-2. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO).", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/672600"}, {"dataset_uid": "200228", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Bucklin, A., R.J. O\u0027Neill, D. Payne (2018) Antarctic salp genome and RNAseq transcriptome from ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Umitaka-Maru, R/V Polarstern LMG1110, UM-08-09, ANT-XXVII-2 in the Southern Ocean. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). ", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/675040/data"}, {"dataset_uid": "200232", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from MOCNESS tows taken in the Antarctic in 2011 from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from November to December 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/488871/data"}, {"dataset_uid": "200231", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Alongtrack data collected continuously by the ship\u0027s underway acquisition system from ARSV Laurence M. Gould cruise LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean in 2011 ", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3636/data"}, {"dataset_uid": "200230", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Scientific sampling event log from ARSV Laurence M. Gould LMG1110 in the Southern Ocean from Nov. 2011 (Salp_Antarctic project) ", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3565/data"}], "date_created": "Sat, 03 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic salp, Salpa thompsoni, is a gelatinous zooplankton that is an important member in the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem. Field studies have documented rapid population growth under favorable environmental conditions, resulting in dense blooms of salps that substantially change the pelagic ecosystem in regards to both structure and processes. Because this zooplankton can proliferate rapidly and it is not readily consumed by upper trophic levels, its periodic dominance has the potential to drastically chance ecosystem energetics as well as change material export to the deep ocean. Completion of a comprehensive reference genome for the Antarctic salp will enable the identification of genes and gene networks underlying physiological responses and allow detection of potential processes driving natural selection and the species? adaptation strategies to the Antarctic Environment. Comparative genomic analysis will add the dimension of time to inferences about organismal adaptation and allow consideration of their potential to adapt to future environmental changes, and will allow examination of novel aspects of genomic evolution found only in the invertebrate class Tunicata. The completed salp reference genome will provide a valuable foundational resource for other scientists working on this species as well as the genomic basis for function and adaptation in the Antarctic. The primary goal of this effort is to examine the rapid genome evolution characteristic of this tunicate species and examine the genomic bases of the species? potential for adaptation, and specifically the role of flexible gene networks for successful responses to changing environmental conditions. The primary hypothesis driving this research is that predicted S. thompsoni orthologs (i.e., genes of the same function that share a common ancestor) that show evidence of rapid evolution are indicative of positive selection, and further that these genes and associated gene networks provide the basis for rapid adaptation of the Antarctic salp to environmental variation associated with a changing ocean. The proposed genome assembly strategy will allow further refinements and scaffolding of the current, highly fragmented genome assembly using the methods developed during previous work. Specimens of S. thompsoni now archived at UConn will be analyzed to improve the salp genome assembly, increasing overall scaffold length, and decreasing the number of total contigs. High-quality reference assemblies will be obtained with two high-output paired-end sequencing runs (Illumina) on a single individual, coupled with three runs on the Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencer. The same sequencing strategy will be performed on a sub-sampling of tissues from the same specimen to produce a very high quality reference transcriptome, which will allow for high quality gene models and near-complete gene predictions in the genome assembly. Comparisons with available genomic data for Urochordate and Cephalochordate species will increase the number of orthologs analyzed. Orthologous genes will be tested for evidence of rapid selection in the salp lineage, and the results will be compared to published expression profiles and ontology functions for the salp. All data will be made publicly available via existing web portals; a project website will be developed to disseminate research results for access by the both research and educational communities. Website design will use a local instance of jbrowse that will offer annotations, downloadable data files, and tracts of previously-published datasets.", "east": -53.74, "geometry": "POINT(-64.155 -64.085)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SHIPS; PELAGIC; Southern Ocean", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -60.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bucklin, Ann; O\u0027Neill, Rachel J", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.27, "title": "Genome Assembly and Analysis of the Bloom Forming Southern Ocean Salp, Salpa thompsoni", "uid": "p0010224", "west": -74.57}, {"awards": "1947040 Postlethwait, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65.3 -63.3,-65 -63.3,-64.7 -63.3,-64.4 -63.3,-64.1 -63.3,-63.8 -63.3,-63.5 -63.3,-63.2 -63.3,-62.9 -63.3,-62.6 -63.3,-62.3 -63.3,-62.3 -63.47,-62.3 -63.64,-62.3 -63.81,-62.3 -63.98,-62.3 -64.15,-62.3 -64.32,-62.3 -64.49,-62.3 -64.66,-62.3 -64.83,-62.3 -65,-62.6 -65,-62.9 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.5 -65,-63.8 -65,-64.1 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.7 -65,-65 -65,-65.3 -65,-65.3 -64.83,-65.3 -64.66,-65.3 -64.49,-65.3 -64.32,-65.3 -64.15,-65.3 -63.98,-65.3 -63.81,-65.3 -63.64,-65.3 -63.47,-65.3 -63.3))", "dataset_titles": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia coronata (nov. sp.); 18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia picta (nov. sp.); Expedition Data of LMG1805; Fish pictures and skin pathology of X-cell infection in Trematomus scotti.; Gonad and skin histology of Trematomus loennbergii infected by Notoxcellia sp.; Histopathology of X-cell xenomas in Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni.; In situ hybridization of X-cell and host fish 18S SSU rRNA in alternate sections of tumor xenomas.; Metagenomic analysis of apparently healthy and tumor samples using Kaiju software ; microMRI analyses of Trematomus scotti Tsco_18_08 with X-cell xenomas; Morphological and pathological data of Trematomus scotti specimens captured on May 30th, 2018 in Andvord Bay.; Morphological, fecundity, and age data of Trematomus scotti from Andvord Bay and the Weddell Sea.; Nomenclatural Act for the genus Notoxcellia; Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia coronata; Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia picta; Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species.; Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species, including novel Ross Sea specimen; Raw Illumina sequencing reads from skin tumors and visually healthy skins from Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni; Similarity matrices of Notoxcellia spp.; Temperature profiles at five fishing locations on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral fall 2018.; Trematomus scotti mt-co1 sequence alignment.; Trematomus scotti with X-cell xenomas", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601495", "doi": "10.15784/601495", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Temperature profiles at five fishing locations on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral fall 2018.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601495"}, {"dataset_uid": "601893", "doi": "10.15784/601893", "keywords": "Age; Antarctica; Biota; Cryonotothenioid; Cryosphere; Fecundity; Growth; Length; Nototheniidae; Oceans; Otolith; Reproduction; Weight", "people": "Papetti, Chiara; Detrich, H. William; Mark, Felix C; Lucassen, Magnus; Le Francois, Nathalie; Grondin, Jacob; Streeter, Margaret; Riginella, Emilio; Cal\u00ec, Federico; Sguotti, Camilla; Valdivieso, Alejandro; Desvignes, Thomas; La Mesa, Mario; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Morphological, fecundity, and age data of Trematomus scotti from Andvord Bay and the Weddell Sea.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601893"}, {"dataset_uid": "601915", "doi": "10.15784/601915", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctic; Cryosphere; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; P\u00e9ron, Clara; Devine, Jennifer; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species, including novel Ross Sea specimen", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601915"}, {"dataset_uid": "601892", "doi": "10.15784/601892", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; CO1; COX1; Cryonotothenioid; Cryosphere; Genetic Sequences; LMG1805; MT-CO1; Nototheniidae; Notothenioid; Population Genetics", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Schiavon, Luca ; Papetti, Chiara; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Trematomus scotti mt-co1 sequence alignment.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601892"}, {"dataset_uid": "601916", "doi": "10.15784/601916", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Ross Sea; Xcellidae", "people": "P\u00e9ron, Clara; Postlethwait, John; Devine, Jennifer; Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Gonad and skin histology of Trematomus loennbergii infected by Notoxcellia sp.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601916"}, {"dataset_uid": "601917", "doi": "10.15784/601917", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctic; Cryosphere; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Postlethwait, John; Desvignes, Thomas; Devine, Jennifer; P\u00e9ron, Clara", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Similarity matrices of Notoxcellia spp.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601917"}, {"dataset_uid": "200254", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1805", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1805"}, {"dataset_uid": "200262", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "MorphoSource", "science_program": null, "title": "Trematomus scotti with X-cell xenomas", "url": "https://www.morphosource.org/projects/000405843?locale=en"}, {"dataset_uid": "200275", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia coronata (nov. sp.)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OL630144"}, {"dataset_uid": "200276", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia picta (nov. sp.)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OL630145"}, {"dataset_uid": "200277", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "Raw Illumina sequencing reads from skin tumors and visually healthy skins from Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA789574"}, {"dataset_uid": "601496", "doi": "10.15784/601496", "keywords": "Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Fish", "people": "Lauridsen, Henrik; Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Fish pictures and skin pathology of X-cell infection in Trematomus scotti.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601496"}, {"dataset_uid": "200443", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1805", "url": "https://doi.org/10.7284/907930"}, {"dataset_uid": "601539", "doi": "10.15784/601539", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "In situ hybridization of X-cell and host fish 18S SSU rRNA in alternate sections of tumor xenomas.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601539"}, {"dataset_uid": "601538", "doi": "10.15784/601538", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Postlethwait, John; Lauridsen, Henrik; Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "microMRI analyses of Trematomus scotti Tsco_18_08 with X-cell xenomas", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601538"}, {"dataset_uid": "601537", "doi": "10.15784/601537", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Fontenele, Rafaela S. ; Kraberger, Simona ; Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind; Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Metagenomic analysis of apparently healthy and tumor samples using Kaiju software ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601537"}, {"dataset_uid": "601536", "doi": "10.15784/601536", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Kent, Michael L. ; Postlethwait, John; Desvignes, Thomas; Murray, Katrina N. ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Histopathology of X-cell xenomas in Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601536"}, {"dataset_uid": "601501", "doi": "10.15784/601501", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Oceans; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601501"}, {"dataset_uid": "200382", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the genus Notoxcellia", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/5cf9609e-0111-4386-8518-bd50b5bdde0e"}, {"dataset_uid": "200383", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia coronata", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/194d91b2-e268-4238-89e2-385819f2c35b"}, {"dataset_uid": "200384", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia picta", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/31062dd2-7202-47fa-86e0-7be5c55ac0e2"}, {"dataset_uid": "601494", "doi": "10.15784/601494", "keywords": "Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Fish", "people": "Postlethwait, John; Desvignes, Thomas; Le Francois, Nathalie; Lauridsen, Henrik", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Morphological and pathological data of Trematomus scotti specimens captured on May 30th, 2018 in Andvord Bay.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601494"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctica\u2019s native animals face increasing stressors from warming oceans. A key unanswered question is how Antarctic life will respond. If warmer waters contribute to fish disease susceptibility, then iconic Antarctic predators they support, including penguins, seals, and killer whales, will suffer. A recent scientific cruise on the Antarctic peninsula encountered a population of crowned notothen fish that were plagued by pink, wart-like tumors that covered 10% to 30% of the body surface on about a third of the animals. Similar tumors had not previously been reported, suggesting that this might be a new disease that threatens Antarctic fish. The goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the tumor and how it affects cell function and organismal physiology. The work is potentially transformative because it studies what might be a harbinger of Antarctic fish responses to global climate change. The project has several Broader Impacts. First, it will publicize the tumors. Because Antarctic researchers have never reported a tumor epidemic, the community must become aware of the outbreak and the tumor\u2019s distinct diagnostic features. Second, dissemination of project results will stir further research to determine if this is an isolated event or is becoming a general phenomenon, and thus a broad concern for Antarctic ecosystems. Third, assays the project develops to detect the disease will enhance research infrastructure. Finally, work will broaden the nation\u2019s scientific workforce by providing authentic research experiences for high school students and undergraduates from groups underrepresented in scientific research. The overall goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the neoplasia and how it affects cell function and physiology. Aim 1 is to identify the pathogenic agent. Aim 1a is to test the hypothesis that a virus causes the neoplasia by isolating and sequencing viral nucleic acids from neoplasias and from animals that are not visibly affected. Aim 1b is to test neoplasias for bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or invertebrate parasites not present in healthy skin. Aim 2 is to learn how the disease alters the biology of affected cells. Aim 2a is to examine histological sections of affected and control tissues to see if the neoplasias are similar to previously reported skin diseases in temperate water fishes. Aim 2b is to examine the function of neoplastic cells by RNA-seq transcriptomics to identify genes that are differentially expressed in neoplasias and normal skin. Achieving these Aims will advance knowledge by identifying the causes and consequences of an outbreak of neoplasias in Antarctic fish. Proposed work is significant because it is the first to investigate a neoplasia cluster in Antarctic fish. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -62.3, "geometry": "POINT(-63.8 -64.15)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Andvord Bay; Amd/Us; PROTISTS; BENTHIC; FISH; Dallmann Bay; USAP-DC; NSF/USA; AMD", "locations": "Andvord Bay; Dallmann Bay", "north": -63.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind; Desvignes, Thomas", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GenBank; MorphoSource; NCBI SRA; R2R; USAP-DC; ZooBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "EAGER: Origin and Physiological Consequences of a Neoplasm Outbreak in Antarctic Fish ", "uid": "p0010221", "west": -65.3}, {"awards": "1947882 Robel, Alexander", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Uncertainty in projections of future sea level rise comes, in part, from ice-sheet melting under the influence of unpredictable variations in ocean and atmospheric temperature near ice sheets. Using state-of-the-art modeling techniques, the Antarctic Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (AISLENS) Project will estimate the range of possible Antarctic Ice Sheet melt during the recent past and over the next several centuries that could result from such climate variations. The AISLENS Project will also facilitate research by providing modeling output as an open product to the broader climate and glaciology communities. The project will support an early career faculty member, and interdisciplinary training for a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow and undergraduate student. As a part of this project, an undergraduate course on \"Sea Level Rise and Coastal Engineering\" will be also developed, bringing together Earth Science and Civil Engineering students in an interdisciplinary setting and contributing to their education in sea level science and coastal adaptation. This will be done in the geographic context of the Southeastern US, the region of most concentrated vulnerability to sea-level rise in the US. The primary goal of the proposed research is to understand and quantify the role of internal climate variability in driving ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet over the recent past and into the future. The AISLENS Project will encompass hundreds of simulations of Antarctic ice sheet evolution from 1950 to 2300 forced by realistic variations in climate, including snowfall and melt from fluctuating oceanic and atmospheric temperatures. Plausible realizations of Antarctic climate forcing will be generated from stochastic emulation of output from the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) under past and future emissions scenarios. These realizations of variable climate will be used to force the MPAS Albany Land Ice (MALI) model, a state-of-the-art model of ice flow in the Antarctic Ice Sheet. In this project, AISLENS will be used to conduct uncertainty and attribution analyses. In the uncertainty analysis, the evolution of ensemble spread in simulations of the future evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet will be systematically decomposed to determine which temporal and spatial scales of climate variability contribute the most to future ice-sheet projection uncertainty. In the attribution analysis, a range of satellite-based observations of recent Antarctic ice loss will be compared to the envelope of internal variability of Antarctic ice loss simulated in AISLENS simulations encompassing the recent past. This analysis will provide context to recent observations indicating significant variability of Antarctic climate forcing and provide a possible path forward for conducting robust statistical inference studies for observed ice-sheet changes. 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": "ICE SHEETS; Antarctica; Antarctic Ice Sheet; AMD; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; MODELS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robel, Alexander", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "The Antarctic Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (AISLENS) Project: Assessing the Role of Climate Variability in Past and Future Ice Sheet Mass Loss", "uid": "p0010223", "west": null}, {"awards": "1947094 Sidor, Christian", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical Abstract Around 252 million years ago, a major mass extinction wiped out over 90% of species on Earth. Coincident with this extinction, the Antarctic portion of the supercontinent of Pangea transitioned to a warmer climatic regime devoid of a permanent ice cap. Compared to lower latitudes, relatively little is known about the survivors of the extinction in Antarctica, although it has been hypothesized that the continents more polar location shielded it from the worst of the extinctions effects. As the result of a NSF-sponsored deep field camp in 2017/2018, a remarkable collection of vertebrate fossils was discovered in the rocks of the Shackleton Glacier region. This collection includes the best preserved and most complete materials of fossil amphibians ever recovered from Antarctica, including two previously undescribed species. This grant supports one postdoctoral researcher with expertise in fossil amphibians to describe and interpret the significance of these fossils, including their identification, relationships, and how they fit into the terrestrial ecosystem of Antarctica and other southern hemisphere terrestrial assemblages in light of the major reorganization of post-extinction environments. Historical collections of fossil amphibians will also be reviewed as part of this work. Undergraduate students at the University of Washington will be actively involved as part of this research and learn skills like hard tissue histology and CT data manipulation. Public engagement in Antarctic science will be accomplished at the University of Washington Burke Museum, which is the Washington State museum of natural history and culture. Specifically, a new exhibit on Antarctic amphibians will be developed as part of the paleontology gallery, which sees over 100,000 visitors per year. Technical Abstract This two-year project will examine the evolution of Triassic temnospondyls based on a remarkable collection of fossils recently recovered from the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica. Temnospondyls collected from the middle member of the Fremouw Formation are part of the first collection of identifiable tetrapod fossils from this stratigraphic interval. Thorough anatomical description and comparisons of these fossils will add new faunal information and also aid in determining if this horizon is Early or Middle Triassic in age. Exquisitely preserved temnospondyl material from the lower Fremouw Formation will permit more precise identification than previously possible and will provide insights into the earliest stages of their radiation in the extinction recovery interval. Overall, the Principal Investigator and Postdoctoral Researcher will spearhead an effort to revise the systematics of the Antarctic members of Temnospondyli and properly contextualize them in the framework of Triassic tetrapod evolution. The research team will also take advantage of the climate-sensitive nature of fossil amphibians to better understand patterns of seasonality at high-latitudes during the early Mesozoic by subjecting selected fossils to histological analysis. Preliminary data suggest that temnospondyls were exceptionally diverse and highly endemic immediately after the end-Permian extinction, when compared to their distribution before and after this interval. If confirmed, this macroevolutionary pattern could be used to predict the response of modern amphibians to future climate perturbations. Overall, this research will provide new insights into the vertebrate fauna of the Fremouw Formation, as well as shed light on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in southern Pangea in the wake of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. As part of the broader impacts, the research team will help to develop an exhibit featuring some of the best preserved fossils from Antarctica to explain to the public how paleontologists use fossils and rocks to understand past climates like the Triassic \u0027hot-house\u0027 world that lacked permanent ice caps at the poles. 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": "Temnospondyls; MACROFOSSILS; USA/NSF; FIELD SURVEYS; Permian Extinction; Triassic; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; AMD; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; Shackleton Glacier", "locations": "Shackleton Glacier", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e PALEOZOIC \u003e PERMIAN", "persons": "Sidor, Christian", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "A non-amniote perspective on the recovery from the end-Permian extinction at high latitudes: paleobiology of Early Triassic temnospondyls from Antarctica", "uid": "p0010217", "west": null}, {"awards": "2032473 Kurbatov, Andrei; 2032463 Talghader, Joseph", "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": "Visual, thermal, chemical, and stable isotope effects of near-infrared laser cutting on freezer ice", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601753", "doi": "10.15784/601753", "keywords": "Antarctica; Sampling", "people": "Mah, Merlin; Talghader, Joseph; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Visual, thermal, chemical, and stable isotope effects of near-infrared laser cutting on freezer ice", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601753"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will take initial development steps toward a laser-cut ice-sampling capability in glaciers and ice sheets. The collection of ice samples from the Polar Ice Sheets involves large amounts of time, effort, and expense. However, the most important science data are often retrieved from small sections of an ice core and, while replicate coring can supplement this section of ice core, there is often a need to retrieve additional ice samples based on subsequent scientific findings or borehole logging at a research site. In addition, there are currently no easy methods of extracting ice samples from a borehole drilled by non-coring mechanical drills that are faster, lighter, and less expensive to operate. There are numerous science applications that could potentially benefit from laser-cut ice samples, including sampling ice overlying buried impact craters and bolides, filling critical gaps in chemical records retrieved from damaged ice cores, and obtaining ice samples from sites where coring drills apply stresses that may fracture the ice. This award will explore a laser cutting technology to rapidly extract high-quality ice samples from a borehole wall. The project will investigate and validate the existing technology of laser ice sampling and will use a fiberoptic cable to deliver light pulses to a borehole instrument rather than attempting to assemble a complete laser system in an instrument deployed in a borehole. This offers a new way of retrieving ice samples from a polar ice sheet without the need to drill a borehole to collect ice-core samples (i.e., the hole could be mechanically drilled). This technology could also be used in existing boreholes or those that are made by augering through ice (i.e., not coring) or made with hot water. If successful, this technique would create the ability to rapidly retrieve ice samples with a small logistical footprint and enable science that might not be supportable otherwise. The proposed technology could eventually provide better access to ice-core samples to study past atmospheric composition for understanding past climate and inform on future potential for ice-sheet change. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; Laser Cutting; Ice Core; USA/NSF; AMD; SULFATE; FIELD SURVEYS; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; USAP-DC; LABORATORY; Sulfate", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities; Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Talghader, Joseph; Kurbatov, Andrei V.", "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": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Laser Cutting Technology for Borehole Sampling", "uid": "p0010218", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1744970 Shevenell, Amelia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((120 -66,120.1 -66,120.2 -66,120.3 -66,120.4 -66,120.5 -66,120.6 -66,120.7 -66,120.8 -66,120.9 -66,121 -66,121 -66.1,121 -66.2,121 -66.3,121 -66.4,121 -66.5,121 -66.6,121 -66.7,121 -66.8,121 -66.9,121 -67,120.9 -67,120.8 -67,120.7 -67,120.6 -67,120.5 -67,120.4 -67,120.3 -67,120.2 -67,120.1 -67,120 -67,120 -66.9,120 -66.8,120 -66.7,120 -66.6,120 -66.5,120 -66.4,120 -66.3,120 -66.2,120 -66.1,120 -66))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Glacial retreat in West Antarctica is correlated with ocean warming; however, less is known about the ocean\u0027s effect on East Antarctica\u0027s glaciers including Totten Glacier located on the Sabrina Coast. The retreat of Totten Glacier has global significance as the glacier drains a sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by as much as 3.5 meters. This study looks to determine the influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glaciers, including Totten Glacier, over the last ~18,000 years by studying seafloor sediment around Antarctica. These sediments, or muds, include the remains of microscopic marine organisms as well as tiny particles originating from eroded Antarctic bedrock. These muds provide a record of past environmental changes including ocean temperatures and the advance and retreat of glaciers. Scientists use a variety of physical and chemical analyses to determine how long ago this mud was deposited, the temperature of the ocean at that location through time, and the relative location of glacial ice. In this project, researchers will refine and test new methods for measuring ocean temperature from the sediments to better understand the influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glacier response. Results will be integrated into ice sheet and climate models to improve the accuracy of ice sheet modeling efforts and subsequent sea level predictions. Results from this project will be disseminated at scientific conferences, in the scientific literature, and more broadly to the general public via the St. Petersburg Science Festival and at the Oceanography Camp for Girls. The influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glaciers is largely unknown. This research focuses on ice-proximal Antarctic margin paleoceanographic proxy calibration and validation, which will improve understanding of past ocean-ice sheet interactions on a variety of timescales. In this project, researchers from the University of South Florida will (1) further develop and refine two ocean temperature proxies, foraminifer Mg/Ca and TEX86, for use in ice-proximal Antarctic continental margin sediments and (2) investigate deglacial to present (~18-0 ka) ocean-ice interactions at the outlet of the climatically sensitive Aurora Subglacial Basin. The proposed research utilizes sediment trap, sediment core, and physical oceanographic data previously collected from the Sabrina Coast continental shelf during NSF-funded cruise NBP14-02. Studies of existing sediment cores will integrate multiple paleotemperature, meltwater/salinity, nutrient, bottom water oxygen, and sea ice proxies with geophysical and lithologic data to understand past regional ocean-ice interactions. While the recent international Antarctic research focus has been on understanding the drivers of West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat, models suggest it would be imprudent to ignore the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is proving more sensitive to climate perturbations than previously realized. 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": 121.0, "geometry": "POINT(120.5 -66.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENTS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; Sabrina Coast; AMD; Amd/Us", "locations": "Sabrina Coast", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Shevenell, Amelia", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Deglacial to Recent Paleoceanography of the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica: A Multi-proxy Study of Ice-ocean Interactions at the Outlet of the Aurora Subglacial Basin", "uid": "p0010194", "west": 120.0}, {"awards": "1848887 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "dataset_titles": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data; 2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; 2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment; Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments; Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601796", "doi": "10.15784/601796", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cryosphere; Oceans; Southern Ocean; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601796"}, {"dataset_uid": "601791", "doi": "10.15784/601791", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601791"}, {"dataset_uid": "601792", "doi": "10.15784/601792", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601792"}, {"dataset_uid": "601700", "doi": "10.15784/601700", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601700"}, {"dataset_uid": "601787", "doi": "10.15784/601787", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Cryosphere; Species Abundance; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601787"}, {"dataset_uid": "601702", "doi": "10.15784/601702", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601701", "doi": "10.15784/601701", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601701"}, {"dataset_uid": "601793", "doi": "10.15784/601793", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601793"}], "date_created": "Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification and ocean warming will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient), carbon dioxide enriched, and elevated temperature seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative \"winners\" and some will be relative \"losers\" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod \"winners\" and two key amphipod \"losers\". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -64.0527, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Amd/Us; AMD; COASTAL; BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Palmer Station; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS)", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.77423, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.77423, "title": "Assemblage-wide effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming on ecologically important macroalgal-associated crustaceans in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010193", "west": -64.0527}, {"awards": "1443342 Licht, Kathy; 1443556 Thomson, Stuart", "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": "He, John; Reiners, Peter; Hemming, Sidney R.; Licht, Kathy; Thomson, Stuart", "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. 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\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": "1643355 Steig, Eric; 1643394 Buizert, Christo", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions; Layer and Thinning based Accumulation Rate Reconstructions; WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200220", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "WAIS Divide 67-6ka nssS Data and EDML, EDC and TALDICE Volcanic Tie Points", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/24530"}, {"dataset_uid": "601448", "doi": "10.15784/601448", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Layer and Thinning based Accumulation Rate Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601448"}, {"dataset_uid": "200219", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica 40,000 Year Temperature and Elevation Reconstructions", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/32632"}], "date_created": "Fri, 28 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fudge, T. J.; Steig, Eric J.; Buizert, Christo", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Timing and Spatial Expression of the Bipolar Seesaw", "uid": "p0010183", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1834986 Ballard, Grant", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((165 -77,165.5 -77,166 -77,166.5 -77,167 -77,167.5 -77,168 -77,168.5 -77,169 -77,169.5 -77,170 -77,170 -77.1,170 -77.2,170 -77.3,170 -77.4,170 -77.5,170 -77.6,170 -77.7,170 -77.8,170 -77.9,170 -78,169.5 -78,169 -78,168.5 -78,168 -78,167.5 -78,167 -78,166.5 -78,166 -78,165.5 -78,165 -78,165 -77.9,165 -77.8,165 -77.7,165 -77.6,165 -77.5,165 -77.4,165 -77.3,165 -77.2,165 -77.1,165 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Orthomosaics of Ross Island Penguin Colonies 2019 - 2021", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601612", "doi": "10.15784/601612", "keywords": "Aerial Imagery; Aerial Survey; Antarctica; Biota; Geotiff; Penguin; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Population Count; Ross Island; UAV", "people": "Schmidt, Annie; Shah, Kunal; Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Orthomosaics of Ross Island Penguin Colonies 2019 - 2021", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601612"}], "date_created": "Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "New methodologies for the deployment of coordinated unmanned aerial vehicles will be developed with the aim of attaining whole-colony imagery that can be used to characterize nesting habitats of Adelie penguins at Cape Crozier, on Ross Island, Antarctica. This information will be used to test hypotheses regarding relationships between terrain characteristics, nesting density, and breeding success. This population, potentially the largest in the world and at the southern limit of the species\u0027 range, has doubled in size over the past 20 years while most other colonies in the region have remained stable or declined. New information gained from this project will be useful in understanding the potential ofclimate-driven changes in terrestrial nesting habitats for impacting Adelie penguins in the future. The project will produce, and document, open-source software tools to help automate image processing for automated counting of Adelie penguins. The project will train graduate and undergraduate students and contribute materials to ongoing educational outreach programs based on related penguin science projects. Information gained from this project will contribute towards building robust, cost-effective protocols for monitoring Adelie penguin populations, a key ecosystem indicator identified in the draft Ross Sea Marine Protected Area Research and Monitoring Plan. Adelie penguins are important indicators of ecosystem function and change in the Southern Ocean. In addition to facing rapid changes in sea ice and other factors in their pelagic environment, their terrestrial nesting habitat is also changing. Understanding the species\u0027 response to such changes is critical for assessing its ability to adapt to the changing climate. The objective of this project is to test several hypotheses about the influence of fine-scale nesting habitat, nest density, and breeding success of Adelie penguins in the Ross Sea region. To accomplish this, the project will develop algorithms to improve efficiency and safety of surveys by unmanned aerial systems and develop and disseminate an automated image processing workflow. Images collected during several UAV surveys will be used to estimate the number of nesting adults and chicks produced, as well as estimate nesting density in different parts of two colonies on Ross Island, Antarctica, that differ in size by two orders of magnitude. Imagery will be used to generate high resolution digital surface/elevation models that will allow terrain variables like flood risk and terrain complexity to be derived. Combining the surface model with the nest and chick counts at the two colonies will provide relationships between habitat covariates, nest density, and breeding success. The approaches developed will enable Adelie penguin population sizes and potentially several other indicators in the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area Research and Monitoring Plan to be determined and evaluated. The flight control algorithms developed have the potential to be used for many types of surveys, especially when large areas need to be covered in a short period with extreme weather potential and difficult landing options. Aerial images and video will be used to create useable materials to be included in outreach and educational programs. The automated image processing workflow and classification models will be developed as open source software and will be made freely available for others addressing similar wildlife monitoring challenges. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(167.5 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "UAS; Ross Island; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; UAV; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; Penguin", "locations": "Ross Island", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Schwager, Mac; McKown, Matthew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Does Nest Density Matter? Using Novel Technology to Collect Whole-colony Data on Adelie Penguins.", "uid": "p0010178", "west": 165.0}, {"awards": "1341736 Adams, Byron", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-177.4099 -84.4661,-177.08229 -84.4661,-176.75468 -84.4661,-176.42707 -84.4661,-176.09946 -84.4661,-175.77185 -84.4661,-175.44424 -84.4661,-175.11663000000001 -84.4661,-174.78902 -84.4661,-174.46141 -84.4661,-174.1338 -84.4661,-174.1338 -84.56828,-174.1338 -84.67045999999999,-174.1338 -84.77264,-174.1338 -84.87482,-174.1338 -84.977,-174.1338 -85.07918,-174.1338 -85.18136,-174.1338 -85.28354,-174.1338 -85.38571999999999,-174.1338 -85.4879,-174.46141 -85.4879,-174.78902 -85.4879,-175.11663000000001 -85.4879,-175.44424 -85.4879,-175.77185 -85.4879,-176.09946 -85.4879,-176.42707 -85.4879,-176.75468 -85.4879,-177.08229 -85.4879,-177.4099 -85.4879,-177.4099 -85.38571999999999,-177.4099 -85.28354,-177.4099 -85.18136,-177.4099 -85.07918,-177.4099 -84.977,-177.4099 -84.87482,-177.4099 -84.77264,-177.4099 -84.67045999999999,-177.4099 -84.56828,-177.4099 -84.4661))", "dataset_titles": "Dataset DS-TAMS: Genetic diversity of Collembola from the Transantarctic Mountains; GenBank accession numbers MN619477 to MN619610; Meteoric 10Be data of soils from the Shackleton Glacier region; Shackleton Glacier region soil water-soluble geochemical data; Shackleton Glacier region water-soluble salt isotopes; Soil invertebrate surveys from the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica during the 2017-2018 austral summer", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601419", "doi": "10.15784/601419", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochemistry; Nitrate; Shackleton Glacier; Stable Isotopes; Sulfate; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Diaz, Melisa A.; Lyons, W. Berry; Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Shackleton Glacier region water-soluble salt isotopes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601419"}, {"dataset_uid": "200175", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "GenBank accession numbers MN619477 to MN619610", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/MN619477"}, {"dataset_uid": "601421", "doi": "10.15784/601421", "keywords": "Antarctica; Be-10; Beryllium-10; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Geochemistry; Geomorphology; Shackleton Glacier; Surface Exposure Dates", "people": "Diaz, Melisa A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Meteoric 10Be data of soils from the Shackleton Glacier region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601421"}, {"dataset_uid": "200258", "doi": "doi:10.6073/pasta/7959821e5f6f8d56d94bb6a26873b3ae", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EDI", "science_program": null, "title": "Soil invertebrate surveys from the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica during the 2017-2018 austral summer", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7959821e5f6f8d56d94bb6a26873b3ae"}, {"dataset_uid": "601418", "doi": "10.15784/601418", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochemistry; Shackleton Glacier", "people": "Gardner, Christopher B.; Lyons, W. Berry; Diaz, Melisa A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Shackleton Glacier region soil water-soluble geochemical data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601418"}, {"dataset_uid": "200174", "doi": "10.5883/DS-TAMS", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Barcode of Life Datasystems (BOLD)", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset DS-TAMS: Genetic diversity of Collembola from the Transantarctic Mountains", "url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-TAMS"}], "date_created": "Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The project will characterize the functional, taxonomic, biotic and abiotic drivers of soil ecosystems in the Trans Antarctic Mountains (one of the most remote and harsh terrestrial landscapes on the planet). The work will utilize new high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing technologies to identify members of the microbial communities and determine if the microbial community structures are independent of local environmental heterogeneities. In addition the project will determine if microbial diversity and function are correlated with time since the last glacial maximum (LGM). The expected results will greatly contribute to our knowledge regarding rates of microbial succession and help define the some of the limits to life and life-maintaining processes on Earth. The project will analyze genomes and RNA derived from these genomes to describe the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from soils above and below LGM elevations and to correlate these with the environmental drivers associated with their development during the last ~18,000 years. The team will identify the taxonomic diversity and the functional genetic composition within a broad suite of soil biota and examine their patterns of assembly and distribution within the framework of their geological legacies. The project will mentor participants from undergraduate students to postdoctoral researchers and prepare them to effectively engage in research to meet their career aspirations. The project will contribute to ongoing public education efforts through relationships with K-12 teachers and administrators- to include University-Public School partnerships. Less formal activities include public lecture series and weblogs aimed at providing information on Antarctic polar desert ecosystems to the general public. Targeted classrooms near each PI\u0027s institution will participate in online, real-time discussions about current topics in Antarctic ecosystems research.", "east": -174.1338, "geometry": "POINT(-175.77185 -84.977)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; LABORATORY; AMD; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; Transantarctic Mountains; USAP-DC", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -84.4661, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Adams, Byron; Fierer, Noah; Wall, Diana; Diaz, Melisa A.; Gardner, Christopher B.; Lyons, W. Berry", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Barcode of Life Datasystems (BOLD); EDI; NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.4879, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Role of Glacial History on the Structure and Functioning of Ecological Communities in the Shackleton Glacier Region of the Transantarctic Mountains", "uid": "p0010140", "west": -177.4099}, {"awards": "0732711 Smith, Craig; 0732983 Vernet, Maria; 0732917 McCormick, Michael; 0732450 Van Dover, Cindy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60.5 -63.1,-59.99 -63.1,-59.48 -63.1,-58.97 -63.1,-58.46 -63.1,-57.95 -63.1,-57.44 -63.1,-56.93 -63.1,-56.42 -63.1,-55.91 -63.1,-55.4 -63.1,-55.4 -63.29,-55.4 -63.48,-55.4 -63.67,-55.4 -63.86,-55.4 -64.05,-55.4 -64.24,-55.4 -64.43,-55.4 -64.62,-55.4 -64.81,-55.4 -65,-55.91 -65,-56.42 -65,-56.93 -65,-57.44 -65,-57.95 -65,-58.46 -65,-58.97 -65,-59.48 -65,-59.99 -65,-60.5 -65,-60.5 -64.81,-60.5 -64.62,-60.5 -64.43,-60.5 -64.24,-60.5 -64.05,-60.5 -63.86,-60.5 -63.67,-60.5 -63.48,-60.5 -63.29,-60.5 -63.1))", "dataset_titles": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001 cruise data; NBP1203 cruise data; Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601073", "doi": "10.15784/601073", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; LARISSA; Microbiology", "people": "McCormick, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601073"}, {"dataset_uid": "000143", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1203 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "000142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1001 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1001"}, {"dataset_uid": "601304", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1203; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601304"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts.", "east": -55.4, "geometry": "POINT(-57.95 -64.05)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NBP1203; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Species Abundance Data; R/V NBP; Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001; USA/NSF; AMD; Antarctica; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Larsen Ice Shelf", "north": -63.1, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McCormick, Michael; Vernet, Maria; Van Dover, Cindy; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach - Marine Ecosystems.", "uid": "p0010135", "west": -60.5}, {"awards": "1935755 Lamp, Jennifer; 1935907 Balco, Gregory; 1935945 Tremblay, Marissa", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -77.25,160.4 -77.25,160.8 -77.25,161.2 -77.25,161.6 -77.25,162 -77.25,162.4 -77.25,162.8 -77.25,163.2 -77.25,163.6 -77.25,164 -77.25,164 -77.325,164 -77.4,164 -77.475,164 -77.55,164 -77.625,164 -77.7,164 -77.775,164 -77.85,164 -77.925,164 -78,163.6 -78,163.2 -78,162.8 -78,162.4 -78,162 -78,161.6 -78,161.2 -78,160.8 -78,160.4 -78,160 -78,160 -77.925,160 -77.85,160 -77.775,160 -77.7,160 -77.625,160 -77.55,160 -77.475,160 -77.4,160 -77.325,160 -77.25))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": ". ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Nontechnical Description Scientists study the Earth\u0027s past climate in order to understand how the climate will respond to ongoing global change in the future. One of the best analogs for future climate might the period that occurred approximately 3 million years ago, during an interval known as the mid-Pliocene Warm Period. During this period, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was similar to today\u0027s and sea level was 15 or more meters higher, due primarily to warming and consequent ice sheet melting in polar regions. However, the temperatures in polar regions during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are not well determined, in part because we do not have records like ice cores that extend this far back in time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a new type of climate substitute, known as cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry. This project focuses on an area of Antarctica called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In this area, climate models suggest that temperatures were more than 10 C warmer during the mid-Pliocene than they are today, but indirect geologic observations suggest that temperatures may have been similar to today. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are also a place where rocks have been exposed to Earth surface conditions for several million years, and where this new climate substitute can be readily applied. The team will reconstruct temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period in order to resolve the discrepancy between models and indirect geologic observations and provide much-needed constraints on the sensitivity of Antarctic ice sheets to warming temperatures. The temperature reconstructions generated in this project will have scientific impact in multiple disciplines, including climate science, glaciology, geomorphology, and planetary science. In addition, the project will (1) broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by supporting two early-career female principal investigators, (2) build STEM talent through the education and training of a graduate student, (3) enhance infrastructure for research via publication of a publicly-accessible, open-source code library, and (4) be broadly disseminated via social media, blog posts, publications, and conference presentations. Part II: Technical Description The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3-3.3 million years ago) is the most recent interval of the geologic past when atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 400 ppm and is widely considered an analog for how Earth\u2019s climate system will respond to current global change. Climate models predict polar amplification - the occurrence of larger changes in temperatures at high latitudes than the global average due to a radiative forcing - both during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and due to current climate warming. However, the predicted magnitude of polar amplification is highly uncertain in both cases. The magnitude of polar amplification has important implications for the sensitivity of ice sheets to warming and the contribution of ice sheet melting to sea level change. Proxy-based constraints on polar surface air temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are sparse to non-existent. In Antarctica, there is only indirect evidence for the magnitude of warming during this time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a newly developed technique called cosmogenic noble gas (CNG) paleothermometry. CNG paleothermometry utilizes the diffusive behavior of cosmogenic 3He in quartz to quantify the temperatures rocks experience while exposed to cosmic-ray particles within a few meters of the Earth\u2019s surface. The very low erosion rates and subzero temperatures characterizing the McMurdo Dry Valleys make this region uniquely suited for the application of CNG paleothermometry for addressing the question: what temperatures characterized the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period? To address this question, the team will collect bedrock samples at several locations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys where erosion rates are known to be low enough that cosmic ray exposure extends into the mid-Pliocene or earlier. They will pair cosmogenic 3He measurements, which will record the thermal histories of our samples, with measurements of cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne, which record samples exposure and erosion histories. We will also make in situ measurements of rock and air temperatures at sample sites in order to quantify the effect of radiative heating and develop a statistical relationship between rock and air temperatures, as well as conduct diffusion experiments to quantify the kinetics of 3He diffusion specific to each sample. This suite of observations will be used to model permissible thermal histories and place constraints on temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period interval of cosmic-ray exposure. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162 -77.625)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; LABORATORY; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; ISOTOPES; Dry Valleys; AIR TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTION; GEOCHEMISTRY; USAP-DC", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.25, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tremblay, Marissa; Granger, Darryl; Balco, Gregory; Lamp, Jennifer", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative \r\nResearch: Reconstructing Temperatures during the Mid-Pliocene Warm \r\nPeriod in the McMurdo Dry Valleys with Cosmogenic Noble Gases", "uid": "p0010123", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1543450 Countway, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-66 -63,-65.7 -63,-65.4 -63,-65.1 -63,-64.8 -63,-64.5 -63,-64.2 -63,-63.9 -63,-63.6 -63,-63.3 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.3,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.9,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.8,-63 -65.1,-63 -65.4,-63 -65.7,-63 -66,-63.3 -66,-63.6 -66,-63.9 -66,-64.2 -66,-64.5 -66,-64.8 -66,-65.1 -66,-65.4 -66,-65.7 -66,-66 -66,-66 -65.7,-66 -65.4,-66 -65.1,-66 -64.8,-66 -64.5,-66 -64.2,-66 -63.9,-66 -63.6,-66 -63.3,-66 -63))", "dataset_titles": "Biogenic Sulfur Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Dissolved Inorganic Nutrient Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments ; Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Flow Cytometry Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Heterotrophic Bacterial Production Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments; Western Antarctic Peninsula plankton raw sequence reads", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601647", "doi": "10.15784/601647", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station; Phytoplankton", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Flow Cytometry Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601647"}, {"dataset_uid": "601648", "doi": "10.15784/601648", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Dimethyl Sulfide; Dimethylsulfoniopropionate; Dimethylsulfoxide; DMSP; DMSP Lyase; Palmer Station", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biogenic Sulfur Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601648"}, {"dataset_uid": "601646", "doi": "10.15784/601646", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Dissolved Organic Carbon; Nitrogen; Palmer Station; TDN; Total Dissolved Nitrogen", "people": "Matrai, Patricia; Countway, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601646"}, {"dataset_uid": "601645", "doi": "10.15784/601645", "keywords": "Antarctica; Nitrate; Nitrite; Palmer Station; Phosphate", "people": "Matrai, Patricia; Countway, Peter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved Inorganic Nutrient Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601645"}, {"dataset_uid": "601644", "doi": "10.15784/601644", "keywords": "3H-Leu; Antarctica; Bacteria; Biota; DMSP; Heterotrophic Bacterial Production; Palmer Station", "people": "Countway, Peter; Matrai, Patricia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Heterotrophic Bacterial Production Samples from Station E (Palmer Station, Antarctica) and Associated Incubation Experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601644"}, {"dataset_uid": "200337", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Western Antarctic Peninsula plankton raw sequence reads", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA870587?reviewer=bmud2tbbrqbus79i2n2hb83uio"}], "date_created": "Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean in the vicinity of Antarctica is a region characterized by seasonally-driven marine phytoplankton blooms that are often dominated by microalgal species which produce large amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). DMSP can be converted to the compound dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is a molecule that can escape into the atmosphere where it is known to have strong condensation properties that are involved in regional cloud formation. Production of DMSP can influence the diversity and composition of microbial assemblages in seawater and the types and activities of microbes in the seawater will likely affect the magnitude of DMSP\\DMS production. The proposal aims to examine the role of DMSP in structuring the microbial communities in Antarctic waters and how this structuring may influence DMSP cycling. The project will leverage the Antarctic research to introduce concepts and data linking microbial diversity and biogeochemistry to a range of audiences (including high school and undergraduate students in Maine). The project will also engage teacher and students in rural K-8 schools and will allow a collaboration with a science writer and illustrator who will join the team in the field. The writer will use the southern ocean experience as the setting for a poster and a book about the proposed research and the scientists studying extreme environments. The project will examine (1) the extent to which the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters influences the composition and diversity of bacterial and protistan assemblages; (2) conversely, whether the composition and diversity of southern ocean protistan and bacterial assemblages influence the magnitude and rates of DMSP cycling; (3) the expression of DMSP degradation genes by marine bacteria seasonally and in response to additions of DMSP; and, to synthesize these results by quantifying (4) the microbial networks resulting from the presence of DMSP-producers and DMSP-consumers along with their predators, all involved in the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters. The work will be accomplished by conducting continuous growth experiments with DMSP-amended natural samples during field sampling of different microbial communities present in summer and fall. Data from the molecular (such as 16S/ 18S tag sequences, DMSP-cycle gene transcripts) and biogeochemical (such as biogenic sulfur cycling, bacterial production, microbial biomass) investigations will be integrated via network analysis.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64.5 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; PLANKTON; Amd/Us; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Palmer Station; USA/NSF", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Countway, Peter", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.0, "title": "Microbial Community Structure and Expression of Functional Genes Involved in the Seasonal Cycling of DMSP in the Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010120", "west": -66.0}, {"awards": "1543441 Fricker, Helen; 1543453 Lyons, W. Berry; 1543405 Leventer, Amy; 1543537 Priscu, John; 1543347 Rosenheim, Brad; 1543396 Christner, Brent", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-163.611 -84.33543,-162.200034 -84.33543,-160.789068 -84.33543,-159.378102 -84.33543,-157.967136 -84.33543,-156.55617 -84.33543,-155.145204 -84.33543,-153.734238 -84.33543,-152.323272 -84.33543,-150.912306 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.33543,-149.50134 -84.3659157,-149.50134 -84.3964014,-149.50134 -84.4268871,-149.50134 -84.4573728,-149.50134 -84.4878585,-149.50134 -84.5183442,-149.50134 -84.5488299,-149.50134 -84.5793156,-149.50134 -84.6098013,-149.50134 -84.640287,-150.912306 -84.640287,-152.323272 -84.640287,-153.734238 -84.640287,-155.145204 -84.640287,-156.55617 -84.640287,-157.967136 -84.640287,-159.378102 -84.640287,-160.789068 -84.640287,-162.200034 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.640287,-163.611 -84.6098013,-163.611 -84.5793156,-163.611 -84.5488299,-163.611 -84.5183442,-163.611 -84.4878585,-163.611 -84.4573728,-163.611 -84.4268871,-163.611 -84.3964014,-163.611 -84.3659157,-163.611 -84.33543))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset; Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland; CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole; Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ; Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995); Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data; Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing; Salsa sediment cores; Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake; Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200212", "doi": "10.7283/PT0Q-JB95", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ01-WIS_GroundingZone_01 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/PT0Q-JB95"}, {"dataset_uid": "601672", "doi": "10.15784/601672", "keywords": "Antarctica; Isotope; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Radiocarbon; Subglacial Lake", "people": "Rosenheim, Brad; Venturelli, Ryan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake radiocarbon and stable isotope data ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601672"}, {"dataset_uid": "601664", "doi": "10.15784/601664", "keywords": "Antarctica; Gas; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciology; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Methane; SALSA; Sediment Core; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Skidmore, Mark; Michaud, Alexander; Dore, John; Steigmeyer, August; Tranter, Martyn; Science Team, SALSA", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sediment porewater properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601664"}, {"dataset_uid": "200216", "doi": "10.7283/F8NH-CV04", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA07-WIS_LAKES_07 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F8NH-CV04"}, {"dataset_uid": "601663", "doi": "10.15784/601663", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Cell Counts; Geochemistry; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Microbes; Nutrients; SALSA; Stable Isotopes; Trace Elements; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Skidmore, Mark; Li, Wei; Tranter, Martyn; Barker, Joel; Science Team, SALSA; Priscu, John; Dore, John; Steigmeyer, August; Hawkings, Jon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Water column biogeochemical data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601663"}, {"dataset_uid": "200215", "doi": "10.7283/C503-KS23", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA06-WIS_LAKES_06 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/C503-KS23"}, {"dataset_uid": "200214", "doi": "10.7283/YW8Z-TK03", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA02-WIS_LAKES_02 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/YW8Z-TK03"}, {"dataset_uid": "200342", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake water column viral metagenomic sequencing", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/32811410"}, {"dataset_uid": "601360", "doi": "10.15784/601360", "keywords": "Antarctica; Radiocarbon; Sediment; Whillans Ice Stream", "people": "Venturelli, Ryan A", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Isotopic data from Whillans Ice Stream grounding zone, West Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601360"}, {"dataset_uid": "200217", "doi": "10.7283/3JMY-Y504", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - LA09-WIS_LAKES_09 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/3JMY-Y504"}, {"dataset_uid": "601472", "doi": "10.15784/601472", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bistatic Radar; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPS Data; Greenland; Lake Whillans; Radar; Store Glacier; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Christoffersen, Poul; Bienert, Nicole; Schroeder, Dustin; Siegfried, Matthew; Peters, Sean; MacKie, Emma; Dawson, Eliza", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WISSARD", "title": "Bistatic Radar Sounding of Whillans Ice Stream, Antarctica and Store Glacier, Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601472"}, {"dataset_uid": "200246", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "OSU-MGR", "science_program": null, "title": "Salsa sediment cores", "url": "https://osu-mgr.org"}, {"dataset_uid": "200282", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) microbial composition: 16S rRNA genes (Sequence Read Archive; BioProject: PRJNA790995)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA790995"}, {"dataset_uid": "601661", "doi": "10.15784/601661", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Glacier; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Iron; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Mineralogy; Particle Size; Physical Properties; SALSA; Sediment Core; Sulfur; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Science Team, SALSA; Dore, John; Campbell, Timothy; Michaud, Alexander; Hawkings, Jon; Skidmore, Mark; Tranter, Martyn; Venturelli, Ryan A", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Discrete bulk sediment properties data from Mercer Subglacial Lake", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601661"}, {"dataset_uid": "601657", "doi": "10.15784/601657", "keywords": "Antarctica; Conductivity; CTD; Depth; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Hot Water Drill; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Physical Properties; SALSA; Subglacial Lake; Temperature", "people": "Rosenheim, Brad; Priscu, John; Leventer, Amy; Dore, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from Mercer Subglacial Lake and access borehole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601657"}, {"dataset_uid": "200213", "doi": "10.7283/F7BB-JH05", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctica - PI Continuous - GZ13-WIS_GroundingZone_13 P.S. - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/doi/10.7283/F7BB-JH05"}, {"dataset_uid": "601498", "doi": "10.15784/601498", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mercer Subglacial Lake; Noble Gas", "people": "Lyons, W. Berry; Gardner, Christopher B.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mercer Subglacial Lake (SLM) noble gas and isotopic data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601498"}], "date_created": "Thu, 16 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis \"Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments\". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.", "east": -149.50134, "geometry": "POINT(-156.55617 -84.4878585)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENTS; Antarctica; ISOTOPES; Subglacial Lake; USAP-DC; VIRUSES; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; LABORATORY; Radiocarbon; Whillans Ice Stream; AMD; SALSA; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; RADIOCARBON; FIELD INVESTIGATION; ICE MOTION; Mercer Ice Stream; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": "Antarctica; Mercer Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream", "north": -84.33543, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rosenheim, Brad; Fricker, Helen; Priscu, John; Leventer, Amy; Dore, John; Lyons, W. Berry; Christner, Brent", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "UNAVCO", "repositories": "GenBank; NCBI GenBank; OSU-MGR; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.640287, "title": "Collaborative Research: Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA): Integrated Study of Carbon Cycling in Hydrologically-active Subglacial Environments", "uid": "p0010119", "west": -163.611}, {"awards": "1443482 Mak, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon monoxide mixing ratios and stable isotopic values, SPICE", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601356", "doi": "10.15784/601356", "keywords": "Antarctica; CO; Delta 13C; Delta 18O; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Mak, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Carbon monoxide mixing ratios and stable isotopic values, SPICE", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601356"}], "date_created": "Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Mak/1443482 This project will compare current atmospheric conditions with those of the remote past prior to human influence. This is important in order to understand the impact of human activities on Earth\u0027s atmosphere, and to determine the stability of the composition of the atmosphere in the past. How humans have impacted Earth?s atmospheric composition is important for developing accurate predictions of future global atmospheric conditions. In addition to training students, the investigators will support continuing education of high school science teachers on Long Island through specifically tailored, interactive seminars on various topics in earth science, atmospheric sciences, physics and biology. A pilot program at Mount Sinai School District, near Stony Brook University will be the first implementation of this program. The investigators plan to reconstruct historical variations in the sources of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) from measurements of the concentration and stable isotopic abundance of carbon monoxide ([CO], 13CO and C18O) in the South Pole Ice Core, which is being drilled in 2014-2016. The goal is to strategically sample and reconstruct the relative variations in CO source strengths over the past 20,000 years. These will be the first measurements to extend the CO record beyond 650 years before present, back to the last glacial maximum. Both atmospheric chemical processes and variations in CO sources can impact the CO budget, and variations in the CO budget are useful in identifying and quantifying chemistry-climate interactions.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; South Pole", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mak, John", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Using Stable Isotopes to Constrain the Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide Budget over the Last 20,000 Years", "uid": "p0010117", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1443576 Panter, Kurt", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-154.1 -86.9,-154.03 -86.9,-153.96 -86.9,-153.89 -86.9,-153.82 -86.9,-153.75 -86.9,-153.68 -86.9,-153.61 -86.9,-153.54 -86.9,-153.47 -86.9,-153.4 -86.9,-153.4 -86.92,-153.4 -86.94,-153.4 -86.96,-153.4 -86.98,-153.4 -87,-153.4 -87.02,-153.4 -87.04,-153.4 -87.06,-153.4 -87.08,-153.4 -87.1,-153.47 -87.1,-153.54 -87.1,-153.61 -87.1,-153.68 -87.1,-153.75 -87.1,-153.82 -87.1,-153.89 -87.1,-153.96 -87.1,-154.03 -87.1,-154.1 -87.1,-154.1 -87.08,-154.1 -87.06,-154.1 -87.04,-154.1 -87.02,-154.1 -87,-154.1 -86.98,-154.1 -86.96,-154.1 -86.94,-154.1 -86.92,-154.1 -86.9))", "dataset_titles": "Volcanological and Petrological measurements on Mt. Early and Sheridan Bluff volcanoes, upper Scott Glacier, Antarctica ", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601331", "doi": "10.15784/601331", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochronology; Glacial Volcanism; Magma Differentiation; Major Elements; Mantle Melting; Solid Earth; Trace Elements; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Panter, Kurt", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Volcanological and Petrological measurements on Mt. Early and Sheridan Bluff volcanoes, upper Scott Glacier, Antarctica ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601331"}], "date_created": "Fri, 05 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Predictions of future sea level rise require better understanding of the changing dynamics of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. One way to better understand the past history of the ice sheets is to obtain records from inland ice for past geological periods, particularly in Antarctica, the world?s largest remaining ice sheet. Such records are exceedingly rare, and can be acquired at volcanic outcrops in the La Gorce Mountains of the central Transantarctic Mountains. Volcanoes now exposed within the La Gorce Mountains erupted beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet and the data collected will record how thick the ice sheet was in the past. In addition, information will be used to determine the thermal conditions at the base of the ice sheet, which impacts ice sheet stability. The project will also investigate the origin of volcanic activity in Antarctica and links to the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS). The WARS is a broad area of extended (i.e. stretched) continental crust, similar to that found in East Africa, and volcanism is wide spread and long-lived (65 million years to currently active) and despite more than 50 years of research, the fundamental cause of volcanism and rifting in Antarctica is still vigorously debated. The results of this award therefore also potentially impact the study of oceanic volcanism in the entire southwestern Pacific region (e.g., New Zealand and Australia), where volcanic fields of similar composition and age have been linked by common magma sources and processes. The field program includes a graduate student who will work on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of petrological data as part of his/her Masters project. The experience and specialized analytical training being offered will improve the quality of the student?s research and optimize their opportunities for their future. The proposed work fosters faculty and student national and international collaboration, including working with multi-user facilities that provide advanced technological mentoring of science students. Results will be broadly disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, public presentations at science meetings, and in outreach activities. Petrologic and geochemical data will be disseminated to be the community through the Polar Rock Repository. The study of subglacially erupted volcanic rocks has been developed to the extent that it is now the most powerful proxy methodology for establishing precise ?snapshots? of ice sheets, including multiple critical ice parameters. Such data should include measurements of ice thickness, surface elevation and stability, which will be used to verify, or reject, published semi-empirical models relating ice dynamics to sea level changes. In addition to establishing whether East Antarctic ice was present during the formation of the volcanoes, data will be used to derive the coeval ice thicknesses, surface elevations and basal thermal regime(s) in concert with a precise new geochronology using the 40Ar/39Ar dating method. Inferences from measurement of standard geochemical characteristics (major, trace elements and Sr, Nd, Pb, O isotopes) will be used to investigate a possible relationship between the volcanoes and the recently discovered subglacial ridge under the East Antarctic ice, which may be a rift flank uplift. The ridge has never been sampled, is undated and its significance is uncertain. The data will provide important new information about the deep Earth and geodynamic processes beneath this mostly ice covered and poorly understood sector of the Antarctic continent.", "east": -153.4, "geometry": "POINT(-153.75 -87)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; Mantle Melting; Magma Differentiation; Geochronology; Glacial Volcanism; GEOCHEMISTRY; Major Elements; ISOTOPES; Trace Elements; Transantarctic Mountains; LABORATORY; LAVA COMPOSITION/TEXTURE; USAP-DC; LAND RECORDS", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "north": -86.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Panter, Kurt", "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": -87.1, "title": "Investigating Early Miocene Sub-ice Volcanoes in Antarctica for Improved Modeling and understanding of a Large Magmatic Province", "uid": "p0010105", "west": -154.1}, {"awards": "1419979 Severinghaus, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.65 -78.62,166.654 -78.62,166.658 -78.62,166.662 -78.62,166.666 -78.62,166.67 -78.62,166.674 -78.62,166.678 -78.62,166.682 -78.62,166.686 -78.62,166.69 -78.62,166.69 -78.6205,166.69 -78.621,166.69 -78.6215,166.69 -78.622,166.69 -78.6225,166.69 -78.623,166.69 -78.6235,166.69 -78.624,166.69 -78.6245,166.69 -78.625,166.686 -78.625,166.682 -78.625,166.678 -78.625,166.674 -78.625,166.67 -78.625,166.666 -78.625,166.662 -78.625,166.658 -78.625,166.654 -78.625,166.65 -78.625,166.65 -78.6245,166.65 -78.624,166.65 -78.6235,166.65 -78.623,166.65 -78.6225,166.65 -78.622,166.65 -78.6215,166.65 -78.621,166.65 -78.6205,166.65 -78.62))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The PIs will design and build a new rapid access ice drill (RAID) for use in Antarctica. This drill will have the ability to rapidly drill through ice up to 3300 m thick and then collect samples of the ice, ice-sheet bed interface, and bedrock substrate below. This drilling technology will provide a new way to obtain in situ measurements and samples for interdisciplinary studies in geology, glaciology, paleoclimatology, microbiology, and astrophysics. The RAID drilling platform will give the scientific community access to records of geologic and climatic change on a variety of timescales, from the billion-year rock record to thousand-year ice and climate histories. Successful development of the RAID system will provide a research tool that is currently unavailable. Development of this platform will enable scientists to address critical questions about the deep interface between the Antarctic ice sheets and the substrate below. Development of RAID will provide a way to address many of the unknowns associated with general stability of the Antarctic ice sheets in the face of changing climate and sea level rise. The scientific rationale for RAID was reviewed in a previous proposal (Goodge 1242027). The PIs were granted ?Phase I? funding to develop a more detailed conceptual design for the RAID drill that would provide a better understanding of construction costs as well as operation and maintenance costs for RAID once it is constructed. Phase I support also allowed the PIs to work with the research community to develop more detailed science requirements for the drill. This proposal requests continued funding (Phase II) to construct, assemble and test the RAID drilling platform, through to staging it in Antarctic for future scientific operations.", "east": 166.69, "geometry": "POINT(166.67 -78.6225)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS Divide Ice Core; ICE CORE AIR BUBBLES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC; Minna Bluff", "locations": "Minna Bluff", "north": -78.62, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.625, "title": "Collaborative Research: Phase 2 Development of A Rapid Access Ice Drilling (RAID) Platform for Research in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010099", "west": 166.65}, {"awards": "9615282 Siddoway, Christine; 9615281 Luyendyk, Bruce", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-170 -76,-166.5 -76,-163 -76,-159.5 -76,-156 -76,-152.5 -76,-149 -76,-145.5 -76,-142 -76,-138.5 -76,-135 -76,-135 -76.8,-135 -77.6,-135 -78.4,-135 -79.2,-135 -80,-135 -80.8,-135 -81.6,-135 -82.4,-135 -83.2,-135 -84,-138.5 -84,-142 -84,-145.5 -84,-149 -84,-152.5 -84,-156 -84,-159.5 -84,-163 -84,-166.5 -84,-170 -84,-170 -83.2,-170 -82.4,-170 -81.6,-170 -80.8,-170 -80,-170 -79.2,-170 -78.4,-170 -77.6,-170 -76.8,-170 -76))", "dataset_titles": "Bedrock sample data, Ford Ranges region (Marie Byrd Land); SOAR-WMB Airborne gravity data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601294", "doi": "10.15784/601294", "keywords": "Aerogeophysics; Airborne Gravity; Airplane; Antarctica; Free Air Gravity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Gravimeter; Gravity; Gravity Data; Marie Byrd Land; Potential Field; Ross Sea; Solid Earth", "people": "Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "SOAR-WMB Airborne gravity data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601294"}, {"dataset_uid": "601829", "doi": "10.15784/601829", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Gondwana; Marie Byrd Land; Migmatite", "people": "Siddoway, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Bedrock sample data, Ford Ranges region (Marie Byrd Land)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601829"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP 9615281 Luyendyk OPP 9615282 Siddoway Abstract This award supports a collaborative project that combines air and ground geological-geophysical investigations to understand the tectonic and geological development of the boundary between the Ross Sea Rift and the Marie Byrd Land (MBL) volcanic province. The project will determine the Cenozoic tectonic history of the region and whether Neogene structures that localized outlet glacier flow developed within the context of Cenozoic rifting on the eastern Ross Embayment margin, or within the volcanic province in MBL. The geological structure at the boundary between the Ross Embayment and western MBL may be a result of: 1) Cenozoic extension on the eastern shoulder of the Ross Sea rift; 2) uplift and crustal extension related to Neogene mantle plume activity in western MBL; or a combination of the two. Faulting and volcanism, mountain uplift, and glacier downcutting appear to now be active in western MBL, where generally East-to-West-flowing outlet glaciers incise Paleozoic and Mesozoic bedrock, and deglaciated summits indicate a previous North-South glacial flow direction. This study requires data collection using SOAR (Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research, a facility supported by Office of Polar Programs which utilizes high precision differential GPS to support a laser altimeter, ice-penetrating radar, a towed proton magnetometer, and a Bell BGM-3 gravimeter). This survey requires data for 37,000 square kilometers using 5.3 kilometer line spacing with 15.6 kilometer tie lines, and 86,000 square kilometers using a grid of 10.6 by 10.6 kilometer spacing. Data will be acquired over several key features in the region including, among other, the eastern edge of the Ross Sea rift, over ice stream OEO, the transition from the Edward VII Peninsula plateau to the Ford Ranges, the continuation to the east of a gravity high known from previous reconnaissance mapping over the Fosdick Metamorphic Complex, an d the extent of the high-amplitude magnetic anomalies (volcanic centers?) detected southeast of the northern Ford Ranges by other investigators. SOAR products will include glaciology data useful for studying driving stresses, glacial flow and mass balance in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The ground program is centered on the southern Ford Ranges. Geologic field mapping will focus on small scale brittle structures for regional kinematic interpretation, on glaciated surfaces and deposits, and on datable volcanic rocks for geochronologic control. The relative significance of fault and joint sets, the timing relationships between them, and the probable context of their formation will also be determined. Exposure ages will be determined for erosion surfaces and moraines. Interpretation of potential field data will be aided by on ground sampling for magnetic properties and density as well as ground based gravity measurements. Oriented samples will be taken for paleomagnetic studies. Combined airborne and ground investigations will obtain basic data for describing the geology and structure at the eastern boundary of the Ross Embayment both in outcrop and ice covered areas, and may be used to distinguish between Ross Sea rift- related structural activity from uplift and faulting on the perimeter of the MBL dome and volcanic province. Outcrop geology and structure will be extrapolated with the aerogeophysical data to infer the geology that resides beneath the WAIS. The new knowledge of Neogene tectonics in western MBL will contribute to a comprehensive model for the Cenozoic Ross rift and to understanding of the extent of plume activity in MBL. Both are important for determining the influence of Neogene tectonics on the ice streams and WAIS.", "east": -135.0, "geometry": "POINT(-152.5 -80)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e LGS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GRAVITY; USAP-DC; Ross Sea; TECTONICS; Marie Byrd Land", "locations": "Ross Sea; Marie Byrd Land", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Luyendyk, Bruce P.; Siddoway, Christine", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.0, "title": "Air-Ground Study of Tectonics at the Boundary Between the Eastern Ross Embayment and Western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: Basement Geology and Structure", "uid": "p0010096", "west": -170.0}, {"awards": "9725374 Bell, Robin", "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": "AWI processed ship-based Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990); BGR processed Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990); CNES processed Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica (Continent) assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990); Japanese processed Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990); Norwegian Processed ship-based Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990); Russian processed Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601279", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity", "people": "Tronstad, Stein; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Norwegian Processed ship-based Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601279"}, {"dataset_uid": "601278", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity; Marine Geoscience", "people": "Biancale, Richard; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CNES processed Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica (Continent) assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601278"}, {"dataset_uid": "601277", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity; Marine Geoscience; R/v Polarstern; Weddell Sea", "people": "Bell, Robin; Jokat, Wilfred", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AWI processed ship-based Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601277"}, {"dataset_uid": "601280", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity; PMGRE Il-38", "people": "Andrianov, Sergei; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Russian processed Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601280"}, {"dataset_uid": "601282", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity; Marine Geoscience; Ship", "people": "Nogi, Yasufumi; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Japanese processed Gravimeter Data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601282"}, {"dataset_uid": "601281", "doi": null, "keywords": "ADGRAV; Antarctica; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Gravimeter; Gravity; Marine Geoscience; Ship", "people": "Damaske, Detlef; Bell, Robin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "BGR processed Gravimeter data from the Antarctica assembled as part of the ADGRAV Data Compilation (1990)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601281"}], "date_created": "Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9725374 Bell The goal of this project is to develop a Web-based Antarctic gravity database to globally facilitate scientific use of gravity data in Antarctic studies. This compilation will provide an important new tool to the Antarctic Earth science community from the geologist placing field observations in a regional context to the seismologist studying continental scale mantle structure. The gravity database will complement the parallel projects underway to develop new continental bedrock (BEDMAP) and magnetic (ADMAP) maps of Antarctica. An international effort will parallel these ongoing projects in contacting the Antarctic geophysical community, identifying existing data sets, agreeing upon protocols for the use of data contributed to the database and finally assembling a new continental scale gravity map. The project has three principal stages. The first stage will be to investigate the accuracy and resolution of currently available high resolution satellite derived gravity data and quantify spatial variations in both accuracy and resolution. The second stage of this project will be to develop an interactive method of accessing existing satellite, shipboard, land based, and airborne gravity data via a Web based interface. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory RIDGE Multi-beam bathymetry database will be used as a template for this project. The existing online RIDGE database allows users to access the raw data, the gridded data and raster images of the seafloor topography. A similar structure will be produced for the existing Antarctic gravity data. The third stage of this project will be to develop an international program to compile existing gravity data south of 60 S. This project will be discussed with leaders of both the ADMAP and BEDMAP efforts and the appropriate working groups of SCAR. A preliminary map of existing gravity data will be presented at the Antarctic Earth Science meeting in Wellington in 1999. A gravity working group meeting will be held in conjunction with the Wellington meeting to reach a consensus on the protocols for placing data into the database. By the completion of the project, existing gravity data will be identified and international protocols for placing this data in the on-line database will have been defined. The process of archiving the gravity data into the database will be an ongoing project as additional data become available.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; GRAVITY FIELD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bell, Robin; Small, Christopher", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "The Development of a New Generation Gravity Map of Antarctica", "uid": "p0010092", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1341602 Crockett, Elizabeth; 1341663 O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Acclimation of cardiovascular function in Notothenia coriiceps; Adrenergic and adenosinergic regulation of the cardiovascular system in the Antarctic icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus; Cardiac metabolism in Antarctic fishes in response to an acute increase in temperature; Chaenocephalus aceratus HIF-1A mRNA, complete cds; Chionodraco rastrospinosus HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds; Effects of acute warming on cardiovascular performance of Antarctic fishes; Eleginops maclovinus HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds; Gymnodraco acuticeps HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds; Hypoxia response of hearts of Antarctic fishes; Maximum cardiac performance of Antarctic fishes that lack haemoglobin and myoglobin: exploring the effect of warming on nature\u2019s natural knockouts; Measurements of splenic contraction in Antarctic fishes; Mitochondrial membranes in cardiac muscle from Antarctic notothenioid fishes vary in phospholipid composition and membrane fluidity; Notothenia coriiceps HIF-1A mRNA, complete cds; Parachaenichthys charcoti HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds; Physical, chemical, and functional properties of neuronal membranes vary between species of Antarctic notothenioids differing in thermal tolerance; Thermal sensitivity of membrane fluidity and integrity in hearts of Antarctic fishes that vary in expression of hemoglobin and myoglobin", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200190", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Parachaenichthys charcoti HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX950833"}, {"dataset_uid": "200188", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Notothenia coriiceps HIF-1A mRNA, complete cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX950829"}, {"dataset_uid": "200187", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Chaenocephalus aceratus HIF-1A mRNA, complete cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX950828"}, {"dataset_uid": "200186", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.qm0b25h", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Physical, chemical, and functional properties of neuronal membranes vary between species of Antarctic notothenioids differing in thermal tolerance", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qm0b25h"}, {"dataset_uid": "601406", "doi": "10.15784/601406", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hypoxia response of hearts of Antarctic fishes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601406"}, {"dataset_uid": "601408", "doi": "10.15784/601408", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Farrell, Anthony; O\u0027Brien, Kristin; Joyce, William; Egginton, Stuart; Crockett, Elizabeth; Axelsson, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Acclimation of cardiovascular function in Notothenia coriiceps", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601408"}, {"dataset_uid": "601407", "doi": "10.15784/601407", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Axelsson, Michael; Joyce, William; O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Measurements of splenic contraction in Antarctic fishes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601407"}, {"dataset_uid": "200185", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.k90h35k", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Mitochondrial membranes in cardiac muscle from Antarctic notothenioid fishes vary in phospholipid composition and membrane fluidity", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k90h35k"}, {"dataset_uid": "200184", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.83vc5", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Maximum cardiac performance of Antarctic fishes that lack haemoglobin and myoglobin: exploring the effect of warming on nature\u2019s natural knockouts", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83vc5"}, {"dataset_uid": "601414", "doi": "10.15784/601414", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "O\u0027Brien, Kristin; Crockett, Elizabeth; Farnoud, Amir; Evans, Elizabeth", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Thermal sensitivity of membrane fluidity and integrity in hearts of Antarctic fishes that vary in expression of hemoglobin and myoglobin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601414"}, {"dataset_uid": "601405", "doi": "10.15784/601405", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Cardiac metabolism in Antarctic fishes in response to an acute increase in temperature", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601405"}, {"dataset_uid": "601410", "doi": "10.15784/601410", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Fish", "people": "Joyce, William; Axelsson, Michael; Crockett, Elizabeth; Farrell, Anthony; Egginton, Stuart; O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Effects of acute warming on cardiovascular performance of Antarctic fishes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601410"}, {"dataset_uid": "601409", "doi": "10.15784/601409", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Egginton, Stuart; Joyce, Michael; Axelsson, Michael; Farrell, Anthony; O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adrenergic and adenosinergic regulation of the cardiovascular system in the Antarctic icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601409"}, {"dataset_uid": "200192", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Chionodraco rastrospinosus HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/kx950831"}, {"dataset_uid": "200191", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Gymnodraco acuticeps HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/kx950832"}, {"dataset_uid": "200189", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Eleginops maclovinus HIF-1A mRNA, partial cds", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX950830"}], "date_created": "Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The ocean surrounding Antarctica is home to an extraordinary assemblage of fishes, dominated by a single group that are extremely well-suited to life in icy waters and which are of significant ecological importance there. Of great concern is the capacity of these fishes to withstand increases in temperature as the region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula warms at a rate faster than any other area in the Southern hemisphere. One particular group of Antarctic fishes, known as the icefishes, are particularly vulnerable to increases in temperature because unlike all other vertebrates on earth, icefishes are white-blooded due to their lack of the oxygen-binding protein hemoglobin. This greatly reduces their capacity to transport and deliver oxygen to tissues compared to red-blooded Antarctic fishes. Previous studies have shown that icefishes are indeed less tolerant to elevations in temperature but the underlying factors are completely unknown. Additionally, it is not understood if red- or white-blooded Antarctic fishes can adjust, or acclimate, to modest increases in temperature, similar to those changes in temperature the animals might experience as the earth warms. The investigators will determine if heart function and/or nervous system function limits thermal tolerance of Antarctic fishes, and will determine their capacity to acclimate to warmer temperatures. The project will further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists by training graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, the project will collaborate with a high school biology teacher from a school which serves a largely minority student body. The students will learn about the marine environment, and will construct a camera to be used in the field to learn more about Antarctic fishes. Two students and the teacher will also attend a summer marine biology internship program. Antarctic fishes within the suborder Notothenioidei (called \"notothenioids\") are among the organisms on earth least able to deal with changes in temperature. The hemoglobinless icefish are even less able to withstand temperature changes than are red-blooded notothenioids. While this is well documented, the underlying physiological and biochemical mechanisms responsible are unknown. The investigators will test the hypotheses that cardiac work is significantly greater in icefishes compared to red-blooded species, and that as temperature increases, the greater cardiac work of icefishes, coupled with reduced blood oxygen-carrying capacity, results in cardiac failure at a lower temperature compared to red-blooded species. They also hypothesize that neuronal function limits thermal tolerance of red-blooded notothenioids. These hypotheses will be tested using a wide variety of experiments. For example, the investigators will measure heart rate concurrently with critical thermal maximum. They will also characterize metabolic and gene-expression responses to elevated temperature and determine if mitochondrial function contributes to thermal tolerance using a variety of techniques. To determine if neuronal function limits thermal tolerance they will quantify behavioral responses to warming of whole animals and to warming of only the brain area. They will also determine if acclimation to warmer temperatures impacts heart function and they will measure activities of a variety of enzymes from central metabolic pathways.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Amd/Us; FISH; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; Antarctic Peninsula; LABORATORY; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Crockett, Elizabeth; O\u0027Brien, Kristin", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "GenBank", "repositories": "Dryad; GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Physiological and Biochemical Underpinnings of Thermal Tolerance in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0010084", "west": null}, {"awards": "1341432 Brzezinski, Mark; 1341464 Robinson, Rebecca", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-175 -54,-174 -54,-173 -54,-172 -54,-171 -54,-170 -54,-169 -54,-168 -54,-167 -54,-166 -54,-165 -54,-165 -55.3,-165 -56.6,-165 -57.9,-165 -59.2,-165 -60.5,-165 -61.8,-165 -63.1,-165 -64.4,-165 -65.7,-165 -67,-166 -67,-167 -67,-168 -67,-169 -67,-170 -67,-171 -67,-172 -67,-173 -67,-174 -67,-175 -67,-175 -65.7,-175 -64.4,-175 -63.1,-175 -61.8,-175 -60.5,-175 -59.2,-175 -57.9,-175 -56.6,-175 -55.3,-175 -54))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblage counts from NBP17-02 shipboard carboy experiments; Dissolved nutrient profiles from along 170\u00b0W between 67 and 54\u00b0S; Expedition Data of NBP1702; Particle composition measurements from along 170\u00b0W between 67-54\u00b0S; Particulate silicon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopic composition measurements in McLane pump profiles from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean; Silicon concentration and isotopic composition measurements in pore waters and sediments from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean; Surface Southern Ocean community growouts to evaluate the diatom bound N isotope proxy", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601522", "doi": "10.15784/601522", "keywords": "Antarctica; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans; Paleoproxies; Southern Ocean", "people": "Kelly, Roger; Robinson, Rebecca ; Riesselman, Christina; Jones, Colin; Closset, Ivia; Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Surface Southern Ocean community growouts to evaluate the diatom bound N isotope proxy", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601522"}, {"dataset_uid": "200126", "doi": "10.7284/907211", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601276", "doi": "10.15784/601276", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Nitrogen Isotopes; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Particle composition measurements from along 170\u00b0W between 67-54\u00b0S", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601276"}, {"dataset_uid": "601269", "doi": "10.15784/601269", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chlorophyll; Southern Ocean", "people": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Dissolved nutrient profiles from along 170\u00b0W between 67 and 54\u00b0S", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601269"}, {"dataset_uid": "601576", "doi": "10.15784/601576", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Diatom; Diatom Bound; Lithogenic Silica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1702; Nitrogen Isotopes; Silicon Cycle; Silicon Stable Isotope; Southern Ocean", "people": "Closset, Ivia; Brzezinski, Mark; Jones, Janice L.; Robinson, Rebecca", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " Particulate silicon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopic composition measurements in McLane pump profiles from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601576"}, {"dataset_uid": "601562", "doi": "10.15784/601562", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biogenic Silica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Lithogenic Silica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1702; Pore Water Biogeochemistry; Sediment; Silicon Cycle; Silicon Stable Isotope; Southern Ocean", "people": "Closset, Ivia; Brzezinski, Mark; Jones, Janice L.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Silicon concentration and isotopic composition measurements in pore waters and sediments from 67\u00b0S to 55\u00b0S latitude in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601562"}, {"dataset_uid": "601523", "doi": "10.15784/601523", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Carboy Growouts; Diatom; Diatom Assemblage Data; NBP1702; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Southern Ocean Summer", "people": "Jones, Colin; Riesselman, Christina; Robinson, Rebecca; Robinson, Rebecca ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblage counts from NBP17-02 shipboard carboy experiments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601523"}], "date_created": "Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Collaborative Proposal: A field and laboratory examination of the diatom N and Si isotope proxies: Implications for assessing the Southern Ocean biological pump The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and associated climate changes make understanding the role of the ocean in large scale carbon cycle a priority. Geologic samples allow exploration of potential mechanisms for carbon dioxide drawdown during glacial periods through the use of geochemical proxies. Nitrogen and silicon isotope signatures from fossil diatoms (microscopic plants) are used to investigate changes in the physical supply and biological demand for nutrients (like nitrogen and silicon and carbon) in the Southern Ocean. The project will evaluate the use the nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies through a series of laboratory experiments and Southern Ocean field sampling. The results will provide quantification of real relationships between nitrogen and silicon isotopes and nutrient usage in the Southern Ocean and allow exploration of the role of other factors, including biological diversity, ice cover, and mixing, in altering the chemical signatures recorded by diatoms. Seafloor sediment samples will be used to evaluate how well the signal created in the water column is recorded by fossil diatoms buried in the seafloor. Improving the nutrient isotope proxies will allow for a more quantitative understanding of the role of polar biology in regulating natural variation in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The project will also result in the training of a graduate student and development of outreach materials targeting a broad popular audience. This project seeks to test the fidelity of the diatom nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies, two commonly used paleoceanographic tools for investigating the role of the Southern Ocean biological pump in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial-interglacial timescales. Existing ground-truthing data, including culture experiments, surface sediment data and downcore reconstructions, all suggest that nutrient utilization is the primary driver of isotopic variation in the Southern Ocean. However, strong contribution of interspecific variation is implied by recent culture results. Moreover, field and laboratory studies present some contradictory results in terms of the relative importance of interspecific variation and of inferred post-depositional alteration of the nutrient isotope signals. Here, a first order test of the N and Si diatom nutrient isotope paleo-proxies, involving water column dissolved and particulate sampling and laboratory culturing of field-isolates, is proposed. Southern Ocean water, biomass, live diatoms and fossil diatom sampling will be conducted to investigate species and assemblage related variability in diatom nitrogen and silicon isotopes and their relationship to surface nutrient fields and early diagenesis. Access to fresh materials produced in an analogous environmental context to the sediments of primary interest is critical for making robust paleoceanographic reconstructions. Field sampling will occur along 175\u00b0W, transecting the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from the subtropics to the marginal ice edge. Collection of water, sinking/suspended particles and multi-core samples from 13 stations and 3 shipboard incubation experiments will be used to test four proposed hypotheses that together evaluate the significance of existing culture results and seek to allow the best use of diatom nutrient isotope proxies in evaluating the biological pump.", "east": -165.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170 -60.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Southern Ocean; AMD; NITROGEN ISOTOPES; R/V NBP; NSF/USA; NUTRIENTS; USAP-DC; Amd/Us", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -54.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Robinson, Rebecca; Brzezinski, Mark", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: A Field and Laboratory Examination of the Diatom N and Si Isotope Proxies: Implications for Assessing the Southern Ocean Biological Pump", "uid": "p0010083", "west": -175.0}, {"awards": "1444167 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -58,-68.5 -58,-67 -58,-65.5 -58,-64 -58,-62.5 -58,-61 -58,-59.5 -58,-58 -58,-56.5 -58,-55 -58,-55 -59.8,-55 -61.6,-55 -63.4,-55 -65.2,-55 -67,-55 -68.8,-55 -70.6,-55 -72.4,-55 -74.2,-55 -76,-56.5 -76,-58 -76,-59.5 -76,-61 -76,-62.5 -76,-64 -76,-65.5 -76,-67 -76,-68.5 -76,-70 -76,-70 -74.2,-70 -72.4,-70 -70.6,-70 -68.8,-70 -67,-70 -65.2,-70 -63.4,-70 -61.6,-70 -59.8,-70 -58))", "dataset_titles": "Assembled Contig Dat for Daane et al. (2019); E-MTAB-6759: RNA-seq across tissues in four Notothenioid species (Antarctic icefish); Expedition Data of LMG1603; Expedition Data of LMG1604; Expedition Data of LMG1605; Expedition Data of LMG1803; Expedition Data of LMG1804; Expedition Data of LMG1805; Full raw data set, computer code, and evolutionary trajectories for all species in Damsgaard et al. (2019); Histology-, CT-, ultrasound-, and MRI-scans (~2 TB) for Damsgaard et al. (2019); PRJNA420419: Genome and Transcriptome Data for Kim et al. (2019) Blackfin Icefish Genome; PRJNA531677: Sequencing Data for Daane et al. (2019); S-BSST132: Assembled Transcriptomes for Berthelot et al. (2018); SRP047484 RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Notothenia coriiceps embryos; SRP118539: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Chaenocephalus aceratus Embryos; Transposable element sequences and genome sizes, refs 142597 to MF142757", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200094", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Array Express", "science_program": null, "title": "E-MTAB-6759: RNA-seq across tissues in four Notothenioid species (Antarctic icefish)", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-6759/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200092", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "PRJNA420419: Genome and Transcriptome Data for Kim et al. (2019) Blackfin Icefish Genome", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=prjna420419"}, {"dataset_uid": "200093", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "SRP118539: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Chaenocephalus aceratus Embryos", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRP118539 "}, {"dataset_uid": "200104", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "eLife", "science_program": null, "title": "Histology-, CT-, ultrasound-, and MRI-scans (~2 TB) for Damsgaard et al. (2019)", "url": "https://retinaevolution.bios.au.dk/eLife%20documentation/README.txt"}, {"dataset_uid": "200098", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "PRJNA531677: Sequencing Data for Daane et al. (2019)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA531677"}, {"dataset_uid": "200096", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "SRP047484 RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Notothenia coriiceps embryos", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=SRP047484"}, {"dataset_uid": "200099", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.2628936", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Assembled Contig Dat for Daane et al. (2019)", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/2628936#.Xegqj3dFw2w"}, {"dataset_uid": "200253", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1605", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1605"}, {"dataset_uid": "200103", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Full raw data set, computer code, and evolutionary trajectories for all species in Damsgaard et al. (2019)", "url": "https://github.com/elifesciences-publications/Retinaevolution"}, {"dataset_uid": "200252", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1604", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1604"}, {"dataset_uid": "200251", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1804", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1804"}, {"dataset_uid": "200102", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Transposable element sequences and genome sizes, refs 142597 to MF142757", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore?LinkName=pubmed_nuccore\u0026from_uid=29739320"}, {"dataset_uid": "200250", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1603", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1603"}, {"dataset_uid": "200095", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BioStudies", "science_program": null, "title": "S-BSST132: Assembled Transcriptomes for Berthelot et al. (2018)", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-BSST132"}, {"dataset_uid": "200249", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1803", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1803"}, {"dataset_uid": "200254", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG1805", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1805"}], "date_created": "Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic fish and their early developmental stages are an important component of the food web that sustains life in the cold Southern Ocean (SO) that surrounds Antarctica. They feed on smaller organisms and in turn are eaten by larger animals, including seals and killer whales. Little is known about how rising ocean temperatures will impact the development of Antarctic fish embryos and their growth after hatching. This project will address this gap by assessing the effects of elevated temperatures on embryo viability, on the rate of embryo development, and on the gene \"toolkits\" that respond to temperature stress. One of the two species to be studied does not produce red blood cells, a defect that may make its embryos particularly vulnerable to heat. The outcomes of this research will provide the public and policymakers with \"real world\" data that are necessary to inform decisions and design strategies to cope with changes in the Earth\u0027s climate, particularly with respect to protecting life in the SO. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists, including providing scientific training for undergraduate and graduate students, and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research in Antarctica and engaging the public in several ways, including the development of professionally-produced educational videos with bi-lingual closed captioning. Since the onset of cooling of the SO about 40 million years ago, evolution of Antarctic marine organisms has been driven by the development of cold temperatures. Because body temperatures of Antarctic fishes fall in a narrow range determined by their habitat (-1.9 to +2.0 C) they are particularly attractive models for understanding how organismal physiology and biochemistry have been shaped to maintain life in a cooling environment. The long-term objective of this project is to understand the capacities of Antarctic fishes to acclimatize and/or adapt to rapid oceanic warming through analysis of their underlying genetic \"toolkits.\" This objective will be accomplished through three Specific Aims: 1) assessing the effects of elevated temperatures on gene expression during development of embryos; 2) examining the effects of elevated temperatures on embryonic morphology and on the temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression; and 3) evaluating the evolutionary mechanisms that have led to the loss of the red blood cell genetic program by the white-blooded fishes. Aims 1 and 2 will be investigated by acclimating experimental embryos of both red-blooded and white-blooded fish to elevated temperatures. Differential gene expression will be examined through the use of high throughput RNA sequencing. The temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression in the context of embryonic morphology (Aim 2) will be determined by microscopic analysis of embryos \"stained\" with (hybridized to) differentially expressed gene probes revealed by Aim 1; other developmental marker genes will also be used. The genetic lesions resulting from loss of red blood cells by the white-blooded fishes (Aim 3) will be examined by comparing genes and genomes in the two fish groups.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-62.5 -67)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Polar; South Shetland Islands; USAP-DC; COASTAL", "locations": "Polar; South Shetland Islands", "north": -58.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Array Express", "repositories": "Array Express; BioStudies; eLife; GitHub; NCBI BioProject; NCBI GenBank; NCBI SRA; R2R; Zenodo", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes: Sentinel Taxa for Southern Ocean Warming", "uid": "p0010073", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "1443371 Fountain, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160.2 -77.1,160.57 -77.1,160.94 -77.1,161.31 -77.1,161.68 -77.1,162.05 -77.1,162.42 -77.1,162.79 -77.1,163.16 -77.1,163.53 -77.1,163.9 -77.1,163.9 -77.196,163.9 -77.292,163.9 -77.388,163.9 -77.484,163.9 -77.58,163.9 -77.676,163.9 -77.772,163.9 -77.868,163.9 -77.964,163.9 -78.06,163.53 -78.06,163.16 -78.06,162.79 -78.06,162.42 -78.06,162.05 -78.06,161.68 -78.06,161.31 -78.06,160.94 -78.06,160.57 -78.06,160.2 -78.06,160.2 -77.964,160.2 -77.868,160.2 -77.772,160.2 -77.676,160.2 -77.58,160.2 -77.484,160.2 -77.388,160.2 -77.292,160.2 -77.196,160.2 -77.1))", "dataset_titles": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: A digital archive of human activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica from 1902 to present", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200086", "doi": "10.6073/pasta/0725cbd31f2af4bca2c6ad145e38dd3a", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EDI", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: A digital archive of human activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica from 1902 to present", "url": "https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/0725cbd31f2af4bca2c6ad145e38dd3a"}], "date_created": "Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Beginning with the discovery of a \"curious valley\" in 1903 by Captain Scott, the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) in Antarctica have been impacted by humans, although there were only three brief visits prior to 1950. Since the late 1950\u0027s, human activity in the MDV has become commonplace in summer, putting pressure on the region\u0027s fragile ecosystems through camp construction and inhabitation, cross-valley transport on foot and via vehicles, and scientific research that involves sampling and deployment of instruments. Historical photographs, put alongside information from written documentation, offer an invaluable record of the changing patterns of human activity in the MDV. Photographic images often show the physical extent of field camps and research sites, the activities that were taking place, and the environmental protection measures that were being followed. Historical photographs of the MDV, however, are scattered in different places around the world, often in private collections, and there is a real danger that many of these photos may be lost, along with the information they contain. This project will collect and digitize historical photographs of sites of human activity in the MDV from archives and private collections in the United States, New Zealand, and organize them both chronologically and spatially in a GIS database. Sites of past human activities will be re-photographed to provide comparisons with the present, and re-photography will assist in providing spatial data for historical photographs without obvious location information. The results of this analysis will support effective environmental management into the future. The digital photo archive will be openly available through the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) website (www.mcmlter.org), where it can be used by scientists, environmental managers, and others interested in the region. The central question of this project can be reformulated as a hypothesis: Despite an overall increase in human activities in the MDV, the spatial range of these activities has become more confined over time as a result of an increased awareness of ecosystem fragility and efforts to manage the region. To address this hypothesis, the project will define the spatial distribution and temporal frequency of human activity in the MDV. Photographs and reports will be collected from archives with polar collections such as the National Archives of New Zealand in Wellington and Christchurch and the Byrd Polar Research Center in Ohio. Private photograph collections will be accessed through personal connections, social media, advertisements in periodicals such as The Polar Times, and other means. Re-photography in the field will follow established techniques and will create benchmarks for future research projects. The spatial data will be stored in an ArcGIS database for analysis and quantification of the human footprint over time in the MDV. The improved understanding of changing patterns of human activity in the MDV provided by this historical photo archive will provide three major contributions: 1) a fundamentally important historic accounting of human activity to support current environmental management of the MDV; 2) defining the location and type of human activity will be of immediate benefit in two important ways: a) places to avoid for scientists interested in sampling pristine landscapes, and, b) targets of opportunity for scientists investigating the long-term environmental legacy of human activity; and 3) this research will make an innovative contribution to knowledge of the environmental history of the MDV.", "east": 163.9, "geometry": "POINT(162.05 -77.58)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "CONTAMINANT LEVELS/SPILLS; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.1, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fountain, Andrew; Howkins, Adrian", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "EDI", "repositories": "EDI", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.06, "title": "Collaborative Research: Assessing Changing Patterns of Human Activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys using Digital Photo Archives", "uid": "p0010066", "west": 160.2}, {"awards": "1443578 Schmidt, Steven", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.5 -77.5,161.7 -77.5,161.9 -77.5,162.1 -77.5,162.3 -77.5,162.5 -77.5,162.7 -77.5,162.9 -77.5,163.1 -77.5,163.3 -77.5,163.5 -77.5,163.5 -77.53,163.5 -77.56,163.5 -77.59,163.5 -77.62,163.5 -77.65,163.5 -77.68,163.5 -77.71,163.5 -77.74,163.5 -77.77,163.5 -77.8,163.3 -77.8,163.1 -77.8,162.9 -77.8,162.7 -77.8,162.5 -77.8,162.3 -77.8,162.1 -77.8,161.9 -77.8,161.7 -77.8,161.5 -77.8,161.5 -77.77,161.5 -77.74,161.5 -77.71,161.5 -77.68,161.5 -77.65,161.5 -77.62,161.5 -77.59,161.5 -77.56,161.5 -77.53,161.5 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": "16S and 18S amplicon sequencing of Antarctic cryoconite holes; Genomes of Antarctic ssDNA viruses (GenBank accession numbers MN311489-MN311492 and MN328267-MN328291); Metadata from samples (in the process of submitting to EDI; will update with DOI once completed); Microbial species-area relationships in Antarctic cryoconite holes; Soil microbial communities of a mountain landscape, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200084", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Genomes of Antarctic ssDNA viruses (GenBank accession numbers MN311489-MN311492 and MN328267-MN328291)", "url": ""}, {"dataset_uid": "200081", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "16S and 18S amplicon sequencing of Antarctic cryoconite holes", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA480849/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200281", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial species-area relationships in Antarctic cryoconite holes", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA668398/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200280", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Soil microbial communities of a mountain landscape, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA721735/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200279", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Metadata from samples (in the process of submitting to EDI; will update with DOI once completed)", "url": "https://github.com/pacificasommers/Cryoconite-metadata"}], "date_created": "Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cryoconite holes are pockets of life completely encased in otherwise barren glacial ice. These pockets of life form when dust blown onto the ice melts a small, largely isolated hole that can function as its own tiny ecosystem. This dust can contain microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, or microscopic animals. The microorganisms within the hole interact and carry out functions typical of a larger ecosystem, such as a forest. Cryoconite holes are especially important in extreme cold environments such as the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where they function as repositories of life. Because cryoconite holes are mostly enclosed and persist for years, they can be tracked over time to test fundamental scientific questions about how communities of interacting organisms develop to become fully functioning ecosystems. This project will sample existing and experimentally created cryoconite holes to understand how these ecosystems develop and to what degree random processes (such as which organisms get there first) affect the final community composition and functioning. The results will not only improve our understanding of how microbial communities assemble and affect the functioning of microecosystems such as cryoconite holes, but also how the processes of community assembly affect functioning of larger ecosystems, such as forests. A better understanding of community establishment, development, and response to abiotic factors are essential to forecasting ecological responses to environmental change. It is essential to unravel the links between community assembly, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling across numerous ecosystems because these are critical factors determining ecological responses to environmental change. The unique, largely isolated nature of cryoconite holes provides an experimental system that will advance fundamental understanding of the processes (e.g., stochastic dynamics such as dispersal limitation, assembly order, and ecological drift) driving community assembly. This project will use a field sampling campaign and a number of manipulative experiments to test a hypothesis that unites theory in community and ecosystem ecology: the degree to which stochastic processes guide microbial community assembly and affects regional patterns in biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Cryoconite holes will be sampled to compare community composition, environmental factors, and ecosystem functioning between hydrologically connected and isolated holes. New cryoconite holes will also be constructed and monitored over the course of two growing seasons to specifically alter assembly order and community size, thereby pairing a unique manipulative experiment with field surveys to address questions with relevance to the Antarctic and beyond. Amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, microscopy, sensitive environmental chemistry methods, and photosynthesis and respiration measurements will be used to test a series of sub-hypotheses that relate stochasticity to patterns in regional biodiversity, heterogeneity in environmental factors, and ecosystem processes.", "east": 163.5, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.65)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS; Antarctica; USAP-DC; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schmidt, Steven; Cawley, Kaelin; Fountain, Andrew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "GitHub; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: Stochasticity and Cryoconite Community Assembly and Function", "uid": "p0010063", "west": 161.5}, {"awards": "1443663 Cole-Dai, Jihong; 1443397 Kreutz, Karl; 1443336 Osterberg, Erich", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-180 -90)", "dataset_titles": "Preliminary SPC14 high-resolution Fe and Mn biologically relevant and dissolved trace metal concentrations spanning -42 \u2013 54,300 years BP.; South Pole Ice Core Holocene Major Ion Dataset; South Pole Ice Core Sea Salt and Major Ions; South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data; South Pole (SPC14) microparticle concentration, mass concentration, flux, particle-size-distribution mode, and aspect ratio measurements; SPICEcore 400-480 m Major Ions SDSU; The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) chronology and supporting data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601206", "doi": "10.15784/601206", "keywords": "Antarctica; Calcium (ca); Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Depth; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciochemistry; Glaciology; Ice; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Ice Core Stratigraphy; Nitrate; Nitrogen Isotopes; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Fegyveresi, John; Cole-Dai, Jihong; Thundercloud, Zayta; Cox, Thomas S.; Kreutz, Karl; Epifanio, Jenna; Ortman, Nikolas; Brook, Edward J.; Beaudette, Ross; Sowers, Todd A.; Steig, Eric J.; Morris, Valerie; Kahle, Emma; Ferris, David G.; Nicewonger, Melinda R.; Casey, Kimberly A.; Alley, Richard; Waddington, Edwin D.; Osterberg, Erich; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Iverson, Nels; Winski, Dominic A.; Fudge, T. J.; Dunbar, Nelia; Buizert, Christo; Bay, Ryan; Souney, Joseph Jr.; Sigl, Michael; McConnell, Joseph; Jones, Tyler R.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) chronology and supporting data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601206"}, {"dataset_uid": "601430", "doi": "10.15784/601430", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ions; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Cole-Dai, Jihong; Larrick, Carleigh", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPICEcore 400-480 m Major Ions SDSU", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601430"}, {"dataset_uid": "601675", "doi": "10.15784/601675", "keywords": "Antarctica; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Kreutz, Karl", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Preliminary SPC14 high-resolution Fe and Mn biologically relevant and dissolved trace metal concentrations spanning -42 \u2013 54,300 years BP.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601675"}, {"dataset_uid": "601381", "doi": "10.15784/601381", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Methane; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Kennedy, Joshua A.; Ferris, David G.; Kalk, Michael; Hood, Ekaterina; Fudge, T. J.; Osterberg, Erich; Winski, Dominic A.; Steig, Eric J.; Kahle, Emma; Sowers, Todd A.; Edwards, Jon S.; Aydin, Murat; Kreutz, Karl; Buizert, Christo; Epifanio, Jenna; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice core (SPC14) discrete methane data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601381"}, {"dataset_uid": "601851", "doi": "10.15784/601851", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; Major Ion; Sea Ice; Sea Salt; Sodium; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Winski, Dominic A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole Ice Core Sea Salt and Major Ions", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601851"}, {"dataset_uid": "601553", "doi": "10.15784/601553", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dust; Ice Core; South Pole", "people": "Kreutz, Karl", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole (SPC14) microparticle concentration, mass concentration, flux, particle-size-distribution mode, and aspect ratio measurements", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601553"}, {"dataset_uid": "601850", "doi": "10.15784/601850", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Chemistry; Ice Core Records; Major Ion; Sea Ice; Sea Salt; Sodium; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Winski, Dominic A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole Ice Core Holocene Major Ion Dataset", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601850"}], "date_created": "Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This collaborative project explores the signatures and causes of natural climate change in the region surrounding Antarctica over the last 40,000 years as the Earth transitioned from an ice age into the modern warm period. The researchers will investigate how the wind belts that surround Antarctica changed in their strength and position through time, and document explosive volcanic eruptions and CO2 cycling in the Southern Ocean as potential climate forcing mechanisms over this interval. Understanding how and why the climate varied naturally in the past is critical for improving understanding of modern climate change and projections of future climate under higher levels of atmospheric CO2. The investigators plan to conduct a suite of chemical measurements along the 1500m length of the South Pole Ice Core, including major ion and trace element concentrations, and microparticle (dust) concentrations and size distributions. These measurements will (1) extend the South Pole record of explosive volcanic eruptions to 40,000 years using sulfate and particle data; (2) establish the relative timing of climate changes in dust source regions of Patagonia, New Zealand, and Australia using dust flux data; (3) investigate changes in the strength and position of the westerly wind belt using dust size distribution data; and (4) quantify the flux of bioavailable trace metals deposited as dust to the Southern Ocean over time. These chemistry records will also be critical for creating the timescale that will be used by all researchers studying records from the South Pole core. The project will support four graduate students and several undergraduate students across three different institutions, and become a focus of the investigators\u0027 efforts to disseminate outcomes of climate change science to the broader community.", "east": -180.0, "geometry": "POINT(-180 -90)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; ICE CORE RECORDS; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Osterberg, Erich", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: South Pole Ice Core Chronology and Climate Records using Chemical and Microparticle Measurements", "uid": "p0010051", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1401489 Sigman, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -45,-144 -45,-108 -45,-72 -45,-36 -45,0 -45,36 -45,72 -45,108 -45,144 -45,180 -45,180 -47.5,180 -50,180 -52.5,180 -55,180 -57.5,180 -60,180 -62.5,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,144 -70,108 -70,72 -70,36 -70,0 -70,-36 -70,-72 -70,-108 -70,-144 -70,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65,-180 -62.5,-180 -60,-180 -57.5,-180 -55,-180 -52.5,-180 -50,-180 -47.5,-180 -45))", "dataset_titles": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age; Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.; Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.; GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200050", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "CLIVAR", "science_program": null, "title": "GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "url": "https://cchdo.ucsd.edu/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200048", "doi": "doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436.", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436"}, {"dataset_uid": "200051", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age", "url": "https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/03/14/1615718114.DCSupplemental"}, {"dataset_uid": "200049", "doi": "doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "ABSTRACT Intellectual Merit: The high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (\u0026#948;15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2. Broader impacts: This study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; South Pacific Ocean; USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "South Pacific Ocean", "north": -45.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sigman, Daniel", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "CLIVAR", "repositories": "CLIVAR; PANGAEA; Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "High-resolution, Assemblage-specific Records of Diatom-bound N Isotopes from the Indian Sector of the Antarctic Ocean", "uid": "p0010046", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1443550 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Polar Ice Cores 3,000 Year Nitrous Oxide d15N and d18O Data; SPICEcore Holocene CO2 and N2O data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200055", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Polar Ice Cores 3,000 Year Nitrous Oxide d15N and d18O Data", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/25530"}, {"dataset_uid": "601197", "doi": "10.15784/601197", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon Dioxide; Ice Core Gas Records; Nitrous Oxide; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPICEcore Holocene CO2 and N2O data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601197"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The temperature of the earth is controlled, in part, by heat trapping gases that include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Despite their importance to climate, direct measurements of these gases in the atmosphere are limited to the last 50 years at best. Air trapped in ice cores extends those data back hundreds of millennia, and measurements of greenhouse gases in ice cores underpin much of our understanding of global chemical cycles relevant to modern climate change. Existing records vary in quality and detail. The proposed work fills gaps in our knowledge of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide over the last 10,000 years. New measurements from an ice core from the South Pole will be used to determine what role changes in ocean and land based processes played in controlling these gases, which decreased during the first 2,000 years of this time period, then gradually increased toward the present. The work will address a major controversy over whether early human activities could have impacted the atmosphere, and provide data to improve mathematical models of the land-ocean-atmosphere system that predict how future climate change will impact the composition of the atmosphere and climate. For nitrous oxide the work will improve on existing concentration records and provide a novel, detailed Holocene stable isotope record. It will also develop measurement of the isotopomers of nitrous oxide and explore their utility for understanding aspects of the Holocene nitrous oxide budget. The primary goal is to determine if marine and/or terrestrial emissions of nitrous oxide change in response to changes in Holocene climate. A new Holocene isotopic record for carbon dioxide (stable carbon and oxygen isotopes), will improve the precision of existing records by a factor 5 and increase the temporal resolution. These data will be used to evaluate controversial hypotheses about why carbon dioxide concentrations changed in the Holocene and provide insight into millennial scale processes in the carbon cycle, which are not resolved by current isotopic data. A graduate student will receive advanced training during and the student and principle investigator will conduct outreach efforts targeted at local middle school students. The proposed work will also contribute to teaching efforts by the PI and to public lectures on climate and climate change. The results will be disseminated through publications, data archive, and the OSU Ice Core Lab web site. New analytical methods of wide utility will also be developed and documented.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; ICE CORE RECORDS; CARBON DIOXIDE; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC; TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES; NITROUS OXIDE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Controls on Variations in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide During the Last 10,000 years", "uid": "p0010043", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1544526 Omelon, Christopher", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76.5,160.37 -76.5,160.74 -76.5,161.11 -76.5,161.48 -76.5,161.85 -76.5,162.22 -76.5,162.59 -76.5,162.96 -76.5,163.33 -76.5,163.7 -76.5,163.7 -76.63,163.7 -76.76,163.7 -76.89,163.7 -77.02,163.7 -77.15,163.7 -77.28,163.7 -77.41,163.7 -77.54,163.7 -77.67,163.7 -77.8,163.33 -77.8,162.96 -77.8,162.59 -77.8,162.22 -77.8,161.85 -77.8,161.48 -77.8,161.11 -77.8,160.74 -77.8,160.37 -77.8,160 -77.8,160 -77.67,160 -77.54,160 -77.41,160 -77.28,160 -77.15,160 -77.02,160 -76.89,160 -76.76,160 -76.63,160 -76.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 09 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Cryptoendoliths are organisms that colonize microscopic cavities of rocks, which give them protection and allow them to inhabit extreme environments, such as the cold, arid desert of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Fossilized cryptoendoliths preserve the forms and features of organisms from the past and thus provide a unique opportunity to study the organisms? life histories and environments. To study this fossil record, there needs to be a better understanding of what environmental conditions allow these fossils to form. A climate gradient currently exists in the Dry Valleys that allows us to study living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendoliths from mild to increasingly harsh environments; providing insight to the limits of life and how these fossils are formed. This project will develop instruments to detect the biological activity of the live microorganisms and conduct laboratory experiments to determine the environmental limits of their survival. The project also will characterize the chemical and structural features of the living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendoliths to understand how they become fossilized. Knowing how microorganisms are preserved as fossils in cold and dry environments like Antarctica can help to refine methods that can be used to search for and identify evidence for extraterrestrial life in similar habitats on planets such as Mars. This project includes training of graduate and undergraduate students. Little is known about cryptoendolithic microfossils and their formation processes in cold, arid terrestrial habitats of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, where a legacy of activity is discernible in the form of biosignatures including inorganic materials and microbial fossils that preserve and indicate traces of past biological activity. The overarching goals of the proposed work are: (1) to determine how rates of microbial respiration and biodegradation of organic matter control microbial fossilization; and (2) to characterize microbial fossils and their living counterparts to elucidate mechanisms for fossilization. Using samples collected across an increasingly harsher (more cold and dry) climatic gradient that encompasses living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendolithic microorganisms, the proposed work will: (1) develop an instrument to be used in the field that can measure small concentrations of CO2 in cryptoendolithic habitats in situ; (2) conduct incubation experiments to target variations in microbial activity in samples containing living, dead, and fossilized microorganisms as well as limits to microbial activity by measuring CO2 evolution and delta13C signatures; and (3) use a suite of microscopy techniques (CLSM, cryo-SEM, FIB-SEM, \u00b5-XFM) to correlate laboratory experimental evidence for microbial viability and activity and to identify the chemical and morphological characteristics of biosignatures and microbial fossils. A metagenomic survey of microbial communities in these samples will be used to characterize differences in diversity, identify if specific microorganisms (e.g. prokaryotes, eukaryotes) are more capable of surviving under these harsh climatic conditions, and to corroborate microscopic observations of the viability states of these microorganisms.", "east": 163.7, "geometry": "POINT(161.85 -77.15)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -76.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Omelon, Christopher; Breecker, Daniel; Bennett, Philip", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Activity, Preservation and Fossilization of Cryptoendolithic Microorganisms in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010028", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1247510 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "E-MTAB-6759: RNA-seq across tissues in four Notothenioid species (Antarctic icefish); Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1003; Expedition data of LMG1004; PRJNA420419: Chaenocephalus aceratus Genome sequencing; PRJNA66471: Notothenia coriiceps Genome Sequencing Notothenia coriiceps isolate:Sejong01 (black rockcod); S-BSST 132: Assembled Transcriptomes for Berthelot et al. (2018); SRA091269: Notothenia coriiceps RNA Raw Sequence Reads; SRP047484: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Notothenia coriiceps Embryos ; SRP118539: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Chaenocephalus aceratus Embryos", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200144", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Array Express", "science_program": null, "title": "E-MTAB-6759: RNA-seq across tissues in four Notothenioid species (Antarctic icefish)", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-6759/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200146", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "SRP047484: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Notothenia coriiceps Embryos ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=SRP047484"}, {"dataset_uid": "002685", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1004", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1004"}, {"dataset_uid": "200145", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BioStudies", "science_program": null, "title": "S-BSST 132: Assembled Transcriptomes for Berthelot et al. (2018)", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-BSST132"}, {"dataset_uid": "200142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "PRJNA66471: Notothenia coriiceps Genome Sequencing Notothenia coriiceps isolate:Sejong01 (black rockcod)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/66471"}, {"dataset_uid": "001509", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0806"}, {"dataset_uid": "002684", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1003", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1003"}, {"dataset_uid": "200143", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI BioProject", "science_program": null, "title": "PRJNA420419: Chaenocephalus aceratus Genome sequencing", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/420419"}, {"dataset_uid": "200093", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "SRP118539: RAD-tag Sequences of Genetically Mapped Chaenocephalus aceratus Embryos", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRP118539 "}, {"dataset_uid": "200026", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "SRA091269: Notothenia coriiceps RNA Raw Sequence Reads", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=SRA091269"}, {"dataset_uid": "001508", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0807"}], "date_created": "Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~40-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. As circum-Antarctic coastal temperatures declined during this period from ~20\u00b0C to the modern ?1.9 to +2.0\u00b0C (reached ~8-10 million years ago), the psychrophilic (cold-loving) ectotherms of the Southern Ocean evolved compensatory molecular, cellular, and physiological traits that enabled them to maintain normal metabolic function at cold temperatures. Today, these organisms are threatened by rapid warming of the Southern Ocean over periods measured in centuries (as much as 5\u00b0C/100 yr), a timeframe so short that re-adaptation and/or acclimatization to the ?new warm? may not be possible. Thus, the long-term goals of this research project are: 1) to understand the biochemical and physiological capacities of the embryos of Antarctic notothenioid fish to resist or compensate for rapid oceanic warming; and 2) to assess the genetic toolkit available to support the acclimatization and adaptation of Antarctic notothenioid embryos to their warming habitat. The specific aims of this work are: 1) to determine the capacity of the chaperonin complex of notothenioid fishes to assist protein folding at temperatures between ?4 and +20\u00b0C; and 2) to evaluate the genetic responses of notothenioid embryos, measured as global differential gene transcription, to temperature challenge, with ?1.9\u00b0C as the ?normal? control and +4 and +10\u00b0C as high temperature insults. The physiology of embryonic development of marine stenotherms under future climate change scenarios is an important but understudied problem. This project will provide valuable insights into the capacity of Antarctic fish embryos to acclimatize and adapt to plausible climate change scenarios by examining multiple levels of biological organization, from the biochemical to the organismal. The results should also be broadly applicable to understanding the impact of global warming on marine biota worldwide. The research will also introduce graduate and REU undergraduate students to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e TRAWLS/NETS \u003e BOTTOM TRAWL", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "AQUATIC SCIENCES; R/V LMG; USAP-DC; Southern Ocean", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "Array Express", "repositories": "Array Express; BioStudies; NCBI BioProject; NCBI SRA; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Protein Folding and Embryogenesis in Antarctic Fishes: A Comparative Approach to Environmental Stress", "uid": "p0010024", "west": null}, {"awards": "1543412 Reinfelder, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "16S rRNA gene libraries of krill gut microbial communities; Microbial gene libraries of krill gut microbial communities", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601171", "doi": "10.15784/601171", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Krill; LTER Palmer Station; Microbiome; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Reinfelder, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "16S rRNA gene libraries of krill gut microbial communities", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601171"}, {"dataset_uid": "200024", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial gene libraries of krill gut microbial communities", "url": "https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fbioproject%2F531145\u0026amp;data=02%7C01%7Creinfeld%40envsci.rutgers.edu%7C7e30a0192dc748ab271408d6b9d57d08%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C636900723909188941\u0026amp;sdata=G6cNg4bBHzeikrWSCYITcT6XS3NLWwjQ1yNdwtrALPc%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0"}], "date_created": "Sun, 31 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine food webs can concentrate monomethylmercury (MMHg), a neurotoxin in mammals, in upper trophic level consumers. Despite their remoteness, coastal Antarctic marine ecosystems accumulate and biomagnify MMHg to levels observed at lower latitudes and in the Arctic. Marine sediments and other anoxic habitats in the oceans are typical areas where methylation of mercury occurs and these are likely places where MMHg is being produced. Krill, and more specifically their digestive tracts, may be a previously unaccounted for site where the production of MMHg may be occurring in the Antarctic. If monomethylmercury production is occurring in krill, current views regarding bioaccumulation in the food web and processes leading to the production and accumulation of mercury in the Antarctic Ocean could be better informed, if not transformed. This project will conduct a preliminary assessment of the krill gut microbiomes, the microbiome\u0027s genomic content and potential for production of monomethyl mercury by detecting the genes involved in mercury transformations. By analyzing the krill gut microbiome, the project will provide insights regarding animal-microbe interactions and their potential role in globally important biogeochemical cycles. This project will conduct a preliminary assessment of the krill gut microbiomes, the microbiomes genomic content and potential for production of monomethylmercury. The diversity and metabolic profiles of microorganisms in krill digestive tracts will be evaluated using massively parallel Illumina DNA sequencing technology to produce 16S rRNA gene libraries and assembled whole metagenomes. The project will also quantify the abundance and expression of Hg methylation genes, hgcAB, and identify their taxonomic affiliations in the microbiome communities. Environmental metagenomes, 16S rRNA gene inventories produced from this project will provide the polar science community with valuable databases and experimental tools with which to examine coastal Antarctic microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. The project will seek to provide a wider window into the diversity of extremophile microbial communities and the identification of potentially unique and useful bioactive compounds. In addition to public education and outreach. This project will train graduate students and provide educational and outreach opportunities at the participating institutions", "east": -68.2816, "geometry": "POINT(-69.09295 -66.8017)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -65.8708, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schaefer, Jeffra; Reinfelder, John; Barkar, T.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -67.7326, "title": "Methylmercury in Antarctic Krill Microbiomes", "uid": "p0010023", "west": -69.9043}, {"awards": "1341479 Marchetti, Adrian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-72.8 -48,-67.12 -48,-61.44 -48,-55.76 -48,-50.08 -48,-44.4 -48,-38.72 -48,-33.04 -48,-27.36 -48,-21.68 -48,-16 -48,-16 -50.02,-16 -52.04,-16 -54.06,-16 -56.08,-16 -58.1,-16 -60.12,-16 -62.14,-16 -64.16,-16 -66.18,-16 -68.2,-21.68 -68.2,-27.36 -68.2,-33.04 -68.2,-38.72 -68.2,-44.4 -68.2,-50.08 -68.2,-55.76 -68.2,-61.44 -68.2,-67.12 -68.2,-72.8 -68.2,-72.8 -66.18,-72.8 -64.16,-72.8 -62.14,-72.8 -60.12,-72.8 -58.1,-72.8 -56.08,-72.8 -54.06,-72.8 -52.04,-72.8 -50.02,-72.8 -48))", "dataset_titles": "16S and 18S Sequence data; Fragilariopsis kerguelensis iron and light transcriptomes; Physiology and transcriptomes of polar isolates; Polar isolate transcriptomes; Sequence data from Ocean Station Papa seawater ; Sequence data RNA-Seq of marine phytoplankton: FeB12", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200019", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Cyverse Data Commons", "science_program": null, "title": "Polar isolate transcriptomes", "url": "http://datacommons.cyverse.org/search/?search_term=unc_phyto_isolates"}, {"dataset_uid": "200018", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Sequence data from Ocean Station Papa seawater ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRP006906"}, {"dataset_uid": "200017", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Sequence data RNA-Seq of marine phytoplankton: FeB12", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRP074366"}, {"dataset_uid": "200020", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Physiology and transcriptomes of polar isolates", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/653229"}, {"dataset_uid": "200016", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "iMicrobe", "science_program": null, "title": "Fragilariopsis kerguelensis iron and light transcriptomes", "url": "https://www.imicrobe.us/#/projects/104"}, {"dataset_uid": "200021", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "16S and 18S Sequence data", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA299401"}], "date_created": "Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is changing rapidly in response to Earth\u0027s warming climate. These changes will undoubtedly influence communities of primary producers (the organisms at the base of the food chain, particularly plant-like organisms using sunlight for energy) by altering conditions that influence their growth and composition. Because primary producers such as phytoplankton play an important role in global biogeochemical cycling, it is essential to understand how they will respond to changes in their environment. The growth of phytoplankton in certain regions of the Southern Ocean is constrained by steep gradients in chemical and physical properties that vary in both space and time. Light and iron have been identified as key variables influencing phytoplankton abundance and distribution within Antarctic waters. Microscopic algae known as diatoms are dominant members of the phytoplankton and sea ice communities, accounting for significant proportions of primary production. The overall objective of this project is to identify the molecular bases for the physiological responses of polar diatoms to varying light and iron conditions. The project should provide a means of evaluating the extent these factors regulate diatom growth and influence net community productivity in Antarctic waters. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. It will facilitate the teaching and learning of polar-related topics by translating the research objectives into readily accessible educational materials for middle-school students. This project will also provide funding to enable a graduate student and several undergraduate students to be trained in the techniques and perspectives of modern biology. Although numerous studies have investigated how polar diatoms are affected by varying light and iron, the cellular mechanisms leading to their distinct physiological responses remain unknown. Using comparative transcriptomics, the expression patterns of key genes and metabolic pathways in several ecologically important polar diatoms recently isolated from Antarctic waters and grown under varying iron and irradiance conditions will be examined. In addition, molecular indicators for iron and light limitation will be developed within these polar diatoms through the identification of iron- and light-responsive genes -- the expression patterns of which can be used to determine their physiological status. Upon verification in laboratory cultures, these indicators will be utilized by way of metatranscriptomic sequencing to examine iron and light limitation in natural diatom assemblages collected along environmental gradients in Western Antarctic Peninsula waters. In order to fully understand the role phytoplankton play in Southern Ocean biogeochemical cycles, dependable methods that provide a means of elucidating the physiological status of phytoplankton at any given time and location are essential.", "east": -16.0, "geometry": "POINT(-44.4 -58.1)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; AQUATIC SCIENCES; PHYTOPLANKTON; USAP-DC; Southern Ocean; Sea Surface; DIATOMS", "locations": "Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "north": -48.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Marchetti, Adrian", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Cyverse Data Commons", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; Cyverse Data Commons; iMicrobe; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.2, "title": "Iron and Light Limitation in Ecologically Important Polar Diatoms: Comparative Transcriptomics and Development of Molecular Indicators", "uid": "p0010018", "west": -72.8}, {"awards": "1341339 Baker, Bill; 1341333 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -65,-64.8 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.2 -65,-64 -65,-63.8 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.2 -65,-63 -65,-63 -64.9,-63 -64.8,-63 -64.7,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.3,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.1,-63 -64,-63.2 -64,-63.4 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.8 -64,-64 -64,-64.2 -64,-64.4 -64,-64.6 -64,-64.8 -64,-65 -64,-65 -64.1,-65 -64.2,-65 -64.3,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.5,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.9,-65 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Data from Amsler et al. 2019 Antarctic Science; Plocamium cartilagineum field chemotyping; Plocamium reproductive system data and R code; Plocamium transect and transplant data; Raw gastropod collection data from Amsler et al. 2022 Antarctic Science; Supplementary information provided with Murray et al.: Discovery of an Antarctic ascidian-associated uncultivated Verrucomicrobia with antimelanoma palmerolide biosynthetic potential; Synoicum adareanum sampling underwater video Mar 2011 Palmer Station Antarctica; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600046", "doi": "10.15784/600046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600046"}, {"dataset_uid": "200357", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.gxd2547gw", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Synoicum adareanum sampling underwater video Mar 2011 Palmer Station Antarctica", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.gxd2547gw"}, {"dataset_uid": "600096", "doi": "10.15784/600096", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600096"}, {"dataset_uid": "601159", "doi": "601159", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Mesograzer; Microscopy; Oceans; Zooplankton", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from Amsler et al. 2019 Antarctic Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601159"}, {"dataset_uid": "600047", "doi": "10.15784/600047", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600047"}, {"dataset_uid": "601215", "doi": "10.15784/601215", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Biota; Chemical Ecology; Chemotyping; Halogenated Monoterpenes; Natural Products; Oceans; Palmer Station; Plocamium Cartilagineum; Southern Ocean; Terpenes", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium cartilagineum field chemotyping", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601215"}, {"dataset_uid": "600095", "doi": "10.15784/600095", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600095"}, {"dataset_uid": "601533", "doi": "10.15784/601533", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthos; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Raw gastropod collection data from Amsler et al. 2022 Antarctic Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601533"}, {"dataset_uid": "200356", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0cpp", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Supplementary information provided with Murray et al.: Discovery of an Antarctic ascidian-associated uncultivated Verrucomicrobia with antimelanoma palmerolide biosynthetic potential", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0cpp"}, {"dataset_uid": "601621", "doi": "10.15784/601621", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Mesograzer; Microscopy; Oceans; Secondary Metabolites", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium transect and transplant data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601621"}, {"dataset_uid": "601622", "doi": "10.15784/601622", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Population Genetics", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium reproductive system data and R code", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601622"}], "date_created": "Tue, 05 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The coastal environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of marine animals and algae. The importance of the interactions between these groups of organisms in the ecology of coastal Antarctica are well known and often mediated by chemical defenses in the tissues of the algae. These chemicals are meant to deter feeding by snails and other marine animals making the Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of chemical compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives: the first objective is to expand the current understanding of the relationship between algae and their associated marine animals. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend algae from being consumed. The third objective seeks to understand how marine animals can benefit from these compounds by consuming the algae that contain them, and then using those compounds to chemically deter predators. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to the US Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. The investigators will also foster opportunities to integrate their NSF research with a variety of educational activities. As in the past they will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs as well as home, university-based, programs, and they will also continue to support and foster graduate education. Through their highly successful University of Alabama in Antarctica interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education), they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators have hosted K-12 teachers on their Antarctic field teams through the former NSF Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program and will pursue participation in PolarTREC, the successor to this valuable program. Moreover, they will actively participate in outreach efforts by presenting numerous talks on their research to local school and community groups. The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of macroalgae and macroinvertebrates. The importance of predator-prey interactions and chemical defenses in mediating community-wide trophic interactions makes the western Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of defensive compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives which are a direct outcome of the past studies of the chemical ecology of shallow-water marine macroalgae and invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula by this group of investigators. The first objective is to expand the current understanding of a community-wide mutualism between macroalgae and their associated amphipods to include gastropods, which are also abundant on many macroalgae. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend macroalgae from being consumed, particularly in the common red alga Plocamium cartilagineum. The third objective seeks to understand the relationship between P. cartilagineum and the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, including the ecological benefits and costs to P. fissicauda resulting from the ability to consume P. cartilagineum and other chemically defended red algae. The investigators will focus on the costs and benefits related to the ability of P. fissicauda to sequester defensive compounds from the alga P. cartilagineum and use those chemicals to defend itself from predation. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. Phylogenetic analyses, detailed secondary metabolite chemical analyses and purifications, and other data analyses will also be performed at the investigators\u0027 home institutions between and after their field seasons.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctica; BENTHIC; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; Baker, Bill; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Dryad; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - continuing", "uid": "p0010016", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1443705 Vernet, Maria; 1443733 Winsor, Peter; 1443680 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-66 -64,-65.6 -64,-65.2 -64,-64.8 -64,-64.4 -64,-64 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.2 -64,-62.8 -64,-62.4 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.2,-62 -64.3,-62 -64.4,-62 -64.5,-62 -64.6,-62 -64.7,-62 -64.8,-62 -64.9,-62 -65,-62.4 -65,-62.8 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.6 -65,-64 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.8 -65,-65.2 -65,-65.6 -65,-66 -65,-66 -64.9,-66 -64.8,-66 -64.7,-66 -64.6,-66 -64.5,-66 -64.4,-66 -64.3,-66 -64.2,-66 -64.1,-66 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Andvord Bay Glacier Timelapse; Andvord Bay sediment core data collected during the FjordEco project (LMG1510 and NBP1603); Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1702; FjordEco Phytoplankton Ecology Dataset in Andvord Bay ; Fjord-Eco Sediment OrgC OrgN Data - Craig Smith; LMG1510 Expedition data; NBP1603 Expedition data; Sediment macrofaunal abundance and family richness from inner Andvord Bay to the open continental shelf", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601236", "doi": "10.15784/601236", "keywords": "Abundance; Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Fjord; LMG1510; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Polychaete; Polychaete Family Richness; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sediment Core Data; Sediment Macrofauna", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Sediment macrofaunal abundance and family richness from inner Andvord Bay to the open continental shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601236"}, {"dataset_uid": "601157", "doi": "10.15784/601157", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Fjord-Eco Sediment OrgC OrgN Data - Craig Smith", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601157"}, {"dataset_uid": "000402", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "200040", "doi": "10.7284/907085", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG1510 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1510"}, {"dataset_uid": "002733", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601158", "doi": "10.15784/601158", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Ecology; Fjord; Phytoplankton", "people": "Pan, B. Jack; Manck, Lauren; Vernet, Maria; Forsch, Kiefer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "FjordEco Phytoplankton Ecology Dataset in Andvord Bay ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601158"}, {"dataset_uid": "601193", "doi": "10.15784/601193", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Grain Size; LMG1510; NBP1603; Sediment; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Homolka, Khadijah; Nittrouer, Charles; Eidam, Emily; Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Andvord Bay sediment core data collected during the FjordEco project (LMG1510 and NBP1603)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601193"}, {"dataset_uid": "001366", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601111", "doi": "10.15784/601111", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Iceberg; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video", "people": "Winsor, Peter; Truffer, Martin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Andvord Bay Glacier Timelapse", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601111"}, {"dataset_uid": "200039", "doi": "10.7284/907205", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1603 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1603"}], "date_created": "Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula are highly productive ecosystems which support a diverse assemblage of charismatic animals such as penguins, seals, and whales as well as commercial fisheries such as that on Antarctic krill. Fjords (long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea between high cliffs) along the central coast of the Peninsula appear to be intense, potentially climate sensitive, hotspots of biological production and biodiversity, yet the structure and dynamics of these fjord ecosystems are very poorly understood. Because of this intense biological activity and the charismatic fauna it supports, these fjords are also major destinations for a large Antarctic tourism industry. This project is an integrated field and modeling program to evaluate physical oceanographic processes, glacial inputs, water column community dynamics, and seafloor bottom community structure and function in these important yet little understood fjord systems. These Antarctic fjords have characteristics that are substantially different from well-studied Arctic fjords, likely yielding much different responses to climate warming. This project will provide major new insights into the dynamics and climate sensitivity of Antarctic fjord ecosystems, highlighting contrasts with Arctic sub-polar fjords, and potentially transforming our understanding of the ecological role of fjords in the rapidly warming west Antarctic coastal marine landscape. The project will also further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists, providing scientific training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research cruises in Antarctica and the development of a novel summer graduate course on fjord ecosystems. Internet based outreach activities will be enhanced and extended by the participation of a professional photographer who will produce magazine articles, websites, radio broadcasts, and other forms of public outreach on the fascinating Antarctic ecosystem. This project will involve a 15-month field program to test mechanistic hypotheses concerning oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and benthic community response in the Antarctic fjords. Those efforts will be followed by a coupled physical/biological modeling effort to evaluate the drivers of biogeochemical cycles in the fjords and to explore their potential sensitivity to enhanced meltwater and sediment inputs. Fieldwork over two oceanographic cruises will utilize moorings, weather stations, and glacial, sea-ice and seafloor time-lapse cameras to obtain an integrated view of fjord ecosystem processes. The field team will also make multiple shipboard measurements and will use towed and autonomous underwater vehicles to intensively evaluate fjord ecosystem structure and function during spring/summer and autumn seasons. These integrated field and modeling studies are expected to elucidate fundamental properties of water column and sea bottom ecosystem structure and function in the fjords, and to identify key physical-chemical-glaciological forcing in these rapidly warming ecosystems.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.5)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN CURRENTS; Bellingshausen Sea; LMG1702; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; FJORDS; R/V LMG; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; SEDIMENTATION; NOT APPLICABLE; BENTHIC", "locations": "Bellingshausen Sea", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Winsor, Peter; Truffer, Martin; Smith, Craig; Powell, Brian; Merrifield, Mark; Vernet, Maria; Kohut, Josh", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "FjordEco", "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Fjord Ecosystem Structure and Function on the West Antarctic Peninsula - Hotspots of Productivity and Biodiversity? (FjordEco)", "uid": "p0010010", "west": -66.0}, {"awards": "1704236 Karentz, Deneb", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "2017 SCAR Biology Symposium travel award data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601155", "doi": "10.15784/601155", "keywords": "Antarctica; Human Dimensions", "people": "Karentz, Deneb", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2017 SCAR Biology Symposium travel award data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601155"}], "date_created": "Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The project will support US participation in the XIIth Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) International Biology Symposium. The theme of this meeting and ancillary workshops is Scale Matters. Meeting sessions will specifically address biodiversity and physiology spanning from molecular through ecosystem scales. The project will provide partial support (airfare and meeting registration) for up to 25 US participants enabling them to travel to Leuven, Belgium and attend the SCAR International Biology Symposium in July 2017. Preference will be given to applicants who are students and early career scientists. The call for applications will be broadly disseminated to encourage participation by underrepresented groups in the sciences. The SCAR International Biology Symposium is a unique opportunity for US scientists to present their work and learn about the most recent findings on all aspects of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems research, to establish and strengthen international contacts, and to be actively involved in the development of new directions and the establishment of new frontiers in polar biology.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; North America; NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC", "locations": "North America", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Karentz, Deneb", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Group Travel Award: XIIth SCAR International Biology Symposium", "uid": "p0010006", "west": null}, {"awards": "1341612 Bowser, Samuel", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Aerial survey of Explorers Cove shoreline, late January 2005; Astrammina rara genome sequencing and assembly; Astrammina triangularis genome sequencing and assembly; Crithionina delacai mitochondrial genome sequence and assembly; Scanning electron micrographs: Influence of heavy metal (Pb, Cd) exposure on shell morphogenesis in Astrammina rara, a giant agglutinated Antarctic foraminiferan protist", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601229", "doi": "10.15784/601229", "keywords": "Aerial Imagery; Antarctica; Camera; Delta; Freshwater; Helicopter; Moat; Shoreline Survey; Small Ponds; Snow Melt; Tide Pools", "people": "Bowser, Samuel; Alexander, Steve", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Aerial survey of Explorers Cove shoreline, late January 2005", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601229"}, {"dataset_uid": "200089", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Astrammina triangularis genome sequencing and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA521279?reviewer=g418tpq02sif2g6do94dpmmjdv"}, {"dataset_uid": "601138", "doi": "10.15784/601138", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Foraminifera; Heavy Metal Toxicity; Scanning Electron Microscop; Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Images; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Bowser, Samuel; Andreas, Amanda", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Scanning electron micrographs: Influence of heavy metal (Pb, Cd) exposure on shell morphogenesis in Astrammina rara, a giant agglutinated Antarctic foraminiferan protist", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601138"}, {"dataset_uid": "200090", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Astrammina rara genome sequencing and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA521081?reviewer=25e190ih1svottjkrrpfa7huoe"}, {"dataset_uid": "200091", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Crithionina delacai mitochondrial genome sequence and assembly", "url": "https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA592714?reviewer=ivse8455h3gfaiilg4nqle0vm1"}], "date_created": "Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Agglutinated foraminifera (forams for short) are early-evolving, single-celled organisms. These \"living fossils\" construct protective shells using sediment grains held together by adhesive substances that they secrete. During shell construction, agglutinated forams display amazing properties of selection - for example, some species build their shells of clear quartz grains, while other species use only grains of a specific size. Understanding how these single cells assemble complex structures may contribute to nanotechnology by enabling people to use forams as \"cellular machines\" to aid in the construction of nano-devices. This project will analyze the genomes of at least six key foram species, and then \"mine\" these genomes for technologically useful products and processes. The project will focus initially on the adhesive materials forams secrete, which may have wide application in biomedicine and biotechnology. Furthermore, the work will further develop a molecular toolkit which could open up new avenues of research on the physiology, ecology, and population dynamics of this important group of Antarctic organisms. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. Educational experiences related to the \"thrill of scientific exploration and discovery\" for students and the general public will be provided through freely-available short films and a traveling art/science exhibition. The project will also provide hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate students. Explorers Cove, situated on the western shore of McMurdo Sound, harbors a unique population of foraminiferan taxa at depths accessible by scuba diving that otherwise are primarily found in the deep sea. The project will use next-generation DNA sequencing and microdissection methods to obtain and analyze nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from crown members of two species each from three distinct, early-evolving foraminiferal groups. It will also use next generation sequencing methods to characterize the in-situ prokaryotic assemblages (microbiomes) of one of these groups and compare them to reference sediment microbiomes. The phyogenomic studies of the targeted Antarctic genera will help fill significant gaps in our current understanding of early foram evolution. Furthermore, comparative genomic analyses of these six species are expected to yield a better understanding of the physiology of single-chambered agglutinated forams, especially the bioadhesive proteins and regulatory factors involved in shell composition and morphogenesis. Additionally, the molecular basis of cold adaptation in forams will be examined, particularly with respect to key proteins.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bowser, Samuel", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Assembling and Mining the Genomes of Giant Antarctic Foraminifera", "uid": "p0000004", "west": null}, {"awards": "1341440 Jin, Meibing; 1341558 Ji, Rubao; 1341547 Stroeve, Julienne", "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": "Antarctic MIZ, Pack Ice and Polynya Maps from Passive Microwave Satellite Data; Ice-ocean-ecosystem model output; Sea ice chlorophyll concentrations in Antarctic coastal polynyas and seasonal ice zones", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601136", "doi": "10.15784/601136", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Model Data; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Jin, Meibing", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice-ocean-ecosystem model output", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601136"}, {"dataset_uid": "601219", "doi": "10.15784/601219", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll Concentration; Oceans; Polynya; Sea Ice Concentration; Seasonal Ice Zone; Southern Ocean", "people": "Ji, Rubao", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea ice chlorophyll concentrations in Antarctic coastal polynyas and seasonal ice zones", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601219"}, {"dataset_uid": "601115", "doi": "10.15784/601115", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pack Ice; Polynya; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Stroeve, Julienne", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic MIZ, Pack Ice and Polynya Maps from Passive Microwave Satellite Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601115"}], "date_created": "Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The aim of study is to understand how climate-related changes in snow and ice affect predator populations in the Antarctic, using the Ad\u00e9lie penguin as a focal species due to its long history as a Southern Ocean \u0027sentinel\u0027 species and the number of long-term research programs monitoring its abundance, distribution, and breeding biology. Understanding the environmental factors that control predator population dynamics is critically important for projecting the state of populations under future climate change scenarios, and for designing better conservation strategies for the Antarctic ecosystem. For the first time, datasets from a network of observational sites for the Ad\u00e9lie penguin across the entire Antarctic will be combined and analyzed, with a focus on linkages among the ice environment, primary production, and the population responses of Ad\u00e9lie penguins. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. The results of this project can be used to illustrate intuitively to the general public the complex interactions between ice, ocean, pelagic food web and top predators. This project also offers an excellent platform to demonstrate the process of climate-change science - how scientists simulate climate change scenarios and interpret model results. This project supports the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of polar oceanography, plankton and seabird ecology, coupled physical-biological modeling and mathematical ecology. The results will be broadly disseminated to the general oceanographic research community through scientific workshops, conferences and peer-reviewed journal articles, and to undergraduate and graduate education communities, K-12 schools and organizations, and the interested public through web-based servers using existing infrastructure at the investigators\u0027 institutions. The key question to be addressed in this project is how climate impacts the timing of periodic biological events (phenology) and how interannual variation in this periodic forcing influences the abundance of penguins in the Antarctic. The focus will be on the timing of ice algae and phytoplankton blooms because the high seasonality of sea ice and associated pulsed primary productivity are major drivers of the Antarctic food web. This study will also examine the responses of Ad\u00e9lie penguins to changes in sea ice dynamics and ice algae-phytoplankton phenology. Ad\u00e9lie penguins, like many other Antarctic seabirds, are long-lived, upper trophic-level predators that integrate the effects of sea ice on the food web at regional scales, and thus serve as a reliable biological indicator of environmental changes. The proposed approach is designed to accommodate the limits of measuring and modeling the intermediate trophic levels between phytoplankton and penguins (e.g., zooplankton and fish) at the pan-Antarctic scale, which are important but latent variables in the Southern Ocean food web. Through the use of remotely sensed and in situ data, along with state of the art statistical approaches (e.g. wavelet analysis) and numerical modeling, this highly interdisciplinary study will advance our understanding of polar ecosystems and improve the projection of future climate change scenarios.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jin, Meibing; Stroeve, Julienne; Ji, Rubao", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Phytoplankton Phenology in the Antarctic: Drivers, Patterns, and Implications for the Adelie Penguin", "uid": "p0000001", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1644245 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Ice Core Air Ethane and Acetylene Measurements - South Pole SPC14 Ice Core (SPICEcore project); Ice core ethane measurements, Greenland and Antarctica, 1000-1900 CE.", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002574", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Arctic Data Center", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice core ethane measurements, Greenland and Antarctica, 1000-1900 CE.", "url": "https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2CR5NC1B"}, {"dataset_uid": "601367", "doi": "10.15784/601367", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ethane", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Ice Core Air Ethane and Acetylene Measurements - South Pole SPC14 Ice Core (SPICEcore project)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601367"}], "date_created": "Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aydin/1644245 This award supports a project to measure ethane in ice core air extracted from the recently drilled intermediate depth South Pole ice core (SPICECORE). Ethane is an abundant hydrocarbon in the atmosphere. The ice core samples that will be used in this analysis will span about 150 years before present to about 55,000 years before present and therefore, ethane emissions linked to human activities are not a subject of this study. The study will focus on quantifying the variability in the natural sources of ethane and the processes that govern its removal from the atmosphere. A long-term ice core ethane record will provide new knowledge on the chemistry of Earth?s atmosphere during time periods when human influence was either much smaller than present day or non-existent. The broader impacts of this work include education and training of students and a contribution to a better understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere in the past and how it has been impacted by past changes in climate. Natural sources that emit ethane are both geologic (e.g. seeps, vents, mud volcanoes etc.) and pyrogenic (wild fires) which is commonly called biomass burning. Ethane is removed from the atmosphere via oxidation reactions. The ice core ethane measurements have great potential as a proxy for gaseous emissions from biomass burning. This is especially true for time periods preceding the industrial revolution when atmospheric variability of trace gases was largely controlled by natural processes. Another objective of this study is to improve understanding of the causes of atmospheric methane variability apparent which are in the existing ice core records. Methane is a simpler hydrocarbon than ethane and more abundant in the atmosphere. Even though the project does not include any methane measurements; the commonalities between the sources and removal of atmospheric ethane and methane mean that ethane measurements can be used to gain insight into the causes of changes in atmospheric methane levels. The broader impacts of the project include partial support for one Ph.D. student and support for undergraduate researchers at UC Irvine. The PIs group currently has 4 undergraduate researchers. The PI and the graduate students in the UCI ice core laboratory regularly participate in on- and off-campus activities such as laboratory tours and lectures directed towards educating high-school students and science teachers, and the local community at large about the scientific value of polar ice cores as an environmental record of our planet\u0027s past. The results of this research will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to policy-relevant activities such as the IPCC Climate Assessment. Data resulting from this project will be archived in a national data repository. This award does not have field work in Antarctica.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Arctic Data Center", "repositories": "Arctic Data Center; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": null, "title": "Ethane Measurements in the Intermediate Depth South Pole Ice Core (SPICECORE)", "uid": "p0000762", "west": null}, {"awards": "0838947 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0838764 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; 0838763 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; 0838855 Jacobel, Robert; 0839142 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 0839107 Powell, Ross; 0839059 Powell, Ross", "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": "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": "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": "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": "601234", "doi": "10.15784/601234", "keywords": "ACL; Antarctica; Biomarker; BIT Index; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Ice Stream; Whillans Ice Stream; WISSARD", "people": "Askin, Rosemary; Baudoin, Patrick; Warny, Sophie; Scherer, Reed Paul; Coenen, Jason; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla", "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": "601245", "doi": "10.15784/601245", "keywords": "Antarctica; Pollen; West Antarctica; WISSARD", "people": "Coenen, Jason; Scherer, Reed Paul; Askin, Rosemary; Warny, Sophie; Baudoin, Patrick; Casta\u00f1eda, Isla", "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"}, {"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": "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": "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": "000148", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS ID#s 201035, 201162, 201205", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/"}], "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": "1141889 Winberry, J. Paul; 1141866 Conway, Howard", "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": "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; Conway, Howard; Hoffman, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Beardmore Glacier High-Frequency Impulse Radar Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601713"}, {"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"}], "date_created": "Sun, 09 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Conway/1141866 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.", "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": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "IRIS; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: East Antarctic Outlet Glacier Dynamics", "uid": "p0000437", "west": null}, {"awards": "1443232 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((110 -89,117 -89,124 -89,131 -89,138 -89,145 -89,152 -89,159 -89,166 -89,173 -89,180 -89,180 -89.1,180 -89.2,180 -89.3,180 -89.4,180 -89.5,180 -89.6,180 -89.7,180 -89.8,180 -89.9,180 -90,173 -90,166 -90,159 -90,152 -90,145 -90,138 -90,131 -90,124 -90,117 -90,110 -90,110 -89.9,110 -89.8,110 -89.7,110 -89.6,110 -89.5,110 -89.4,110 -89.3,110 -89.2,110 -89.1,110 -89))", "dataset_titles": "AC-ECM for SPICEcore; ECM (DC and AC) multi-track data and images from 2016 processing season", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601189", "doi": " 10.15784/601189 ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Electrical Conductivity; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Physical Properties; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore; Volcanic", "people": "Fudge, T. J.; Waddington, Edwin D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "AC-ECM for SPICEcore", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601189"}, {"dataset_uid": "601366", "doi": "10.15784/601366", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "ECM (DC and AC) multi-track data and images from 2016 processing season", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601366"}], "date_created": "Tue, 08 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ice cores record detailed histories of past climate variations. The South Pole ice core will allow investigation of atmospheric trace gases and fill an important gap in understanding the pattern of climate variability across Antarctica. An accurate timescale that assigns an age to the ice at each depth in the core is essential to interpretation of the ice-core records. This work will use electrical methods to identify volcanic eruptions throughout the past ~40,000 years in the core by detecting the enhanced electrical conductance in those layers due to volcanic impurities in the ice. These eruptions will be pattern-matched to other cores across Antarctica, synchronizing the timing of climate variations among cores and allowing the precise timescales developed for other Antarctic ice cores to be transferred to the South Pole ice core. The well-dated records of volcanic forcing will be combined with records of atmospheric gases, stable water-isotopes, and aerosols to better understand the large natural climate variations of the past 40,000 years. The electrical conductance method and dielectric profiling measurements will be made along the length of each section of the South Pole ice core at the National Ice Core Lab. These measurements will help to establish a timescale for the core. Electrical measurements will provide a continuous record of volcanic events for the entire core including through the brittle ice (550-1250m representing ~10,000-20,000 year-old ice) where the core quality and thin annual layers may prevent continuous melt analysis and cause discrete measurements to miss volcanic events. The electrical measurements also produce a 2-D image of the electrical layering on a longitudinal cut surface of each core. These data will be used to identify any irregular or absent layering that would indicate a stratigraphic disturbance in the core. A robust chronology is essential to interpretation of the paleoclimate records from the South Pole ice core. The investigators will engage teachers through talks and webinars with the National Science Teachers Association and will share information with the public at events such as Polar Science Weekend at the Pacific Science Center. Results will be disseminated through publications and conference presentations and the data will be archived and publicly available.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(145 -89.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; AMD; LABORATORY", "locations": null, "north": -89.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fudge, T. J.; Waddington, Edwin D.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Using Electrical Conductance Measurements to Develop the South Pole Ice Core Chronology", "uid": "p0000378", "west": 110.0}, {"awards": "1246045 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -70,-144 -70,-108 -70,-72 -70,-36 -70,0 -70,36 -70,72 -70,108 -70,144 -70,180 -70,180 -72,180 -74,180 -76,180 -78,180 -80,180 -82,180 -84,180 -86,180 -88,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -88,-180 -86,-180 -84,-180 -82,-180 -80,-180 -78,-180 -76,-180 -74,-180 -72,-180 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Code for inference of fabric from sonic velocity and thin-section measurements.; Code for models involving stochastic treatment of ice fabric", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000244", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Code for models involving stochastic treatment of ice fabric", "url": "https://github.com/mjhay/stochastic_fabric"}, {"dataset_uid": "000243", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Code for inference of fabric from sonic velocity and thin-section measurements.", "url": "https://github.com/mjhay/neem_sonic_model"}], "date_created": "Mon, 02 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Waddington/1246045 This award supports a project to investigate the onset and growth of folds and other disturbances seen in the stratigraphic layers of polar ice sheets. The intellectual merit of the work is that it will lead to a better understanding of the grain-scale processes that control the development of these stratigraphic features in the ice and will help answer questions such as what processes can initiate such disturbances. Snow is deposited on polar ice sheets in layers that are generally flat, with thicknesses that vary slowly along the layers. However, ice cores and ice-penetrating radar show that in some cases, after conversion to ice, and following lengthy burial, the layers can become folded, develop pinch-and-swell structures (boudinage), and be sheared by ice flow, at scales ranging from centimeters to hundreds of meters. The processes causing these disturbances are still poorly understood. Disturbances appear to develop first at the ice-crystal scale, then cascade up to larger scales with continuing ice flow and strain. Crystal-scale processes causing distortions of cm-scale layers will be modeled using Elle, a microstructure-modeling package, and constrained by fabric thin-sections and grain-elongation measurements from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide ice-core. A full-stress continuum anisotropic ice-flow model coupled to an ice-fabric evolution model will be used to study bulk flow of anisotropic ice, to understand evolution and growth of flow disturbances on the meter and larger scale. Results from this study will assist in future ice-core site selection, and interpretation of stratigraphy in ice cores and radar, and will provide improved descriptions of rheology and stratigraphy for ice-sheet flow models.The broader impacts are that it will bring greater understanding to ice dynamics responsible for stratigraphic disturbance. This information is valuable to constrain depth-age relationships in ice cores for paleoclimate study. This will allow researchers to put current climate change in a more accurate context. This project will provide three years of support for a graduate student as well as support and research experience for an undergraduate research assistant; this will contribute to development of talent needed to address important future questions in glaciology and climate change. The research will be communicated to the public through outreach events and results from the study will be disseminated through public and professional meetings as well as journal publications. The project does not require field work in Antarctica.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Waddington, Edwin D.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "GitHub", "repositories": "GitHub", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Anisotropic Ice and Stratigraphic Disturbances", "uid": "p0000073", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1246292 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.36062 -77.20215,161.610171 -77.20215,161.859722 -77.20215,162.109273 -77.20215,162.358824 -77.20215,162.608375 -77.20215,162.857926 -77.20215,163.107477 -77.20215,163.357028 -77.20215,163.606579 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.291278,163.85613 -77.380406,163.85613 -77.469534,163.85613 -77.558662,163.85613 -77.64779,163.85613 -77.736918,163.85613 -77.826046,163.85613 -77.915174,163.85613 -78.004302,163.85613 -78.09343,163.606579 -78.09343,163.357028 -78.09343,163.107477 -78.09343,162.857926 -78.09343,162.608375 -78.09343,162.358824 -78.09343,162.109273 -78.09343,161.859722 -78.09343,161.610171 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.004302,161.36062 -77.915174,161.36062 -77.826046,161.36062 -77.736918,161.36062 -77.64779,161.36062 -77.558662,161.36062 -77.469534,161.36062 -77.380406,161.36062 -77.291278,161.36062 -77.20215))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities; Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils; Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ; Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200015", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/?term=KP836071%20to%20KP836108"}, {"dataset_uid": "002738", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/?term=craig%20cary"}, {"dataset_uid": "200014", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB7939"}, {"dataset_uid": "002737", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "KNB", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils", "url": "https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/knb.756.1"}, {"dataset_uid": "002736", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB27415"}, {"dataset_uid": "200013", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA505820"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.", "east": 163.85613, "geometry": "POINT(162.608375 -77.64779)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; RIVERS/STREAM", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.20215, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "EMBL; KNB; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.09343, "title": "Collaborative Research: Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on Local, Regional and Landscape Scales", "uid": "p0000235", "west": 161.36062}, {"awards": "1143833 Orsi, Alejandro; 1430550 Domack, Eugene; 1143834 Huber, Bruce; 1143836 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((116 -65.2,116.5 -65.2,117 -65.2,117.5 -65.2,118 -65.2,118.5 -65.2,119 -65.2,119.5 -65.2,120 -65.2,120.5 -65.2,121 -65.2,121 -65.38,121 -65.56,121 -65.74,121 -65.92,121 -66.1,121 -66.28,121 -66.46,121 -66.64,121 -66.82,121 -67,120.5 -67,120 -67,119.5 -67,119 -67,118.5 -67,118 -67,117.5 -67,117 -67,116.5 -67,116 -67,116 -66.82,116 -66.64,116 -66.46,116 -66.28,116 -66.1,116 -65.92,116 -65.74,116 -65.56,116 -65.38,116 -65.2))", "dataset_titles": "AU1402 Final UCTD data; AU1402 mooring data; Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ; NBP1402 diatom data; NBP1402 Final CTD data; NBP1402 Final UCTD data; NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data; NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data; NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data; Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402; Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601044", "doi": "10.15784/601044", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Geochemistry; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Nitrogen; Oceans; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter; Shevenell, Amelia; Smith, Catherine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601044"}, {"dataset_uid": "601312", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Camera; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier; Video Data; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Post, Alexandra; Leventer, Amy; Blankenship, Donald D.; Domack, Eugene Walter; Gulick, Sean; Huber, Bruce; Orsi, Alejandro; Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601312"}, {"dataset_uid": "601310", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Benthos; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Totten Glacier; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Gulick, Sean; Huber, Bruce; Orsi, Alejandro; Post, Alexandra; Leventer, Amy; Shevenell, Amelia; Domack, Eugene Walter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601310"}, {"dataset_uid": "601067", "doi": "10.15784/601067", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final CTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601067"}, {"dataset_uid": "601046", "doi": "10.15784/601046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Pollen; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter; Shevenell, Amelia; Smith, Catherine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601046"}, {"dataset_uid": "601148", "doi": "10.15784/601148", "keywords": "Antarctica; Au1402; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Aurora Australis; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 mooring data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601148"}, {"dataset_uid": "601147", "doi": "10.15784/601147", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature; Underway CTD", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601147"}, {"dataset_uid": "601146", "doi": "10.15784/601146", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601146"}, {"dataset_uid": "601042", "doi": "10.15784/601042", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Continental Margin; Foraminifera; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy; Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601042"}, {"dataset_uid": "601845", "doi": "10.15784/601845", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Diatom; NBP1402; Totten Glacier", "people": "NBP1402 science party, ; Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 diatom data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601845"}, {"dataset_uid": "601440", "doi": "10.15784/601440", "keywords": "Antarctica; Diatom; Holocene; Jumbo Piston Corer; NBP1402; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core Data; Species Abundance; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601440"}, {"dataset_uid": "601068", "doi": "10.15784/601068", "keywords": "ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler; Antarctica; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601068"}, {"dataset_uid": "601069", "doi": "10.15784/601069", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601069"}], "date_created": "Fri, 26 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change. Independent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models.", "east": 121.0, "geometry": "POINT(118.5 -66.1)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Totten Glacier; NBP1402; Sabrina Coast; LABORATORY; Diatom; R/V NBP; Amd/Us; Bottom Photos; R/V AA; Not provided; USAP-DC; AMD; USA/NSF", "locations": "Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier", "north": -65.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Leventer, Amy; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V AA; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Totten Glacier System and the Marine Record of Cryosphere - Ocean Dynamics", "uid": "p0000008", "west": 116.0}, {"awards": "1115245 McKnight, Diane", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160.5 -77.35,160.83 -77.35,161.16 -77.35,161.49 -77.35,161.82 -77.35,162.15 -77.35,162.48 -77.35,162.81 -77.35,163.14 -77.35,163.47 -77.35,163.8 -77.35,163.8 -77.4,163.8 -77.45,163.8 -77.5,163.8 -77.55,163.8 -77.6,163.8 -77.65,163.8 -77.7,163.8 -77.75,163.8 -77.8,163.8 -77.85,163.47 -77.85,163.14 -77.85,162.81 -77.85,162.48 -77.85,162.15 -77.85,161.82 -77.85,161.49 -77.85,161.16 -77.85,160.83 -77.85,160.5 -77.85,160.5 -77.8,160.5 -77.75,160.5 -77.7,160.5 -77.65,160.5 -77.6,160.5 -77.55,160.5 -77.5,160.5 -77.45,160.5 -77.4,160.5 -77.35))", "dataset_titles": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER data at EDI Data Portal", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000204", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER data at EDI Data Portal", "url": "https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/browseServlet?searchValue=MCM "}], "date_created": "Mon, 08 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) is a polar desert on the coast of East Antarctica, a region that has not yet experienced climate warming. The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCMLTER) project has documented the ecological responses of the glacier, soil, stream and lake ecosystems in the MDV during a cooling trend (from 1986 to 2000) which was associated with the depletion of atmospheric ozone. In the past decade, warming events with strong katabatic winds occurred during two summers and the resulting high streamflows and sediment deposition changed the dry valley landscape, possibly presaging conditions that will occur when the ozone hole recovers. In anticipation of future warming in Antarctica, the overarching hypothesis of the proposed project is: Climate warming in the McMurdo Dry Valley ecosystem will amplify connectivity among landscape units leading to enhanced coupling of nutrient cycles across landscapes, and increased biodiversity and productivity within the ecosystem. Warming in the MDV is hypothesized to act as a slowly developing, long-term press of warmer summers, upon which transient pulse events of high summer flows and strong katabatic winds will be overprinted. Four specific hypotheses address the ways in which pulses of water and wind will influence contemporary and future ecosystem structure, function and connectivity. Because windborne transport of biota is a key aspect of enhanced connectivity from katabatic winds, new monitoring will include high-resolution measurements of aeolian particle flux. Importantly, integrative genomics will be employed to understand the responses of specific organisms to the increased connectivity. The project will also include a novel social science component that will use environmental history to examine interactions between human activity, scientific research, and environmental change in the MDV over the past 100 years. To disseminate this research broadly, MCM scientists will participate in a wide array of outreach efforts ranging from presentations in K-12 classrooms to bringing undergraduates and teachers to the MDV to gain research experience. Planned outreach programs will build upon activities conducted during the International Polar Year (2007-2008), which include development of an interactive DVD for high school students and teachers and publication of a children\u0027s book in the LTER Schoolyard Book Series. A teacher\u0027s edition of the book with a CD containing lesson plans will be distributed. The project will develop programs for groups traditionally underrepresented in science arenas by publishing some outreach materials in Spanish.", "east": 163.8, "geometry": "POINT(162.15 -77.6)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.35, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McKnight, Diane; Gooseff, Michael N.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "LTER", "repositories": "LTER", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -77.85, "title": "Increased Connectivity in a Polar Desert Resulting from Climate Warming: McMurdo Dry Valley LTER Program", "uid": "p0000301", "west": 160.5}, {"awards": "1443474 Jenkins, Bethany", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1608", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002664", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1608", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1608"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project focuses on an important group of photosynthetic algae in the Southern Ocean (SO), diatoms, and the roles associated bacterial communities play in modulating their growth. Diatom growth fuels the SO food web and balances atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering the carbon used for growth to the deep ocean on long time scales as cells sink below the surface. The diatom growth is limited by the available iron in the seawater, most of which is not freely available to the diatoms but instead is tightly bound to other compounds. The nature of these compounds and how phytoplankton acquire iron from them is critical to understanding productivity in this region and globally. The investigators will conduct experiments to characterize the relationship between diatoms, their associated bacteria, and iron in open ocean and inshore waters. Experiments will involve supplying nutrients at varying nutrient ratios to natural phytoplankton assemblages to determine how diatoms and their associated bacteria respond to different conditions. This will provide valuable data that can be used by climate and food web modelers and it will help us better understand the relationship between iron, a key nutrient in the ocean, and the organisms at the base of the food web that use iron for photosynthetic growth and carbon uptake. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project supports early career senior investigators and the training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as outreach activities with middle school Girl Scouts in Rhode Island, inner city middle and high school age girls in Virginia, and middle school girls in Florida. The project combines trace metal biogeochemistry, phytoplankton cultivation, and molecular biology to address questions regarding the production of iron-binding compounds and the role of diatom-bacterial interactions in this iron-limited region. Iron is an essential micronutrient for marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton growth in the SO is limited by a lack of sufficient iron, with important consequences for carbon cycling and climate in this high latitude regime. Some of the major outstanding questions in iron biogeochemistry relate to the organic compounds that bind \u003e99.9% of dissolved iron in surface oceans. The investigators\u0027 prior research in this region suggests that production of strong iron-binding compounds in the SO is linked to diatom blooms in waters with high nitrate to iron ratios. The sources of these compounds are unknown but the investigators hypothesize that they may be from bacteria, which are known to produce such compounds for their own use. The project will test three hypotheses concerning the production of these iron-binding compounds, limitations on the biological availability of iron even if present in high concentrations, and the roles of diatom-associated bacteria in these processes. Results from this project will provide fundamental information about the biogeochemical trigger, and biological sources and function, of natural strong iron-binding compound production in the SO, where iron plays a critical role in phytoplankton productivity, carbon cycling, and climate regulation.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; NBP1608", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Jenkins, Bethany", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Investigating Iron-inding Ligands in Southern Ocean Diatom Communities: The Role of Diatom-Bacteria Associations", "uid": "p0000852", "west": null}, {"awards": "1344349 Tulaczyk, Slawek; 1344348 Mikucki, Jill", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "2011 Time-domain ElectroMagnetics data for McMurdo Dry Valleys; Marinobacter lipolyticus BF04_CF-4 genomic scaffold, whole genome shotgun sequence; Marinobacter sp. BF14_3D 16S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000196", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Marinobacter sp. BF14_3D 16S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX364066"}, {"dataset_uid": "601071", "doi": "10.15784/601071", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys; Electromagnetic Data; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; McMurdo", "people": "Tulaczyk, Slawek", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2011 Time-domain ElectroMagnetics data for McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601071"}, {"dataset_uid": "000197", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Marinobacter lipolyticus BF04_CF-4 genomic scaffold, whole genome shotgun sequence", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore?term=PRJNA165567"}], "date_created": "Wed, 08 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The MCM-SkyTEM project mapped resistivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys and at Cape Barne on the Ross Island during the 2011-12 austral season using an airborne transient electromagnetic method. The SkyTEM system is mounted to a helicopter enabling a broad geophysical survey of subsurface resistivity structure over terrain that is inaccessible to traditional ground-based methods. Resistivity measurements obtained distinguish between highly resistive geologic materials such as glacier ice, bedrock and permafrost, and conductive materials such as unfrozen sediments or permafrost with liquid brine to depths of about 300 m. The PIs request funding to derive data products relevant to physical and chemical conditions in potential subsurface microbial habitats of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, similar cold regions on Earth and other planetary bodies. They will use these data products to characterize the hydrologic history of McMurdo Dry Valleys as well as the subsurface hydrologic connectivity in the region to investigate the implications for nutrient and microbial transport. The PIs will make these data products accessible to the research community. Broader impacts: Polar microbial habitats are of high societal and scientific interest because they represent important testing grounds for the limits of life on Earth and other planetary bodies. Project deliverables will include teaching aids for undergraduate and graduate students. Two Ph.D. students will obtain advanced research training as part of this project. The PIs and students on this project will also engage in informal public outreach opportunities by presenting at local K-12 schools and reaching out to local media outlets on stories relating to SkyTEM research.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tulaczyk, Slawek; Mikucki, Jill", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: EAGER: Processing, Interpretation and Dissemination of the Proof-of-Concept Transient Electromagnetic Survey of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Region", "uid": "p0000329", "west": null}, {"awards": "1141906 Grunow, Anne", "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": "Rock Samples", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000224", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PRR", "science_program": null, "title": "Rock Samples", "url": "http://research.bpcrc.osu.edu/rr/"}], "date_created": "Tue, 07 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Project Summary Intellectual Merit: The United States Polar Rock Repository (USPRR) was established to curate and loan geologic samples from polar regions to researchers and educators. OPP established the USPRR in part to avoid redundant sample collection and thus reduce the environmental impact of polar research. The USPRR also provides the research community with an important resource for developing new research projects. The USPRR acquires rock collections through donations from institutions and scientists and makes these samples available as no-cost loans for research, education and museum exhibits. Sample metadata is available in an on-line database. The database also includes rock property information, such as magnetic susceptibility and specific gravity, which are useful for geophysical studies. Researchers may request samples for analysis using an online request form. The USPRR fulfills several data management directives, including the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Antarctic Data Management directive of providing free, full and open access to both metadata and the samples. The intellectual merit of the USPRR lies in the global dissemination of scientific information to researchers. Broader impacts: The broader impacts of the USPRR include lessening environmental impacts resulting from redundant fieldwork in Polar Regions. The USPRR provides educational information about Antarctica via the website, by visiting the repository or borrowing a \"USPRR rock box\". Working at the repository provides students with opportunities to learn about the geology of Antarctica as well as doing research, learning new skills in digital imaging, curation and database management.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Grunow, Anne", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "PRR", "repositories": "PRR", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Continuing Operations Proposal: The United States Polar Rock Repository as a Research Tool for Understanding Antarctica\u0027s Geological Evolution", "uid": "p0000387", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1341712 Hallet, Bernard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160.9 -76.7,161.08 -76.7,161.26 -76.7,161.44 -76.7,161.62 -76.7,161.8 -76.7,161.98 -76.7,162.16 -76.7,162.34 -76.7,162.52 -76.7,162.7 -76.7,162.7 -76.79,162.7 -76.88,162.7 -76.97,162.7 -77.06,162.7 -77.15,162.7 -77.24,162.7 -77.33,162.7 -77.42,162.7 -77.51,162.7 -77.6,162.52 -77.6,162.34 -77.6,162.16 -77.6,161.98 -77.6,161.8 -77.6,161.62 -77.6,161.44 -77.6,161.26 -77.6,161.08 -77.6,160.9 -77.6,160.9 -77.51,160.9 -77.42,160.9 -77.33,160.9 -77.24,160.9 -77.15,160.9 -77.06,160.9 -76.97,160.9 -76.88,160.9 -76.79,160.9 -76.7))", "dataset_titles": "Long-term rock abrasion study in the Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601060", "doi": "10.15784/601060", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Rocks", "people": "Hallet, Bernard; Malin, Michael; Sletten, Ronald S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Long-term rock abrasion study in the Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601060"}], "date_created": "Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Paragraph for Public Audiences: Many of the natural processes that modify the landscape inhabited by humans occur over very long timescales, making them difficult to observe. Exceptions include rare catastrophic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods that occur on short timescales. Many significant processes that affect the land and landscape that we inhabit operate on time scales imperceptible to humans. One of these processes is wind transport of sand, with related impacts to exposed rock surfaces and man-made objects, including buildings, windshields, solar panels and wind-farm turbine blades. The goal of this project is to gain an understanding of wind erosion processes over long timescales, in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, a cold desert environment where there were no competing processes (such as rain and vegetation) that might mask the effects. The main objective is recovery of rock samples that were deployed in 1983/1984 at 11 locations in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, along with measurements on the rock samples and characterization of the sites. In the late 1980\u0027s and early 1990\u0027s some of these samples were returned and indicated more time was needed to accumulate information about the timescales and impacts of the wind erosion processes. This project will allow collection of the remaining samples from this experiment after 30 to 31 years of exposure. The field work will be carried out during the 2014/15 Austral summer. The results will allow direct measurement of the abrasion rate and hence the volumes and timescales of sand transport; this will conclude the longest direct examination of such processes ever conducted. Appropriate scaling of the results may be applied to buildings, vegetation (crops), and other aspects of human presence in sandy and windy locations, in order to better determine the impact of these processes and possible mitigation of the impacts. The project is a collaborative effort between a small business, Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), and the University of Washington (UW). MSSS will highlight this Antarctic research on its web site, by developing thematic presentations describing our research and providing a broad range of visual materials. The public will be engaged through daily updates on a website and through links to material prepared for viewing in Google Earth. UW students will be involved in the laboratory work and in the interpretation of the results. Technical Description of Project: The goal of this project is to study the role of wind abrasion by entrained particles in the evolution of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains. During the 1983 to 1984 field seasons, over 5000 rock targets were installed at five heights facing the 4 cardinal directions at 10 locations (with an additional site containing fewer targets) to study rates of physical weathering due primarily to eolian abrasion. In addition, rock cubes and cylinders were deployed at each site to examine effects of chemical weathering. The initial examination of samples returned after 1, 5, and 10 years of exposure, showed average contemporary abrasion rates consistent with those determined by cosmogenic isotope studies, but further stress that \"average\" should not be interpreted as meaning \"uniform.\" The samples will be characterized using mass measurements wtih 0.01 mg precision balances, digital microphotography to compare the evolution of their surface features and textures, SEM imaging to examine the micro textures of abraded rock surfaces, and optical microscopy of thin sections of a few samples to examine the consequences of particle impacts extending below the abraded surfaces. As much as 60-80% of the abrasion measured in samples from 1984-1994 appears to have occurred during a few brief hours in 1984. This is consistent with theoretical models that suggest abrasion scales as the 5th power of wind velocity. The field work will allow return of multiple samples after three decades of exposure, which will provide a statistical sampling (beyond what is acquired by studying a single sample), and will yield the mass loss data in light of complementary environmental and sand kinetic energy flux data from other sources (e.g. LTER meteorology stations). This study promises to improve insights into one of the principal active geomorphic process in the Dry Valleys, an important cold desert environment, and the solid empirical database will provide general constraints on eolian abrasion under natural conditions.", "east": 162.7, "geometry": "POINT(161.8 -77.15)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.7, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hallet, Bernard; Sletten, Ronald S.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.6, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: Decades-long Experiment on Wind-Driven Rock Abrasion in the Ice-Free Valleys, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000074", "west": 160.9}, {"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: 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. Paragraph for Scientific Community: 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 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.", "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": "1341390 Frank, Tracy", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from drill cores from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000195", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EarthChem", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from drill cores from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica", "url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/IEDA/100718"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: This project will use sediment cores from the Victoria Land Basin (VLB), Antarctica, to study secondary (diagenetic) carbonate minerals, as indicators of the basin?s fluid-flow history, within the well-constrained tectonic, depositional, and climatic context provided by sediment cores. This study will provide insights into subsurface processes in Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica and their relationships with the region?s climatic, cryospheric, and tectonic history. The work will utilize cores previously recovered by US-sponsored stratigraphic drilling projects (CIROS, CRP, and ANDRILL projects). This work is motivated by the unexpected discovery of dense brine in the subsurface of Southern McMurdo Sound during drilling by the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound project. The presence of the brine is intriguing because it contradicts previous models for the origin of subsurface fluids that called upon large contributions from glacial melt water. Project objectives involve documenting the distribution of the brine (and potentially other fluids) via characterization of diagenetic precipitates. The approach will involve integration of petrographic and geochemical data (including conventional carbon, oxygen, and ?clumped? isotopes) to fully characterize diagenetic phases and allow development of a robust paragenetic history. This work will provide novel insights into the Cenozoic evolution of the VLB and, more broadly, the role of glacial processes in generating subsurface fluids. Broader impacts: Results from this project will help understand the origins of brines, groundwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs in analogous modern and ancient deposits elsewhere, which is of broad interest. This project will support the training of one graduate and one undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) providing learning opportunities in sedimentary geology and diagenesis, fields with wide applicability. This proposal emphasizes rapid dissemination of results to the scientific community via conference presentations and contributions to peer-reviewed publications. The results will be integrated into education activities designed to develop skills in petrography and diagenesis, which are highly sought after in the energy sector. The project will generate a well-constrained dataset that allows direct linkage of diagenetic phases to environmental and tectonic change across a large sedimentary basin which will provide the basis for a comprehensive case study in an upper-level course (Sedimentary Petrography and Diagenesis) at UNL. In addition, online exercises will be developed and submitted to an open-access site (SEPM Stratigraphy Web) dedicated to sedimentary geology.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Frank, Tracy; Fielding, Christopher", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "EarthChem", "repositories": "EarthChem", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Insights into the Burial, Tectonic, and Hydrologic History of the Cenozoic Succession in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica through Analysis of Diagenetic Phases", "uid": "p0000256", "west": null}, {"awards": "1142122 Miller, Nathan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.163 -76.665,166.2635 -76.665,166.364 -76.665,166.4645 -76.665,166.565 -76.665,166.6655 -76.665,166.766 -76.665,166.8665 -76.665,166.967 -76.665,167.0675 -76.665,167.168 -76.665,167.168 -76.782,167.168 -76.899,167.168 -77.016,167.168 -77.133,167.168 -77.25,167.168 -77.367,167.168 -77.484,167.168 -77.601,167.168 -77.718,167.168 -77.835,167.0675 -77.835,166.967 -77.835,166.8665 -77.835,166.766 -77.835,166.6655 -77.835,166.565 -77.835,166.4645 -77.835,166.364 -77.835,166.2635 -77.835,166.163 -77.835,166.163 -77.718,166.163 -77.601,166.163 -77.484,166.163 -77.367,166.163 -77.25,166.163 -77.133,166.163 -77.016,166.163 -76.899,166.163 -76.782,166.163 -76.665))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic emerald rockcod have the capacity to compensate for warming when uncoupled from CO2-acidification; Physiological and biochemical measurements on Antarctic dragonfish (Gymnodraco acuticeps) from McMurdo Sound; Physiological and biochemical measurements on juvenile Antarctic rockcod (Trematomus bernacchii) from McMurdo Sound; Thermal windows and metabolic performance curves in a developing Antarctic fish", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601025", "doi": "10.15784/601025", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Fish; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Miller, Nathan; Todgham, Anne; Davis, Brittany; Flynn, Erin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Physiological and biochemical measurements on juvenile Antarctic rockcod (Trematomus bernacchii) from McMurdo Sound", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601025"}, {"dataset_uid": "601040", "doi": "10.15784/601040", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Fish; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Todgham, Anne; Miller, Nathan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Thermal windows and metabolic performance curves in a developing Antarctic fish", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601040"}, {"dataset_uid": "601039", "doi": "10.15784/601039", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Fish; McMurdo Sound; Ocean Acidification; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Miller, Nathan; Todgham, Anne", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic emerald rockcod have the capacity to compensate for warming when uncoupled from CO2-acidification", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601039"}, {"dataset_uid": "601026", "doi": "10.15784/601026", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Fish; McMurdo Sound; Ocean Acidification; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Todgham, Anne; Davis, Brittany; Flynn, Erin; Miller, Nathan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Physiological and biochemical measurements on Antarctic dragonfish (Gymnodraco acuticeps) from McMurdo Sound", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601026"}], "date_created": "Tue, 15 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ocean acidification and increased temperatures are projected to be the primary impacts of global climate change on polar marine ecosystems over the next century. While recent research has focused on the effects of these drivers on calcifying organisms, less is known about how these changes may affect vertebrates. This research will focus on two Antarctic fishes, Trematomus bernacchii and Pagothenia borchgrevinki. Fish eggs and larvae will be collected in McMurdo Sound and reared under different temperature and pH regimes. Modern techniques will be used to examine subsequent changes in physiology, growth, development and gene expression over both short and long timescales. The results will fill a missing gap in our knowledge about the response of non-calcifying organisms to projected changes in pH and temperature. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will also be made available through open-access, web-based databases. This project will support the research and training of three graduate and three undergraduate students. As well, this project will foster the development of two modules on climate change and ocean acidification for an Introduction to Biology course.", "east": 167.168, "geometry": "POINT(166.6655 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.665, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Miller, Nathan; Todgham, Anne", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.835, "title": "RUI: Synergistic effects of Ocean Acidification and Warming on Larval Development in Antarctic Fishes", "uid": "p0000411", "west": 166.163}, {"awards": "1142129 Lamanna, Matthew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 -63.5,-59.6 -63.5,-59.2 -63.5,-58.8 -63.5,-58.4 -63.5,-58 -63.5,-57.6 -63.5,-57.2 -63.5,-56.8 -63.5,-56.4 -63.5,-56 -63.5,-56 -63.7,-56 -63.9,-56 -64.1,-56 -64.3,-56 -64.5,-56 -64.7,-56 -64.9,-56 -65.1,-56 -65.3,-56 -65.5,-56.4 -65.5,-56.8 -65.5,-57.2 -65.5,-57.6 -65.5,-58 -65.5,-58.4 -65.5,-58.8 -65.5,-59.2 -65.5,-59.6 -65.5,-60 -65.5,-60 -65.3,-60 -65.1,-60 -64.9,-60 -64.7,-60 -64.5,-60 -64.3,-60 -64.1,-60 -63.9,-60 -63.7,-60 -63.5))", "dataset_titles": "2008-2016 AMNH accessioned vertebrate fossils from Seymour Island; 3D digital reconstructions of vocal organs of Antarctic Cretaceous bird Vegavis and Paleogene bird Presbyornis", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601112", "doi": "10.15784/601112", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Penguin; Seymour Island; Vertebrates", "people": "MacPhee, Ross", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2008-2016 AMNH accessioned vertebrate fossils from Seymour Island", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601112"}, {"dataset_uid": "601035", "doi": "10.15784/601035", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Birds", "people": "Clarke, Julia; Salisbury, Steven; Lamanna, Matthew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "3D digital reconstructions of vocal organs of Antarctic Cretaceous bird Vegavis and Paleogene bird Presbyornis", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601035"}], "date_created": "Wed, 12 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The role that Antarctica has played in vertebrate evolution and paleobiogeography during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene is largely unknown. Evidence indicates that Antarctica was home to a diverse flora during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, yet the vertebrates that must have existed on the continent remain virtually unknown. To fill this gap, the PIs have formed the Antarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Initiative (AVPI), whose goal is to search for and collect Late Cretaceous-Paleogene vertebrate fossils in Antarctica at localities that have never been properly surveyed, as well as in areas of proven potential. Two field seasons are proposed for the James Ross Island Group on the northeastern margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. Expected finds include chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fishes, marine reptiles, ornithischian and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, ornithurine birds, and therian and non-therian mammals. Hypotheses to be tested include: 1) multiple extant bird and/or therian mammal lineages originated during the Cretaceous and survived the K-Pg boundary extinction event; 2) the \"Scotia Portal\" permitted the dispersal of continental vertebrates between Antarctica and South America prior to the latest Cretaceous and through to the late Paleocene or early Eocene; 3) Late Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs from Antarctica are closely related to coeval taxa from other Gondwanan landmasses; 4) terminal Cretaceous marine reptile faunas from southern Gondwana differed from contemporaneous but more northerly assemblages; and 5) the collapse of Antarctic ichthyofaunal diversity during the K-Pg transition was triggered by a catastrophic extinction. Broader impacts: The PIs will communicate discoveries to audiences through a variety of channels, such as the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the outreach programs of the Environmental Science Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Carnegie Museum will launch a student-oriented programming initiative using AVPI research as a primary focus. This array of activities will help some 2,000 Pittsburgh-area undergraduates to explore the relevance of deep-time discoveries to critical modern issues. The AVPI will provide research opportunities for eight undergraduate and three graduate students, several of whom will receive field training in Antarctica. Fossils will be accessioned into the Carnegie Museum collection, and made accessible virtually through the NSF-funded Digital Morphology library at University of Texas.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-58 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -63.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lamanna, Matthew", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: Late Cretaceous-Paleogene Vertebrates from Antarctica: Implications for Paleobiogeography, Paleoenvironment, and Extinction in Polar Gondwana", "uid": "p0000380", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "1141993 Rich, Jeremy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 -70,-59.3 -70,-58.6 -70,-57.9 -70,-57.2 -70,-56.5 -70,-55.8 -70,-55.1 -70,-54.4 -70,-53.7 -70,-53 -70,-53 -70.9,-53 -71.8,-53 -72.7,-53 -73.6,-53 -74.5,-53 -75.4,-53 -76.3,-53 -77.2,-53 -78.1,-53 -79,-53.7 -79,-54.4 -79,-55.1 -79,-55.8 -79,-56.5 -79,-57.2 -79,-57.9 -79,-58.6 -79,-59.3 -79,-60 -79,-60 -78.1,-60 -77.2,-60 -76.3,-60 -75.4,-60 -74.5,-60 -73.6,-60 -72.7,-60 -71.8,-60 -70.9,-60 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Seasonal Succession of Bacterial Communities in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601032", "doi": "10.15784/601032", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Bacteria; Biota; Genetic; Geochemistry; Palmer Station; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sea Water; Southern Ocean", "people": "Rich, Jeremy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Seasonal Succession of Bacterial Communities in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601032"}], "date_created": "Thu, 15 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has experienced unprecedented warming and shifts in sea ice cover over the past fifty years. How these changes impact marine microbial communities, and subsequently how these shifts in the biota may affect the carbon cycle in surface waters is unknown. This work will examine how these ecosystem-level changes affect microbial community structure and function. This research will use modern metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to test the hypothesis that the introduction of organic matter from spring phytoplankton blooms drives turnover in microbial communities. This research will characterize patterns in bacterial and archaeal succession during the transition from the austral winter at two long-term monitoring sites: Palmer Station in the north and Rothera Station in the south. This project will also include microcosm incubations to directly assess the effects of additions of organic carbon and melted sea ice on microbial community structure and function. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of the roles of both rare and abundant microorganisms in carbon cycling within the WAP region, and how these communities may shift in structure and function in response to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. The research will provide training opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students and will enhance international collaborations with the British Antarctic Survey.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-56.5 -74.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rich, Jeremy", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Microbial Community Assembly in Coastal Waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000409", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "1443554 Buys, Emmanuel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.163 -76.665,166.2635 -76.665,166.364 -76.665,166.4645 -76.665,166.565 -76.665,166.6655 -76.665,166.766 -76.665,166.8665 -76.665,166.967 -76.665,167.0675 -76.665,167.168 -76.665,167.168 -76.782,167.168 -76.899,167.168 -77.016,167.168 -77.133,167.168 -77.25,167.168 -77.367,167.168 -77.484,167.168 -77.601,167.168 -77.718,167.168 -77.835,167.0675 -77.835,166.967 -77.835,166.8665 -77.835,166.766 -77.835,166.6655 -77.835,166.565 -77.835,166.4645 -77.835,166.364 -77.835,166.2635 -77.835,166.163 -77.835,166.163 -77.718,166.163 -77.601,166.163 -77.484,166.163 -77.367,166.163 -77.25,166.163 -77.133,166.163 -77.016,166.163 -76.899,166.163 -76.782,166.163 -76.665))", "dataset_titles": "Biosamples and observations from Weddell Seal colonies in McMurdo Sound during the 2015-2016 Antarctic field season", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601028", "doi": "10.15784/601028", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; McMurdo Sound; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Seals", "people": "Hindle, Allyson; Buys, Emmanuel", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biosamples and observations from Weddell Seal colonies in McMurdo Sound during the 2015-2016 Antarctic field season", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601028"}], "date_created": "Fri, 26 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Weddell seal is a champion diving mammal. The physiology that permits these animals to sustain extended breath-hold periods and survive the extreme pressure of diving deep allows them to thrive in icy Antarctic waters. Key elements of their physiological specializations to breath-hold diving are their ability for remarkable adjustment of their heart and blood vessel system, coordinating blood pressure and flow to specific body regions based on their metabolic requirements, and their ability to sustain periods without oxygen. Identifying the details of these strategies has tremendous potential to better inform human medicine, helping us to develop novel therapies for cardiovascular trauma (e.g. stroke, heart attack) and diseases associated with blunted oxygen delivery to tissues (e.g. pneumonia, sepsis, or cancer). The goal of this project is to document specific genes that control these cardiovascular adjustments in seals, and to compare their abundance and activity with humans. Specifically, the investigators will study a signaling pathway that coordinates local blood flow. They will also use tissue samples to generate cultured cells from Weddell seals that can be used to study the molecular effects of low oxygen conditions in the laboratory. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project will train a pre-veterinary student researcher will conduct public outreach via a center for community health improvement, a multicultural affairs office, and a public aquarium. The goal of this study is to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the dive response. A hallmark of the dive response is tissue-specific vascular system regulation, likely resulting from variation in both nerve inputs and in production of local signaling molecules produced by blood vessel cells. The investigators will use emerging genomic information to begin to unravel the genetics underlying redistribution of the circulation during diving. They will also directly test the hypothesis that modifications in the signaling system prevent local blood vessel changes under low oxygen conditions, thereby allowing the centrally mediated diving reflex to override local physiological responses and to control the constriction of blood vessel walls in Weddell seals. They will perform RNA-sequencing of Weddell seal tissues and use the resulting sequence, along with information from other mammals such as dog, to obtain a full annotation (identifying all genes based on named features of reference genomes) of the existing genome assembly for the Weddell seal, facilitating comparative and species-specific genomic research. They will also generate a Weddell seal pluripotent stem cell line which should be a valuable research tool for cell biologists, molecular biologists and physiologists that will allow them to further test their hypotheses. It is expected that the proposed studies will advance our knowledge of the biochemical and physiological adaptations that allow the Weddell seal to thrive in the Antarctic environment.", "east": 167.168, "geometry": "POINT(166.6655 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.665, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Buys, Emmanuel; Costa, Daniel; Zapol, Warren; Hindle, Allyson", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.835, "title": "Unraveling the Genomic and Molecular Basis of the Dive Response: Nitric Oxide Signaling and Vasoregulation in the Weddell Seal", "uid": "p0000072", "west": 166.163}, {"awards": "1246463 Burns, Jennifer", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(149 -80)", "dataset_titles": "1970s - 1980s Kooyman-Billups TDR Dive Records from Weddell Seals in McMurdo Sound; Cortisol levels in Weddell seal fur; Seasonal Dive Data ; Specimen logs and observations from Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay, 2013-2017; Weddell Seal Heat Flux Dataset; Weddell seal iron dynamics and oxygen stores across lactation; Weddell seal metabolic hormone data; Weddell Seal Molt Phenology Dataset; Weddell Seal Molt Survey Data; Weddell seal summer diving behavior", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601560", "doi": "10.15784/601560", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diving Behavior; McMurdo Sound; Weddell Seal", "people": "Tsai, EmmaLi", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "1970s - 1980s Kooyman-Billups TDR Dive Records from Weddell Seals in McMurdo Sound", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601560"}, {"dataset_uid": "601587", "doi": "10.15784/601587", "keywords": "Aerobic; Antarctica; Dive Capacity; Iron; McMurdo Sound; Weddell Seal", "people": "Shero, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell seal iron dynamics and oxygen stores across lactation", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601587"}, {"dataset_uid": "601840", "doi": "10.15784/601840", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Hormones; McMurdo Sound; Ross Sea; Weddell Seal", "people": "Kirkham, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell seal metabolic hormone data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601840"}, {"dataset_uid": "601338", "doi": "10.15784/601338", "keywords": "Animal Behavior Observation; Antarctica; Biota; McMurdo Sound; Ross Sea; Seal Dive Data; Weddell Seal", "people": "Burns, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Seasonal Dive Data ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601338"}, {"dataset_uid": "601027", "doi": "10.15784/601027", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Seals", "people": "Burns, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Specimen logs and observations from Weddell Seal colonies in Erebus Bay, 2013-2017", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601027"}, {"dataset_uid": "601271", "doi": "10.15784/601271", "keywords": "Antarctica; Heat Flux; Infrared Thermography; Physiological Conditions; Surface Temperatures; Thermoregulation; Weddell Seal", "people": "Walcott, Skyla", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell Seal Heat Flux Dataset", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601271"}, {"dataset_uid": "601131", "doi": "10.15784/601131", "keywords": "Antarctica; B-292-M; Biota; Ross Sea; Seals; Southern Ocean; Weddell Seal", "people": "Burns, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell Seal Molt Phenology Dataset", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601131"}, {"dataset_uid": "601137", "doi": "10.15784/601137", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Ross Sea; Seals; Southern Ocean; Weddell Seal", "people": "Burns, Jennifer; Beltran, Roxanne", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell seal summer diving behavior", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601137"}, {"dataset_uid": "601134", "doi": "10.15784/601134", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cortisol; Fur; Ross Sea; Seals; Southern Ocean; Visual Observations; Weddell Seal", "people": "Burns, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Cortisol levels in Weddell seal fur", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601134"}, {"dataset_uid": "601133", "doi": "10.15784/601133", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Ross Sea; Seals; Visual Observations; Weddell Seal", "people": "Burns, Jennifer", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell Seal Molt Survey Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601133"}], "date_created": "Wed, 24 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine mammals that inhabit high latitude environments have evolved unique mechanisms to execute a suite of energetically-costly life history events (CLHEs) within a relatively short timeframe when conditions are most favorable. Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate CLHEs is particularly important in species such as Weddell seals, as both reproduction and molt are associated with large reductions in foraging effort, and the timing and outcome of each appears linked with the other. The long-term mark recapture program on Erebus Bay\u0027s Weddell seals provides a unique opportunity to examine CLHEs in a known-history population. The proposed work will monitor physiological condition, pregnancy status, and behavior at various times throughout the year to determine if molt timing is influenced by prior reproductive outcome, and if it, in turn, influences future reproductive success. These data will then be used to address the demographic consequences of trade-offs between CLHEs in Weddell seals. The impact of environmental conditions and CLHE timing on population health will also be modeled so that results can be extended to other climates and species. An improved understanding of the interactions between CLHEs and the environment is important in predicting the response of organisms from higher trophic levels to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher and will further foster an extensive public outreach collaboration.", "east": 165.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC; Seal Dive Data; Weddell Seal", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Burns, Jennifer", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "The Cost of A New Fur Coat: Interactions between Molt and Reproduction in Weddell Seals", "uid": "p0000229", "west": 165.0}, {"awards": "1141978 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76,160.1 -76,160.2 -76,160.3 -76,160.4 -76,160.5 -76,160.6 -76,160.7 -76,160.8 -76,160.9 -76,161 -76,161 -76.1,161 -76.2,161 -76.3,161 -76.4,161 -76.5,161 -76.6,161 -76.7,161 -76.8,161 -76.9,161 -77,160.9 -77,160.8 -77,160.7 -77,160.6 -77,160.5 -77,160.4 -77,160.3 -77,160.2 -77,160.1 -77,160 -77,160 -76.9,160 -76.8,160 -76.7,160 -76.6,160 -76.5,160 -76.4,160 -76.3,160 -76.2,160 -76.1,160 -76))", "dataset_titles": "FT-ICR MS Metadata; Respiration Metadata; UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601089", "doi": "10.15784/601089", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Exometabolites; Mass Spectrometry; Microbes; Microbiology", "people": "Bothner, Brian; Foreman, Christine; Tigges, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "UPLC-Q-TOF data of Cotton Glacier exometabolites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601089"}, {"dataset_uid": "601077", "doi": "10.15784/601077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "D\u0027Andrilli, Juliana; Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "FT-ICR MS Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601077"}, {"dataset_uid": "601076", "doi": "10.15784/601076", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry", "people": "Foreman, Christine; Smith, Heidi", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Respiration Metadata", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601076"}], "date_created": "Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.", "east": 161.0, "geometry": "POINT(160.5 -76.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine; Bothner, Brian", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.0, "title": "Multidimensional \"omics\" characterization of microbial metabolism and dissolved organic matter in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000408", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0947821 Ashworth, Allan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -85.095235,-145.3719418 -85.095235,-110.7438836 -85.095235,-76.1158254 -85.095235,-41.4877672 -85.095235,-6.859709 -85.095235,27.7683492 -85.095235,62.3964074 -85.095235,97.0244656 -85.095235,131.6525238 -85.095235,166.280582 -85.095235,166.280582 -85.0996451,166.280582 -85.1040552,166.280582 -85.1084653,166.280582 -85.1128754,166.280582 -85.1172855,166.280582 -85.1216956,166.280582 -85.1261057,166.280582 -85.1305158,166.280582 -85.1349259,166.280582 -85.139336,131.6525238 -85.139336,97.0244656 -85.139336,62.3964074 -85.139336,27.7683492 -85.139336,-6.859709 -85.139336,-41.4877672 -85.139336,-76.1158254 -85.139336,-110.7438836 -85.139336,-145.3719418 -85.139336,180 -85.139336,178.6280582 -85.139336,177.2561164 -85.139336,175.8841746 -85.139336,174.5122328 -85.139336,173.140291 -85.139336,171.7683492 -85.139336,170.3964074 -85.139336,169.0244656 -85.139336,167.6525238 -85.139336,166.280582 -85.139336,166.280582 -85.1349259,166.280582 -85.1305158,166.280582 -85.1261057,166.280582 -85.1216956,166.280582 -85.1172855,166.280582 -85.1128754,166.280582 -85.1084653,166.280582 -85.1040552,166.280582 -85.0996451,166.280582 -85.095235,167.6525238 -85.095235,169.0244656 -85.095235,170.3964074 -85.095235,171.7683492 -85.095235,173.140291 -85.095235,174.5122328 -85.095235,175.8841746 -85.095235,177.2561164 -85.095235,178.6280582 -85.095235,-180 -85.095235))", "dataset_titles": "Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600387", "doi": "10.15784/600387", "keywords": "Antarctica; Beardmore Glacier; Biota; Fossil; GPS; Oliver Bluffs; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Seeds; Solid Earth; Transantarctic Mountains", "people": "Ashworth, Allan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600387"}], "date_created": "Thu, 12 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: \u003cbr/\u003eThe primary goal of this project is to sample two beds in the Meyer Desert Formation, which are known to be especially fossiliferous containing plants, insects, other arthropods, freshwater mollusks, and fish. There is a possibility that the teeth and bones of a small marsupial could also be found. Previous studies have demonstrated that these horizons contain unique fossil assemblages that provide information used to reconstruct paleoenvironments and paleoclimate. The fossils represent organisms previously not found in Antarctica and consequently their study will lead to the development of new hypotheses concerning southern hemisphere biogeography. The new discoveries will also increase knowledge of paleoenvironments and paleoclimates as well as biogeographic relationships of the biota of the southern hemisphere. For some organisms, such as Nothofagus (Southern Beech) or the trechine groundbeetle, fossils would confirm that Antarctica was inhabited as part of Gondwana. For other fossils, such as the cyclorrhaphan fly or freshwater mollusks not expected to have inhabited Antarctica, the discoveries will require a reassessment of phylogenetic interpretations and a reinvestigation of the role of Antarctica in the evolutionary history of those organisms. The new fossil-based knowledge will require integration with interpretations from cladistics and molecular genetics to develop more comprehensive phylogenetic hypotheses for a range of organisms.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts: \u003cbr/\u003eThe discovery of fossils in Antarctica and implications for climate change has proven to be popular with the media. This attention will help disseminate the results of this study. Before the field season, the PI will work with local media and with area schools to set up field interviews and web casts from Antarctica. The project will also involve the training of a graduate student in the field and in the follow up studies of the fossils in the laboratory.", "east": 166.280582, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -85.095235, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ashworth, Allan", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.139336, "title": "Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region", "uid": "p0000424", "west": 166.280582}, {"awards": "1142102 Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; 1142096 Schwartz, Egbert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77,161.3 -77,161.6 -77,161.9 -77,162.2 -77,162.5 -77,162.8 -77,163.1 -77,163.4 -77,163.7 -77,164 -77,164 -77.05,164 -77.1,164 -77.15,164 -77.2,164 -77.25,164 -77.3,164 -77.35,164 -77.4,164 -77.45,164 -77.5,163.7 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.1 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,162.5 -77.5,162.2 -77.5,161.9 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.3 -77.5,161 -77.5,161 -77.45,161 -77.4,161 -77.35,161 -77.3,161 -77.25,161 -77.2,161 -77.15,161 -77.1,161 -77.05,161 -77))", "dataset_titles": "GenBank. Accession # PRJNA232062,PRJNA228947,PRJNA228945; McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Genetic/Genomic Data Resource; NCBI GenBank RNA sequences", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000177", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "NCBI GenBank RNA sequences", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA356879"}, {"dataset_uid": "000178", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "GenBank. Accession # PRJNA232062,PRJNA228947,PRJNA228945", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000180", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Genetic/Genomic Data Resource", "url": "http://www.mcmlter.org/genetic"}], "date_created": "Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are among the coldest, driest habitats on the planet. Previous research has documented the presence of surprisingly diverse microbial communities in the soils of the Dry Valleys despite these extreme conditions. However, the degree to which these organisms are active is unknown; it is possible that much of this diversity reflects microbes that have blown into this environment that are subsequently preserved in these cold, dry conditions. This research will use modern molecular techniques to answer a fundamental question regarding these communities: which organisms are active and how do they live in such extreme conditions? The research will include manipulations to explore how changes in water, salt and carbon affect the microbial community, to address the role that these organisms play in nutrient cycling in this environment. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of how life adapts to such extreme conditions as well as the role of dormancy in the life history of microorganisms. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will be made available through a high-profile web-based portal. The research will support two graduate students, two undergraduate research assistants and a postdoctoral fellow. The results will be incorporated into a webinar targeted to secondary and post-secondary educators and a complimentary hands-on class activity kit will be developed and made available to various teacher and outreach organizations.", "east": 164.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Schwartz, Egbert; Van Horn, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "LTER; NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -77.5, "title": "Collaborative Research: An Integrated Ecological Investigation of McMurdo Dry Valley\u0027s Active Soil Microbial Communities", "uid": "p0000334", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1246320 Kruckenberg, Seth", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-144.75 -76.53)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 19 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI proposes an investigation of mantle xenoliths entrained within a suite of ~1.4 Ma mafic volcanic centers in the Fosdick Mountains, Antarctica. These recently entrained mantle xenoliths offer a unique opportunity to characterize the West Antarctic lithospheric mantle that has been subject to active modification from Cretaceous to Present by plate-boundary processes, such as orthogonal to oblique plate convergence, intracontinental rifting, continental breakup, and Neogene volcanism. These volcanic centers derive from heterogeneous mantle sources and host a compositionally diverse suite of mantle xenoliths that have varied mineral assemblages and microstructures. The proposed research has two complementary goals: to assess structural and compositional heterogeneity within the upper mantle and the variability of intrinsic and extrinsic variables at a variety of lithospheric levels; and to use textural and compositional characterization of the xenolith suite to elucidate possible causes of heterogeneous seismic anisotropy within the Marie Byrd Land mantle lithosphere and inform competing hypotheses explaining the active volcanism, thermal anomaly, and slow seismic velocities beneath West Antarctica. Furthermore, characterization of samples of the mantle beneath West Antarctica provides a type of \u0027ground truth\u0027 in support of contemporary ANET/POLENET seismology research that seeks to determine mantle composition, temperature, and sources of seismic anisotropy. Broader impacts: The PI is in his first-year as a tenure track faculty member at Boston College. A postdoctoral researcher will be trained in EBSD techniques, interdisciplinary polar research, and the mentoring of undergraduate investigators. Two Boston College undergraduates will participate in the research and a priority will be placed on selecting underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students. An existing sample suite assembled over more than 20 years of NSF sponsored field work, will be used. The PI will create a digital database for microstructural, textural, and xenolith data for rapid dissemination to the international Antarctic community.", "east": -144.75, "geometry": "POINT(-144.75 -76.53)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -76.53, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kruckenberg, Seth", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -76.53, "title": "Integrated Evaluation of Mantle Xenoliths from the Fosdick Mountains, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000400", "west": -144.75}, {"awards": "1043092 Steig, Eric; 1043167 White, James", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "dataset_titles": "Resampling of Deep Polar Ice Cores using Information Theory; Seasonal temperatures in West Antarctica during the Holocene ; Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core; WAIS Divide Ice Core Discrete CH4 (80-3403m)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601741", "doi": "10.15784/601741", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Methane; WAIS", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice Core Discrete CH4 (80-3403m)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601741"}, {"dataset_uid": "601603", "doi": "10.15784/601603", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Seasonality; Seasonal Temperatures; Temperature; Water Isotopes; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Jones, Tyler R.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Seasonal temperatures in West Antarctica during the Holocene ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601603"}, {"dataset_uid": "601365", "doi": "10.15784/601365", "keywords": "Antarctica; Delta 18O; Isotope; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "White, James; Morris, Valerie; Garland, Joshua; Vaughn, Bruce; Jones, Tyler R.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Resampling of Deep Polar Ice Cores using Information Theory", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601365"}, {"dataset_uid": "600169", "doi": "10.15784/600169", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Paleoclimate; Snow Accumulation; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "White, James; Jones, Tyler R.; Vaughn, Bruce; Morris, Valerie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600169"}, {"dataset_uid": "601274", "doi": "10.15784/601274", "keywords": "Antarctica; Delta 18O; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Morris, Valerie; White, James; Vaughn, Bruce; Bradley, Elizabeth; Price, Michael; Garland, Joshua; Jones, Tyler R.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601274"}], "date_created": "Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Steig/1043092 This award supports a project to contribute one of the cornerstone analyses, stable isotopes of ice (Delta-D, Delta-O18) to the ongoing West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The WAIS Divide drilling project, a multi-institution project to obtain a continuous high resolution ice core record from central West Antarctica, reached a depth of 2560 m in early 2010; it is expected to take one or two more field seasons to reach the ice sheet bed (~3300 m), plus an additional four seasons for borehole logging and other activities including proposed replicate coring. The current proposal requests support to complete analyses on the WAIS Divide core to the base, where the age will be ~100,000 years or more. These analyses will form the basis for the investigation of a number of outstanding questions in climate and glaciology during the last glacial period, focused on the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the relationship of West Antarctic climate to that of the Northern polar regions, the tropical Pacific, and the rest of the globe, on time scales ranging from years to tens of thousands of years. One new aspect of this work is the growing expertise at the University of Washington in climate modeling with isotope-tracer-enabled general circulation models, which will aid in the interpretation of the data. Another major new aspect is the completion and use of a high-resolution, semi-automated sampling system at the University of Colorado, which will permit the continuous analysis of isotope ratios via laser spectroscopy, at an effective resolution of ~2 cm or less, providing inter-annual time resolution for most of the core. Because continuous flow analyses of stable ice isotopes is a relatively new measurement, we will complement them with parallel measurements, every ~10-20 m, using traditional discrete sampling and analysis by mass spectrometry at the University of Washington. The intellectual merit and the overarching goal of the work are to see Inland WAIS become the reference ice isotope record for West Antarctica. The broader impacts of the work are that the data generated in this project pertain directly to policy-relevant and immediate questions of the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and thus past and future changes in sea level, as well as the nature of climate change in the high southern latitudes. The project will also contribute to the development of modern isotope analysis techniques using laser spectroscopy, with applications well beyond ice cores. The project will involve a graduate student and postdoc who will work with both P.I.s, and spend time at both institutions. Data will be made available rapidly through the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center, for use by other researchers and the public.", "east": -112.08, "geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY", "locations": null, "north": -79.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "White, James; Vaughn, Bruce; Jones, Tyler R.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.47, "title": "Collaborative Research: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core", "uid": "p0000078", "west": -112.08}, {"awards": "1141877 Aronson, Richard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-111.18 -49.98,-105.429 -49.98,-99.678 -49.98,-93.927 -49.98,-88.176 -49.98,-82.425 -49.98,-76.674 -49.98,-70.923 -49.98,-65.172 -49.98,-59.421 -49.98,-53.67 -49.98,-53.67 -52.826,-53.67 -55.672,-53.67 -58.518,-53.67 -61.364,-53.67 -64.21,-53.67 -67.056,-53.67 -69.902,-53.67 -72.748,-53.67 -75.594,-53.67 -78.44,-59.421 -78.44,-65.172 -78.44,-70.923 -78.44,-76.674 -78.44,-82.425 -78.44,-88.176 -78.44,-93.927 -78.44,-99.678 -78.44,-105.429 -78.44,-111.18 -78.44,-111.18 -75.594,-111.18 -72.748,-111.18 -69.902,-111.18 -67.056,-111.18 -64.21,-111.18 -61.364,-111.18 -58.518,-111.18 -55.672,-111.18 -52.826,-111.18 -49.98))", "dataset_titles": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos; Expedition Data; Material properties of the exoskeleton of Paralomis birsteini", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601109", "doi": "10.15784/601109", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Callinectes; Exoskeleton; Fish; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Paralomis", "people": "Steffel, Brittan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Material properties of the exoskeleton of Paralomis birsteini", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601109"}, {"dataset_uid": "600385", "doi": "10.15784/600385", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island; Benthos; Biota; Camera Tow; LMG1502; Marguerite Bay; NBP1002; NBP1310; Oceans; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Aronson, Richard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600385"}, {"dataset_uid": "001417", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1310"}, {"dataset_uid": "600171", "doi": "10.15784/600171", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island; Benthos; Biota; Camera Tow; LMG1502; Marguerite Bay; NBP1002; NBP1310; Oceans; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Aronson, Richard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600171"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Elevated temperatures and ocean acidification are both threatening the Southern Ocean. The effects of these environmental changes are poorly understood, but preliminary data suggest that they are driving a biological invasion. Specifically, large populations of skeleton-crushing king crabs, Paralomis birsteini, have been detected off Marguerite Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula. These crabs appear to be invading the continental shelf region where benthic communities have evolved in the absence of such top-predators. Thus, this invasion could result in a wholesale restructuring of the Antarctic benthic ecosystem. The proposed work seeks to document this invasion and better understand the effects of the introduction of P. birsteini on the ecology of this region. A towed underwater vehicle will be used to photographically image communities, and communities with and without P. birsteini will be compared quantitatively. Additionally, crabs will trapped and various aspects of their morphology and physiology will be assessed. This research is unique in that it will document a biological invasion in real-time and it will therefore enhance our general understandings of the drivers of invasion and resilience in biological communities. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of undergraduate and graduate students and will foster an international collaboration with British scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach thorough the development of K-12 curricular materials.", "east": -53.67, "geometry": "POINT(-82.425 -64.21)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -49.98, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aronson, Richard", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.44, "title": "Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "uid": "p0000303", "west": -111.18}, {"awards": "1141973 Tedesco, Marco", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-94.7374 -56.9464,-89.23679 -56.9464,-83.73618 -56.9464,-78.23557 -56.9464,-72.73496 -56.9464,-67.23435 -56.9464,-61.73374 -56.9464,-56.23313 -56.9464,-50.73252 -56.9464,-45.23191 -56.9464,-39.7313 -56.9464,-39.7313 -59.19838,-39.7313 -61.45036,-39.7313 -63.70234,-39.7313 -65.95432,-39.7313 -68.2063,-39.7313 -70.45828,-39.7313 -72.71026,-39.7313 -74.96224,-39.7313 -77.21422,-39.7313 -79.4662,-45.23191 -79.4662,-50.73252 -79.4662,-56.23313 -79.4662,-61.73374 -79.4662,-67.23435 -79.4662,-72.73496 -79.4662,-78.23557 -79.4662,-83.73618 -79.4662,-89.23679 -79.4662,-94.7374 -79.4662,-94.7374 -77.21422,-94.7374 -74.96224,-94.7374 -72.71026,-94.7374 -70.45828,-94.7374 -68.2063,-94.7374 -65.95432,-94.7374 -63.70234,-94.7374 -61.45036,-94.7374 -59.19838,-94.7374 -56.9464))", "dataset_titles": "Enhanced Spatial Resolution Surface Melting over the Antarctic Peninsula (1958 - to date) from a Regional Climate Model Validated through Remote Sensing Observations", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600160", "doi": "10.15784/600160", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Climate; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Meteorology; Model", "people": "Tedesco, Marco", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Enhanced Spatial Resolution Surface Melting over the Antarctic Peninsula (1958 - to date) from a Regional Climate Model Validated through Remote Sensing Observations", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600160"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "1141973/Tedesco This award supports a project to generate first-time validated enhanced spatial resolution (5-10 km) maps of surface melting over the Antarctic Peninsula for the period 1958 - to date from the outputs of a regional climate model and different downscaling techniques. These maps will be assessed and validated through new high spatial resolution (2.25 km) surface melting maps obtained from the QuikSCAT satellite for the period 1999 - 2009. The intellectual merit of this work is that it would be the first time that the outputs of a regional climate model would be used to study surface melting over Antarctica at such high spatial resolution and the first time that such results are validated by means of an observational tool that has such a large spatial coverage and high spatial resolution. The results generated in this study would also provide a first-time opportunity to study the melt distribution over the Peninsula and its correlation with climate drivers, such as the Southern Annual Mode (SAM) and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at these unprecedented spatial scales. The enhanced resolution melting maps will also offer a unique opportunity to study melting trends and patterns over specific regions of the Peninsula, such as the Wilkins and the Larsen A and B ice shelves and evaluate whether the extreme melting observed during the recent collapses was unprecedented over the + 50 years. The broader impacts of the project are that it will integrate research and education by fully supporting one female undergrad student, a PhD student and partially supporting a PostDoc. The work will be done at a minority-serving institution and the PhD student who worked on the development of the high-resolution melting data set from QuikSCAT will become the PostDoc who will work on this project. Teaching and learning will be supported by incorporating research results into graduate and undergrad level courses and will be disseminated over the web and through appropriate channels. Results from this project will also benefit the society at large as they will improve our understanding of the links between atmospheric patterns and surface melting and they will contribute to improving estimates of sea level rise from the Antarctica continent.", "east": -39.7313, "geometry": "POINT(-67.23435 -68.2063)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -56.9464, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tedesco, Marco", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.4662, "title": "Enhanced Spatial Resolution Surface Melting over the Antarctic Peninsula (1958 - to date) from a Regional Climate Model Validated through Remote Sensing Observations", "uid": "p0000313", "west": -94.7374}, {"awards": "1142052 MacPhee, Ross", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1602", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002666", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1602", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1602"}], "date_created": "Tue, 26 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The role that Antarctica has played in vertebrate evolution and paleobiogeography during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene is largely unknown. Evidence indicates that Antarctica was home to a diverse flora during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, yet the vertebrates that must have existed on the continent remain virtually unknown. To fill this gap, the PIs have formed the Antarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Initiative (AVPI), whose goal is to search for and collect Late Cretaceous-Paleogene vertebrate fossils in Antarctica at localities that have never been properly surveyed, as well as in areas of proven potential. Two field seasons are proposed for the James Ross Island Group on the northeastern margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. Expected finds include chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fishes, marine reptiles, ornithischian and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, ornithurine birds, and therian and non-therian mammals. Hypotheses to be tested include: 1) multiple extant bird and/or therian mammal lineages originated during the Cretaceous and survived the K-Pg boundary extinction event; 2) the ?Scotia Portal? permitted the dispersal of continental vertebrates between Antarctica and South America prior to the latest Cretaceous and through to the late Paleocene or early Eocene; 3) Late Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs from Antarctica are closely related to coeval taxa from other Gondwanan landmasses; 4) terminal Cretaceous marine reptile faunas from southern Gondwana differed from contemporaneous but more northerly assemblages; and 5) the collapse of Antarctic ichthyofaunal diversity during the K-Pg transition was triggered by a catastrophic extinction. Broader impacts: The PIs will communicate discoveries to audiences through a variety of channels, such as the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the outreach programs of the Environmental Science Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Carnegie Museum will launch a student-oriented programming initiative using AVPI research as a primary focus. This array of activities will help some 2,000 Pittsburgh-area undergraduates to explore the relevance of deep-time discoveries to critical modern issues. The AVPI will provide research opportunities for eight undergraduate and three graduate students, several of whom will receive field training in Antarctica. Fossils will be accessioned into the Carnegie Museum collection, and made accessible virtually through the NSF-funded Digital Morphology library at University of Texas.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lamanna, Matthew", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Late Cretaceous-Paleogene Vertebrates from Antarctica: Implications for Paleobiogeography, Paleoenvironment, and Extinction in Polar Gondwana", "uid": "p0000854", "west": null}, {"awards": "1043152 Cottle, John", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(162.66667 -78.16667)", "dataset_titles": "EarthChem Library #925.", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000167", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EarthChem", "science_program": null, "title": "EarthChem Library #925.", "url": "http://www.earthchem.org/library/browse/view?id=925"}], "date_created": "Tue, 01 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Magmas generated during subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath active continental margins typically have a calc-alkaline chemistry. However, igneous rocks with signatures usually associated with anorogenic magmatism are increasingly being found with calc-alkaline rocks in subduction zones. These enigmatic rocks provide insight into a variety of magmatic and structural processes that are fundamental to subduction zone dynamics but processes that lead to their petrogenesis remain a matter of debate. This project will investigate the Koettlitz Glacier Alkaline Province (KGAP) in the Transantarctic Mountains, which is a section through a Na-alkaline province bounded to the north and south by calc-alkaline magmatism. This province potentially contains key information on the thermo-mechanical processes leading to generation of Na-alkaline rocks in subduction systems. The PI will examine structures that bound the KGAP as well as intrusives and metasedimentary rocks contained within it to determine the tectonomagmatic history in the framework of two end-member hypotheses: the KGAP represents a crustal-scale extensional or transtensional domain in a subduction setting; or the KGAP formed in response to ridge subduction. Broader impacts: This study will train three graduate and three undergraduate students incorporating hands-on experience with state of the art instrumentation. Each summer, four high school students will be incorporated into various aspects of the laboratory-based research through the UCSB research mentorship program. This project will stimulate refinement of in-situ LA-ICPMS methods and development of collaborative linkages with Antarctic geologists at GNS Science in New Zealand. Results will be disseminated via papers and presentations at international conferences.", "east": 162.66667, "geometry": "POINT(162.66667 -78.16667)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -78.16667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cottle, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "EarthChem", "repositories": "EarthChem", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.16667, "title": "Exploring the Significance of Na-Alkaline Magmatism in Subduction Systems, a Case Study From the Ross Orogen, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000331", "west": 162.66667}, {"awards": "1142018 Arrigo, Kevin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-75.8 -61.08,-74.457 -61.08,-73.114 -61.08,-71.771 -61.08,-70.428 -61.08,-69.085 -61.08,-67.742 -61.08,-66.399 -61.08,-65.056 -61.08,-63.713 -61.08,-62.37 -61.08,-62.37 -61.684,-62.37 -62.288,-62.37 -62.892,-62.37 -63.496,-62.37 -64.1,-62.37 -64.704,-62.37 -65.308,-62.37 -65.912,-62.37 -66.516,-62.37 -67.12,-63.713 -67.12,-65.056 -67.12,-66.399 -67.12,-67.742 -67.12,-69.085 -67.12,-70.428 -67.12,-71.771 -67.12,-73.114 -67.12,-74.457 -67.12,-75.8 -67.12,-75.8 -66.516,-75.8 -65.912,-75.8 -65.308,-75.8 -64.704,-75.8 -64.1,-75.8 -63.496,-75.8 -62.892,-75.8 -62.288,-75.8 -61.684,-75.8 -61.08))", "dataset_titles": "Adaptive Responses of Phaeocystis Populations in Antarctic Ecosystems; Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001417", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1310"}, {"dataset_uid": "600161", "doi": "10.15784/600161", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Chlorophyll; CTD Data; NBP1310; NBP1409; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Phytoplankton; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Arrigo, Kevin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adaptive Responses of Phaeocystis Populations in Antarctic Ecosystems", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600161"}], "date_created": "Mon, 11 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Global climate change is having significant effects on areas of the Southern Ocean, and a better understanding of this ecosystem will permit predictions about the large-scale implications of these shifts. The haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important component of the phytoplankton communities in this region, but little is known about the factors controlling its distribution. Preliminary data suggest that P. antarctica posses unique adaptations that allow it to thrive in regions with dynamic light regimes. This research will extend these results to identify the physiological and genetic mechanisms that affect the growth and distribution of P. antarctica. This work will use field and laboratory-based studies and a suite of modern molecular techniques to better understand the biogeography and physiology of this key organism. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of two graduate students and will foster an established international collaboration with Dutch scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach programs targeting K12 teachers as well as high school students.", "east": -62.37, "geometry": "POINT(-69.085 -64.1)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -61.08, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Arrigo, Kevin", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.12, "title": "Collaborative Research: Adaptive Responses of Phaeocystis Populations in Antarctic Ecosystems", "uid": "p0000446", "west": -75.8}, {"awards": "1146399 Sidor, Christian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.41 -84.27,163.409 -84.27,164.408 -84.27,165.407 -84.27,166.406 -84.27,167.405 -84.27,168.404 -84.27,169.403 -84.27,170.402 -84.27,171.401 -84.27,172.4 -84.27,172.4 -84.353,172.4 -84.436,172.4 -84.519,172.4 -84.602,172.4 -84.685,172.4 -84.768,172.4 -84.851,172.4 -84.934,172.4 -85.017,172.4 -85.1,171.401 -85.1,170.402 -85.1,169.403 -85.1,168.404 -85.1,167.405 -85.1,166.406 -85.1,165.407 -85.1,164.408 -85.1,163.409 -85.1,162.41 -85.1,162.41 -85.017,162.41 -84.934,162.41 -84.851,162.41 -84.768,162.41 -84.685,162.41 -84.602,162.41 -84.519,162.41 -84.436,162.41 -84.353,162.41 -84.27))", "dataset_titles": "Preparation of Vertebrate Fossils from the Triassic of Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600144", "doi": "10.15784/600144", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Fossil; Paleoclimate; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Solid Earth; Transantarctic Mountains; Triassic", "people": "Sidor, Christian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Preparation of Vertebrate Fossils from the Triassic of Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600144"}], "date_created": "Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI requests support for preparation of a large collection of vertebrate fossils recently recovered from the Central Transantarctic Mountains (CTAM) of Antarctica. These fossils will be used to place early Mesozoic Antarctic dinosaurs and other vertebrates into a global evolutionary, biogeographic, and faunal context; assess the degree of endemism in Triassic vertebrate faunas of Antarctica; constrain temporal relationships of the Triassic Antarctic vertebrate faunas; and refine the stratigraphic context for the Triassic Antarctic vertebrate assemblages to establish a paleoenvironmental framework. The lower and middle Triassic fossils offer a rare window on life in terrestrial environments at high-latitudes immediately after the Permian mass extinction. Broader impacts: The PI will use their fossils to educate the public about the geologic, climatic, and biologic history of Antarctica by visiting local schools. They will create and publish at least two new videos to the Burke Museum blog that relate the graduate student?s experience of fieldwork in Antarctica. They will also update the Antarctica section on the UWBM \"Explore Your World\" website with images and findings from their field season.", "east": 172.4, "geometry": "POINT(167.405 -84.685)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -84.27, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sidor, Christian", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.1, "title": "Preparation of Vertebrate Fossils from the Triassic of Antarctica", "uid": "p0000418", "west": 162.41}, {"awards": "1043780 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core; Ultra-trace Measurements in the WAIS Divide 06A Ice Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609659", "doi": "10.7265/N5CV4FPK", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Ultra-trace Measurements in the WAIS Divide 06A Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609659"}, {"dataset_uid": "601361", "doi": "10.15784/601361", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbonyl Sulfide; Trace Gases", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Ice Core Air Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements - Taylor Dome M3C1 Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601361"}], "date_created": "Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aydin/1043780 This award supports the analysis of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) in a deep ice core from West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS-D), Antarctica. COS is the most abundant sulfur gas in the troposphere and a precursor of stratospheric sulfate. It has a large terrestrial COS sink that is tightly coupled to the photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary goal of this project is to develop high a resolution Holocene record of COS from the WAIS-D 06A ice core. The main objectives are 1) to assess the natural variability of COS and the extent to which its atmospheric variability was influenced by climate variability, and 2) to examine the relationship between changes in atmospheric COS and CO2. This project also includes low-resolution sampling and analysis of COS from 10,000-30,000 yrs BP, covering the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene. The goal of this work is to assess the stability of COS in ice core air over long time scales and to establish the COS levels during the last glacial maximum and the magnitude of the change between glacial and interglacial conditions. The results of this work will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to environmental assessments such as the WMO Stratospheric Ozone Assessment and IPCC Climate Assessment. This project will support a PhD student and undergraduate researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and will create summer research opportunities for undergraduates from non-research active Universities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ethane; LABORATORY; N-Butane; Carbonyl Sulfide; Propane; Methyl Bromide; Methyl Chloride; Carbon Disulfide", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Carbonyl Sulfide Measurements in the Deep West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Ice Core", "uid": "p0000055", "west": null}, {"awards": "1144224 Marchant, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -71.5,161 -71.5,162 -71.5,163 -71.5,164 -71.5,165 -71.5,166 -71.5,167 -71.5,168 -71.5,169 -71.5,170 -71.5,170 -72.15,170 -72.8,170 -73.45,170 -74.1,170 -74.75,170 -75.4,170 -76.05,170 -76.7,170 -77.35,170 -78,169 -78,168 -78,167 -78,166 -78,165 -78,164 -78,163 -78,162 -78,161 -78,160 -78,160 -77.35,160 -76.7,160 -76.05,160 -75.4,160 -74.75,160 -74.1,160 -73.45,160 -72.8,160 -72.15,160 -71.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 23 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PIs propose a two-year project to map the distribution of climate-sensitive landforms throughout Northern Victoria Land between the Convoy Range and Cape Adare. This work will produce geospatial products to aid their geomorphic work on ice sheet stability and landscape evolution. Specifically, the PI will investigate the potential for extensive surface melting and ice-sheet retreat with modest warming in areas north of the Convoy Range in Northern Victoria Land. The hypothesis is that if key landform elements of the Dry Valleys assemblage are lacking in NVL it suggests a major variation in current climate conditions, and perhaps changes in climate evolution. The proposed work will also benefit the broader research community, as it will demonstrate the potential for using geospatial imagery in geomorphic research and produce geospatial products that can be used by other researchers. Broader impacts: This work will help the research community better leverage the investment being made in the Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) and will help further demonstrate the significance of satellite imagery for doing ?virtual? field work in the Polar regions. More effective use of satellite imagery by field scientists in Antarctica will help reduce the logistical footprint on the Continent. The proposed research will support one graduate student at Boston University who will be trained in image analysis, map production, Antarctic geomorphology, and geospatial technologies. The proposed work will help to forge stronger links between PGC and Boston University?s Digital Image Analyses Lab (DIAL).", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -74.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Bu/es Data Repository; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -71.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Marchant, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Geomorphic investigations of Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000231", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1041022 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-79 -60,-76.4 -60,-73.8 -60,-71.2 -60,-68.6 -60,-66 -60,-63.4 -60,-60.8 -60,-58.2 -60,-55.6 -60,-53 -60,-53 -61,-53 -62,-53 -63,-53 -64,-53 -65,-53 -66,-53 -67,-53 -68,-53 -69,-53 -70,-55.6 -70,-58.2 -70,-60.8 -70,-63.4 -70,-66 -70,-68.6 -70,-71.2 -70,-73.8 -70,-76.4 -70,-79 -70,-79 -69,-79 -68,-79 -67,-79 -66,-79 -65,-79 -64,-79 -63,-79 -62,-79 -61,-79 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Data from Schram et al. 2017 MEPS; Response time data for snails escaping from predatory sea stars; The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601062", "doi": "10.15784/601062", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Schram, Julie; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from Schram et al. 2017 MEPS", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601062"}, {"dataset_uid": "600122", "doi": "10.15784/600122", "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Angus, Robert; McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600122"}, {"dataset_uid": "601162", "doi": "10.15784/601162", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthos; Biota; Oceans; Snail; Southern Ocean; Visual Observations", "people": "Schram, Julie; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Response time data for snails escaping from predatory sea stars", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601162"}], "date_created": "Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research will investigate the individual and combined effects of rising ocean acidification and sea surface temperatures on shallow-water calcified benthic organisms in western Antarctic Peninsular (WAP) marine communities. The Southern Ocean is predicted to become undersaturated in terms of both aragonite and calcite within 50 and 100 years, respectively, challenging calcification processes. Adding to the problem, antarctic calcified benthic marine organisms are more vulnerable to ocean acidification than temperate and tropical species because they are generally weakly calcified. Many antarctic organisms are essentially stenothermal, and those in the West Antarctic Peninsula are being subjected to rising seawater temperatures. The project employs both single-species and multi-species level approaches to evaluating the impacts of rising ocean acidification and seawater temperature on representative calcified and non-calcified macroalgae, on calcified and non-calcified mesograzers, and on a calcified macro-grazer, all of which are important ecological players in the rich benthic communities. Multi-species analysis will focus on the diverse assemblage of amphipods and mesogastropods that are associated with dominant macroalgae that collectively play a key role in community dynamics along the WAP. The project will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs, as well as home university-based programs, some designed to enhance the representation of minorities in the sciences. The principal investigators also will support and foster graduate education through mentoring of graduate students. Through their highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program, they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-66 -65)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Angus, Robert; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000426", "west": -79.0}, {"awards": "0944645 Goodge, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: \u003cbr/\u003eBecause of extensive ice cover and sparse remote-sensing data, the geology of the Precambrian East Antarctic Shield (EAS) remains largely unexplored with information limited to coastal outcrops from the African, Indian and Australian sectors. The East Antarctic lithosphere is globally important: as one of the largest coherent Precambrian shields, including rocks as old as ~3.8 Ga, it played an important role in global crustal growth; it is a key piece in assembly of the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents; it is the substrate to Earth?s major ice cap, including numerous sub-glacial lakes, and influences its thermal state and mechanical stability; and its geotectonic association with formerly adjacent continental blocks in South Africa, India and Australia suggest that it might harbor important mineral resources. This project will increase understanding of the age and composition of the western EAS lithosphere underlying and adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) using U-Pb ages, and Hf- and O-isotope analysis of zircon in early Paleozoic granitoids and Pleistocene glacial tills. TAM granites of the early Paleozoic Ross Orogen represent an areally extensive continental-margin arc suite that can provide direct information about the EAS crust from which it melted and/or through which it passed. Large rock clasts of igneous and metamorphic lithologies entrained in glacial tills at the head of major outlet glaciers traversing the TAM provide eroded samples of the proximal EAS basement. Zircons in these materials will provide data about age and inheritance (U-Pb), crustal vs. mantle origin (O isotopes), and crustal sources and evolution (Hf isotopes). Integrated along a significant part of the TAM, these data will help define broader crustal provinces that can be correlated with geophysical data and used to test models of crustal assembly. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts: \u003cbr/\u003eThis project will provide a research opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates will be involved as Research Assistants in sample preparation, imaging, and analytical procedures, and conducting their own independent research. The two main elements of this project will form the basis of MS thesis projects for two graduate students at UMD. Through this project they will gain a good understanding of petrology, isotope geochemistry, and analytical methods. The broader scientific impacts of this work are that it will help develop a better understanding of the origin and evolution of East Antarctic lithosphere underlying and adjacent to the TAM, which will be of value to the broader earth science and glaciological community. Furthermore, knowledge of East Antarctic geology is of continuing interest to the general public because of strong curiosity about past supercontinents, what?s under the ice, and the impact of global warming on ice-sheet stability.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Transantarctic Mountains; Not provided", "locations": "Transantarctic Mountains", "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": "Age and Composition of the East Antarctic Shield by Isotopic Analysis of Granite and Glacial Till", "uid": "p0000258", "west": null}, {"awards": "0944087 Hamilton, Gordon", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((145 -80,147 -80,149 -80,151 -80,153 -80,155 -80,157 -80,159 -80,161 -80,163 -80,165 -80,165 -80.035,165 -80.07,165 -80.105,165 -80.14,165 -80.175,165 -80.21,165 -80.245,165 -80.28,165 -80.315,165 -80.35,163 -80.35,161 -80.35,159 -80.35,157 -80.35,155 -80.35,153 -80.35,151 -80.35,149 -80.35,147 -80.35,145 -80.35,145 -80.315,145 -80.28,145 -80.245,145 -80.21,145 -80.175,145 -80.14,145 -80.105,145 -80.07,145 -80.035,145 -80))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to understand the flow dynamics of large, fast-moving outlet glaciers that drain the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The project includes an integrated field, remote sensing and modeling study of Byrd Glacier which is a major pathway for the discharge of mass from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) to the ocean. Recent work has shown that the glacier can undergo short-lived but significant changes in flow speed in response to perturbations in its boundary conditions. Because outlet glacier speeds exert a major control on ice sheet mass balance and modulate the ice sheet contribution to sea level rise, it is essential that their sensitivity to a range of dynamic processes is properly understood and incorporated into prognostic ice sheet models. The intellectual merit of the project is that the results from this study will provide critically important information regarding the flow dynamics of large EAIS outlet glaciers. The proposed study is designed to address variations in glacier behavior on timescales of minutes to years. A dense network of global positioning satellite (GPS) instruments on the grounded trunk and floating portions of the glacier will provide continuous, high-resolution time series of horizontal and vertical motions over a 26-month period. These results will be placed in the context of a longer record of remote sensing observations covering a larger spatial extent, and the combined datasets will be used to constrain a numerical model of the glacier\u0027s flow dynamics. The broader impacts of the work are that this project will generate results which are likely to be a significant component of next-generation ice sheet models seeking to predict the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and future rates of sea level rise. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the imperfect understanding of outlet glacier dynamics as a major obstacle to the production of an accurate sea level rise projections. This project will provide significant research opportunities for several early-career scientists, including the lead PI for this proposal (she is both a new investigator and a junior faculty member at a large research university) and two PhD-level graduate students. The students will be trained in glaciology, geodesy and numerical modeling, contributing to society\u0027s need for experts in those fields. In addition, this project will strengthen international collaboration between polar scientists and geodesists in the US and Spain. The research team will work closely with science educators in the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) outreach program to disseminate project results to non-specialist audiences.", "east": 165.0, "geometry": "POINT(155 -80.175)", "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": false, "keywords": "Sea Level Rise; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Glacier; LABORATORY; Outlet Glaciers; Boundary Conditions; Model; Numerical Model; FIELD SURVEYS; Antarctica; COMPUTERS; Not provided; Flow Dynamics", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -80.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Stearns, Leigh; Hamilton, Gordon S.", "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", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.35, "title": "Collaborative Research: Byrd Glacier Flow Dynamics", "uid": "p0000319", "west": 145.0}, {"awards": "1043092 Steig, Eric; 1043167 White, James", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "17O excess from WAIS Divide, 0 to 25 ka BP; WAIS Divide Ice Core Discrete CH4 (80-3403m); WAIS Divide WDC06A Oxygen Isotope Record", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609629", "doi": "10.7265/N5GT5K41", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Steig, Eric J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide WDC06A Oxygen Isotope Record", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609629"}, {"dataset_uid": "601741", "doi": "10.15784/601741", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ch4; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core; Ice Core Records; Methane; WAIS", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice Core Discrete CH4 (80-3403m)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601741"}, {"dataset_uid": "601413", "doi": "10.15784/601413", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ice Core; Oxygen Isotope; WAIS Divide", "people": "Steig, Eric J.; Schoenemann, Spruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "17O excess from WAIS Divide, 0 to 25 ka BP", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601413"}], "date_created": "Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to contribute one of the cornerstone analyses, stable isotopes of ice (Delta-D, Delta-O18) to the ongoing West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The WAIS Divide drilling project, a multi-institution project to obtain a continuous high resolution ice core record from central West Antarctica, reached a depth of 2560 m in early 2010; it is expected to take one or two more field seasons to reach the ice sheet bed (~3300 m), plus an additional four seasons for borehole logging and other activities including proposed replicate coring. The current proposal requests support to complete analyses on the WAIS Divide core to the base, where the age will be ~100,000 years or more. These analyses will form the basis for the investigation of a number of outstanding questions in climate and glaciology during the last glacial period, focused on the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the relationship of West Antarctic climate to that of the Northern polar regions, the tropical Pacific, and the rest of the globe, on time scales ranging from years to tens of thousands of years. One new aspect of this work is the growing expertise at the University of Washington in climate modeling with isotope-tracer-enabled general circulation models, which will aid in the interpretation of the data. Another major new aspect is the completion and use of a high-resolution, semi-automated sampling system at the University of Colorado, which will permit the continuous analysis of isotope ratios via laser spectroscopy, at an effective resolution of ~2 cm or less, providing inter-annual time resolution for most of the core. Because continuous flow analyses of stable ice isotopes is a relatively new measurement, we will complement them with parallel measurements, every ~10-20 m, using traditional discrete sampling and analysis by mass spectrometry at the University of Washington. The intellectual merit and the overarching goal of the work are to see Inland WAIS become the reference ice isotope record for West Antarctica. The broader impacts of the work are that the data generated in this project pertain directly to policy-relevant and immediate questions of the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and thus past and future changes in sea level, as well as the nature of climate change in the high southern latitudes. The project will also contribute to the development of modern isotope analysis techniques using laser spectroscopy, with applications well beyond ice cores. The project will involve a graduate student and postdoc who will work with both P.I.s, and spend time at both institutions. Data will be made available rapidly through the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center, for use by other researchers and the public.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e INFRARED LASER SPECTROSCOPY; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e INFRARED LASER SPECTROSCOPY", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; ANALYTICAL LAB; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; LABORATORY; ICE CORE RECORDS; Antarctica; Wais Divide-project; FIELD SURVEYS; USA/NSF", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Steig, Eric J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e ANALYTICAL LAB; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the Transition and Glacial Sections of the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core", "uid": "p0000010", "west": null}, {"awards": "0837559 Lee, Richard", "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": "Belgica antarctica isolate:Palmer_Station_2011 Genome sequencing and assembly", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000147", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Belgica antarctica isolate:Palmer_Station_2011 Genome sequencing and assembly", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA172148"}], "date_created": "Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePolar terrestrial environments are often described as deserts, where water availability is a critical factor limiting the distribution of terrestrial organisms. In such environments, tolerance of low moisture conditions is likely as important as cold resistance. Winter survival for many polar organisms depends on a coordinated transition from feeding, growth and reproduction during short summers, to an energy-conserving dormancy coupled with enhanced resistance to environmental extremes during long, severe winters. The midge Belgica antarctica provides an excellent model system for investigating mechanisms of stress (cold and low moisture) tolerance, and the role of extreme photoperiodic changes in coordinating seasonal adaptations. The proposed research will use gene and protein level approaches to investigate the seasonal roles of dehydration and photoperiodic cues in preparing a polar insect for winter survival. The research will investigate (1) the role of aquaporins, dehydrins, and cryoprotective dehydration in seasonal survival, and (2) the role of photoperiodism in preparing for winter. Broader impacts involve engagement of K-12 educators and students, including hands-on, in-the-field research experiences for teachers, presentations at local schools, development of lesson plans and podcasts, and publication of articles in education journals. The principal investigators also will engage graduate students, undergraduates, and post-docs in the project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lee, Richard", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Proposal: Roles for Dehydration and Photoperiodism in Preparing an Antarctic Insect for the Polar Night", "uid": "p0000669", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0838970 Foreman, Christine", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "dataset_titles": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600104", "doi": "10.15784/600104", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Microbiology", "people": "Foreman, Christine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600104"}], "date_created": "Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth\u0027s organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls\u0027 schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.", "east": 161.667, "geometry": "POINT(161.667 -77.117)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.117, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Foreman, Christine", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.117, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000458", "west": 161.667}, {"awards": "0944193 MacAyeal, Douglas", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Iceberg Capsize Kinematics and Energetics", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609590", "doi": "10.7265/N56H4FCJ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Iceberg; Kinetics", "people": "MacAyeal, Douglas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Iceberg Capsize Kinematics and Energetics", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609590"}], "date_created": "Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to examine and test a 3-step process model for explosive ice-shelf disintegration that emerged in the wake of the recent 2008 and 2009 events of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The model is conditioned on Summer melt-driven increase in free-surface water coupled with surface and basal crevasse density growth necessary to satisfy an \"enabling condition\". Once met, the collapse proceeds through three steps: (Step 1), calving of a \"leading phalanx\" of tabular icebergs from the seaward ice front of the ice shelf which creates in its wake a region, called a \"mosh pit\" (located between the phalanx and the edge of the intact ice shelf), where ocean surface-gravity waves are trapped by reflection (a fast mechanically enabled process), (Step 2), and a rapid, runaway conversion of gravitational potential energy into ocean-wave energy by iceberg capsize and fragmentation within the \"mosh pit\" which leads to further wave-induced calving, capsize and fragmentation (Step 3). The project will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team and will focus on theoretical model development, numerical method development and application and new observations. The project will participate in both the Research Experience for Undergraduates program in the Physics Department and the Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) that fosters participation in research by underrepresented minorities. The PIs, postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and unfunded participants will develop a graduate-level seminar/tutorial to introduce advanced computational methods to glaciology. A postdoctoral scholar and graduate student will be trained in new research techniques during the project.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e VIDEO CAMERA", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; Iceberg Kinetic Energy; Iceberg Velocity", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "MacAyeal, Douglas", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Explosive Ice-Shelf Disintegration", "uid": "p0000005", "west": null}, {"awards": "1250208 Friedlaender, Ari", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-80 -63,-78 -63,-76 -63,-74 -63,-72 -63,-70 -63,-68 -63,-66 -63,-64 -63,-62 -63,-60 -63,-60 -63.7,-60 -64.4,-60 -65.1,-60 -65.8,-60 -66.5,-60 -67.2,-60 -67.9,-60 -68.6,-60 -69.3,-60 -70,-62 -70,-64 -70,-66 -70,-68 -70,-70 -70,-72 -70,-74 -70,-76 -70,-78 -70,-80 -70,-80 -69.3,-80 -68.6,-80 -67.9,-80 -67.2,-80 -66.5,-80 -65.8,-80 -65.1,-80 -64.4,-80 -63.7,-80 -63))", "dataset_titles": "Linking the Movement Patterns and Foraging Behavior of Humpback Whales to their Prey across Multiple Spatial Scales within the LTER Study Region", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600151", "doi": "10.15784/600151", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean; Whales", "people": "Friedlaender, Ari; Nowacek, Douglas; Johnston, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking the Movement Patterns and Foraging Behavior of Humpback Whales to their Prey across Multiple Spatial Scales within the LTER Study Region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600151"}], "date_created": "Mon, 10 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Whales play a central role in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean. However, little is known regarding their distribution and behavior, in part because of challenges associated with studying these organisms from large research vessels. This research will take advantage of the unique opportunity presented by the 2012-2013 test run of the smaller, more mobile R/V Point Sur. This work will use the Point Sur to investigate humpback whales in the waters studied by the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Station off the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Employing a combination of long-term satellite-linked tags and short-term suction cup tags, researchers will investigate the distribution, abundance and foraging behaviors of whales in this region. Whale biogeography will then be related to quantitative surveys of krill, their primary food source. Hypotheses regarding whale distribution and foraging strategies as well as physical oceanographic features will be tested. The WAP is undergoing some of the most dramatic warming on the planet, and a better understanding of the ecology of top predators is central to developing an understanding of the impacts of this change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Finally, this work will be coordinated with the extensive infrastructure of the Palmer LTER site, enabling outreach and educational activities.", "east": -60.0, "geometry": "POINT(-70 -66.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Friedlaender, Ari; Nowacek, Douglas; Johnston, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -70.0, "title": "RAPID: Linking the Movement Patterns and Foraging Behavior of Humpback Whales to their Prey across Multiple Spatial Scales within the LTER Study Region", "uid": "p0000666", "west": -80.0}, {"awards": "1043690 Scherer, Reed", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600127", "doi": "10.15784/600127", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean", "people": "Scherer, Reed Paul; Haji-Sheikh, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600127"}], "date_created": "Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Diatom abundance in sediment cores is typically used as a proxy for paleo primary productivity. This record is complicated by variable preservation, with most loss occurring in the water column via dissolution and zooplankton grazing. This study will investigate preservational biases via a series of controlled experiments to create proxies of original productivity based on morphological changes associated with diatom dissolution and fracture. The PIs will utilize fresh diatoms from culture. Specific objectives include: (1) Linking changes in diatom morphology to availability of dissolved silica and other physical and chemical parameters; (2) Documenting the dissolution process under controlled conditions; (3) Assessment of changes in morphology and diatom surface roughness with increased dissolution; (4) Documenting the physical effects of grazing and fecal pellet formation on diatom fragmentation and dissolution; and (5) Analyzing the impact of diatom dissolution on silica and carbon export. These objectives will be achieved by growing Southern Ocean diatom species in the laboratory under differing physical and chemical conditions; controlled serial dissolution experiments on cultured diatoms; analysis of the dissolution process by imaging frustules under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and with micro-analysis of surface texture by atomic force microscopy (AFM); making the cultures available to krill and other live zooplankton crustaceans in order to analyze the specific effects of grazing and pelletization on diatom morphology; and comparing experimental results with natural plankton, sediment trap material, and selected Holocene, Pleistocene and Pliocene sediment core material. Broader impacts: This work will contribute to understanding of the use of diatom abundance as an indicator of paleoproductivity. The proposed experiments are multi-disciplinary in nature. Importantly, the project was designed, and the proposal largely written, by a Ph.D. candidate. The research proposed here will lead to peer-reviewed publications and provide a base for future studies over the course of an extremely promising scientific career. The project will also support an undergraduate research student at NIU. The PI is heavily involved in science outreach, including classroom visits, museum events and webinars related to evolution and climate change, and is active with NSF-funded outreach activities linked to the ANDRILL and WISSARD programs. He will continue these efforts with this project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Haji-Sheikh, Michael; Scherer, Reed Paul", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Southern Ocean Diatom Taphonomy and Paleoproductivity: A Laboratory Study of Silica Degradation and Export", "uid": "p0000360", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1232962 Ledwell, James", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1310A", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002658", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1310A", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1310A"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) is a study of ocean mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) which runs west to east all around the continent of Antarctica, south of the other continents. This current system is somewhat of a barrier to transport of heat, carbon dioxide and other important ocean constituents between the far south and the rest of the ocean, and mixing processes play an important role in those transports. DIMES is a multi-investigator cooperative project, led by physical oceanographers in the U.S. and in the U.K. A passive tracer and an array of sub-surface floats were deployed early in 2009 more than 2000 km west of Drake Passage on a surface of constant density about 1500 m deep between the Sub Antarctic Front and the Polar Front of the ACC. In early 2010 a U.S. led research cruise sampled the tracer, turbulence levels, and the velocity and density profiles that govern the generation of that turbulence, and additional U.K. led research cruises in 2011 and 2012 continue this sampling as the tracer has made its way through Drake Passage, into the Scotia Sea, and over the North Scotia Ridge, a track of more than 3000 km. The initial results show that diapycnal, i.e., vertical, mixing west of Drake Passage where the bottom is relatively smooth is no larger than in most other regions of the open ocean. In contrast, there are strong velocity shears and intense turbulence levels over the rough topography in Drake Passage and diapycnal diffusivity of the tracer more than 10 times larger in Drake Passage and to the east than west of Drake Passage. The DIMES field program continues with the U.S. team collecting new velocity and turbulence data in the Scotia Sea. It is anticipated that the tracer will continue passing through the Scotia Sea until at least early 2014. The U.K. partners have scheduled sampling of the tracer on cruises at the North Scotia Ridge and in the eastern and central Scotia Sea in early 2013 and early 2014. The current project will continue the time series of the tracer at Drake Passage on two more U.S. led cruises, in late 2012 and late 2013. Trajectories through the Scotia Sea estimated from the tracer observations, from neutrally buoyant floats, and from numerical models will be used to accurately estimate mixing rates of the tracer and to locate where the mixing is concentrated. During the 2013 cruise the velocity and turbulence fields along high-resolution transects along the ACC and across the ridges of Drake Passage will be measured to see how far downstream of the ridges the mixing is enhanced, and to test the hypothesis that mixing is enhanced by breaking lee waves generated by flow over the rough topography. Broader Impacts: DIMES (see web site at http://dimes.ucsd.edu) involves many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Two graduate students, who would become expert in ocean turbulence and the processes generating it, will continue be trained on this project. The work in DIMES is ultimately motivated by the need to understand the overturning circulation of the global ocean. This circulation governs the transport and storage of heat and carbon dioxide within the huge oceanic reservoir, and thus plays a major role in regulating the earth?s climate. Understanding the circulation and how it changes in reaction to external forces is necessary to the understanding of past climate change and of how climate might change in the future, and is therefore of great importance to human well-being. The data collected and analyzed by the DIMES project will be assembled and made publicly available at the end of the project. The DIMES project is a process experiment sponsored by the U.S. CLIVAR (Climate variability and predictability) program.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ledwell, James", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Studies of Turbulence and Mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a Continuation of DIMES", "uid": "p0000846", "west": null}, {"awards": "0934534 Sergienko, Olga", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-106 -70,-105.4 -70,-104.8 -70,-104.2 -70,-103.6 -70,-103 -70,-102.4 -70,-101.8 -70,-101.2 -70,-100.6 -70,-100 -70,-100 -70.6,-100 -71.2,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.4,-100 -73,-100 -73.6,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.8,-100 -75.4,-100 -76,-100.6 -76,-101.2 -76,-101.8 -76,-102.4 -76,-103 -76,-103.6 -76,-104.2 -76,-104.8 -76,-105.4 -76,-106 -76,-106 -75.4,-106 -74.8,-106 -74.2,-106 -73.6,-106 -73,-106 -72.4,-106 -71.8,-106 -71.2,-106 -70.6,-106 -70))", "dataset_titles": "Inverted Basal Shear Stress of Antarctic and Greenland Ice Streams and Glaciers", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609626", "doi": "10.7265/N5XS5SBW", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Bindschadler Ice Stream; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Greenland; Lambert Ice Stream; Macayeal Ice Stream; Pine Island Glacier; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Sergienko, Olga", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Inverted Basal Shear Stress of Antarctic and Greenland Ice Streams and Glaciers", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609626"}], "date_created": "Thu, 06 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Funds are provided to enable applications of powerful mathematical concepts and computational tools for rigorous sensitivity analysis, pseudo-spectra and generalized stability theory, and advanced state estimation in the context of large-scale ice sheet modeling. At the center of the proposal is the generation and application of adjoint model (ADM) and tangent linear model (TLM) components of the new Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM). The goal will be achieved through rigorous use of automatic differentiation (AD) to ensure synchronicity between the ongoing model development and improvement in terms of better representation of higher-order stress terms (which account for crucial fast flow regimes) of the nonlinear forward model (NLM) code and the derivative codes. The adjoint enables extremely efficient computation of gradients of scalar-valued functions in very high-dimensional control spaces. A hierarchy of applications is envisioned: (1) sensitivity calculations in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to determine to which control variables the polar ice sheet volumes are most sensitive; based on adjoint sensitivity maps, to establish quantitative estimates of ice sheet volume changes for relevant forcing scenarios; and to assess how sensitivities change when including higher-order stress terms; (2) coupling of the ADM and TLM to calculate pseudo-spectra or singular vectors (SV?s) of relevant ice sheet norms; SV?s provide perturbation patterns which lead to non-normal growth, optimally amplifying norm kernels over finite times; among the many applications of SV?s are optimal initialization of ensembles to assess uncertainties; SV?s are calculated through matrix-free iterative solution of a generalized eigenvalue problem via Lanczos or Arnoldi implicit restart algorithms; (3) a long-term goal is the development of an ice sheet state estimation system based on the adjoint or Lagrange Multiplier Method (LMM) in order to synthesize, in a formal manner, the increasing number and heterogeneous types of observations with a three-dimensional, state-of-the-art ice sheet model; an important requirement is that the adjoint incorporate new schemes that are being developed for CISM to capture crucial, but as yet unrepresented physical processes.", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-103 -73)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided; Inverse Modeling; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Basal Shear Stress", "locations": null, "north": -70.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Arctic Natural Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sergienko, Olga", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Enabling ice sheet sensitivity and stability analysis with a large-scale higher-order ice sheet model\u0027s adjoint to support sea level change assessment", "uid": "p0000048", "west": -106.0}, {"awards": "0739515 Fagan, William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.383 -60.65,-66.10137 -60.65,-63.81974 -60.65,-61.53811 -60.65,-59.25648 -60.65,-56.97485 -60.65,-54.69322 -60.65,-52.41159 -60.65,-50.12996 -60.65,-47.84833 -60.65,-45.5667 -60.65,-45.5667 -61.4145,-45.5667 -62.179,-45.5667 -62.9435,-45.5667 -63.708,-45.5667 -64.4725,-45.5667 -65.237,-45.5667 -66.0015,-45.5667 -66.766,-45.5667 -67.5305,-45.5667 -68.295,-47.84833 -68.295,-50.12996 -68.295,-52.41159 -68.295,-54.69322 -68.295,-56.97485 -68.295,-59.25648 -68.295,-61.53811 -68.295,-63.81974 -68.295,-66.10137 -68.295,-68.383 -68.295,-68.383 -67.5305,-68.383 -66.766,-68.383 -66.0015,-68.383 -65.237,-68.383 -64.4725,-68.383 -63.708,-68.383 -62.9435,-68.383 -62.179,-68.383 -61.4145,-68.383 -60.65))", "dataset_titles": "Data Paper, ESA Ecology", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000141", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Data Paper, ESA Ecology", "url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-1108.1"}], "date_created": "Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This five-year project seeks to characterize decadal scale changes in penguin and seabird populations on the Antarctic Peninsula, and to identify the factors driving these long-term changes. Two interconnected research activities are proposed: 1. Continued, long-term monitoring and censusing of penguin and seabird populations at \u003e117 sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula via opportunistic ship-based data collection. 2. Synthesis and quantitative analyses of datasets detailing long-term changes in five penguin and seabird species from diverse sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. When complete, the penguin/seabird database will incorporate data from the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI), the CCAMLR database, the US AMLR database, the LTER database from Palmer Station, data from British and Argentine researchers, historic census data compiled by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and, when possible, additional privately held datasets. Additional data for temperature change, sea ice coverage, the seasonal timing and intensity of human visitation, and other factors have been gathered and will be analyzed together with population trajectories within a spatially explicit framework. The research will include hierarchical statistical analyses to characterize the long-term population dynamics of several key polar species across multiple spatial scales (sites, regions, and the Peninsula). Analyses also will focus on specific subsets of the overall database to contrast visitor impacts on paired colonies, sites, and regions that share similar environmental conditions but differ in the intensity of tourism. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Broader Impacts include (1) research training and first-time Antarctic experiences for a postdoctoral researcher and several graduate students, all of whom will then be better positioned to bring their expertise in spatial and/or quantitative/theoretical ecology to bear on questions in polar research; (2) assembly and analysis of a large, multi-season database of penguin and seabird time series from the Antarctic Peninsula that will be publicly available, (3) assistance in distinguishing the impacts of tourism versus climate change on seabird populations. Under the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, Treaty Parties are charged with regular and effective monitoring to assess the impacts of human activities. This project will uniquely assist Parties in fulfilling this mandate.", "east": -45.5667, "geometry": "POINT(-56.97485 -64.4725)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.65, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fagan, William; Lynch, Heather", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "Publication", "repositories": "Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.295, "title": "Collaborative Research: Multispecies, Multiscale Investigations of Longterm Changes in Penguin and Seabird Populations on the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000465", "west": -68.383}, {"awards": "0944517 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-67.42 -61.2,-66.28 -61.2,-65.14 -61.2,-64 -61.2,-62.86 -61.2,-61.72 -61.2,-60.58 -61.2,-59.44 -61.2,-58.3 -61.2,-57.16 -61.2,-56.02 -61.2,-56.02 -61.71,-56.02 -62.22,-56.02 -62.73,-56.02 -63.24,-56.02 -63.75,-56.02 -64.26,-56.02 -64.77,-56.02 -65.28,-56.02 -65.79,-56.02 -66.3,-57.16 -66.3,-58.3 -66.3,-59.44 -66.3,-60.58 -66.3,-61.72 -66.3,-62.86 -66.3,-64 -66.3,-65.14 -66.3,-66.28 -66.3,-67.42 -66.3,-67.42 -65.79,-67.42 -65.28,-67.42 -64.77,-67.42 -64.26,-67.42 -63.75,-67.42 -63.24,-67.42 -62.73,-67.42 -62.22,-67.42 -61.71,-67.42 -61.2))", "dataset_titles": "Cruise LMG1203; Cruise LMG1205; Cruise LMG1206; GenBank KC594078, FJ914563.1, FJ914564.1, FJ914565.1, FJ896018.1, FJ896019.1, FJ896022.1, FJ896023.1, FJ896024.1, FJ896025.1, FJ896026.1", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000160", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Cruise LMG1203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "000159", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "GenBank KC594078, FJ914563.1, FJ914564.1, FJ914565.1, FJ896018.1, FJ896019.1, FJ896022.1, FJ896023.1, FJ896024.1, FJ896025.1, FJ896026.1", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}, {"dataset_uid": "000161", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Cruise LMG1205", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1205"}, {"dataset_uid": "000162", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Cruise LMG1206", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1206"}], "date_created": "Fri, 20 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~40-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. The biochemical and physiological challenges facing ectotherms living in the Southern Ocean include the reduction of reaction rates and metabolic fluxes and a pervasive weakening of macromolecular interactions. Yet, Southern Ocean ectotherms are now threatened by warming over periods measured in centuries or less. The proposed research seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms of cold adaptation in Antarctic marine fishes and to assess the physiological capacity of these organisms to resist or compensate for rapid oceanic warming. The P.I. will characterize two important and interacting protein systems, the tubulins that form microtubules and the chaperonin CCT (cytoplasmic chaperonin-containing TCP-1, a family of proteins that assists the folding of the tubulins). Higher-level, integrative responses to global temperature change will be analyzed by studying the thermal dependence of cleavage in Antarctic fish embryos (a microtubule-dependent process). The objectives are (1) to determine the contributions of five novel amino acid substitutions found in Antarctic fish beta-tubulins to microtubule assembly at cold temperature. (2) to compare the functional properties of CCT from testis tissues of Antarctic fishes and mammals. (3) to evaluate the effects of increased temperature on embryogenesis in Antarctic fishes. The research will introduce graduate and REU undergraduate students to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. The proposed work also will benefit society by developing a cold-functioning chaperonin protein folding system, of great value to the biopharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for use in folding insoluble proteins.", "east": -56.02, "geometry": "POINT(-61.72 -63.75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -61.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.3, "title": "Microtubule Function, Protein Folding, and Embryogenesis in Antarctic Fishes: An Integrative Approach", "uid": "p0000664", "west": -67.42}, {"awards": "0739698 Doran, Peter; 0739681 Murray, Alison", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "dataset_titles": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600080", "doi": "10.15784/600080", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Carbon-14; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Dry Valleys; Geochronology; Ice Core Records; Lake Vida; Microbiology", "people": "Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600080"}], "date_created": "Thu, 12 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake\u0027s history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.", "east": 161.931, "geometry": "POINT(161.931 -77.3885)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.3885, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Murray, Alison; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.3885, "title": "Collaborative Research: Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica", "uid": "p0000485", "west": 161.931}, {"awards": "0838850 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.32 -77.62,162.418 -77.62,162.516 -77.62,162.614 -77.62,162.712 -77.62,162.81 -77.62,162.90800000000002 -77.62,163.006 -77.62,163.104 -77.62,163.202 -77.62,163.3 -77.62,163.3 -77.631,163.3 -77.64200000000001,163.3 -77.653,163.3 -77.664,163.3 -77.67500000000001,163.3 -77.686,163.3 -77.697,163.3 -77.708,163.3 -77.71900000000001,163.3 -77.73,163.202 -77.73,163.104 -77.73,163.006 -77.73,162.90800000000002 -77.73,162.81 -77.73,162.712 -77.73,162.614 -77.73,162.516 -77.73,162.418 -77.73,162.32 -77.73,162.32 -77.71900000000001,162.32 -77.708,162.32 -77.697,162.32 -77.686,162.32 -77.67500000000001,162.32 -77.664,162.32 -77.653,162.32 -77.64200000000001,162.32 -77.631,162.32 -77.62))", "dataset_titles": "The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600100", "doi": "10.15784/600100", "keywords": "Antarctica; Critical Zone; Mps-1 Water Potential Sensor; Physical Properties; Soil Moisture; Soil Temperature", "people": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600100"}], "date_created": "Tue, 26 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTwo models have been proposed to describe controls over microbial biogeography. One model proposes that microbes are ubiquitously distributed across the global environment, and that environmental conditions select for taxa physiologically adapted to local physical conditions. An alternative model predicts that dispersal is the important limitation to the distribution of microorganisms and that spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities is a result of both dispersal and local environmental limitations. According to both models, spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities may be especially pronounced in extreme ecosystems where the environmental selection for organisms with suitable physiology is most strongly manifest. We propose that Antarctic terrestrial environments are ideal places to examine microbial biogeography for 3 reasons: 1) the pristine nature and remoteness of Antarctica minimizes the prevalence of exotic species dispersed through human vectors; 2) the extreme conditions of Antarctic environments provide a strong environmental filter which limits the establishment of non-indigenous taxa; and 3) extreme heterogeneity in the terrestrial environment provides natural gradients of soil conditions (temperature, water and nutrient availability). In the proposed research we will investigate the influence of snow on the composition and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and linked biogeochemical cycling in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We will conduct fieldwork at the landscape scale (repeated remote sensing to characterize snow distribution), at the valley and patch scales (quantify snow patch ablation, microbial communities and biogeochemical cycling in subnivian soils). We hypothesize that snow patches play an important role in structuring the spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and their associated ecosystem functioning because of the physical and hydrological influences that snow patches have on the soil environment. The research will contribute to greater public awareness of the importance of polar research to fundamental questions of biology, ecology and hydrology through direct linkages with International Antarctic Institute public outreach activities, including dissemination of web-based learning units on environmental science and microbiology, targeted as resources for secondary and post-secondary educators. Three graduate students, one postdoctoral scholar and multiple undergraduates will participate in the research activities.", "east": 163.3, "geometry": "POINT(162.81 -77.675)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.62, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.73, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Role of Snow Patches on the Spatial Distribution of Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Antarctic Dry Valleys", "uid": "p0000489", "west": 162.32}, {"awards": "1142083 Kyle, Philip", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(167.15334 -77.529724)", "dataset_titles": "Database of Erebus cave field seasons; Icequakes at Erebus volcano, Antarctica; Mount Erebus Observatory GPS data; Mount Erebus Seismic Data; Mount Erebus Thermodynamic model code; Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory: Operations, Science and Outreach (MEVO-OSO); Seismic data used for high-resolution active-source seismic tomography", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200032", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Mount Erebus Seismic Data", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/mda/ER/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200030", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Database of Erebus cave field seasons", "url": "https://github.com/foobarbecue/troggle"}, {"dataset_uid": "200034", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Seismic data used for high-resolution active-source seismic tomography", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/mda/ZW/?timewindow=2007-2009http://ds.iris.edu/mda/Y4?timewindow=2008-2009http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/forms/assembled-data/?dataset_report_number=09-015"}, {"dataset_uid": "200031", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "Mount Erebus Thermodynamic model code", "url": "https://github.com/kaylai/Iacovino2015_thermodynamic_model"}, {"dataset_uid": "600381", "doi": "10.15784/600381", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cable Observatory; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Infrared Imagery; Intracontinental Magmatism; IntraContinental Magmatism; MEVO; Mount Erebus; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Ross Island; Solid Earth; Thermal Camera; Volcano", "people": "Oppenheimer, Clive; Kyle, Philip", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "MEVO", "title": "Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory: Operations, Science and Outreach (MEVO-OSO)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600381"}, {"dataset_uid": "200027", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "UNAVCO", "science_program": null, "title": "Mount Erebus Observatory GPS data", "url": "https://www.unavco.org/data/gps-gnss/data-access-methods/dai1/monument.php?mid=22083\u0026parent_link=Permanent\u0026pview=original"}, {"dataset_uid": "200033", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Icequakes at Erebus volcano, Antarctica", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/mda/ZW/?timewindow=2007-2009http://ds.iris.edu/mda/Y4?timewindow=2008-2009http://ds.iris.edu/mda/ZO?timewindow=2011-2012"}], "date_created": "Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Mt. Erebus is one of only a handful of volcanoes worldwide that have lava lakes with readily observable and nearly continuous Strombolian explosive activity. Erebus is also unique in having a permanent convecting lava lake of anorthoclase phonolite magma. Over the years significant infrastructure has been established at the summit of Mt. Erebus as part of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO), which serves as a natural laboratory to study a wide range of volcanic processes, especially magma degassing associated with an open convecting magma conduit. The PI proposes to continue operating MEVO for a further five years. The fundamental fundamental research objectives are: to understand diffuse flank degassing by using distributed temperature sensing and gas measurements in ice caves, to understand conduit processes, and to examine the environmental impact of volcanic emissions from Erebus on atmospheric and cryospheric environments. To examine conduit processes the PI will make simultaneous observations with video records, thermal imaging, measurements of gas emission rates and gas compositions, seismic, and infrasound data. Broader impacts: An important aspect of Erebus research is the education and training of students. Both graduate and undergraduate students will have the opportunity to work on MEVO data and deploy to the field site. In addition, this proposal will support a middle or high school science teacher for two field seasons. The PI will also continue working with various media organizations and filmmakers.", "east": 167.15334, "geometry": "POINT(167.15334 -77.529724)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e IMAGING SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e TIRS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e SPECTROMETERS \u003e FTIR SPECTROMETER; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e SPECTROMETERS \u003e DOAS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e LASER RANGING \u003e MOBLAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOMETERS; NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e IMAGING SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e HRDI; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e IMAGING SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e TIRS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e INFRASONIC MICROPHONES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e AMS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e XRF; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-ES; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e LASER RANGING \u003e MOBLAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e IRGA; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE CHAMBERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e SPECTROMETERS \u003e FTIR SPECTROMETER; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e MICROTOMOGRAPHY; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e SIMS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Earthquakes; Vesuvius; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Infrasonic Signals; Icequakes; Magma Shells; Phase Equilibria; Passcal; Correlation; Backscattering; Eruptive History; Degassing; Volatiles; Magma Convection; Thermodynamics; Tremors; Optech; Uv Doas; Energy Partitioning; Erebus; Cronus; Holocene; Lava Lake; Phonolite; Vagrant; Thermal Infrared Camera; Flir; USA/NSF; Mount Erebus; Active Source Seismic; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Interferometry; Volatile Solubility; Redox State; Viscosity; Hydrogen Emission; Seismicity; Eruptions; Explosion Energy; FIELD SURVEYS; Radar Spectra; OBSERVATION BASED; Seismic Events; Strombolian Eruptions; Anorthoclase; Ice Caves; Iris; VOLCANO OBSERVATORY; Melt Inclusions; Ftir; Alkaline Volcanism; Tomography; TLS; Volcanic Gases; ANALYTICAL LAB", "locations": "Vesuvius; Cronus; Vagrant; Mount Erebus; Passcal", "north": -77.529724, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Kyle, Philip; Oppenheimer, Clive; Chaput, Julien; Jones, Laura; Fischer, Tobias", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e VOLCANO OBSERVATORY; OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e OBSERVATION BASED; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e ANALYTICAL LAB", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "GitHub; IRIS; UNAVCO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "MEVO", "south": -77.529724, "title": "Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory: Operations, Science and Outreach (MEVO-OSO)", "uid": "p0000383", "west": 167.15334}, {"awards": "0944764 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age; High-resolution Atmospheric CO2 during 7.4-9.0 ka", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}, {"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Byrd Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}, {"dataset_uid": "609527", "doi": "10.7265/N5QF8QT5", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; WAISCORES", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "High-resolution Atmospheric CO2 during 7.4-9.0 ka", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609527"}, {"dataset_uid": "609539", "doi": "10.7265/N5F47M23", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Byrd; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CO2; Geochemistry; GISP2; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Methane; Paleoclimate; Siple Dome Ice Core; Taylor Dome; Taylor Dome Ice Core", "people": "Brook, Edward J.; Ahn, Jinho", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Taylor Dome Ice Core", "title": "Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609539"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to create new, unprecedented high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) records spanning intervals of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period and the early Holocene. The proposed work will utilize high-precision methods on existing ice cores from high accumulation sites such as Siple Dome and Byrd Station, Antarctica and will improve our understanding of how fast CO2 can change naturally, how its variations are linked with climate, and, combined with a coupled climate-carbon cycle model, will clarify the role of terrestrial and oceanic processes during past abrupt changes of climate and CO2. The intellectual merit of this work is that CO2 is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and understanding its past variations, its sources and sinks, and how they are linked to climate change is a major goal of the climate research community. This project will produce high quality data on centennial to multi-decadal time scales. Such high-resolution work has not been conducted before because of insufficient analytical precision, slow experimental procedures in previous studies, or lack of available samples. The proposed research will complement future high-resolution studies from WAIS Divide ice cores and will provide ice core CO2 records for the target age intervals, which are in the zone of clathrate formation in the WAIS ice cores. Clathrate hydrate is a phase composed of air and ice. CO2 analyses have historically been less precise in clathrate ice than in ?bubbly ice? such as the Siple Dome ice core that will be analyzed in the proposed project. High quality, high-resolution results from specific intervals in Siple Dome that we propose to analyze will provide important data for verifying the WAIS Divide record. The broader impacts of the work are that current models show a large uncertainty of future climate-carbon cycle interactions. The results of this proposed work will be used for testing coupled carbon cycle-climate models and may contribute to reducing this uncertainty. The project will contribute to the training of several undergraduate students and a full-time technician. Both will learn analytical techniques and the basic science involved. Minorities and female students will be highly encouraged to participate in this project. Outreach efforts will include participation in news media interviews, at a local festival celebrating art, science and technology, and giving seminar presentations in the US and foreign countries. The OSU ice core laboratory has begun a collaboration with a regional science museum and is developing ideas to build an exhibition booth to make public be aware of climate change and ice core research. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and at other similar archives per the OPP data policy.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e CO2 ANALYZERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; CO2 Concentrations; Ice Core Gas Age; CO2 Uncertainty; LABORATORY; Ice Core Depth; Not provided; CH4 Concentrations", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "NOT APPLICABLE; NOT APPLICABLE", "persons": "Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Atmospheric CO2 and Abrupt Climate Change", "uid": "p0000179", "west": null}, {"awards": "1043749 Rouse, Gregory", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1105", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002659", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1105", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1105"}], "date_created": "Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The west Antarctic Peninsula is warming rapidly, and continuing changes in the thermal regime will likely result in severe consequences for marine fauna, including potential extinction of strongly adapted stenotherms, and invasions from neighboring faunas. Initial impacts of climate change may result in changes in connectivity among populations of the same species. These changes may will be undetectable by direct observation, but may be assessed via genetic connectivity, i.e. differences in allele or haplotype frequencies among populations can be used to infer levels of gene flow. The proposed research will explore the role that the Scotia Arc plays in connecting populations from South America to Antarctica, a corridor identified as a likely entry route for invaders into Antarctica. It also will examine the way in which cryptic species may confound our knowledge of broad-scale distributions, and in doing so, make contributions towards understanding biodiversity and testing the paradigm of circumpolarity in Antarctica. The principal investigator will to collect multi-locus genetic data across \u0027species\u0027 from a broad suite of benthic marine invertebrate phyla, from multiple locations, in order to address hypotheses regarding speciation and connectivity, to estimate demographic population changes, and to identify the underlying processes that drive observed phylogeographic patterns. Comparative phylogeography is a particularly valuable approach because it enables the identification of long-term barriers and refugia common to groups of species and is consequently highly relevant to conservation planning. Moreover, this work will form a valuable baseline for detecting future changes in connectivity. The results of the research will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. In addition, the project will support the interdisciplinary training of a female graduate student, two undergraduate students, and host additional summer students through the STARS program at SIO, which helps minority students prepare for graduate school. This project will integrate research and education through conducting an interdisciplinary workshop that brings together Earth Science and Biology high school teachers. This workshop aims to assist teachers derive their own curricula uniting plate tectonics, ocean history and evolution, supporting a new high school earth sciences program. Information generated by this project will also directly feed into international efforts to design a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Antarctica.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rouse, Gregory", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Using molecular data to test connectivity and the circumpolar paradigm for Antarctic marine invertebrates", "uid": "p0000847", "west": null}, {"awards": "0738975 Baker, Ian", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Siple Dome A (SDMA) Grain Orientation 640 - 790 Meters", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609526", "doi": "10.7265/N53T9F5X", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Siple Dome; Siple Dome Ice Core; South Pole; WAISCORES", "people": "Obbard, Rachel; Sieg, Katherine; Baker, Ian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "title": "Siple Dome A (SDMA) Grain Orientation 640 - 790 Meters", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609526"}], "date_created": "Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to fully characterize the microstructure in ice cores, in particular the microstructural locations of impurities, grain orientations and strain gradients. This work will complement the optical observations, electrical conductivity measurement, and precise, detailed measurements of the soluble ion and gas contents that are performed by others. Linking the concentrations of soluble ions and gases, measured to a few parts per billion, to the optically determined annual layer structure and the stable isotope data in ice cores has enabled a great deal to be established about the concentrations and depth/age distributions of particles, trace gases and impurities for several polar ice cores. Ice core studies carried out by several groups contribute immensely to our understanding of paleoclimate and, to our ability to predict future climate change. The work will build on previous measurements and technique development in this area, as well as focusing on new techniques to characterize ice cores. The work will use both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and confocal scanning optical microscopy coupled with Raman spectroscopy (RS) to determine the microstructural locations of impurities and correlate this information with depth/age, and impurity type and concentration for several polar ice cores. The Broader Impacts of the proposed work are that knowledge of the location of impurities coupled with the grain orientation (both c- and a-axis) and grain misorientation information will allow paleoclimatologists to better interpret ice core data and other scientists to understand and model the physical and mechanical properties of natural ice sheets. Other Broader Impacts of the work are that the work will be performed and lead to the education of a Ph.D. student. At the end of the project, as well as the knowledge gained from coursework, the graduate student will have experience in ice core specimen preparation and characterization using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray microanalysis, confocal scanning microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ion chromatography. Results from the research will be published in refereed journals, presented at conferences, and placed on a web page.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FEI Xl30 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope - Field Emission Gun (esem - Feg); LABORATORY; Electron Backscatter Diffraction", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Baker, Ian; Obbard, Rachel; Sieg, Katherine", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Siple Dome Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Advanced Microstructural Characterization of Polar Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000178", "west": null}, {"awards": "0739766 Brook, Edward J.", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "dataset_titles": "WAIS Divide Ice Core CO2", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609651", "doi": "10.7265/N5DV1GTZ", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Marcott, Shaun; Brook, Edward J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide Ice Core CO2", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609651"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Brook 0739766\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to create a 25,000-year high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from the WAIS Divide ice core. The site has high ice accumulation rate, relatively cold temperatures, and annual layering that should be preserved back to 40,000 years, all prerequisite for preserving a high quality, well-dated CO2 record. The new record will be used to examine relationships between Antarctic climate, Northern Hemisphere climate, and atmospheric CO2 on glacial-interglacial to centennial time scales, at unprecedented temporal resolution. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is simply that CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that humans directly impact, and understanding the sources, sinks, and controls of atmospheric CO2 is a major goal for the global scientific community. Accurate chronology and detailed records are primary requirements for developing and testing models that explain and predict CO2 variability. The proposed work has several broader impacts. It contributes to the training of a post-doctoral researcher, who will transfer to a research faculty position during the award period and who will participate in graduate teaching and guest lecture in undergraduate courses. An undergraduate researcher will gain valuable lab training and conduct independent research. Bringing the results of\u003cbr/\u003ethe proposed work to the classroom will enrich courses taught by the PI. Outreach efforts will expose pre-college students to ice core research. The proposed work will enhance the laboratory facilities for ice core research at OSU, insuring that the capability for CO2 measurements exists for future projects. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and other similar archives, per OPP policy. Highly significant results will be disseminated to the news media through OSU?s very effective News and Communications group. Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas that humans are directly changing. Understanding how CO2 and climate are linked on all time scales is necessary for predicting the future behavior of the carbon cycle and climate system, primarily to insure that the appropriate processes are represented in carbon cycle/climate models. Part of the proposed work emphasizes the relationship of CO2 and abrupt climate change. Understanding how future abrupt change might impact the carbon cycle is an important issue for society.", "east": -112.08, "geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Carbon Dioxide; FIELD INVESTIGATION; CO2; Wais Divide-project; Ice Core; Antarctica; Climate; Gas Chromatography; Antarctic Ice Core; LABORATORY", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -79.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Marcott, Shaun; Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.47, "title": "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change: The WAIS Divide Ice Core Record", "uid": "p0000044", "west": -112.08}, {"awards": "1043669 Yuan, Xiaojun", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((70 -64,71 -64,72 -64,73 -64,74 -64,75 -64,76 -64,77 -64,78 -64,79 -64,80 -64,80 -64.6,80 -65.2,80 -65.8,80 -66.4,80 -67,80 -67.6,80 -68.2,80 -68.8,80 -69.4,80 -70,79 -70,78 -70,77 -70,76 -70,75 -70,74 -70,73 -70,72 -70,71 -70,70 -70,70 -69.4,70 -68.8,70 -68.2,70 -67.6,70 -67,70 -66.4,70 -65.8,70 -65.2,70 -64.6,70 -64))", "dataset_titles": "US/Chinese Collaborative Study: Investigation of Bottom Water Formation in Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600126", "doi": "10.15784/600126", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; Mooring; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Prydz Bay; Southern Ocean", "people": "Yuan, Xiaojun", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "US/Chinese Collaborative Study: Investigation of Bottom Water Formation in Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600126"}], "date_created": "Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Processess governing the formation of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean remain poorly described. As with AABW formation in more well studied regions of the Antarctic continent, global climate impacts of the source regions of this dense, cold water that help drive the global ocean thermohaline circulation are uncertain. A combination of (annual) continental shelf and slope moorings, seasonal (summer) hydrographic surveys on board the Chinese icebreaker M/V Xuelong, together with synthesis of historic and satellite data will be used to better constrain shelf processes and the atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the Prydz Bay region. Despite the seeming remoteness of the study site, changes in the formation rate of AABW could potentially have impact on northern hemisphere climate via effects on the global heat budget and through sea-level rise in the coming decades. The project additionally seeks to promote international collaboration between Chinese and US researchers. The data collected will be broadly disseminated to the oceanographic community through the National Oceanography Data Center and Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Data Center.", "east": 80.0, "geometry": "POINT(75 -67)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yuan, Xiaojun", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "US/Chinese Collaborative Study: Investigation of Bottom Water Formation in Prydz Bay, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000439", "west": 70.0}, {"awards": "0739769 Fricker, Helen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-57.22 74.58,-55.343 74.58,-53.466 74.58,-51.589 74.58,-49.712 74.58,-47.835 74.58,-45.958 74.58,-44.081 74.58,-42.204 74.58,-40.327 74.58,-38.45 74.58,-38.45 73.822,-38.45 73.064,-38.45 72.306,-38.45 71.548,-38.45 70.79,-38.45 70.032,-38.45 69.274,-38.45 68.516,-38.45 67.758,-38.45 67,-40.327 67,-42.204 67,-44.081 67,-45.958 67,-47.835 67,-49.712 67,-51.589 67,-53.466 67,-55.343 67,-57.22 67,-57.22 67.758,-57.22 68.516,-57.22 69.274,-57.22 70.032,-57.22 70.79,-57.22 71.548,-57.22 72.306,-57.22 73.064,-57.22 73.822,-57.22 74.58))", "dataset_titles": "Amery Ice Shelf metadata (IRIS); Columbia Glacier metadata (IRIS); Greenland Ice Sheet Seismic Network metadata (IRIS)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000100", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Amery Ice Shelf metadata (IRIS)", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/mda/X9?timewindow=2004-2007"}, {"dataset_uid": "000101", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Columbia Glacier metadata (IRIS)", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/mda/YM?timewindow=2004-2005"}, {"dataset_uid": "000103", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "Greenland Ice Sheet Seismic Network metadata (IRIS)", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/mda/_GLISN"}], "date_created": "Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to strengthen collaborations between the various research groups working on iceberg calving. Relatively little is known about the calving process, especially the physics that governs the initiation and propagation of fractures within the ice. This knowledge gap exists in part because of the diverse range in spatial and temporal scales associated with calving (ranging from less than one meter to over a hundred kilometers in length scale). It is becoming increasingly clear that to predict the future behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to sea level rise, it is necessary to improve our understanding of iceberg calving processes. Further challenges stem from difficulties in monitoring and quantifying short-time and spatial-scale processes associated with ice fracture, including increased fracturing events in ice shelves or outlet glaciers that may be a precursor to disintegration, retreat or increased calving rates. Coupled, these fundamental problems currently prohibit the inclusion of iceberg calving into numerical ice sheet models and hinder our ability to accurately forecast changes in sea level in response to climate change. Seismic data from four markedly different environmental regimes forms the basis of the proposed research, and researchers most familiar with the datasets will perform all analyses. Extracting the similarities and differences across the full breadth of calving processes embodies the core of the proposed work, combining and improving methods previously developed by each group. Techniques derived from solid Earth seismology, including waveform cross-correlation and clustering will be applied to each data set allowing quantitative process comparisons on a significantly higher level than previously possible. This project will derive catalogues of glaciologically produced seismic events; the events will then be located and categorized based on their location, waveform and waveform spectra both within individual environments and between regions. The intellectual merit of this work is that it will lead to a better understanding of iceberg calving and the teleconnections between seismic events and other geophysical processes around the globe. The broader impacts of this work are that it relates directly to socio-environmental impacts of global change and sea level rise. Strong collaborations will form as a result of this research, including bolstered collaborations between the glacier and ice sheet communities, as well as the glaciology and seismology communities. Outreach and public dissemination of findings will be driven by SIO\u0027s Visualization Center, and Birch Aquarium, hosting presentations devoted to the role of the cryosphere in global change. Time-lapse movies of recent changes at Columbia Glacier will be used to engage potential young scientists. A program of presentations outside the university setting to at-risk and gifted youth will be continued. This study will also involve undergraduates in analyses and interpretation and presentation of the seismic data assembled. The work will also support two junior scientists who will be supported by this project.", "east": 72.949097, "geometry": "POINT(72.8836975 -69.008701)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e SEISMOMETERS \u003e SEISMOMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "PASSCAL; Not provided; Antarctic; SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS; Iceberg; Seismology; Calving", "locations": "Antarctic", "north": -68.993301, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fricker, Helen", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e PASSCAL; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS; Not provided", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.024101, "title": "An Investigation into the Seismic Signatures Generated by Iceberg Calving and Rifting", "uid": "p0000683", "west": 72.818298}, {"awards": "0537609 Gee, Jeffrey", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "An Integrated Geomagnetic and Petrologic Study of the Dufek Complex", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600053", "doi": "10.15784/600053", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dufek Complex; Geology/Geophysics - Other; Paleomagnetism; Solid Earth", "people": "Gee, Jeffrey", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "An Integrated Geomagnetic and Petrologic Study of the Dufek Complex", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600053"}], "date_created": "Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project studies remnant magnetization in igneous rocks from the Dufek igneous complex, Antarctica. Its primary goal is to understand variations in the Earth\u0027s magnetic field during the Mesozoic Dipole Low (MDL), a period when the Earth\u0027s magnetic field underwent dramatic weakening and rapid reversals. This work will resolve the MDL\u0027s timing and nature, and assess connections between reversal rate, geomagnetic intensity and directional variability, and large-scale geodynamic processes. The project also includes petrologic studies to determine cooling rate effects on magnetic signatures, and understand assembly of the Dufek as an igneous body. Poorly studied, the Dufek is amongst the world\u0027s largest intrusions and its formation is connected to the break-up of Gondwana. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts of this project include graduate and undergraduate education and international collaboration with a German and Chilean IPY project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gee, Jeffrey", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: An Integrated Geomagnetic and Petrologic Study of the Dufek Complex", "uid": "p0000510", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1048343 Warny, Sophie", "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": "Palynological samples list", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601151", "doi": "10.15784/601151", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; Microscope; Microscopy; Paleoclimate; Pollen", "people": "Warny, Sophie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palynological samples list", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601151"}], "date_created": "Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: The PI proposes a high-resolution paleoenvironmental study of pollen, spore, fresh-water algae, and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages to investigate the palynological record of sudden warming events in the Antarctic as recorded by the ANDRILL SMS drill core and terrestrial sections. These data will be used to derive causal mechanisms for these rapid climate events. Terrestrial samples will be obtained at various altitudes in the Dry Valleys region. The pollen and spores will provide data on atmospheric conditions, while the algae will provide data on sea-surface conditions. These data will help identify the triggers for sudden climatic shifts. If they are caused by changes in oceanic currents, a signal will be visible in the dinocyst assemblages first as currents influence their distribution. Conversely, if these shifts are triggered by atmospheric factors, then the shifts will first affect plants and be visible in the pollen record. Broader impacts: The PI proposes a suite of activities to bring field-based climate change research to a broader audience. The PI will advise a diverse group of students and educators. The palynological data collected as part of this research will be utilized, in part, to develop new lectures on Antarctic palynology and these new lectures will be made available via a collaboration with the LSU HHMI program. In addition, the PI will direct three Louisiana middle-school teachers as they pursue a Masters of Natural Science for science educators. These teachers will help the PI develop a professional development program for science teachers. Community-based activities will be organized to raise science awareness and alert students and the public of opportunities in science.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROFOSSILS; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Warny, Sophie", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WISSARD; ANDRILL; SHALDRIL", "south": -75.0, "title": "CAREER: Deciphering Antarctic Climate Variability during the Temperate/Polar Transition and Improving Climate Change Literacy in Louisiana through a Companion Outreach Program", "uid": "p0000311", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0739491 Sowers, Todd; 0739598 Aydin, Murat", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Alkanes in Firn Air Samples, Antarctica and Greenland; Methane Isotopes in South Pole Firn Air, 2008", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609504", "doi": "10.7265/N5X9287C", "keywords": "Antarctica; Arctic; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Greenland; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; WAIS Divide", "people": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Alkanes in Firn Air Samples, Antarctica and Greenland", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609504"}, {"dataset_uid": "609502", "doi": "10.7265/N55T3HFP", "keywords": "Antarctica; Atmosphere; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Geochemistry; Isotope; Paleoclimate; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole", "people": "Sowers, Todd A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Methane Isotopes in South Pole Firn Air, 2008", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609502"}], "date_created": "Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to make measurements of methane and other trace gases in firn air collected at South Pole, Antarctica. The analyses will include: methane isotopes (delta-13CH4 and delta-DCH4), light non-methane hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, and n-butane), sulfur gases (COS, CS2), and methyl halides (CH3Cl and CH3Br). The atmospheric burdens of these trace gases reflect changes in atmospheric OH, biomass burning, biogenic activity in terrestrial, oceanic, and wetland ecosystems, and industrial/agricultural activity. The goal of this project is to develop atmospheric histories for these trace gases over the last century through examination of depth profiles of these gases in South Pole firn air. The project will involve two phases: 1) a field campaign at South Pole, Antarctica to drill two firn holes and fill a total of ~200 flasks from depths reaching 120 m, 2) analysis of firn air at University of California, Irvine, Penn State University, and several other collaborating laboratories. Atmospheric histories will be inferred from the measurements using a one dimensional advective/diffusive model of firn air transport. This study will provide new information about the recent changes in atmospheric levels of these gases, providing about a 90 year long time series record that connects the earlier surface and firn air measurements to present day. The project will also explore the possibility of in- situ production of light non-methane hydrocarbons in firn air that is relevant to the interpretation of ice core records. The broader impacts of this research are that it has the potential for significant societal impact by improving our understanding of climate change and man\u0027s input to the atmosphere. The results of this work will be disseminated through the peer review process, and will contribute to environmental assessments, such as the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Assessment and the Word Meteorological Organization (WMO) Stratospheric Ozone Assessment. This research will provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and will contribute to a teacher training program for K-12 teachers in minority school districts.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e GC-MS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; Isotope; Firn Air Chemistry; Firn Air Isotope Measurements; Not provided; LABORATORY; South Pole; Firn; Delta 13C; Carbon-13; Mass Spectrometer; Deuterium; Mass Spectrometry; Firn Air Samples; Carbon; Gas Chromatography; Polar Firn Air; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Methane; Antarctica; Firn Air Isotopes; Delta Deuterium; FIELD SURVEYS; Firn Air; Chromatography; Methane Isotopes; Carbon Isotopes; Stable Isotopes", "locations": "Antarctica; South Pole", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aydin, Murat; Saltzman, Eric; Sowers, Todd A.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Methane Isotopes, Hydrocarbons, and other Trace Gases in South Pole Firn Air", "uid": "p0000162", "west": null}, {"awards": "0842639 Soreghan, Gerilyn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.44835 -77.41693,162.51638 -77.41693,162.58441 -77.41693,162.65244 -77.41693,162.72047 -77.41693,162.7885 -77.41693,162.85653 -77.41693,162.92455999999999 -77.41693,162.99259 -77.41693,163.06062 -77.41693,163.12865 -77.41693,163.12865 -77.445495,163.12865 -77.47406,163.12865 -77.502625,163.12865 -77.53119,163.12865 -77.559755,163.12865 -77.58832,163.12865 -77.616885,163.12865 -77.64545,163.12865 -77.674015,163.12865 -77.70258,163.06062 -77.70258,162.99259 -77.70258,162.92455999999999 -77.70258,162.85653 -77.70258,162.7885 -77.70258,162.72047 -77.70258,162.65244 -77.70258,162.58441 -77.70258,162.51638 -77.70258,162.44835 -77.70258,162.44835 -77.674015,162.44835 -77.64545,162.44835 -77.616885,162.44835 -77.58832,162.44835 -77.559755,162.44835 -77.53119,162.44835 -77.502625,162.44835 -77.47406,162.44835 -77.445495,162.44835 -77.41693))", "dataset_titles": "Development of Quantitative Weathering Indicators in Proximal Alluvial Sediments to Assess Glacial Activity in the Rock Record", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600110", "doi": "10.15784/600110", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Critical Zone; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet", "people": "Elwood Madden, Megan; Soreghan, Gerilyn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Development of Quantitative Weathering Indicators in Proximal Alluvial Sediments to Assess Glacial Activity in the Rock Record", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600110"}], "date_created": "Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The proposed research seeks to test the hypothesis that chemical and physical weathering in proximal alluvial systems will show systematic and measurable variations between glacial and nonglacial systems. To accomplish this, the investigation will attempt to quantify the natural variation of chemical and physical weathering in granitoid-sourced proximal alluvial sediments in end-member glacial and nonglacial systems, when other, \"non-climatic\" factors (e.g. provenance, drainage basin area and relief, sample grain size, sediment facies) are controlled. If chemical weathering in the proposed hot-humid, hot-arid, hot semi-arid nonglacial systems and the cool-wet, cold semi-arid, and cold-arid glacial systems show systematic variations, then chemical indices may be used to help differentiate paleoclimatic conditions. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact of this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission.", "east": 163.12865, "geometry": "POINT(162.7885 -77.559755)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.41693, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Soreghan, Gerilyn; Elwood Madden, Megan", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.70258, "title": "Development of Quantitative Weathering Indicators in Proximal Alluvial Sediments to Assess Glacial Activity in the Rock Record", "uid": "p0000518", "west": 162.44835}, {"awards": "0636929 Bales, Roger", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Measurements of Air and Snow Photochemical Species at WAIS Divide, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609585", "doi": "10.7265/N5GX48HW", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Bales, Roger", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Measurements of Air and Snow Photochemical Species at WAIS Divide, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609585"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to understand how recent changes in atmospheric chemistry, and historical changes as recorded in snow, firn and ice, have affected atmospheric photochemistry over Antarctica. Atmospheric, snow and firn core measurements of selected gas, meteorological and snow physical properties will be made and modeling of snow-atmosphere exchange will be carried out. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will lead to a better an understanding of the atmospheric chemistry in West Antarctica, its bi-directional linkages with the snowpack, and how it responds to regional influences. There are at least four broader impacts of this work. First is education of university students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. One postdoctoral researcher and one graduate student will carry out much of the work, and a number of undergraduates will be involved. Second, involvement with the WAIS-Divide coring program will be used to help recruit under-represented groups as UC Merced students. As part of UC Merced\u0027s outreach efforts in the San Joaquin Valley, whose students are under-represented in the UC system, the PI and co-PI give short research talks to groups of prospective students, community college and high school educators and other groups. They will develop one such talk highlighting this project. Including high-profile research in these recruiting talks has proven to be an effective way to promote dialog, and interest students in UC Merced. Third, talks such as this also contribute to the scientific literacy of the general public. The PI and grad student will all seek opportunities to share project information with K-14 and community audiences. Fourth, results of the research will be disseminated broadly to the scientific community, and the researchers will seek additional applications for the transfer functions as tools to improve interpretation of ice-cores. This research is highly collaborative, and leverages the expertise and data from a number of other groups.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e CHEMILUMINESCENCE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Snow; Atmospheric Chemistry; Not provided; LABORATORY; Antarctica; FIELD SURVEYS; Snow Physical Properties; Meteorology; Wais Divide-project; Firn; Atmosphere Exchange; WAIS Divide; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica; WAIS Divide", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bales, Roger", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Atmospheric, Snow and Firn Chemistry Studies for Interpretation of WAIS-Divide Cores", "uid": "p0000041", "west": null}, {"awards": "0836144 Yager, Patricia; 0836061 Dennett, Mark; 0836112 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((100 -69,107 -69,114 -69,121 -69,128 -69,135 -69,142 -69,149 -69,156 -69,163 -69,170 -69,170 -70,170 -71,170 -72,170 -73,170 -74,170 -75,170 -76,170 -77,170 -78,170 -79,163 -79,156 -79,149 -79,142 -79,135 -79,128 -79,121 -79,114 -79,107 -79,100 -79,100 -78,100 -77,100 -76,100 -75,100 -74,100 -73,100 -72,100 -71,100 -70,100 -69))", "dataset_titles": "Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) data; Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600092", "doi": "10.15784/600092", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Oceans; Oden; Oden2008; Sea Ice; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600092"}, {"dataset_uid": "000146", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) data", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/2132"}, {"dataset_uid": "600091", "doi": "10.15784/600091", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Oden; Oden2008; Plankton; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean", "people": "Dennett, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Controls on Climate-Active Gases by Amundsen Sea Ice Biota", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600091"}], "date_created": "Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Convincing evidence now confirms that polar regions are changing rapidly in response to human activities. Changes in sea ice extent and thickness will have profound implications for productivity, food webs and carbon fluxes at high latitudes, since sea ice biota are a significant source of biogenic matter for the ecosystem. While sea ice is often thought to be a barrier to gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, it more likely functions as a source or sink for climate-active gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting organohalogens, due in part to activities of microbes embedded in the sea ice matrix. This project brings together experienced US and Swedish investigators to examine the controls by sea-ice biota on the production and degradation of key climate-active gases in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. We hypothesize that 1) the physical properties of the sea-ice environment will determine the community structure and activities of the sea ice biota; 2) the productivity, biomass, physiological state and species composition of ice algae will determine the production of specific classes of organic carbon, including organohalogens; 3) heterotrophic co-metabolism within the ice will break down these compounds to some extent, depending on the microbial community structure and productivity, and 4) the sea ice to atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and organohalogens will be inversely related. This project will build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers and also train young scientists, including members of underrepresented groups. Dissemination of results will include the scientific literature, and public outreach venues including interactions with a PolarTrec teacher.", "east": 170.0, "geometry": "POINT(135 -74)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -69.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker; Yager, Patricia; Dennett, Mark", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Controls on climate-active gases by Amundsen Sea ice biota", "uid": "p0000137", "west": 100.0}, {"awards": "9909367 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((26.27227 -42.81742,38.414467 -42.81742,50.556664 -42.81742,62.698861 -42.81742,74.841058 -42.81742,86.983255 -42.81742,99.125452 -42.81742,111.267649 -42.81742,123.409846 -42.81742,135.552043 -42.81742,147.69424 -42.81742,147.69424 -45.454494,147.69424 -48.091568,147.69424 -50.728642,147.69424 -53.365716,147.69424 -56.00279,147.69424 -58.639864,147.69424 -61.276938,147.69424 -63.914012,147.69424 -66.551086,147.69424 -69.18816,135.552043 -69.18816,123.409846 -69.18816,111.267649 -69.18816,99.125452 -69.18816,86.983255 -69.18816,74.841058 -69.18816,62.698861 -69.18816,50.556664 -69.18816,38.414467 -69.18816,26.27227 -69.18816,26.27227 -66.551086,26.27227 -63.914012,26.27227 -61.276938,26.27227 -58.639864,26.27227 -56.00279,26.27227 -53.365716,26.27227 -50.728642,26.27227 -48.091568,26.27227 -45.454494,26.27227 -42.81742))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica; NB0101 Expedition Data; Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601177", "doi": "10.15784/601177", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Microscopy; NBP0101; Oceans; Paleoceanography; Paleoclimate; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Corer", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom assemblages from Edward VIII Gulf, Kemp Coast, East Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601177"}, {"dataset_uid": "001879", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NB0101 Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0101"}, {"dataset_uid": "601307", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diatom; East Antarctica; Mac. Robertson Shelf; Marine Geoscience; Microscope; NBP0101; Paleoclimate; Piston Corer; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sediment Core; Species Abundance", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Quantitative Diatom Assemblage Data from Iceberg Alley, Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica acquired during expedition NBP0101", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601307"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.", "east": 147.69424, "geometry": "POINT(86.983255 -56.00279)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; USAP-DC", "locations": null, "north": -42.81742, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Leventer, Amy", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.18816, "title": "Quaternary Glacial History and Paleoenvironments of the East Antarctic Margin", "uid": "p0000609", "west": 26.27227}, {"awards": "0839069 Yager, Patricia", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1005", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002654", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1005", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1005"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Amundsen Sea Polynya is areally the most productive Antarctic polynya, exhibits higher chlorophyll levels during peak bloom and greater interannual variability than the better-studied Ross Sea Polynya ecosystem. Polynyas may be the key to understanding the future of polar regions as their extent is expected to increase with anthropogenic warming. The project will examine 1) sources of iron to the Amundsen Sea Polynya as a function of climate forcing, 2) phytoplankton community structure in relation to iron supply and mixed-layer depths, 3) the efficiency of the biological pump of carbon to depth and 4) the net flux of carbon as a function of climate and micronutrient forcing. The research also will compare results for the Amundsen Sea to existing data synthesis and modeling efforts for the Palmer LTER and Ross Sea. The project will 1) build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers; 2) investigate climate change implications with broad societal relevance; 3) train new researchers; 4) encourage participation in research science by underrepresented groups, and 5) involve broad dissemination of results via scientific literature and public outreach, including close interactions with NSF-supported PolarTrec and COSEE K-12 teachers.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yager, Patricia", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative research aboard Icebreaker Oden: ASPIRE (Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition)", "uid": "p0000844", "west": null}, {"awards": "0741348 Torres, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1002", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002652", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1002", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1002"}], "date_created": "Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit: Pleuragramma antarcticum, the Antarctic silverfish, play a key role in the trophic pyramid of the Antarctic coastal ecosystem, acting as food for larger fishes, flying and non-flying seabirds, pinnipeds, and whales. In turn, they are predators on coastal euphausiids, including both Euphausia superba and crystallorophias. Historically, Pleuragramma have been an important food source for Ad\u00e9lie Penguins of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), but during the last decade Pleuragramma have disappeared from the Ad\u00e9lie diet. We suggest that Pleuragramma?s absence from the diets of top predators is linked to the declining sea ice canopy, which serves as a nursery for eggs and larvae during the austral spring. The research will investigate four hydrographic regimes over the WAP continental shelf with the following features: (1) persistent gyral flows that act to retain locally spawned larvae, (2) spring sea ice that has declined in recent years (3) the prevalence of adult silverfish, and (4) the presence of breeding Ad\u00e9lie penguins whose diets vary in the proportions of silverfish consumed. The research will evaluate the importance of local reproduction versus larval advection, and the extent to which populations in the subregions of study are genetically distinct, via analysis of population structure, otolith microchemistry and molecular genetics of fish. The Pleuragramma data will be compared with penguin diet samples taken synoptically. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader Impacts: The proposed research brings together an international group of scientists with highly complimentary suites of skills to address the fate of Pleuragramma on the WAP shelf. Graduate students will use the data acquired as part of their Ph.D research, and will receive cross-training in ornithological field techniques, molecular genetic methods and otolith isotope chemistry. The PIs will work actively with the St. Petersburg Times to produce a blog in real time with pictures and text, which will be used to interact with local schools while we are at sea and after our return. The investigators also will collaborate with the COSEE center at USF and at local schools and museums to disseminate results to the K-12 community throughout the region.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Torres, Joseph", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative research: Possible climate-induced change in the distribution of Pleuragramma antarcticum on the Western Antarctic Peninsula shelf", "uid": "p0000842", "west": null}, {"awards": "0732535 Arrigo, Kevin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-130 -67,-127.1 -67,-124.2 -67,-121.3 -67,-118.4 -67,-115.5 -67,-112.6 -67,-109.7 -67,-106.8 -67,-103.9 -67,-101 -67,-101 -67.9,-101 -68.8,-101 -69.7,-101 -70.6,-101 -71.5,-101 -72.4,-101 -73.3,-101 -74.2,-101 -75.1,-101 -76,-103.9 -76,-106.8 -76,-109.7 -76,-112.6 -76,-115.5 -76,-118.4 -76,-121.3 -76,-124.2 -76,-127.1 -76,-130 -76,-130 -75.1,-130 -74.2,-130 -73.3,-130 -72.4,-130 -71.5,-130 -70.6,-130 -69.7,-130 -68.8,-130 -67.9,-130 -67))", "dataset_titles": "GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre Accession# NIO100280", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000212", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GEOTRACES", "science_program": null, "title": "GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre Accession# NIO100280", "url": "http://www.bodc.ac.uk/geotraces/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron\u003cbr/\u003elimitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton\u003cbr/\u003edistribution in the Ross Sea\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Southern Ocean plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, accounting for approximately 25% of total anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the oceans, mainly via primary production. In the Ross Sea, primary production is dominated by two taxa that are distinct in location and timing. Diatoms dominate in the shallow mixed layer of the continental shelf, whereas the colony forming Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) dominate in the more deeply mixed, open regions. Significantly, both groups have vastly different nutrient utilization characteristics, and support very different marine food webs. Their responses to climate change, and the implications for carbon export, are unclear. Previous studies show that light availability and the quality of the light climate (static versus dynamic) play a major role in defining where and when the different phytoplankton taxa bloom. However, iron (Fe) limitation of the algal communities in both the sub-Arctic and the Southern Ocean is now well documented. Moreover, phytoplankton Fe demand varies as a function of irradiance. The main hypothesis of the proposed research is: The interaction between Fe limitation and dynamic irradiance governs phytoplankton distributions in the Ross Sea. Our strategy to test this hypothesis is three-fold: 1) The photoacclimation of the different phytoplankton taxa to different light conditions under Fe limitation will be investigated in experiments in the laboratory under controlled Fe conditions. 2) The photophysiological mechanisms found in these laboratory experiments will then be tested in the field on two cruises with international IPY partners. 3) Finally, data generated during the lab and field parts of the project will be used to parameterize a dynamic light component of the Coupled Ice Atmosphere and Ocean (CIAO) model of the Ross Sea. Using the improved model, we will run future climate scenarios to test the impact of climate change on the phytoplankton community structure, distribution, primary production and carbon export in the Southern Ocean. The proposed research complies with IPY theme\" Understanding Environmental change in Polar Regions\" and includes participation in an international cruise. Detailed model descriptions and all of the results generated from these studies will be made public via a DynaLiFe website. Improving the CIAO model will give us and other IPY partners the opportunity to test the ecological consequences of physiological characteristics observed in Antarctic phytoplankton under current and future climate scenarios. Outreach will include participation in Stanford\u0027s Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford\u0027s School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center.", "east": -101.0, "geometry": "POINT(-115.5 -71.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -67.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Arrigo, Kevin", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "GEOTRACES", "repositories": "GEOTRACES", "science_programs": null, "south": -76.0, "title": "IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron limitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton distribution in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000112", "west": -130.0}, {"awards": "0538479 Seibel, Brad", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166 -77,166.1 -77,166.2 -77,166.3 -77,166.4 -77,166.5 -77,166.6 -77,166.7 -77,166.8 -77,166.9 -77,167 -77,167 -77.1,167 -77.2,167 -77.3,167 -77.4,167 -77.5,167 -77.6,167 -77.7,167 -77.8,167 -77.9,167 -78,166.9 -78,166.8 -78,166.7 -78,166.6 -78,166.5 -78,166.4 -78,166.3 -78,166.2 -78,166.1 -78,166 -78,166 -77.9,166 -77.8,166 -77.7,166 -77.6,166 -77.5,166 -77.4,166 -77.3,166 -77.2,166 -77.1,166 -77))", "dataset_titles": "Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600055", "doi": "10.15784/600055", "keywords": "Biota; CO2; Mcmurdo Station; Oceans; Ross Island; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Shell Fish; Southern Ocean", "people": "Seibel, Brad", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600055"}], "date_created": "Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in greater oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide can impact marine organisms both via decreased carbonate saturation that affects calcification rates and via disturbance to acid-base (metabolic) physiology. Pteropod molluscs (Thecosomata) form shells made of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate that is highly soluble, suggesting that these organisms may be particularly sensitive to increasing carbon dioxide and reduced carbonate ion concentration. Thecosome pteropods, which dominate the calcium carbonate export south of the Antarctic Polar Front, will be the first major group of marine calcifying organisms to experience carbonate undersaturation within parts of their present-day geographical ranges as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. An unusual, co-evolved relationship between thecosomes and their specialized gymnosome predators provides a unique backdrop against which to assess the physiological and ecological importance of elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Pteropods are functionally important components of the Antarctic ecosystem with potential to influence phytoplankton stocks, carbon export, and dimethyl sulfide levels that, in turn, influence global climate through ocean-atmosphere feedback loops. The research will quantify the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on a dominant aragonitic pteropod, Limacina helicina, and its specialist predator, the gymnosome Clione antarctica, in the Ross Sea through laboratory experimentation. Results will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific understanding in this field. The project involves collaboration between researchers at a predominantly undergraduate institution with a significant enrollment of students that are typically underrepresented in the research environment (California State University San Marcos - CSUSM) and at a Ph.D.-granting institution (University of Rhode Island - URI). The program will promote education and learning through the joint education of undergraduate students and graduate students at CSUSM and URI as part of a research team, as well as through the teaching activities of the principal investigators. Dr. Keating, CSUSM professor of science education, will participate in the McMurdo fieldwork and lead the outreach opportunities for the project.", "east": 167.0, "geometry": "POINT(166.5 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Seibel, Brad", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Impacts of Elevated pCO2 on a Dominant Aragonitic Pteropod (Thecosomata) and its Specialist Predator (Gymnosomata) in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000694", "west": 166.0}, {"awards": "0442769 McClintock, James; 0838773 McClintock, James; 0442857 Baker, Bill; 0838776 Baker, Bill", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -63,-64.8 -63,-64.6 -63,-64.4 -63,-64.2 -63,-64 -63,-63.8 -63,-63.6 -63,-63.4 -63,-63.2 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.2,-63 -63.4,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.8,-63 -64,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.8,-63 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.8 -65,-64 -65,-64.2 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.8 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.2,-65 -64,-65 -63.8,-65 -63.6,-65 -63.4,-65 -63.2,-65 -63))", "dataset_titles": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600095", "doi": "10.15784/600095", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600095"}, {"dataset_uid": "600047", "doi": "10.15784/600047", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600047"}, {"dataset_uid": "600096", "doi": "10.15784/600096", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600096"}, {"dataset_uid": "600046", "doi": "10.15784/600046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600046"}], "date_created": "Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) harbor extremely high densities of mesograzers (small invertebrate predators approximately 1-25 mm in length) such as benthic amphipods, as well as rich assemblages of macroalgae, endophytes, and macroinvertebrates. Unlike temperate and tropical shallow marine environments, where fish and sea urchins are key grazers structuring the community, mesograzers appear to be much more important in the WAP. Accordingly, the proposed research has two main objectives: (1) To further investigate the interactions between the ecologically dominant large macrophytes, filamentous epi/endophytes, and mesograzers and (2) To determine the nature of interactions between mesograzers and sessile invertebrates. Specifically, the research will examine the following hypotheses: 1: The effects of endophytes on macrophytes are often negative, and consequently macrophytes defend against endophytic infection. 2: Mesoherbivores prevent filamentous algal species, common in the intertidal, from dominating subtidal assemblages. 3: Mesograzer predation pressure on sessile benthic macroinvertebrates, primarily sponges and tunicates, is greatest in shallow habitats dominated by macrophytes, and this impacts depth distributions of macroinvertebrate species. 4: Benthic macroinvertebrates may defend against mesograzers with secondary metabolites which effect molting and/or deter feeding.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts include involvement of undergraduates, including minorities, in research; training of graduate students, and continuation of the highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education). The researchers also will share their scientific endeavors with teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large while in residence in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators will request the participation of a PolarTREC teacher.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Baker, Bill; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000475", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "0538097 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((140 -89.8,144 -89.8,148 -89.8,152 -89.8,156 -89.8,160 -89.8,164 -89.8,168 -89.8,172 -89.8,176 -89.8,180 -89.8,180 -89.82,180 -89.84,180 -89.86,180 -89.88,180 -89.9,180 -89.92,180 -89.94,180 -89.96,180 -89.98,180 -90,176 -90,172 -90,168 -90,164 -90,160 -90,156 -90,152 -90,148 -90,144 -90,140 -90,140 -89.98,140 -89.96,140 -89.94,140 -89.92,140 -89.9,140 -89.88,140 -89.86,140 -89.84,140 -89.82,140 -89.8))", "dataset_titles": "IRIS Data Management Center (DMC) holds the full resolution seismic data. Keyword: POLELAKE. Dataset ID: 10-019; seismic data. Keyword: POLELAKE. Dataset ID: 10-019", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000102", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "seismic data. Keyword: POLELAKE. Dataset ID: 10-019", "url": "http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/"}, {"dataset_uid": "001466", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "IRIS", "science_program": null, "title": "IRIS Data Management Center (DMC) holds the full resolution seismic data. Keyword: POLELAKE. Dataset ID: 10-019", "url": "http://www.iris.edu/dms/dmc"}], "date_created": "Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0538097\u003cbr/\u003eAnandakrishnan\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to intensively study a subglacial Antarctic lake near the geographic South Pole using seismic and radar methods. These ground-based experiments are better suited to determine the presence of water and its thickness than are airborne methods. We hypothesize that there are two end-member explanations for this feature: either the lake is thawed, but freezing on (and likely to have been freezing on through much of the current interglacial period), or it is a frozen, relict lake for which the high basal radar reflectivity is due to intergranular water in a permafrost-like layer beneath the ice. The seismic experiment we propose is ideally suited to examine these alternatives. Intermediate cases of, e.g., a thawed saturated sedimentary base or a smooth crystalline basement layer would also be resolved by this experiment. Seismic reflections are sensitive to changes in acoustic impedance which is strongly variable with fluid content, porosity, and lithology. Water has low density relative to most rocks and low seismic velocity (and nil shear wave velocity) relative to both ice and rock. Thus, discriminating between subglacial water and subglacial rock is a task ideally suited to the seismic reflection technique. This project has significant impacts outside the directly affected fields of Antarctic glaciology and geology. The lake (either thawed or sediments with thin liquid layers around the matrix particles) will have the potential for harboring novel life forms. The experiment has the potential for expanding our information about the newest frontier in life on Earth. The collaboration between PIs in the seismic community and the marine acoustics community will foster cross-disciplinary pollination of ideas, techniques, and tools. In addition to traditional seismic techniques, new methods of data analysis that have been developed by acousticians will be applied to this problem as an independent measure of lake properties. We will train students who will have a wider view of seismology than would be possible in a traditional ocean acoustics or traditional geoscience seismology program of study.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(160 -89.9)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS; 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": false, "keywords": "Antarctica; South Pole; Porosity; Not provided; Seismic; Lithology; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Subglacial; Subglacial Lake; FIELD SURVEYS; LABORATORY; Fluid Content; Acoustic Impedance", "locations": "Antarctica; South Pole", "north": -89.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Holland, Charles", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "IRIS", "repositories": "IRIS", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Characterization of Lake Amundsen-Scott, S. Pole: A Ground Geophysical Program", "uid": "p0000693", "west": 140.0}, {"awards": "0635470 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-67.41667 -61.2,-66.27667 -61.2,-65.13667 -61.2,-63.99667 -61.2,-62.85667 -61.2,-61.71667 -61.2,-60.57667 -61.2,-59.43667 -61.2,-58.29667 -61.2,-57.15667 -61.2,-56.01667 -61.2,-56.01667 -61.71,-56.01667 -62.22,-56.01667 -62.73,-56.01667 -63.24,-56.01667 -63.75,-56.01667 -64.26,-56.01667 -64.77,-56.01667 -65.28,-56.01667 -65.79,-56.01667 -66.3,-57.15667 -66.3,-58.29667 -66.3,-59.43667 -66.3,-60.57667 -66.3,-61.71667 -66.3,-62.85667 -66.3,-63.99667 -66.3,-65.13667 -66.3,-66.27667 -66.3,-67.41667 -66.3,-67.41667 -65.79,-67.41667 -65.28,-67.41667 -64.77,-67.41667 -64.26,-67.41667 -63.75,-67.41667 -63.24,-67.41667 -62.73,-67.41667 -62.22,-67.41667 -61.71,-67.41667 -61.2))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1003; Expedition data of LMG1004; Sequence data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000133", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Sequence data", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/"}, {"dataset_uid": "001509", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0806"}, {"dataset_uid": "001508", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0807"}, {"dataset_uid": "002684", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1003", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1003"}, {"dataset_uid": "002685", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1004", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1004"}], "date_created": "Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSince the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~38-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. Because they live at very low and stable temperatures, Antarctic fishes of the suborder Nototheniodei are particularly attractive as models for understanding the mechanisms of biomolecular cold adaptation, or the compensatory restructuring of biochemical and physiological systems to preserve biological function in cold thermal regimes. Two interrelated and potentially co-evolved systems, the tubulins that form microtubules and the chaperonin-containing TCP1 (t-complex protein-1) complex (CCT) that assists the folding of tubulins, provide an unparalleled opportunity to elucidate these mechanisms. This research will yield new and important knowledge regarding: 1) cold adaptation of microtubule assembly and of chaperonin function; and 2) the co-evolutionary origin of tubulin-binding specificity by CCT. The first objective of this proposal is to determine the contributions of five novel amino acid substitutions found in Antarctic fish beta-tubulins to microtubule assembly at cold temperature. The second objective is to establish a chaperonin folding system in vitro using CCT purified from testis tissue of Antarctic fishes and to evaluate its thermal properties and mechanism. The third objective is to evaluate, through phylogenetically controlled contrasts, the hypothesis that CCT and its tubulin substrates from Antarctic fishes have co-evolved to function at cold temperatures. The broader impacts of this proposal include introduction of graduate and REU undergraduate students of Northeastern University to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Because much of the research on the biogenesis and function of cold-adapted proteins will be performed in the field at Palmer Station, these students will gain invaluable experience in the practical considerations of expeditionary biological science. The research also will increase knowledge about molecular cold adaptation in one of the Earth\u0027s extreme environments, and hence is relevant to the formulation of refined hypotheses regarding potential extraterrestrial life on Mars or Europa. The cold-functioning chaperonin protein folding system will be of great value to the biopharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for use in folding insoluble proteins.", "east": -56.01667, "geometry": "POINT(-61.71667 -63.75)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -61.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -66.3, "title": "Protein Folding and Function at Cold Temperature: Co-Evolution of the Chaperonin CCT and Tubulins from Antarctic Fishes", "uid": "p0000470", "west": -67.41667}, {"awards": "0838842 Passchier, Sandra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -68,-177 -68,-174 -68,-171 -68,-168 -68,-165 -68,-162 -68,-159 -68,-156 -68,-153 -68,-150 -68,-150 -69,-150 -70,-150 -71,-150 -72,-150 -73,-150 -74,-150 -75,-150 -76,-150 -77,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178 -78,176 -78,174 -78,172 -78,170 -78,168 -78,166 -78,164 -78,162 -78,160 -78,160 -77,160 -76,160 -75,160 -74,160 -73,160 -72,160 -71,160 -70,160 -69,160 -68,162 -68,164 -68,166 -68,168 -68,170 -68,172 -68,174 -68,176 -68,178 -68,-180 -68))", "dataset_titles": "Particle-size measurements for diamictites AND-2A sediment core, McMurdo Sound", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601452", "doi": "10.15784/601452", "keywords": "Antarctica; McMurdo Sound; Miocene; Particle Size; Pleistocene; Pliocene", "people": "Passchier, Sandra; Hansen, Melissa A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "ANDRILL", "title": "Particle-size measurements for diamictites AND-2A sediment core, McMurdo Sound", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601452"}], "date_created": "Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project aims on studying sediment cores collected from Prydz Bay and the Ross Sea to unravel the Neogene paleoclimatic history of the East Antarctic ice sheet. In the light of current measurements and predictions of a substantial rise in global temperature, investigations into the sensitivity of the East Antarctic ice sheet to climate change and its role in the climate system are essential. Geological records of former periods of climate change provide an opportunity to ground truth model predictions. The scientific objective of this project is to identify a previously proposed middle Miocene transition from a more dynamic wet-based East Antarctic ice sheet to the present semi-permanent ice sheet that is partially frozen to its bed. The timing and significance of this transition is controversial due to a lack of quantitative studies on well-dated ice-proximal sedimentary sequences. This project partially fills that gap using the composition and physical properties of diamictites and sandstones to establish shifts in ice-sheet drainage pathways, paleoenvironments and basal ice conditions. The results from the two key areas around the Antarctic continental margin will provide insight into the behavior of the East Antarctic ice sheet across the middle Miocene transition and through known times of warming in the late Miocene and Pliocene.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-175 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -68.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Passchier, Sandra", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Determining Middle Miocene through Pliocene Changes in Paleo Ice-flow and Basal Ice Conditions in East Antarctica through Sedimentological Analyses of Core Samples", "uid": "p0000147", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "0632389 Murray, Alison; 0632278 Ducklow, Hugh", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-77 -62,-75.5 -62,-74 -62,-72.5 -62,-71 -62,-69.5 -62,-68 -62,-66.5 -62,-65 -62,-63.5 -62,-62 -62,-62 -62.7,-62 -63.4,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.8,-62 -65.5,-62 -66.2,-62 -66.9,-62 -67.6,-62 -68.3,-62 -69,-63.5 -69,-65 -69,-66.5 -69,-68 -69,-69.5 -69,-71 -69,-72.5 -69,-74 -69,-75.5 -69,-77 -69,-77 -68.3,-77 -67.6,-77 -66.9,-77 -66.2,-77 -65.5,-77 -64.8,-77 -64.1,-77 -63.4,-77 -62.7,-77 -62))", "dataset_titles": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600061", "doi": "10.15784/600061", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Grzymski, Joseph; Murray, Alison", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600061"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of climate warming on Earth, with an increase of 5degrees C in the mean winter temperature in 50 years. Impacts on upper trophic levels are evident, though there have been few, if any studies that have considered the impacts on bacterioplankton in the Southern Ocean. This proposal will characterize the winter bacterioplankton genome, transcriptome, and proteome and discover those features (community composition, genes up-regulated, and proteins expressed) that are essential to winter bacterioplankton survival and livelihood. We have assembled a polar ocean ecology and genomics network including strategic partnerships with Palmer LTER, the British Antarctic Survey\u0027s ocean metagenome program, US and Canadian scientists studying the Arctic Ocean genome, an Australian colleague who specialized in archaeal proteomics, and French colleagues studying Sub-Antarctic and Coastal Adelie Land marine bacterioplankton. The primary objectives of this program are: 1 Describe the differences in diversity and genomic content between austral winter and summer bacterioplankton communities. 2. Investigate the winter-time bacterioplankton growth and cellular signals (mRNA and proteins expressed) in order to understand the specific adaptations key to survival. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOur results will extend from the Antarctic to the Arctic - as the cold, dark, carbon-limited deep seas linking these two systems have many common features. Education and outreach activities target (i) undergraduate and graduate students, hopefully including minority students recruited through the Diversity in Research in Environmental and Marine Sciences (DREAMS) Program at VIMS; (ii) a broad audience with our education and outreach partnerships with The Cousteau Society and with the Census for Antarctic Marine Life program. Data and links to external databases will be listed on the http://genex2.dri.edu website. Sequence data will be publicly accessible in GenBank and IMG-M databases.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-69.5 -65.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Murray, Alison; Grzymski, Joseph; Ducklow, Hugh", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "IPY: Bacterioplankton Genomic Adaptations to Antarctic Winter", "uid": "p0000091", "west": -77.0}, {"awards": "0839042 Caffee, Marc", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "dataset_titles": "Cosmogenic 10Be in WAIS Divide Ice core, 1190-2453 m; Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the WAIS Divide Ice Core", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600383", "doi": "10.15784/600383", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cosmogenic Radionuclides; Geochronology; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Hydrothermal Vent; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Welten, Kees", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the WAIS Divide Ice Core", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600383"}, {"dataset_uid": "601466", "doi": "10.15784/601466", "keywords": "Antarctica; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Woodruff, T. E.; Welten, Kees; Nishiizumi, Kunihiko; Caffee, M. W.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Cosmogenic 10Be in WAIS Divide Ice core, 1190-2453 m", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601466"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Caffee/0839042 \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to measure the concentration of the cosmogenic radionuclide, Beryllium-10 in the deep WAIS divide ice core. Since cosmogenic radionuclides are one of the key parameters used for absolute dating of the ice core and deriving paleoaccumulation rates, it is essential that these measurements be made quickly and efficiently, and that the information is disseminated as soon as the results are available. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will allow a comparison to be made between the core from WAIS Divide and previously measured cosmogenic radionuclide records from Arctic ice cores, particularly GISP2 and GRIP This project will enable scientists to delineate those processes acting at a local level from those that produce global effects and will provide independent chronological markers to aid in the reconstruction of the WAIS Divide ice core chronology. The cosmogenic 10Be profile can also be used to investigate the possible role of solar activity on climate. The direct comparison of radionuclide concentrations with paleoclimate records in ice cores from different sites will provide more insight in the timing and magnitude of solar forcing of climate. The broader impacts of this project include: (i) the formation of a multi-disciplinary team of collaborators for the interpretation of future analyses of cosmogenic radionuclide data from the WAIS divide and other ice cores. (ii) the involvement and training of graduate and undergraduate students in the large scale project of climate research through detailed studies of ice samples. (iii) the opportunity to highlight to a wide range of lab visitors and students from local K-12 schools the importance of ice core and climate change studies.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award does not involve field work in Antarctica.", "east": -112.085, "geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e AMS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Ice Core; WAIS Divide; Antarctica; Not provided; Radionulides; Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; Cosmogenic", "locations": "WAIS Divide; Antarctica", "north": -79.467, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Welten, Kees; Nishiizumi, Kunihiko; Caffee, Marc; Woodruff, Thomas", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.467, "title": "Collaborative Research: Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the Deep WAIS Divide Core", "uid": "p0000103", "west": -112.085}, {"awards": "9530398 Anderson, Robert; 9896290 Smith, Walker; 9530382 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9999 -43.5646,-143.99993 -43.5646,-107.99996 -43.5646,-71.99999 -43.5646,-36.00002 -43.5646,-0.000050000000016 -43.5646,35.99992 -43.5646,71.99989 -43.5646,107.99986 -43.5646,143.99983 -43.5646,179.9998 -43.5646,179.9998 -47.013473,179.9998 -50.462346,179.9998 -53.911219,179.9998 -57.360092,179.9998 -60.808965,179.9998 -64.257838,179.9998 -67.706711,179.9998 -71.155584,179.9998 -74.604457,179.9998 -78.05333,143.99983 -78.05333,107.99986 -78.05333,71.99989 -78.05333,35.99992 -78.05333,-0.000049999999987 -78.05333,-36.00002 -78.05333,-71.99999 -78.05333,-107.99996 -78.05333,-143.99993 -78.05333,-179.9999 -78.05333,-179.9999 -74.604457,-179.9999 -71.155584,-179.9999 -67.706711,-179.9999 -64.257838,-179.9999 -60.808965,-179.9999 -57.360092,-179.9999 -53.911219,-179.9999 -50.462346,-179.9999 -47.013473,-179.9999 -43.5646))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001874", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9802"}, {"dataset_uid": "002164", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9604"}, {"dataset_uid": "002162", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9604A"}, {"dataset_uid": "002138", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9708"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "95-30398 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. The overall objectives of JGOFS are to determine and understand processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements, and to predict the response of marine biogeochemical processes to climate change. The Southern Ocean is critical in the global carbon cycle, as judged by its size and the physical processes which occur in it (e.g., deep and intermediate water formation), but its present quantitative role is uncertain. JGOFS objectives for the Southern Ocean study are as follows: 1) to constrain the fluxes of carbon (organic and inorganic) and to place these fluxes in the context of the contemporary carbon cycle; 2) to identify the factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of primary productivity and the fate of biogenic matter; 3) to determine the response of the Southern Ocean to natural climate perturbations; and 4) to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to climate change. In order to successfully address these objectives, a large field program has been designed to provide various investigators the opportunity to test specific hypotheses which relate to these broadly-defined objectives. We expect the field test to begin in September 1996, and last through March 1998 using two ships, the R.V. Palmer, and the R.V. Thompson. As most of the investigators will use hydrographic and nutrient data from these cruises, this proposal requests funds for the support of the analysis of nutrient concentrations during these thirteen crui ses. A team of oceanographic experts from a variety of institutions has been assembled to complete these analyses; furthermore, the data will be scrutinized for errors and provided in a timely fashion to all PI\u0027s in the project, as well as to the relevant oceanographic data storage facilities. The hydrography and coring groups have been put together using the successful model for the Arabian Sea JGOFS study, and in conjunction with the nutrient data (supported under a separate proposal), will form a large portion of the Southern Ocean JGOFS database which both field investigators and modelers will use to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.", "east": 179.9998, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.5646, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Smith, Walker; Honjo, Susumu", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.05333, "title": "Management and Scientific Service in Support of the U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean Process Study: Hydrography, Coring and Site Survey", "uid": "p0000629", "west": -179.9999}, {"awards": "0089451 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.907 -52.353,-69.8619 -52.353,-68.8168 -52.353,-67.7717 -52.353,-66.7266 -52.353,-65.6815 -52.353,-64.6364 -52.353,-63.5913 -52.353,-62.5462 -52.353,-61.5011 -52.353,-60.456 -52.353,-60.456 -53.64334,-60.456 -54.93368,-60.456 -56.22402,-60.456 -57.51436,-60.456 -58.8047,-60.456 -60.09504,-60.456 -61.38538,-60.456 -62.67572,-60.456 -63.96606,-60.456 -65.2564,-61.5011 -65.2564,-62.5462 -65.2564,-63.5913 -65.2564,-64.6364 -65.2564,-65.6815 -65.2564,-66.7266 -65.2564,-67.7717 -65.2564,-68.8168 -65.2564,-69.8619 -65.2564,-70.907 -65.2564,-70.907 -63.96606,-70.907 -62.67572,-70.907 -61.38538,-70.907 -60.09504,-70.907 -58.8047,-70.907 -57.51436,-70.907 -56.22402,-70.907 -54.93368,-70.907 -53.64334,-70.907 -52.353))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0304A", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001869", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0105"}, {"dataset_uid": "002707", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0304A", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0304A"}, {"dataset_uid": "001704", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0304"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003eOPP-0089451\u003cbr/\u003eP.I. William Detrich\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e As the Southern Ocean cooled during the past 25 million years, the fishes of Antarctic coastal waters evolved biochemical and physiological adaptations that maintain essential cellular processes such as cytoskeletal function and gene transcription. Their microtubules, for example, assemble and function at body temperatures (-1.8 to +1 oC) well below those of homeotherms and temperate poikilotherms. The long range goals of the proposed research are to determine, at the molecular level, the adaptations that enhance the assembly of microtubules, the function of kinesin motors, and the expression of globin and tubulin genes. The specific objectives are three: 1) to determine the primary sequence changes and posttranslational modifications that contribute to the efficient polymerization of Antarctic fish tubulins at low temperatures; 2) to evaluate the biochemical adaptations required for efficient function of the brain kinesin motor of Antarctic fishes at low temperatures; and 3) to characterize the structure, organization, and promoter-driven expression of globin and tubulin genes from an Antarctic rockcod (Notothenia coriiceps) and a temperate congener (N. angustata). Brain tubulins from Antarctic fishes differ from those of temperate and warm-blooded vertebrates both in unusual primary sequence substitutions (located primarily in lateral loops and the cores of tubulin monomers) and in posttranslational C-terminal glutamylation. Potential primary sequence adaptations of the Antarctic fish tubulins will be tested directly by production of wild-type and site directed tubulin mutants for functional analysis in vitro. The capacity of mutated and wild-type fish tubulins to form \"cold-stable\" microtubules will be determined by measurement of their critical concentrations for assembly and by analysis of their dynamics by video-enhanced microscopy. Three unusual substitutions in the kinesin motor domain of Chionodraco rastrospinosus may enhance mechanochemical activity at low temperature by modifying the binding of ATP and/or the velocity of the motor. To test the functional significance of these changes, the fish residues will be converted individually, and in concert, to those found in mammalian brain kinesin. Reciprocal substitutions will be introduced into the framework of the mammalian kinesin motor domain. After production in Escherichia coli and purification, the functional performance of the mutant motor domains will be evaluated by measurement of the temperature dependence of their ATPase and motility activities. Molecular adaptation of gene expression in N. coriiceps will be analyzed using an a-globin/b-globin gene pair and an a-tubulin gene cluster. Structural features of N. coriiceps globin and tubulin gene regulatory sequences (promoters and enhancers) that support efficient expression will be assessed by transient transfection assay of promoter/luciferase reporter plasmid constructs in inducible erythrocytic and neuronal model cell systems followed by assay of luciferase reporter activity. Together, these studies should reveal the molecular adaptations of Antarctic fishes that maintain efficient cytoskeletal assembly, mechanochemical motor function, and gene expression at low temperatures. In the broadest sense, this research program should advance the molecular understanding of the poikilothermic mode of life.", "east": -60.456, "geometry": "POINT(-65.6815 -58.8047)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.353, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sidell, Bruce; Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.2564, "title": "Structure, Function, and Expression of Tubulins, Globins, and Microtubule-Dependent Motors from Cold-Adapted Antarctic Fishes", "uid": "p0000591", "west": -70.907}, {"awards": "9615053 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002718", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9802"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present \"interglacial\" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Holocene Paleoenvironmental Change Along the Antarctic Peninsula: A Test of the Solar/Bi-Polar Signal", "uid": "p0000869", "west": null}, {"awards": "9018742 Bell, Robin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-138.35619 -52.35083,-130.546489 -52.35083,-122.736788 -52.35083,-114.927087 -52.35083,-107.117386 -52.35083,-99.307685 -52.35083,-91.497984 -52.35083,-83.688283 -52.35083,-75.878582 -52.35083,-68.068881 -52.35083,-60.25918 -52.35083,-60.25918 -54.178043,-60.25918 -56.005256,-60.25918 -57.832469,-60.25918 -59.659682,-60.25918 -61.486895,-60.25918 -63.314108,-60.25918 -65.141321,-60.25918 -66.968534,-60.25918 -68.795747,-60.25918 -70.62296,-68.068881 -70.62296,-75.878582 -70.62296,-83.688283 -70.62296,-91.497984 -70.62296,-99.307685 -70.62296,-107.117386 -70.62296,-114.927087 -70.62296,-122.736788 -70.62296,-130.546489 -70.62296,-138.35619 -70.62296,-138.35619 -68.795747,-138.35619 -66.968534,-138.35619 -65.141321,-138.35619 -63.314108,-138.35619 -61.486895,-138.35619 -59.659682,-138.35619 -57.832469,-138.35619 -56.005256,-138.35619 -54.178043,-138.35619 -52.35083))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002296", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9208"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports an investigation of the early seafloor spreading history of the Marie Byrd Land Margin, Antarctica. This effort will carefully map the magnetic lineations, the gravity anomalies, the topography and, where possible, the seismically determined depth to basement. The study will integrate the tectonic lineations determined from the gravity, bathymetry and seismic information with the magnetic anomalies to construct a new seafloor spreading history of the Marie Byrd Land Margin. The analysis of these new data sets and the resultant seafloor spreading history will be used to address the following questions: (1) Did the early opening of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge involve an additional plate, the Bellingshausen Plate, or did the ridge undergo very asymmetric, non-orthogonal spreading? (2) With a better refined opening history for the Pacific Antarctic Ridge, what are the implications for relative motions between the tectonic blocks which compromise West Antarctica and for the structure and evolution of the Marie Byrd Land Margin? (3) Can the global plate circuit solution be enhanced by refining the early Tertiary history of Pacific-Antarctic seafloor spreading?", "east": -60.25918, "geometry": "POINT(-99.307685 -61.486895)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.35083, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bell, Robin; Raymond, Carol", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.62296, "title": "The Marie Byrd Land Margin: Early Seafloor Spreading History", "uid": "p0000653", "west": -138.35619}, {"awards": "0542111 Lonsdale, Darcy; 0542456 Caron, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9999 -43.5663,-143.99993 -43.5663,-107.99996 -43.5663,-71.99999 -43.5663,-36.00002 -43.5663,-0.000050000000016 -43.5663,35.99992 -43.5663,71.99989 -43.5663,107.99986 -43.5663,143.99983 -43.5663,179.9998 -43.5663,179.9998 -46.99537,179.9998 -50.42444,179.9998 -53.85351,179.9998 -57.28258,179.9998 -60.71165,179.9998 -64.14072,179.9998 -67.56979,179.9998 -70.99886,179.9998 -74.42793,179.9998 -77.857,143.99983 -77.857,107.99986 -77.857,71.99989 -77.857,35.99992 -77.857,-0.000049999999987 -77.857,-36.00002 -77.857,-71.99999 -77.857,-107.99996 -77.857,-143.99993 -77.857,-179.9999 -77.857,-179.9999 -74.42793,-179.9999 -70.99886,-179.9999 -67.56979,-179.9999 -64.14072,-179.9999 -60.71165,-179.9999 -57.28258,-179.9999 -53.85351,-179.9999 -50.42444,-179.9999 -46.99537,-179.9999 -43.5663))", "dataset_titles": "Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?; Expedition Data; NBP0802 data; Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Ross Sea near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0801", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001517", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0801"}, {"dataset_uid": "000122", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0802 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "601344", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cape Adare; Mooring; NBP0801; Physical Oceanography; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Gordon, Arnold; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed CurrentMeter Data from the Ross Sea near Antarctica acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0801", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601344"}, {"dataset_uid": "600059", "doi": "10.15784/600059", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Crustacea; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "Lonsdale, Darcy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600059"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Recent studies of marine ecosystems show conflicting evidence for trophic cascades, and in particular the relative strength of the crustacean zooplankton-phytoplankton link. The Ross Sea is a natural laboratory for investigating this apparent conflict. It is a site of seasonally high abundances of phytoplankton, characterized by regions of distinct phytoplankton taxa; the southcentral polynya is strongly dominated by the colony-forming prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, while coastal regions of this sea are typically dominated by diatoms or flagellate species. Recent studies indicate that, while the south-central polynya exhibits a massive phytoplankton bloom, the poor food quality of P. antarctica for many crustacean zooplankton prevents direct utilization of much of this phytoplankton bloom. Rather, evidence suggests that indirect utilization of this production may be the primary mechanism by which carbon and energy become available to those higher trophic levels. Specifically, we hypothesize that nano and microzooplankton constitute an important food source for crustacean zooplankton (largely copepods and juvenile euphausiids) during the summer period in the Ross Sea where the phytoplankton assemblage is dominated by the prymnesiophyte. In turn, we also hypothesize that predation by copepods (and other Crustacea) controls and structures the species composition of these protistan assemblages. We will occupy stations in the south-central Ross Sea Polynya (RSP) and Terra Nova Bay (TNB) during austral summer to test these hypotheses. We hypothesize that the diatom species that dominate the phytoplankton assemblage in TNB constitute a direct source of nutrition to herbivorous/omnivorous zooplankton (relative to the situation in the south-central RSP). That is, the contribution of heterotrophic protists to crustacean diets will be reduced in TNB. Our research will address fundamental gaps in our knowledge of food web structure and trophic cascades, and provide better understanding of the flow of carbon and energy within the biological community of this perennially cold sea. The PIs will play active roles in public education (K-12) via curriculum development (on Antarctic biology) and teacher trainer activities in the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE-West), an innovative, NSF-funded program centered at USC and UCLA.", "east": 179.9998, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.5663, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lonsdale, Darcy; Caron, Bruce", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.857, "title": "Collaborative Research: Do Crustacean Zooplankton Play a Pivotal Role in Structuring Heterotrophic Plankton Communities in the Ross Sea?", "uid": "p0000520", "west": -179.9999}, {"awards": "9908828 Aronson, Richard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.906 -52.350166,-69.4494 -52.350166,-67.9928 -52.350166,-66.5362 -52.350166,-65.0796 -52.350166,-63.623 -52.350166,-62.1664 -52.350166,-60.7098 -52.350166,-59.2532 -52.350166,-57.7966 -52.350166,-56.34 -52.350166,-56.34 -53.6028324,-56.34 -54.8554988,-56.34 -56.1081652,-56.34 -57.3608316,-56.34 -58.613498,-56.34 -59.8661644,-56.34 -61.1188308,-56.34 -62.3714972,-56.34 -63.6241636,-56.34 -64.87683,-57.7966 -64.87683,-59.2532 -64.87683,-60.7098 -64.87683,-62.1664 -64.87683,-63.623 -64.87683,-65.0796 -64.87683,-66.5362 -64.87683,-67.9928 -64.87683,-69.4494 -64.87683,-70.906 -64.87683,-70.906 -63.6241636,-70.906 -62.3714972,-70.906 -61.1188308,-70.906 -59.8661644,-70.906 -58.613498,-70.906 -57.3608316,-70.906 -56.1081652,-70.906 -54.8554988,-70.906 -53.6028324,-70.906 -52.350166))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0107", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001962", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0011"}, {"dataset_uid": "002656", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9908828 Aronson This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene. A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.", "east": -56.34, "geometry": "POINT(-63.623 -58.613498)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Hugo Island; R/V LMG; Palmer Deep", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": -52.350166, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aronson, Richard; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.87683, "title": "Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene", "uid": "p0000617", "west": -70.906}, {"awards": "9814622 Wiens, Douglas", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90604 -52.35474,-69.307306 -52.35474,-67.708572 -52.35474,-66.109838 -52.35474,-64.511104 -52.35474,-62.91237 -52.35474,-61.313636 -52.35474,-59.714902 -52.35474,-58.116168 -52.35474,-56.517434 -52.35474,-54.9187 -52.35474,-54.9187 -53.658393,-54.9187 -54.962046,-54.9187 -56.265699,-54.9187 -57.569352,-54.9187 -58.873005,-54.9187 -60.176658,-54.9187 -61.480311,-54.9187 -62.783964,-54.9187 -64.087617,-54.9187 -65.39127,-56.517434 -65.39127,-58.116168 -65.39127,-59.714902 -65.39127,-61.313636 -65.39127,-62.91237 -65.39127,-64.511104 -65.39127,-66.109838 -65.39127,-67.708572 -65.39127,-69.307306 -65.39127,-70.90604 -65.39127,-70.90604 -64.087617,-70.90604 -62.783964,-70.90604 -61.480311,-70.90604 -60.176658,-70.90604 -58.873005,-70.90604 -57.569352,-70.90604 -56.265699,-70.90604 -54.962046,-70.90604 -53.658393,-70.90604 -52.35474))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0003A", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002688", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0003A", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0003A"}, {"dataset_uid": "002059", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9905"}, {"dataset_uid": "001854", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0106"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided jointly by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research to transform three temporary seismometers in the Antarctic Peninsula into semi-permanent stations and to continue basic research using these data. During 1997 and 1998, a network of 11 broadband seismographs in the Antarctic Peninsula region and southernmost Chilean Patagonia were installed and maintained. Data return from this project has been excellent and interesting initial results have been produced. The continued operation of these instruments over a longer time period would be highly beneficial because the number of larger magnitude regional earthquakes is small and so a longer time is needed to acquire data. However, instruments from this project are borrowed from the IRIS-PASSCAL instrument pool and must be returned to PASSCAL in April, 1999. This award provides funds to convert three stations at permanent Chilean bases in the Antarctic to permanent stations, and to continue the seismological investigation of the region for a period of four years. As part of this project, a fourth station, in Chilean Patagonia, will continue to be operated using Washington University equipment. The funding of this project will enable continued collaboration between Washington University and the Universidad de Chile in the operation of these stations, and the data will be forwarded to the IRIS data center as well as to other international seismological collaborators. Mutual data exchanges with other national groups with Antarctic seismology research programs will provide access to broadband data from a variety of other proprietary broadband stations in the region. The data will be used to study the seismicity and upper mantle velocity structure of several complicated tectonic regions in the area, including the South Shetland subduction zone, the Bransfield backarc rift, and diffuse plate boundaries in Patagonia, Drake Passage, and along the South Scotia Ridge. In particular, the operation of these stations over a longer time period will allow a better understanding of the seismicity of the South Shetland Trench, an unusual subduction zone showing very slow subduction of young lithosphere. These seismometers will also be used to record airgun shots during a geophysical cruise in the Bransfield Strait that is being planned by the University of Texas for April, 2000. These data will provide important constraints on the crustal structure beneath the stations, and the improved structural models will enable implementation of more precise earthquake location procedures in support of a seismological understanding of the region.", "east": -54.9187, "geometry": "POINT(-62.91237 -58.873005)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.35474, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Wiens, Douglas; Visbeck, Martin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.39127, "title": "Acquisition and Operation of Broadband Seismograph Equipment at Chilean Bases in the Antarctic Peninsula Region", "uid": "p0000604", "west": -70.90604}, {"awards": "0636696 DeVries, Arthur", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.0025 -52.7599,-67.07254 -52.7599,-66.14258 -52.7599,-65.21262 -52.7599,-64.28266 -52.7599,-63.3527 -52.7599,-62.42274 -52.7599,-61.49278 -52.7599,-60.56282 -52.7599,-59.63286 -52.7599,-58.7029 -52.7599,-58.7029 -53.98242,-58.7029 -55.20494,-58.7029 -56.42746,-58.7029 -57.64998,-58.7029 -58.8725,-58.7029 -60.09502,-58.7029 -61.31754,-58.7029 -62.54006,-58.7029 -63.76258,-58.7029 -64.9851,-59.63286 -64.9851,-60.56282 -64.9851,-61.49278 -64.9851,-62.42274 -64.9851,-63.3527 -64.9851,-64.28266 -64.9851,-65.21262 -64.9851,-66.14258 -64.9851,-67.07254 -64.9851,-68.0025 -64.9851,-68.0025 -63.76258,-68.0025 -62.54006,-68.0025 -61.31754,-68.0025 -60.09502,-68.0025 -58.8725,-68.0025 -57.64998,-68.0025 -56.42746,-68.0025 -55.20494,-68.0025 -53.98242,-68.0025 -52.7599))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0809; Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601811", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Bellingshausen Sea; Cryosphere; Southern Ocean", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Corso, Andrew; Hilton, Eric; Steinberg, Deborah; Biesack, Ellen; Cheng, Chi-Hing; McDowell, Jan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601811"}, {"dataset_uid": "001504", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0809"}, {"dataset_uid": "002728", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0809", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0809"}, {"dataset_uid": "001493", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0810"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic notothenioid fish evolved antifreeze (AF) proteins that prevent ice crystals that enter their body fluids from growing, and thereby avoid freezing in their icy habitats. However, even in the extreme cold Antarctic marine environment, regional gradations of severity are found. The biological correlate for environmental severity in fish is the endogenous ice load, which likely determines the tolerable limit of environmental severity for notothenioid habitation. The endogenous ice load develops from environmental ice crystals entering through body surfaces and somehow localizing to the spleen. How prone the surface tissues are to ice entry, how ice reaches the spleen, and what the fate of splenic ice is, requires elucidation. Spleen sequestration of ice raises the hypothesis that macrophages may play a role in the translocation and perhaps elimination of AF-bound ice crystals. Antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGP) act in concert with a second, recently discovered antifreeze called antifreeze potentiating protein (AFPP), necessitating an assessment of the contribution of AFPP to freezing avoidance. Recent research suggests that the exocrine pancreas and the anterior stomach, not the liver, synthesize AFGPs and secrete them into the intestine, from where they may be returned to the blood. A GI-to-blood transport is a highly unconventional path for a major plasma protein and also begs the questions, What is the source of blood AFPP?. Why are two distinct AF proteins needed and what is the chronology of their evolution? What genomic changes in the DNA are associated with the development or loss of the antifreeze trait? Experiments described in this proposal address these interrelated questions of environmental, organismal, and evolutionary physiology, and will further our understanding of novel vertebrate physiologies, the limits of environmental adaptation, and climatically driven changes in the genome. The proposed research will (1) determine the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of environmental temperature and iciness in progressively more severe fish habitats in the greater McMurdo Sound area, and in the milder Arthur Harbor at Palmer Station. The splenic ice load in fishes inhabiting these sites will be determined to correlate to environmental severity and habitability. (2) Assess the surface tissue site of ice entry and their relative barrier properties in intact fish and isolated tissues preparations (3) Assess the role of immune cells in the fate of endogenous ice, (4) determine whether the blood AFGPs are from intestinal/rectal uptake, (5) examine the contribution of AFPP to the total blood AF activity (6) evaluate the progression of genomic changes in the AFGP locus across Notothenioidei as modulated by disparate thermal environments, in four selected species through the analyses of large insert DNA BAC clones. The origin and evolution of AFPP will be examined also by analyzing BAC clones encompassing the AFPP genomic locus. The broader impacts of the proposed research include training of graduate and undergraduate students in research approaches ranging from physical field measurements to cutting edge genomics. Undergraduate research projects have lead to co-authored publications and will continue to do so. Outreach includes establishing Wiki websites on topics of Antarctic fish biology and freeze avoidance, providing advisory services to the San Francisco Science Exploratorium, and making BAC libraries available to interested polar biologists. This research theme has repeatedly received national and international science news coverage and will continue to be disseminated to the public in that manner.", "east": -58.7029, "geometry": "POINT(-63.3527 -58.8725)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.7599, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Devries, Arthur", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.9851, "title": "Environmental, Organismal and Evolutionary Physiology of Freeze Avoidance in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0000560", "west": -68.0025}, {"awards": "0338350 Dunbar, Robert; 0338157 Smith, Walker; 0338097 DiTullio, Giacomo; 0741411 Hutchins, David; 0127037 Neale, Patrick", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((173.31833 -46.5719,173.757539 -46.5719,174.196748 -46.5719,174.635957 -46.5719,175.075166 -46.5719,175.514375 -46.5719,175.953584 -46.5719,176.392793 -46.5719,176.832002 -46.5719,177.271211 -46.5719,177.71042 -46.5719,177.71042 -48.759516,177.71042 -50.947132,177.71042 -53.134748,177.71042 -55.322364,177.71042 -57.50998,177.71042 -59.697596,177.71042 -61.885212,177.71042 -64.072828,177.71042 -66.260444,177.71042 -68.44806,177.271211 -68.44806,176.832002 -68.44806,176.392793 -68.44806,175.953584 -68.44806,175.514375 -68.44806,175.075166 -68.44806,174.635957 -68.44806,174.196748 -68.44806,173.757539 -68.44806,173.31833 -68.44806,173.31833 -66.260444,173.31833 -64.072828,173.31833 -61.885212,173.31833 -59.697596,173.31833 -57.50998,173.31833 -55.322364,173.31833 -53.134748,173.31833 -50.947132,173.31833 -48.759516,173.31833 -46.5719))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea; Processed Fluid Chemistry Data from the Ross Sea acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0601", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001687", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0305"}, {"dataset_uid": "001545", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0608"}, {"dataset_uid": "001584", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0508"}, {"dataset_uid": "601340", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Fluid Chemistry Data; Geochemistry; NBP0601; Niskin Bottle; Oceans; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Water Measurements", "people": "Smith, Walker; DiTullio, Giacomo", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Processed Fluid Chemistry Data from the Ross Sea acquired during the Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP0601", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601340"}, {"dataset_uid": "001580", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}, {"dataset_uid": "600036", "doi": "10.15784/600036", "keywords": "Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Diatom; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "people": "DiTullio, Giacomo", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600036"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. \u003cbr/\u003eThis project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.", "east": 177.71042, "geometry": "POINT(175.514375 -57.50998)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FRRF; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FRRF", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "B-15J; OCEAN PLATFORMS; FIELD SURVEYS; R/V NBP", "locations": "B-15J", "north": -46.5719, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ditullio, Giacomo; Smith, Walker; Dryer, Jennifer; Neale, Patrick", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIXED PLATFORMS \u003e SURFACE \u003e OCEAN PLATFORMS; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.44806, "title": "Collaborative Research: Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and Carbon Dioxide on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000540", "west": 173.31833}, {"awards": "9316710 Bartek, Louis", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9993 -75.77948,-143.99945 -75.77948,-107.9996 -75.77948,-71.99975 -75.77948,-35.9999 -75.77948,-0.000049999999987 -75.77948,35.9998 -75.77948,71.99965 -75.77948,107.9995 -75.77948,143.99935 -75.77948,179.9992 -75.77948,179.9992 -76.012273,179.9992 -76.245066,179.9992 -76.477859,179.9992 -76.710652,179.9992 -76.943445,179.9992 -77.176238,179.9992 -77.409031,179.9992 -77.641824,179.9992 -77.874617,179.9992 -78.10741,143.99935 -78.10741,107.9995 -78.10741,71.99965 -78.10741,35.9998 -78.10741,-0.000050000000016 -78.10741,-35.9999 -78.10741,-71.99975 -78.10741,-107.9996 -78.10741,-143.99945 -78.10741,-179.9993 -78.10741,-179.9993 -77.874617,-179.9993 -77.641824,-179.9993 -77.409031,-179.9993 -77.176238,-179.9993 -76.943445,-179.9993 -76.710652,-179.9993 -76.477859,-179.9993 -76.245066,-179.9993 -76.012273,-179.9993 -75.77948))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002168", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9601"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a collaborative marine geological and geophysical project between the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Alabama to study the glacial and tectonic history of the eastern Ross Sea and the Marie Byrd Land margin of West Antarctica. The goals of the project are (1) to conduct seismic imaging and piston coring to begin unraveling the history of the West Antarctic ice Sheet as recorded in the recent sediments of the continental shelf of the region, and (2) to acquire seismic images of the acoustic basement beneath the Cenozoic glacial deposits toward an understanding of the relationship between rift structure of the continental crust and Cenozoic glacial deposits of the region. This research will result in bathymetric, structural, sediment isopach, gravity and magnetic maps of the eastern Ross Sea and the Marie Byrd Land margin. This information will be integrated into an interpretation of the major glacial and structural features of the region. This project will result in a better understanding of the glacio-marine stratigraphy and glacial history of the eastern Ross Sea and Marie Byrd Land margin and, consequently, it will represent a significant contribution to the goals of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet initiative.", "east": 179.9992, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -75.77948, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bartek, Louis; Luyendyk, Bruce P.", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.10741, "title": "Collaborative Research: Glacial Marine Stratigraphy in the Eastern Ross Sea and Western Marie Byrd Land, and Shallow Structure of the West Antarctic Rift", "uid": "p0000639", "west": -179.9993}, {"awards": "9908856 Blake, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0309", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001683", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0309"}, {"dataset_uid": "002675", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0309", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0309"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9908856 Blake This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene. A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blake, Daniel", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene.", "uid": "p0000857", "west": null}, {"awards": "0088143 Luyendyk, Bruce; 0087392 Bartek, Louis", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.99786 -75.91667,-143.99852 -75.91667,-107.99918 -75.91667,-71.99984 -75.91667,-36.0005 -75.91667,-0.00115999999997 -75.91667,35.99818 -75.91667,71.99752 -75.91667,107.99686 -75.91667,143.9962 -75.91667,179.99554 -75.91667,179.99554 -76.183531,179.99554 -76.450392,179.99554 -76.717253,179.99554 -76.984114,179.99554 -77.250975,179.99554 -77.517836,179.99554 -77.784697,179.99554 -78.051558,179.99554 -78.318419,179.99554 -78.58528,143.9962 -78.58528,107.99686 -78.58528,71.99752 -78.58528,35.99818 -78.58528,-0.00116000000003 -78.58528,-36.0005 -78.58528,-71.99984 -78.58528,-107.99918 -78.58528,-143.99852 -78.58528,-179.99786 -78.58528,-179.99786 -78.318419,-179.99786 -78.051558,-179.99786 -77.784697,-179.99786 -77.517836,-179.99786 -77.250975,-179.99786 -76.984114,-179.99786 -76.717253,-179.99786 -76.450392,-179.99786 -76.183531,-179.99786 -75.91667))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; NBP0301 data; NBP0306 data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001724", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0301"}, {"dataset_uid": "001668", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0306"}, {"dataset_uid": "000105", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0306 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0306"}, {"dataset_uid": "000104", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP0301 data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0301"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Luyendyk et.al.: OPP 0088143\u003cbr/\u003eBartek: OPP 0087392\u003cbr/\u003eDiebold: OPP 0087983\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a collaborative research program in marine geology and geophysics in the southern central and eastern Ross Sea. The project will conduct sites surveys for drilling from the Ross Ice Shelf into the seafloor beneath it. Many of the outstanding problems concerning the evolution of the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, Antarctic climate, global sea level, and the tectonic history of the West Antarctic Rift System can be addressed by drilling into the seafloor of the Ross Sea. Climate data for Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic time are lacking for this sector of Antarctica. Climate questions include: Was there any ice in Late Cretaceous time? What was the Antarctic climate during the Paleocene-Eocene global warming? When was the Cenozoic onset of Antarctic glaciation, when did glaciers reach the coast and when did they advance out onto the margin? Was the Ross Sea shelf non-marine in Late Cretaceous time; when did it become marine? Tectonic questions include: What was the timing of the Cretaceous extension in the Ross Sea rift; where was it located? What is the basement composition and structure? Where are the time and space limits of the effects of Adare Trough spreading? Another drilling objective is to sample and date the sedimentary section bounding the mapped RSU6 unconformity in the Eastern Basin and Central Trough to resolve questions about its age and regional extent. Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 28 completed sampling at four drill sites in the early 1970\u0027s but had low recovery and did not sample the Early Cenozoic. Other drilling has been restricted to the McMurdo Sound area of the western Ross Sea and results can be correlated into the Victoria Land Basin but not eastward across basement highs. Further, Early Cenozoic and Cretaceous rocks have not been sampled. A new opportunity is developing to drill from the Ross Ice Shelf. This is a successor program to the Cape Roberts Drilling Project. One overriding difficulty is the need for site surveys at drilling locations under the ice shelf. This project will overcome this impediment by conducting marine geophysical drill site surveys at the front of the Ross Ice Shelf in the Central Trough and Eastern Basin. The surveys will be conducted a kilometer or two north of the ice shelf front where recent calving events have resulted in a southerly position of the ice shelf edge. In several years the northward advance of the ice shelf will override the surveyed locations and drilling could be accomplished. Systems to be used include swath bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, chirp sonar, high resolution seismic profiling, and 48 fold seismics. Cores will be collected to obtain samples for geotechnical properties, to study sub-ice shelf modern sedimentary processes, and at locations where deeper section is exposed.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis survey will include long profiles and detailed grids over potential drill sites. Survey lines will be tied to existing geophysical profiles and DSDP 270. A recent event that makes this plan timely is the calving of giant iceberg B-15 (in March, 2000) and others from the ice front in the eastern Ross Sea. This new calving event and one in 1987 have exposed 16,000 square kilometers of seafloor that had been covered by ice shelf for decades and is not explored. Newly exposed territory can now be mapped by modern geophysical methods. This project will map geological structure and stratigraphy below unconformity RSU6 farther south and east, study the place of Roosevelt Island in the Ross Sea rifting history, and determine subsidence history during Late Cenozoic time (post RSU6) in the far south and east. Finally the project will observe present day sedimentary processes beneath the ice shelf in the newly exposed areas.", "east": 179.99554, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -75.91667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bartek, Louis; Luyendyk, Bruce P.", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.58528, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Cretaceous-Cenozoic Climate, Glaciation, and Tectonics: Site surveys for drilling from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf", "uid": "p0000425", "west": -179.99786}, {"awards": "9714299 Caron, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9984 -43.56676,-143.99865 -43.56676,-107.9989 -43.56676,-71.99915 -43.56676,-35.9994 -43.56676,0.000349999999997 -43.56676,36.0001 -43.56676,71.99985 -43.56676,107.9996 -43.56676,143.99935 -43.56676,179.9991 -43.56676,179.9991 -47.057693,179.9991 -50.548626,179.9991 -54.039559,179.9991 -57.530492,179.9991 -61.021425,179.9991 -64.512358,179.9991 -68.003291,179.9991 -71.494224,179.9991 -74.985157,179.9991 -78.47609,143.99935 -78.47609,107.9996 -78.47609,71.99985 -78.47609,36.0001 -78.47609,0.000349999999997 -78.47609,-35.9994 -78.47609,-71.99915 -78.47609,-107.9989 -78.47609,-143.99865 -78.47609,-179.9984 -78.47609,-179.9984 -74.985157,-179.9984 -71.494224,-179.9984 -68.003291,-179.9984 -64.512358,-179.9984 -61.021425,-179.9984 -57.530492,-179.9984 -54.039559,-179.9984 -50.548626,-179.9984 -47.057693,-179.9984 -43.56676))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002003", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9901"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "*** Caron 9714299 The analysis of microbial biodiversity of extreme environments is difficult because traditional methods for examining diversity are often ineffective for assessing species richness within these communities. Additional difficulties arise due to the difficulties of recreating and maintaining pertinent environmental features during sample collection and procession. This study focuses on the protistan assemblages (algae and protozoa) in the sea ice, sediment and ocean environments of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The identification of protistan species in natural assemblages traditionally has entailed direct microscopical analyses as well as enrichment and culture techniques for assessing biodiversity. Determination of diversity for these assemblages in therefore susceptible to biases as a consequence of sampling, enrichment and culture, as well as selective losses due to sample preservation and concentration for microscopy. The goals of this project are: (1) to develop and apply molecular biological approaches to assess species diversity of small protists (algae and protozoa smaller than 100 micrometers) in ocean water, sea ice and sediment environments and (2) to obtain baseline physiological information on the growth rates, feeding rates and growth efficiencies of cultured protozoa under pertinent temperature regimes. Molecular biological studies will involve the use of PCR-based protocols to examine small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (srDNA) diversity. Approaches and techniques developed will be applicable to any other water body or sediment and would provide a means to examine the representativeness of protistan cultures in extant culture collections. ***", "east": 179.9991, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.56676, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Caron, David; Jeffries, Martin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.47609, "title": "LEXEN: Protistan Biodiversity in Antarctic Marine Ecosystems: Molecular Biological and Traditional Approaches", "uid": "p0000625", "west": -179.9984}, {"awards": "0234163 Beardsley, Robert", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP0103; Expedition data of NBP0104", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002595", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0103", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0103"}, {"dataset_uid": "002657", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0104"}, {"dataset_uid": "002596", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0104", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0104"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will complete construction of a high-quality digital bathymetry database for the Southern Ocean component of the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics GLOBEC) program. Existing along-track and swath bathymetry data collected in Marguerite Bay and in the West Antarctic Peninsula shelf study, have been assembled and merged with new SeaBeam and along-track data collected during cruises of the research vessels R/V Palmer and R/V Gould in 2001 and 2002. New bathymetry data has also been obtained from other US, British, and Russian sources to extend the program database. Once the final R/V Palmer and R/V Gould cruises are completed and other data added, the program database will be closed, edited, documented and made publicly available for use by international GLOBEC investigators and by the broader geophysics community. These results will be developed in conjunction with, and will become part of a planned circum-antarctic high resolution bathymetry database.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Beardsley, Robert", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Digital Bathymetry Database for the U.S. Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program", "uid": "p0000814", "west": null}, {"awards": "0338164 Sedwick, Peter", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0601", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002619", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0601", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}, {"dataset_uid": "001580", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0601"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. \u003cbr/\u003eThis project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e WATER BOTTLES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ditullio, Giacomo", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Interactive Effects of Iron, Light and CO2 on Phytoplankton Community Dynamics in the Ross Sea", "uid": "p0000831", "west": null}, {"awards": "9615342 Neale, Patrick", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG9809", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002720", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9809", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9809"}, {"dataset_uid": "002719", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9809", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9809"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Neale 9615342 Increases in ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280-320) associated with the Antarctic ozone hole have been shown to inhibit the photosynthesis of phytoplankton, but the overall effect on water column production is still a matter of debate and continued investigation. Investigations have also revealed that even at \"normal\" levels of Antarctic stratospheric ozone, UV-B and UV-A (320-400 nm) appear to have strong effects on water column production. The role of UV in the ecology of phytoplankton primary production has probably been underappreciated in the past and could be particularly important to the estimation of primary production in the presence of vertical mixing. This research focuses on quantifying UV effects on photosynthesis of Antarctic phytoplankton by defining biological weighting functions for UV-inhibition. In the past, techniques were developed to describe photosynthesis as a function of UV and visible irradiance using laboratory cultures. Further experimentation with natural assemblages from McMurdo Station in Antarctica showed that biological weighting functions are strongly related to light history. Most recently, measurements in the open waters of the Southern Ocean confirmed that there is substantial variability in the susceptibility of phytoplankton assemblages to UV. It was also discovered that inhibition of photosynthesis in Antarctic phytoplankton got progressively worse on the time scale of hours, with no evidence of recovery. Even under benign conditions, losses of photosynthetic capability persisted unchanged for several hours. This was in contrast with laboratory cultures and some natural assemblages which quickly attained a steady- state rate of photosynthesis during exposure to UV, reflecting a balance between damage and recovery processes. Slow reversal of UV-induced damage has profound consequences for water-column photosynthesis, especially during vertical mixing. Results to date have been used to model th e influence of UV, ozone depletion and vertical mixing on photosynthesis in Antarctic waters. Data indicate that normal levels of UV can have a significant impact on natural phytoplankton and that the effects can be exacerbated by ozone depletion as well as vertical mixing. Critical questions remain poorly resolved, however, and these are the focus of the present proposal. New theoretical and experimental approaches will be used to investigate UV responses in both the open waters of the Weddell-Scotia confluence and coastal waters near Palmer Station. In particular, measurements will be made of the kinetics of UV inhibition and recovery on time scales ranging from minutes to days. Variability in biological weighting functions between will be calculated for pelagic and coastal phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. The results will provide absolute estimates of photosynthesis under in situ, as well as under altered, UV irradiance; broaden the range of assemblages for which biological weighting functions have been determined; and clarify how kinetics of inhibition and recovery should be represented in mixed layer models.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mopper, Kenneth; Neale, Patrick", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "New Approaches to Measuring and Understanding the Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation on Photosynthesis by Antarctic Phytoplankton", "uid": "p0000871", "west": null}, {"awards": "9317872 Cande, Steven", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-179.9994 -55.16418,-143.99949 -55.16418,-107.99958 -55.16418,-71.99967 -55.16418,-35.99976 -55.16418,0.000149999999991 -55.16418,36.00006 -55.16418,71.99997 -55.16418,107.99988 -55.16418,143.99979 -55.16418,179.9997 -55.16418,179.9997 -57.429208,179.9997 -59.694236,179.9997 -61.959264,179.9997 -64.224292,179.9997 -66.48932,179.9997 -68.754348,179.9997 -71.019376,179.9997 -73.284404,179.9997 -75.549432,179.9997 -77.81446,143.99979 -77.81446,107.99988 -77.81446,71.99997 -77.81446,36.00006 -77.81446,0.000149999999991 -77.81446,-35.99976 -77.81446,-71.99967 -77.81446,-107.99958 -77.81446,-143.99949 -77.81446,-179.9994 -77.81446,-179.9994 -75.549432,-179.9994 -73.284404,-179.9994 -71.019376,-179.9994 -68.754348,-179.9994 -66.48932,-179.9994 -64.224292,-179.9994 -61.959264,-179.9994 -59.694236,-179.9994 -57.429208,-179.9994 -55.16418))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002167", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9602"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9317872 Cande This award supports a marine geophysical study of the southwest Pacific between 170 degrees E and 80 degrees W longitude. Recent marine geophysical cruises in the southwest Pacific and a high-resolution altimetric gravity field declassified Geosat data have allowed significant progress to be made towards deciphering the complex history of the rifting between the Campbell Plateau/Chatham Rise landmass and the Marie Byrd Land margin. A revised history of plate interactions explains many enigmatic features seen in the magnetic and gravity fields yet several questions remain that require new data for resolution. The marine geophysical survey proposed will: (1) elucidate plate interactions at the evolving triple junction between the Antarctic and Australian plates and the mosaic of SW Pacific plates; (2) define the boundaries and interactions of the mosaic of plates that accommodated the rapidly changing plate geometry associated with subduction of the Pacific-Phoenix ridge outboard of New Zealand, the rifting of continental and oceanic lithosphere, and hotspot activity; and (3) map the development of Pacific-Antarctic Ridge and the assembly of the several small plates into the modern day Pacific plate. This survey will help to elucidate the dynamics of plate interactions and the plate tectonic evolution of Antarctica and New Zealand. ***", "east": 179.9997, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -55.16418, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cande, Steven", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.81446, "title": "Collaborative Research: Late Cretaceous - Early Tertiary Plate Interactions in the Southwest Pacific", "uid": "p0000638", "west": -179.9994}, {"awards": "9418153 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90663 -52.3574,-69.956557 -52.3574,-69.006484 -52.3574,-68.056411 -52.3574,-67.106338 -52.3574,-66.156265 -52.3574,-65.206192 -52.3574,-64.256119 -52.3574,-63.306046 -52.3574,-62.355973 -52.3574,-61.4059 -52.3574,-61.4059 -53.843373,-61.4059 -55.329346,-61.4059 -56.815319,-61.4059 -58.301292,-61.4059 -59.787265,-61.4059 -61.273238,-61.4059 -62.759211,-61.4059 -64.245184,-61.4059 -65.731157,-61.4059 -67.21713,-62.355973 -67.21713,-63.306046 -67.21713,-64.256119 -67.21713,-65.206192 -67.21713,-66.156265 -67.21713,-67.106338 -67.21713,-68.056411 -67.21713,-69.006484 -67.21713,-69.956557 -67.21713,-70.90663 -67.21713,-70.90663 -65.731157,-70.90663 -64.245184,-70.90663 -62.759211,-70.90663 -61.273238,-70.90663 -59.787265,-70.90663 -58.301292,-70.90663 -56.815319,-70.90663 -55.329346,-70.90663 -53.843373,-70.90663 -52.3574))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002066", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9903"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9418153 This award supports a program aimed at providing research experiences to a broad range of undergraduate students. The program sill allow for active participation by undergraduate students in ongoing marine geologic research in Antarctica. Students will be recruited from institutions across the United States and will participate in a preparatory seminar on Antarctic science prior to the field season. This program will integrate undergraduate participation with existing marine geology and geophysics projects aboard either of the two United States Antarctic Program research vessels, the RV Polar Duke and the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer. Research topics will be related to the stratigraphy and/or evolution of the Antarctic continental margin, topics of increasing importance to both Antarctic and global geology. Students will have a full year following their field experience to conduct follow-up research via a senior thesis. This program is intended to provide better educational experiences to promising undergraduate students and to stimulate those students to pursue advanced degrees in geology and geophysics. ***", "east": -61.4059, "geometry": "POINT(-66.156265 -59.787265)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.3574, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.21713, "title": "Undergraduate Research Initiative: Antarctic Marine Geology and Geophysics", "uid": "p0000623", "west": -70.90663}, {"awards": "9316035 Gowing, Marcia", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP9406", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002592", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP9406", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}, {"dataset_uid": "002252", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. The focus of this proposal is the role of microzooplankton in controlling the production and fate of carbon during the two types of blooms. Objectives are: 1) to determine biomass, abundance, size and selected species composition of primary producer assemblages, 2) to determine similar features of nano- and microplanktonic heterotrophic assemblages, 3) to measure total community grazing on heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton, 4) to examine which grazers are the major herbivores and bacterivores, and 5) to measure the contribution of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton egesta, sinking of algal cells and colonies, and sinking of protozoan assemblages associated with detritus to the total carbon flux from the euphotic zone through 250 m depth. Water samples for abundance and biomass determinations will be taken and samples will be examined with epifluorescence microscopy. Grazing rates will be measured using the dilution grazing technique and the dual-isotope radiolabeling single cell method. Carbon fluxes will be determined on sinking material collected with particle interceptor traps at the base of the euphotic zone and two deeper depths, using microscopical analysis . An understanding of these processes and other fundamental processes studied by collaborating investigators will contribute to the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in present, past and predicted future sequestration of carbon, as well as in other global elemental cycles.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bloom Dynamics and Food Web Structure in the Ross Sea: Role of Microzooplankton in Controlling Production", "uid": "p0000811", "west": null}, {"awards": "9317587 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP9406", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002252", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}, {"dataset_uid": "002582", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP9406", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9406"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will conduct a set of process-oriented experiments designed to elucidate the controls of phytoplankton productivity, growth and accumulation as well as the mechanisms which control bacterial abundance and productivity in Antarctic waters. Specifically, the relative photosynthetic and nutrient (nitrate, ammonium) characteristics of diatom- vs. Phaeocystis- dominated assemblages will be examined to test if Phaeocystis simply grows faster under spring conditions in the Ross Sea. Phytoplankton and bacterial biomass, productivity and their interactions will be measured to elucidate the complex physical-chemical-biological interactions which occur. Substantial understanding of the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions will result from this research. Finally, because the Antarctic is the ocean\u0027s largest high-nutrient, low biomass system, and hence has the greatest potential for sequestering carbon dioxide, knowledge of the dynamics of the Ross Sea phytoplankton will also increase our understanding of the carbo n cycle of the Southern Ocean.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bloom Dynamics and Food Web Structure in the Ross Sea: Primary Productivity, New Production and Bacterial Growth", "uid": "p0000802", "west": null}, {"awards": "9811427 Felbeck, Horst", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of LMG9902", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002716", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG9902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG9902"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9811427 Felbeck Deception Island is a flooded caldera in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The most recent eruption was in the 1970s causing the formation of new islands in the caldera and various other structures. It harbors many hot springs and fumaroles submerged in the caldera and intertidally. Sulfide and methane are prominent chemicals in the outflowing waters. Bacterial densities in the caldera reach unusually high values probably due to the input of reduced chemicals as energy sources. The environment around the springs resembles that found at hydrothermal vents where whole communities are based on the input of chemical energy by the hot waters. Similarities to hydrothermal vent environments include cold waters surrounding the hot springs resulting in large distances to the next warm water habitat and a lack of external food sources. The latter is due to ice cover during winter at Deception Island and the large distance to the euphotic zone at the vent sites. These parameters encourage the evolution of alternative ways to support life such as the establishment of a bacterial symbiosis. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research project will focus on an examination of the warm springs around Deception Island for the presence of marine invertebrates with chemoautotrophic symbionts. Maps will be made of any submerged fumaroles and of warm and hot springs in the intertidal zone. If animals are found near the fumaroles or in the hot springs, specimens will be collected. Collected specimens will be examined for the presence of chemoautotrophic bacteria and other adaptations to a hot sulfide- and methane-rich environment using enzyme text experimental incubations to analyze metabolic pathways and microscopic examination.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Ken", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Adaptations of Organisms at the Sulfide- and Methane-Containing Hydrothermal Areas of Deception Island, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000868", "west": null}, {"awards": "9614201 Gowing, Marcia", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -43.56536,-144 -43.56536,-108 -43.56536,-72 -43.56536,-36 -43.56536,0 -43.56536,36 -43.56536,72 -43.56536,108 -43.56536,144 -43.56536,180 -43.56536,180 -46.976149,180 -50.386938,180 -53.797727,180 -57.208516,180 -60.619305,180 -64.030094,180 -67.440883,180 -70.851672,180 -74.262461,180 -77.67325,144 -77.67325,108 -77.67325,72 -77.67325,36 -77.67325,0 -77.67325,-36 -77.67325,-72 -77.67325,-108 -77.67325,-144 -77.67325,-180 -77.67325,-180 -74.262461,-180 -70.851672,-180 -67.440883,-180 -64.030094,-180 -60.619305,-180 -57.208516,-180 -53.797727,-180 -50.386938,-180 -46.976149,-180 -43.56536))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002003", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9901"}, {"dataset_uid": "002110", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9803"}, {"dataset_uid": "002193", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP9508"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9614201 Costa Sea ice forms an extensive habitat in the Southern Ocean. Reports dating from the earliest explorations of Antarctica have described high concentrations of algae associated with sea-ice, suggesting that the ice must be an important site of production and biological activity. The magnitude and importance of ice-based production is difficult to estimate largely because the spatial and temporal distributions of ice communities have been examined in only a few regions, and the processes controlling production and community development in ice are still superficially understood. This study will examine sea ice communities in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica in conjunction with a studies of ice physics and remote sensing. The specific objectives of the study are: 1) to relate the overall distribution of ice communities in the Ross Sea to specific habitats that are formed as the result of ice formation and growth processes; 2) to study the initial formation of sea ice to document the incorporation and survival of organisms, in particular to examine winter populations within \"snow-ice\" layers to determine if there is a seed population established at the time of surface flooding; 3) to sample summer communities to determine the extent that highly productive \"snow-ice\" and \"freeboard\" communities develop in the deep water regions of the Ross Sea; 4) and to collect basic data on the biota, activity, and general physical and chemical characteristics of the ice assemblages, so that this study contributes to the general understanding of the ecology of the ice biota in pack ice regions.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -43.56536, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gowing, Marcia; Garrison, David; Jeffries, Martin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.67325, "title": "Ecological Studies of Sea Ice Communities in the Ross Sea, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000633", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0538639 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-112.1 -79.4,-112.09 -79.4,-112.08 -79.4,-112.07 -79.4,-112.06 -79.4,-112.05 -79.4,-112.04 -79.4,-112.03 -79.4,-112.02 -79.4,-112.01 -79.4,-112 -79.4,-112 -79.41,-112 -79.42,-112 -79.43,-112 -79.44,-112 -79.45,-112 -79.46,-112 -79.47,-112 -79.48,-112 -79.49,-112 -79.5,-112.01 -79.5,-112.02 -79.5,-112.03 -79.5,-112.04 -79.5,-112.05 -79.5,-112.06 -79.5,-112.07 -79.5,-112.08 -79.5,-112.09 -79.5,-112.1 -79.5,-112.1 -79.49,-112.1 -79.48,-112.1 -79.47,-112.1 -79.46,-112.1 -79.45,-112.1 -79.44,-112.1 -79.43,-112.1 -79.42,-112.1 -79.41,-112.1 -79.4))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0538639\u003cbr/\u003eWaddington\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to study the patterns of accumulation variation and microstructural properties near the WAIS Divide ice core site in a 2.5 km array of 20 m boreholes. Borehole Optical Stratigraphy (BOS) is a novel optical measurement system that detects annual-scale layers in firn that result from changes in firn microstructure, giving annual-scale records of how accumulation varied spatially over the last 40-50 years. Data from borehole optical stratigraphy can eventually be calibrated against other data on the microstructural parameters of firn to calibrate BOS\u0027s sensitivity to density, pore-volume, and pore-shape variations, and to show by proxy how these parameters vary in space across the survey area. Statistical analysis of layer-thickness and layer-brightness data will enable prediction of: 1) interannual accumulation variability, 2) variability in layer-thickness at decadal scales due to changing spatial patterns in accumulation and 3) variability in microstructure-driven metamorphism due to changing spatial patterns of microstructure. With these statistics in hand, a scientist measuring climatic shifts found in the WAIS Divide ice core will be able to determine the fraction by which signals they measure exceed the signal due to background accumulation variations. As an added benefit, while still in the field, we will determine a preliminary depth-age scale for the firn by optical layer-counting, to the depth of the deepest air-filled firn hole available. This will be a valuable result for core-drilling operations and for preliminary data-analysis on the core. In terms of broader impacts, this project will advance education by training a post-doctoral student in field techniques. The P.I. and the post-doctoral researcher will participate in an undergraduate seminar called \"What is Scientific Research?\", incorporating progress and results from this project. They will also communicate about their progress and field experience with a middle-school science and math class.", "east": -112.0, "geometry": "POINT(-112.05 -79.45)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e OPTICAL DUST LOGGERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Spatial Variability; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Not provided; LABORATORY; Stratigraphy; Borehole Optical Stratigraphy; Optical Layer-Counting; Microstructure; Firn; Depth-Age-Model; Optical; WAIS Divide; FIELD SURVEYS; Accumulation", "locations": "WAIS Divide", "north": -79.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Fudge, T. J.; Waddington, Edwin D.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -79.5, "title": "Spatial Variability in Firn Properties from Borehole Optical Stratigraphy at the Inland WAIS Core Site", "uid": "p0000237", "west": -112.1}, {"awards": "0335330 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60 83,-55.8 83,-51.6 83,-47.4 83,-43.2 83,-39 83,-34.8 83,-30.6 83,-26.4 83,-22.2 83,-18 83,-18 80.5,-18 78,-18 75.5,-18 73,-18 70.5,-18 68,-18 65.5,-18 63,-18 60.5,-18 58,-22.2 58,-26.4 58,-30.6 58,-34.8 58,-39 58,-43.2 58,-47.4 58,-51.6 58,-55.8 58,-60 58,-60 60.5,-60 63,-60 65.5,-60 68,-60 70.5,-60 73,-60 75.5,-60 78,-60 80.5,-60 83))", "dataset_titles": "Borehole Optical Stratigraphy Modeling, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609468", "doi": "10.7265/N5H70CR5", "keywords": "Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Modeling Code", "people": "Smith, Ben; Hawley, Robert L.; Fudge, T. J.; Waddington, Edwin D.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Borehole Optical Stratigraphy Modeling, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609468"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a study of the physical nature and environmental origin of optical features (light and dark zones) observed by video in boreholes in polar ice. These features appear to include an annual signal, as well as longer period signals. Borehole logs exist from a previous project, and in this lab-based project the interpretation of these logs will be improved. The origin of the features is of broad interest to the ice-core community. If some components relate to changes in the depositional environment beyond seasonality, important climatic cycles may be seen. If some components relate to post-depositional reworking, insights will be gained into the physical processes that change snow and firn, and the implications for interpretation of the chemical record in terms of paleoclimate. In order to exploit these features to best advantage in future ice-core and climate-change research, the two principal objectives of this project are to determine what physically causes the optical differences that we see and to determine the environmental processes that give rise to these physical differences. In the laboratory at NICL the conditions of a log of a borehole wall will be re-created as closely as possible by running the borehole video camera along sections of ice core, making an optical log of light reflected from the core. Combinations of physical variables that are correlated with optical features will be identified. A radiative-transfer model will be used to aid in the interpretation of these measurements, and to determine the optimum configuration for an improved future logging tool. An attempt will be made to determine the origin of the features. Two broad possibilities exist: 1) temporal changes in the depositional environment, and 2) post-depositional reworking. This project represents an important step toward a new way of learning about paleoclimate with borehole optical methods. Broader impacts include enhancing the infrastructure for research and education, since this instrument will complement high-resolution continuous-melter chemistry techniques and provide a rapid way to log physical variables using optical features as a proxy for climate signals. Since no core is required for this method, it can be used in rapidly drilled access holes or where core quality is poor. This project will support a graduate student who will carry out this project under the direction of the Principal Investigator. K-12 education will be enhanced through an ongoing collaboration with a science and math teacher from a local middle school. International collaboration will be expanded through work on this project with colleagues at the Norwegian Polar Institute and broad dissemination of results will occur through a project website for the general public.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e OPTICAL DUST LOGGERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ice; Stratigraphy; Optical; Glaciers; Polar Ice; Ice Microphysics; Snow; Firn; Climate Change; LABORATORY; Snow Stratigraphy; Borehole", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Ben; Waddington, Edwin D.; Hawley, Robert L.; Fudge, T. J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Borehole Optical Stratigraphy: Ice Microphysics, Climate Change, and the Optical Properties of Firn", "uid": "p0000016", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0440666 Waddington, Edwin", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Histories of Accumulation, Thickness, and WAIS Divide Location, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609473", "doi": "10.7265/N5QR4V2J", "keywords": "Antarctica; Elevation; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; WAIS Divide; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Waddington, Edwin D.; Koutnik, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Histories of Accumulation, Thickness, and WAIS Divide Location, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609473"}], "date_created": "Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports development of a new modeling approach that will extract information about past snow accumulation rate in both space and time in the vicinity of the future ice core near the Ross-Amundsen divide of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Internal layers, detected by ice-penetrating radar, are isochrones, or former ice-sheet surfaces that have been buried by subsequent snowfall, and distorted by ice flow. Extensive ice-penetrating radar data are available over the inland portion of the WAIS. Layers have been dated back to 17,000 years before present. The radar data add the spatial dimension to the temporally resolved accumulation record from ice cores. Accumulation rates are traditionally derived from the depths of young, shallow layers, corrected for strain using a local 1-D ice-flow model. Older, deeper layers have been more affected by flow over large horizontal distances. However, it is these deeper layers that contain information on longer-term climate patterns. This project will use geophysical inverse theory and a 2.5D flow-band ice-flow forward model comprising ice-surface and layer-evolution modules, to extract robust transient accumulation patterns by assimilating multiple deeper, more-deformed layers that have previously been intractable. Histories of divide migration, geothermal flux, and surface evolution will also be produced. The grant will support the PhD research of a female graduate student who is a mentor to female socio-economically disadvantaged high-school students interested in science, through the University of Washington Women\u0027s Center. It will also provide a research\u003cbr/\u003eexperience for an undergraduate student, and contribute to a freshman seminar on Scientific Research.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e GPR; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e GPR; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ross-Amundsen Divide; FIELD SURVEYS; Internal Layers; Ice Flow Model; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Accumulation; Glacier; Ice Penetrating Radar; Model; MODELS; Snow Accumulation; GPS; Antarctica; Isochron; Not provided; Snowfall; Radar", "locations": "West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarctica; Ross-Amundsen Divide", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Koutnik, Michelle; Waddington, Edwin D.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e NAVIGATION SATELLITES \u003e GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) \u003e GPS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": null, "title": "Histories of accumulation, thickness and WAIS Divide location from radar layers using a new inverse approach", "uid": "p0000018", "west": null}, {"awards": "0338008 Wemple, Beverley", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Laboratory Studies of Isotopic Exchange in Snow; Snow Accumulation and Snow Melt in a Mixed Northern Hardwood-Conifer Forest", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609445", "doi": "10.7265/N51834DX", "keywords": "Atmosphere; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Snow Sublimation Rate", "people": "Neumann, Thomas A.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Laboratory Studies of Isotopic Exchange in Snow", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609445"}, {"dataset_uid": "609441", "doi": "10.7265/N54X55R2", "keywords": "Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Wemple, Beverley C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Snow Accumulation and Snow Melt in a Mixed Northern Hardwood-Conifer Forest", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609441"}], "date_created": "Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to develop a quantitative understanding of the processes active in isotopic exchange between snow/firn and water vapor, which is of paramount importance to ice core interpretation. Carefully controlled laboratory studies will be conducted at a variety of temperatures to empirically measure the mass transfer coefficient (the rate at which water moves from the solid to the vapor phase) for sublimating snow and to determine the time scale for isotopic equilibration between water vapor and ice. In addition the isotopic fractionation coefficient for vapor derived from sublimating ice will be determined and the results will be used to update existing models of mass transfer and isotopic evolution in firn. It is well known that water vapor moves through firn due to diffusion, free convection and forced convection. Although vapor movement through variably-saturated firn due to these processes has been modeled, because of a lack of laboratory data the mass transfer coefficient had to be estimated. Field studies have documented the magnitudes of post-depositional changes, but field studies do not permit rigorous analysis of the relative importance of the many processes which are likely to act in natural snow packs. The results of these laboratory investigations will be broadly applicable to a number of studies and will allow for improvement of existing physically-based models of post-depositional isotopic change, isotopic diffusion in firn, and vapor motion in firn. A major component of this project will be the design and fabrication of the necessary, novel experimental apparatus, which will be facilitated by existing technical expertise, cold room facilities, and laboratory equipment at CRREL. This project is a necessary step toward a quantitative understanding of the isotopic effects of water vapor movement in firn. The proposed work has broader impacts in several different areas. The modeling results will be applicable to a wide range of studies of water in the polar environment, including studies of wind-blown or drifting snow. The proposed collaborative study will partially support a Dartmouth graduate student for three years. This project will also provide support for a young first-time NSF investigator at the University of Vermont. Undergraduate students from Dartmouth will be involved in the research through the Women in Science Project and undergraduate students at the University of Vermont will be supported through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. The principal investigators and graduate student will continue their tradition of k-12 school outreach by giving science lessons and talks in local schools each year. Research results will be disseminated through scientific conferences, journal publications, and institutional seminars.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e SNOW TUBE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e HYGROMETERS \u003e HYGROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Snow Accumulation; Snow Chemistry; Snow Melt; Snowfall; Snow Water Equivalent; LABORATORY; Seasonal Snow Cover; Not provided; Snow; Sublimation Rate; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Neumann, Thomas A.; Wemple, Beverley C.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Laboratory Studies of Isotopic Exchange in Snow and Firn", "uid": "p0000132", "west": null}, {"awards": "0536526 Le Masurier, Wesley", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-136 -73,-133.4 -73,-130.8 -73,-128.2 -73,-125.6 -73,-123 -73,-120.4 -73,-117.8 -73,-115.2 -73,-112.6 -73,-110 -73,-110 -73.425,-110 -73.85,-110 -74.275,-110 -74.7,-110 -75.125,-110 -75.55,-110 -75.975,-110 -76.4,-110 -76.825,-110 -77.25,-112.6 -77.25,-115.2 -77.25,-117.8 -77.25,-120.4 -77.25,-123 -77.25,-125.6 -77.25,-128.2 -77.25,-130.8 -77.25,-133.4 -77.25,-136 -77.25,-136 -76.825,-136 -76.4,-136 -75.975,-136 -75.55,-136 -75.125,-136 -74.7,-136 -74.275,-136 -73.85,-136 -73.425,-136 -73))", "dataset_titles": "Geochemistry and Petrologic Evolution of Felsic Volcanoes in Western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600051", "doi": "10.15784/600051", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Intracontinental Magmatism; IntraContinental Magmatism; Marie Byrd Land; Solid Earth", "people": "Le Masurier, Wesley", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Geochemistry and Petrologic Evolution of Felsic Volcanoes in Western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600051"}], "date_created": "Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project uses geochemical studies to determine the origin of volcanic rocks from Marie Byrd Land (MBL), Antarctica. Surprisingly, adjacent volcanoes in the MBL have dramatically different compositions, ranging from phonolite to trachyte to rhyolite. This diversity offers an opportunity to constrain the processes responsible for generating silica oversaturated and undersaturated magmas in a single geologic setting. Previous work suggests that the most obvious and simplest explanation--crustal contamination--is not a significant factor, and that polybaric fractional crystallization is the major cause. This study evaluates these factors through analyses and interpretation of trace and rare earth element abundances, as well as Sr and Nd isotopic ratios. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts include outreach programs to the Girl Scouts of America, and dissemination of results through publications and meetings.", "east": -110.0, "geometry": "POINT(-123 -75.125)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": null, "north": -73.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Le Masurier, Wesley", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.25, "title": "Geochemistry and Petrologic Evolution of Felsic Volcanoes in Western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000534", "west": -136.0}, {"awards": "0741380 Smith, Walker", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((100 -65,106 -65,112 -65,118 -65,124 -65,130 -65,136 -65,142 -65,148 -65,154 -65,160 -65,160 -66.5,160 -68,160 -69.5,160 -71,160 -72.5,160 -74,160 -75.5,160 -77,160 -78.5,160 -80,154 -80,148 -80,142 -80,136 -80,130 -80,124 -80,118 -80,112 -80,106 -80,100 -80,100 -78.5,100 -77,100 -75.5,100 -74,100 -72.5,100 -71,100 -69.5,100 -68,100 -66.5,100 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600085", "doi": "10.15784/600085", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; CTD Data; Geochemistry; Oceans; Oden; OSO2007; Sea Surface; Southern Ocean", "people": "Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600085"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research will examine the relative importance of the physical and chemical controls on phytoplankton dynamics and carbon flux in continental margin regions of the Southern Ocean, and elucidate mechanisms by which plankton populations and carbon export might be altered by climate change. We specifically will address (1) how the phytoplankton on the continental margins of the southern Ocean respond to spatial and temporal changes in temperature, light, iron supply, and carbon dioxide levels, (2) how these factors initiate changes in phytoplankton assemblage structure, and (3) how carbon export and the efficiency of the biological pump are impacted by the biomass and composition of the phytoplankton. Two regions of study (the Amundsen and Ross Seas) will be investigated, one well studied (Ross Sea) and one poorly described (Amundsen Sea). It is hypothesized that each region will have markedly different physical forcing, giving rise to distinct chemical conditions and therefore biological responses. As such, the comparison of the two may give us insights into the mechanisms of how Antarctic continental margins will respond under changing environmental conditions. Broader impacts include participation by an international graduate student from Brazil, outreach via seminars to the general public, collaboration with the teachers-in-residence on the cruise, development of a cruise web site and interactive email exchanges with local middle school students while at sea", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(130 -72.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -65.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Walker", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "Small Grants for Exploratory Research - Oceanographic Research in the Amundsen and Ross Seas:", "uid": "p0000217", "west": 100.0}, {"awards": "0440478 Tang, Kam", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "dataset_titles": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600043", "doi": "10.15784/600043", "keywords": "Biota; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Phytoplankton; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; Zooplankton", "people": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial Forms of Phaeocystis Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600043"}], "date_created": "Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:\u003cbr/\u003eo Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and\u003cbr/\u003ephotosynthetic rates?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. \u003cbr/\u003eAntarctica?\u003cbr/\u003eo How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population\u003cbr/\u003edynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience.", "east": 166.66267, "geometry": "POINT(166.66267 -77.85067)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.85067, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tang, Kam; Smith, Walker", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.85067, "title": "Environmental and Ecological Regulation of Differences and Interactions between Solitary and Colonial forms of Phaeocystis antarctica", "uid": "p0000214", "west": 166.66267}, {"awards": "0436190 Eastman, Joseph", "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": "Biodiversity, Buoyancy and Morphological Studies of Non-Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600038", "doi": "10.15784/600038", "keywords": "Biota; NBP0404; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean", "people": "Eastman, Joseph", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Biodiversity, Buoyancy and Morphological Studies of Non-Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600038"}], "date_created": "Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Patterns of biodiversity, as revealed by basic research in organismal biology, may be derived from ecological and evolutionary processes expressed in unique settings, such as Antarctica. The polar regions and their faunas are commanding increased attention as declining species diversity, environmental change, commercial fisheries, and resource management are now being viewed in a global context. Commercial fishing is known to have a direct and pervasive effect on marine biodiversity, and occurs in the Southern Ocean as far south as the Ross Sea. \u003cbr/\u003eThe nature of fish biodiversity in the Antarctic is different than in all other ocean shelf areas. Waters of the Antarctic continental shelf are ice covered for most of the year and water temperatures are nearly constant at -1.5 C. In these waters components of the phyletically derived Antarctic clade of Notothenioids dominate fish diversity. In some regions, including the southwestern Ross Sea, Notothenioids are overwhelmingly dominant in terms of number of species, abundance, and biomass. Such dominance by a single taxonomic group is unique among shelf faunas of the world. In the absence of competition from a taxonomically diverse fauna, Notothenioids underwent a habitat or depth related diversification keyed to the utilization of unfilled niches in the water column, especially pelagic or partially pelagic zooplanktivory and piscivory. This has been accomplished in the absence of a swim bladder for buoyancy control. They also may form a special type of adaptive radiation known as a species flock, which is an assemblage of a disproportionately high number of related species that have evolved rapidly within a defined area where most species are endemic. Diversification in buoyancy is the hallmark of the notothenioid radiation. Buoyancy is the feature of notothenioid biology that determines whether a species lives on the substrate, in the water column or both. Buoyancy also influences other key aspects of life history including swimming, feeding and reproduction and thus has implications for the role of the species in the ecosystem. \u003cbr/\u003eWith similarities to classic evolutionary hot spots, the Antarctic shelf and its Notothenioid radiation merit further exploration. The 2004 \"International Collaborative Expedition to collect and study Fish Indigenous to Sub-Antarctic Habitats,\" or, \"ICEFISH,\" provided a platform for collection of notothenioid fishes from sub-Antarctic waters between South America and Africa, which will be examined in this project. This study will determine buoyancy for samples of all notothenioid species captured during the ICEFISH cruise. This essential aspect of the biology is known for only 19% of the notothenioid fauna. Also, the gross and microscopic anatomy of brains and sense organs of the phyletically basal families Bovichtidae, Eleginopidae, and of the non-Antarctic species of the primarily Antarctic family Nototheniidae will be examined. The fish biodiversity and endemicity in poorly known localities along the ICEFISH cruise track, seamounts and deep trenches will be quantified. Broader impacts include improved information for comprehending and conserving biodiversity, a scientific and societal priority.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Eastman, Joseph", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Biodiversity, Buoyancy and Morphological Studies of Non-Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0000106", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0741403 Sherrell, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -69,-172.5 -69,-165 -69,-157.5 -69,-150 -69,-142.5 -69,-135 -69,-127.5 -69,-120 -69,-112.5 -69,-105 -69,-105 -69.9,-105 -70.8,-105 -71.7,-105 -72.6,-105 -73.5,-105 -74.4,-105 -75.3,-105 -76.2,-105 -77.1,-105 -78,-112.5 -78,-120 -78,-127.5 -78,-135 -78,-142.5 -78,-150 -78,-157.5 -78,-165 -78,-172.5 -78,180 -78,178.8 -78,177.6 -78,176.4 -78,175.2 -78,174 -78,172.8 -78,171.6 -78,170.4 -78,169.2 -78,168 -78,168 -77.1,168 -76.2,168 -75.3,168 -74.4,168 -73.5,168 -72.6,168 -71.7,168 -70.8,168 -69.9,168 -69,169.2 -69,170.4 -69,171.6 -69,172.8 -69,174 -69,175.2 -69,176.4 -69,177.6 -69,178.8 -69,-180 -69))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research objective is (1) to determine the distributions and dynamics of a full suite of bioactive trace metals in dissolved and suspended particulate forms, along sampling transects of the Amundsen and Ross Seas. And (2) to test the sensitivity of overall cellular metal stoichiometry (metal/carbon ratios) to natural gradients in species assemblage and Fe availability. Our earlier findings from a single Ross Sea station and from a Drake Passage crossing suggest that Fe-limited phytoplankton cells are unusually enriched in Zn, Cu and Cd relative to biomass carbon, with strong implications for the biogeochemical cycling of these elements relative to carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. In collaboration with other researchers on the cruise, we will also measure metal stoichiometry of cells exposed to predicted 2010 temperature and carbon dioxide levels in shipboard incubation studies, as a window into possible effects of climate change on metals biogeochemistry in these regions. This proposal will support close international collaborations and lasting infrastructure development as US and Swedish scientists, and more importantly, their students, work toward shared the shared goal of understanding a region that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on the globe. Trace metal micro-nutrients are a key control on the productivity of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Our results will be made widely available through research publications and internet-available databases, and public outreach through COSEE at Rutgers University.", "east": -105.0, "geometry": "POINT(-148.5 -73.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -69.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sherrell, Robert", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "SGER: Science-of-Opportunity Aboard Icebreaker Oden: Bioactive trace metals in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "uid": "p0000561", "west": 168.0}, {"awards": "0228842 Grew, Edward", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((76 -69.3,76.05 -69.3,76.1 -69.3,76.15 -69.3,76.2 -69.3,76.25 -69.3,76.3 -69.3,76.35 -69.3,76.4 -69.3,76.45 -69.3,76.5 -69.3,76.5 -69.32,76.5 -69.34,76.5 -69.36,76.5 -69.38,76.5 -69.4,76.5 -69.42,76.5 -69.44,76.5 -69.46,76.5 -69.48,76.5 -69.5,76.45 -69.5,76.4 -69.5,76.35 -69.5,76.3 -69.5,76.25 -69.5,76.2 -69.5,76.15 -69.5,76.1 -69.5,76.05 -69.5,76 -69.5,76 -69.48,76 -69.46,76 -69.44,76 -69.42,76 -69.4,76 -69.38,76 -69.36,76 -69.34,76 -69.32,76 -69.3))", "dataset_titles": "Boron in Antarctic granulite-facies rocks: under what conditions is boron retained in the middle crust?", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600030", "doi": "10.15784/600030", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Solid Earth", "people": "Grew, Edward", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Boron in Antarctic granulite-facies rocks: under what conditions is boron retained in the middle crust?", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600030"}], "date_created": "Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role and fate of Boron in high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Larsemann Hills region of Antarctica. Trace elements provide valuable information on the changes sedimentary rocks undergo as temperature and pressure increase during burial. One such element, boron, is particularly sensitive to increasing temperature because of its affinity for aqueous fluids, which are lost as rocks are buried. Boron contents of unmetamorphosed pelitic sediments range from 20 to over 200 parts per million, but rarely exceed 5 parts per million in rocks subjected to conditions of the middle and lower crust, that is, temperatures of 700 degrees C or more in the granulite-facies, which is characterized by very low water activities at pressures of 5 to 10 kbar (18-35 km burial). Devolatization reactions with loss of aqueous fluid and partial melting with removal of melt have been cited as primary causes for boron depletion under granulite-facies conditions. Despite the pervasiveness of both these processes, rocks rich in boron are locally found in the granulite-facies, that is, there are mechanisms for retaining boron during the metamorphic process. The Larsemann Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica, are a prime example. More than 20 lenses and layered bodies containing four borosilicate mineral species crop out over a 50 square kilometer area, which thus would be well suited for research on boron-rich granulite-facies metamorphic rocks. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eWhile most investigators have focused on the causes for loss of boron, this work will investigate how boron is retained during high-grade metamorphism. Field observations and mapping in the Larsemann Hills, chemical analyses of minerals and their host rocks, and microprobe age dating will be used to identify possible precursors and deduce how the precursor materials recrystallized into borosilicate rocks under granulite-facies conditions. The working hypothesis is that high initial boron content facilitates retention of boron during metamorphism because above a certain threshold boron content, a mechanism \"kicks in\" that facilitates retention of boron in metamorphosed rocks. For example, in a rock with large amounts of the borosilicate tourmaline, such as stratabound tourmalinite, the breakdown of tourmaline to melt could result in the formation of prismatine and grandidierite, two borosilicates found in the Larsemann Hills. This situation is rarely observed in rocks with modest boron content, in which breakdown of tourmaline releases boron into partial melts, which in turn remove boron when they leave the system. Stratabound tourmalinite is associated with manganese-rich quartzite, phosphorus-rich rocks and sulfide concentrations that could be diagnostic for recognizing a tourmalinite protolith in a highly metamorphosed complex where sedimentary features have been destroyed by deformation. Because partial melting plays an important role in the fate of boron during metamorphism, our field and laboratory research will focus on the relationship between the borosilicate units, granite pegmatites and other granitic intrusives. The results of our study will provide information on cycling of boron at deeper levels in the Earth\u0027s crust and on possible sources of boron for granites originating from deep-seated rocks.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn undergraduate student will participate in the electron microprobe age-dating of monazite and xenotime as part of a senior project, thereby integrating the proposed research into the educational mission of the University of Maine. In response to a proposal for fieldwork, the Australian Antarctic Division, which maintains Davis station near the Larsemann Hills, has indicated that they will support the Antarctic fieldwork.", "east": 76.5, "geometry": "POINT(76.25 -69.4)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": null, "north": -69.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Grew, Edward", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -69.5, "title": "Boron in Antarctic granulite-facies rocks: under what conditions is boron retained in the middle crust?", "uid": "p0000431", "west": 76.0}, {"awards": "0538683 Lal, Devendra", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Solar activity during the last millennium, estimated from cosmogenic in-situ C14 in South Pole and GISP2 ice cores", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600058", "doi": "10.15784/600058", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Cosmos; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Paleoclimate; Solar Activity; South Pole", "people": "Lal, Devendra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Solar activity during the last millennium, estimated from cosmogenic in-situ C14 in South Pole and GISP2 ice cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600058"}], "date_created": "Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0538683\u003cbr/\u003eLal\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to continue development of a new method for estimating solar activity in the past. It is based on measurements of the concentrations of in-situ produced C-14 in polar ice by cosmic rays, which depend only on (i) the cosmic ray flux, and (ii) ice accumulation rate. This is the only direct method available to date polar ice, since it does not involve any uncertain climatic transfer functions as are encountered in the applications of cosmogenic C-14 data in tree rings, or of Be-10 in ice and sediments. An important task is to improve on the temporal resolution during identified periods of high/low solar activity in the past 32 Kyr. The plan is to undertake a study of changes in the cosmic ray flux during the last millennium (1100-1825 A.D.), during which time 4 low and 1 high solar activity epoch has been identified from historical records. Sunspot data during most of these periods are sparse. Adequate ice samples are available from ice cores from the South Pole and from Summit, Greenland and a careful high resolution study of past solar activity levels during this period will be undertaken. The intellectual merit of the work includes providing independent verification of estimated solar activity levels from the two polar ice records of cosmic ray flux and greatly improve our understanding of solar-terrestrial relationships. \u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts include collaboration with other scientists who are experts in the application of the atmospheric cosmogenic C-14 and student training. Both undergraduates and a graduate student will be involved in the proposed research. Various forms of outreach will also be used to disseminate the results of this project, including public presentations and interactions with the media.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lal, Devendra", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Solar Activity during the Last Millennium, Estimated from Cosmogenic in-situ 14C in South Pole and GISP2 Ice Cores", "uid": "p0000555", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "0225110 Garrott, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.1 -70.3,163.59 -70.3,164.08 -70.3,164.57 -70.3,165.06 -70.3,165.55 -70.3,166.04 -70.3,166.53 -70.3,167.02 -70.3,167.51 -70.3,168 -70.3,168 -70.98,168 -71.66,168 -72.34,168 -73.02,168 -73.7,168 -74.38,168 -75.06,168 -75.74,168 -76.42,168 -77.1,167.51 -77.1,167.02 -77.1,166.53 -77.1,166.04 -77.1,165.55 -77.1,165.06 -77.1,164.57 -77.1,164.08 -77.1,163.59 -77.1,163.1 -77.1,163.1 -76.42,163.1 -75.74,163.1 -75.06,163.1 -74.38,163.1 -73.7,163.1 -73.02,163.1 -72.34,163.1 -71.66,163.1 -70.98,163.1 -70.3))", "dataset_titles": "Weddell Seal data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000120", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Weddell Seal data", "url": "http://www.montana.edu/weddellseals/"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Erebus Bay Weddell seal population study in eastern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica was initiated in 1968 and represents one of the longest intensive field investigations of a long-lived mammal in existence. Over the thirty-four year period of this study a total of 15,636 animals have been tagged with 144,927 re-sighting records logged in the current database. As such, this study is an extremely valuable resource for understanding population dynamics of not only Weddell seals, but also other species of both terrestrial and marine mammals with similar life-history characteristics. With the retirement of the original investigator, Dr. Donald Siniff, this proposal represents an effort to transition the long-term studies to a new team of investigators. Dr. Robert Garrott and Dr. Jay Rotella propose building upon the foundation with two lines of investigation that combine use of the long-term database with new field initiatives. The continuity of the demographic data will be maintained by annually marking all pups born, replace lost or broken tags, and perform multiple mark-recapture censuses of the Erebus Bay seal colonies. The new data will be combined with the existing database and a progressively complex series of analyses will be performed using recently developed mark-recapture methods to decompose, evaluate, and integrate the demographic characteristics of the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population. These analyses will allow the testing of specific hypotheses about population regulation as well as temporal and spatial patterns of variation in vital rates among colonies within the population that have been posed by previous investigators, but have not been adequately evaluated due to data and analytical limitations. The primary new field initiative will involve an intensive study of mass dynamics of both pups and adult females as a surrogate measure for assessing annual variation in marine resources and their potential role in limiting and/or regulating the population. In conjunction with the collection of data on body mass dynamics the investigators will use satellite imagery to develop an extended time series of sea ice extent in McMurdo Sound. Regional extent of sea ice affects both regional primary productivity and availability of haul out areas for Weddell seals. Increased primary productivity may increase marine resources which would be expected to have a positive affect on Weddell seal foraging efficiency, leading to increased body mass. These data combined with the large proportion of known-aged seals in the current study population (\u003e60%) will allow the investigators to develop a powerful database to test specific hypotheses about ecological processes affecting Weddell seals. Knowledge of the mechanisms that limit and/or regulate Weddell seal populations and the specific bio-physical linkages between climate, oceans, ice, and Antarctic food webs can provide important contributions to understanding of pinniped population dynamics, as well as contribute more generally to theoretical understanding of population, community, and ecosystem patterns and processes. Such knowledge can be readily applied elsewhere to enhance the ability of natural resource managers to effectively maintain assemblages of other large-mammal species and the ecological processes that they facilitate. Continuation of this long-term study may also contribute to understanding the potential impacts of human activities such as global climate warming and the commercial exploitation of Antarctic marine resources. And finally, the study can contribute significantly to the development and testing of new research and analytical methodologies that will almost certainly have many other applications.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165.55 -73.7)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -70.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Garrott, Robert; Siniff, Donald; Rotella, Jay", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.1, "title": "Patterns and Processes: Dynamics of the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population", "uid": "p0000109", "west": 163.1}, {"awards": "0230268 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -50,-169 -50,-158 -50,-147 -50,-136 -50,-125 -50,-114 -50,-103 -50,-92 -50,-81 -50,-70 -50,-70 -51.5,-70 -53,-70 -54.5,-70 -56,-70 -57.5,-70 -59,-70 -60.5,-70 -62,-70 -63.5,-70 -65,-81 -65,-92 -65,-103 -65,-114 -65,-125 -65,-136 -65,-147 -65,-158 -65,-169 -65,180 -65,177 -65,174 -65,171 -65,168 -65,165 -65,162 -65,159 -65,156 -65,153 -65,150 -65,150 -63.5,150 -62,150 -60.5,150 -59,150 -57.5,150 -56,150 -54.5,150 -53,150 -51.5,150 -50,153 -50,156 -50,159 -50,162 -50,165 -50,168 -50,171 -50,174 -50,177 -50,-180 -50))", "dataset_titles": "Southern Ocean Deglacial Opal, Radionuclide, and Diatom Upwelling Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000199", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern Ocean Deglacial Opal, Radionuclide, and Diatom Upwelling Data", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/8439"}], "date_created": "Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\" as it relates to global carbon dioxide fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIntellectual Merit\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will evaluate the burial rate of biogenic opal in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, both during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the Holocene, as a critical test of the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\". \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\" has been proposed recently to explain the glacial reduction in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere that has been reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores. Vast amounts of dissolved Si (silicic acid) are supplied to surface waters of the Southern Ocean by wind-driven upwelling of deep waters. Today, that dissolved Si is consumed almost quantitatively by diatoms who form skeletal structures composed of biogenic opal (a mineral form of silicon). According to the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis\", environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean during glacial periods were unfavorable for diatom growth, leading to reduced (compared to interglacials) efficiency of dissolved Si utilization. Dissolved Si that was not consumed biologically in the glacial Southern ocean was then exported to the tropics in waters that sink in winter to depths of a few hundred meters along the northern fringes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and return some decades later to the sunlit surface in tropical regions of wind-driven upwelling. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn increase in the amount of dissolved Si that \"leaks\" out of the Southern Ocean and later upwells at low latitudes could shift the global average composition of phytoplankton toward a greater abundance of diatoms and fewer CaCO3-secreting taxa (especially coccolithophorids). Consequences of such a taxonomic shift in the ocean\u0027s phytoplankton assemblage include:\u003cbr/\u003e a) an increase in the global average organic carbon/calcium carbonate ratio of particulate biogenic material sinking into the deep sea;\u003cbr/\u003e b) a reduction in the preservation and burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments;\u003cbr/\u003e c) an increase in ocean alkalinity as a consequence of the first two changes mentioned above, and;\u003cbr/\u003e d) a lowering of atmospheric CO2 concentrations in response to increased alkalinity of ocean waters. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA complete assessment of the Silicic acid leakage hypothesis will require an evaluation of: (1) Si utilization efficiencies using newly-developed stable isotopic techniques; (2) opal burial rates in low-latitude upwelling regions; and (3) opal burial rates in the Southern Ocean. This project addresses the last of these topics. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePrevious work has shown that there was little change in opal burial rate between the LGM and the Holocene in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. Preliminary results (summarized in this proposal) suggest that the Pacific may have been different, however, in that opal burial rates in the Pacific sector seem to have been lower during the LGM than during the Holocene, allowing for the possibility of \"Si leakage\" from this region. However, available results are too sparse to make any quantitative conclusions at this time. For that reason, we propose to make a comprehensive evaluation of opal burial rates in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSignificance and Broader Impacts\u003cbr/\u003eDetermining the mechanism(s) by which the ocean has regulated climate-related changes in the CO2 content of the atmosphere has been the focus of a substantial effort by paleoceanographers over the past two decades. The Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis is a viable new candidate mechanism that warrants further exploration and testing. Completion of the proposed work will contribute significantly to that effort. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eDuring the course of this work, several undergraduates will be exposed to paleoclimate research through their involvement in this project. Burckle and Anderson are both dedicated to the education and training of young scientists, and to the recruitment of women and under-represented minorities. To illustrate, two summer students (undergraduates) worked in Burckle\u0027s lab during the summer of 2002. One was a woman and the other (male) was a member of an under-represented minority. Anderson and Burckle will continue with similar recruitment efforts during the course of the proposed study. A minority student who has expressed an interest in working on this research during the summer of 2003 has already been identified.", "east": -70.0, "geometry": "POINT(-140 -57.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -50.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Burckle, Lloyd", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Opal Burial in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean: A Test of the \"Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis.\"", "uid": "p0000457", "west": 150.0}, {"awards": "0234249 Hollibaugh, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-73 -64,-72.1 -64,-71.2 -64,-70.3 -64,-69.4 -64,-68.5 -64,-67.6 -64,-66.7 -64,-65.8 -64,-64.9 -64,-64 -64,-64 -64.4,-64 -64.8,-64 -65.2,-64 -65.6,-64 -66,-64 -66.4,-64 -66.8,-64 -67.2,-64 -67.6,-64 -68,-64.9 -68,-65.8 -68,-66.7 -68,-67.6 -68,-68.5 -68,-69.4 -68,-70.3 -68,-71.2 -68,-72.1 -68,-73 -68,-73 -67.6,-73 -67.2,-73 -66.8,-73 -66.4,-73 -66,-73 -65.6,-73 -65.2,-73 -64.8,-73 -64.4,-73 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea Abundance", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000117", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "LTER", "science_program": null, "title": "Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea Abundance", "url": "http://oceaninformatics.ucsd.edu/datazoo/data/pallter/datasets?action=summary\u0026id=114"}], "date_created": "Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will investigate the distribution, phylogenetic affinities and ecological aspects of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria in the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research study area. Ammonia oxidation is the first step in the conversion of regenerated nitrogen to dinitrogen gas via denitrification, a 3-step pathway mediated by three distinct guilds of bacteria. As such, ammonia oxidation is important to the global nitrogen cycle. Ammonia oxidation and the overall process of nitrification-denitrification have received little attention in polar oceans where it is significant and where the effects of climate change on biogeochemical rates are likely to be pronounced. The goals of the studies proposed here are A) to obtain more conclusive information concerning composition of Antarctic ammonia oxidizers; B) to begin characterizing their ecophysiology and ecology; and C) to obtain cultures of the organism for more detailed studies. Water column and sea ice AOB assemblages will be characterized phylogenetically and the different kinds of AOB in various samples will be quantified. Nitrification rates will be measured across the LTER study area in water column, sea ice and sediment samples. Grazing rates on AOB will be determined and their sensitivity to UV light evaluated. In addition, the significance of urea nitrogen as a source of reduced nitrogen to AOB will be assessed and the temperature response of nitrification over temperature ranges appropriate to polar regions will be evaluated. This work will provide insights into the ecology of AOB and the knowledge needed to model how water column nitrification will respond to changes in the polar ecosystems accompanying global climate change.", "east": -64.0, "geometry": "POINT(-68.5 -66)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hollibaugh, James T.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "LTER", "repositories": "LTER", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -68.0, "title": "Distribution And Ecology Of Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria In The Palmer LTER Study Area", "uid": "p0000225", "west": -73.0}, {"awards": "0741428 Hutchins, David", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-106 -73)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposal describes global change-related experimental research designed to take full advantage of a unique science opportunity on short notice, the leasing of the Oden to conduct ice-breaking operations in McMurdo Sound. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eOur emphasis will be on using this opportunistic research platform to ask two questions about present day and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton communities. These are: 1. How will expected alterations in pCO2, pH, and Fe availability in the Southern Ocean, due to future anthropogenic climate change affect phytoplankton species assemblages, carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry, and remineralization processes? 2. What is the current role of organic co-factors (vitamins) in limiting or co-limiting (along with iron ) phytoplankton growth and production in the Antarctic margin? The research approach includes experimental incubations with variation in iron enrichment, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature. A second suite of experiments will examine co-limitation effects between vitamin B12 and Fe and B12 uptake kinetics. Changes in phytoplankton community structure, and carbon and nutrient cycling will be determined, in collaboration with many of the participating U.S. and Swedish investigators. Together, these two main objectives should allow us to obtain novel insights into the current and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton growth, productivity, and carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. In particular, the experiments in the Amundsen Sea represent a one-of-a-kind opportunity to understand algal dynamics and potential future responses to climate change in this little-studied ecosystem, and compare these results to those from the better-known Ross Sea. An important result of this study will be to build strong international collaborations with the Swedish marine science community. Additional broader impacts include participatin of an Hispanic Ph.D. student in cruise work and post-cruise analyses, and integration of results into graduate courses at the USC Catalina Lab facility. Public outreach will include presentations on global change impacts on the ocean targeted at audiences ranging from legislators and policymakers to the general public.", "east": -106.0, "geometry": "POINT(-106 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SHIPS", "locations": null, "north": -73.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Hutchins, David", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -73.0, "title": "SGER: Science-of-Opportunity Aboard Icebreaker Oden - Phytoplankton Global Change Experiments and Vitamin/Iron Co-Limitation in the Amundsen and Ross Seas", "uid": "p0000224", "west": -106.0}, {"awards": "0228052 Kreutz, Karl", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.0434 -77.3002,161.241645 -77.3002,161.43989 -77.3002,161.638135 -77.3002,161.83638 -77.3002,162.034625 -77.3002,162.23287 -77.3002,162.431115 -77.3002,162.62936 -77.3002,162.827605 -77.3002,163.02585 -77.3002,163.02585 -77.3784846,163.02585 -77.4567692,163.02585 -77.5350538,163.02585 -77.6133384,163.02585 -77.691623,163.02585 -77.7699076,163.02585 -77.8481922,163.02585 -77.9264768,163.02585 -78.0047614,163.02585 -78.083046,162.827605 -78.083046,162.62936 -78.083046,162.431115 -78.083046,162.23287 -78.083046,162.034625 -78.083046,161.83638 -78.083046,161.638135 -78.083046,161.43989 -78.083046,161.241645 -78.083046,161.0434 -78.083046,161.0434 -78.0047614,161.0434 -77.9264768,161.0434 -77.8481922,161.0434 -77.7699076,161.0434 -77.691623,161.0434 -77.6133384,161.0434 -77.5350538,161.0434 -77.4567692,161.0434 -77.3784846,161.0434 -77.3002))", "dataset_titles": "Late Holocene Climate Variability, Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609399", "doi": "10.7265/N5FF3Q92", "keywords": "Antarctica; Borehole Temperature; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Dry Valleys; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Mass Balance; Paleoclimate; Physical Properties", "people": "Mayewski, Paul A.; Kreutz, Karl", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Late Holocene Climate Variability, Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609399"}], "date_created": "Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to collect and develop high-resolution ice core records from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, and provide interpretations of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability during the last 2000 years (late Holocene). The project will test hypotheses related to ocean/atmosphere teleconnections (e.g., El Nino Southern Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation) that may be responsible for major late Holocene climate events such as the Little Ice Age in the Southern Hemisphere. Conceptual and quantitative models of these processes in the Dry Valleys during the late Holocene are critical for understanding recent climate changes, and represent the main scientific merit of the project. We plan to collect intermediate-length ice cores (100-200m) at four sites along transects in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley, and analyze each core at high resolution for stable isotopes (d18O, dD), major ions (Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NH4+, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, MSA), and trace elements (Al, Fe, S, Sr, B). A suite of statistical techniques will be applied to the multivariate glaciochemical dataset to identify chemical associations and to calibrate the time-series records with available instrumental data. Broader impacts of the project include: 1) contributions to several ongoing interdisciplinary Antarctic research programs; 2) graduate and undergraduate student involvement in field, laboratory, and data interpretation activities; 3) use of project data and ideas in several UMaine courses and outreach activities; and 4) data dissemination through peer-reviewed publications, UMaine and other paleoclimate data archive websites, and presentations at national and international meetings.", "east": 163.02585, "geometry": "POINT(162.034625 -77.691623)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MC-ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e HUMIDITY SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e TEMPERATURE/HUMIDITY SENSORS \u003e TEMPERATURE SENSORS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Holocene; Climate Research; AWS Climate Data; Paleoclimate; Climate Variation; Dry Valleys; Wright Valley; Little Ice Age; Stable Isotopes; Glaciochemical; Ice Core; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Enso; Antarctic Oscillation; Climate; GPS; El Nino-Southern Oscillation; LABORATORY; Not provided; Climate Change; Ice Core Records; Antarctica; Taylor Valley; FIELD SURVEYS; Variability", "locations": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys; Taylor Valley; Wright Valley", "north": -77.3002, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Kreutz, Karl; Arcone, Steven; Mayewski, Paul A.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; SPACE-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e NAVIGATION SATELLITES \u003e GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) \u003e GPS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.083046, "title": "Dry Valleys Late Holocene Climate Variability", "uid": "p0000155", "west": 161.0434}, {"awards": "0338267 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.6 -77.4,161.773 -77.4,161.946 -77.4,162.119 -77.4,162.292 -77.4,162.465 -77.4,162.638 -77.4,162.811 -77.4,162.984 -77.4,163.157 -77.4,163.33 -77.4,163.33 -77.435,163.33 -77.47,163.33 -77.505,163.33 -77.54,163.33 -77.575,163.33 -77.61,163.33 -77.645,163.33 -77.68,163.33 -77.715,163.33 -77.75,163.157 -77.75,162.984 -77.75,162.811 -77.75,162.638 -77.75,162.465 -77.75,162.292 -77.75,162.119 -77.75,161.946 -77.75,161.773 -77.75,161.6 -77.75,161.6 -77.715,161.6 -77.68,161.6 -77.645,161.6 -77.61,161.6 -77.575,161.6 -77.54,161.6 -77.505,161.6 -77.47,161.6 -77.435,161.6 -77.4))", "dataset_titles": "Antarctic Hydrologic Margin Microbiology and Biogeochemistry - data; Hydrologic Margins Research Project, 2004-2008, McMurdo Dry Valleys", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000238", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Hydrologic Margin Microbiology and Biogeochemistry - data", "url": "http://water.engr.psu.edu/gooseff/web_antarctica/data.html"}, {"dataset_uid": "600016", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Gooseff, Michael N.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Hydrologic Margins Research Project, 2004-2008, McMurdo Dry Valleys", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600016"}], "date_created": "Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aquatic-terrestrial transition zones are crucial environments in understanding the biogeochemistry of landscapes. In temperate watersheds, these areas are generally dominated by riparian zones, which have been identified as regions of special interest for biogeochemistry because of the increased microbial activity in these locations, and because of the importance of these hydrological margins in facilitating and buffering hydrologic and biogeochemical exchanges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In the Antarctic Dry Valleys, terrestrial-aquatic transition zones are intriguing landscape features because of the vast importance of water in this polar desert, and because the material and energy budgets of dry valley ecosystems are linked by hydrology. Hydrological margins in aquatic-terrestrial transition zones will be studied in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to answer two overarching questions: (1) what are the major controls over hydrologic and biogeochemical exchange across aquaticterrestrial transition zones and (2) to what extent do trends in nutrient cycling (e.g. nitrogen cycling) across these transition zones reflect differences in microbial communities or function vs. differences in the physical and chemical environment (e.g., redox potential)? The hydrologic gradients that define these interfaces provide the opportunity to assess the relative influence of physical conditions and microbial biodiversity and functioning upon biogeochemical cycling. Coordinated hydrologic, biogeochemical, and molecular microbial studies will be executed within hydrologic margins with the following research objectives: to determine the role of sediment characteristics, permafrost and active layer dynamics, and topography on sub-surface water content and distribution in hydrologic margins, to determine the extent to which transformations of nitrogen in hydrological margins are influenced by physical conditions (i.e., moisture, redox potential and pH) or by the presence of specific microbial communities (e.g., denitrifiers), and to characterize the microbial community structure and function of saturated zones.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis proposed research will provide an improved understanding of the interaction of liquid water, soils, microbial communities, and biogeochemistry within the important hydrologic margin landscape units of the dry valleys. Dry valleys streams and lakes are unique because there is no influence of higher vegetation on the movement of water and may therefore provide a model system for understanding physical and hydrological influences on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Hence the findings will contribute to Antarctic science as well as the broader study of riparian zones and hydrologic margins worldwide. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be involved with fieldwork and research projects. Information will be disseminated through a project web site, and outreach activities will include science education in local elementary, middle and high schools near the three universities involved.", "east": 163.33, "geometry": "POINT(162.465 -77.575)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.4, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.; Barrett, John; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "PI website; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.75, "title": "Collaborative Research: Hydrologic Controls over Biogeochemistry and Microbial Community Structure and Function across Terrestrial/Aquatic Interfaces in a Polar Desert", "uid": "p0000340", "west": 161.6}, {"awards": "0124049 Berger, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.4 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.8 -77.5,162 -77.5,162.20000000000002 -77.5,162.4 -77.5,162.6 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,163 -77.5,163.20000000000002 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.4 -77.52,163.4 -77.54,163.4 -77.56,163.4 -77.58,163.4 -77.6,163.4 -77.62,163.4 -77.64,163.4 -77.66,163.4 -77.68,163.4 -77.7,163.20000000000002 -77.7,163 -77.7,162.8 -77.7,162.6 -77.7,162.4 -77.7,162.20000000000002 -77.7,162 -77.7,161.8 -77.7,161.6 -77.7,161.4 -77.7,161.4 -77.68,161.4 -77.66,161.4 -77.64,161.4 -77.62,161.4 -77.6,161.4 -77.58,161.4 -77.56,161.4 -77.54,161.4 -77.52,161.4 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0124049\u003cbr/\u003eBerger\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the Dry Valleys of the McMurdo Sound region of Antarctica. Using a modified Livingstone corer, transects of long cores will be obtained from Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, Joyce, and Vanda. A multiparameter approach will be employed which is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of former water-level, glaciological, and paleoenvironmental data from Dry Valleys lakes. Estimates of hydrologic changes will come from different proxies, including grain size, stratigraphy, evaporite mineralogy, stable isotope and trace element chemistry, and diatom assemblage analysis. The chronology, necessary to integrate the cores with the geomorphological record, as well as for comparisons with Antarctic ice-core and glacial records, will come from Uranium-Thorium, Uranium-Helium, and Carbon-14 dating of carbonates, as well as luminescence sediment dating. Evaluation of the link between lake-level and climate will come from hydrological and energy-balance modelling. Combination of the more continuous lake-core sequences with the spatially extensive geomorphological record will result in an integrated Antarctic lake-level and paleoclimate dataset that extends back at least 30,000 years. This record will be compared to Dry Valleys glacier records and to the Antarctic ice cores to address questions of regional climate variability, and then to other Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere records to assess interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of climate change.", "east": 163.4, "geometry": "POINT(162.4 -77.6)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LIDAR/LASER SOUNDERS \u003e LASERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Stratigraphy; Climate Variability; Shoreline Deposits; Dry Valleys; Antarctic Lake-level; Luminescence Geochronology; Grain Size; Paleoclimate; Antarctica; LABORATORY; Lake Cores", "locations": "Dry Valleys; Antarctica", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Berger, Glenn; Hall, Brenda; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7, "title": "Collaborative Research: Millennial Scale Fluctuations of Dry Valleys Lakes: Implications for Regional Climate Variability and the Interhemispheric (a)Synchrony of Climate Change", "uid": "p0000219", "west": 161.4}, {"awards": "0232000 Cailliet, Gregor", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Recent years have seen the re-establishment of large-scale marine resource utilization by humans in the Antarctic. In contrast to early sealing and whaling activity, the modern impact is directed on krill and finfish populations, most notably of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), but also its congenor the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Ross Sea. Toothfish are a valuable resource and are likely to continue to command a high price in world markets. However, extensive illegal fishing has lead to considerable concern that Patagonian toothfish populations are being over-harvested. In other parts of the world, over-harvesting of larger, commercially valuable species has led to fishing down of marine food webs, leaving impoverished, less valuable ecosystems. The goal of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, part of the Antarctic Treaty System, is to allow harvest while avoiding disruptions to the Antarctic ecosystem. To achieve this, the sustainable management of the fishery depends on reliable age data. Age data allow population age structure to be modeled, so that growth, mortality and recruitment rates can be estimated and used to understand population dynamics. Age data provides the basis to determine the life history pattern of a species, to model population dynamics, and to determine which age classes are vulnerable to over-exploitation under a particular set of environmental conditions. Current age and growth information for toothfish is based on age determination methodologies which are not validated and depend on the specific laboratory and principal investigator. Recently, the Commission of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has endorsed three preparation methodologies using otoliths and a common set of criteria for estimating age from otolith micro-structure. The CCAMLR Otolith Network has also been initiated as a medium for exchanging samples to ensure that age estimates are comparable between readers and laboratories. However, considerable work is needed to ensure that age estimates generated by the three methodologies are accurate. One technique that has been successful is radiometric age determination, which uses the disequilibria of lead-210 and radium-226 in otoliths as a natural chronometer. This proposal brings together an international collaboration to examine population age structure for both toothfish species, in an experimental design built around radiometric validation tests of age data generated by all three preparation methodologies. To integrate the validation component within an Antarctic-wide effort to examine toothfish population age structure, sub-samples for validation work will be drawn from sample sets taken for population age studies by research teams working in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France, as well as the United States. Scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories will use radiometric age determination to independently age otoliths from Patagonian and Antarctic toothfishes. Scientists at Old Dominion University will use a system already established for aging to generate validated age data, allowing growth, mortality, and longevity to be estimated by geographic areas. The project will provide validated otolith sample sets that can be used as a foundation for a unified and validated age estimation system for the toothfishes. This study will provide information which will be disseminated to the public, policy-makers and the international community. The project will provide opportunities for under-represented students at both universities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ALPHA-SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Andrews, Alan G.; ANDREWS, ALLEN", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Radiometric Age Validation of the Patagonian and Antarctic Toothfishes (Dissostichus Eleginoides and D. Mawsoni)", "uid": "p0000738", "west": null}, {"awards": "0603729 Mukasa, Samuel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.2 -77.5029,161.26 -77.5029,161.32 -77.5029,161.38 -77.5029,161.44 -77.5029,161.5 -77.5029,161.56 -77.5029,161.62 -77.5029,161.68 -77.5029,161.74 -77.5029,161.8 -77.5029,161.8 -77.52511,161.8 -77.54732,161.8 -77.56953,161.8 -77.59174,161.8 -77.61395,161.8 -77.63616,161.8 -77.65837,161.8 -77.68058,161.8 -77.70279,161.8 -77.725,161.74 -77.725,161.68 -77.725,161.62 -77.725,161.56 -77.725,161.5 -77.725,161.44 -77.725,161.38 -77.725,161.32 -77.725,161.26 -77.725,161.2 -77.725,161.2 -77.70279,161.2 -77.68058,161.2 -77.65837,161.2 -77.63616,161.2 -77.61395,161.2 -77.59174,161.2 -77.56953,161.2 -77.54732,161.2 -77.52511,161.2 -77.5029))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This Small Grant for Exploratory Research supports measurement of PGE abundances and Hf, Nd, Sr and Pb isotopic ratios of the Basement Sill and Dais Intrusion lobe of the Ferrar Magmatic Province, Antarctica. This province played a key role in the breakup of Gondwanaland. Models to be tested are magma production by plume activity versus decompression melting in a fossil subduction zone. The PGE data will also be used to evaluate the behavior of volatiles during magma crystallization, which other evidence indicates may have reached saturation. The samples to be studied were collected during the NSF-sponsored, Magmatic Field Laboratory Workshop held in Antarctica in 2005. This study\u0027s results will be compliled with complementary data from other attendees to develop a new multidisciplinary model of Ferrar magmatism.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts fo this work include international collaboration and informal science education through public outreach to K12 students.", "east": 161.8, "geometry": "POINT(161.5 -77.61395)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e ICP-MS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Magma Crystallization; Ferrar Magmatic Province; Dais Intrusion Lobe; Basement Sill; Antarctic; HELICOPTER; Ferrar Magmatism; Antarctica", "locations": "Basement Sill; Ferrar Magmatic Province; Antarctica; Antarctic", "north": -77.5029, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mukasa, Samuel", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e ROTORCRAFT/HELICOPTER \u003e HELICOPTER", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.725, "title": "SGER: Basement Sill, Antarctica: Constraints from its PGE Abundance Patterns and Isotopic Compositions on Magma Source Characteristics and Crystallization Processes", "uid": "p0000278", "west": 161.2}, {"awards": "0230469 Wise, Sherwood", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports the development of a standardized diatom image catalog or database. Diatoms are considered by many to be the most important microfossil group used today in the study of Antarctic Cenozoic marine deposits south of the Polar Front, from the near shore to deep sea. These microfossils, with walls of silica called frustules, are produced by single-celled plants (algae of the Class Bacillariophyceae) in a great variety of forms. Consequently, they have great biostratigraphic importance in the Southern Ocean and elsewhere for determining the age of marine sediments. Also, paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies increasingly rely on fossil diatom data. Changing biogeographic distributions of given taxa indicate shifting paleoecological conditions and provide evidence of the surface productivity and temperatures of ancient oceans. The generality of conclusions, though, is limited by variation in species concepts among workers. The broad research community relies, directly or indirectly, on the accurate identification of diatom species. Current technology can be used to greatly improve upon the standard references that have been used in making these identifications.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will develop an interactive digital-image catalog of modern and Cenozoic fossil diatoms of the Southern Ocean called \"DiatomWare\" for use by specialists and educators as an aid in rapid, accurate, and consistent species identification. As such, this will be a researcher\u0027s resource. It will be especially useful where it is not possible to maintain standard library resources such as onboard research vessels or at remote stations such as McMurdo Station. Major Antarctic geological drilling initiatives such as the new SHALDRIL project and the pending ANDRILL project will benefit from this product because they will rely heavily on diatom biostratigraphy to achieve their research objectives. The DiatomWare image database will be modeled on NannoWare, which was released in October 2002 on CD-ROM as a publication of the International Nannoplankton Association. BugCam will be adapted and modified as necessary to run the DiatomWare database, which can then be run from desktop or laptop computers. Images and text for the database will be scanned from the literature or captured in digital form from light or scanning electron microscopes.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe software interface will include a number of data fields that can be accessed by the click of a mouse button. Primary information will be the images and descriptions of the holotypes. In addition, representative images of paratypes or hypotypes will be included whenever possible in plain transmitted, differential interference contrast light and, when available, as drawings and SEM images. Also included will be a 35-word or less English diagnosis (\"mini-description\"), the biostratigraphic range in terms of zones and linear time, bibliographic references, lists of species considered junior synonyms, and similar species. The list of similar species will be cross-referenced with their respective image files to enable quick access for direct visual comparison on the viewing screen. Multiple images can be brought to the viewing screen simultaneously, and a zoom feature will permit image examination at a wide range of magnifications. Buttons will allow range charts, a bibliography, and key public-domain publications from the literature to be called up from within the program. The DiatomWare/BugCam package will be distributed at a nominal cost through a major nonprofit society via CD-ROM and free to Internet users on the Worldwide Web. Quality control measures will include critical review of the finalized database by a network of qualified specialists. The completed database will include descriptions and images of between 350 and 400 species, including fossil as well as modern forms that have no fossil record.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe development of the proposed diatom image database will be important to all research fields that depend on accurate biostratigraphic dating and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Antarctic marine sediments and plankton. The database will also serve as a valuable teaching tool for micropaleontology students and their professors, will provide a rapid means of keying down species for micropaleontologists of varying experience and background, and will promote a uniformity of taxonomic concepts since it will be developed and continuously updated with the advice of a community of nannofossil fossil experts. Broad use of the database is anticipated since it will be widely available through the Internet and on CD-ROM for use on personal computers that do not require large amounts of memory, costly specialized programs, or additional hardware.", "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": "Wise, Sherwood", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "DiatomWare: An Interactive Digital Image Catalog for Antarctic Cenozoic Diatoms", "uid": "p0000062", "west": null}, {"awards": "9615398 Encarnacion, John", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Encarnaci_n OPP 9615398 Abstract Basement rocks of the Transantarctic Mountains are believed to record a change in the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana from a rifted passive margin to a tectonically active margin (Ross orogen). Recent hypothesis suggest that the passive margin phase resulted from Neoproterozoic rifting of Laurentia from Antarctica (\"SWEAT\" hypothesis). The succeeding active margin phase (Ross orogeny) was one of several tectonic events (\"Pan African\" events) that resulted from plate convergence/transpression that was probably a consequence of the assembly of components of the Gondwana supercontinent. Although these basement units provide one of the keys for understanding the break up and assembly of these major continental masses, few precise ages are available to address the following important issues: (1) Is there any pre-rift high-grade cratonal basement exposed along the Transantarctic Mountains, and what is/are its precise age? Is this age compatible with a Laurentia connection? (2) What is the age of potential rift/passive margin sediments (Beardmore Group) along the Queen Maud Mountains sector of the orogen? (3) What is the relative and absolute timing of magmatism and contractional deformation of supracrustal units in the orogen? Was deformation diachronous and thus possibly related to transpressional tectonics, or did it occur in a discrete pulse that is more compatible with a collision? How does contraction of the orogen fit in with emplacement of voluminous plutonic and volcanic rocks? The answers to these questions are central to understanding the kinematic evolution of this major orogenic belt and its role in Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic continental reconstructions and plate kinematics. Hence, this award supports funding for precise U-Pb dating, using zircon, monazite, baddeleyite, and/or titanite from a variety of magmatic rocks in the Queen Ma ud Mountains, which can address the foregoing problems. In addition to the issues above, precise dating of volcanics that are interbedded with carbonates containing probable Middle Cambrian fauna could potentially provide a calibration point for the Middle Cambrian, which will fill a gap in the absolute time scale for the early Paleozoic.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Encarnacion, John", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Constraints on the Tectonomagmatic Evolution of the Pacific Margin of Gondwana from U-Pb Geochronology of Magmatic Rocks in the Transantarctic Basement", "uid": "p0000277", "west": null}, {"awards": "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": "0229629 Anandakrishnan, Sridhar", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-165 -82,-161.5 -82,-158 -82,-154.5 -82,-151 -82,-147.5 -82,-144 -82,-140.5 -82,-137 -82,-133.5 -82,-130 -82,-130 -82.2,-130 -82.4,-130 -82.6,-130 -82.8,-130 -83,-130 -83.2,-130 -83.4,-130 -83.6,-130 -83.8,-130 -84,-133.5 -84,-137 -84,-140.5 -84,-144 -84,-147.5 -84,-151 -84,-154.5 -84,-158 -84,-161.5 -84,-165 -84,-165 -83.8,-165 -83.6,-165 -83.4,-165 -83.2,-165 -83,-165 -82.8,-165 -82.6,-165 -82.4,-165 -82.2,-165 -82))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to investigate the new-found, startling sensitivity of two major West Antarctic ice streams to tidal oscillations to learn the extent and character of the effect and its ramifications for future ice-stream behavior. Ice streams D, C and Whillans (B) all show strong but distinct tidal signals. The ice plain of Whillans is usually stopped outright, forward motion being limited to two brief periods each day, at high tide and on the falling tide. Motion events propagate across the ice plain at seismic wave velocities. Near the mouth of D, tides cause a diurnal variation of about 50% in ice-stream speed that propagates upglacier more slowly than on Whillans, and seismic data show that C experiences even slower upglacier propagation of tidal signals. Tidal influences are observed more than 100 km upglacier on C, more than 40 km upglacier on D, and may be responsible for fluctuations in basal water pressure reported 400 km upstream on Whillans, nearly the full length of the ice stream. During the first year, the spatial extent of this behavior will be measured on Whillans Ice Stream and ice stream D by five coordinated seismic and GPS instrument packages at 100-km spacing on each ice stream. These packages will be deployed by Twin Otter at sites selected by review of satellite imagery and will operate autonomously through a combination of solar and battery power for two lunar cycles to study the sensitivity of the ice stream motion to spring and neap tides. Additionally, existing data sets will be examined further for clues to the mechanisms involved, and preliminary models will be developed to reconcile the seemingly contrasting behaviors observed on the ice streams. The second and third field seasons will examine in greater detail the tidal behavior of Whillans (year 2) and D (year 3). Work will especially focus on detailed study of at least one source area for events on Whillans, assuming that source areas inferred from preliminary data remain active. Vertical motions have not yet been detected, but differential GPS will increase our detection sensitivity. Seismic instrumentation will greatly increase temporal resolution and the ability to measure the propagation speed and any spatial heterogeneity. Modeling will be refined as more is learned from the field experiments. The project should yield numerous broader impacts. The improved knowledge of ice-stream behavior from this study will contribute to assessment of the potential for rapid ice-sheet change affecting global sea level with societal consequences. Results will be disseminated through scientific publication and talks at professional meetings, as well as contacts with the press, university classes taught by the PIs, visits to schools and community groups, and other activities. Two graduate students will be educated through the project.", "east": -130.0, "geometry": "POINT(-147.5 -83)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Ice Stream; Tidal Motion; Vertical Motions; Seismic; West Antarctic; Ice Stream Motion; Global Sea Level; Modeling; Not provided", "locations": "West Antarctic", "north": -82.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Alley, Richard; Voigt, Donald E.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -84.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Tidal Modulation of Ice Stream Flow", "uid": "p0000075", "west": -165.0}, {"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": "0230149 McGwire, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports the development of novel methods for digital image analysis of glacial ice cores that are stored at the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colorado. Ice cores are a critical source of information on how Earth has changed over time, since indicators of local climate (snow accumulation, temperature), regional characteristics (wind-blown materials such as sea salt, dust and pollen), global processes (e.g., CO2, methane), and even extraterrestrial influences (cosmogenic isotopes) are stored in the ice on a common time scale. This project will develop a high-resolution optical scanning system for laboratory curation of ice core images, internet-based search and retrieval capabilities, a digital image analysis system specifically for ice core studies, and methods to integrate ice core image analysis with other dating methods. These tools will be developed and tested in conjunction with scientific investigations of NICL holdings. Optical scanning and analysis tools will improve understanding of the historical development of the ice collected from a particular location and will help to resolve challenges such as ice that has lost stratigraphic order through flow processes. \u003cbr/\u003eBy providing permanent online digital archives of ice core images, this project will greatly improve the documentation and availability of ice core data while reducing time and costs for subsequent scientific investigations. Using the internet, ice core scientists will be able to determine the appropriateness of specific NICL holdings for various scientific studies. By optically scanning ice cores as they are processed at NICL, any researcher will be able to examine an ice core in similar detail to the few investigators who were fortunate enough to observe it before modifications from sampling and storage. Re-examination of cores could be done decades later by anyone at any location, which is not possible now because only the interpretation of the original observer is recorded. Integration of digital image data into ice core analysis will speed discovery, allow collaborative interpretation, and enhance consistency of analysis to improve ice core dating, identification of melt layers, location of flow disturbances, and more. The equipment will be housed at NICL and will be available to the broad community, improving scientific infrastructure.\u003cbr/\u003eThis work will also have numerous broader impacts. Ice core science addresses fundamental questions of human interest related to global warming, abrupt climate change, biogeochemical cycling, and more. The principal investigators broadly disseminate their scientific findings through numerous outlets, ranging from meeting with government officials, chairing and serving on NRC panels, writing popular books and articles, publishing in scientific literature, teaching classes, talking to civic groups, and appearing on radio and television. The results from ice core analyses have directly informed policymakers and will continue to do so. Thus, by improving ice core science, this projectl will benefit society.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Image; Ice Core; Not provided; Scanner; Stratigraphy", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McGwire, Kenneth C.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Digital Optical Imaging of Ice Cores for Curation and Scientific Applications", "uid": "p0000735", "west": null}, {"awards": "0229490 Conway, Howard", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to improve understanding of post-glacial retreat and thinning of the Siple Coast region. Research has shown how age-depth relationships from ice cores can be extrapolated over wide areas by tracking continuous radar layers. By comparing radar-derived timescales with one from a model of ice- flow, glacial conditions over regional scales were inferred. High-resolution radar profiles have been collected across most of the inter-stream ridges in the Siple Coast region, and an age- depth relationship has been established from the Siple Dome ice core. Application of the techniques used by others is problematic because the ice streams that surround Siple Dome have disrupted the continuity of the internal layers. A specific goal of this project is to search for other less direct ways to match radar layers between unconnected profiles. The correspondence between radar reflections and measurements of electrical conductivity and volcanic sulfates along the Siple Dome core will be investigated. The strategy is to search for distinctive patterns in the echoes that will facilitate layer matching. Preliminary results are encouraging: at least four distinct echoes at Siple Dome can be matched to spikes in the conductivity profile and the signature of one (at 210m depth, which is ~1,800 yrs BP) closely resembles that of a layer at ~200m on Ridge BC. Matching layers (and hence timescales) across the ice streams will allow reconstruction of spatial patterns of past flow, thinning and accumulation rate in the Siple Coast region, which is needed to predict future possible changes of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Data necessary for the proposed work are already available; additional fieldwork in Antarctica is not required. The project will take two years to complete and will provide core education for a doctoral student in Earth and Space Sciences, with an emphasis on radioglaciology.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR; 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": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Conway, Howard; Sylvester, John; Winebrenner, Dale", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Investigation of the Glacial History of the Siple Coast Using Radar-Detected Internal Layers and the Ice Core from Siple Dome", "uid": "p0000723", "west": null}, {"awards": "0229917 Becker, Luann", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports an interdisciplinary study of fluvial sediments in Antarctica for evidence of what caused the greatest of all mass extinctions in the history of life at the Permian-Triassic boundary. This boundary was, until recently, difficult to locate and thought to be unequivocally disconformable in Antarctica. New studies, particularly of carbon isotopic chemostratigraphy and of paleosols and root traces as paleoecosystem indicators, together with improved fossil plant, reptile and pollen biostratigraphy, now suggest that the precise location of the boundary might be identified and have led to local discovery of iridium anomalies, shocked quartz, and fullerenes with extraterrestrial noble gases. These anomalies are associated with a distinctive claystone breccia bed, similar to strata known in South Africa and Australia, and taken as evidence of deforestation. There is already much evidence from Antarctica and elsewhere that the mass extinction on land was abrupt and synchronous with extinction in the ocean. The problem now is what led to such death and destruction. Carbon isotopic values are so low in these and other Permian-Triassic boundary sections that there was likely to have been some role for catastrophic destabilization of methane clathrates. Getting the modeled amount of methane out of likely reservoirs would require such catastrophic events as bolide impact, flood-basalt eruption or continental-shelf collapse, which have all independently been implicated in the mass extinction and for which there is independent evidence. Teasing apart these various hypotheses requires careful re-examination of beds that appear to represent the Permian-Triassic boundary, and search for more informative sequences, as was the case for the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. This collaborative research on geochemistry and petrography of boundary beds and paleosols (by Retallack), on carbon isotopic variation through the boundary interval (by Jahren), and on fullerenes, iridium and helium (by Becker) is designed to test these ideas about the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica and to shed light on processes which contributed to this largest of mass extinctions on Earth. Fieldwork for this research will be conducted in the central Transantarctic Mountains and in Southern Victoria Land with an initial objective of examining the stratigraphic sequences for continuity across the boundary. Stratigraphic continuity is a critical element that must exist for the work to be successful. If fieldwork indicates sufficiently continuous sections, the full analytical program will follow fieldwork.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e PROBES; SOLAR/SPACE OBSERVING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PARTICLE DETECTORS \u003e SEM", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Becker, Luann", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000718", "west": null}, {"awards": "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": "0087235 Grew, Edward", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((42 -64,43.2 -64,44.4 -64,45.6 -64,46.8 -64,48 -64,49.2 -64,50.4 -64,51.6 -64,52.8 -64,54 -64,54 -64.4,54 -64.8,54 -65.2,54 -65.6,54 -66,54 -66.4,54 -66.8,54 -67.2,54 -67.6,54 -68,52.8 -68,51.6 -68,50.4 -68,49.2 -68,48 -68,46.8 -68,45.6 -68,44.4 -68,43.2 -68,42 -68,42 -67.6,42 -67.2,42 -66.8,42 -66.4,42 -66,42 -65.6,42 -65.2,42 -64.8,42 -64.4,42 -64))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0087235\u003cbr/\u003eGrew\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role of beryllium in lower crustal partial melting events. The formation of granitic liquids by partial melting deep in the Earth\u0027s crust is one of the major topics of research in igneous and metamorphic petrology today. One aspect of this sphere of research is the beginning of the process, specifically, the geochemical interaction between melts and source rocks before the melt has left the source area. One example of anatexis in metamorphic rocks affected by conditions found deep in the Earth\u0027s crust is pegmatite in the Archean ultrahigh temperature granulite-facies Napier Complex of Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Peak conditions for this granulite-facies metamorphism are estimated to have reached nearly 1100 Degrees Celsius and 11 kilobar, that is, conditions in the Earth\u0027s lower crust in Archean time. The proposed research is a study of the Napier Complex pegmatites with an emphasis on the minerals and geochemistry of beryllium. This element, which is estimated to constitute 3 ppm of the Earth\u0027s upper crust, is very rarely found in any significant concentrations in metamorphic rocks subjected to conditions of the Earth\u0027s lower crust. Structural, geochronological, and mineralogical studies will be carried out to test the hypothesis that the beryllium pegmatites resulted from anatexis of their metapelitic host rocks during the ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic event in the late Archean. Host rocks will be analyzed for major and trace elements. Minerals will be analyzed by the electron microprobe for major constituents including fluorine and by the ion microprobe for lithium, beryllium and boron. The analytical data will be used to determine how beryllium and other trace constituents were extracted from host rocks under ultrahigh-temperature conditions and subsequently concentrated in the granitic melt, eventually to crystallize out in a pegmatite as beryllian sapphirine and khmaralite, minerals not found in pegmatites elsewhere. Mineral compositions and assemblages will be used to determine the evolution and conditions of crystallization and recrystallization of the pegmatites and their host rocks during metamorphic episodes following the ultrahigh-temperature event. Monazite will be analyzed for lead, thorium and uranium to date the ages of these events. Because fluorine is instrumental in mobilizing beryllium, an undergraduate student will study the magnesium fluorphosphate wagnerite in the pegmatites in order to estimate fluorine activity in the melt as part of a senior project. The results of the present project will provide important insights on the melting process in general and on the geochemical behavior of beryllium in particular under the high temperatures and low water activities characteristic of the Earth\u0027s lower crust.", "east": 54.0, "geometry": "POINT(48 -66)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ION MICROPROBES", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Metamorphism; Li; Be; Pegmatitic Leucosomes; Partial Melting; Lithium; Granulites; Napier Complex; Boron; Beryllium; Mineralogy; Not provided; Continental Crust", "locations": "Napier Complex", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Grew, Edward", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -68.0, "title": "Beryllium in Antarctic Ultrahigh-Temperature Granulite-Facies Rocks and its Role in Partial Melting of the Lower Continental Crust", "uid": "p0000370", "west": 42.0}, {"awards": "9316715 Taylor, Susan", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Micrometeorites from the South Pole Water Well", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609113", "doi": "10.7265/N5R49NQK", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:rock; Chemistry:Rock; Cosmos; Geochemistry; Meteorite; Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Images; South Pole", "people": "Taylor, Susan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Micrometeorites from the South Pole Water Well", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609113"}], "date_created": "Tue, 01 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9316715 Taylor This award is for support to collect micrometeorites from the bottom of the new water well at South Pole Station, Antarctica. The large volume of firn and ice being melted provides the concentrating mechanism needed to collect large numbers of micrometeorites that occur in low concentrations in the ice. The first task of the project is to design a collection system to retrieve the micrometeorites from the bottom of the water well. The collector must be reliable, easy to operate, must collect all particles larger than 10 mm and should not contaminate the well\u0027s water quality. Following successful design and deployment of the collector, recovered particles will be catalogued and distributed to interested researchers. ***", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e GRABBERS/TRAPS/COLLECTORS \u003e SEDIMENT TRAPS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Micrometeorites; SEM/EMAX; GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS; South Pole Water Well; Glass Spherules", "locations": "South Pole Water Well", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Taylor, Susan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Retrieval and Analysis of Extraterrestrial Particles from the Water Well at the South Pole Station, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000057", "west": null}, {"awards": "9980538 Lohmann, Kyger", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-56 -64)", "dataset_titles": "Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600019", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": "Lohmann, Kyger", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600019"}], "date_created": "Mon, 11 Jun 2001 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research for construction of a long-term record of climate during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene to assess the annual seasonality in temperature on the coastal margin of Antarctica. Stable isotope and element compositions of well-preserved bivalve shells collected on Seymour Island will be the primary source of data used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. Seasonal temperature records collected through high-resolution sampling along growth structures in bivalve shells will allow seasonality to be assessed during different climate states and during periods of rapid climate change. In addition, high stratigraphic resolution will enable this project to detect the presence and frequency of short-lived thermal excursions that may have extended to such high latitudes. To compile a reliable temporal record of paleoclimate, two major avenues of investigation will be undertaken: 1) precise stratigraphic (and therefore, temporal) placement of fossils over a large geographic area will be employed through the use of a graphical technique employing geometric projections; 2) stable isotope and elemental analyses will be performed to derive paleotemperatures and to evaluate diagenetic alteration of shell materials. To provide realistic comparisons of paleotemperatures across stratigraphic horizons, this study will focus on a single taxon, thus avoiding complications due to the mixing of faunal assemblages that have been encountered in previous studies of this region. The near-shore marine fossil record on Seymour Island provides a unique opportunity to address many questions about the Antarctic paleoenvironment, including the relation between seasonality and different climate states, the influence of climate on biogeographic distribution of specific taxa, the effect of ice-volume changes on the stable isotope record from the late Cretaceous through the Eocene, and the plausibility of high-latitude bottom water formation during this time interval. In particular, information that will be collected concerning patterns of seasonality and the presence (or absence) of short-lived thermal excursions will be extremely valuable to an understanding of the response of high latitude sites during climate transitions from globally cool to globally warm conditions.", "east": -56.0, "geometry": "POINT(-56 -64)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided; Bivalves; Geochemical Composition; Carbon Isotopes; Climate", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e PALEOGENE \u003e EOCENE", "persons": "Lohmann, Kyger; Barrera, Enriqueta", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.0, "title": "Evolution of Sea Surface Temperatures in the Coastal Antarctic Paleoenvironment During the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene", "uid": "p0000613", "west": -56.0}, {"awards": "9527329 Kyle, Philip", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -65,-175.5 -65,-171 -65,-166.5 -65,-162 -65,-157.5 -65,-153 -65,-148.5 -65,-144 -65,-139.5 -65,-135 -65,-135 -66.5,-135 -68,-135 -69.5,-135 -71,-135 -72.5,-135 -74,-135 -75.5,-135 -77,-135 -78.5,-135 -80,-139.5 -80,-144 -80,-148.5 -80,-153 -80,-157.5 -80,-162 -80,-166.5 -80,-171 -80,-175.5 -80,180 -80,177 -80,174 -80,171 -80,168 -80,165 -80,162 -80,159 -80,156 -80,153 -80,150 -80,150 -78.5,150 -77,150 -75.5,150 -74,150 -72.5,150 -71,150 -69.5,150 -68,150 -66.5,150 -65,153 -65,156 -65,159 -65,162 -65,165 -65,168 -65,171 -65,174 -65,177 -65,-180 -65))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Kyle OPP 9527329 Abstract The Cape Roberts Project is an international drilling project to obtain a series of cores from the sedimentary strata beneath the sea floor off Cape Roberts in the Ross Sea. The project is a joint venture by scientists from the national Antarctic programs of Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom., Australia, and the United States. Drilling will continuously core a composite section of sediments over 1500 m thick which is expected to represent parts of the time period between 30 and more than 100 million years ago. The principle objectives of this component of the project will be to examine the record of igneous material in the drill core and provide high precision 40Ar/39Ar dates from tephra (volcanic ash) layers, disseminated ash, feldspars and epiclastic volcanic detrital grains to constrain depositional age and provenance of the sediments in the cores. This project will contribute to general geologic logging of the core and will characterize any igneous material using electron microprobe, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) analyses. The presence of alkalic volcanic detritus from the Cenozoic McMurdo Volcanics will constrain the initiation of this phase of volcanism and improve our understanding of the relationship between volcanism and tectonism. The influx of sediments eroded from Jurassic Kirkpatrick Basalts and Ferrar Dolerites will be used to time the unroofing and rates of uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains. Geochemical analyses of core samples will examine the geochemistry and provenance of the sediments.", "east": -135.0, "geometry": "POINT(-172.5 -72.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e ROCK CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Radiometric Dating; Radiometric Ages; Argon-Argon Dates; Geochronology; 40Ar/39Ar; Tephra; Geochemistry; Cape Roberts Project; Geology; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -65.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kyle, Philip; Krissek, Lawrence", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "The Cape Roberts Project: Volcanic Record, Geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar Chronology", "uid": "p0000050", "west": 150.0}]
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Technical Abstract This research evaluates whether the small Coats Land crustal block of East Antarctica is a tectonic tracer linking Kalahari and southern Laurentia within the Neoproterozoic supercontinent of Rodinia across an orogenic suture. A Pan-African (~600 Ma) suture separates the small Coats Land block from the main Mawson Craton indicating that this crustal block had an independent pre-Pan-African history. Existing data from the miniscule outcrops of bedrock in Coats Land provide critical clues to that paleogeography, suggesting that Laurentia collided with Kalahari across the Grenville-Namaqua/Natal-Maud orogen. The Coats Land block has only three small groups of bedrock exposures, two form nunataks and the third occurs in a cliff face. The two nunataks comprise granophyre and rhyolite contemporaneous with the ca. 1.1 Ga Keweenawan, mid-continent rift, volcanics of Laurentia and its proposed southwestern extension in El Paso, TX. Moreover, the Pb isotopes of the Coats Land and Keweenawan rocks are identical, and paleomagnetic data are broadly supportive of the Coats Land block having been located adjacent to the present southern margin of the Laurentian craton. Metamorphic rocks from the cliff face exposure lithologically resemble basement rocks of the El Paso, TX. The proposed research will further existing geochemical and geochronologic studies of specimens previously collected from Coats Land and new and existing samples of rocks collected near El Paso, Texas for detailed comparison. Analyses include zircon U-Pb dating and Hf and O isotope analysis, and whole rock geochemistry and Pb, Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotope analysis. This research will make maximum use of existing material from this extremely remote part of Antarctica to test this hypothesis. Researchers will collaborate with 2 well-established education-outreach programs in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Undergraduate research assistants will be recruited from the Jackson Scholars Program (JSP). Researchers will provide a field- and lab-based seminar on reconstructing Rodinia for the JSP and will conduct research with high school students during GeoFORCE 12th grade summer academy. Non-technical Abstract This research evaluates whether the small Coats Land crustal block of East Antarctica is a piece of ancestral North America (Laurentia) that was transferred to southern Africa (Kalahari) during ~ 1 Ga collision, and subsequent breakup, of the two continents during the formation of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia. Coats Land is separated from the adjacent Mawson Craton of Antarctica by ~600 Ma continental sutures indicating that Coats Land had an independent history prior to 600 Ma. Existing data from the miniscule outcrops of bedrock in Coats Land provide critical clues to that paleogeography, suggesting that Laurentia collided with Kalahari. The Coats Land block has only three small groups of bedrock exposures, two form nunataks and the third occurs in a cliff face. The two nunataks comprise granophyre and rhyolite contemporaneous with the ca. 1.1 Ga Keweenawan, mid-continent rift, volcanics of Laurentia and its proposed southwestern extension in El Paso, TX. Moreover, the Pb isotopes of the Coats Land and Keweenawan rocks are identical, and paleomagnetic data are broadly supportive of the Coats Land block having been located adjacent to the present southern margin of the Laurentian craton. Metamorphic rocks from the cliff face exposure lithologically resemble basement rocks of the El Paso, TX. The proposed research will further existing geochemical and geochronologic studies of specimens previously collected from Coats Land and new and existing samples of rocks collected near El Paso, Texas for detailed comparison. Analyses include zircon U-Pb dating and Hf and O isotope analysis, and whole rock geochemistry and Pb, Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotope analysis. This research will make maximum use of existing material from this extremely remote part of Antarctica to test this hypothesis. Researchers will collaborate with 2 well-established education-outreach programs in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Undergraduate research assistants will be recruited from the Jackson Scholars Program (JSP). Researchers will provide a field- and lab-based seminar on reconstructing Rodinia for the JSP and will conduct research with high school students during GeoFORCE 12th grade summer academy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part 1: This project focuses on a group of ecologically important species of fishes which inhabit the frigid waters of Antarctica. They represent a key link in the polar food web as they are prey for penguins, seals and toothed whales. These fish have evolved in the constant, extreme cold for millions of years and therefore, are very sensitive to the increasing water temperatures associated with global warming. These studies will investigate the impacts of incremental heat exposure on the biology of these fishes by examining their ability to respond, or inability to respond, to elevated temperatures. The project will employ cutting-edge technology to examine responses at the cellular level that may help these environmentally sensitive fishes adapt to the challenges of global warming. The primary goal is to increase our collective understanding of how polar ecosystems are likely to be impacted in the coming decades. Part 2: The proposed research is designed to use an existing bank of frozen tissues from a species of cold-adapted Antarctic fish to investigate protein-level responses to heat stress. These samples were collected earlier in the PI's career during fieldwork at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Four tissues (control as well as heat- stressed) will be analyzed via mass spectrometry to characterize their proteome, defined as the entire complement of proteins in a sample. This includes both identification and quantification of these proteins. The goal is to determine what mechanisms of response to elevated temperature are available to the extremely cold-adapted, stenothermic fishes of Antarctica. Follow-up analyses will use immunoblotting (Western blotting) with antibodies specific to a sub-set of proteins revealed to be heat-responsive in the proteomic analyses. As this is a Mid-Career Advancement Award, training and mentorship in proteomic analyses for the PI will be supported, with time spent at the partner institution, the University of California, Davis. Intellectual Merit While there has been an increase in the use of genomic technologies to probe gene expression profiles in Antarctic species, few studies exist looking at protein level changes during exposure to heat stress in these organisms. Therefore, the proposed studies would represent a large leap forward in our understanding of how these environmentally sensitive species can, or cannot, respond at the cellular level as the Earth continues to warm and water temperatures rise. As proteins do the "work" in the cell, it's vital to understand which proteins are present and in what quantity and how dynamic this "proteome" is during stress. The proposed studies would provide this information for thousands of proteins, using already existing samples. The findings would be entirely novel and would allow us a much better picture of how animals that evolved in the cold for millions of years are likely to respond to climate change. Broader Impacts The PI has established relationships with several regional K-12 institutions and will continue to provide outreach in the form of classroom visits and the creation of classroom curricula. The PI has an on-going collaboration with the Oregon Coast Aquarium (Newport, OR) to create novel teaching materials for grades 6-8. The Aquarium has partners in surrounding school districts and will help disseminate videos about marine biology and climate change. Modules concerning polar species will be created under this proposal. An interactive website will be created demonstrating the Antarctic food web. All of the proteomic analyses and libraries generated under this award will be made publicly available for use by any interested researcher. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This award provides funding in support of participation by U.S. graduate students and early career researchers for the 2019 Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) and Gordon Research Conference (GRC) Polar Marine Science meetings to be held in Ventura, CA May 22-28, 2021. The 2021 GRC event is entitled “Integrating Ocean Physics and Biogeochemistry to Assess Polar Ecosystem Sensitivity to Rapid Change”. Gordon conferences on this topic are held every two years and provide a key forum to discuss cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary marine research highlighted as an international priority topic. The conference plan is designed to provide powerful insights into the present and future states of polar marine ecosystems, including the local and regional aspects of ocean circulation, sea ice dynamics, biogeochemical fluxes, biodiversity, ecosystem health and human well-being. This event will bring together an interdisciplinary group of students and young researchers from many fields working in Polar regions. Exchanges of this type are essential for ensuring that U.S. scientists and engineers maintain international research leadership in in polar regions. Participants will have an opportunity to present their work in the form of oral presentations or posters while interacting with some of the most eminent researchers in the field. The GRS and GRC will address fundamental aspects, which are related to the grand environmental and sustainability challenges facing mankind. Specific emphasis will be given to defining the next generation challenges in polar region research. The unique format of the Gordon Research Conferences with invited talks, limited attendance, and ample time for interactions will provide early career scientists with ample opportunities for discussions and networking. Particular emphasis will be placed on encouraging student and post-doc participation from a broad range of institutions. The GRC-PPS will be widely advertised in the community and the participation and application for travel support by junior scientists will be strongly encouraged. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I: Nontechnical Description Flowering plants are the dominant land plant group on Earth today. They play essential roles in climate-life interactions and are fundamental for human well-being (health, food, materials). Despite their importance to us, their early evolution has remained enigmatic. Without the geological context of how these plants evolved, we will not fully understand their roles in regulating climate and structuring environments. This is important as terrestrial ecosystems today are undergoing many changes. The fossil record indicates that critical events relating to the early diversification of flowering plants occurred during the Cretaceous period (145–66 million years ago). Recent discoveries of fossil flowers and fruits from this time period have significantly furthered our understanding of early flowering plant evolution. However, the majority of these discoveries are from the Northern Hemisphere while similar discoveries from the Southern Hemisphere are relatively lacking. This project will address this paucity of data by collecting and describing Late Cretaceous flowering plant fossils from Western Antarctica and placing them in evolutionary frameworks to better understand early flowering plant evolution, biogeographic history, and Antarctica’s role in the formation of modern ecosystems. Western Antarctica is the only place in the Southern Hemisphere that is reported to contain Late Cretaceous-aged (100–66 million years ago) three-dimensionally preserved flowers and fruits. Therefore, the recovery and study of these fossils can meaningfully further our understanding of the early phases of flowering plant evolution. This work will result in the description of new species that will be placed in evolutionary analyses and biogeographic frameworks, which will help clarify the Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants in the Southern Hemisphere. These fossils will provide insights that will allow us to anticipate which plants might thrive in a warming Antarctic and world. Part II: Technical Description The Late Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants (angiosperms) in the Southern Hemisphere is poorly understood due in part to the limited amount of well-characterized fossil plant reproductive structures. Paleobotanical studies indicate that Antarctica was an important area for the Cretaceous diversification of flowering plants and is the only place in the Southern Hemisphere that is known to contain permineralized Late Cretaceous-aged angiosperm reproductive structures. The proposed research will elucidate Antarctica’s role in the evolution of angiosperms and assembly of modern ecosystems by recovering and characterizing Late Cretaceous Antarctic angiosperms, placing them within a phylogenetic context, and testing for biogeographic links between North America and Gondwana as has been observed for animals. Fieldwork will be conducted in the James Ross Basin of West Antarctica where previous reports and preliminary data indicate the presence of Late Cretaceous-aged floras that include structurally preserved reproductive structures. The exceptional preservation of these fossils allows us to record data essential for placing them in a phylogenetic framework from which their evolutionary and biogeographical context can be determined. The taxonomically informative and well-preserved angiosperm reproductive structures within the James Ross Basin are of a crucial age and from an important geographic area for understanding the phylogenetic diversification of Southern Hemisphere angiosperms and ecosystems. Collected fossils will be examined using standard physical techniques and microCT imaging. The study of these fossils will result in the description of new species and possibly higher taxa and provide a unique perspective into the floral diversity and composition of West Antarctica during the Cretaceous. In addition, the fossils will be placed within a phylogenetic framework, which will help to elucidate which lineages were diversifying in Antarctica. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Part I, Non-technical Abstract Concerns that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) might be susceptible to releasing its ice as giant icebergs into the Southern Ocean due to a warming climate, raising global sea level, were first expressed more than 40 years ago. To best-assess this threat, scientists need to know whether such events occurred in the geologically recent past, during warm intervals of past glacial-interglacial cycles. Ocean drilling near the most vulnerable sector of the WAIS, in 2019, yielded seafloor geologic records demonstrating times when icebergs dropped large volumes of sands and pebbles, called ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in deep water of the Amundsen Sea. Occurring together with IRD that was eroded from bedrock beneath the ice sheets, there are abundant microfossils of diatoms (algal plankton), which indicate high biological productivity in the open ocean. The new sediment cores provide a complete, uninterrupted record of a time of dramatic fluctuations of ice sheet extent that occurred over the last 3 million years. Therefore, they provide the means to obtain clear answers to the question whether ice sheet collapse occurred in the past and offering clues to its potential future. This project will investigate sediment intervals where IRD coincides with evidence of high diatom production, to test whether these two criteria indicate rapid ice sheet collapse. Geochemical analysis of IRD pebbles will help trace the source of the icebergs to likely on-land sites. By analyzing conditions of high diatom and IRD accumulation in deep ocean sediment, where local coastal influences can be avoided, we will assess oceanographic and climatic conditions associated with past ice sheet collapse events. Diatoms provide powerful evidence of temperature and ocean productivity changes in the past, that, when linked to time, can translate into rates of ice sheet drawdown. These results will provide critical data for designing, constraining and testing the next suite computer models that can determine the likelihood and timing of future ice sheet collapse in a warming world. The project will include training of undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, and the public will be introduced to Antarctic science and engaged through several different outreach efforts. Part 2, Technical Abstract New drillcores from the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica (IODP Expedition 379) contain a continuous record of oceanographic changes and iceberg rafted debris (IRD) spanning the last 5 million years. This study aims to identify the signature of retreat/collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in these continental margin, deep-sea sediments by quantitatively analyzing, in detail, diatom and IRD records across glacial-interglacial lithostratigraphic transitions to establish the timing and frequency of Late Pliocene and Pleistocene WAIS collapse events. The investigators will secure age constraints and diagnostic observations of marine paleoenvironmental conditions for selected interglacial intervals of cores from sites U1532 and U1533, using high resolution micropaleontology of diatom assemblages coupled with microstratigraphic analysis of IRD depositional events, while petrography, geochronology and thermochronology of iceberg rafted clasts will provide evidence of iceberg sources and pathways. Depositional paleotemperatures will be assessed via a new paleotemperature proxy based on quantitative assessment of morphologic changes in the dominant Southern Ocean diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis. Their results will contribute to parameterization of new ice sheet models that seek to reconstruct and forecast West Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior. This project will directly contribute to undergraduate education at an undergraduate-only college and at a public university that serves a demographic typified by first generation university students and underrepresented groups. Spanning geology, geochemistry, sedimentology, paleontology and paleoceanography, the proposed work will allow undergraduate students to develop diverse skills through hands-on research within a collaborative team that is dedicated to societally relevant research. The two graduate students will conduct original research and work alongside/mentor undergraduates, making for a well-rounded research experience that prepares them for success in future academic or employment sectors. The discoveries that come from this deep-sea record from West Antarctica will be communicated by students and investigators at national and international conferences and an array of public science outreach events. 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.
Varsani, Arvind; Porazinska, Dorota; Schmidt, Steven; Bergstrom, Anna
No dataset link provided
Cryoconite holes are sediment-filled melt holes in the surface of glaciers that can be important sites of active microbial life in an otherwise mostly frozen and barren landscape. Previous studies in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica suggest that viral infections of microbes, and a general lack of fertilizers (i.e., nutrients), may be important factors shaping the development and functioning of microbial communities in cryoconite holes. The researchers propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects diversity (number of species) and overall abundance of microbes, and how the diversity and abundance of microbes in turn affects the diversity, abundance, and infection type of viruses that parasitize the microbes in cryoconite sediments. The researchers will use sediments previously collected from Antarctic glaciers that have varying concentrations of viruses and nutrients, to set up a nutrient-addition experiment to determine how nutrients affect microbial and viral population dynamics. The results will deepen our understanding of how microbial communities in general are shaped by nutrients and viruses and give new insights into the functioning of viruses in extremely cold environments. The researchers will publish their findings in scientific journals and will share their discoveries with K-12 students from rural schools in collaboration with the Pinhead Institute and will connect undergraduate students from under-represented minorities to polar research through participation in the university’s Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Routes Uplift Research Program. Outreach will be achieved through videos produced and distributed by a professional science communicator. The research advances a National Science Foundation goal of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes by utilizing the unique characteristics of the Antarctic region as a science observing platform. The Principal Investigators propose an experimental approach to understand how nutrient limitation affects microbial diversity and abundances and their cascading effects on virus diversity, abundance, and mode of infection (lysis vs. lysogeny) in Antarctic cryoconite holes. Cryoconite holes are ideal natural microcosms for manipulative studies, not available in other cryospheric ecosystems. The PIs will use previously collected cryoconite from across a gradient of both viral diversity and nutrient levels to address questions about key limiting nutrients and microbial-viral community dynamics in cryoconite sediments. Nutrient manipulation experiments will be conducted in a growth chamber that closely approximates the light and temperature regime of in situ cryoconite holes to test three core hypotheses: (1) phosphorus availability limits microbial productivity and abundance in cryoconite holes; (2) relaxing nutrient limitation in cryoconite from low-diversity glaciers will increase species diversity, leading microbial communities to resemble those found on more nutrient-rich glaciers; (3) relaxing nutrient limitation will increase the diversity and abundance of viruses by increasing the availability of suitable hosts, and decrease the prevalence of lysogenic infections. By manipulating nutrient limitation within a realistic range, this project will help verify hypothesized phosphorus limitation of Antarctic cryoconite holes and will extend understanding of the connections between nutrients, diversity, and viral infection dynamics in the cryosphere more generally. A better understanding of these dynamics in cryoconite sediments improves the ability of scientists to forecast future impacts of environmental changes in the cryosphere. 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.
Glacial ice cores serve as a museum back in time, providing detailed records of past climatic conditions. In addition to chronological records such as temperature, chemistry and gas composition, ice provides a unique environment for preserving microbes and other biological materials through time. These microbes provide invaluable insight into the physiological capabilities necessary for survival in the Earth’s cryosphere and other icy planetary bodies, yet little is known about them. This award supports fundamental research into the activity of microbes in ice, and directly supports major research priorities regarding Antarctic biota identified in the 2015 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research. The broader impacts of this work are that it will be relevant to researchers across paleoclimate and biological fields. It will support two early career researchers, a graduate and an undergraduate student who will conduct laboratory analyses, participate in outreach activities, publish papers in scientific journals and present at conferences. This work will use previously collected ice cores to investigate englacial microbial activity from the Holocene back to the Last Glacial Maximum from the blue ice area of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. The proposal identified making significant contributions to 1) investing how Antarctic organisms evolve and adapt to changing environment, 2) understanding how microbes alter the preservation of paleorecord-relevant gas and trace element information in ice cores, and 3) identifying microbial life in cores and their activity in relation to dust depositional events. Two recently developed complementary techniques (bio-orthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging and deuterium isotope probing) in combination with Raman Confocal Microspectroscopy will be used to assess and quantify microbial activity in ice. During phase one of the project, these methods will be optimized using deaccessioned ice cores available at the National Science Foundation’s Ice Core Facility. In phase two, ice cores in a time series from the Taylor Glacier will be analyzed for geochemistry and microbial activity. Research results will provide a comprehensive view of englacial microbial communities, including their metabolic diversity and activity, and the effect of geochemical parameters on microbial assemblages from different climate periods. Given the dearth of information available on englacial microbial communities, the results of this research will be of particular significance. 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.
As plate tectonics pushed Antarctica into a polar position, by ~34 million years ago, the continent and its surrounding Southern Ocean (SO) became geographically and thermally isolated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Terrestrial and marine glaciation followed, resulting in extinctions as well as the survival and radiation of unique flora and fauna. The notothenioid fish survived and arose from a common ancestral stock into tax with 120 species that dominates today?s SO fish fauna. The Notothenioids evolved adaptive traits including novel antifreeze proteins for survival in extreme cold, but also suffered seemingly adverse trait loss including red blood cells in the icefish family, and the ability to mount cellular responses to mitigate heat stress ? otherwise ubiquitous across all life. This project aims to understand how the notothenoid genomes have changed and contributed to their evolution in the cold. The project will sequence, analyze and compare the genomes of two strategic pairs of notothenioid fishes representing both red-blooded and white-blooded species. Each pair will consist of one Antarctic species and one that has readapted to the temperate waters of S. America or New Zealand. The project will also compare the Antarctic species genomes to a genome of the closet non-Antarctic relative representing the temperate notothenioid ancestor. The work aims to uncover the mechanisms that enabled the adaptive evolution of this ecologically vital group of fish in the freezing Southern Ocean, and shed light on their adaptability to a warming world. The finished genomes will be made available to promote and advance Antarctic research and the project will host a symposium of Polar researchers to discuss the cutting edge developments regarding of genomic adaptations in the polar region. Despite subzero, icy conditions that are perilous to teleost fish, the fish fauna of the isolated Southern Ocean (SO) surrounding Antarctica is remarkably bountiful. A single teleost group ? the notothenioid fishes ? dominate the fauna, comprising over 120 species that arose from a common ancestor. When Antarctica became isolated and SO temperatures began to plunge in early Oligocene, the prior temperate fishes became extinct. The ancestor of Antarctic notothenioids overcame forbidding polar conditions and, absent niche competition, it diversified and filled the SO. How did notothenioids adapt to freezing environmental selection pressures and achieve such extraordinary success? And having specialized to life in chronic cold for 30 myr, can they evolve in pace with today?s warming climate to stay viable? Past studies of Antarctic notothenioid evolutionary adaptation have discovered various remarkable traits including the key, life-saving antifreeze proteins. But life specialized to cold also led to paradoxical trait changes such as the loss of the otherwise universal heat shock response, and of the O2-transporting hemoglobin and red blood cells in the icefish family. A few species interestingly regained abilities to live in temperate waters following the escape of their ancestor out of the freezing SO. This proposed project is the first major effort to advance the field from single trait studies to understanding the full spectrum of genomic and genetic responses to climatic and environmental change during notothenioid evolution, and to evaluate their adaptability to continuing climate change. To this end, the project will sequence the genomes of four key species that embody genomic responses to different thermal selection regimes during notothenioids? evolutionary history, and by comparative analyses of genomic structure, architecture and content, deduce the responding changes. Specifically, the project will (i) obtain whole genome assemblies of the red-blooded T. borchgrevinki and the S. American icefish C. esox; (ii) using the finished genomes from (i) as template, obtain assemblies of the New Zealand notothenioid N. angustata, and the white-blooded icefish C. gunnari, representing a long (11 myr) and recent (1 myr) secondarily temperate evolutionary history respectively. Genes that are under selection in the temperate environment but not in the Antarctic environment can be inferred to be directly necessary for that environment ? and the reverse is also true for genes under selection in the Antarctic but not in the temperate environment. Further, genes important for survival in temperate waters will show parallel selection between N. angustata and C. esox despite the fact that the two fish left the Antarctic at far separated time points. Finally, gene families that expanded due to strong selection within the cold Antarctic should show a degradation of duplicates in the temperate environment. The project will test these hypotheses using a number of techniques to compare the content and form of genes, the structure of the chromosomes containing those genes, and through the identification of key characters, such as selfish genetic elements, introns, and structural variants.
The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network is the most extensive surficial meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its data stations. Its prime focus is also as a long term observational record, to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations measure air-temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction at a nominal surface height of ~ 2-3m. Other parameters such as relative humidity and snow accumulation may also be taken. The surface observations from the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network are also used operationally, for forecast purposes, and in the planning of field work. Surface observations made from the network have also been used to check the validity of satellite and remote sensing observations. The proposed effort informs our understanding of the Antarctic environment and its weather and climate trends over the past few decades. The research has implications for potential future operations and logistics for the US Antarctic Program during the winter season. As a part of this endeavor, all project participants will engage in a coordinated outreach effort to bring the famous Antarctic "cold" to public seminars, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate classrooms, and senior citizen centers. This project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network to determine how large-scale modes of climate variability impact Antarctic weather and climate, how the surface observations from the AWS network are linked to surface layer and boundary layer processes. Consideration will also be given to low temperature physical environments such as may be encountered during Antarctic winter, and the best ways to characterize these, and other ?cold pool? phenomena. Observational data from the AWS are collected via Iridium network, or DCS Argos aboard either NOAA or MetOp polar orbiting satellites and thus made available in near real time to operational and synoptic weather forecasters over the GTS (WMO Global Telecommunication System). Being able to support improvements in numerical weather prediction and climate modeling will have lasting impacts on Antarctic science and logistical support. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network is the most extensive surficial meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its data stations. Its prime focus is also as a long term observational record, to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations measure air-temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction at a nominal surface height of ~ 2-3m. Other parameters such as relative humidity and snow accumulation may also be taken. The surface observations from the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station network are also used operationally, for forecast purposes, and in the planning of field work. Surface observations made from the network have also been used to check the validity of satellite and remote sensing observations. The proposed effort informs our understanding of the Antarctic environment and its weather and climate trends over the past few decades. The research has implications for potential future operations and logistics for the US Antarctic Program during the winter season. As a part of this endeavor, all project participants will engage in a coordinated outreach effort to bring the famous Antarctic "cold" to public seminars, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate classrooms, and senior citizen centers.<br/><br/>This project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network to determine how large-scale modes of climate variability impact Antarctic weather and climate, how the surface observations from the AWS network are linked to surface layer and boundary layer processes. Consideration will also be given to low temperature physical environments such as may be encountered during Antarctic winter, and the best ways to characterize these, and other ?cold pool? phenomena. Observational data from the AWS are collected via Iridium network, or DCS Argos aboard either NOAA or MetOp polar orbiting satellites and thus made available in near real time to operational and synoptic weather forecasters over the GTS (WMO Global Telecommunication System). Being able to support improvements in numerical weather prediction and climate modeling will have lasting impacts on Antarctic science and logistical support.<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.
Within any population, some individuals perform better than others. These individuals may survive longer or produce more offspring. Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica, provide an unparalleled opportunity to investigate how an animal's physiology, behavior, and genetic make-up contribute to lifetime reproductive success because they have been the subject of a long-term population monitoring study and are easily accessible during their reproductive season. This project will distinguish key differences in energy allocation, reproductive timing, and dive capacities between female Weddell seals with a history of frequently producing pups ("high-quality" group), versus females that have produced pups only infrequently ("low-quality" group). For each group of females, physiology and behavior during the nursing period will be analyzed to assess whether investments influence their probability of reproducing the following year. Whole genomes will be compared between groups to identify underlying genes that govern reproductive success and population stability in a long-lived mammal. This collaborative project will provide research opportunities and training to several undergraduate and graduate students at the three participating institutions. Results will be broadly disseminated through presentations and peer-reviewed publications, and to students via an extensive public outreach collaboration with museum programming, curriculum-aligned science lessons, and pedagogy training. Within any wild animal population there is substantial heterogeneity in reproductive rates and animal fitness. Not all individuals contribute to the population equally; some are able to produce more offspring than others and thus are considered to be of higher quality. This study aims to distinguish which physiological mechanisms (energy dynamics, aerobic capacity, and fertility) and underlying genetic factors make some Weddell seal females particularly successful at producing pups year after year, while others produce far fewer pups than the population average. In this project, an Organismal Energetics approach will identify key differences between high- and low-quality females in how they balance current and future reproductive success by tracking lactation costs, midsummer foraging success and pregnancy rates, and overwinter foraging patterns and live births the next year. Repeated sampling of individuals' physiological status (body composition, endocrinology, ovulation and pregnancy timing), will be paired with a whole-genome sequencing study. The second component of this study uses a Genome to Phenome approach to better understand how genetic differences between high- and low-quality females directly correspond to functional differences in transcription, translation, and ultimately phenotype. This component will contribute to the functional analysis and annotation of the Weddell seal genome. In combination, this project will make strides towards distinguishing the roles that plastic (physiological, behavioral) and fixed (genetic) factors play in complex, multifaceted traits such as fitness in a long-lived wild mammal. The project partners with established programs to implement extensive educational and outreach activities that will ensure wide dissemination to educators, students, and the public. It will contribute to a marine mammal exhibit at the Pink Palace Museum, and a PolarTREC science educator will participate in field work in Antarctica. This award is co-funded by the GEO-OPP-Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems Program, BIO-IOS-Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). An important part of understanding future climate change is predicting changes in how fast the ice in Antarctica is moving. If ice flows more quickly towards the ocean, it will have a direct impact on sea level rise. One of the things that can influence the ice flow is the type of rock below the ice coverage in Antarctica. Sedimentary basins are large regions where sedimentary rocks accumulated in the past, often under ancient seas. It has been observed that where there are sediments below the ice, the ice can flow faster. This project seeks to understand what is below the ice and how the underlying rock influences the ice flow. Is it hard, crystalline rock? Is it a sedimentary basin? What is the relationship between sediments and ice flow? The answers to these questions will be addressed by using a combination of available data and geophysical methods. Information from well-known rock-types will be used to train the computer to recognize these features by using an application of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, which will help the characterization and identification of unknown sedimentary basins beneath the ice. The results of this project will be disseminated to a broad audience by holding workshops for teacher and students to explain our findings under the ice and to introduce the machine learning technique. Open-source codes used during this project will be made available for use in higher-level classrooms as well as in further studies. To date, no comprehensive distribution of onshore and offshore sedimentary basins over Antarctica has been developed. A combination of large-scale datasets will be used to characterize known basins and identify new sedimentary basins to produce the first continent-wide mapping of sedimentary basins and provide improved basal parametrizations conditions that have the potential to support more realistic ice sheet models. Available geophysical compilations of data and the location of well-known sedimentary basins will be used to apply an ensemble machine learning algorithm. The machine learning algorithm will learn complex relationships by voting among a collection of randomized decision trees. The gravity signal related to sedimentary basins known from other (e.g. seismic) techniques will be evaluated and unknown basins from aerogravity data regression analyses will be proposed by calculating a gravity residual that reflects density inhomogeneities. The gravimetric sedimentary basins identified from the regression analyses will be compared with an independent method of identifying sedimentary distribution, the Werner deconvolution method of estimating depth to magnetic sources. The hypothesis, which is sedimentary basins are correlated to fast ice flow behavior, will be tested by comparing the location of the sedimentary basins with locations of high ice flow by using available ice velocity observations. A relationship between sedimentary basins and ice streams will be defined qualitatively and quantitatively, aiming to evaluate if there are ice streams where no sedimentary basins are reported, or sedimentary basins with no ice streams related. The findings of these project can confirm if the presence of abundant sediments is a pre-requisite for ice streaming. Analyzing previously known sedimentary basins and identifying new ones in Antarctica is central to evaluating the influence of subglacial sediments on the ice sheet flow. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project will conduct basic research into geological dating techniques that are useful for determining the age of glacial deposits in polar regions, Antarctica in particular. These techniques are necessary for determining how large the polar ice sheets were in the geologic past, including during past periods of warm climate that likely resemble present and near-future conditions. Thus, they represent an important technical capability needed for estimating the response of polar ice sheets to climate warming. Because changes in the size of polar ice sheets are the largest potential contribution to future global sea-level change, this capability is also relevant to understanding likely sea-level impacts of future climate change. The research in this project comprises several observational and experimental approaches to improving the speed, efficiency, cost, and accuracy of these techniques, as well as a scientific outreach program aimed at making the resulting capabilities more broadly available to other researchers. The project supports a postdoctoral scholar and contributes to human resources development in polar and climate science. The project focuses on several areas of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry, which is a geochemical dating method that relies on the production and decay of cosmic-ray-produced radionuclides in surface rocks. Measurements of these nuclides can be used to quantify the duration of surface exposure and ice cover at locations in Antarctica that are covered and uncovered by changes in the size of the Antarctic ice sheets, thus providing a means of reconstructing past ice-sheet change. The first proposed set of experiments are aimed at implementing a 'virtual mineral separation' approach to cosmogenic noble gas analysis that may allow measurement of nuclide concentrations in certain minerals without physically separating the minerals from the host rock. If feasible, this would realize significant speed and cost improvements for this type of analysis. A second set of experiments will focus on means of identifying and quantifying non-cosmogenic background inventories of some relevant nuclides, which is intended to improve the measurement sensitivity and precision for cosmic-ray-produced inventories of these nuclides. A third focus area aims to improve capabilities to measure multiple cosmic-ray-produced nuclides in the same sample, which has the potential to improve the accuracy of dating methods based on these nuclides and to expand the situations in which these methods can be applied. If successful, these experiments are likely to improve a number of applications of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry relevant to Antarctic research, including subglacial bedrock exposure dating, dating of multimillion-year-old glacial deposits, and surface-process studies useful in understanding landform evolution and ecosystem dynamics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This research will provide new insights into the relationships and history of sharks, fish and limbed animals. Understanding these relationships forms the backbone for both basic and applied science because fish often serve as models of human traits and diseases. Some of the main lines of evidence for these relationships come from fossils in rocks over 380 million years old that were originally deposited as ancient rivers and streams. Because rocks of this type and age are abundantly exposed along a number of the dry valleys and mountains of Antarctica, the investigation of these areas holds exceptional promise for discoveries that can have a broad impact. The fieldwork will involve geological mapping and assessment of the rocks with detailed reconnaissance for the fossils that they may hold. Fossil discoveries form the backbone for public communication of the methods and results of scientific research-- these studies will be used as vehicles for training of students at multiple levels as well as communication of science to the broader non-science citizen base. The discovery, description, and analysis of Middle to Late Devonian (390-355 Million years ago) vertebrates and depositional environments provide important data on the emergence of novel anatomical structures, faunas, and habitats during a critical interval in the history of life and earth. Biological innovation during this time includes the early evolution of freshwater fish, the origins of major groups of vertebrates (e.g., sharks, lobe and ray-finned fish, tetrapods), and the expansion and elaboration of non-marine ecosystems. Accordingly, expanding our knowledge of vertebrate diversity during the Middle and Late Devonian will provide new evidence on the relationships of the major groups of vertebrates, the assembly of novelties that ultimately enabled tetrapods to invade land, the origin and early evolution of sharks and their relatives, and the assembly and expansion of non-marine ecosystems generally. The Aztec Siltstone of Antarctica Middle-Late Devonian; Givetian-Frasnian Stages) has exceptional potential to produce new paleontological evidence of these events and to illuminate the temporal, ecological, and geographic context in which they occurred. It is essentially fossiliferous throughout its known exposure range, something that is rare for Middle-Late Devonian non-marine rocks anywhere in the world. In addition, fine-grained meandering stream deposits are abundantly exposed in the Aztec Siltstone and are recognized as an important locus for the discovery of well-preserved Devonian fish, including stem tetrapods and their relatives. Given the exceedingly fossiliferous nature of the Aztec Siltstone, the large number of taxa known only from partial material, and the amount of promising exposure yet to be worked, a dedicated reconnaissance, collection, and research effort is designed to recover important new fossil material and embed it in a stratigraphic and sedimentological context. The first major objective of this study is the recovery, preparation, and description of Middle-Late Devonian fossil taxa. Ensuing investigation of the phylogenetic affinities, taphonomic occurrence, and stratigraphic position of fossil assemblages will allow both local and global comparisons of biotic diversity. These analyses will inform: 1) higher level phylogenetic hypotheses of jawed vertebrates, 2) biostratigraphic and biogeographic analysis of the distribution of the Middle-Late Devonian fish, and 3) paleobiological investigation of the elaboration of terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The broader impacts are derived from the utility of paleontology and Antarctic expeditionary science as educational tools with powerful narratives. Specific goals include affiliations with local urban secondary schools (using established relationships for broadening participation) and collegiate and graduate training. Wider dissemination of knowledge to the general public is a direct product of ongoing interactions with national and international media (print, television, internet).
The western portion of the Antarctic continent is very active in terms of plate tectonic processes that can produce significant variations in the Earths mantle temperature as well as partial melting of the mantle. In addition to these internal processes, the ice sheet in western Antarctica is melting due to Earths warming climate and adding water to the ocean. These changes in ice mass cause adjustments in rocks within the Earth's crust, allowing the surface to rebound in some locations and fall in others, altering the geographical pattern of sea-level change. However, the solid Earth response depends strongly on the strength of the rocks at a wide range of timescales which is not well-known and varies with temperature and other rock properties. This project has three primary goals. (1) It will assess how processes such as rifting, mantle upwelling and lithospheric instability have altered the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere of western Antarctica, contributing to a planet-wide understanding of these processes. (2) It will use new measurements of mantle and crust properties to estimate the rate at which heat from the solid Earth flows into the base of the ice, which is important for modeling the rates at which the ice melts and flows. (3) It will places bounds on mantle viscosity, which is key for modeling the interaction of the solid Earth with changing ice and water masses and their implications for sea-level rise. To accomplish these goals, new resolution of crust and mantle structure will be obtained by analyzing seismic waves from distant earthquakes that have been recorded at numerous seismic stations in Antarctica. These analyses will include new combinations of seismic wave data that provide complementary information about mantle temperature, heat flow and viscosity. This project will provide educational and career opportunities to a Brown University graduate student, undergraduates from groups underrepresented in science who will come to Brown University for a summer research program, and other undergraduates. The project will bring together faculty and students for a seminar at Brown that explores the connections between the solid Earth and ice processes in Antarctica. Project research will be incorporated in outreach to local public elementary schools and high schools. This research addresses key questions about mantle processes and properties in western Antarctica. What are the relative impacts of rifting, mantle plumes, and lithospheric delamination in the evolution of the lithosphere and asthenosphere? Where is topography isostatically compensated, and where are dynamic processes such as plate flexure or tractions from 3-D mantle flow required? What are the bounds on heat flow and mantle viscosity, which represent important inputs to models of ice sheet evolution and its feedback from the solid Earth? To address these questions, this project will measure mantle and crust properties using seismic tools that have not yet been applied in Antarctica: regional-scale measurement of mantle attenuation from surface waves; Sp body wave phases to image mantle velocity gradients such as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary; and surface wave amplification and ellipticity. The resulting models of seismic attenuation and velocity will be jointly interpreted to shed new light on temperature, bulk composition, volatile content, and partial melt, using a range of laboratory-derived constitutive laws, while considering data from mantle xenoliths. To test the relative roles of rifting, mantle plumes, and delamination, and to assess isostatic support for Antarctic topography, the predictions of these processes will be compared to the new models of crust and mantle properties. To improve bounds on western Antarctic heat flow, seismic attenuation and velocity will be used in empirical comparisons and in direct modeling of vertical temperature gradients. To better measure mantle viscosity at the timescales of glacial isostatic adjustment, frequency-dependent viscosity will be estimated from the inferred mantle conditions. This project will contribute to the education and career development of the following: a Brown University Ph.D. student, Brown undergraduates, and undergraduates from outside the university will be involved through the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) Leadership Alliance NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site which focuses on geoscience summer research experiences for underrepresented students. The project will be the basis for a seminar at Brown that explores the connections between the solid Earth and cryosphere in Antarctica and will contribute to outreach in local public elementary and high schools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Warming on the western Antarctic Peninsula in the later 20th century has caused widespread changes in the cryosphere (ice and snow) and terrestrial ecosystems. These recent changes along with longer-term climate and ecosystem histories will be deciphered using peat deposits. Peat accumulation can be used to assess the rate of glacial retreat and provide insight into ecological processes on newly deglaciated landscapes in the Antarctic Peninsula. This project builds on data suggesting recent ecosystem transformations that are linked to past climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide a timeline to assess the extent and rate of recent glacial change. The study will produce a climate record for the coastal low-elevation terrestrial region, which will refine the major climate shifts of up to 6 degrees C in the recent past (last 12,000 years). A novel terrestrial record of the recent glacial history will provide insight into observed changes in climate and sea-ice dynamics in the western Antarctic Peninsula and allow for comparison with off-shore climate records captured in sediments. Observations and discoveries from this project will be disseminated to local schools and science centers. The project provides training and career development for a postdoctoral scientist as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The research presents a new systematic survey to reconstruct ecosystem and climate change for the coastal low-elevation areas on the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) using proxy records preserved in late Holocene peat deposits. Moss and peat samples will be collected and analyzed to generate a comprehensive data set of late-Holocene climate change and ecosystem dynamics. The goal is to document and understand the transformations of landscape and terrestrial ecosystems on the western AP during the late Holocene. The testable hypothesis is that coastal regions have experienced greater climate variability than evidenced in ice-core records and that past warmth has facilitated dramatic ecosystem and cryosphere response. A primary product of the project is a robust reconstruction of late Holocene climate changes for coastal low-elevation terrestrial areas using multiple lines of evidence from peat-based biological and geochemical proxies, which will be used to compare with climate records derived from marine sediments and ice cores from the AP region. These data will be used to test several ideas related to novel peat-forming ecosystems (such as Antarctic hairgrass bogs) in past warmer climates and climate controls over ecosystem establishment and migration to help assess the nature of the Little Ice Age cooling and cryosphere response. The chronology of peat cores will be established by radiocarbon dating of macrofossils and Bayesian modeling. The high-resolution time series of ecosystem and climate changes will help put the observed recent changes into a long-term context to bridge climate dynamics over different time scales. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Climate change is changing the number of sea-ice free days in coastal polar environments, which is impacting Antarctic communities. This study will evaluate the change in macroalgae (seaweed) communities to increased light availability in order to predict if macroalgae will be able to spread to newly ice-free locations faster than invertebrates (e.g., sponges, bryozoans, tunicates, and polychaetes) in shallow underwater rocky habitats. Study sites will include multiple locations in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica. This study will establish patterns in plant properties, genetic diversity and reproductive characteristics of two species of seaweeds, Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata in relation to depth and light. Long-term changes will be assesed by comparing to results from a survey in 1980. This will be the first study in the region to estimate the potential effects of climate, in particular reductions in annual sea ice cover and resulting increase in light intensity and duration, on shifts in macroalgal communities in McMurdo Sound. Three-dimensional photogrammetry will also be used to evaluate benthic community structure on the newly discovered offshore Dellbridge Seamount. Visualization from the video footage will be shared with web-based interactive applications to engage and educate the public in polar ecology and factors causing changes in marine community ecosystem structure in this important region. This project is evaluating macroalgae biogeography in Antarctic coastal waters near McMurdo Sound, a relatively understudied region that is experiencing large changes in fast sea ice coverage. The population ecology and genetic diversity of nearshore shallow and deeper offshore benthic macroalgal communities of Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata will be assessed for percentage cover, biomass, blade length, and reproductive characteristics at seven locations: Cape Royds, Cape Evans, Little Razorback Islands, Turtle Rock, Arrival Heights, Granite Harbor, and Dellbridge Seamount in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The team is also assessing differential reproductive successes at different depths and comparing results to populations surveyed in 1980. The genetic diversity of the two species is being estimated using a combination of whole genome sequencing and species-specific microsatellite genetic markers. Samples from this study will be compared to samples collected from other regions in Antarctica such as the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. In addition, a macroalgal assemblage and 3D models of the community structure will be generated using photogrammetry from the newly discovered Dellbridge Seamount that is located 2 km offshore in McMurdo Sound. With the addition of photogrammetry and 3D visualization to this research, web-based applications will be used to engage and educate the public in subtidal polar ecology, population genetics, and the importance of Antarctic science to their lives. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cores drilled through the Antarctic ice sheet provide a remarkable window on the evolution of Earth’s climate and unique samples of the ancient atmosphere. The clear link between greenhouse gases and climate revealed by ice cores underpins much of the scientific understanding of climate change. Unfortunately, the existing data do not extend far enough back in time to reveal key features of climates warmer than today. COLDEX, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, will solve this problem by exploring Antarctica for sites to collect the oldest possible record of past climate recorded in the ice sheet. COLDEX will provide critical information for understanding how Earth’s near-future climate may evolve and why climate varies over geologic time. New technologies will be developed for exploration and analysis that will have a long legacy for future research. An archive of old ice will stimulate new research for the next generations of polar scientists. COLDEX programs will galvanize that next generation of polar researchers, bring new results to other scientific disciplines and the public, and help to create a more inclusive and diverse scientific community. Knowledge of Earth’s climate history is grounded in the geologic record. This knowledge is gained by measuring chemical, biological and physical properties of geologic materials that reflect elements of climate. Ice cores retrieved from polar ice sheets play a central role in this science and provide the best evidence for a strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate on geologic timescales. The goal of COLDEX is to extend the ice-core record of past climate to at least 1.5 million years by drilling and analyzing a continuous ice core in East Antarctica, and to much older times using discontinuous ice sections at the base and margin of the ice sheet. COLDEX will develop and deploy novel radar and melt-probe tools to rapidly explore the ice, use ice-sheet models to constrain where old ice is preserved, conduct ice coring, develop new analytical systems, and produce novel paleoclimate records from locations across East Antarctica. The search for Earth’s oldest ice also provides a compelling narrative for disseminating information about past and future climate change and polar science to students, teachers, the media, policy makers and the public. COLDEX will engage and incorporate these groups through targeted professional development workshops, undergraduate research experiences, a comprehensive communication program, annual scientific meetings, scholarships, and broad collaboration nationally and internationally. COLDEX will provide a focal point for efforts to increase diversity in polar science by providing field, laboratory, mentoring and networking experiences for students and early career scientists from groups underrepresented in STEM, and by continuous engagement of the entire COLDEX community in developing a more inclusive scientific culture. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 3-4 meters. Ice-sheet volume falls, and sea level increases, when more ice is lost to the ocean by glacier flow than is replaced by snowfall. Glacier speed is reduced when ice shelves, which are the floating extensions of the ice sheets, are present. Processes that affect ice shelf thickness and extent therefore influence the rates of grounded ice loss and sea-level rise. West Antarctica is currently losing ice, at an accelerating rate, with most loss occurring in the Amundsen Sea region via discharge from Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. This loss was initiated by increased circulation of relatively warm ocean water beneath these glacier's ice shelves, causing them to thin by melting. However, this melting also depends on how the changing shape of the ice shelves affects the ocean circulation beneath them and the speeds of the grounded glaciers upstream. Limited understanding of these processes leads to uncertainties in estimates of future ice loss. This interdisciplinary project brings together glaciologists and oceanographers from three US institutions to study the interactions between changing glacier flow, ice shelf shape and extent, and ocean circulation. Data and numerical models will be used to identify the key processes that determine how rapidly this region can shed ice. The project team will train postdocs and graduate students in cutting-edge modeling techniques, and educate the public about Antarctic ice loss through talks, school science fairs, and Seattle Science Center's annual Polar Science Weekend. The project team will conduct simulations, using a combination of ice-sheet and ocean models, to reduce uncertainties in projected ice loss from Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers by: (i) assessing how ice-shelf melt rates will change as the ice-shelf cavities evolve through melting and grounding-line retreat, and (ii) improving understanding of the sensitivity of sub-shelf melt rates to changes in ocean state on the nearby continental shelf. These studies will reduce uncertainty on ice loss and sea-level rise estimates, and lay the groundwork for development of future fully-coupled ice-sheet/ocean models. The project will first develop high-resolution ice-shelf-cavity circulation models driven by modern observed regional ocean state and validated with estimates of melt derived from satellite observations. Next, an ice-flow model will be used to estimate the future grounding retreat. An iterative process with the ocean-circulation and ice-flow models will then simulate melt rates at each stage of retreat. These results will help assess the validity of the hypothesis that unstable collapse of the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica is underway, which was based on simplified models of melt rate. These models will also provide a better understanding of the sensitivity of melt to regional forcing such as changes in Circumpolar Deep Water temperature and wind-driven changes in thermocline height. Finally, several semi-coupled ice-ocean simulations will help determine the influence of the ocean-circulation driven melt over the next several decades. These simulations will provide a much-improved understanding of the linkages between far-field ocean forcing, cavity circulation and melting, and ice-sheet response.
Salvatore, Mark; Gooseff, Michael N.; Sokol, Eric; Barrett, John
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Part I: Non-technical description: Water is life and nowhere is it more notable than in deserts. Within the drylands on Earth, the Antarctic deserts, represented in this study by the McMurdo Dry Valleys, exemplify life in extreme environments with scarce water, low temperatures and long periods of darkness during the polar winter. There is a scarcity of methods to determine water availability, data necessary to predict which species are successful in the drylands, unless measurements are done manually or with field instruments. This project aims to develop a new method of determining soil moisture and use the new data to identify locations suitable for life. Combining these habitats with known species distributions in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, results from this project will predict which species should be present, and also what is the expected species distribution in a changing environment. In this way the project takes advantage of a combination of methods, from recent remote sensing products, ecological models and 30 years of field collections to bring a prediction of how life might change in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in a warmer, and possibly, moister future climate. This project benefits the National Science Foundation goals of expanding fundamental knowledge of Antarctic biota and the processes that sustain life in extreme environments. The knowledge acquired in this project will be disseminated to other drylands through training of high-school curricular programming in Native American communities of the SouthWest. Part II: Technical description: Terrestrial environments in Antarctica are characterized by low liquid water supply, sub-zero temperatures and the polar night in winter months. During summer, melting of snow patches, seasonal steams from glacial melt and vicinity to lakes provide a variety of environments that maintain life, not yet studied at landscape-scale level for habitat suitability and the processes that drive them. This project proposes to integrate remote sensing, hydrological models and ecological models to establish habitat suitability for species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys based on water availability. The approach is at a landscape level in order to establish present-day and future scenarios of species distribution. There are four main objectives: remote sensing development of moisture levels in soils, combining biological and soil data, building and calibrating models of habitat suitability by combining species distribution and environmental variability and applying statistical species distribution model. The field data to develop habitat suitability and calibration of models will leverage a the 30-year dataset collected by the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research program. Mechanistic models developed will be essential to predict species distribution in future climate scenarios. Training of post-doctoral researchers and a graduate student will prepare for the next generation of Antarctic scientists. Results from this project will train high-school students from native American communities in the SouthWest where similar desert conditions exist. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project seeks to make detailed measurements of the oxygen content of the surface ocean along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Detailed maps of changes in net oxygen content will be combined with measurements of the surface water chemistry and phytoplankton distributions. The project will determine the extent to which on-shore or offshore phytoplankton blooms along the peninsula are likely to lead to different amounts of carbon being exported to the deeper ocean. The project team members will participate in the development of new learning tools at the Museum of Life and Science. They will also teach secondary school students about aquatic biogeochemistry and climate, drawing directly from the active science supported by this grant. The project will analyze oxygen in relation to argon that will allow determination of the physical and biological contributions to surface ocean oxygen dynamics. These assessments will be combined with spatial and temporal distributions of nutrients (iron and macronutrients) and irradiances. This will allow the investigators to unravel the complex interplay between ice dynamics, iron and physical mixing dynamics as they relate to Net Community Production (NCP) in the region. NCP measurements will be normalized to Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) and be used to help identify area of "High Biomass and Low NCP" and those with "Low Biomass and High NCP" as a function of microbial plankton community composition. The team will use machine learning methods- including decision tree assemblages and genetic programming- to identify plankton groups key to facilitating biological carbon fluxes. Decomposing the oxygen signal along the West Antarctic Peninsula will also help elucidate biotic and abiotic drivers of the O2 saturation to further contextualize the growing inventory of oxygen measurements (e.g. by Argo floats) throughout the global oceans.
Hall/1643248 This award supports a project to reconstruct the behavior of a portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (the Ross Ice Sheet), using glacial geologic mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits contained in glacial moraines, at the end of the last glacial period. The results will be compared with other dating methods that will be used on alpine glaciers that terminated in the mountains of the Royal Society Range in East Antarctica during the last glacial maximum and whose landforms intersect with those of the Ross Ice Sheet. Results from this comparison will contribute to a better understanding of the Antarctic ice sheet during the most recent global warming that ended the last ice age. This period is of interest since it will help inform our understanding of Antarctic ice sheet behavior in a future climate warming. Such data also will help inform models that attempt to simulate not only the behavior of the ice sheet during the end of the last ice age, but also its future response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. The work will contribute to the education and training of both graduate and undergraduate students and results from the work will be incorporated in classes at the University of Maine. Results derived from the research will be disseminated to the public through lectures and visits to K-12 classrooms and data from this project will be downloadable from a University of Maine web site, as well as from public data repositories. The Antarctic Ice Sheet exerts a key control on global sea levels, both past and future, and strongly influences Southern Hemisphere and even global climate and ocean circulation. And yet a complete understanding of the evolution of the ice sheet over the last glacial cycle and of the mechanisms that caused it to advance and retreat is still lacking. Of particular interest is the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the global warming that ended the last ice age, because it yields important clues about likely future ice-sheet behavior under a warming climate. In this project, scientists will reconstruct the thinning history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross Sea sector during the last glacial/interglacial transition on the headlands of the southern Royal Society Range. They will use a combination of glacial geomorphological mapping and radiocarbon dating of algal deposits enclosed within recessional moraines. Finally, this record will be compared with a beryllium- and radiocarbon-dated chronology that will be produced of adjacent independent alpine glaciers that terminated on land during the last glacial maximum and whose deposits show cross-cutting relationships with those of the ice sheet. Results from this comparison will bear on the behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the termination of the last ice age. This work will support six students, including at least three undergraduates, and involves field work in the Antarctic.
Atmospheric warming has been a major factor in the loss of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. In West Antarctica, oceanic warming is presently regarded as the largest source of stress on both the ice-shelves and at the grounding lines of the ice sheets. The loss of ice shelf buttressing and grounding line retreat may have already induced irreversible loss of Thwaites Glacier. To advance predictive models more data is needed regarding both water-induced fracturing on an ice shelf and marine ice cliff instability near the grounding line. This project will help advance understanding of atmospheric circulation and solar radiation over West Antarctica and the Ross Ice Shelf that lead to surface melting. In support of this project, and incorporating Antarctic science from this work, UCSD educators will sponsor a workshop series for exemplary middle and/or high school science teachers designed to address this need. Teacher participants will be carefully selected for their demonstrated leadership skills and will eventually become part of an cadre of "master" science teachers who will serve as local leaders in disseminating strategies and tools for addressing the NGSS (Ca Next Gen. of Sci. Eng. Stds.) to teachers throughout the county. For the summer field seasons requested, UCSD scientists will deploy a suite instruments to measure downwelling and net shortwave and longwave fluxes, sensible and latent heat fluxes, and near-surface meteorology. This suite of instruments will be self-reliant with power requirements and will be supportable in the field with a single Twin Otter aircraft. The investigators plan to deploy this suite as a remote ice camp with a field party of 2-3 personnel, making measurements for at up to one month during each of the sampled summer field seasons. These measurements will be analyzed and interpreted to determine mesoscale conditions that govern surface melt in West Antarctica, in the context of improving coupled climate model parameterizations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free region in Antarctica and home to a seasonally active hydrologic system, with streams and saline lakes. Streams are fed by summer meltwater from local glaciers and snowbanks. Therefore, streamflow is tied to summer climate conditions such as air temperatures, ground temperatures, winds, and incoming solar radiation. Based on 50 years of monitoring, summer stream activity has been observed to change, and it likely varied during the geologic past in response to regional climate change and fluctuating glaciers. Thus, deposits from these streams can address questions about past climate, meltwater, and lake level changes in this region. How did meltwater streamflow respond to past climate change? How did streamflow vary during periods of glacial advance and retreat? At what times did large lakes fill many of the valleys and what was their extent? The researchers plan to acquire a record of stream activity for the Dry Valleys that will span the three largest valleys and a time period of about 100,000 years. This record will come from a series of active and ancient alluvial fans that were deposited by streams as they flowed from valley sidewalls onto valley floors. The study will provide a long-term context with which to assess recent observed changes to stream activity and lake levels. The research will be led by two female mid-career investigators and contribute significantly to student research opportunities and education. The research will contribute to graduate and undergraduate education by including students in both field and laboratory research, as well as incorporating data and results into the classroom. The research will be disseminated to K-12 and non-scientific communities through outreach that includes professional development training for K-12 teachers in eastern Massachusetts, development of hands-on activities, visits to K-12 classrooms, and STEM education and literacy activities in North Carolina. The PIs propose to constrain rates of fluvial deposition and periods of increased fluvial activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. During 50 years of hydrologic monitoring in the Dry Valleys, scientists have observed that streams exhibit significant response to summer conditions. Previous studies of glacial and lacustrine deposits indicate regional glacier advance in the Dry Valleys during recent interglacial periods and high lake levels during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with potentially significant low and high stands during the Holocene. However, the geologic record of meltwater activity is poorly constrained. The PIs seek to develop the first spatially-extensive record of stream deposition in the Dry Valleys by analyzing and dating alluvial fans. Given that alluvial fans are deposited by summer meltwater streams in a relatively stable tectonic setting, this record will serve as a proxy of regional summer climate conditions. Meltwater streams are an important component of the regional hydrologic system, connecting glaciers to lakes and affecting ecosystems and soils. A record of fluvial deposition is key to understanding the relationship between past climate change and regional hydrology. The proposed research will include remote- and field-based mapping of alluvial fans, stream channels, and meltwater sources as well as modeling potential incoming solar radiation to the fans and moisture sources during the austral summer. In the field, the PIs will document stratigraphy, collect near-surface sediments from 25 fans across four valleys (Taylor, Pearse, Wright, and Victoria), and collect 2- to 3-m vertical cores of ice-cemented sediments from three alluvial fan complexes. The PIs will then conduct depositional dating of fluvial sands via optically stimulated luminescence, and analyze mineralogy and bulk major element chemistry with X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. From these analyses, the PIs propose to (1) determine the timing of local- to regional-scale periods of high fluvial deposition, (2) calculate depositional rates, and (3) constrain depositional environments and sediment provenance. Given that many of the alluvial fans occur below the hypothesized maximum extents of glacially-dammed lakes in Wright and Victoria valleys, detailed stratigraphy, sediment provenance, and OSL dating of these fans could shed light on ongoing debates regarding the timing and extent of LGM and post-LGM lakes. The work will support a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD student, and many undergraduate and master’s students in cross-disciplinary research that spans stratigraphy, geochemistry, paleoclimatology and physics. 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.
In contrast to the Arctic, sea ice cover in most Antarctic regions has increased since 1979. The area-integrated total sea ice extent grew to record maximum values in four of the last six years, yet the 2015-16 summer was marked by record low ice cover. While impressive, it is difficult to assess the significance of these very recent records in the context of longer term variability, since the continuous satellite record only dates back to 1978. The limited length of the continuous sea ice record, is a significant confounding factor in ascertaining whether the observed current changes are due to natural variability alone, or represent a forced anthropogenic response. As a result, the scientific understanding of the Antarctic sea ice trends remains poor, as does confidence in projections of future Antarctic sea ice trends. To address this challenge, this project seeks to reconstruct sea ice extent and sea ice concentration, using the relationships between satellite-observed sea ice, sea level pressure, tropical sea surface temperature, ENSO indices, some proxy data (ice cores, etc.), and in situ Southern Ocean temperature data. The aim of the study is to collect and combine these ancillary records as accurately as possible while retaining the variability associated with the intrinsic uncertainty in the available field data. A range of statistical methods for modelling the relationship between satellite era sea-ice data using flexible regression, Bayesian and multivariate dynamic spatial temporal (MDST) methods will be used. The study will entrain cross-disciplinary training of undergraduate and a graduate student at UCLA and Ohio University. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.
Geologic data provide crucial insights into Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics; for example, progressive exposure of mountain peaks emerging from the ice sheet reveal ice elevation changes, and the past ‘footprint’ of marine-based ice sheets is imprinted on the seafloor. Numerical ice sheet simulations can link these geologic records in space and time to make larger-scale inferences about continent-wide ice sheet evolution. This work integrates both marine and terrestrial geologic datasets with numerical simulations to investigate Antarctic Ice Sheet behavior (and contribution to global sea level) throughout the last deglaciation, ~20,000 years ago until present. Specifically, this research addresses two issues regarding the relationship between simulations and data and their use in reconstructing past ice-sheet behavior: (1) Geologic records from the modern seafloor suggest significantly earlier retreat of marine-based ice compared to terrestrial records of mountain peak exposure (ice thinning). Computer experiments investigate several hypotheses for this mismatch in timing. (2) Exposure age data (terrestrial measurements recording ice elevation changes) are often interpreted to reflect ice dynamics hundreds of kilometers away from the study site. This work uses simulations to explore the linkage between ice elevation changes ‘upstream’ as glaciers flow through mountainous regions and ice dynamics further ‘downstream’ where ice contacts the ocean. This work will produce a publicly available, customizable, and easily accessible toolkit for comparing simulations and data, including a database of geologic records to use as constraints. The project is interdisciplinary, bridging a communication gap between the ice-sheet simulations and geologic data-collecting communities. 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. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nontechnical Description The Antarctic core collection, curated at Florida State University since 1963, is one of the world?s premier marine geology collections. Consisting of irreplaceable sediment cores, this archive has greatly advanced the understanding of the Earth system, past and present, and will remain critical to future studies of the Earth. Given Oregon State University?s (OSU) leadership in marine research and long track record providing state-of-the-art curatorial services through the OSU Marine and Geology Repository, this facility will provide world-class curatorial stewardship of the Antarctic core collection for decades to come. The Antarctic core collection will be co-located and co-managed with the current OSU collection in a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will contain more than 30 km of refrigerated sediment core from the world?s oceans and will be housed in a new 33,000 SFT facility purchased in 2009 by OSU and upgraded in 2016-17. The total refrigerated space can hold both collections comfortably and has at least five decades of expansion space. The co-location and co-management of these two collections, paired with a modern suite of analytical facilities, will lead to greater collaboration, cross-pollination of ideas, and availability of enhanced technical services and capabilities for a growing user group that increasingly relies on marine sediments. The facility will employ a comprehensive community interaction plan that takes advantage of the new OSU Marine and Geology Repository building with a 32-person seminar room, its large 1,044 square foot core lab, and ten adjoining analytical laboratories, which will provide scientific and experiential learning opportunities for students, the general public, and the Earth Sciences research community. The facility will organize small group meetings, sampling parties and summer schools that will complement ongoing support for teaching, training and learning through the use of the repository in graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 classes and Research Experience for Undergraduate programs. The repository is open to the general public for tours and presentations, and the data products derived from the facility will be disseminated via the repository website at http://osu-mgr.org/ and other national databases. Technical Description The Antarctic and the Southern Ocean National Collection of Rock and Sediment Cores currently housed at Florida State University will be relocated to Oregon State University (OSU) and housed along with the OSU Marine and Geology Repository. Oregon State University investigators will co-manage the Antarctic core collection and the Marine and Geology Repository as a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will be housed a new 33,000 square foot building with refrigerated space that can hold both collections with approximately five decades of expansion space. The co-location and co-management of these two collections offers unique curatorial synergies, cost savings, and improved capabilities to support both the research and educational needs of a wider marine and Antarctic communities. The facility will house a 32-person seminar room, a large 1,044 square foot core lab that allows layout, inspection and examination of cores, and adjoining analytical laboratories that will provide quantitative analysis as well as experiential learning opportunities for students.
Part 1: Non-technical description: Global climate warming is increasing the frequency and severity of low oxygen events in marine and freshwater environments worldwide, and these events threaten the health of aquatic ecosystems and the viability of fish populations. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica has historically been a stable, icy-cold, and oxygen-rich environment, but is now warming at an unprecedented rate and faster than all other regions in the Southern hemisphere. Antarctic fishes have evolved in sub-zero temperatures that have been stable over long periods of time with traits allowing them to thrive in frigid waters, but with diminished resilience to warming temperatures. Presently little is known about the ability of Antarctic fishes to withstand hypoxic, or low-oxygen, conditions that often accompany warming. This research will investigate the hypoxia tolerance of four species of Antarctic fishes, including two species of icefishes that lack the oxygen-carrying protein, hemoglobin, which may compromise their ability to oxygenate tissues under hypoxic conditions. The hypoxia tolerance of four Antarctic fish species will be compared to that of a related fish species inhabiting warmer coastal regions of South America. Physiological and biochemical responses to hypoxia will be evaluated and compared amongst the five species to bolster our predictions of the capacity of Antarctic fishes to cope with a changing environment. This research will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and a postdoctoral research fellow. A year-long seminar series hosted by the Aquarium of the Pacific will feature female scientists who work in Antarctica to inspire youth in the greater Los Angeles area to pursue careers in science. Part 2: Technical description: The overarching hypothesis to be tested in this project is that the long evolution of Antarctic notothenioid fishes in a cold, oxygen-rich environment has reduced their capacity to mount a robust physiological, biochemical, and molecular response to hypoxia compared to related, cold-temperate fish species. Hypoxia tolerance will be compared among the red-blooded Antarctic notothenioids, Notothenia coriiceps and Notothenia rossii; the hemoglobinless Antarctic icefishes, Chaenocephalus aceratus and Chionodraco rastrospinosus; and the basal, cold-temperate notothenioid, Eleginops maclovinus, a species that has never inhabited waters south of the Polar Front. The minimum level of oxygen required to sustain maintenance metabolic requirements (O2crit) will be quantified. Animals will then be exposed to 65% of O2crit for 48 hours, and responses to hypoxia will be evaluated by measuring hematocrit and hemoglobin levels, as well as metabolites in brain, liver, glycolytic and cardiac muscles. Maximal activities of key enzymes of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism will be quantified to assess capacities for synthesizing ATP in hypoxic conditions. Gill remodeling will be analyzed using light and scanning electron microscopy. The molecular response to hypoxia will be characterized in liver and brains by quantifying levels of the master transcriptional regulator of oxygen homeostasis, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), and hypoxic gene expression will be quantified using RNA-Seq. Cell cultures will be used to determine if a previously identified insertion mutation in notothenioid HIF-1 affects the ability of HIF-1 to drive gene expression and thus, hypoxia tolerance. The results of this project will provide the most comprehensive assessment of the hypoxia tolerance of Antarctic fishes to date. Broader impacts include research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and a postdoctoral research associate, with a focus on involving Native Alaskan students in research. In partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, a year-long public seminar series will be held, showcasing the research and careers of 9 women who conduct research in Antarctica. The goal of the series is to cultivate and empower a community of middle and high school students in the greater Los Angeles area to pursue their interests in science and related fields, and to enhance the public engagement capacities of research scientists so that they may better inspire youth and early career scientists in STEM fields. 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.
Animals in the polar oceans have adapted to dramatic seasonal changes in day length, food availability, and ice cover, as well as to consistently cold waters. This project focuses on the adaptations of copepods - small animals that live in the water column and are an important food source to many different predators. The field studies will take place in the western Antarctic Peninsula, an environment and ecosystem that is rapidly changing. Antarctic copepods have developed particular feeding and behavioral strategies to survive in their very seasonal environment, however it is not known how each of these species will respond to environmental change. The overall goal of this project is to examine and compare these adaptations across species and to understand how each species responds to short-term changes in food availability. The project contains three main objectives: the first objective is to compare the sets of genes across species, especially looking at genes related to storage of energy from food. The second objective is to measure and compare the responses of copepods to changes in food availability. The third objective is to determine how variation across the western Antarctic Pensinsula habitat affects the feeding condition of the copepods. To make the data more useful to the broader research community, a database will be developed enabling easy comparison of genetic information between copepod species. This project will provide hands-on training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate student and will seek to recruit students from underrepresented groups. Results and scientific concepts will be shared through outreach activities, including an expedition blog, a series of interactive animations, and public presentations. Polar marine organisms have adapted to dramatic seasonal changes in photoperiod, light intensity, and ice cover, as well as to cold but stable thermal environments. The western Antarctic Peninsula, the focal region for the field studies, has experienced rapid warming and ice melt. While it is difficult to predict exactly how physical conditions in this region will change, effects on species distributions have already been documented. Large Antarctic copepods in the families Calanidae and Rhincalanidae are dominant components of the mesozooplankton that use different metabolic and behavioral strategies to optimize their use of a highly seasonal food supply. The overall goal of this project is to leverage molecular approaches to examine the physiological and metabolic adaptations at the individual and species level. The project focuses on three main objectives: the first objective is to characterize the gene complement and stage-specific gene expression patterns in Antarctic copepods within an evolutionary context. The second objective is to measure and compare the physiological and molecular responses of juvenile copepods to variable feeding conditions. The third objective is to characterize metabolic variation within natural copepod populations. The metabolically diverse Antarctic copepods also provide an excellent opportunity to compare mechanisms regulating energy storage and utilization and to test hypotheses regarding the roles of specific genes. The field studies will aim to utilize information from an ongoing long term research program (the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research), which complements the ongoing program and provides extensive context for this project. To make the data more useful to the research community, a database will be developed facilitating comparison of transcriptomes between copepod species. This project will provide hands-on training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students. Efforts will be made to recruit students who are members of underrepresented minorities. Results and scientific concepts will be broadly disseminated through an expedition blog, a series of interactive animations, and public presentations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The chemical composition of diatom fossils in the Southern Ocean provides information about the environmental history of Antarctica, including sea ice extent, biological production, and ocean nutrient distribution. The sea ice zone is an important habitat for a group of diatoms, largely from the genus Chaetoceros, that have a unique life cycle stage under environmental stress, when they produce a structure called a resting spore. Resting spores are meant to reseed the surface ocean when conditions are more favorable. The production of these heavy resting spores tends to remove significant amounts of carbon and silicon, essential nutrients, out of the surface ocean. As a result, this group has the potential to remove carbon from the surface ocean and can impact the sedimentary record scientists use to reconstruct environmental change. This project explores the role of resting spores in the sedimentary record using the nitrogen isotopic signature of these fossils and how those measurements are used to estimate carbon cycle changes. The work will include laboratory incubations of these organisms to answer if and how the chemistry of the resting spores differs from that of a typical diatom cell. The incubation results will be used to evaluate nutrient drawdown in sea ice environments during two contrasting intervals in earth history, the last ice age and the warm Pliocene. This work should have significant impact on how the scientific community considers the impact of seasonal sea ice cover in the Southern Ocean in terms of how it responds to and regulates global climate. The project provides training and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Ongoing research efforts in Antarctic earth sciences will be disseminated through an interactive display at the home institution. The work proposed here will address uncertainties in how Chaetoceros resting spores record surface nutrient conditions in their nitrogen stable isotopic composition, the relative impact of their specific signal with respect to the full sedimentary assemblage, and their potential to bias or enhance environmental reconstructions in the sea ice zone. Measurements of nitrogen stable isotopes of nitrate, biomass, and diatom-bound nitrogen and silicon-to-nitrogen ratios of individual species grown in the laboratory will be used to quantify how resting spores record nutrient drawdown in the water column and to what degree their signature is biased toward low nutrient conditions. These relationships will be used to inform diatom-bound nitrogen isotope reconstructions of nutrient drawdown from a Pliocene coastal polyna and an open ocean core that spans the last glacial maximum. This proposal capitalizes on the availability of Southern Ocean isolates of Chaetoceros spp. collected in 2017 for the proposed culture work and archived sediment cores and/or existing data. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is sensitive to and an indicator of climate change. While ice loss is largely driven by ocean warming, this might be mitigated by enhanced snowfall on the ice sheet. By developing an understanding of the processes governing snowfall variability and change on the AIS, this project will contribute to understanding the long-term role of the AIS as a contributor to sea-level rise. This project is strongly embedded in the collaborative, open-source framework of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) and will deliver new datasets of Antarctic precipitation for use by the research community. The project will help to build a diverse geoscience workforce by recruiting and training a student to be directly involved in the research through the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program. The project will leverage the Climate Model Intercomparison Project 6 climate model ensemble as a whole, and CESM2 in particular, to disentangle the major sources of uncertainty and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of Antarctic precipitation change, with a particular focus on the role of atmospheric circulation changes relative to the role of atmospheric warming. Using the variable resolution capabilities of CESM2, the team will provide the community with precipitation estimates at a very high horizontal resolution. The analyses will also use a forthcoming 100-member large ensemble. The project seeks to answer the following questions: 1) How well does the CESM2 represent the present-day Antarctic surface climate, precipitation, and surface mass balance, including the mean and its variability? 2) What is the sensitivity of simulated Antarctic precipitation to model resolution in present-day and future climates? 3) What are the roles of thermodynamics (warming atmosphere and ocean) and dynamics (changes in atmospheric circulation) in observed and projected snowfall changes? How do these break down into forced and internal variability? In particular, is there a significant forced precipitation trend due to circulation changes driven by stratospheric ozone depletion and recovery and increases in greenhouse gas concentration? 4) What processes and boundary conditions drive the ensemble spread of Antarctic precipitation in single-model and multi-model ensembles? How does the spread driven by initial surface conditions (including sea ice cover, surface fluxes, inversion strength) compare with the irreducible uncertainty due to internal climate system variability? 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.
Understanding the interaction between blue whales and their prey is essential for understanding Antarctic ecosystem dynamics. In the austral summer of 2019 an international interdisciplinary research voyage will head to the Antarctic with the overall goal of mapping Antarctic krill and blue whale distributions to determine if foraging preferences of blue whales are dictated in part by the density and shape of Antarctic krill swarms. This research voyage will combine advanced research technologies (including autonomous underwater vehicles, short term-tags, photogrammetry, and ship-based, real-time passive listening and active echosounders) to answer questions about how the density, swarm shape and behavior of Antarctic krill influence Antarctic blue whales. U.S. participation on this voyage on an Australian research vessel will allow collection of concurrent predator and prey data through the use of passive listening and echosounders from a fixed mooring. By coupling moored data collection with the ship-based survey focusing on Antarctic blue whale behavior and krill dynamics, the project will contribute to the understanding of basic questions relating to the dynamics between blue whales and their prey as well as adding to the development of instrumentation and technologies that will enhance current capabilities for in situ observing on the continent and the surrounding ice-covered waters. The project will provide an educational platform for high school students and the general public to virtually experience Antarctica via "virtual sailing" through a project website and blog. Students and the general public also will be allowed the opportunity to participate in post-cruise data analysis. The Australian Antarctic Division and the University of Tasmania will lead an international voyage to the Antarctic in the austral summer of 2019. The overall goal of the voyage will be to map Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) distributions to determine if the foraging preferences of blue whales are dictated in part by the density and shape of Antarctic krill swarms. US participation in voyage will entail the deployment of passive and active acoustic instrumentation on a fixed mooring in concert with real-time acoustic and visual tracking and localizing of blue whales that will then allow better directing of ship operations towards aggregations of animals such that fine-scale acoustic tracking and prey field mapping can be achieved. This approach will be the first time such an acoustic system is deployed in Antarctica and used in an integrative fashion to assess foraging behaviors and krill. Thus, the project will advance understanding of the relationships between the acoustic ecology of blue whales, krill abundance, and blue whale densities. The technology deployment and testing will also be used to assess its potential use in ice-covered waters for similar studies in the future. Broader impacts of this project will occur through outreach and education, as well as through the collaborations with the broader international scientific community. The project will provide educational platforms for high school students and general public to virtually experience Antarctica. Research findings will be communicated to both the scientific community and the wider public through peer-reviewed publications, presentations, student lectures, seminars and communication through appropriate media channels by institutional communications teams. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Antarctic salp, Salpa thompsoni, is a gelatinous zooplankton that is an important member in the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem. Field studies have documented rapid population growth under favorable environmental conditions, resulting in dense blooms of salps that substantially change the pelagic ecosystem in regards to both structure and processes. Because this zooplankton can proliferate rapidly and it is not readily consumed by upper trophic levels, its periodic dominance has the potential to drastically chance ecosystem energetics as well as change material export to the deep ocean. Completion of a comprehensive reference genome for the Antarctic salp will enable the identification of genes and gene networks underlying physiological responses and allow detection of potential processes driving natural selection and the species? adaptation strategies to the Antarctic Environment. Comparative genomic analysis will add the dimension of time to inferences about organismal adaptation and allow consideration of their potential to adapt to future environmental changes, and will allow examination of novel aspects of genomic evolution found only in the invertebrate class Tunicata. The completed salp reference genome will provide a valuable foundational resource for other scientists working on this species as well as the genomic basis for function and adaptation in the Antarctic. The primary goal of this effort is to examine the rapid genome evolution characteristic of this tunicate species and examine the genomic bases of the species? potential for adaptation, and specifically the role of flexible gene networks for successful responses to changing environmental conditions. The primary hypothesis driving this research is that predicted S. thompsoni orthologs (i.e., genes of the same function that share a common ancestor) that show evidence of rapid evolution are indicative of positive selection, and further that these genes and associated gene networks provide the basis for rapid adaptation of the Antarctic salp to environmental variation associated with a changing ocean. The proposed genome assembly strategy will allow further refinements and scaffolding of the current, highly fragmented genome assembly using the methods developed during previous work. Specimens of S. thompsoni now archived at UConn will be analyzed to improve the salp genome assembly, increasing overall scaffold length, and decreasing the number of total contigs. High-quality reference assemblies will be obtained with two high-output paired-end sequencing runs (Illumina) on a single individual, coupled with three runs on the Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencer. The same sequencing strategy will be performed on a sub-sampling of tissues from the same specimen to produce a very high quality reference transcriptome, which will allow for high quality gene models and near-complete gene predictions in the genome assembly. Comparisons with available genomic data for Urochordate and Cephalochordate species will increase the number of orthologs analyzed. Orthologous genes will be tested for evidence of rapid selection in the salp lineage, and the results will be compared to published expression profiles and ontology functions for the salp. All data will be made publicly available via existing web portals; a project website will be developed to disseminate research results for access by the both research and educational communities. Website design will use a local instance of jbrowse that will offer annotations, downloadable data files, and tracts of previously-published datasets.
Antarctica’s native animals face increasing stressors from warming oceans. A key unanswered question is how Antarctic life will respond. If warmer waters contribute to fish disease susceptibility, then iconic Antarctic predators they support, including penguins, seals, and killer whales, will suffer. A recent scientific cruise on the Antarctic peninsula encountered a population of crowned notothen fish that were plagued by pink, wart-like tumors that covered 10% to 30% of the body surface on about a third of the animals. Similar tumors had not previously been reported, suggesting that this might be a new disease that threatens Antarctic fish. The goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the tumor and how it affects cell function and organismal physiology. The work is potentially transformative because it studies what might be a harbinger of Antarctic fish responses to global climate change. The project has several Broader Impacts. First, it will publicize the tumors. Because Antarctic researchers have never reported a tumor epidemic, the community must become aware of the outbreak and the tumor’s distinct diagnostic features. Second, dissemination of project results will stir further research to determine if this is an isolated event or is becoming a general phenomenon, and thus a broad concern for Antarctic ecosystems. Third, assays the project develops to detect the disease will enhance research infrastructure. Finally, work will broaden the nation’s scientific workforce by providing authentic research experiences for high school students and undergraduates from groups underrepresented in scientific research. The overall goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the neoplasia and how it affects cell function and physiology. Aim 1 is to identify the pathogenic agent. Aim 1a is to test the hypothesis that a virus causes the neoplasia by isolating and sequencing viral nucleic acids from neoplasias and from animals that are not visibly affected. Aim 1b is to test neoplasias for bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or invertebrate parasites not present in healthy skin. Aim 2 is to learn how the disease alters the biology of affected cells. Aim 2a is to examine histological sections of affected and control tissues to see if the neoplasias are similar to previously reported skin diseases in temperate water fishes. Aim 2b is to examine the function of neoplastic cells by RNA-seq transcriptomics to identify genes that are differentially expressed in neoplasias and normal skin. Achieving these Aims will advance knowledge by identifying the causes and consequences of an outbreak of neoplasias in Antarctic fish. Proposed work is significant because it is the first to investigate a neoplasia cluster in Antarctic fish. 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.
Uncertainty in projections of future sea level rise comes, in part, from ice-sheet melting under the influence of unpredictable variations in ocean and atmospheric temperature near ice sheets. Using state-of-the-art modeling techniques, the Antarctic Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (AISLENS) Project will estimate the range of possible Antarctic Ice Sheet melt during the recent past and over the next several centuries that could result from such climate variations. The AISLENS Project will also facilitate research by providing modeling output as an open product to the broader climate and glaciology communities. The project will support an early career faculty member, and interdisciplinary training for a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow and undergraduate student. As a part of this project, an undergraduate course on "Sea Level Rise and Coastal Engineering" will be also developed, bringing together Earth Science and Civil Engineering students in an interdisciplinary setting and contributing to their education in sea level science and coastal adaptation. This will be done in the geographic context of the Southeastern US, the region of most concentrated vulnerability to sea-level rise in the US. The primary goal of the proposed research is to understand and quantify the role of internal climate variability in driving ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet over the recent past and into the future. The AISLENS Project will encompass hundreds of simulations of Antarctic ice sheet evolution from 1950 to 2300 forced by realistic variations in climate, including snowfall and melt from fluctuating oceanic and atmospheric temperatures. Plausible realizations of Antarctic climate forcing will be generated from stochastic emulation of output from the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) under past and future emissions scenarios. These realizations of variable climate will be used to force the MPAS Albany Land Ice (MALI) model, a state-of-the-art model of ice flow in the Antarctic Ice Sheet. In this project, AISLENS will be used to conduct uncertainty and attribution analyses. In the uncertainty analysis, the evolution of ensemble spread in simulations of the future evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet will be systematically decomposed to determine which temporal and spatial scales of climate variability contribute the most to future ice-sheet projection uncertainty. In the attribution analysis, a range of satellite-based observations of recent Antarctic ice loss will be compared to the envelope of internal variability of Antarctic ice loss simulated in AISLENS simulations encompassing the recent past. This analysis will provide context to recent observations indicating significant variability of Antarctic climate forcing and provide a possible path forward for conducting robust statistical inference studies for observed ice-sheet changes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Non-technical Abstract Around 252 million years ago, a major mass extinction wiped out over 90% of species on Earth. Coincident with this extinction, the Antarctic portion of the supercontinent of Pangea transitioned to a warmer climatic regime devoid of a permanent ice cap. Compared to lower latitudes, relatively little is known about the survivors of the extinction in Antarctica, although it has been hypothesized that the continents more polar location shielded it from the worst of the extinctions effects. As the result of a NSF-sponsored deep field camp in 2017/2018, a remarkable collection of vertebrate fossils was discovered in the rocks of the Shackleton Glacier region. This collection includes the best preserved and most complete materials of fossil amphibians ever recovered from Antarctica, including two previously undescribed species. This grant supports one postdoctoral researcher with expertise in fossil amphibians to describe and interpret the significance of these fossils, including their identification, relationships, and how they fit into the terrestrial ecosystem of Antarctica and other southern hemisphere terrestrial assemblages in light of the major reorganization of post-extinction environments. Historical collections of fossil amphibians will also be reviewed as part of this work. Undergraduate students at the University of Washington will be actively involved as part of this research and learn skills like hard tissue histology and CT data manipulation. Public engagement in Antarctic science will be accomplished at the University of Washington Burke Museum, which is the Washington State museum of natural history and culture. Specifically, a new exhibit on Antarctic amphibians will be developed as part of the paleontology gallery, which sees over 100,000 visitors per year. Technical Abstract This two-year project will examine the evolution of Triassic temnospondyls based on a remarkable collection of fossils recently recovered from the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica. Temnospondyls collected from the middle member of the Fremouw Formation are part of the first collection of identifiable tetrapod fossils from this stratigraphic interval. Thorough anatomical description and comparisons of these fossils will add new faunal information and also aid in determining if this horizon is Early or Middle Triassic in age. Exquisitely preserved temnospondyl material from the lower Fremouw Formation will permit more precise identification than previously possible and will provide insights into the earliest stages of their radiation in the extinction recovery interval. Overall, the Principal Investigator and Postdoctoral Researcher will spearhead an effort to revise the systematics of the Antarctic members of Temnospondyli and properly contextualize them in the framework of Triassic tetrapod evolution. The research team will also take advantage of the climate-sensitive nature of fossil amphibians to better understand patterns of seasonality at high-latitudes during the early Mesozoic by subjecting selected fossils to histological analysis. Preliminary data suggest that temnospondyls were exceptionally diverse and highly endemic immediately after the end-Permian extinction, when compared to their distribution before and after this interval. If confirmed, this macroevolutionary pattern could be used to predict the response of modern amphibians to future climate perturbations. Overall, this research will provide new insights into the vertebrate fauna of the Fremouw Formation, as well as shed light on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in southern Pangea in the wake of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. As part of the broader impacts, the research team will help to develop an exhibit featuring some of the best preserved fossils from Antarctica to explain to the public how paleontologists use fossils and rocks to understand past climates like the Triassic 'hot-house' world that lacked permanent ice caps at the poles. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project will take initial development steps toward a laser-cut ice-sampling capability in glaciers and ice sheets. The collection of ice samples from the Polar Ice Sheets involves large amounts of time, effort, and expense. However, the most important science data are often retrieved from small sections of an ice core and, while replicate coring can supplement this section of ice core, there is often a need to retrieve additional ice samples based on subsequent scientific findings or borehole logging at a research site. In addition, there are currently no easy methods of extracting ice samples from a borehole drilled by non-coring mechanical drills that are faster, lighter, and less expensive to operate. There are numerous science applications that could potentially benefit from laser-cut ice samples, including sampling ice overlying buried impact craters and bolides, filling critical gaps in chemical records retrieved from damaged ice cores, and obtaining ice samples from sites where coring drills apply stresses that may fracture the ice. This award will explore a laser cutting technology to rapidly extract high-quality ice samples from a borehole wall. The project will investigate and validate the existing technology of laser ice sampling and will use a fiberoptic cable to deliver light pulses to a borehole instrument rather than attempting to assemble a complete laser system in an instrument deployed in a borehole. This offers a new way of retrieving ice samples from a polar ice sheet without the need to drill a borehole to collect ice-core samples (i.e., the hole could be mechanically drilled). This technology could also be used in existing boreholes or those that are made by augering through ice (i.e., not coring) or made with hot water. If successful, this technique would create the ability to rapidly retrieve ice samples with a small logistical footprint and enable science that might not be supportable otherwise. The proposed technology could eventually provide better access to ice-core samples to study past atmospheric composition for understanding past climate and inform on future potential for ice-sheet change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Glacial retreat in West Antarctica is correlated with ocean warming; however, less is known about the ocean's effect on East Antarctica's glaciers including Totten Glacier located on the Sabrina Coast. The retreat of Totten Glacier has global significance as the glacier drains a sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by as much as 3.5 meters. This study looks to determine the influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glaciers, including Totten Glacier, over the last ~18,000 years by studying seafloor sediment around Antarctica. These sediments, or muds, include the remains of microscopic marine organisms as well as tiny particles originating from eroded Antarctic bedrock. These muds provide a record of past environmental changes including ocean temperatures and the advance and retreat of glaciers. Scientists use a variety of physical and chemical analyses to determine how long ago this mud was deposited, the temperature of the ocean at that location through time, and the relative location of glacial ice. In this project, researchers will refine and test new methods for measuring ocean temperature from the sediments to better understand the influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glacier response. Results will be integrated into ice sheet and climate models to improve the accuracy of ice sheet modeling efforts and subsequent sea level predictions. Results from this project will be disseminated at scientific conferences, in the scientific literature, and more broadly to the general public via the St. Petersburg Science Festival and at the Oceanography Camp for Girls. The influence of ocean temperatures on East Antarctic glaciers is largely unknown. This research focuses on ice-proximal Antarctic margin paleoceanographic proxy calibration and validation, which will improve understanding of past ocean-ice sheet interactions on a variety of timescales. In this project, researchers from the University of South Florida will (1) further develop and refine two ocean temperature proxies, foraminifer Mg/Ca and TEX86, for use in ice-proximal Antarctic continental margin sediments and (2) investigate deglacial to present (~18-0 ka) ocean-ice interactions at the outlet of the climatically sensitive Aurora Subglacial Basin. The proposed research utilizes sediment trap, sediment core, and physical oceanographic data previously collected from the Sabrina Coast continental shelf during NSF-funded cruise NBP14-02. Studies of existing sediment cores will integrate multiple paleotemperature, meltwater/salinity, nutrient, bottom water oxygen, and sea ice proxies with geophysical and lithologic data to understand past regional ocean-ice interactions. While the recent international Antarctic research focus has been on understanding the drivers of West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat, models suggest it would be imprudent to ignore the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is proving more sensitive to climate perturbations than previously realized. 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.
Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification and ocean warming will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient), carbon dioxide enriched, and elevated temperature seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative "winners" and some will be relative "losers" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod "winners" and two key amphipod "losers". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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.
Buizert/1643394 This award supports a project to use ice cores to study teleconnections between the northern hemisphere, tropics, and Antarctica during very abrupt climate events that occurred during the last ice age (from 70,000 to 11,000 years ago). The observations can be used to test scientific theories about the role of the westerly winds on atmospheric carbon dioxide. In a warming world, snow fall in Antarctica is expected to increase, which can reduce the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, all else being equal. The study will investigate how snow fall changed in the past in response to changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation, which can help improve projections of future sea level rise. Antarctica is important for the future evolution of our planet in several ways; it has the largest inventory of land-based ice, equivalent to about 58 m of global sea level and currently contributes about 0.3 mm per year to global sea level rise, which is expected to increase in the future due to global warming. The oceans surrounding Antarctica help regulate the uptake of human-produced carbon dioxide. Shifts in the position and strength of the southern hemisphere westerly winds could change the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the ocean, which will influence the rate of global warming. The climate and winds near and over Antarctica are linked to the rest of our planet via so-called climatic teleconnections. This means that climate changes in remote places can influence the climate of Antarctica. Understanding how these climatic teleconnections work in both the ocean and atmosphere is an important goal of climate research. The funds will further contribute towards training of a postdoctoral researcher and an early-career researcher; outreach to public schools; and the communication of research findings to the general public via the media, local events, and a series of Wikipedia articles. The project will help to fully characterize the timing and spatial pattern of millennial-scale Antarctic climate change during the deglaciation and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles using multiple synchronized Antarctic ice cores. The phasing of Antarctic climate change relative to Greenland DO events can distinguish between fast atmospheric teleconnections on sub-decadal timescales, and slow oceanic ones on centennial time scales. Preliminary work suggests that the spatial pattern of Antarctic change can fingerprint specific changes to the atmospheric circulation; in particular, the proposed work will clarify past movements of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the DO cycle, which have been hypothesized. The project will help resolve a discrepancy between two previous seminal studies on the precise timing of interhemispheric coupling between ice cores in both hemispheres. The study will further provide state-of-the-art, internally-consistent ice core chronologies for all US Antarctic ice cores, as well as stratigraphic ties that can be used to integrate them into a next-generation Antarctic-wide ice core chronological framework. Combined with ice-flow modeling, these chronologies will be used for a continent-wide study of the relationship between ice sheet accumulation and temperature during the last deglaciation.
New methodologies for the deployment of coordinated unmanned aerial vehicles will be developed with the aim of attaining whole-colony imagery that can be used to characterize nesting habitats of Adelie penguins at Cape Crozier, on Ross Island, Antarctica. This information will be used to test hypotheses regarding relationships between terrain characteristics, nesting density, and breeding success. This population, potentially the largest in the world and at the southern limit of the species' range, has doubled in size over the past 20 years while most other colonies in the region have remained stable or declined. New information gained from this project will be useful in understanding the potential ofclimate-driven changes in terrestrial nesting habitats for impacting Adelie penguins in the future. The project will produce, and document, open-source software tools to help automate image processing for automated counting of Adelie penguins. The project will train graduate and undergraduate students and contribute materials to ongoing educational outreach programs based on related penguin science projects. Information gained from this project will contribute towards building robust, cost-effective protocols for monitoring Adelie penguin populations, a key ecosystem indicator identified in the draft Ross Sea Marine Protected Area Research and Monitoring Plan. Adelie penguins are important indicators of ecosystem function and change in the Southern Ocean. In addition to facing rapid changes in sea ice and other factors in their pelagic environment, their terrestrial nesting habitat is also changing. Understanding the species' response to such changes is critical for assessing its ability to adapt to the changing climate. The objective of this project is to test several hypotheses about the influence of fine-scale nesting habitat, nest density, and breeding success of Adelie penguins in the Ross Sea region. To accomplish this, the project will develop algorithms to improve efficiency and safety of surveys by unmanned aerial systems and develop and disseminate an automated image processing workflow. Images collected during several UAV surveys will be used to estimate the number of nesting adults and chicks produced, as well as estimate nesting density in different parts of two colonies on Ross Island, Antarctica, that differ in size by two orders of magnitude. Imagery will be used to generate high resolution digital surface/elevation models that will allow terrain variables like flood risk and terrain complexity to be derived. Combining the surface model with the nest and chick counts at the two colonies will provide relationships between habitat covariates, nest density, and breeding success. The approaches developed will enable Adelie penguin population sizes and potentially several other indicators in the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area Research and Monitoring Plan to be determined and evaluated. The flight control algorithms developed have the potential to be used for many types of surveys, especially when large areas need to be covered in a short period with extreme weather potential and difficult landing options. Aerial images and video will be used to create useable materials to be included in outreach and educational programs. The automated image processing workflow and classification models will be developed as open source software and will be made freely available for others addressing similar wildlife monitoring challenges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The project will characterize the functional, taxonomic, biotic and abiotic drivers of soil ecosystems in the Trans Antarctic Mountains (one of the most remote and harsh terrestrial landscapes on the planet). The work will utilize new high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing technologies to identify members of the microbial communities and determine if the microbial community structures are independent of local environmental heterogeneities. In addition the project will determine if microbial diversity and function are correlated with time since the last glacial maximum (LGM). The expected results will greatly contribute to our knowledge regarding rates of microbial succession and help define the some of the limits to life and life-maintaining processes on Earth. The project will analyze genomes and RNA derived from these genomes to describe the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from soils above and below LGM elevations and to correlate these with the environmental drivers associated with their development during the last ~18,000 years. The team will identify the taxonomic diversity and the functional genetic composition within a broad suite of soil biota and examine their patterns of assembly and distribution within the framework of their geological legacies. The project will mentor participants from undergraduate students to postdoctoral researchers and prepare them to effectively engage in research to meet their career aspirations. The project will contribute to ongoing public education efforts through relationships with K-12 teachers and administrators- to include University-Public School partnerships. Less formal activities include public lecture series and weblogs aimed at providing information on Antarctic polar desert ecosystems to the general public. Targeted classrooms near each PI's institution will participate in online, real-time discussions about current topics in Antarctic ecosystems research.
A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts.
Tremblay, Marissa; Granger, Darryl; Balco, Gregory; Lamp, Jennifer
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. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part I: Nontechnical Description Scientists study the Earth's past climate in order to understand how the climate will respond to ongoing global change in the future. One of the best analogs for future climate might the period that occurred approximately 3 million years ago, during an interval known as the mid-Pliocene Warm Period. During this period, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was similar to today's and sea level was 15 or more meters higher, due primarily to warming and consequent ice sheet melting in polar regions. However, the temperatures in polar regions during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are not well determined, in part because we do not have records like ice cores that extend this far back in time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a new type of climate substitute, known as cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry. This project focuses on an area of Antarctica called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In this area, climate models suggest that temperatures were more than 10 C warmer during the mid-Pliocene than they are today, but indirect geologic observations suggest that temperatures may have been similar to today. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are also a place where rocks have been exposed to Earth surface conditions for several million years, and where this new climate substitute can be readily applied. The team will reconstruct temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period in order to resolve the discrepancy between models and indirect geologic observations and provide much-needed constraints on the sensitivity of Antarctic ice sheets to warming temperatures. The temperature reconstructions generated in this project will have scientific impact in multiple disciplines, including climate science, glaciology, geomorphology, and planetary science. In addition, the project will (1) broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by supporting two early-career female principal investigators, (2) build STEM talent through the education and training of a graduate student, (3) enhance infrastructure for research via publication of a publicly-accessible, open-source code library, and (4) be broadly disseminated via social media, blog posts, publications, and conference presentations. Part II: Technical Description The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (3-3.3 million years ago) is the most recent interval of the geologic past when atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 400 ppm and is widely considered an analog for how Earth’s climate system will respond to current global change. Climate models predict polar amplification - the occurrence of larger changes in temperatures at high latitudes than the global average due to a radiative forcing - both during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period and due to current climate warming. However, the predicted magnitude of polar amplification is highly uncertain in both cases. The magnitude of polar amplification has important implications for the sensitivity of ice sheets to warming and the contribution of ice sheet melting to sea level change. Proxy-based constraints on polar surface air temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period are sparse to non-existent. In Antarctica, there is only indirect evidence for the magnitude of warming during this time. This project will provide constraints on surface temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using a newly developed technique called cosmogenic noble gas (CNG) paleothermometry. CNG paleothermometry utilizes the diffusive behavior of cosmogenic 3He in quartz to quantify the temperatures rocks experience while exposed to cosmic-ray particles within a few meters of the Earth’s surface. The very low erosion rates and subzero temperatures characterizing the McMurdo Dry Valleys make this region uniquely suited for the application of CNG paleothermometry for addressing the question: what temperatures characterized the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period? To address this question, the team will collect bedrock samples at several locations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys where erosion rates are known to be low enough that cosmic ray exposure extends into the mid-Pliocene or earlier. They will pair cosmogenic 3He measurements, which will record the thermal histories of our samples, with measurements of cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne, which record samples exposure and erosion histories. We will also make in situ measurements of rock and air temperatures at sample sites in order to quantify the effect of radiative heating and develop a statistical relationship between rock and air temperatures, as well as conduct diffusion experiments to quantify the kinetics of 3He diffusion specific to each sample. This suite of observations will be used to model permissible thermal histories and place constraints on temperatures during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period interval of cosmic-ray exposure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The Southern Ocean in the vicinity of Antarctica is a region characterized by seasonally-driven marine phytoplankton blooms that are often dominated by microalgal species which produce large amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). DMSP can be converted to the compound dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is a molecule that can escape into the atmosphere where it is known to have strong condensation properties that are involved in regional cloud formation. Production of DMSP can influence the diversity and composition of microbial assemblages in seawater and the types and activities of microbes in the seawater will likely affect the magnitude of DMSP\DMS production. The proposal aims to examine the role of DMSP in structuring the microbial communities in Antarctic waters and how this structuring may influence DMSP cycling. The project will leverage the Antarctic research to introduce concepts and data linking microbial diversity and biogeochemistry to a range of audiences (including high school and undergraduate students in Maine). The project will also engage teacher and students in rural K-8 schools and will allow a collaboration with a science writer and illustrator who will join the team in the field. The writer will use the southern ocean experience as the setting for a poster and a book about the proposed research and the scientists studying extreme environments. The project will examine (1) the extent to which the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters influences the composition and diversity of bacterial and protistan assemblages; (2) conversely, whether the composition and diversity of southern ocean protistan and bacterial assemblages influence the magnitude and rates of DMSP cycling; (3) the expression of DMSP degradation genes by marine bacteria seasonally and in response to additions of DMSP; and, to synthesize these results by quantifying (4) the microbial networks resulting from the presence of DMSP-producers and DMSP-consumers along with their predators, all involved in the cycling of DMSP in southern ocean waters. The work will be accomplished by conducting continuous growth experiments with DMSP-amended natural samples during field sampling of different microbial communities present in summer and fall. Data from the molecular (such as 16S/ 18S tag sequences, DMSP-cycle gene transcripts) and biogeochemical (such as biogenic sulfur cycling, bacterial production, microbial biomass) investigations will be integrated via network analysis.
The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website. Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis "Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.
Mak/1443482 This project will compare current atmospheric conditions with those of the remote past prior to human influence. This is important in order to understand the impact of human activities on Earth's atmosphere, and to determine the stability of the composition of the atmosphere in the past. How humans have impacted Earth?s atmospheric composition is important for developing accurate predictions of future global atmospheric conditions. In addition to training students, the investigators will support continuing education of high school science teachers on Long Island through specifically tailored, interactive seminars on various topics in earth science, atmospheric sciences, physics and biology. A pilot program at Mount Sinai School District, near Stony Brook University will be the first implementation of this program. The investigators plan to reconstruct historical variations in the sources of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) from measurements of the concentration and stable isotopic abundance of carbon monoxide ([CO], 13CO and C18O) in the South Pole Ice Core, which is being drilled in 2014-2016. The goal is to strategically sample and reconstruct the relative variations in CO source strengths over the past 20,000 years. These will be the first measurements to extend the CO record beyond 650 years before present, back to the last glacial maximum. Both atmospheric chemical processes and variations in CO sources can impact the CO budget, and variations in the CO budget are useful in identifying and quantifying chemistry-climate interactions.
Predictions of future sea level rise require better understanding of the changing dynamics of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. One way to better understand the past history of the ice sheets is to obtain records from inland ice for past geological periods, particularly in Antarctica, the world?s largest remaining ice sheet. Such records are exceedingly rare, and can be acquired at volcanic outcrops in the La Gorce Mountains of the central Transantarctic Mountains. Volcanoes now exposed within the La Gorce Mountains erupted beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet and the data collected will record how thick the ice sheet was in the past. In addition, information will be used to determine the thermal conditions at the base of the ice sheet, which impacts ice sheet stability. The project will also investigate the origin of volcanic activity in Antarctica and links to the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS). The WARS is a broad area of extended (i.e. stretched) continental crust, similar to that found in East Africa, and volcanism is wide spread and long-lived (65 million years to currently active) and despite more than 50 years of research, the fundamental cause of volcanism and rifting in Antarctica is still vigorously debated. The results of this award therefore also potentially impact the study of oceanic volcanism in the entire southwestern Pacific region (e.g., New Zealand and Australia), where volcanic fields of similar composition and age have been linked by common magma sources and processes. The field program includes a graduate student who will work on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of petrological data as part of his/her Masters project. The experience and specialized analytical training being offered will improve the quality of the student?s research and optimize their opportunities for their future. The proposed work fosters faculty and student national and international collaboration, including working with multi-user facilities that provide advanced technological mentoring of science students. Results will be broadly disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, public presentations at science meetings, and in outreach activities. Petrologic and geochemical data will be disseminated to be the community through the Polar Rock Repository. The study of subglacially erupted volcanic rocks has been developed to the extent that it is now the most powerful proxy methodology for establishing precise ?snapshots? of ice sheets, including multiple critical ice parameters. Such data should include measurements of ice thickness, surface elevation and stability, which will be used to verify, or reject, published semi-empirical models relating ice dynamics to sea level changes. In addition to establishing whether East Antarctic ice was present during the formation of the volcanoes, data will be used to derive the coeval ice thicknesses, surface elevations and basal thermal regime(s) in concert with a precise new geochronology using the 40Ar/39Ar dating method. Inferences from measurement of standard geochemical characteristics (major, trace elements and Sr, Nd, Pb, O isotopes) will be used to investigate a possible relationship between the volcanoes and the recently discovered subglacial ridge under the East Antarctic ice, which may be a rift flank uplift. The ridge has never been sampled, is undated and its significance is uncertain. The data will provide important new information about the deep Earth and geodynamic processes beneath this mostly ice covered and poorly understood sector of the Antarctic continent.
The PIs will design and build a new rapid access ice drill (RAID) for use in Antarctica. This drill will have the ability to rapidly drill through ice up to 3300 m thick and then collect samples of the ice, ice-sheet bed interface, and bedrock substrate below. This drilling technology will provide a new way to obtain in situ measurements and samples for interdisciplinary studies in geology, glaciology, paleoclimatology, microbiology, and astrophysics. The RAID drilling platform will give the scientific community access to records of geologic and climatic change on a variety of timescales, from the billion-year rock record to thousand-year ice and climate histories. Successful development of the RAID system will provide a research tool that is currently unavailable. Development of this platform will enable scientists to address critical questions about the deep interface between the Antarctic ice sheets and the substrate below. Development of RAID will provide a way to address many of the unknowns associated with general stability of the Antarctic ice sheets in the face of changing climate and sea level rise. The scientific rationale for RAID was reviewed in a previous proposal (Goodge 1242027). The PIs were granted ?Phase I? funding to develop a more detailed conceptual design for the RAID drill that would provide a better understanding of construction costs as well as operation and maintenance costs for RAID once it is constructed. Phase I support also allowed the PIs to work with the research community to develop more detailed science requirements for the drill. This proposal requests continued funding (Phase II) to construct, assemble and test the RAID drilling platform, through to staging it in Antarctic for future scientific operations.
OPP 9615281 Luyendyk OPP 9615282 Siddoway Abstract This award supports a collaborative project that combines air and ground geological-geophysical investigations to understand the tectonic and geological development of the boundary between the Ross Sea Rift and the Marie Byrd Land (MBL) volcanic province. The project will determine the Cenozoic tectonic history of the region and whether Neogene structures that localized outlet glacier flow developed within the context of Cenozoic rifting on the eastern Ross Embayment margin, or within the volcanic province in MBL. The geological structure at the boundary between the Ross Embayment and western MBL may be a result of: 1) Cenozoic extension on the eastern shoulder of the Ross Sea rift; 2) uplift and crustal extension related to Neogene mantle plume activity in western MBL; or a combination of the two. Faulting and volcanism, mountain uplift, and glacier downcutting appear to now be active in western MBL, where generally East-to-West-flowing outlet glaciers incise Paleozoic and Mesozoic bedrock, and deglaciated summits indicate a previous North-South glacial flow direction. This study requires data collection using SOAR (Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research, a facility supported by Office of Polar Programs which utilizes high precision differential GPS to support a laser altimeter, ice-penetrating radar, a towed proton magnetometer, and a Bell BGM-3 gravimeter). This survey requires data for 37,000 square kilometers using 5.3 kilometer line spacing with 15.6 kilometer tie lines, and 86,000 square kilometers using a grid of 10.6 by 10.6 kilometer spacing. Data will be acquired over several key features in the region including, among other, the eastern edge of the Ross Sea rift, over ice stream OEO, the transition from the Edward VII Peninsula plateau to the Ford Ranges, the continuation to the east of a gravity high known from previous reconnaissance mapping over the Fosdick Metamorphic Complex, an d the extent of the high-amplitude magnetic anomalies (volcanic centers?) detected southeast of the northern Ford Ranges by other investigators. SOAR products will include glaciology data useful for studying driving stresses, glacial flow and mass balance in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The ground program is centered on the southern Ford Ranges. Geologic field mapping will focus on small scale brittle structures for regional kinematic interpretation, on glaciated surfaces and deposits, and on datable volcanic rocks for geochronologic control. The relative significance of fault and joint sets, the timing relationships between them, and the probable context of their formation will also be determined. Exposure ages will be determined for erosion surfaces and moraines. Interpretation of potential field data will be aided by on ground sampling for magnetic properties and density as well as ground based gravity measurements. Oriented samples will be taken for paleomagnetic studies. Combined airborne and ground investigations will obtain basic data for describing the geology and structure at the eastern boundary of the Ross Embayment both in outcrop and ice covered areas, and may be used to distinguish between Ross Sea rift- related structural activity from uplift and faulting on the perimeter of the MBL dome and volcanic province. Outcrop geology and structure will be extrapolated with the aerogeophysical data to infer the geology that resides beneath the WAIS. The new knowledge of Neogene tectonics in western MBL will contribute to a comprehensive model for the Cenozoic Ross rift and to understanding of the extent of plume activity in MBL. Both are important for determining the influence of Neogene tectonics on the ice streams and WAIS.
9725374 Bell The goal of this project is to develop a Web-based Antarctic gravity database to globally facilitate scientific use of gravity data in Antarctic studies. This compilation will provide an important new tool to the Antarctic Earth science community from the geologist placing field observations in a regional context to the seismologist studying continental scale mantle structure. The gravity database will complement the parallel projects underway to develop new continental bedrock (BEDMAP) and magnetic (ADMAP) maps of Antarctica. An international effort will parallel these ongoing projects in contacting the Antarctic geophysical community, identifying existing data sets, agreeing upon protocols for the use of data contributed to the database and finally assembling a new continental scale gravity map. The project has three principal stages. The first stage will be to investigate the accuracy and resolution of currently available high resolution satellite derived gravity data and quantify spatial variations in both accuracy and resolution. The second stage of this project will be to develop an interactive method of accessing existing satellite, shipboard, land based, and airborne gravity data via a Web based interface. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory RIDGE Multi-beam bathymetry database will be used as a template for this project. The existing online RIDGE database allows users to access the raw data, the gridded data and raster images of the seafloor topography. A similar structure will be produced for the existing Antarctic gravity data. The third stage of this project will be to develop an international program to compile existing gravity data south of 60 S. This project will be discussed with leaders of both the ADMAP and BEDMAP efforts and the appropriate working groups of SCAR. A preliminary map of existing gravity data will be presented at the Antarctic Earth Science meeting in Wellington in 1999. A gravity working group meeting will be held in conjunction with the Wellington meeting to reach a consensus on the protocols for placing data into the database. By the completion of the project, existing gravity data will be identified and international protocols for placing this data in the on-line database will have been defined. The process of archiving the gravity data into the database will be an ongoing project as additional data become available.
The ocean surrounding Antarctica is home to an extraordinary assemblage of fishes, dominated by a single group that are extremely well-suited to life in icy waters and which are of significant ecological importance there. Of great concern is the capacity of these fishes to withstand increases in temperature as the region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula warms at a rate faster than any other area in the Southern hemisphere. One particular group of Antarctic fishes, known as the icefishes, are particularly vulnerable to increases in temperature because unlike all other vertebrates on earth, icefishes are white-blooded due to their lack of the oxygen-binding protein hemoglobin. This greatly reduces their capacity to transport and deliver oxygen to tissues compared to red-blooded Antarctic fishes. Previous studies have shown that icefishes are indeed less tolerant to elevations in temperature but the underlying factors are completely unknown. Additionally, it is not understood if red- or white-blooded Antarctic fishes can adjust, or acclimate, to modest increases in temperature, similar to those changes in temperature the animals might experience as the earth warms. The investigators will determine if heart function and/or nervous system function limits thermal tolerance of Antarctic fishes, and will determine their capacity to acclimate to warmer temperatures. The project will further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists by training graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, the project will collaborate with a high school biology teacher from a school which serves a largely minority student body. The students will learn about the marine environment, and will construct a camera to be used in the field to learn more about Antarctic fishes. Two students and the teacher will also attend a summer marine biology internship program. Antarctic fishes within the suborder Notothenioidei (called "notothenioids") are among the organisms on earth least able to deal with changes in temperature. The hemoglobinless icefish are even less able to withstand temperature changes than are red-blooded notothenioids. While this is well documented, the underlying physiological and biochemical mechanisms responsible are unknown. The investigators will test the hypotheses that cardiac work is significantly greater in icefishes compared to red-blooded species, and that as temperature increases, the greater cardiac work of icefishes, coupled with reduced blood oxygen-carrying capacity, results in cardiac failure at a lower temperature compared to red-blooded species. They also hypothesize that neuronal function limits thermal tolerance of red-blooded notothenioids. These hypotheses will be tested using a wide variety of experiments. For example, the investigators will measure heart rate concurrently with critical thermal maximum. They will also characterize metabolic and gene-expression responses to elevated temperature and determine if mitochondrial function contributes to thermal tolerance using a variety of techniques. To determine if neuronal function limits thermal tolerance they will quantify behavioral responses to warming of whole animals and to warming of only the brain area. They will also determine if acclimation to warmer temperatures impacts heart function and they will measure activities of a variety of enzymes from central metabolic pathways.
Collaborative Proposal: A field and laboratory examination of the diatom N and Si isotope proxies: Implications for assessing the Southern Ocean biological pump The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and associated climate changes make understanding the role of the ocean in large scale carbon cycle a priority. Geologic samples allow exploration of potential mechanisms for carbon dioxide drawdown during glacial periods through the use of geochemical proxies. Nitrogen and silicon isotope signatures from fossil diatoms (microscopic plants) are used to investigate changes in the physical supply and biological demand for nutrients (like nitrogen and silicon and carbon) in the Southern Ocean. The project will evaluate the use the nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies through a series of laboratory experiments and Southern Ocean field sampling. The results will provide quantification of real relationships between nitrogen and silicon isotopes and nutrient usage in the Southern Ocean and allow exploration of the role of other factors, including biological diversity, ice cover, and mixing, in altering the chemical signatures recorded by diatoms. Seafloor sediment samples will be used to evaluate how well the signal created in the water column is recorded by fossil diatoms buried in the seafloor. Improving the nutrient isotope proxies will allow for a more quantitative understanding of the role of polar biology in regulating natural variation in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The project will also result in the training of a graduate student and development of outreach materials targeting a broad popular audience. This project seeks to test the fidelity of the diatom nitrogen and silicon isotope proxies, two commonly used paleoceanographic tools for investigating the role of the Southern Ocean biological pump in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial-interglacial timescales. Existing ground-truthing data, including culture experiments, surface sediment data and downcore reconstructions, all suggest that nutrient utilization is the primary driver of isotopic variation in the Southern Ocean. However, strong contribution of interspecific variation is implied by recent culture results. Moreover, field and laboratory studies present some contradictory results in terms of the relative importance of interspecific variation and of inferred post-depositional alteration of the nutrient isotope signals. Here, a first order test of the N and Si diatom nutrient isotope paleo-proxies, involving water column dissolved and particulate sampling and laboratory culturing of field-isolates, is proposed. Southern Ocean water, biomass, live diatoms and fossil diatom sampling will be conducted to investigate species and assemblage related variability in diatom nitrogen and silicon isotopes and their relationship to surface nutrient fields and early diagenesis. Access to fresh materials produced in an analogous environmental context to the sediments of primary interest is critical for making robust paleoceanographic reconstructions. Field sampling will occur along 175°W, transecting the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from the subtropics to the marginal ice edge. Collection of water, sinking/suspended particles and multi-core samples from 13 stations and 3 shipboard incubation experiments will be used to test four proposed hypotheses that together evaluate the significance of existing culture results and seek to allow the best use of diatom nutrient isotope proxies in evaluating the biological pump.
Antarctic fish and their early developmental stages are an important component of the food web that sustains life in the cold Southern Ocean (SO) that surrounds Antarctica. They feed on smaller organisms and in turn are eaten by larger animals, including seals and killer whales. Little is known about how rising ocean temperatures will impact the development of Antarctic fish embryos and their growth after hatching. This project will address this gap by assessing the effects of elevated temperatures on embryo viability, on the rate of embryo development, and on the gene "toolkits" that respond to temperature stress. One of the two species to be studied does not produce red blood cells, a defect that may make its embryos particularly vulnerable to heat. The outcomes of this research will provide the public and policymakers with "real world" data that are necessary to inform decisions and design strategies to cope with changes in the Earth's climate, particularly with respect to protecting life in the SO. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists, including providing scientific training for undergraduate and graduate students, and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research in Antarctica and engaging the public in several ways, including the development of professionally-produced educational videos with bi-lingual closed captioning. Since the onset of cooling of the SO about 40 million years ago, evolution of Antarctic marine organisms has been driven by the development of cold temperatures. Because body temperatures of Antarctic fishes fall in a narrow range determined by their habitat (-1.9 to +2.0 C) they are particularly attractive models for understanding how organismal physiology and biochemistry have been shaped to maintain life in a cooling environment. The long-term objective of this project is to understand the capacities of Antarctic fishes to acclimatize and/or adapt to rapid oceanic warming through analysis of their underlying genetic "toolkits." This objective will be accomplished through three Specific Aims: 1) assessing the effects of elevated temperatures on gene expression during development of embryos; 2) examining the effects of elevated temperatures on embryonic morphology and on the temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression; and 3) evaluating the evolutionary mechanisms that have led to the loss of the red blood cell genetic program by the white-blooded fishes. Aims 1 and 2 will be investigated by acclimating experimental embryos of both red-blooded and white-blooded fish to elevated temperatures. Differential gene expression will be examined through the use of high throughput RNA sequencing. The temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression in the context of embryonic morphology (Aim 2) will be determined by microscopic analysis of embryos "stained" with (hybridized to) differentially expressed gene probes revealed by Aim 1; other developmental marker genes will also be used. The genetic lesions resulting from loss of red blood cells by the white-blooded fishes (Aim 3) will be examined by comparing genes and genomes in the two fish groups.
Beginning with the discovery of a "curious valley" in 1903 by Captain Scott, the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) in Antarctica have been impacted by humans, although there were only three brief visits prior to 1950. Since the late 1950's, human activity in the MDV has become commonplace in summer, putting pressure on the region's fragile ecosystems through camp construction and inhabitation, cross-valley transport on foot and via vehicles, and scientific research that involves sampling and deployment of instruments. Historical photographs, put alongside information from written documentation, offer an invaluable record of the changing patterns of human activity in the MDV. Photographic images often show the physical extent of field camps and research sites, the activities that were taking place, and the environmental protection measures that were being followed. Historical photographs of the MDV, however, are scattered in different places around the world, often in private collections, and there is a real danger that many of these photos may be lost, along with the information they contain. This project will collect and digitize historical photographs of sites of human activity in the MDV from archives and private collections in the United States, New Zealand, and organize them both chronologically and spatially in a GIS database. Sites of past human activities will be re-photographed to provide comparisons with the present, and re-photography will assist in providing spatial data for historical photographs without obvious location information. The results of this analysis will support effective environmental management into the future. The digital photo archive will be openly available through the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) website (www.mcmlter.org), where it can be used by scientists, environmental managers, and others interested in the region. The central question of this project can be reformulated as a hypothesis: Despite an overall increase in human activities in the MDV, the spatial range of these activities has become more confined over time as a result of an increased awareness of ecosystem fragility and efforts to manage the region. To address this hypothesis, the project will define the spatial distribution and temporal frequency of human activity in the MDV. Photographs and reports will be collected from archives with polar collections such as the National Archives of New Zealand in Wellington and Christchurch and the Byrd Polar Research Center in Ohio. Private photograph collections will be accessed through personal connections, social media, advertisements in periodicals such as The Polar Times, and other means. Re-photography in the field will follow established techniques and will create benchmarks for future research projects. The spatial data will be stored in an ArcGIS database for analysis and quantification of the human footprint over time in the MDV. The improved understanding of changing patterns of human activity in the MDV provided by this historical photo archive will provide three major contributions: 1) a fundamentally important historic accounting of human activity to support current environmental management of the MDV; 2) defining the location and type of human activity will be of immediate benefit in two important ways: a) places to avoid for scientists interested in sampling pristine landscapes, and, b) targets of opportunity for scientists investigating the long-term environmental legacy of human activity; and 3) this research will make an innovative contribution to knowledge of the environmental history of the MDV.
Cryoconite holes are pockets of life completely encased in otherwise barren glacial ice. These pockets of life form when dust blown onto the ice melts a small, largely isolated hole that can function as its own tiny ecosystem. This dust can contain microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, or microscopic animals. The microorganisms within the hole interact and carry out functions typical of a larger ecosystem, such as a forest. Cryoconite holes are especially important in extreme cold environments such as the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where they function as repositories of life. Because cryoconite holes are mostly enclosed and persist for years, they can be tracked over time to test fundamental scientific questions about how communities of interacting organisms develop to become fully functioning ecosystems. This project will sample existing and experimentally created cryoconite holes to understand how these ecosystems develop and to what degree random processes (such as which organisms get there first) affect the final community composition and functioning. The results will not only improve our understanding of how microbial communities assemble and affect the functioning of microecosystems such as cryoconite holes, but also how the processes of community assembly affect functioning of larger ecosystems, such as forests. A better understanding of community establishment, development, and response to abiotic factors are essential to forecasting ecological responses to environmental change. It is essential to unravel the links between community assembly, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling across numerous ecosystems because these are critical factors determining ecological responses to environmental change. The unique, largely isolated nature of cryoconite holes provides an experimental system that will advance fundamental understanding of the processes (e.g., stochastic dynamics such as dispersal limitation, assembly order, and ecological drift) driving community assembly. This project will use a field sampling campaign and a number of manipulative experiments to test a hypothesis that unites theory in community and ecosystem ecology: the degree to which stochastic processes guide microbial community assembly and affects regional patterns in biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Cryoconite holes will be sampled to compare community composition, environmental factors, and ecosystem functioning between hydrologically connected and isolated holes. New cryoconite holes will also be constructed and monitored over the course of two growing seasons to specifically alter assembly order and community size, thereby pairing a unique manipulative experiment with field surveys to address questions with relevance to the Antarctic and beyond. Amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, microscopy, sensitive environmental chemistry methods, and photosynthesis and respiration measurements will be used to test a series of sub-hypotheses that relate stochasticity to patterns in regional biodiversity, heterogeneity in environmental factors, and ecosystem processes.
This collaborative project explores the signatures and causes of natural climate change in the region surrounding Antarctica over the last 40,000 years as the Earth transitioned from an ice age into the modern warm period. The researchers will investigate how the wind belts that surround Antarctica changed in their strength and position through time, and document explosive volcanic eruptions and CO2 cycling in the Southern Ocean as potential climate forcing mechanisms over this interval. Understanding how and why the climate varied naturally in the past is critical for improving understanding of modern climate change and projections of future climate under higher levels of atmospheric CO2. The investigators plan to conduct a suite of chemical measurements along the 1500m length of the South Pole Ice Core, including major ion and trace element concentrations, and microparticle (dust) concentrations and size distributions. These measurements will (1) extend the South Pole record of explosive volcanic eruptions to 40,000 years using sulfate and particle data; (2) establish the relative timing of climate changes in dust source regions of Patagonia, New Zealand, and Australia using dust flux data; (3) investigate changes in the strength and position of the westerly wind belt using dust size distribution data; and (4) quantify the flux of bioavailable trace metals deposited as dust to the Southern Ocean over time. These chemistry records will also be critical for creating the timescale that will be used by all researchers studying records from the South Pole core. The project will support four graduate students and several undergraduate students across three different institutions, and become a focus of the investigators' efforts to disseminate outcomes of climate change science to the broader community.
ABSTRACT Intellectual Merit: The high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (δ15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2. Broader impacts: This study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project.
The temperature of the earth is controlled, in part, by heat trapping gases that include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Despite their importance to climate, direct measurements of these gases in the atmosphere are limited to the last 50 years at best. Air trapped in ice cores extends those data back hundreds of millennia, and measurements of greenhouse gases in ice cores underpin much of our understanding of global chemical cycles relevant to modern climate change. Existing records vary in quality and detail. The proposed work fills gaps in our knowledge of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide over the last 10,000 years. New measurements from an ice core from the South Pole will be used to determine what role changes in ocean and land based processes played in controlling these gases, which decreased during the first 2,000 years of this time period, then gradually increased toward the present. The work will address a major controversy over whether early human activities could have impacted the atmosphere, and provide data to improve mathematical models of the land-ocean-atmosphere system that predict how future climate change will impact the composition of the atmosphere and climate. For nitrous oxide the work will improve on existing concentration records and provide a novel, detailed Holocene stable isotope record. It will also develop measurement of the isotopomers of nitrous oxide and explore their utility for understanding aspects of the Holocene nitrous oxide budget. The primary goal is to determine if marine and/or terrestrial emissions of nitrous oxide change in response to changes in Holocene climate. A new Holocene isotopic record for carbon dioxide (stable carbon and oxygen isotopes), will improve the precision of existing records by a factor 5 and increase the temporal resolution. These data will be used to evaluate controversial hypotheses about why carbon dioxide concentrations changed in the Holocene and provide insight into millennial scale processes in the carbon cycle, which are not resolved by current isotopic data. A graduate student will receive advanced training during and the student and principle investigator will conduct outreach efforts targeted at local middle school students. The proposed work will also contribute to teaching efforts by the PI and to public lectures on climate and climate change. The results will be disseminated through publications, data archive, and the OSU Ice Core Lab web site. New analytical methods of wide utility will also be developed and documented.
Omelon, Christopher; Breecker, Daniel; Bennett, Philip
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Cryptoendoliths are organisms that colonize microscopic cavities of rocks, which give them protection and allow them to inhabit extreme environments, such as the cold, arid desert of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Fossilized cryptoendoliths preserve the forms and features of organisms from the past and thus provide a unique opportunity to study the organisms? life histories and environments. To study this fossil record, there needs to be a better understanding of what environmental conditions allow these fossils to form. A climate gradient currently exists in the Dry Valleys that allows us to study living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendoliths from mild to increasingly harsh environments; providing insight to the limits of life and how these fossils are formed. This project will develop instruments to detect the biological activity of the live microorganisms and conduct laboratory experiments to determine the environmental limits of their survival. The project also will characterize the chemical and structural features of the living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendoliths to understand how they become fossilized. Knowing how microorganisms are preserved as fossils in cold and dry environments like Antarctica can help to refine methods that can be used to search for and identify evidence for extraterrestrial life in similar habitats on planets such as Mars. This project includes training of graduate and undergraduate students. Little is known about cryptoendolithic microfossils and their formation processes in cold, arid terrestrial habitats of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, where a legacy of activity is discernible in the form of biosignatures including inorganic materials and microbial fossils that preserve and indicate traces of past biological activity. The overarching goals of the proposed work are: (1) to determine how rates of microbial respiration and biodegradation of organic matter control microbial fossilization; and (2) to characterize microbial fossils and their living counterparts to elucidate mechanisms for fossilization. Using samples collected across an increasingly harsher (more cold and dry) climatic gradient that encompasses living, dead, and fossilized cryptoendolithic microorganisms, the proposed work will: (1) develop an instrument to be used in the field that can measure small concentrations of CO2 in cryptoendolithic habitats in situ; (2) conduct incubation experiments to target variations in microbial activity in samples containing living, dead, and fossilized microorganisms as well as limits to microbial activity by measuring CO2 evolution and delta13C signatures; and (3) use a suite of microscopy techniques (CLSM, cryo-SEM, FIB-SEM, µ-XFM) to correlate laboratory experimental evidence for microbial viability and activity and to identify the chemical and morphological characteristics of biosignatures and microbial fossils. A metagenomic survey of microbial communities in these samples will be used to characterize differences in diversity, identify if specific microorganisms (e.g. prokaryotes, eukaryotes) are more capable of surviving under these harsh climatic conditions, and to corroborate microscopic observations of the viability states of these microorganisms.
Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~40-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. As circum-Antarctic coastal temperatures declined during this period from ~20°C to the modern ?1.9 to +2.0°C (reached ~8-10 million years ago), the psychrophilic (cold-loving) ectotherms of the Southern Ocean evolved compensatory molecular, cellular, and physiological traits that enabled them to maintain normal metabolic function at cold temperatures. Today, these organisms are threatened by rapid warming of the Southern Ocean over periods measured in centuries (as much as 5°C/100 yr), a timeframe so short that re-adaptation and/or acclimatization to the ?new warm? may not be possible. Thus, the long-term goals of this research project are: 1) to understand the biochemical and physiological capacities of the embryos of Antarctic notothenioid fish to resist or compensate for rapid oceanic warming; and 2) to assess the genetic toolkit available to support the acclimatization and adaptation of Antarctic notothenioid embryos to their warming habitat. The specific aims of this work are: 1) to determine the capacity of the chaperonin complex of notothenioid fishes to assist protein folding at temperatures between ?4 and +20°C; and 2) to evaluate the genetic responses of notothenioid embryos, measured as global differential gene transcription, to temperature challenge, with ?1.9°C as the ?normal? control and +4 and +10°C as high temperature insults. The physiology of embryonic development of marine stenotherms under future climate change scenarios is an important but understudied problem. This project will provide valuable insights into the capacity of Antarctic fish embryos to acclimatize and adapt to plausible climate change scenarios by examining multiple levels of biological organization, from the biochemical to the organismal. The results should also be broadly applicable to understanding the impact of global warming on marine biota worldwide. The research will also introduce graduate and REU undergraduate students to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem.
Marine food webs can concentrate monomethylmercury (MMHg), a neurotoxin in mammals, in upper trophic level consumers. Despite their remoteness, coastal Antarctic marine ecosystems accumulate and biomagnify MMHg to levels observed at lower latitudes and in the Arctic. Marine sediments and other anoxic habitats in the oceans are typical areas where methylation of mercury occurs and these are likely places where MMHg is being produced. Krill, and more specifically their digestive tracts, may be a previously unaccounted for site where the production of MMHg may be occurring in the Antarctic. If monomethylmercury production is occurring in krill, current views regarding bioaccumulation in the food web and processes leading to the production and accumulation of mercury in the Antarctic Ocean could be better informed, if not transformed. This project will conduct a preliminary assessment of the krill gut microbiomes, the microbiome's genomic content and potential for production of monomethyl mercury by detecting the genes involved in mercury transformations. By analyzing the krill gut microbiome, the project will provide insights regarding animal-microbe interactions and their potential role in globally important biogeochemical cycles. This project will conduct a preliminary assessment of the krill gut microbiomes, the microbiomes genomic content and potential for production of monomethylmercury. The diversity and metabolic profiles of microorganisms in krill digestive tracts will be evaluated using massively parallel Illumina DNA sequencing technology to produce 16S rRNA gene libraries and assembled whole metagenomes. The project will also quantify the abundance and expression of Hg methylation genes, hgcAB, and identify their taxonomic affiliations in the microbiome communities. Environmental metagenomes, 16S rRNA gene inventories produced from this project will provide the polar science community with valuable databases and experimental tools with which to examine coastal Antarctic microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. The project will seek to provide a wider window into the diversity of extremophile microbial communities and the identification of potentially unique and useful bioactive compounds. In addition to public education and outreach. This project will train graduate students and provide educational and outreach opportunities at the participating institutions
The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is changing rapidly in response to Earth's warming climate. These changes will undoubtedly influence communities of primary producers (the organisms at the base of the food chain, particularly plant-like organisms using sunlight for energy) by altering conditions that influence their growth and composition. Because primary producers such as phytoplankton play an important role in global biogeochemical cycling, it is essential to understand how they will respond to changes in their environment. The growth of phytoplankton in certain regions of the Southern Ocean is constrained by steep gradients in chemical and physical properties that vary in both space and time. Light and iron have been identified as key variables influencing phytoplankton abundance and distribution within Antarctic waters. Microscopic algae known as diatoms are dominant members of the phytoplankton and sea ice communities, accounting for significant proportions of primary production. The overall objective of this project is to identify the molecular bases for the physiological responses of polar diatoms to varying light and iron conditions. The project should provide a means of evaluating the extent these factors regulate diatom growth and influence net community productivity in Antarctic waters. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. It will facilitate the teaching and learning of polar-related topics by translating the research objectives into readily accessible educational materials for middle-school students. This project will also provide funding to enable a graduate student and several undergraduate students to be trained in the techniques and perspectives of modern biology. Although numerous studies have investigated how polar diatoms are affected by varying light and iron, the cellular mechanisms leading to their distinct physiological responses remain unknown. Using comparative transcriptomics, the expression patterns of key genes and metabolic pathways in several ecologically important polar diatoms recently isolated from Antarctic waters and grown under varying iron and irradiance conditions will be examined. In addition, molecular indicators for iron and light limitation will be developed within these polar diatoms through the identification of iron- and light-responsive genes -- the expression patterns of which can be used to determine their physiological status. Upon verification in laboratory cultures, these indicators will be utilized by way of metatranscriptomic sequencing to examine iron and light limitation in natural diatom assemblages collected along environmental gradients in Western Antarctic Peninsula waters. In order to fully understand the role phytoplankton play in Southern Ocean biogeochemical cycles, dependable methods that provide a means of elucidating the physiological status of phytoplankton at any given time and location are essential.
The coastal environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of marine animals and algae. The importance of the interactions between these groups of organisms in the ecology of coastal Antarctica are well known and often mediated by chemical defenses in the tissues of the algae. These chemicals are meant to deter feeding by snails and other marine animals making the Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of chemical compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives: the first objective is to expand the current understanding of the relationship between algae and their associated marine animals. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend algae from being consumed. The third objective seeks to understand how marine animals can benefit from these compounds by consuming the algae that contain them, and then using those compounds to chemically deter predators. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to the US Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. The investigators will also foster opportunities to integrate their NSF research with a variety of educational activities. As in the past they will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs as well as home, university-based, programs, and they will also continue to support and foster graduate education. Through their highly successful University of Alabama in Antarctica interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education), they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators have hosted K-12 teachers on their Antarctic field teams through the former NSF Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program and will pursue participation in PolarTREC, the successor to this valuable program. Moreover, they will actively participate in outreach efforts by presenting numerous talks on their research to local school and community groups. The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of macroalgae and macroinvertebrates. The importance of predator-prey interactions and chemical defenses in mediating community-wide trophic interactions makes the western Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of defensive compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives which are a direct outcome of the past studies of the chemical ecology of shallow-water marine macroalgae and invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula by this group of investigators. The first objective is to expand the current understanding of a community-wide mutualism between macroalgae and their associated amphipods to include gastropods, which are also abundant on many macroalgae. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend macroalgae from being consumed, particularly in the common red alga Plocamium cartilagineum. The third objective seeks to understand the relationship between P. cartilagineum and the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, including the ecological benefits and costs to P. fissicauda resulting from the ability to consume P. cartilagineum and other chemically defended red algae. The investigators will focus on the costs and benefits related to the ability of P. fissicauda to sequester defensive compounds from the alga P. cartilagineum and use those chemicals to defend itself from predation. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. Phylogenetic analyses, detailed secondary metabolite chemical analyses and purifications, and other data analyses will also be performed at the investigators' home institutions between and after their field seasons.
Marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula are highly productive ecosystems which support a diverse assemblage of charismatic animals such as penguins, seals, and whales as well as commercial fisheries such as that on Antarctic krill. Fjords (long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea between high cliffs) along the central coast of the Peninsula appear to be intense, potentially climate sensitive, hotspots of biological production and biodiversity, yet the structure and dynamics of these fjord ecosystems are very poorly understood. Because of this intense biological activity and the charismatic fauna it supports, these fjords are also major destinations for a large Antarctic tourism industry. This project is an integrated field and modeling program to evaluate physical oceanographic processes, glacial inputs, water column community dynamics, and seafloor bottom community structure and function in these important yet little understood fjord systems. These Antarctic fjords have characteristics that are substantially different from well-studied Arctic fjords, likely yielding much different responses to climate warming. This project will provide major new insights into the dynamics and climate sensitivity of Antarctic fjord ecosystems, highlighting contrasts with Arctic sub-polar fjords, and potentially transforming our understanding of the ecological role of fjords in the rapidly warming west Antarctic coastal marine landscape. The project will also further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists, providing scientific training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research cruises in Antarctica and the development of a novel summer graduate course on fjord ecosystems. Internet based outreach activities will be enhanced and extended by the participation of a professional photographer who will produce magazine articles, websites, radio broadcasts, and other forms of public outreach on the fascinating Antarctic ecosystem. This project will involve a 15-month field program to test mechanistic hypotheses concerning oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and benthic community response in the Antarctic fjords. Those efforts will be followed by a coupled physical/biological modeling effort to evaluate the drivers of biogeochemical cycles in the fjords and to explore their potential sensitivity to enhanced meltwater and sediment inputs. Fieldwork over two oceanographic cruises will utilize moorings, weather stations, and glacial, sea-ice and seafloor time-lapse cameras to obtain an integrated view of fjord ecosystem processes. The field team will also make multiple shipboard measurements and will use towed and autonomous underwater vehicles to intensively evaluate fjord ecosystem structure and function during spring/summer and autumn seasons. These integrated field and modeling studies are expected to elucidate fundamental properties of water column and sea bottom ecosystem structure and function in the fjords, and to identify key physical-chemical-glaciological forcing in these rapidly warming ecosystems.
The project will support US participation in the XIIth Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) International Biology Symposium. The theme of this meeting and ancillary workshops is Scale Matters. Meeting sessions will specifically address biodiversity and physiology spanning from molecular through ecosystem scales. The project will provide partial support (airfare and meeting registration) for up to 25 US participants enabling them to travel to Leuven, Belgium and attend the SCAR International Biology Symposium in July 2017. Preference will be given to applicants who are students and early career scientists. The call for applications will be broadly disseminated to encourage participation by underrepresented groups in the sciences. The SCAR International Biology Symposium is a unique opportunity for US scientists to present their work and learn about the most recent findings on all aspects of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems research, to establish and strengthen international contacts, and to be actively involved in the development of new directions and the establishment of new frontiers in polar biology.
Agglutinated foraminifera (forams for short) are early-evolving, single-celled organisms. These "living fossils" construct protective shells using sediment grains held together by adhesive substances that they secrete. During shell construction, agglutinated forams display amazing properties of selection - for example, some species build their shells of clear quartz grains, while other species use only grains of a specific size. Understanding how these single cells assemble complex structures may contribute to nanotechnology by enabling people to use forams as "cellular machines" to aid in the construction of nano-devices. This project will analyze the genomes of at least six key foram species, and then "mine" these genomes for technologically useful products and processes. The project will focus initially on the adhesive materials forams secrete, which may have wide application in biomedicine and biotechnology. Furthermore, the work will further develop a molecular toolkit which could open up new avenues of research on the physiology, ecology, and population dynamics of this important group of Antarctic organisms. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. Educational experiences related to the "thrill of scientific exploration and discovery" for students and the general public will be provided through freely-available short films and a traveling art/science exhibition. The project will also provide hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate students. Explorers Cove, situated on the western shore of McMurdo Sound, harbors a unique population of foraminiferan taxa at depths accessible by scuba diving that otherwise are primarily found in the deep sea. The project will use next-generation DNA sequencing and microdissection methods to obtain and analyze nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from crown members of two species each from three distinct, early-evolving foraminiferal groups. It will also use next generation sequencing methods to characterize the in-situ prokaryotic assemblages (microbiomes) of one of these groups and compare them to reference sediment microbiomes. The phyogenomic studies of the targeted Antarctic genera will help fill significant gaps in our current understanding of early foram evolution. Furthermore, comparative genomic analyses of these six species are expected to yield a better understanding of the physiology of single-chambered agglutinated forams, especially the bioadhesive proteins and regulatory factors involved in shell composition and morphogenesis. Additionally, the molecular basis of cold adaptation in forams will be examined, particularly with respect to key proteins.
The aim of study is to understand how climate-related changes in snow and ice affect predator populations in the Antarctic, using the Adélie penguin as a focal species due to its long history as a Southern Ocean 'sentinel' species and the number of long-term research programs monitoring its abundance, distribution, and breeding biology. Understanding the environmental factors that control predator population dynamics is critically important for projecting the state of populations under future climate change scenarios, and for designing better conservation strategies for the Antarctic ecosystem. For the first time, datasets from a network of observational sites for the Adélie penguin across the entire Antarctic will be combined and analyzed, with a focus on linkages among the ice environment, primary production, and the population responses of Adélie penguins. The project will also further the NSF goals of making scientific discoveries available to the general public and of training new generations of scientists. The results of this project can be used to illustrate intuitively to the general public the complex interactions between ice, ocean, pelagic food web and top predators. This project also offers an excellent platform to demonstrate the process of climate-change science - how scientists simulate climate change scenarios and interpret model results. This project supports the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of polar oceanography, plankton and seabird ecology, coupled physical-biological modeling and mathematical ecology. The results will be broadly disseminated to the general oceanographic research community through scientific workshops, conferences and peer-reviewed journal articles, and to undergraduate and graduate education communities, K-12 schools and organizations, and the interested public through web-based servers using existing infrastructure at the investigators' institutions. The key question to be addressed in this project is how climate impacts the timing of periodic biological events (phenology) and how interannual variation in this periodic forcing influences the abundance of penguins in the Antarctic. The focus will be on the timing of ice algae and phytoplankton blooms because the high seasonality of sea ice and associated pulsed primary productivity are major drivers of the Antarctic food web. This study will also examine the responses of Adélie penguins to changes in sea ice dynamics and ice algae-phytoplankton phenology. Adélie penguins, like many other Antarctic seabirds, are long-lived, upper trophic-level predators that integrate the effects of sea ice on the food web at regional scales, and thus serve as a reliable biological indicator of environmental changes. The proposed approach is designed to accommodate the limits of measuring and modeling the intermediate trophic levels between phytoplankton and penguins (e.g., zooplankton and fish) at the pan-Antarctic scale, which are important but latent variables in the Southern Ocean food web. Through the use of remotely sensed and in situ data, along with state of the art statistical approaches (e.g. wavelet analysis) and numerical modeling, this highly interdisciplinary study will advance our understanding of polar ecosystems and improve the projection of future climate change scenarios.
Aydin/1644245 This award supports a project to measure ethane in ice core air extracted from the recently drilled intermediate depth South Pole ice core (SPICECORE). Ethane is an abundant hydrocarbon in the atmosphere. The ice core samples that will be used in this analysis will span about 150 years before present to about 55,000 years before present and therefore, ethane emissions linked to human activities are not a subject of this study. The study will focus on quantifying the variability in the natural sources of ethane and the processes that govern its removal from the atmosphere. A long-term ice core ethane record will provide new knowledge on the chemistry of Earth?s atmosphere during time periods when human influence was either much smaller than present day or non-existent. The broader impacts of this work include education and training of students and a contribution to a better understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere in the past and how it has been impacted by past changes in climate. Natural sources that emit ethane are both geologic (e.g. seeps, vents, mud volcanoes etc.) and pyrogenic (wild fires) which is commonly called biomass burning. Ethane is removed from the atmosphere via oxidation reactions. The ice core ethane measurements have great potential as a proxy for gaseous emissions from biomass burning. This is especially true for time periods preceding the industrial revolution when atmospheric variability of trace gases was largely controlled by natural processes. Another objective of this study is to improve understanding of the causes of atmospheric methane variability apparent which are in the existing ice core records. Methane is a simpler hydrocarbon than ethane and more abundant in the atmosphere. Even though the project does not include any methane measurements; the commonalities between the sources and removal of atmospheric ethane and methane mean that ethane measurements can be used to gain insight into the causes of changes in atmospheric methane levels. The broader impacts of the project include partial support for one Ph.D. student and support for undergraduate researchers at UC Irvine. The PIs group currently has 4 undergraduate researchers. The PI and the graduate students in the UCI ice core laboratory regularly participate in on- and off-campus activities such as laboratory tours and lectures directed towards educating high-school students and science teachers, and the local community at large about the scientific value of polar ice cores as an environmental record of our planet's past. The results of this research will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to policy-relevant activities such as the IPCC Climate Assessment. Data resulting from this project will be archived in a national data repository. This award does not have field work in Antarctica.
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.
Conway/1141866 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.
Ice cores record detailed histories of past climate variations. The South Pole ice core will allow investigation of atmospheric trace gases and fill an important gap in understanding the pattern of climate variability across Antarctica. An accurate timescale that assigns an age to the ice at each depth in the core is essential to interpretation of the ice-core records. This work will use electrical methods to identify volcanic eruptions throughout the past ~40,000 years in the core by detecting the enhanced electrical conductance in those layers due to volcanic impurities in the ice. These eruptions will be pattern-matched to other cores across Antarctica, synchronizing the timing of climate variations among cores and allowing the precise timescales developed for other Antarctic ice cores to be transferred to the South Pole ice core. The well-dated records of volcanic forcing will be combined with records of atmospheric gases, stable water-isotopes, and aerosols to better understand the large natural climate variations of the past 40,000 years. The electrical conductance method and dielectric profiling measurements will be made along the length of each section of the South Pole ice core at the National Ice Core Lab. These measurements will help to establish a timescale for the core. Electrical measurements will provide a continuous record of volcanic events for the entire core including through the brittle ice (550-1250m representing ~10,000-20,000 year-old ice) where the core quality and thin annual layers may prevent continuous melt analysis and cause discrete measurements to miss volcanic events. The electrical measurements also produce a 2-D image of the electrical layering on a longitudinal cut surface of each core. These data will be used to identify any irregular or absent layering that would indicate a stratigraphic disturbance in the core. A robust chronology is essential to interpretation of the paleoclimate records from the South Pole ice core. The investigators will engage teachers through talks and webinars with the National Science Teachers Association and will share information with the public at events such as Polar Science Weekend at the Pacific Science Center. Results will be disseminated through publications and conference presentations and the data will be archived and publicly available.
Waddington/1246045 This award supports a project to investigate the onset and growth of folds and other disturbances seen in the stratigraphic layers of polar ice sheets. The intellectual merit of the work is that it will lead to a better understanding of the grain-scale processes that control the development of these stratigraphic features in the ice and will help answer questions such as what processes can initiate such disturbances. Snow is deposited on polar ice sheets in layers that are generally flat, with thicknesses that vary slowly along the layers. However, ice cores and ice-penetrating radar show that in some cases, after conversion to ice, and following lengthy burial, the layers can become folded, develop pinch-and-swell structures (boudinage), and be sheared by ice flow, at scales ranging from centimeters to hundreds of meters. The processes causing these disturbances are still poorly understood. Disturbances appear to develop first at the ice-crystal scale, then cascade up to larger scales with continuing ice flow and strain. Crystal-scale processes causing distortions of cm-scale layers will be modeled using Elle, a microstructure-modeling package, and constrained by fabric thin-sections and grain-elongation measurements from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide ice-core. A full-stress continuum anisotropic ice-flow model coupled to an ice-fabric evolution model will be used to study bulk flow of anisotropic ice, to understand evolution and growth of flow disturbances on the meter and larger scale. Results from this study will assist in future ice-core site selection, and interpretation of stratigraphy in ice cores and radar, and will provide improved descriptions of rheology and stratigraphy for ice-sheet flow models.The broader impacts are that it will bring greater understanding to ice dynamics responsible for stratigraphic disturbance. This information is valuable to constrain depth-age relationships in ice cores for paleoclimate study. This will allow researchers to put current climate change in a more accurate context. This project will provide three years of support for a graduate student as well as support and research experience for an undergraduate research assistant; this will contribute to development of talent needed to address important future questions in glaciology and climate change. The research will be communicated to the public through outreach events and results from the study will be disseminated through public and professional meetings as well as journal publications. The project does not require field work in Antarctica.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment. The Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.
This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change. Independent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) is a polar desert on the coast of East Antarctica, a region that has not yet experienced climate warming. The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCMLTER) project has documented the ecological responses of the glacier, soil, stream and lake ecosystems in the MDV during a cooling trend (from 1986 to 2000) which was associated with the depletion of atmospheric ozone. In the past decade, warming events with strong katabatic winds occurred during two summers and the resulting high streamflows and sediment deposition changed the dry valley landscape, possibly presaging conditions that will occur when the ozone hole recovers. In anticipation of future warming in Antarctica, the overarching hypothesis of the proposed project is: Climate warming in the McMurdo Dry Valley ecosystem will amplify connectivity among landscape units leading to enhanced coupling of nutrient cycles across landscapes, and increased biodiversity and productivity within the ecosystem. Warming in the MDV is hypothesized to act as a slowly developing, long-term press of warmer summers, upon which transient pulse events of high summer flows and strong katabatic winds will be overprinted. Four specific hypotheses address the ways in which pulses of water and wind will influence contemporary and future ecosystem structure, function and connectivity. Because windborne transport of biota is a key aspect of enhanced connectivity from katabatic winds, new monitoring will include high-resolution measurements of aeolian particle flux. Importantly, integrative genomics will be employed to understand the responses of specific organisms to the increased connectivity. The project will also include a novel social science component that will use environmental history to examine interactions between human activity, scientific research, and environmental change in the MDV over the past 100 years. To disseminate this research broadly, MCM scientists will participate in a wide array of outreach efforts ranging from presentations in K-12 classrooms to bringing undergraduates and teachers to the MDV to gain research experience. Planned outreach programs will build upon activities conducted during the International Polar Year (2007-2008), which include development of an interactive DVD for high school students and teachers and publication of a children's book in the LTER Schoolyard Book Series. A teacher's edition of the book with a CD containing lesson plans will be distributed. The project will develop programs for groups traditionally underrepresented in science arenas by publishing some outreach materials in Spanish.
This project focuses on an important group of photosynthetic algae in the Southern Ocean (SO), diatoms, and the roles associated bacterial communities play in modulating their growth. Diatom growth fuels the SO food web and balances atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering the carbon used for growth to the deep ocean on long time scales as cells sink below the surface. The diatom growth is limited by the available iron in the seawater, most of which is not freely available to the diatoms but instead is tightly bound to other compounds. The nature of these compounds and how phytoplankton acquire iron from them is critical to understanding productivity in this region and globally. The investigators will conduct experiments to characterize the relationship between diatoms, their associated bacteria, and iron in open ocean and inshore waters. Experiments will involve supplying nutrients at varying nutrient ratios to natural phytoplankton assemblages to determine how diatoms and their associated bacteria respond to different conditions. This will provide valuable data that can be used by climate and food web modelers and it will help us better understand the relationship between iron, a key nutrient in the ocean, and the organisms at the base of the food web that use iron for photosynthetic growth and carbon uptake. The project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project supports early career senior investigators and the training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as outreach activities with middle school Girl Scouts in Rhode Island, inner city middle and high school age girls in Virginia, and middle school girls in Florida. The project combines trace metal biogeochemistry, phytoplankton cultivation, and molecular biology to address questions regarding the production of iron-binding compounds and the role of diatom-bacterial interactions in this iron-limited region. Iron is an essential micronutrient for marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton growth in the SO is limited by a lack of sufficient iron, with important consequences for carbon cycling and climate in this high latitude regime. Some of the major outstanding questions in iron biogeochemistry relate to the organic compounds that bind >99.9% of dissolved iron in surface oceans. The investigators' prior research in this region suggests that production of strong iron-binding compounds in the SO is linked to diatom blooms in waters with high nitrate to iron ratios. The sources of these compounds are unknown but the investigators hypothesize that they may be from bacteria, which are known to produce such compounds for their own use. The project will test three hypotheses concerning the production of these iron-binding compounds, limitations on the biological availability of iron even if present in high concentrations, and the roles of diatom-associated bacteria in these processes. Results from this project will provide fundamental information about the biogeochemical trigger, and biological sources and function, of natural strong iron-binding compound production in the SO, where iron plays a critical role in phytoplankton productivity, carbon cycling, and climate regulation.
Intellectual Merit: The MCM-SkyTEM project mapped resistivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys and at Cape Barne on the Ross Island during the 2011-12 austral season using an airborne transient electromagnetic method. The SkyTEM system is mounted to a helicopter enabling a broad geophysical survey of subsurface resistivity structure over terrain that is inaccessible to traditional ground-based methods. Resistivity measurements obtained distinguish between highly resistive geologic materials such as glacier ice, bedrock and permafrost, and conductive materials such as unfrozen sediments or permafrost with liquid brine to depths of about 300 m. The PIs request funding to derive data products relevant to physical and chemical conditions in potential subsurface microbial habitats of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, similar cold regions on Earth and other planetary bodies. They will use these data products to characterize the hydrologic history of McMurdo Dry Valleys as well as the subsurface hydrologic connectivity in the region to investigate the implications for nutrient and microbial transport. The PIs will make these data products accessible to the research community. Broader impacts: Polar microbial habitats are of high societal and scientific interest because they represent important testing grounds for the limits of life on Earth and other planetary bodies. Project deliverables will include teaching aids for undergraduate and graduate students. Two Ph.D. students will obtain advanced research training as part of this project. The PIs and students on this project will also engage in informal public outreach opportunities by presenting at local K-12 schools and reaching out to local media outlets on stories relating to SkyTEM research.
Project Summary Intellectual Merit: The United States Polar Rock Repository (USPRR) was established to curate and loan geologic samples from polar regions to researchers and educators. OPP established the USPRR in part to avoid redundant sample collection and thus reduce the environmental impact of polar research. The USPRR also provides the research community with an important resource for developing new research projects. The USPRR acquires rock collections through donations from institutions and scientists and makes these samples available as no-cost loans for research, education and museum exhibits. Sample metadata is available in an on-line database. The database also includes rock property information, such as magnetic susceptibility and specific gravity, which are useful for geophysical studies. Researchers may request samples for analysis using an online request form. The USPRR fulfills several data management directives, including the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Antarctic Data Management directive of providing free, full and open access to both metadata and the samples. The intellectual merit of the USPRR lies in the global dissemination of scientific information to researchers. Broader impacts: The broader impacts of the USPRR include lessening environmental impacts resulting from redundant fieldwork in Polar Regions. The USPRR provides educational information about Antarctica via the website, by visiting the repository or borrowing a "USPRR rock box". Working at the repository provides students with opportunities to learn about the geology of Antarctica as well as doing research, learning new skills in digital imaging, curation and database management.
Paragraph for Public Audiences: Many of the natural processes that modify the landscape inhabited by humans occur over very long timescales, making them difficult to observe. Exceptions include rare catastrophic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods that occur on short timescales. Many significant processes that affect the land and landscape that we inhabit operate on time scales imperceptible to humans. One of these processes is wind transport of sand, with related impacts to exposed rock surfaces and man-made objects, including buildings, windshields, solar panels and wind-farm turbine blades. The goal of this project is to gain an understanding of wind erosion processes over long timescales, in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, a cold desert environment where there were no competing processes (such as rain and vegetation) that might mask the effects. The main objective is recovery of rock samples that were deployed in 1983/1984 at 11 locations in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, along with measurements on the rock samples and characterization of the sites. In the late 1980's and early 1990's some of these samples were returned and indicated more time was needed to accumulate information about the timescales and impacts of the wind erosion processes. This project will allow collection of the remaining samples from this experiment after 30 to 31 years of exposure. The field work will be carried out during the 2014/15 Austral summer. The results will allow direct measurement of the abrasion rate and hence the volumes and timescales of sand transport; this will conclude the longest direct examination of such processes ever conducted. Appropriate scaling of the results may be applied to buildings, vegetation (crops), and other aspects of human presence in sandy and windy locations, in order to better determine the impact of these processes and possible mitigation of the impacts. The project is a collaborative effort between a small business, Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), and the University of Washington (UW). MSSS will highlight this Antarctic research on its web site, by developing thematic presentations describing our research and providing a broad range of visual materials. The public will be engaged through daily updates on a website and through links to material prepared for viewing in Google Earth. UW students will be involved in the laboratory work and in the interpretation of the results. Technical Description of Project: The goal of this project is to study the role of wind abrasion by entrained particles in the evolution of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains. During the 1983 to 1984 field seasons, over 5000 rock targets were installed at five heights facing the 4 cardinal directions at 10 locations (with an additional site containing fewer targets) to study rates of physical weathering due primarily to eolian abrasion. In addition, rock cubes and cylinders were deployed at each site to examine effects of chemical weathering. The initial examination of samples returned after 1, 5, and 10 years of exposure, showed average contemporary abrasion rates consistent with those determined by cosmogenic isotope studies, but further stress that "average" should not be interpreted as meaning "uniform." The samples will be characterized using mass measurements wtih 0.01 mg precision balances, digital microphotography to compare the evolution of their surface features and textures, SEM imaging to examine the micro textures of abraded rock surfaces, and optical microscopy of thin sections of a few samples to examine the consequences of particle impacts extending below the abraded surfaces. As much as 60-80% of the abrasion measured in samples from 1984-1994 appears to have occurred during a few brief hours in 1984. This is consistent with theoretical models that suggest abrasion scales as the 5th power of wind velocity. The field work will allow return of multiple samples after three decades of exposure, which will provide a statistical sampling (beyond what is acquired by studying a single sample), and will yield the mass loss data in light of complementary environmental and sand kinetic energy flux data from other sources (e.g. LTER meteorology stations). This study promises to improve insights into one of the principal active geomorphic process in the Dry Valleys, an important cold desert environment, and the solid empirical database will provide general constraints on eolian abrasion under natural conditions.
Paragraph for Laypersons: 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. Paragraph for Scientific Community: 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 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.
Intellectual Merit: This project will use sediment cores from the Victoria Land Basin (VLB), Antarctica, to study secondary (diagenetic) carbonate minerals, as indicators of the basin?s fluid-flow history, within the well-constrained tectonic, depositional, and climatic context provided by sediment cores. This study will provide insights into subsurface processes in Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica and their relationships with the region?s climatic, cryospheric, and tectonic history. The work will utilize cores previously recovered by US-sponsored stratigraphic drilling projects (CIROS, CRP, and ANDRILL projects). This work is motivated by the unexpected discovery of dense brine in the subsurface of Southern McMurdo Sound during drilling by the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound project. The presence of the brine is intriguing because it contradicts previous models for the origin of subsurface fluids that called upon large contributions from glacial melt water. Project objectives involve documenting the distribution of the brine (and potentially other fluids) via characterization of diagenetic precipitates. The approach will involve integration of petrographic and geochemical data (including conventional carbon, oxygen, and ?clumped? isotopes) to fully characterize diagenetic phases and allow development of a robust paragenetic history. This work will provide novel insights into the Cenozoic evolution of the VLB and, more broadly, the role of glacial processes in generating subsurface fluids. Broader impacts: Results from this project will help understand the origins of brines, groundwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs in analogous modern and ancient deposits elsewhere, which is of broad interest. This project will support the training of one graduate and one undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) providing learning opportunities in sedimentary geology and diagenesis, fields with wide applicability. This proposal emphasizes rapid dissemination of results to the scientific community via conference presentations and contributions to peer-reviewed publications. The results will be integrated into education activities designed to develop skills in petrography and diagenesis, which are highly sought after in the energy sector. The project will generate a well-constrained dataset that allows direct linkage of diagenetic phases to environmental and tectonic change across a large sedimentary basin which will provide the basis for a comprehensive case study in an upper-level course (Sedimentary Petrography and Diagenesis) at UNL. In addition, online exercises will be developed and submitted to an open-access site (SEPM Stratigraphy Web) dedicated to sedimentary geology.
Ocean acidification and increased temperatures are projected to be the primary impacts of global climate change on polar marine ecosystems over the next century. While recent research has focused on the effects of these drivers on calcifying organisms, less is known about how these changes may affect vertebrates. This research will focus on two Antarctic fishes, Trematomus bernacchii and Pagothenia borchgrevinki. Fish eggs and larvae will be collected in McMurdo Sound and reared under different temperature and pH regimes. Modern techniques will be used to examine subsequent changes in physiology, growth, development and gene expression over both short and long timescales. The results will fill a missing gap in our knowledge about the response of non-calcifying organisms to projected changes in pH and temperature. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will also be made available through open-access, web-based databases. This project will support the research and training of three graduate and three undergraduate students. As well, this project will foster the development of two modules on climate change and ocean acidification for an Introduction to Biology course.
Intellectual Merit: The role that Antarctica has played in vertebrate evolution and paleobiogeography during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene is largely unknown. Evidence indicates that Antarctica was home to a diverse flora during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, yet the vertebrates that must have existed on the continent remain virtually unknown. To fill this gap, the PIs have formed the Antarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Initiative (AVPI), whose goal is to search for and collect Late Cretaceous-Paleogene vertebrate fossils in Antarctica at localities that have never been properly surveyed, as well as in areas of proven potential. Two field seasons are proposed for the James Ross Island Group on the northeastern margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. Expected finds include chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fishes, marine reptiles, ornithischian and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, ornithurine birds, and therian and non-therian mammals. Hypotheses to be tested include: 1) multiple extant bird and/or therian mammal lineages originated during the Cretaceous and survived the K-Pg boundary extinction event; 2) the "Scotia Portal" permitted the dispersal of continental vertebrates between Antarctica and South America prior to the latest Cretaceous and through to the late Paleocene or early Eocene; 3) Late Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs from Antarctica are closely related to coeval taxa from other Gondwanan landmasses; 4) terminal Cretaceous marine reptile faunas from southern Gondwana differed from contemporaneous but more northerly assemblages; and 5) the collapse of Antarctic ichthyofaunal diversity during the K-Pg transition was triggered by a catastrophic extinction. Broader impacts: The PIs will communicate discoveries to audiences through a variety of channels, such as the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the outreach programs of the Environmental Science Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Carnegie Museum will launch a student-oriented programming initiative using AVPI research as a primary focus. This array of activities will help some 2,000 Pittsburgh-area undergraduates to explore the relevance of deep-time discoveries to critical modern issues. The AVPI will provide research opportunities for eight undergraduate and three graduate students, several of whom will receive field training in Antarctica. Fossils will be accessioned into the Carnegie Museum collection, and made accessible virtually through the NSF-funded Digital Morphology library at University of Texas.
The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has experienced unprecedented warming and shifts in sea ice cover over the past fifty years. How these changes impact marine microbial communities, and subsequently how these shifts in the biota may affect the carbon cycle in surface waters is unknown. This work will examine how these ecosystem-level changes affect microbial community structure and function. This research will use modern metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to test the hypothesis that the introduction of organic matter from spring phytoplankton blooms drives turnover in microbial communities. This research will characterize patterns in bacterial and archaeal succession during the transition from the austral winter at two long-term monitoring sites: Palmer Station in the north and Rothera Station in the south. This project will also include microcosm incubations to directly assess the effects of additions of organic carbon and melted sea ice on microbial community structure and function. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of the roles of both rare and abundant microorganisms in carbon cycling within the WAP region, and how these communities may shift in structure and function in response to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. The research will provide training opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students and will enhance international collaborations with the British Antarctic Survey.
The Weddell seal is a champion diving mammal. The physiology that permits these animals to sustain extended breath-hold periods and survive the extreme pressure of diving deep allows them to thrive in icy Antarctic waters. Key elements of their physiological specializations to breath-hold diving are their ability for remarkable adjustment of their heart and blood vessel system, coordinating blood pressure and flow to specific body regions based on their metabolic requirements, and their ability to sustain periods without oxygen. Identifying the details of these strategies has tremendous potential to better inform human medicine, helping us to develop novel therapies for cardiovascular trauma (e.g. stroke, heart attack) and diseases associated with blunted oxygen delivery to tissues (e.g. pneumonia, sepsis, or cancer). The goal of this project is to document specific genes that control these cardiovascular adjustments in seals, and to compare their abundance and activity with humans. Specifically, the investigators will study a signaling pathway that coordinates local blood flow. They will also use tissue samples to generate cultured cells from Weddell seals that can be used to study the molecular effects of low oxygen conditions in the laboratory. The project will further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. The project will train a pre-veterinary student researcher will conduct public outreach via a center for community health improvement, a multicultural affairs office, and a public aquarium. The goal of this study is to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the dive response. A hallmark of the dive response is tissue-specific vascular system regulation, likely resulting from variation in both nerve inputs and in production of local signaling molecules produced by blood vessel cells. The investigators will use emerging genomic information to begin to unravel the genetics underlying redistribution of the circulation during diving. They will also directly test the hypothesis that modifications in the signaling system prevent local blood vessel changes under low oxygen conditions, thereby allowing the centrally mediated diving reflex to override local physiological responses and to control the constriction of blood vessel walls in Weddell seals. They will perform RNA-sequencing of Weddell seal tissues and use the resulting sequence, along with information from other mammals such as dog, to obtain a full annotation (identifying all genes based on named features of reference genomes) of the existing genome assembly for the Weddell seal, facilitating comparative and species-specific genomic research. They will also generate a Weddell seal pluripotent stem cell line which should be a valuable research tool for cell biologists, molecular biologists and physiologists that will allow them to further test their hypotheses. It is expected that the proposed studies will advance our knowledge of the biochemical and physiological adaptations that allow the Weddell seal to thrive in the Antarctic environment.
Marine mammals that inhabit high latitude environments have evolved unique mechanisms to execute a suite of energetically-costly life history events (CLHEs) within a relatively short timeframe when conditions are most favorable. Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate CLHEs is particularly important in species such as Weddell seals, as both reproduction and molt are associated with large reductions in foraging effort, and the timing and outcome of each appears linked with the other. The long-term mark recapture program on Erebus Bay's Weddell seals provides a unique opportunity to examine CLHEs in a known-history population. The proposed work will monitor physiological condition, pregnancy status, and behavior at various times throughout the year to determine if molt timing is influenced by prior reproductive outcome, and if it, in turn, influences future reproductive success. These data will then be used to address the demographic consequences of trade-offs between CLHEs in Weddell seals. The impact of environmental conditions and CLHE timing on population health will also be modeled so that results can be extended to other climates and species. An improved understanding of the interactions between CLHEs and the environment is important in predicting the response of organisms from higher trophic levels to climate change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher and will further foster an extensive public outreach collaboration.
Uncovering the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to an understanding of the global carbon cycle, as organic material from lakes, streams, oceans and soils passes through this pool. DOM acts as a key energy source for microbes in many ecosystems and therefore can affect regional nutrient cycling patterns. For example, preliminary results suggest that organisms isolated from a supraglacial stream on Cotton Glacier, Antarctica, may be important in DOM cycling in this relatively simple, low temperature system. However, little is known about the functional attributes of the microbes that interact with DOM in the environment. This project will use state-of-the-art genomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to understand the mechanisms by which two microbial isolates, CG3 and CG9_1, affect DOM cycling. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will also be used to better characterize the microbially-derived DOM from this ecosystem. This project will support the research and training of one undergraduate and two graduate students. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Understanding the relationship between cold-adapted microbial metabolisms and DOM pools is important as more than 90% of the Earth?s oceans are below 5 degrees Celsius.
Intellectual Merit: <br/>The primary goal of this project is to sample two beds in the Meyer Desert Formation, which are known to be especially fossiliferous containing plants, insects, other arthropods, freshwater mollusks, and fish. There is a possibility that the teeth and bones of a small marsupial could also be found. Previous studies have demonstrated that these horizons contain unique fossil assemblages that provide information used to reconstruct paleoenvironments and paleoclimate. The fossils represent organisms previously not found in Antarctica and consequently their study will lead to the development of new hypotheses concerning southern hemisphere biogeography. The new discoveries will also increase knowledge of paleoenvironments and paleoclimates as well as biogeographic relationships of the biota of the southern hemisphere. For some organisms, such as Nothofagus (Southern Beech) or the trechine groundbeetle, fossils would confirm that Antarctica was inhabited as part of Gondwana. For other fossils, such as the cyclorrhaphan fly or freshwater mollusks not expected to have inhabited Antarctica, the discoveries will require a reassessment of phylogenetic interpretations and a reinvestigation of the role of Antarctica in the evolutionary history of those organisms. The new fossil-based knowledge will require integration with interpretations from cladistics and molecular genetics to develop more comprehensive phylogenetic hypotheses for a range of organisms.<br/><br/>Broader impacts: <br/>The discovery of fossils in Antarctica and implications for climate change has proven to be popular with the media. This attention will help disseminate the results of this study. Before the field season, the PI will work with local media and with area schools to set up field interviews and web casts from Antarctica. The project will also involve the training of a graduate student in the field and in the follow up studies of the fossils in the laboratory.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are among the coldest, driest habitats on the planet. Previous research has documented the presence of surprisingly diverse microbial communities in the soils of the Dry Valleys despite these extreme conditions. However, the degree to which these organisms are active is unknown; it is possible that much of this diversity reflects microbes that have blown into this environment that are subsequently preserved in these cold, dry conditions. This research will use modern molecular techniques to answer a fundamental question regarding these communities: which organisms are active and how do they live in such extreme conditions? The research will include manipulations to explore how changes in water, salt and carbon affect the microbial community, to address the role that these organisms play in nutrient cycling in this environment. The results of this work will provide a broader understanding of how life adapts to such extreme conditions as well as the role of dormancy in the life history of microorganisms. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings; raw data will be made available through a high-profile web-based portal. The research will support two graduate students, two undergraduate research assistants and a postdoctoral fellow. The results will be incorporated into a webinar targeted to secondary and post-secondary educators and a complimentary hands-on class activity kit will be developed and made available to various teacher and outreach organizations.
Intellectual Merit: The PI proposes an investigation of mantle xenoliths entrained within a suite of ~1.4 Ma mafic volcanic centers in the Fosdick Mountains, Antarctica. These recently entrained mantle xenoliths offer a unique opportunity to characterize the West Antarctic lithospheric mantle that has been subject to active modification from Cretaceous to Present by plate-boundary processes, such as orthogonal to oblique plate convergence, intracontinental rifting, continental breakup, and Neogene volcanism. These volcanic centers derive from heterogeneous mantle sources and host a compositionally diverse suite of mantle xenoliths that have varied mineral assemblages and microstructures. The proposed research has two complementary goals: to assess structural and compositional heterogeneity within the upper mantle and the variability of intrinsic and extrinsic variables at a variety of lithospheric levels; and to use textural and compositional characterization of the xenolith suite to elucidate possible causes of heterogeneous seismic anisotropy within the Marie Byrd Land mantle lithosphere and inform competing hypotheses explaining the active volcanism, thermal anomaly, and slow seismic velocities beneath West Antarctica. Furthermore, characterization of samples of the mantle beneath West Antarctica provides a type of 'ground truth' in support of contemporary ANET/POLENET seismology research that seeks to determine mantle composition, temperature, and sources of seismic anisotropy. Broader impacts: The PI is in his first-year as a tenure track faculty member at Boston College. A postdoctoral researcher will be trained in EBSD techniques, interdisciplinary polar research, and the mentoring of undergraduate investigators. Two Boston College undergraduates will participate in the research and a priority will be placed on selecting underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students. An existing sample suite assembled over more than 20 years of NSF sponsored field work, will be used. The PI will create a digital database for microstructural, textural, and xenolith data for rapid dissemination to the international Antarctic community.
Steig/1043092 This award supports a project to contribute one of the cornerstone analyses, stable isotopes of ice (Delta-D, Delta-O18) to the ongoing West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The WAIS Divide drilling project, a multi-institution project to obtain a continuous high resolution ice core record from central West Antarctica, reached a depth of 2560 m in early 2010; it is expected to take one or two more field seasons to reach the ice sheet bed (~3300 m), plus an additional four seasons for borehole logging and other activities including proposed replicate coring. The current proposal requests support to complete analyses on the WAIS Divide core to the base, where the age will be ~100,000 years or more. These analyses will form the basis for the investigation of a number of outstanding questions in climate and glaciology during the last glacial period, focused on the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the relationship of West Antarctic climate to that of the Northern polar regions, the tropical Pacific, and the rest of the globe, on time scales ranging from years to tens of thousands of years. One new aspect of this work is the growing expertise at the University of Washington in climate modeling with isotope-tracer-enabled general circulation models, which will aid in the interpretation of the data. Another major new aspect is the completion and use of a high-resolution, semi-automated sampling system at the University of Colorado, which will permit the continuous analysis of isotope ratios via laser spectroscopy, at an effective resolution of ~2 cm or less, providing inter-annual time resolution for most of the core. Because continuous flow analyses of stable ice isotopes is a relatively new measurement, we will complement them with parallel measurements, every ~10-20 m, using traditional discrete sampling and analysis by mass spectrometry at the University of Washington. The intellectual merit and the overarching goal of the work are to see Inland WAIS become the reference ice isotope record for West Antarctica. The broader impacts of the work are that the data generated in this project pertain directly to policy-relevant and immediate questions of the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and thus past and future changes in sea level, as well as the nature of climate change in the high southern latitudes. The project will also contribute to the development of modern isotope analysis techniques using laser spectroscopy, with applications well beyond ice cores. The project will involve a graduate student and postdoc who will work with both P.I.s, and spend time at both institutions. Data will be made available rapidly through the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center, for use by other researchers and the public.
Elevated temperatures and ocean acidification are both threatening the Southern Ocean. The effects of these environmental changes are poorly understood, but preliminary data suggest that they are driving a biological invasion. Specifically, large populations of skeleton-crushing king crabs, Paralomis birsteini, have been detected off Marguerite Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula. These crabs appear to be invading the continental shelf region where benthic communities have evolved in the absence of such top-predators. Thus, this invasion could result in a wholesale restructuring of the Antarctic benthic ecosystem. The proposed work seeks to document this invasion and better understand the effects of the introduction of P. birsteini on the ecology of this region. A towed underwater vehicle will be used to photographically image communities, and communities with and without P. birsteini will be compared quantitatively. Additionally, crabs will trapped and various aspects of their morphology and physiology will be assessed. This research is unique in that it will document a biological invasion in real-time and it will therefore enhance our general understandings of the drivers of invasion and resilience in biological communities. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of undergraduate and graduate students and will foster an international collaboration with British scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach thorough the development of K-12 curricular materials.
1141973/Tedesco This award supports a project to generate first-time validated enhanced spatial resolution (5-10 km) maps of surface melting over the Antarctic Peninsula for the period 1958 - to date from the outputs of a regional climate model and different downscaling techniques. These maps will be assessed and validated through new high spatial resolution (2.25 km) surface melting maps obtained from the QuikSCAT satellite for the period 1999 - 2009. The intellectual merit of this work is that it would be the first time that the outputs of a regional climate model would be used to study surface melting over Antarctica at such high spatial resolution and the first time that such results are validated by means of an observational tool that has such a large spatial coverage and high spatial resolution. The results generated in this study would also provide a first-time opportunity to study the melt distribution over the Peninsula and its correlation with climate drivers, such as the Southern Annual Mode (SAM) and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at these unprecedented spatial scales. The enhanced resolution melting maps will also offer a unique opportunity to study melting trends and patterns over specific regions of the Peninsula, such as the Wilkins and the Larsen A and B ice shelves and evaluate whether the extreme melting observed during the recent collapses was unprecedented over the + 50 years. The broader impacts of the project are that it will integrate research and education by fully supporting one female undergrad student, a PhD student and partially supporting a PostDoc. The work will be done at a minority-serving institution and the PhD student who worked on the development of the high-resolution melting data set from QuikSCAT will become the PostDoc who will work on this project. Teaching and learning will be supported by incorporating research results into graduate and undergrad level courses and will be disseminated over the web and through appropriate channels. Results from this project will also benefit the society at large as they will improve our understanding of the links between atmospheric patterns and surface melting and they will contribute to improving estimates of sea level rise from the Antarctica continent.
Intellectual Merit: The role that Antarctica has played in vertebrate evolution and paleobiogeography during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene is largely unknown. Evidence indicates that Antarctica was home to a diverse flora during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, yet the vertebrates that must have existed on the continent remain virtually unknown. To fill this gap, the PIs have formed the Antarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Initiative (AVPI), whose goal is to search for and collect Late Cretaceous-Paleogene vertebrate fossils in Antarctica at localities that have never been properly surveyed, as well as in areas of proven potential. Two field seasons are proposed for the James Ross Island Group on the northeastern margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. Expected finds include chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fishes, marine reptiles, ornithischian and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, ornithurine birds, and therian and non-therian mammals. Hypotheses to be tested include: 1) multiple extant bird and/or therian mammal lineages originated during the Cretaceous and survived the K-Pg boundary extinction event; 2) the ?Scotia Portal? permitted the dispersal of continental vertebrates between Antarctica and South America prior to the latest Cretaceous and through to the late Paleocene or early Eocene; 3) Late Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs from Antarctica are closely related to coeval taxa from other Gondwanan landmasses; 4) terminal Cretaceous marine reptile faunas from southern Gondwana differed from contemporaneous but more northerly assemblages; and 5) the collapse of Antarctic ichthyofaunal diversity during the K-Pg transition was triggered by a catastrophic extinction. Broader impacts: The PIs will communicate discoveries to audiences through a variety of channels, such as the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the outreach programs of the Environmental Science Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Carnegie Museum will launch a student-oriented programming initiative using AVPI research as a primary focus. This array of activities will help some 2,000 Pittsburgh-area undergraduates to explore the relevance of deep-time discoveries to critical modern issues. The AVPI will provide research opportunities for eight undergraduate and three graduate students, several of whom will receive field training in Antarctica. Fossils will be accessioned into the Carnegie Museum collection, and made accessible virtually through the NSF-funded Digital Morphology library at University of Texas.
Intellectual Merit: Magmas generated during subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath active continental margins typically have a calc-alkaline chemistry. However, igneous rocks with signatures usually associated with anorogenic magmatism are increasingly being found with calc-alkaline rocks in subduction zones. These enigmatic rocks provide insight into a variety of magmatic and structural processes that are fundamental to subduction zone dynamics but processes that lead to their petrogenesis remain a matter of debate. This project will investigate the Koettlitz Glacier Alkaline Province (KGAP) in the Transantarctic Mountains, which is a section through a Na-alkaline province bounded to the north and south by calc-alkaline magmatism. This province potentially contains key information on the thermo-mechanical processes leading to generation of Na-alkaline rocks in subduction systems. The PI will examine structures that bound the KGAP as well as intrusives and metasedimentary rocks contained within it to determine the tectonomagmatic history in the framework of two end-member hypotheses: the KGAP represents a crustal-scale extensional or transtensional domain in a subduction setting; or the KGAP formed in response to ridge subduction. Broader impacts: This study will train three graduate and three undergraduate students incorporating hands-on experience with state of the art instrumentation. Each summer, four high school students will be incorporated into various aspects of the laboratory-based research through the UCSB research mentorship program. This project will stimulate refinement of in-situ LA-ICPMS methods and development of collaborative linkages with Antarctic geologists at GNS Science in New Zealand. Results will be disseminated via papers and presentations at international conferences.
Global climate change is having significant effects on areas of the Southern Ocean, and a better understanding of this ecosystem will permit predictions about the large-scale implications of these shifts. The haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important component of the phytoplankton communities in this region, but little is known about the factors controlling its distribution. Preliminary data suggest that P. antarctica posses unique adaptations that allow it to thrive in regions with dynamic light regimes. This research will extend these results to identify the physiological and genetic mechanisms that affect the growth and distribution of P. antarctica. This work will use field and laboratory-based studies and a suite of modern molecular techniques to better understand the biogeography and physiology of this key organism. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of two graduate students and will foster an established international collaboration with Dutch scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach programs targeting K12 teachers as well as high school students.
Intellectual Merit: The PI requests support for preparation of a large collection of vertebrate fossils recently recovered from the Central Transantarctic Mountains (CTAM) of Antarctica. These fossils will be used to place early Mesozoic Antarctic dinosaurs and other vertebrates into a global evolutionary, biogeographic, and faunal context; assess the degree of endemism in Triassic vertebrate faunas of Antarctica; constrain temporal relationships of the Triassic Antarctic vertebrate faunas; and refine the stratigraphic context for the Triassic Antarctic vertebrate assemblages to establish a paleoenvironmental framework. The lower and middle Triassic fossils offer a rare window on life in terrestrial environments at high-latitudes immediately after the Permian mass extinction. Broader impacts: The PI will use their fossils to educate the public about the geologic, climatic, and biologic history of Antarctica by visiting local schools. They will create and publish at least two new videos to the Burke Museum blog that relate the graduate student?s experience of fieldwork in Antarctica. They will also update the Antarctica section on the UWBM "Explore Your World" website with images and findings from their field season.
Aydin/1043780 This award supports the analysis of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) in a deep ice core from West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS-D), Antarctica. COS is the most abundant sulfur gas in the troposphere and a precursor of stratospheric sulfate. It has a large terrestrial COS sink that is tightly coupled to the photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary goal of this project is to develop high a resolution Holocene record of COS from the WAIS-D 06A ice core. The main objectives are 1) to assess the natural variability of COS and the extent to which its atmospheric variability was influenced by climate variability, and 2) to examine the relationship between changes in atmospheric COS and CO2. This project also includes low-resolution sampling and analysis of COS from 10,000-30,000 yrs BP, covering the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene. The goal of this work is to assess the stability of COS in ice core air over long time scales and to establish the COS levels during the last glacial maximum and the magnitude of the change between glacial and interglacial conditions. The results of this work will be disseminated via peer-review publications and will contribute to environmental assessments such as the WMO Stratospheric Ozone Assessment and IPCC Climate Assessment. This project will support a PhD student and undergraduate researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and will create summer research opportunities for undergraduates from non-research active Universities.
Intellectual Merit: The PIs propose a two-year project to map the distribution of climate-sensitive landforms throughout Northern Victoria Land between the Convoy Range and Cape Adare. This work will produce geospatial products to aid their geomorphic work on ice sheet stability and landscape evolution. Specifically, the PI will investigate the potential for extensive surface melting and ice-sheet retreat with modest warming in areas north of the Convoy Range in Northern Victoria Land. The hypothesis is that if key landform elements of the Dry Valleys assemblage are lacking in NVL it suggests a major variation in current climate conditions, and perhaps changes in climate evolution. The proposed work will also benefit the broader research community, as it will demonstrate the potential for using geospatial imagery in geomorphic research and produce geospatial products that can be used by other researchers. Broader impacts: This work will help the research community better leverage the investment being made in the Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) and will help further demonstrate the significance of satellite imagery for doing ?virtual? field work in the Polar regions. More effective use of satellite imagery by field scientists in Antarctica will help reduce the logistical footprint on the Continent. The proposed research will support one graduate student at Boston University who will be trained in image analysis, map production, Antarctic geomorphology, and geospatial technologies. The proposed work will help to forge stronger links between PGC and Boston University?s Digital Image Analyses Lab (DIAL).
The research will investigate the individual and combined effects of rising ocean acidification and sea surface temperatures on shallow-water calcified benthic organisms in western Antarctic Peninsular (WAP) marine communities. The Southern Ocean is predicted to become undersaturated in terms of both aragonite and calcite within 50 and 100 years, respectively, challenging calcification processes. Adding to the problem, antarctic calcified benthic marine organisms are more vulnerable to ocean acidification than temperate and tropical species because they are generally weakly calcified. Many antarctic organisms are essentially stenothermal, and those in the West Antarctic Peninsula are being subjected to rising seawater temperatures. The project employs both single-species and multi-species level approaches to evaluating the impacts of rising ocean acidification and seawater temperature on representative calcified and non-calcified macroalgae, on calcified and non-calcified mesograzers, and on a calcified macro-grazer, all of which are important ecological players in the rich benthic communities. Multi-species analysis will focus on the diverse assemblage of amphipods and mesogastropods that are associated with dominant macroalgae that collectively play a key role in community dynamics along the WAP. The project will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs, as well as home university-based programs, some designed to enhance the representation of minorities in the sciences. The principal investigators also will support and foster graduate education through mentoring of graduate students. Through their highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program, they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica.
Intellectual Merit: <br/>Because of extensive ice cover and sparse remote-sensing data, the geology of the Precambrian East Antarctic Shield (EAS) remains largely unexplored with information limited to coastal outcrops from the African, Indian and Australian sectors. The East Antarctic lithosphere is globally important: as one of the largest coherent Precambrian shields, including rocks as old as ~3.8 Ga, it played an important role in global crustal growth; it is a key piece in assembly of the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents; it is the substrate to Earth?s major ice cap, including numerous sub-glacial lakes, and influences its thermal state and mechanical stability; and its geotectonic association with formerly adjacent continental blocks in South Africa, India and Australia suggest that it might harbor important mineral resources. This project will increase understanding of the age and composition of the western EAS lithosphere underlying and adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) using U-Pb ages, and Hf- and O-isotope analysis of zircon in early Paleozoic granitoids and Pleistocene glacial tills. TAM granites of the early Paleozoic Ross Orogen represent an areally extensive continental-margin arc suite that can provide direct information about the EAS crust from which it melted and/or through which it passed. Large rock clasts of igneous and metamorphic lithologies entrained in glacial tills at the head of major outlet glaciers traversing the TAM provide eroded samples of the proximal EAS basement. Zircons in these materials will provide data about age and inheritance (U-Pb), crustal vs. mantle origin (O isotopes), and crustal sources and evolution (Hf isotopes). Integrated along a significant part of the TAM, these data will help define broader crustal provinces that can be correlated with geophysical data and used to test models of crustal assembly. <br/><br/>Broader impacts: <br/>This project will provide a research opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates will be involved as Research Assistants in sample preparation, imaging, and analytical procedures, and conducting their own independent research. The two main elements of this project will form the basis of MS thesis projects for two graduate students at UMD. Through this project they will gain a good understanding of petrology, isotope geochemistry, and analytical methods. The broader scientific impacts of this work are that it will help develop a better understanding of the origin and evolution of East Antarctic lithosphere underlying and adjacent to the TAM, which will be of value to the broader earth science and glaciological community. Furthermore, knowledge of East Antarctic geology is of continuing interest to the general public because of strong curiosity about past supercontinents, what?s under the ice, and the impact of global warming on ice-sheet stability.
This award supports a project to understand the flow dynamics of large, fast-moving outlet glaciers that drain the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The project includes an integrated field, remote sensing and modeling study of Byrd Glacier which is a major pathway for the discharge of mass from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) to the ocean. Recent work has shown that the glacier can undergo short-lived but significant changes in flow speed in response to perturbations in its boundary conditions. Because outlet glacier speeds exert a major control on ice sheet mass balance and modulate the ice sheet contribution to sea level rise, it is essential that their sensitivity to a range of dynamic processes is properly understood and incorporated into prognostic ice sheet models. The intellectual merit of the project is that the results from this study will provide critically important information regarding the flow dynamics of large EAIS outlet glaciers. The proposed study is designed to address variations in glacier behavior on timescales of minutes to years. A dense network of global positioning satellite (GPS) instruments on the grounded trunk and floating portions of the glacier will provide continuous, high-resolution time series of horizontal and vertical motions over a 26-month period. These results will be placed in the context of a longer record of remote sensing observations covering a larger spatial extent, and the combined datasets will be used to constrain a numerical model of the glacier's flow dynamics. The broader impacts of the work are that this project will generate results which are likely to be a significant component of next-generation ice sheet models seeking to predict the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and future rates of sea level rise. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the imperfect understanding of outlet glacier dynamics as a major obstacle to the production of an accurate sea level rise projections. This project will provide significant research opportunities for several early-career scientists, including the lead PI for this proposal (she is both a new investigator and a junior faculty member at a large research university) and two PhD-level graduate students. The students will be trained in glaciology, geodesy and numerical modeling, contributing to society's need for experts in those fields. In addition, this project will strengthen international collaboration between polar scientists and geodesists in the US and Spain. The research team will work closely with science educators in the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) outreach program to disseminate project results to non-specialist audiences.
This award supports a project to contribute one of the cornerstone analyses, stable isotopes of ice (Delta-D, Delta-O18) to the ongoing West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The WAIS Divide drilling project, a multi-institution project to obtain a continuous high resolution ice core record from central West Antarctica, reached a depth of 2560 m in early 2010; it is expected to take one or two more field seasons to reach the ice sheet bed (~3300 m), plus an additional four seasons for borehole logging and other activities including proposed replicate coring. The current proposal requests support to complete analyses on the WAIS Divide core to the base, where the age will be ~100,000 years or more. These analyses will form the basis for the investigation of a number of outstanding questions in climate and glaciology during the last glacial period, focused on the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the relationship of West Antarctic climate to that of the Northern polar regions, the tropical Pacific, and the rest of the globe, on time scales ranging from years to tens of thousands of years. One new aspect of this work is the growing expertise at the University of Washington in climate modeling with isotope-tracer-enabled general circulation models, which will aid in the interpretation of the data. Another major new aspect is the completion and use of a high-resolution, semi-automated sampling system at the University of Colorado, which will permit the continuous analysis of isotope ratios via laser spectroscopy, at an effective resolution of ~2 cm or less, providing inter-annual time resolution for most of the core. Because continuous flow analyses of stable ice isotopes is a relatively new measurement, we will complement them with parallel measurements, every ~10-20 m, using traditional discrete sampling and analysis by mass spectrometry at the University of Washington. The intellectual merit and the overarching goal of the work are to see Inland WAIS become the reference ice isotope record for West Antarctica. The broader impacts of the work are that the data generated in this project pertain directly to policy-relevant and immediate questions of the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and thus past and future changes in sea level, as well as the nature of climate change in the high southern latitudes. The project will also contribute to the development of modern isotope analysis techniques using laser spectroscopy, with applications well beyond ice cores. The project will involve a graduate student and postdoc who will work with both P.I.s, and spend time at both institutions. Data will be made available rapidly through the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center, for use by other researchers and the public.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>Polar terrestrial environments are often described as deserts, where water availability is a critical factor limiting the distribution of terrestrial organisms. In such environments, tolerance of low moisture conditions is likely as important as cold resistance. Winter survival for many polar organisms depends on a coordinated transition from feeding, growth and reproduction during short summers, to an energy-conserving dormancy coupled with enhanced resistance to environmental extremes during long, severe winters. The midge Belgica antarctica provides an excellent model system for investigating mechanisms of stress (cold and low moisture) tolerance, and the role of extreme photoperiodic changes in coordinating seasonal adaptations. The proposed research will use gene and protein level approaches to investigate the seasonal roles of dehydration and photoperiodic cues in preparing a polar insect for winter survival. The research will investigate (1) the role of aquaporins, dehydrins, and cryoprotective dehydration in seasonal survival, and (2) the role of photoperiodism in preparing for winter. Broader impacts involve engagement of K-12 educators and students, including hands-on, in-the-field research experiences for teachers, presentations at local schools, development of lesson plans and podcasts, and publication of articles in education journals. The principal investigators also will engage graduate students, undergraduates, and post-docs in the project.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant pool of Earth's organic carbon that dwarfs the amount present in living aquatic organisms. The properties and reactivity of DOM are not well defined, and the evolution of autochthonous DOM from its precursor materials in freshwater has not been observed. Recent sampling of a supraglacial stream formed on the Cotton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains revealed DOM that more closely resembles an assemblage of recognizable precursor organic compounds, based upon its UV-VIS and fluorescence spectra. It is suggested that the DOM from this water evolved over time to resemble materials present in marine and many inland surface waters. The transient nature of the system i.e., it reforms seasonally, also prevents any accumulation of the refractory DOM present in most surface waters. Thus, the Cotton Glacier provides us with a unique environment to study the formation of DOM from precursor materials. An interdisciplinary team will study the biogeochemistry of this progenitor DOM and how microbes modify it. By focusing on the chemical composition of the DOM as it shifts from precursor material to the more humified fractions, the investigators will relate this transition to bioavailability, enzymatic activity, community composition and microbial growth efficiency. This project will support education at all levels, K-12, high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc and will increase participation by under-represented groups in science. Towards these goals, the investigators have established relationships with girls' schools and Native American programs. Additional outreach will be carried out in coordination with PolarTREC, PolarPalooza, and if possible, an Antarctic Artist and Writer.
This award supports a project to examine and test a 3-step process model for explosive ice-shelf disintegration that emerged in the wake of the recent 2008 and 2009 events of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The model is conditioned on Summer melt-driven increase in free-surface water coupled with surface and basal crevasse density growth necessary to satisfy an "enabling condition". Once met, the collapse proceeds through three steps: (Step 1), calving of a "leading phalanx" of tabular icebergs from the seaward ice front of the ice shelf which creates in its wake a region, called a "mosh pit" (located between the phalanx and the edge of the intact ice shelf), where ocean surface-gravity waves are trapped by reflection (a fast mechanically enabled process), (Step 2), and a rapid, runaway conversion of gravitational potential energy into ocean-wave energy by iceberg capsize and fragmentation within the "mosh pit" which leads to further wave-induced calving, capsize and fragmentation (Step 3). The project will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team and will focus on theoretical model development, numerical method development and application and new observations. The project will participate in both the Research Experience for Undergraduates program in the Physics Department and the Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) that fosters participation in research by underrepresented minorities. The PIs, postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and unfunded participants will develop a graduate-level seminar/tutorial to introduce advanced computational methods to glaciology. A postdoctoral scholar and graduate student will be trained in new research techniques during the project.
Whales play a central role in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean. However, little is known regarding their distribution and behavior, in part because of challenges associated with studying these organisms from large research vessels. This research will take advantage of the unique opportunity presented by the 2012-2013 test run of the smaller, more mobile R/V Point Sur. This work will use the Point Sur to investigate humpback whales in the waters studied by the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Station off the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Employing a combination of long-term satellite-linked tags and short-term suction cup tags, researchers will investigate the distribution, abundance and foraging behaviors of whales in this region. Whale biogeography will then be related to quantitative surveys of krill, their primary food source. Hypotheses regarding whale distribution and foraging strategies as well as physical oceanographic features will be tested. The WAP is undergoing some of the most dramatic warming on the planet, and a better understanding of the ecology of top predators is central to developing an understanding of the impacts of this change. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. Finally, this work will be coordinated with the extensive infrastructure of the Palmer LTER site, enabling outreach and educational activities.
Intellectual Merit: Diatom abundance in sediment cores is typically used as a proxy for paleo primary productivity. This record is complicated by variable preservation, with most loss occurring in the water column via dissolution and zooplankton grazing. This study will investigate preservational biases via a series of controlled experiments to create proxies of original productivity based on morphological changes associated with diatom dissolution and fracture. The PIs will utilize fresh diatoms from culture. Specific objectives include: (1) Linking changes in diatom morphology to availability of dissolved silica and other physical and chemical parameters; (2) Documenting the dissolution process under controlled conditions; (3) Assessment of changes in morphology and diatom surface roughness with increased dissolution; (4) Documenting the physical effects of grazing and fecal pellet formation on diatom fragmentation and dissolution; and (5) Analyzing the impact of diatom dissolution on silica and carbon export. These objectives will be achieved by growing Southern Ocean diatom species in the laboratory under differing physical and chemical conditions; controlled serial dissolution experiments on cultured diatoms; analysis of the dissolution process by imaging frustules under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and with micro-analysis of surface texture by atomic force microscopy (AFM); making the cultures available to krill and other live zooplankton crustaceans in order to analyze the specific effects of grazing and pelletization on diatom morphology; and comparing experimental results with natural plankton, sediment trap material, and selected Holocene, Pleistocene and Pliocene sediment core material. Broader impacts: This work will contribute to understanding of the use of diatom abundance as an indicator of paleoproductivity. The proposed experiments are multi-disciplinary in nature. Importantly, the project was designed, and the proposal largely written, by a Ph.D. candidate. The research proposed here will lead to peer-reviewed publications and provide a base for future studies over the course of an extremely promising scientific career. The project will also support an undergraduate research student at NIU. The PI is heavily involved in science outreach, including classroom visits, museum events and webinars related to evolution and climate change, and is active with NSF-funded outreach activities linked to the ANDRILL and WISSARD programs. He will continue these efforts with this project.
Intellectual Merit: The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) is a study of ocean mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) which runs west to east all around the continent of Antarctica, south of the other continents. This current system is somewhat of a barrier to transport of heat, carbon dioxide and other important ocean constituents between the far south and the rest of the ocean, and mixing processes play an important role in those transports. DIMES is a multi-investigator cooperative project, led by physical oceanographers in the U.S. and in the U.K. A passive tracer and an array of sub-surface floats were deployed early in 2009 more than 2000 km west of Drake Passage on a surface of constant density about 1500 m deep between the Sub Antarctic Front and the Polar Front of the ACC. In early 2010 a U.S. led research cruise sampled the tracer, turbulence levels, and the velocity and density profiles that govern the generation of that turbulence, and additional U.K. led research cruises in 2011 and 2012 continue this sampling as the tracer has made its way through Drake Passage, into the Scotia Sea, and over the North Scotia Ridge, a track of more than 3000 km. The initial results show that diapycnal, i.e., vertical, mixing west of Drake Passage where the bottom is relatively smooth is no larger than in most other regions of the open ocean. In contrast, there are strong velocity shears and intense turbulence levels over the rough topography in Drake Passage and diapycnal diffusivity of the tracer more than 10 times larger in Drake Passage and to the east than west of Drake Passage. The DIMES field program continues with the U.S. team collecting new velocity and turbulence data in the Scotia Sea. It is anticipated that the tracer will continue passing through the Scotia Sea until at least early 2014. The U.K. partners have scheduled sampling of the tracer on cruises at the North Scotia Ridge and in the eastern and central Scotia Sea in early 2013 and early 2014. The current project will continue the time series of the tracer at Drake Passage on two more U.S. led cruises, in late 2012 and late 2013. Trajectories through the Scotia Sea estimated from the tracer observations, from neutrally buoyant floats, and from numerical models will be used to accurately estimate mixing rates of the tracer and to locate where the mixing is concentrated. During the 2013 cruise the velocity and turbulence fields along high-resolution transects along the ACC and across the ridges of Drake Passage will be measured to see how far downstream of the ridges the mixing is enhanced, and to test the hypothesis that mixing is enhanced by breaking lee waves generated by flow over the rough topography. Broader Impacts: DIMES (see web site at http://dimes.ucsd.edu) involves many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Two graduate students, who would become expert in ocean turbulence and the processes generating it, will continue be trained on this project. The work in DIMES is ultimately motivated by the need to understand the overturning circulation of the global ocean. This circulation governs the transport and storage of heat and carbon dioxide within the huge oceanic reservoir, and thus plays a major role in regulating the earth?s climate. Understanding the circulation and how it changes in reaction to external forces is necessary to the understanding of past climate change and of how climate might change in the future, and is therefore of great importance to human well-being. The data collected and analyzed by the DIMES project will be assembled and made publicly available at the end of the project. The DIMES project is a process experiment sponsored by the U.S. CLIVAR (Climate variability and predictability) program.
Funds are provided to enable applications of powerful mathematical concepts and computational tools for rigorous sensitivity analysis, pseudo-spectra and generalized stability theory, and advanced state estimation in the context of large-scale ice sheet modeling. At the center of the proposal is the generation and application of adjoint model (ADM) and tangent linear model (TLM) components of the new Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM). The goal will be achieved through rigorous use of automatic differentiation (AD) to ensure synchronicity between the ongoing model development and improvement in terms of better representation of higher-order stress terms (which account for crucial fast flow regimes) of the nonlinear forward model (NLM) code and the derivative codes. The adjoint enables extremely efficient computation of gradients of scalar-valued functions in very high-dimensional control spaces. A hierarchy of applications is envisioned: (1) sensitivity calculations in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to determine to which control variables the polar ice sheet volumes are most sensitive; based on adjoint sensitivity maps, to establish quantitative estimates of ice sheet volume changes for relevant forcing scenarios; and to assess how sensitivities change when including higher-order stress terms; (2) coupling of the ADM and TLM to calculate pseudo-spectra or singular vectors (SV?s) of relevant ice sheet norms; SV?s provide perturbation patterns which lead to non-normal growth, optimally amplifying norm kernels over finite times; among the many applications of SV?s are optimal initialization of ensembles to assess uncertainties; SV?s are calculated through matrix-free iterative solution of a generalized eigenvalue problem via Lanczos or Arnoldi implicit restart algorithms; (3) a long-term goal is the development of an ice sheet state estimation system based on the adjoint or Lagrange Multiplier Method (LMM) in order to synthesize, in a formal manner, the increasing number and heterogeneous types of observations with a three-dimensional, state-of-the-art ice sheet model; an important requirement is that the adjoint incorporate new schemes that are being developed for CISM to capture crucial, but as yet unrepresented physical processes.
This five-year project seeks to characterize decadal scale changes in penguin and seabird populations on the Antarctic Peninsula, and to identify the factors driving these long-term changes. Two interconnected research activities are proposed: 1. Continued, long-term monitoring and censusing of penguin and seabird populations at >117 sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula via opportunistic ship-based data collection. 2. Synthesis and quantitative analyses of datasets detailing long-term changes in five penguin and seabird species from diverse sites throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. When complete, the penguin/seabird database will incorporate data from the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI), the CCAMLR database, the US AMLR database, the LTER database from Palmer Station, data from British and Argentine researchers, historic census data compiled by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and, when possible, additional privately held datasets. Additional data for temperature change, sea ice coverage, the seasonal timing and intensity of human visitation, and other factors have been gathered and will be analyzed together with population trajectories within a spatially explicit framework. The research will include hierarchical statistical analyses to characterize the long-term population dynamics of several key polar species across multiple spatial scales (sites, regions, and the Peninsula). Analyses also will focus on specific subsets of the overall database to contrast visitor impacts on paired colonies, sites, and regions that share similar environmental conditions but differ in the intensity of tourism. <br/><br/>The Broader Impacts include (1) research training and first-time Antarctic experiences for a postdoctoral researcher and several graduate students, all of whom will then be better positioned to bring their expertise in spatial and/or quantitative/theoretical ecology to bear on questions in polar research; (2) assembly and analysis of a large, multi-season database of penguin and seabird time series from the Antarctic Peninsula that will be publicly available, (3) assistance in distinguishing the impacts of tourism versus climate change on seabird populations. Under the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, Treaty Parties are charged with regular and effective monitoring to assess the impacts of human activities. This project will uniquely assist Parties in fulfilling this mandate.
Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~40-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. The biochemical and physiological challenges facing ectotherms living in the Southern Ocean include the reduction of reaction rates and metabolic fluxes and a pervasive weakening of macromolecular interactions. Yet, Southern Ocean ectotherms are now threatened by warming over periods measured in centuries or less. The proposed research seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms of cold adaptation in Antarctic marine fishes and to assess the physiological capacity of these organisms to resist or compensate for rapid oceanic warming. The P.I. will characterize two important and interacting protein systems, the tubulins that form microtubules and the chaperonin CCT (cytoplasmic chaperonin-containing TCP-1, a family of proteins that assists the folding of the tubulins). Higher-level, integrative responses to global temperature change will be analyzed by studying the thermal dependence of cleavage in Antarctic fish embryos (a microtubule-dependent process). The objectives are (1) to determine the contributions of five novel amino acid substitutions found in Antarctic fish beta-tubulins to microtubule assembly at cold temperature. (2) to compare the functional properties of CCT from testis tissues of Antarctic fishes and mammals. (3) to evaluate the effects of increased temperature on embryogenesis in Antarctic fishes. The research will introduce graduate and REU undergraduate students to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. The proposed work also will benefit society by developing a cold-functioning chaperonin protein folding system, of great value to the biopharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for use in folding insoluble proteins.
Lake Vida is the largest lake of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, with an approximately 20 m ice cover overlaying a brine of unknown depth with at least 7 times seawater salinity and temperatures below -10 degrees C year-round. Samples of brine collected from ice above the main water body contain 1) the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth, 2) unusual geochemistry including anomalously high ammonia and iron concentrations, 3) high microbial counts with an unusual proportion (99%) of ultramicrobacteria. The microbial community is unique even compared to other Dry Valley Lakes. The research proposes to enter, for the first time the main brine body below the thick ice of Lake Vida and perform in situ measurements, collect samples of the brine column, and collect sediment cores from the lake bottom for detailed geochemical and microbiological analyses. The results will allow the characterization of present and past life in the lake, assessment of modern and past sedimentary processes, and determination of the lake's history. The research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that will uncover the biogeochemical processes associated with a non-photosynthetic microbial community isolated for a significant period of time. This research will address diversity, adaptive mechanisms and evolutionary processes in the context of the physical evolution of the environment of Lake Vida. Results will be widely disseminated through publications, presentations at national and international meetings, through the Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE) web site and the McMurdo LTER web site. The research will support three graduate students and three undergraduate research assistants. The results will be incorporated into a new undergraduate biogeosciences course at the University of Illinois at Chicago which has an extremely diverse student body, dominated by minorities.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>Two models have been proposed to describe controls over microbial biogeography. One model proposes that microbes are ubiquitously distributed across the global environment, and that environmental conditions select for taxa physiologically adapted to local physical conditions. An alternative model predicts that dispersal is the important limitation to the distribution of microorganisms and that spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities is a result of both dispersal and local environmental limitations. According to both models, spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities may be especially pronounced in extreme ecosystems where the environmental selection for organisms with suitable physiology is most strongly manifest. We propose that Antarctic terrestrial environments are ideal places to examine microbial biogeography for 3 reasons: 1) the pristine nature and remoteness of Antarctica minimizes the prevalence of exotic species dispersed through human vectors; 2) the extreme conditions of Antarctic environments provide a strong environmental filter which limits the establishment of non-indigenous taxa; and 3) extreme heterogeneity in the terrestrial environment provides natural gradients of soil conditions (temperature, water and nutrient availability). In the proposed research we will investigate the influence of snow on the composition and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and linked biogeochemical cycling in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We will conduct fieldwork at the landscape scale (repeated remote sensing to characterize snow distribution), at the valley and patch scales (quantify snow patch ablation, microbial communities and biogeochemical cycling in subnivian soils). We hypothesize that snow patches play an important role in structuring the spatial distribution of soil microbial communities and their associated ecosystem functioning because of the physical and hydrological influences that snow patches have on the soil environment. The research will contribute to greater public awareness of the importance of polar research to fundamental questions of biology, ecology and hydrology through direct linkages with International Antarctic Institute public outreach activities, including dissemination of web-based learning units on environmental science and microbiology, targeted as resources for secondary and post-secondary educators. Three graduate students, one postdoctoral scholar and multiple undergraduates will participate in the research activities.
Intellectual Merit: Mt. Erebus is one of only a handful of volcanoes worldwide that have lava lakes with readily observable and nearly continuous Strombolian explosive activity. Erebus is also unique in having a permanent convecting lava lake of anorthoclase phonolite magma. Over the years significant infrastructure has been established at the summit of Mt. Erebus as part of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO), which serves as a natural laboratory to study a wide range of volcanic processes, especially magma degassing associated with an open convecting magma conduit. The PI proposes to continue operating MEVO for a further five years. The fundamental fundamental research objectives are: to understand diffuse flank degassing by using distributed temperature sensing and gas measurements in ice caves, to understand conduit processes, and to examine the environmental impact of volcanic emissions from Erebus on atmospheric and cryospheric environments. To examine conduit processes the PI will make simultaneous observations with video records, thermal imaging, measurements of gas emission rates and gas compositions, seismic, and infrasound data. Broader impacts: An important aspect of Erebus research is the education and training of students. Both graduate and undergraduate students will have the opportunity to work on MEVO data and deploy to the field site. In addition, this proposal will support a middle or high school science teacher for two field seasons. The PI will also continue working with various media organizations and filmmakers.
This award supports a project to create new, unprecedented high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) records spanning intervals of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period and the early Holocene. The proposed work will utilize high-precision methods on existing ice cores from high accumulation sites such as Siple Dome and Byrd Station, Antarctica and will improve our understanding of how fast CO2 can change naturally, how its variations are linked with climate, and, combined with a coupled climate-carbon cycle model, will clarify the role of terrestrial and oceanic processes during past abrupt changes of climate and CO2. The intellectual merit of this work is that CO2 is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and understanding its past variations, its sources and sinks, and how they are linked to climate change is a major goal of the climate research community. This project will produce high quality data on centennial to multi-decadal time scales. Such high-resolution work has not been conducted before because of insufficient analytical precision, slow experimental procedures in previous studies, or lack of available samples. The proposed research will complement future high-resolution studies from WAIS Divide ice cores and will provide ice core CO2 records for the target age intervals, which are in the zone of clathrate formation in the WAIS ice cores. Clathrate hydrate is a phase composed of air and ice. CO2 analyses have historically been less precise in clathrate ice than in ?bubbly ice? such as the Siple Dome ice core that will be analyzed in the proposed project. High quality, high-resolution results from specific intervals in Siple Dome that we propose to analyze will provide important data for verifying the WAIS Divide record. The broader impacts of the work are that current models show a large uncertainty of future climate-carbon cycle interactions. The results of this proposed work will be used for testing coupled carbon cycle-climate models and may contribute to reducing this uncertainty. The project will contribute to the training of several undergraduate students and a full-time technician. Both will learn analytical techniques and the basic science involved. Minorities and female students will be highly encouraged to participate in this project. Outreach efforts will include participation in news media interviews, at a local festival celebrating art, science and technology, and giving seminar presentations in the US and foreign countries. The OSU ice core laboratory has begun a collaboration with a regional science museum and is developing ideas to build an exhibition booth to make public be aware of climate change and ice core research. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and at other similar archives per the OPP data policy.
The west Antarctic Peninsula is warming rapidly, and continuing changes in the thermal regime will likely result in severe consequences for marine fauna, including potential extinction of strongly adapted stenotherms, and invasions from neighboring faunas. Initial impacts of climate change may result in changes in connectivity among populations of the same species. These changes may will be undetectable by direct observation, but may be assessed via genetic connectivity, i.e. differences in allele or haplotype frequencies among populations can be used to infer levels of gene flow. The proposed research will explore the role that the Scotia Arc plays in connecting populations from South America to Antarctica, a corridor identified as a likely entry route for invaders into Antarctica. It also will examine the way in which cryptic species may confound our knowledge of broad-scale distributions, and in doing so, make contributions towards understanding biodiversity and testing the paradigm of circumpolarity in Antarctica. The principal investigator will to collect multi-locus genetic data across 'species' from a broad suite of benthic marine invertebrate phyla, from multiple locations, in order to address hypotheses regarding speciation and connectivity, to estimate demographic population changes, and to identify the underlying processes that drive observed phylogeographic patterns. Comparative phylogeography is a particularly valuable approach because it enables the identification of long-term barriers and refugia common to groups of species and is consequently highly relevant to conservation planning. Moreover, this work will form a valuable baseline for detecting future changes in connectivity. The results of the research will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. In addition, the project will support the interdisciplinary training of a female graduate student, two undergraduate students, and host additional summer students through the STARS program at SIO, which helps minority students prepare for graduate school. This project will integrate research and education through conducting an interdisciplinary workshop that brings together Earth Science and Biology high school teachers. This workshop aims to assist teachers derive their own curricula uniting plate tectonics, ocean history and evolution, supporting a new high school earth sciences program. Information generated by this project will also directly feed into international efforts to design a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Antarctica.
This award supports a project to fully characterize the microstructure in ice cores, in particular the microstructural locations of impurities, grain orientations and strain gradients. This work will complement the optical observations, electrical conductivity measurement, and precise, detailed measurements of the soluble ion and gas contents that are performed by others. Linking the concentrations of soluble ions and gases, measured to a few parts per billion, to the optically determined annual layer structure and the stable isotope data in ice cores has enabled a great deal to be established about the concentrations and depth/age distributions of particles, trace gases and impurities for several polar ice cores. Ice core studies carried out by several groups contribute immensely to our understanding of paleoclimate and, to our ability to predict future climate change. The work will build on previous measurements and technique development in this area, as well as focusing on new techniques to characterize ice cores. The work will use both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and confocal scanning optical microscopy coupled with Raman spectroscopy (RS) to determine the microstructural locations of impurities and correlate this information with depth/age, and impurity type and concentration for several polar ice cores. The Broader Impacts of the proposed work are that knowledge of the location of impurities coupled with the grain orientation (both c- and a-axis) and grain misorientation information will allow paleoclimatologists to better interpret ice core data and other scientists to understand and model the physical and mechanical properties of natural ice sheets. Other Broader Impacts of the work are that the work will be performed and lead to the education of a Ph.D. student. At the end of the project, as well as the knowledge gained from coursework, the graduate student will have experience in ice core specimen preparation and characterization using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray microanalysis, confocal scanning microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ion chromatography. Results from the research will be published in refereed journals, presented at conferences, and placed on a web page.
Brook 0739766<br/><br/>This award supports a project to create a 25,000-year high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from the WAIS Divide ice core. The site has high ice accumulation rate, relatively cold temperatures, and annual layering that should be preserved back to 40,000 years, all prerequisite for preserving a high quality, well-dated CO2 record. The new record will be used to examine relationships between Antarctic climate, Northern Hemisphere climate, and atmospheric CO2 on glacial-interglacial to centennial time scales, at unprecedented temporal resolution. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is simply that CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that humans directly impact, and understanding the sources, sinks, and controls of atmospheric CO2 is a major goal for the global scientific community. Accurate chronology and detailed records are primary requirements for developing and testing models that explain and predict CO2 variability. The proposed work has several broader impacts. It contributes to the training of a post-doctoral researcher, who will transfer to a research faculty position during the award period and who will participate in graduate teaching and guest lecture in undergraduate courses. An undergraduate researcher will gain valuable lab training and conduct independent research. Bringing the results of<br/>the proposed work to the classroom will enrich courses taught by the PI. Outreach efforts will expose pre-college students to ice core research. The proposed work will enhance the laboratory facilities for ice core research at OSU, insuring that the capability for CO2 measurements exists for future projects. All data will be archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and other similar archives, per OPP policy. Highly significant results will be disseminated to the news media through OSU?s very effective News and Communications group. Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas that humans are directly changing. Understanding how CO2 and climate are linked on all time scales is necessary for predicting the future behavior of the carbon cycle and climate system, primarily to insure that the appropriate processes are represented in carbon cycle/climate models. Part of the proposed work emphasizes the relationship of CO2 and abrupt climate change. Understanding how future abrupt change might impact the carbon cycle is an important issue for society.
Processess governing the formation of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean remain poorly described. As with AABW formation in more well studied regions of the Antarctic continent, global climate impacts of the source regions of this dense, cold water that help drive the global ocean thermohaline circulation are uncertain. A combination of (annual) continental shelf and slope moorings, seasonal (summer) hydrographic surveys on board the Chinese icebreaker M/V Xuelong, together with synthesis of historic and satellite data will be used to better constrain shelf processes and the atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the Prydz Bay region. Despite the seeming remoteness of the study site, changes in the formation rate of AABW could potentially have impact on northern hemisphere climate via effects on the global heat budget and through sea-level rise in the coming decades. The project additionally seeks to promote international collaboration between Chinese and US researchers. The data collected will be broadly disseminated to the oceanographic community through the National Oceanography Data Center and Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Data Center.
This award supports a project to strengthen collaborations between the various research groups working on iceberg calving. Relatively little is known about the calving process, especially the physics that governs the initiation and propagation of fractures within the ice. This knowledge gap exists in part because of the diverse range in spatial and temporal scales associated with calving (ranging from less than one meter to over a hundred kilometers in length scale). It is becoming increasingly clear that to predict the future behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to sea level rise, it is necessary to improve our understanding of iceberg calving processes. Further challenges stem from difficulties in monitoring and quantifying short-time and spatial-scale processes associated with ice fracture, including increased fracturing events in ice shelves or outlet glaciers that may be a precursor to disintegration, retreat or increased calving rates. Coupled, these fundamental problems currently prohibit the inclusion of iceberg calving into numerical ice sheet models and hinder our ability to accurately forecast changes in sea level in response to climate change. Seismic data from four markedly different environmental regimes forms the basis of the proposed research, and researchers most familiar with the datasets will perform all analyses. Extracting the similarities and differences across the full breadth of calving processes embodies the core of the proposed work, combining and improving methods previously developed by each group. Techniques derived from solid Earth seismology, including waveform cross-correlation and clustering will be applied to each data set allowing quantitative process comparisons on a significantly higher level than previously possible. This project will derive catalogues of glaciologically produced seismic events; the events will then be located and categorized based on their location, waveform and waveform spectra both within individual environments and between regions. The intellectual merit of this work is that it will lead to a better understanding of iceberg calving and the teleconnections between seismic events and other geophysical processes around the globe. The broader impacts of this work are that it relates directly to socio-environmental impacts of global change and sea level rise. Strong collaborations will form as a result of this research, including bolstered collaborations between the glacier and ice sheet communities, as well as the glaciology and seismology communities. Outreach and public dissemination of findings will be driven by SIO's Visualization Center, and Birch Aquarium, hosting presentations devoted to the role of the cryosphere in global change. Time-lapse movies of recent changes at Columbia Glacier will be used to engage potential young scientists. A program of presentations outside the university setting to at-risk and gifted youth will be continued. This study will also involve undergraduates in analyses and interpretation and presentation of the seismic data assembled. The work will also support two junior scientists who will be supported by this project.
This project studies remnant magnetization in igneous rocks from the Dufek igneous complex, Antarctica. Its primary goal is to understand variations in the Earth's magnetic field during the Mesozoic Dipole Low (MDL), a period when the Earth's magnetic field underwent dramatic weakening and rapid reversals. This work will resolve the MDL's timing and nature, and assess connections between reversal rate, geomagnetic intensity and directional variability, and large-scale geodynamic processes. The project also includes petrologic studies to determine cooling rate effects on magnetic signatures, and understand assembly of the Dufek as an igneous body. Poorly studied, the Dufek is amongst the world's largest intrusions and its formation is connected to the break-up of Gondwana. <br/><br/>The broader impacts of this project include graduate and undergraduate education and international collaboration with a German and Chilean IPY project.
Intellectual Merit: The PI proposes a high-resolution paleoenvironmental study of pollen, spore, fresh-water algae, and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages to investigate the palynological record of sudden warming events in the Antarctic as recorded by the ANDRILL SMS drill core and terrestrial sections. These data will be used to derive causal mechanisms for these rapid climate events. Terrestrial samples will be obtained at various altitudes in the Dry Valleys region. The pollen and spores will provide data on atmospheric conditions, while the algae will provide data on sea-surface conditions. These data will help identify the triggers for sudden climatic shifts. If they are caused by changes in oceanic currents, a signal will be visible in the dinocyst assemblages first as currents influence their distribution. Conversely, if these shifts are triggered by atmospheric factors, then the shifts will first affect plants and be visible in the pollen record. Broader impacts: The PI proposes a suite of activities to bring field-based climate change research to a broader audience. The PI will advise a diverse group of students and educators. The palynological data collected as part of this research will be utilized, in part, to develop new lectures on Antarctic palynology and these new lectures will be made available via a collaboration with the LSU HHMI program. In addition, the PI will direct three Louisiana middle-school teachers as they pursue a Masters of Natural Science for science educators. These teachers will help the PI develop a professional development program for science teachers. Community-based activities will be organized to raise science awareness and alert students and the public of opportunities in science.
This award supports a project to make measurements of methane and other trace gases in firn air collected at South Pole, Antarctica. The analyses will include: methane isotopes (delta-13CH4 and delta-DCH4), light non-methane hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, and n-butane), sulfur gases (COS, CS2), and methyl halides (CH3Cl and CH3Br). The atmospheric burdens of these trace gases reflect changes in atmospheric OH, biomass burning, biogenic activity in terrestrial, oceanic, and wetland ecosystems, and industrial/agricultural activity. The goal of this project is to develop atmospheric histories for these trace gases over the last century through examination of depth profiles of these gases in South Pole firn air. The project will involve two phases: 1) a field campaign at South Pole, Antarctica to drill two firn holes and fill a total of ~200 flasks from depths reaching 120 m, 2) analysis of firn air at University of California, Irvine, Penn State University, and several other collaborating laboratories. Atmospheric histories will be inferred from the measurements using a one dimensional advective/diffusive model of firn air transport. This study will provide new information about the recent changes in atmospheric levels of these gases, providing about a 90 year long time series record that connects the earlier surface and firn air measurements to present day. The project will also explore the possibility of in- situ production of light non-methane hydrocarbons in firn air that is relevant to the interpretation of ice core records. The broader impacts of this research are that it has the potential for significant societal impact by improving our understanding of climate change and man's input to the atmosphere. The results of this work will be disseminated through the peer review process, and will contribute to environmental assessments, such as the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Assessment and the Word Meteorological Organization (WMO) Stratospheric Ozone Assessment. This research will provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and will contribute to a teacher training program for K-12 teachers in minority school districts.
The proposed research seeks to test the hypothesis that chemical and physical weathering in proximal alluvial systems will show systematic and measurable variations between glacial and nonglacial systems. To accomplish this, the investigation will attempt to quantify the natural variation of chemical and physical weathering in granitoid-sourced proximal alluvial sediments in end-member glacial and nonglacial systems, when other, "non-climatic" factors (e.g. provenance, drainage basin area and relief, sample grain size, sediment facies) are controlled. If chemical weathering in the proposed hot-humid, hot-arid, hot semi-arid nonglacial systems and the cool-wet, cold semi-arid, and cold-arid glacial systems show systematic variations, then chemical indices may be used to help differentiate paleoclimatic conditions. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact of this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission.
This award supports a project to understand how recent changes in atmospheric chemistry, and historical changes as recorded in snow, firn and ice, have affected atmospheric photochemistry over Antarctica. Atmospheric, snow and firn core measurements of selected gas, meteorological and snow physical properties will be made and modeling of snow-atmosphere exchange will be carried out. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will lead to a better an understanding of the atmospheric chemistry in West Antarctica, its bi-directional linkages with the snowpack, and how it responds to regional influences. There are at least four broader impacts of this work. First is education of university students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. One postdoctoral researcher and one graduate student will carry out much of the work, and a number of undergraduates will be involved. Second, involvement with the WAIS-Divide coring program will be used to help recruit under-represented groups as UC Merced students. As part of UC Merced's outreach efforts in the San Joaquin Valley, whose students are under-represented in the UC system, the PI and co-PI give short research talks to groups of prospective students, community college and high school educators and other groups. They will develop one such talk highlighting this project. Including high-profile research in these recruiting talks has proven to be an effective way to promote dialog, and interest students in UC Merced. Third, talks such as this also contribute to the scientific literacy of the general public. The PI and grad student will all seek opportunities to share project information with K-14 and community audiences. Fourth, results of the research will be disseminated broadly to the scientific community, and the researchers will seek additional applications for the transfer functions as tools to improve interpretation of ice-cores. This research is highly collaborative, and leverages the expertise and data from a number of other groups.
Convincing evidence now confirms that polar regions are changing rapidly in response to human activities. Changes in sea ice extent and thickness will have profound implications for productivity, food webs and carbon fluxes at high latitudes, since sea ice biota are a significant source of biogenic matter for the ecosystem. While sea ice is often thought to be a barrier to gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, it more likely functions as a source or sink for climate-active gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting organohalogens, due in part to activities of microbes embedded in the sea ice matrix. This project brings together experienced US and Swedish investigators to examine the controls by sea-ice biota on the production and degradation of key climate-active gases in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. We hypothesize that 1) the physical properties of the sea-ice environment will determine the community structure and activities of the sea ice biota; 2) the productivity, biomass, physiological state and species composition of ice algae will determine the production of specific classes of organic carbon, including organohalogens; 3) heterotrophic co-metabolism within the ice will break down these compounds to some extent, depending on the microbial community structure and productivity, and 4) the sea ice to atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and organohalogens will be inversely related. This project will build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers and also train young scientists, including members of underrepresented groups. Dissemination of results will include the scientific literature, and public outreach venues including interactions with a PolarTrec teacher.
9909367 Leventer This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a multi-institutional, international (US - Australia) marine geologic and geophysical investigation of Prydz Bay and the MacRobertson Shelf, to be completed during an approximately 60-day cruise aboard the RVIB N.B. Palmer. The primary objective is to develop a record of climate and oceanographic change during the Quaternary, using sediment cores collected via kasten and jumbo piston coring. Core sites will be selected based on seismic profiling (Seabeam 2112 and Bathy2000). Recognition of the central role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global oceanic and atmospheric systems is based primarily on data collected along the West Antarctic margin, while similar extensive and high resolution data sets from the much more extensive East Antarctic margin are sparse. Goals of this project include (1) development of a century- to millennial-scale record of Holocene paleoenvironments, and (2) testing of hypotheses concerning the sedimentary record of previous glacial and interglacial events on the shelf, and evaluation of the timing and extent of maximum glaciation along this 500 km stretch of the East Antarctic margin. High-resolution seismic mapping and coring of sediments deposited in inner shelf depressions will be used to reconstruct Holocene paleoenvironments. In similar depositional settings in the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea, sedimentary records demonstrate millennial- and century- scale variability in primary production and sea-ice extent during the Holocene, which have been linked to chronological periodicities in radiocarbon distribution, suggesting the possible role of solar variability in driving some changes in Holocene climate. Similar high-resolution Holocene records from the East Antarctic margin will be used to develop a circum-Antarctic suite of data regarding the response of southern glacial and oceanographic systems to late Quaternary climate change. In addition, these data will help us to evaluate the response of the East Antarctic margin to global warming. Initial surveys of the Prydz Channel - Amery Depression region reveal sequences deposited during previous Pleistocene interglacials. The upper Holocene and lower (undated) siliceous units can be traced over 15,000 km2 of the Prydz Channel, but more sub-bottom seismic reflection profiling in conjunction with dense coring over this region is needed to define the spatial distribution and extent of the units. Chronological work will determine the timing and duration of previous periods of glacial marine sedimentation on the East Antarctic margin during the late Pleistocene. Analyses will focus on detailed sedimentologic, geochemical, micropaleontological, and paleomagnetic techniques. This multi-parameter approach is the most effective way to extract a valuable paleoenvironmental signal in these glacial marine sediments. These results are expected to lead to a significant advance in understanding of the behavior of the Antarctic ice-sheet and ocean system in the recent geologic past. The combination of investigators, all with many years of experience working in high latitude marine settings, will provide an effective team to complete the project. University and College faculty (Principal Investigators on this project) will supervise a combination of undergraduate and post-graduate students involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in tandem with the research goals of the project.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>The Amundsen Sea Polynya is areally the most productive Antarctic polynya, exhibits higher chlorophyll levels during peak bloom and greater interannual variability than the better-studied Ross Sea Polynya ecosystem. Polynyas may be the key to understanding the future of polar regions as their extent is expected to increase with anthropogenic warming. The project will examine 1) sources of iron to the Amundsen Sea Polynya as a function of climate forcing, 2) phytoplankton community structure in relation to iron supply and mixed-layer depths, 3) the efficiency of the biological pump of carbon to depth and 4) the net flux of carbon as a function of climate and micronutrient forcing. The research also will compare results for the Amundsen Sea to existing data synthesis and modeling efforts for the Palmer LTER and Ross Sea. The project will 1) build close scientific collaborations between US and Swedish researchers; 2) investigate climate change implications with broad societal relevance; 3) train new researchers; 4) encourage participation in research science by underrepresented groups, and 5) involve broad dissemination of results via scientific literature and public outreach, including close interactions with NSF-supported PolarTrec and COSEE K-12 teachers.
Intellectual Merit: Pleuragramma antarcticum, the Antarctic silverfish, play a key role in the trophic pyramid of the Antarctic coastal ecosystem, acting as food for larger fishes, flying and non-flying seabirds, pinnipeds, and whales. In turn, they are predators on coastal euphausiids, including both Euphausia superba and crystallorophias. Historically, Pleuragramma have been an important food source for Adélie Penguins of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), but during the last decade Pleuragramma have disappeared from the Adélie diet. We suggest that Pleuragramma?s absence from the diets of top predators is linked to the declining sea ice canopy, which serves as a nursery for eggs and larvae during the austral spring. The research will investigate four hydrographic regimes over the WAP continental shelf with the following features: (1) persistent gyral flows that act to retain locally spawned larvae, (2) spring sea ice that has declined in recent years (3) the prevalence of adult silverfish, and (4) the presence of breeding Adélie penguins whose diets vary in the proportions of silverfish consumed. The research will evaluate the importance of local reproduction versus larval advection, and the extent to which populations in the subregions of study are genetically distinct, via analysis of population structure, otolith microchemistry and molecular genetics of fish. The Pleuragramma data will be compared with penguin diet samples taken synoptically. <br/><br/>Broader Impacts: The proposed research brings together an international group of scientists with highly complimentary suites of skills to address the fate of Pleuragramma on the WAP shelf. Graduate students will use the data acquired as part of their Ph.D research, and will receive cross-training in ornithological field techniques, molecular genetic methods and otolith isotope chemistry. The PIs will work actively with the St. Petersburg Times to produce a blog in real time with pictures and text, which will be used to interact with local schools while we are at sea and after our return. The investigators also will collaborate with the COSEE center at USF and at local schools and museums to disseminate results to the K-12 community throughout the region.
IPY: Shedding dynamic light on iron limitation: The interplay of iron<br/>limitation and dynamic irradiance in governing the phytoplankton<br/>distribution in the Ross Sea<br/><br/>The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, accounting for approximately 25% of total anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the oceans, mainly via primary production. In the Ross Sea, primary production is dominated by two taxa that are distinct in location and timing. Diatoms dominate in the shallow mixed layer of the continental shelf, whereas the colony forming Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) dominate in the more deeply mixed, open regions. Significantly, both groups have vastly different nutrient utilization characteristics, and support very different marine food webs. Their responses to climate change, and the implications for carbon export, are unclear. Previous studies show that light availability and the quality of the light climate (static versus dynamic) play a major role in defining where and when the different phytoplankton taxa bloom. However, iron (Fe) limitation of the algal communities in both the sub-Arctic and the Southern Ocean is now well documented. Moreover, phytoplankton Fe demand varies as a function of irradiance. The main hypothesis of the proposed research is: The interaction between Fe limitation and dynamic irradiance governs phytoplankton distributions in the Ross Sea. Our strategy to test this hypothesis is three-fold: 1) The photoacclimation of the different phytoplankton taxa to different light conditions under Fe limitation will be investigated in experiments in the laboratory under controlled Fe conditions. 2) The photophysiological mechanisms found in these laboratory experiments will then be tested in the field on two cruises with international IPY partners. 3) Finally, data generated during the lab and field parts of the project will be used to parameterize a dynamic light component of the Coupled Ice Atmosphere and Ocean (CIAO) model of the Ross Sea. Using the improved model, we will run future climate scenarios to test the impact of climate change on the phytoplankton community structure, distribution, primary production and carbon export in the Southern Ocean. The proposed research complies with IPY theme" Understanding Environmental change in Polar Regions" and includes participation in an international cruise. Detailed model descriptions and all of the results generated from these studies will be made public via a DynaLiFe website. Improving the CIAO model will give us and other IPY partners the opportunity to test the ecological consequences of physiological characteristics observed in Antarctic phytoplankton under current and future climate scenarios. Outreach will include participation in Stanford's Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers, Stanford's School of Earth Sciences high school internship program, and development of curriculum for local science training centers, including the Chabot Space and Science Center.
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in greater oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide can impact marine organisms both via decreased carbonate saturation that affects calcification rates and via disturbance to acid-base (metabolic) physiology. Pteropod molluscs (Thecosomata) form shells made of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate that is highly soluble, suggesting that these organisms may be particularly sensitive to increasing carbon dioxide and reduced carbonate ion concentration. Thecosome pteropods, which dominate the calcium carbonate export south of the Antarctic Polar Front, will be the first major group of marine calcifying organisms to experience carbonate undersaturation within parts of their present-day geographical ranges as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. An unusual, co-evolved relationship between thecosomes and their specialized gymnosome predators provides a unique backdrop against which to assess the physiological and ecological importance of elevated partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Pteropods are functionally important components of the Antarctic ecosystem with potential to influence phytoplankton stocks, carbon export, and dimethyl sulfide levels that, in turn, influence global climate through ocean-atmosphere feedback loops. The research will quantify the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on a dominant aragonitic pteropod, Limacina helicina, and its specialist predator, the gymnosome Clione antarctica, in the Ross Sea through laboratory experimentation. Results will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific understanding in this field. The project involves collaboration between researchers at a predominantly undergraduate institution with a significant enrollment of students that are typically underrepresented in the research environment (California State University San Marcos - CSUSM) and at a Ph.D.-granting institution (University of Rhode Island - URI). The program will promote education and learning through the joint education of undergraduate students and graduate students at CSUSM and URI as part of a research team, as well as through the teaching activities of the principal investigators. Dr. Keating, CSUSM professor of science education, will participate in the McMurdo fieldwork and lead the outreach opportunities for the project.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) harbor extremely high densities of mesograzers (small invertebrate predators approximately 1-25 mm in length) such as benthic amphipods, as well as rich assemblages of macroalgae, endophytes, and macroinvertebrates. Unlike temperate and tropical shallow marine environments, where fish and sea urchins are key grazers structuring the community, mesograzers appear to be much more important in the WAP. Accordingly, the proposed research has two main objectives: (1) To further investigate the interactions between the ecologically dominant large macrophytes, filamentous epi/endophytes, and mesograzers and (2) To determine the nature of interactions between mesograzers and sessile invertebrates. Specifically, the research will examine the following hypotheses: 1: The effects of endophytes on macrophytes are often negative, and consequently macrophytes defend against endophytic infection. 2: Mesoherbivores prevent filamentous algal species, common in the intertidal, from dominating subtidal assemblages. 3: Mesograzer predation pressure on sessile benthic macroinvertebrates, primarily sponges and tunicates, is greatest in shallow habitats dominated by macrophytes, and this impacts depth distributions of macroinvertebrate species. 4: Benthic macroinvertebrates may defend against mesograzers with secondary metabolites which effect molting and/or deter feeding.<br/><br/>Broader impacts include involvement of undergraduates, including minorities, in research; training of graduate students, and continuation of the highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education). The researchers also will share their scientific endeavors with teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large while in residence in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators will request the participation of a PolarTREC teacher.
0538097<br/>Anandakrishnan<br/><br/>This award supports a project to intensively study a subglacial Antarctic lake near the geographic South Pole using seismic and radar methods. These ground-based experiments are better suited to determine the presence of water and its thickness than are airborne methods. We hypothesize that there are two end-member explanations for this feature: either the lake is thawed, but freezing on (and likely to have been freezing on through much of the current interglacial period), or it is a frozen, relict lake for which the high basal radar reflectivity is due to intergranular water in a permafrost-like layer beneath the ice. The seismic experiment we propose is ideally suited to examine these alternatives. Intermediate cases of, e.g., a thawed saturated sedimentary base or a smooth crystalline basement layer would also be resolved by this experiment. Seismic reflections are sensitive to changes in acoustic impedance which is strongly variable with fluid content, porosity, and lithology. Water has low density relative to most rocks and low seismic velocity (and nil shear wave velocity) relative to both ice and rock. Thus, discriminating between subglacial water and subglacial rock is a task ideally suited to the seismic reflection technique. This project has significant impacts outside the directly affected fields of Antarctic glaciology and geology. The lake (either thawed or sediments with thin liquid layers around the matrix particles) will have the potential for harboring novel life forms. The experiment has the potential for expanding our information about the newest frontier in life on Earth. The collaboration between PIs in the seismic community and the marine acoustics community will foster cross-disciplinary pollination of ideas, techniques, and tools. In addition to traditional seismic techniques, new methods of data analysis that have been developed by acousticians will be applied to this problem as an independent measure of lake properties. We will train students who will have a wider view of seismology than would be possible in a traditional ocean acoustics or traditional geoscience seismology program of study.
Abstract<br/><br/>Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~38-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. Because they live at very low and stable temperatures, Antarctic fishes of the suborder Nototheniodei are particularly attractive as models for understanding the mechanisms of biomolecular cold adaptation, or the compensatory restructuring of biochemical and physiological systems to preserve biological function in cold thermal regimes. Two interrelated and potentially co-evolved systems, the tubulins that form microtubules and the chaperonin-containing TCP1 (t-complex protein-1) complex (CCT) that assists the folding of tubulins, provide an unparalleled opportunity to elucidate these mechanisms. This research will yield new and important knowledge regarding: 1) cold adaptation of microtubule assembly and of chaperonin function; and 2) the co-evolutionary origin of tubulin-binding specificity by CCT. The first objective of this proposal is to determine the contributions of five novel amino acid substitutions found in Antarctic fish beta-tubulins to microtubule assembly at cold temperature. The second objective is to establish a chaperonin folding system in vitro using CCT purified from testis tissue of Antarctic fishes and to evaluate its thermal properties and mechanism. The third objective is to evaluate, through phylogenetically controlled contrasts, the hypothesis that CCT and its tubulin substrates from Antarctic fishes have co-evolved to function at cold temperatures. The broader impacts of this proposal include introduction of graduate and REU undergraduate students of Northeastern University to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Because much of the research on the biogenesis and function of cold-adapted proteins will be performed in the field at Palmer Station, these students will gain invaluable experience in the practical considerations of expeditionary biological science. The research also will increase knowledge about molecular cold adaptation in one of the Earth's extreme environments, and hence is relevant to the formulation of refined hypotheses regarding potential extraterrestrial life on Mars or Europa. The cold-functioning chaperonin protein folding system will be of great value to the biopharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for use in folding insoluble proteins.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project aims on studying sediment cores collected from Prydz Bay and the Ross Sea to unravel the Neogene paleoclimatic history of the East Antarctic ice sheet. In the light of current measurements and predictions of a substantial rise in global temperature, investigations into the sensitivity of the East Antarctic ice sheet to climate change and its role in the climate system are essential. Geological records of former periods of climate change provide an opportunity to ground truth model predictions. The scientific objective of this project is to identify a previously proposed middle Miocene transition from a more dynamic wet-based East Antarctic ice sheet to the present semi-permanent ice sheet that is partially frozen to its bed. The timing and significance of this transition is controversial due to a lack of quantitative studies on well-dated ice-proximal sedimentary sequences. This project partially fills that gap using the composition and physical properties of diamictites and sandstones to establish shifts in ice-sheet drainage pathways, paleoenvironments and basal ice conditions. The results from the two key areas around the Antarctic continental margin will provide insight into the behavior of the East Antarctic ice sheet across the middle Miocene transition and through known times of warming in the late Miocene and Pliocene.
The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of climate warming on Earth, with an increase of 5degrees C in the mean winter temperature in 50 years. Impacts on upper trophic levels are evident, though there have been few, if any studies that have considered the impacts on bacterioplankton in the Southern Ocean. This proposal will characterize the winter bacterioplankton genome, transcriptome, and proteome and discover those features (community composition, genes up-regulated, and proteins expressed) that are essential to winter bacterioplankton survival and livelihood. We have assembled a polar ocean ecology and genomics network including strategic partnerships with Palmer LTER, the British Antarctic Survey's ocean metagenome program, US and Canadian scientists studying the Arctic Ocean genome, an Australian colleague who specialized in archaeal proteomics, and French colleagues studying Sub-Antarctic and Coastal Adelie Land marine bacterioplankton. The primary objectives of this program are: 1 Describe the differences in diversity and genomic content between austral winter and summer bacterioplankton communities. 2. Investigate the winter-time bacterioplankton growth and cellular signals (mRNA and proteins expressed) in order to understand the specific adaptations key to survival. <br/><br/>Our results will extend from the Antarctic to the Arctic - as the cold, dark, carbon-limited deep seas linking these two systems have many common features. Education and outreach activities target (i) undergraduate and graduate students, hopefully including minority students recruited through the Diversity in Research in Environmental and Marine Sciences (DREAMS) Program at VIMS; (ii) a broad audience with our education and outreach partnerships with The Cousteau Society and with the Census for Antarctic Marine Life program. Data and links to external databases will be listed on the http://genex2.dri.edu website. Sequence data will be publicly accessible in GenBank and IMG-M databases.
Caffee/0839042 <br/><br/>This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>This award supports a project to measure the concentration of the cosmogenic radionuclide, Beryllium-10 in the deep WAIS divide ice core. Since cosmogenic radionuclides are one of the key parameters used for absolute dating of the ice core and deriving paleoaccumulation rates, it is essential that these measurements be made quickly and efficiently, and that the information is disseminated as soon as the results are available. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will allow a comparison to be made between the core from WAIS Divide and previously measured cosmogenic radionuclide records from Arctic ice cores, particularly GISP2 and GRIP This project will enable scientists to delineate those processes acting at a local level from those that produce global effects and will provide independent chronological markers to aid in the reconstruction of the WAIS Divide ice core chronology. The cosmogenic 10Be profile can also be used to investigate the possible role of solar activity on climate. The direct comparison of radionuclide concentrations with paleoclimate records in ice cores from different sites will provide more insight in the timing and magnitude of solar forcing of climate. The broader impacts of this project include: (i) the formation of a multi-disciplinary team of collaborators for the interpretation of future analyses of cosmogenic radionuclide data from the WAIS divide and other ice cores. (ii) the involvement and training of graduate and undergraduate students in the large scale project of climate research through detailed studies of ice samples. (iii) the opportunity to highlight to a wide range of lab visitors and students from local K-12 schools the importance of ice core and climate change studies.<br/><br/>This award does not involve field work in Antarctica.
95-30398 Anderson This research project is part of the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Southern Ocean Program aimed at (1) a better understanding of the fluxes of carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Southern Ocean, (2) identifying the physical, ecological and biogeochemical factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of these fluxes, and (3) placing these fluxes into the context of the contemporary global carbon cycle. The overall objectives of JGOFS are to determine and understand processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements, and to predict the response of marine biogeochemical processes to climate change. The Southern Ocean is critical in the global carbon cycle, as judged by its size and the physical processes which occur in it (e.g., deep and intermediate water formation), but its present quantitative role is uncertain. JGOFS objectives for the Southern Ocean study are as follows: 1) to constrain the fluxes of carbon (organic and inorganic) and to place these fluxes in the context of the contemporary carbon cycle; 2) to identify the factors and processes which regulate the magnitude and variability of primary productivity and the fate of biogenic matter; 3) to determine the response of the Southern Ocean to natural climate perturbations; and 4) to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to climate change. In order to successfully address these objectives, a large field program has been designed to provide various investigators the opportunity to test specific hypotheses which relate to these broadly-defined objectives. We expect the field test to begin in September 1996, and last through March 1998 using two ships, the R.V. Palmer, and the R.V. Thompson. As most of the investigators will use hydrographic and nutrient data from these cruises, this proposal requests funds for the support of the analysis of nutrient concentrations during these thirteen crui ses. A team of oceanographic experts from a variety of institutions has been assembled to complete these analyses; furthermore, the data will be scrutinized for errors and provided in a timely fashion to all PI's in the project, as well as to the relevant oceanographic data storage facilities. The hydrography and coring groups have been put together using the successful model for the Arabian Sea JGOFS study, and in conjunction with the nutrient data (supported under a separate proposal), will form a large portion of the Southern Ocean JGOFS database which both field investigators and modelers will use to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.
Abstract<br/>OPP-0089451<br/>P.I. William Detrich<br/><br/> As the Southern Ocean cooled during the past 25 million years, the fishes of Antarctic coastal waters evolved biochemical and physiological adaptations that maintain essential cellular processes such as cytoskeletal function and gene transcription. Their microtubules, for example, assemble and function at body temperatures (-1.8 to +1 oC) well below those of homeotherms and temperate poikilotherms. The long range goals of the proposed research are to determine, at the molecular level, the adaptations that enhance the assembly of microtubules, the function of kinesin motors, and the expression of globin and tubulin genes. The specific objectives are three: 1) to determine the primary sequence changes and posttranslational modifications that contribute to the efficient polymerization of Antarctic fish tubulins at low temperatures; 2) to evaluate the biochemical adaptations required for efficient function of the brain kinesin motor of Antarctic fishes at low temperatures; and 3) to characterize the structure, organization, and promoter-driven expression of globin and tubulin genes from an Antarctic rockcod (Notothenia coriiceps) and a temperate congener (N. angustata). Brain tubulins from Antarctic fishes differ from those of temperate and warm-blooded vertebrates both in unusual primary sequence substitutions (located primarily in lateral loops and the cores of tubulin monomers) and in posttranslational C-terminal glutamylation. Potential primary sequence adaptations of the Antarctic fish tubulins will be tested directly by production of wild-type and site directed tubulin mutants for functional analysis in vitro. The capacity of mutated and wild-type fish tubulins to form "cold-stable" microtubules will be determined by measurement of their critical concentrations for assembly and by analysis of their dynamics by video-enhanced microscopy. Three unusual substitutions in the kinesin motor domain of Chionodraco rastrospinosus may enhance mechanochemical activity at low temperature by modifying the binding of ATP and/or the velocity of the motor. To test the functional significance of these changes, the fish residues will be converted individually, and in concert, to those found in mammalian brain kinesin. Reciprocal substitutions will be introduced into the framework of the mammalian kinesin motor domain. After production in Escherichia coli and purification, the functional performance of the mutant motor domains will be evaluated by measurement of the temperature dependence of their ATPase and motility activities. Molecular adaptation of gene expression in N. coriiceps will be analyzed using an a-globin/b-globin gene pair and an a-tubulin gene cluster. Structural features of N. coriiceps globin and tubulin gene regulatory sequences (promoters and enhancers) that support efficient expression will be assessed by transient transfection assay of promoter/luciferase reporter plasmid constructs in inducible erythrocytic and neuronal model cell systems followed by assay of luciferase reporter activity. Together, these studies should reveal the molecular adaptations of Antarctic fishes that maintain efficient cytoskeletal assembly, mechanochemical motor function, and gene expression at low temperatures. In the broadest sense, this research program should advance the molecular understanding of the poikilothermic mode of life.
Domack: OPP 9615053 Manley: OPP 9615670 Banerjee: OPP 9615695 Dunbar: OPP 9615668 Ishman: OPP 9615669 Leventer: OPP 9714371 Abstract This award supports a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort to elucidate the detailed climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch (the last 10,000 years). The Holocene is an important, but often overlooked, portion of the Antarctic paleoclimatic record because natural variability in Holocene climate on time scales of decades to millennia can be evaluated as a model for our present "interglacial" world. This project builds on over ten years of prior investigation into the depositional processes, productivity patterns and climate regime of the Antarctic Peninsula. This previous work identified key locations that contain ultra-high resolution records of past climatic variation. These data indicate that solar cycles operating on multi-century and millennial time scales are important regulators of meltwater production and paleoproductivity. These marine records can be correlated with ice core records in Greenland and Antarctica. This project will focus on sediment dispersal patterns across the Palmer Deep region. The objective is to understand the present links between the modern climatic and oceanographic systems and sediment distribution. In particular, additional information is needed regarding the influence of sea ice on the distribution of both biogenic and terrigenous sediment distribution. Sediment samples will be collected with a variety of grab sampling and coring devices. Analytical work will include carbon-14 dating of surface sediments using accellerator mass spectrometry and standard sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and magnetic granulometric analyses. This multiparameter approach is the most effective way to extract the paleoclimatic signals contained in the marine sediment cores. Two additional objectives are the deployment of sediment traps in front of the Muller Ice Shelf in Lallemand Fjord and seismic reflection work in conjunction with site augmentation funded through the Joint Oceanographic Institute. The goal of sediment trap work is to address whether sand transport and deposition adjacent to the ice shelf calving line results from meltwater or aeolian processes. In addition, the relationship between sea ice conditions and primary productivity will be investigated. The collection of a short series of seismic lines across the Palmer Deep basins will fully resolve the question of depth to acoustic basement. The combination of investigators on this project, all with many years of experience working in high latitude settings, provides an effective team to complete the project in a timely fashion. A combination of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students will be involved in all stages of the project so that educational objectives will be met in-tandem with research goals of the project.
This award supports an investigation of the early seafloor spreading history of the Marie Byrd Land Margin, Antarctica. This effort will carefully map the magnetic lineations, the gravity anomalies, the topography and, where possible, the seismically determined depth to basement. The study will integrate the tectonic lineations determined from the gravity, bathymetry and seismic information with the magnetic anomalies to construct a new seafloor spreading history of the Marie Byrd Land Margin. The analysis of these new data sets and the resultant seafloor spreading history will be used to address the following questions: (1) Did the early opening of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge involve an additional plate, the Bellingshausen Plate, or did the ridge undergo very asymmetric, non-orthogonal spreading? (2) With a better refined opening history for the Pacific Antarctic Ridge, what are the implications for relative motions between the tectonic blocks which compromise West Antarctica and for the structure and evolution of the Marie Byrd Land Margin? (3) Can the global plate circuit solution be enhanced by refining the early Tertiary history of Pacific-Antarctic seafloor spreading?
Recent studies of marine ecosystems show conflicting evidence for trophic cascades, and in particular the relative strength of the crustacean zooplankton-phytoplankton link. The Ross Sea is a natural laboratory for investigating this apparent conflict. It is a site of seasonally high abundances of phytoplankton, characterized by regions of distinct phytoplankton taxa; the southcentral polynya is strongly dominated by the colony-forming prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, while coastal regions of this sea are typically dominated by diatoms or flagellate species. Recent studies indicate that, while the south-central polynya exhibits a massive phytoplankton bloom, the poor food quality of P. antarctica for many crustacean zooplankton prevents direct utilization of much of this phytoplankton bloom. Rather, evidence suggests that indirect utilization of this production may be the primary mechanism by which carbon and energy become available to those higher trophic levels. Specifically, we hypothesize that nano and microzooplankton constitute an important food source for crustacean zooplankton (largely copepods and juvenile euphausiids) during the summer period in the Ross Sea where the phytoplankton assemblage is dominated by the prymnesiophyte. In turn, we also hypothesize that predation by copepods (and other Crustacea) controls and structures the species composition of these protistan assemblages. We will occupy stations in the south-central Ross Sea Polynya (RSP) and Terra Nova Bay (TNB) during austral summer to test these hypotheses. We hypothesize that the diatom species that dominate the phytoplankton assemblage in TNB constitute a direct source of nutrition to herbivorous/omnivorous zooplankton (relative to the situation in the south-central RSP). That is, the contribution of heterotrophic protists to crustacean diets will be reduced in TNB. Our research will address fundamental gaps in our knowledge of food web structure and trophic cascades, and provide better understanding of the flow of carbon and energy within the biological community of this perennially cold sea. The PIs will play active roles in public education (K-12) via curriculum development (on Antarctic biology) and teacher trainer activities in the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE-West), an innovative, NSF-funded program centered at USC and UCLA.
9908828 Aronson This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene. A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.
This award, provided jointly by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research to transform three temporary seismometers in the Antarctic Peninsula into semi-permanent stations and to continue basic research using these data. During 1997 and 1998, a network of 11 broadband seismographs in the Antarctic Peninsula region and southernmost Chilean Patagonia were installed and maintained. Data return from this project has been excellent and interesting initial results have been produced. The continued operation of these instruments over a longer time period would be highly beneficial because the number of larger magnitude regional earthquakes is small and so a longer time is needed to acquire data. However, instruments from this project are borrowed from the IRIS-PASSCAL instrument pool and must be returned to PASSCAL in April, 1999. This award provides funds to convert three stations at permanent Chilean bases in the Antarctic to permanent stations, and to continue the seismological investigation of the region for a period of four years. As part of this project, a fourth station, in Chilean Patagonia, will continue to be operated using Washington University equipment. The funding of this project will enable continued collaboration between Washington University and the Universidad de Chile in the operation of these stations, and the data will be forwarded to the IRIS data center as well as to other international seismological collaborators. Mutual data exchanges with other national groups with Antarctic seismology research programs will provide access to broadband data from a variety of other proprietary broadband stations in the region. The data will be used to study the seismicity and upper mantle velocity structure of several complicated tectonic regions in the area, including the South Shetland subduction zone, the Bransfield backarc rift, and diffuse plate boundaries in Patagonia, Drake Passage, and along the South Scotia Ridge. In particular, the operation of these stations over a longer time period will allow a better understanding of the seismicity of the South Shetland Trench, an unusual subduction zone showing very slow subduction of young lithosphere. These seismometers will also be used to record airgun shots during a geophysical cruise in the Bransfield Strait that is being planned by the University of Texas for April, 2000. These data will provide important constraints on the crustal structure beneath the stations, and the improved structural models will enable implementation of more precise earthquake location procedures in support of a seismological understanding of the region.
Antarctic notothenioid fish evolved antifreeze (AF) proteins that prevent ice crystals that enter their body fluids from growing, and thereby avoid freezing in their icy habitats. However, even in the extreme cold Antarctic marine environment, regional gradations of severity are found. The biological correlate for environmental severity in fish is the endogenous ice load, which likely determines the tolerable limit of environmental severity for notothenioid habitation. The endogenous ice load develops from environmental ice crystals entering through body surfaces and somehow localizing to the spleen. How prone the surface tissues are to ice entry, how ice reaches the spleen, and what the fate of splenic ice is, requires elucidation. Spleen sequestration of ice raises the hypothesis that macrophages may play a role in the translocation and perhaps elimination of AF-bound ice crystals. Antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGP) act in concert with a second, recently discovered antifreeze called antifreeze potentiating protein (AFPP), necessitating an assessment of the contribution of AFPP to freezing avoidance. Recent research suggests that the exocrine pancreas and the anterior stomach, not the liver, synthesize AFGPs and secrete them into the intestine, from where they may be returned to the blood. A GI-to-blood transport is a highly unconventional path for a major plasma protein and also begs the questions, What is the source of blood AFPP?. Why are two distinct AF proteins needed and what is the chronology of their evolution? What genomic changes in the DNA are associated with the development or loss of the antifreeze trait? Experiments described in this proposal address these interrelated questions of environmental, organismal, and evolutionary physiology, and will further our understanding of novel vertebrate physiologies, the limits of environmental adaptation, and climatically driven changes in the genome. The proposed research will (1) determine the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of environmental temperature and iciness in progressively more severe fish habitats in the greater McMurdo Sound area, and in the milder Arthur Harbor at Palmer Station. The splenic ice load in fishes inhabiting these sites will be determined to correlate to environmental severity and habitability. (2) Assess the surface tissue site of ice entry and their relative barrier properties in intact fish and isolated tissues preparations (3) Assess the role of immune cells in the fate of endogenous ice, (4) determine whether the blood AFGPs are from intestinal/rectal uptake, (5) examine the contribution of AFPP to the total blood AF activity (6) evaluate the progression of genomic changes in the AFGP locus across Notothenioidei as modulated by disparate thermal environments, in four selected species through the analyses of large insert DNA BAC clones. The origin and evolution of AFPP will be examined also by analyzing BAC clones encompassing the AFPP genomic locus. The broader impacts of the proposed research include training of graduate and undergraduate students in research approaches ranging from physical field measurements to cutting edge genomics. Undergraduate research projects have lead to co-authored publications and will continue to do so. Outreach includes establishing Wiki websites on topics of Antarctic fish biology and freeze avoidance, providing advisory services to the San Francisco Science Exploratorium, and making BAC libraries available to interested polar biologists. This research theme has repeatedly received national and international science news coverage and will continue to be disseminated to the public in that manner.
The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. <br/>This project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.
This award supports a collaborative marine geological and geophysical project between the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Alabama to study the glacial and tectonic history of the eastern Ross Sea and the Marie Byrd Land margin of West Antarctica. The goals of the project are (1) to conduct seismic imaging and piston coring to begin unraveling the history of the West Antarctic ice Sheet as recorded in the recent sediments of the continental shelf of the region, and (2) to acquire seismic images of the acoustic basement beneath the Cenozoic glacial deposits toward an understanding of the relationship between rift structure of the continental crust and Cenozoic glacial deposits of the region. This research will result in bathymetric, structural, sediment isopach, gravity and magnetic maps of the eastern Ross Sea and the Marie Byrd Land margin. This information will be integrated into an interpretation of the major glacial and structural features of the region. This project will result in a better understanding of the glacio-marine stratigraphy and glacial history of the eastern Ross Sea and Marie Byrd Land margin and, consequently, it will represent a significant contribution to the goals of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet initiative.
9908856 Blake This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene. A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.
Luyendyk et.al.: OPP 0088143<br/>Bartek: OPP 0087392<br/>Diebold: OPP 0087983<br/><br/>This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a collaborative research program in marine geology and geophysics in the southern central and eastern Ross Sea. The project will conduct sites surveys for drilling from the Ross Ice Shelf into the seafloor beneath it. Many of the outstanding problems concerning the evolution of the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, Antarctic climate, global sea level, and the tectonic history of the West Antarctic Rift System can be addressed by drilling into the seafloor of the Ross Sea. Climate data for Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic time are lacking for this sector of Antarctica. Climate questions include: Was there any ice in Late Cretaceous time? What was the Antarctic climate during the Paleocene-Eocene global warming? When was the Cenozoic onset of Antarctic glaciation, when did glaciers reach the coast and when did they advance out onto the margin? Was the Ross Sea shelf non-marine in Late Cretaceous time; when did it become marine? Tectonic questions include: What was the timing of the Cretaceous extension in the Ross Sea rift; where was it located? What is the basement composition and structure? Where are the time and space limits of the effects of Adare Trough spreading? Another drilling objective is to sample and date the sedimentary section bounding the mapped RSU6 unconformity in the Eastern Basin and Central Trough to resolve questions about its age and regional extent. Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 28 completed sampling at four drill sites in the early 1970's but had low recovery and did not sample the Early Cenozoic. Other drilling has been restricted to the McMurdo Sound area of the western Ross Sea and results can be correlated into the Victoria Land Basin but not eastward across basement highs. Further, Early Cenozoic and Cretaceous rocks have not been sampled. A new opportunity is developing to drill from the Ross Ice Shelf. This is a successor program to the Cape Roberts Drilling Project. One overriding difficulty is the need for site surveys at drilling locations under the ice shelf. This project will overcome this impediment by conducting marine geophysical drill site surveys at the front of the Ross Ice Shelf in the Central Trough and Eastern Basin. The surveys will be conducted a kilometer or two north of the ice shelf front where recent calving events have resulted in a southerly position of the ice shelf edge. In several years the northward advance of the ice shelf will override the surveyed locations and drilling could be accomplished. Systems to be used include swath bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, chirp sonar, high resolution seismic profiling, and 48 fold seismics. Cores will be collected to obtain samples for geotechnical properties, to study sub-ice shelf modern sedimentary processes, and at locations where deeper section is exposed.<br/><br/>This survey will include long profiles and detailed grids over potential drill sites. Survey lines will be tied to existing geophysical profiles and DSDP 270. A recent event that makes this plan timely is the calving of giant iceberg B-15 (in March, 2000) and others from the ice front in the eastern Ross Sea. This new calving event and one in 1987 have exposed 16,000 square kilometers of seafloor that had been covered by ice shelf for decades and is not explored. Newly exposed territory can now be mapped by modern geophysical methods. This project will map geological structure and stratigraphy below unconformity RSU6 farther south and east, study the place of Roosevelt Island in the Ross Sea rifting history, and determine subsidence history during Late Cenozoic time (post RSU6) in the far south and east. Finally the project will observe present day sedimentary processes beneath the ice shelf in the newly exposed areas.
*** Caron 9714299 The analysis of microbial biodiversity of extreme environments is difficult because traditional methods for examining diversity are often ineffective for assessing species richness within these communities. Additional difficulties arise due to the difficulties of recreating and maintaining pertinent environmental features during sample collection and procession. This study focuses on the protistan assemblages (algae and protozoa) in the sea ice, sediment and ocean environments of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The identification of protistan species in natural assemblages traditionally has entailed direct microscopical analyses as well as enrichment and culture techniques for assessing biodiversity. Determination of diversity for these assemblages in therefore susceptible to biases as a consequence of sampling, enrichment and culture, as well as selective losses due to sample preservation and concentration for microscopy. The goals of this project are: (1) to develop and apply molecular biological approaches to assess species diversity of small protists (algae and protozoa smaller than 100 micrometers) in ocean water, sea ice and sediment environments and (2) to obtain baseline physiological information on the growth rates, feeding rates and growth efficiencies of cultured protozoa under pertinent temperature regimes. Molecular biological studies will involve the use of PCR-based protocols to examine small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (srDNA) diversity. Approaches and techniques developed will be applicable to any other water body or sediment and would provide a means to examine the representativeness of protistan cultures in extant culture collections. ***
This project will complete construction of a high-quality digital bathymetry database for the Southern Ocean component of the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics GLOBEC) program. Existing along-track and swath bathymetry data collected in Marguerite Bay and in the West Antarctic Peninsula shelf study, have been assembled and merged with new SeaBeam and along-track data collected during cruises of the research vessels R/V Palmer and R/V Gould in 2001 and 2002. New bathymetry data has also been obtained from other US, British, and Russian sources to extend the program database. Once the final R/V Palmer and R/V Gould cruises are completed and other data added, the program database will be closed, edited, documented and made publicly available for use by international GLOBEC investigators and by the broader geophysics community. These results will be developed in conjunction with, and will become part of a planned circum-antarctic high resolution bathymetry database.
The objectives of this proposal are to investigate the controls on the large-scale distribution and production of the two major bloom-forming phytoplankton taxa in the Southern Ocean, diatoms and Phaeocystis Antarctica. These two groups, through their involvement in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements, may have played important roles in the climate variations of the late Quaternary, and they also may be key players in future environmental change. A current paradigm is that irradiance and iron availability drive phytoplankton dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Recent work, however, suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may also be important in structuring algal assemblages, due to species-specific differences in the physiology. This proposal examines the interactive effects of iron, light and CO2 on the physiology, ecology and relative dominance of Phaeocystis and diatoms in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea is an ideal system in which to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of these two algal groups, since it is characterized by seasonal blooms of both P. Antarctica and diatoms that are typically separated in both space and time. This study will take the form of an interdisciplinary investigation that includes a field survey and statistical analysis of algal assemblage composition, iron, mixed layer depth, and CO2 levels in the southern Ross Sea, coupled with shipboard experiments to examine the response of diatom and P. Antarctica assemblages to high and low levels of iron, light and CO2 during spring and summer. <br/>This project will provide information on some of the major factors controlling the production and distribution of the two major bloom forming phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and the related biogeochemical cycling of carbon, sulfur and nutrient elements. The results may ultimately advance the ability to predict how the Southern Ocean will be affected by and possibly modulate future climate change. This project will also make significant educational contributions at several levels, including the planned research involvement of graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral associates, a student teacher, and community outreach and educational activities. A number of activities are planned to interface the project with K-12 education. Presentations will be made at local schools to discuss the research and events of the research cruise. During the cruise there will be daily interactive email contact with elementary classrooms. Established websites will be used to allow students to learn about the ongoing research, and to allow researchers to communicate with students through text and downloaded images.
Neale 9615342 Increases in ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280-320) associated with the Antarctic ozone hole have been shown to inhibit the photosynthesis of phytoplankton, but the overall effect on water column production is still a matter of debate and continued investigation. Investigations have also revealed that even at "normal" levels of Antarctic stratospheric ozone, UV-B and UV-A (320-400 nm) appear to have strong effects on water column production. The role of UV in the ecology of phytoplankton primary production has probably been underappreciated in the past and could be particularly important to the estimation of primary production in the presence of vertical mixing. This research focuses on quantifying UV effects on photosynthesis of Antarctic phytoplankton by defining biological weighting functions for UV-inhibition. In the past, techniques were developed to describe photosynthesis as a function of UV and visible irradiance using laboratory cultures. Further experimentation with natural assemblages from McMurdo Station in Antarctica showed that biological weighting functions are strongly related to light history. Most recently, measurements in the open waters of the Southern Ocean confirmed that there is substantial variability in the susceptibility of phytoplankton assemblages to UV. It was also discovered that inhibition of photosynthesis in Antarctic phytoplankton got progressively worse on the time scale of hours, with no evidence of recovery. Even under benign conditions, losses of photosynthetic capability persisted unchanged for several hours. This was in contrast with laboratory cultures and some natural assemblages which quickly attained a steady- state rate of photosynthesis during exposure to UV, reflecting a balance between damage and recovery processes. Slow reversal of UV-induced damage has profound consequences for water-column photosynthesis, especially during vertical mixing. Results to date have been used to model th e influence of UV, ozone depletion and vertical mixing on photosynthesis in Antarctic waters. Data indicate that normal levels of UV can have a significant impact on natural phytoplankton and that the effects can be exacerbated by ozone depletion as well as vertical mixing. Critical questions remain poorly resolved, however, and these are the focus of the present proposal. New theoretical and experimental approaches will be used to investigate UV responses in both the open waters of the Weddell-Scotia confluence and coastal waters near Palmer Station. In particular, measurements will be made of the kinetics of UV inhibition and recovery on time scales ranging from minutes to days. Variability in biological weighting functions between will be calculated for pelagic and coastal phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. The results will provide absolute estimates of photosynthesis under in situ, as well as under altered, UV irradiance; broaden the range of assemblages for which biological weighting functions have been determined; and clarify how kinetics of inhibition and recovery should be represented in mixed layer models.
9317872 Cande This award supports a marine geophysical study of the southwest Pacific between 170 degrees E and 80 degrees W longitude. Recent marine geophysical cruises in the southwest Pacific and a high-resolution altimetric gravity field declassified Geosat data have allowed significant progress to be made towards deciphering the complex history of the rifting between the Campbell Plateau/Chatham Rise landmass and the Marie Byrd Land margin. A revised history of plate interactions explains many enigmatic features seen in the magnetic and gravity fields yet several questions remain that require new data for resolution. The marine geophysical survey proposed will: (1) elucidate plate interactions at the evolving triple junction between the Antarctic and Australian plates and the mosaic of SW Pacific plates; (2) define the boundaries and interactions of the mosaic of plates that accommodated the rapidly changing plate geometry associated with subduction of the Pacific-Phoenix ridge outboard of New Zealand, the rifting of continental and oceanic lithosphere, and hotspot activity; and (3) map the development of Pacific-Antarctic Ridge and the assembly of the several small plates into the modern day Pacific plate. This survey will help to elucidate the dynamics of plate interactions and the plate tectonic evolution of Antarctica and New Zealand. ***
9418153 This award supports a program aimed at providing research experiences to a broad range of undergraduate students. The program sill allow for active participation by undergraduate students in ongoing marine geologic research in Antarctica. Students will be recruited from institutions across the United States and will participate in a preparatory seminar on Antarctic science prior to the field season. This program will integrate undergraduate participation with existing marine geology and geophysics projects aboard either of the two United States Antarctic Program research vessels, the RV Polar Duke and the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer. Research topics will be related to the stratigraphy and/or evolution of the Antarctic continental margin, topics of increasing importance to both Antarctic and global geology. Students will have a full year following their field experience to conduct follow-up research via a senior thesis. This program is intended to provide better educational experiences to promising undergraduate students and to stimulate those students to pursue advanced degrees in geology and geophysics. ***
The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. The focus of this proposal is the role of microzooplankton in controlling the production and fate of carbon during the two types of blooms. Objectives are: 1) to determine biomass, abundance, size and selected species composition of primary producer assemblages, 2) to determine similar features of nano- and microplanktonic heterotrophic assemblages, 3) to measure total community grazing on heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton, 4) to examine which grazers are the major herbivores and bacterivores, and 5) to measure the contribution of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton egesta, sinking of algal cells and colonies, and sinking of protozoan assemblages associated with detritus to the total carbon flux from the euphotic zone through 250 m depth. Water samples for abundance and biomass determinations will be taken and samples will be examined with epifluorescence microscopy. Grazing rates will be measured using the dilution grazing technique and the dual-isotope radiolabeling single cell method. Carbon fluxes will be determined on sinking material collected with particle interceptor traps at the base of the euphotic zone and two deeper depths, using microscopical analysis . An understanding of these processes and other fundamental processes studied by collaborating investigators will contribute to the understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in present, past and predicted future sequestration of carbon, as well as in other global elemental cycles.
The growing season for phytoplankton in polar oceans is short, but intense. There is an increasing body of evidence that in many Antarctic habitats, the most active period may be very early in the season, a period that has not been emphasized in previous investigations. This project is part of an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the dynamics of the spring phytoplankton bloom in a highly productive subsystem of the Antarctic, the Ross Sea. The overall program will test hypotheses related to the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom shortly after the onset of ice melt, the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions. This component will conduct a set of process-oriented experiments designed to elucidate the controls of phytoplankton productivity, growth and accumulation as well as the mechanisms which control bacterial abundance and productivity in Antarctic waters. Specifically, the relative photosynthetic and nutrient (nitrate, ammonium) characteristics of diatom- vs. Phaeocystis- dominated assemblages will be examined to test if Phaeocystis simply grows faster under spring conditions in the Ross Sea. Phytoplankton and bacterial biomass, productivity and their interactions will be measured to elucidate the complex physical-chemical-biological interactions which occur. Substantial understanding of the mechanisms controlling phytoplankton growth and productivity in spring, the implications and short-term fate of high productivity in spring, and the transition from spring to midsummer conditions will result from this research. Finally, because the Antarctic is the ocean's largest high-nutrient, low biomass system, and hence has the greatest potential for sequestering carbon dioxide, knowledge of the dynamics of the Ross Sea phytoplankton will also increase our understanding of the carbo n cycle of the Southern Ocean.
9811427 Felbeck Deception Island is a flooded caldera in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The most recent eruption was in the 1970s causing the formation of new islands in the caldera and various other structures. It harbors many hot springs and fumaroles submerged in the caldera and intertidally. Sulfide and methane are prominent chemicals in the outflowing waters. Bacterial densities in the caldera reach unusually high values probably due to the input of reduced chemicals as energy sources. The environment around the springs resembles that found at hydrothermal vents where whole communities are based on the input of chemical energy by the hot waters. Similarities to hydrothermal vent environments include cold waters surrounding the hot springs resulting in large distances to the next warm water habitat and a lack of external food sources. The latter is due to ice cover during winter at Deception Island and the large distance to the euphotic zone at the vent sites. These parameters encourage the evolution of alternative ways to support life such as the establishment of a bacterial symbiosis. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research project will focus on an examination of the warm springs around Deception Island for the presence of marine invertebrates with chemoautotrophic symbionts. Maps will be made of any submerged fumaroles and of warm and hot springs in the intertidal zone. If animals are found near the fumaroles or in the hot springs, specimens will be collected. Collected specimens will be examined for the presence of chemoautotrophic bacteria and other adaptations to a hot sulfide- and methane-rich environment using enzyme text experimental incubations to analyze metabolic pathways and microscopic examination.
9614201 Costa Sea ice forms an extensive habitat in the Southern Ocean. Reports dating from the earliest explorations of Antarctica have described high concentrations of algae associated with sea-ice, suggesting that the ice must be an important site of production and biological activity. The magnitude and importance of ice-based production is difficult to estimate largely because the spatial and temporal distributions of ice communities have been examined in only a few regions, and the processes controlling production and community development in ice are still superficially understood. This study will examine sea ice communities in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica in conjunction with a studies of ice physics and remote sensing. The specific objectives of the study are: 1) to relate the overall distribution of ice communities in the Ross Sea to specific habitats that are formed as the result of ice formation and growth processes; 2) to study the initial formation of sea ice to document the incorporation and survival of organisms, in particular to examine winter populations within "snow-ice" layers to determine if there is a seed population established at the time of surface flooding; 3) to sample summer communities to determine the extent that highly productive "snow-ice" and "freeboard" communities develop in the deep water regions of the Ross Sea; 4) and to collect basic data on the biota, activity, and general physical and chemical characteristics of the ice assemblages, so that this study contributes to the general understanding of the ecology of the ice biota in pack ice regions.
0538639<br/>Waddington<br/>This award supports a project to study the patterns of accumulation variation and microstructural properties near the WAIS Divide ice core site in a 2.5 km array of 20 m boreholes. Borehole Optical Stratigraphy (BOS) is a novel optical measurement system that detects annual-scale layers in firn that result from changes in firn microstructure, giving annual-scale records of how accumulation varied spatially over the last 40-50 years. Data from borehole optical stratigraphy can eventually be calibrated against other data on the microstructural parameters of firn to calibrate BOS's sensitivity to density, pore-volume, and pore-shape variations, and to show by proxy how these parameters vary in space across the survey area. Statistical analysis of layer-thickness and layer-brightness data will enable prediction of: 1) interannual accumulation variability, 2) variability in layer-thickness at decadal scales due to changing spatial patterns in accumulation and 3) variability in microstructure-driven metamorphism due to changing spatial patterns of microstructure. With these statistics in hand, a scientist measuring climatic shifts found in the WAIS Divide ice core will be able to determine the fraction by which signals they measure exceed the signal due to background accumulation variations. As an added benefit, while still in the field, we will determine a preliminary depth-age scale for the firn by optical layer-counting, to the depth of the deepest air-filled firn hole available. This will be a valuable result for core-drilling operations and for preliminary data-analysis on the core. In terms of broader impacts, this project will advance education by training a post-doctoral student in field techniques. The P.I. and the post-doctoral researcher will participate in an undergraduate seminar called "What is Scientific Research?", incorporating progress and results from this project. They will also communicate about their progress and field experience with a middle-school science and math class.
This award supports a study of the physical nature and environmental origin of optical features (light and dark zones) observed by video in boreholes in polar ice. These features appear to include an annual signal, as well as longer period signals. Borehole logs exist from a previous project, and in this lab-based project the interpretation of these logs will be improved. The origin of the features is of broad interest to the ice-core community. If some components relate to changes in the depositional environment beyond seasonality, important climatic cycles may be seen. If some components relate to post-depositional reworking, insights will be gained into the physical processes that change snow and firn, and the implications for interpretation of the chemical record in terms of paleoclimate. In order to exploit these features to best advantage in future ice-core and climate-change research, the two principal objectives of this project are to determine what physically causes the optical differences that we see and to determine the environmental processes that give rise to these physical differences. In the laboratory at NICL the conditions of a log of a borehole wall will be re-created as closely as possible by running the borehole video camera along sections of ice core, making an optical log of light reflected from the core. Combinations of physical variables that are correlated with optical features will be identified. A radiative-transfer model will be used to aid in the interpretation of these measurements, and to determine the optimum configuration for an improved future logging tool. An attempt will be made to determine the origin of the features. Two broad possibilities exist: 1) temporal changes in the depositional environment, and 2) post-depositional reworking. This project represents an important step toward a new way of learning about paleoclimate with borehole optical methods. Broader impacts include enhancing the infrastructure for research and education, since this instrument will complement high-resolution continuous-melter chemistry techniques and provide a rapid way to log physical variables using optical features as a proxy for climate signals. Since no core is required for this method, it can be used in rapidly drilled access holes or where core quality is poor. This project will support a graduate student who will carry out this project under the direction of the Principal Investigator. K-12 education will be enhanced through an ongoing collaboration with a science and math teacher from a local middle school. International collaboration will be expanded through work on this project with colleagues at the Norwegian Polar Institute and broad dissemination of results will occur through a project website for the general public.
This award supports development of a new modeling approach that will extract information about past snow accumulation rate in both space and time in the vicinity of the future ice core near the Ross-Amundsen divide of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Internal layers, detected by ice-penetrating radar, are isochrones, or former ice-sheet surfaces that have been buried by subsequent snowfall, and distorted by ice flow. Extensive ice-penetrating radar data are available over the inland portion of the WAIS. Layers have been dated back to 17,000 years before present. The radar data add the spatial dimension to the temporally resolved accumulation record from ice cores. Accumulation rates are traditionally derived from the depths of young, shallow layers, corrected for strain using a local 1-D ice-flow model. Older, deeper layers have been more affected by flow over large horizontal distances. However, it is these deeper layers that contain information on longer-term climate patterns. This project will use geophysical inverse theory and a 2.5D flow-band ice-flow forward model comprising ice-surface and layer-evolution modules, to extract robust transient accumulation patterns by assimilating multiple deeper, more-deformed layers that have previously been intractable. Histories of divide migration, geothermal flux, and surface evolution will also be produced. The grant will support the PhD research of a female graduate student who is a mentor to female socio-economically disadvantaged high-school students interested in science, through the University of Washington Women's Center. It will also provide a research<br/>experience for an undergraduate student, and contribute to a freshman seminar on Scientific Research.
This award supports a project to develop a quantitative understanding of the processes active in isotopic exchange between snow/firn and water vapor, which is of paramount importance to ice core interpretation. Carefully controlled laboratory studies will be conducted at a variety of temperatures to empirically measure the mass transfer coefficient (the rate at which water moves from the solid to the vapor phase) for sublimating snow and to determine the time scale for isotopic equilibration between water vapor and ice. In addition the isotopic fractionation coefficient for vapor derived from sublimating ice will be determined and the results will be used to update existing models of mass transfer and isotopic evolution in firn. It is well known that water vapor moves through firn due to diffusion, free convection and forced convection. Although vapor movement through variably-saturated firn due to these processes has been modeled, because of a lack of laboratory data the mass transfer coefficient had to be estimated. Field studies have documented the magnitudes of post-depositional changes, but field studies do not permit rigorous analysis of the relative importance of the many processes which are likely to act in natural snow packs. The results of these laboratory investigations will be broadly applicable to a number of studies and will allow for improvement of existing physically-based models of post-depositional isotopic change, isotopic diffusion in firn, and vapor motion in firn. A major component of this project will be the design and fabrication of the necessary, novel experimental apparatus, which will be facilitated by existing technical expertise, cold room facilities, and laboratory equipment at CRREL. This project is a necessary step toward a quantitative understanding of the isotopic effects of water vapor movement in firn. The proposed work has broader impacts in several different areas. The modeling results will be applicable to a wide range of studies of water in the polar environment, including studies of wind-blown or drifting snow. The proposed collaborative study will partially support a Dartmouth graduate student for three years. This project will also provide support for a young first-time NSF investigator at the University of Vermont. Undergraduate students from Dartmouth will be involved in the research through the Women in Science Project and undergraduate students at the University of Vermont will be supported through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. The principal investigators and graduate student will continue their tradition of k-12 school outreach by giving science lessons and talks in local schools each year. Research results will be disseminated through scientific conferences, journal publications, and institutional seminars.
This project uses geochemical studies to determine the origin of volcanic rocks from Marie Byrd Land (MBL), Antarctica. Surprisingly, adjacent volcanoes in the MBL have dramatically different compositions, ranging from phonolite to trachyte to rhyolite. This diversity offers an opportunity to constrain the processes responsible for generating silica oversaturated and undersaturated magmas in a single geologic setting. Previous work suggests that the most obvious and simplest explanation--crustal contamination--is not a significant factor, and that polybaric fractional crystallization is the major cause. This study evaluates these factors through analyses and interpretation of trace and rare earth element abundances, as well as Sr and Nd isotopic ratios. <br/><br/>The broader impacts include outreach programs to the Girl Scouts of America, and dissemination of results through publications and meetings.
The research will examine the relative importance of the physical and chemical controls on phytoplankton dynamics and carbon flux in continental margin regions of the Southern Ocean, and elucidate mechanisms by which plankton populations and carbon export might be altered by climate change. We specifically will address (1) how the phytoplankton on the continental margins of the southern Ocean respond to spatial and temporal changes in temperature, light, iron supply, and carbon dioxide levels, (2) how these factors initiate changes in phytoplankton assemblage structure, and (3) how carbon export and the efficiency of the biological pump are impacted by the biomass and composition of the phytoplankton. Two regions of study (the Amundsen and Ross Seas) will be investigated, one well studied (Ross Sea) and one poorly described (Amundsen Sea). It is hypothesized that each region will have markedly different physical forcing, giving rise to distinct chemical conditions and therefore biological responses. As such, the comparison of the two may give us insights into the mechanisms of how Antarctic continental margins will respond under changing environmental conditions. Broader impacts include participation by an international graduate student from Brazil, outreach via seminars to the general public, collaboration with the teachers-in-residence on the cruise, development of a cruise web site and interactive email exchanges with local middle school students while at sea
Phaeocystis Antarctica is a widely distributed phytoplankton that forms dense blooms and aggregates in the Southern Ocean. This phytoplankton and plays important roles in polar ecology and biogeochemistry, in part because it is a dominant primary producer, a main component of organic matter vertical fluxes, and the principal producer of volatile organic sulfur in the region. Yet P. Antarctica is also one of the lesser known species in terms of its physiology, life history and trophic relationships with other organisms; furthermore, information collected on other Phaeocystis species and from different locations may not be applicable to P. Antarctica in the Ross Sea. P. Antarctica occurs mainly as two morphotypes: solitary cells and mucilaginous colonies, which differ significantly in size, architecture and chemical composition. Relative dominance between solitary cells and colonies determines not only the size spectrum of the population, but also its carbon dynamics, nutrient uptake and utilization. Conventional thinking of the planktonic trophic processes is also challenged by the fact that colony formation could effectively alter the predator-prey interactions and interspecific competition. However, the factors that regulate the differences between solitary and colonial forms of P. Antarctica are not well-understood. The research objective of this proposal is therefore to address these over-arching questions:<br/>o Do P. Antarctica solitary cells and colonies differ in growth, composition and<br/>photosynthetic rates?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers affect colony development and size distribution of P. <br/>Antarctica?<br/>o How do nutrients and grazers act synergistically to affect the long-term population<br/>dynamics of P. Antarctica? Experiments will be conducted in the McMurdo station with natural P. Antarctica assemblages and co-occurring grazers. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to study size-specific growth and photosynthetic rates of P. Antarctica, size-specific grazing mortality due to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, the effects of macronutrients on the (nitrogen compounds) relative dominance of solitary cells and colonies, and the effects of micronutrient (Fe) and grazing related chemical signals on P. Antarctica colony development. Because this species is of critical importance in the Southern Ocean, and because this research will provide critical information on factors that regulate the role of P.Antarctica in food webs and biogeochemical cycles, a major gap in knowledge will be addressed. This project will train two marine science PhD students. The investigators will also collaborate with the School of Education and a marine science museum to communicate polar science to a broader audience.
Patterns of biodiversity, as revealed by basic research in organismal biology, may be derived from ecological and evolutionary processes expressed in unique settings, such as Antarctica. The polar regions and their faunas are commanding increased attention as declining species diversity, environmental change, commercial fisheries, and resource management are now being viewed in a global context. Commercial fishing is known to have a direct and pervasive effect on marine biodiversity, and occurs in the Southern Ocean as far south as the Ross Sea. <br/>The nature of fish biodiversity in the Antarctic is different than in all other ocean shelf areas. Waters of the Antarctic continental shelf are ice covered for most of the year and water temperatures are nearly constant at -1.5 C. In these waters components of the phyletically derived Antarctic clade of Notothenioids dominate fish diversity. In some regions, including the southwestern Ross Sea, Notothenioids are overwhelmingly dominant in terms of number of species, abundance, and biomass. Such dominance by a single taxonomic group is unique among shelf faunas of the world. In the absence of competition from a taxonomically diverse fauna, Notothenioids underwent a habitat or depth related diversification keyed to the utilization of unfilled niches in the water column, especially pelagic or partially pelagic zooplanktivory and piscivory. This has been accomplished in the absence of a swim bladder for buoyancy control. They also may form a special type of adaptive radiation known as a species flock, which is an assemblage of a disproportionately high number of related species that have evolved rapidly within a defined area where most species are endemic. Diversification in buoyancy is the hallmark of the notothenioid radiation. Buoyancy is the feature of notothenioid biology that determines whether a species lives on the substrate, in the water column or both. Buoyancy also influences other key aspects of life history including swimming, feeding and reproduction and thus has implications for the role of the species in the ecosystem. <br/>With similarities to classic evolutionary hot spots, the Antarctic shelf and its Notothenioid radiation merit further exploration. The 2004 "International Collaborative Expedition to collect and study Fish Indigenous to Sub-Antarctic Habitats," or, "ICEFISH," provided a platform for collection of notothenioid fishes from sub-Antarctic waters between South America and Africa, which will be examined in this project. This study will determine buoyancy for samples of all notothenioid species captured during the ICEFISH cruise. This essential aspect of the biology is known for only 19% of the notothenioid fauna. Also, the gross and microscopic anatomy of brains and sense organs of the phyletically basal families Bovichtidae, Eleginopidae, and of the non-Antarctic species of the primarily Antarctic family Nototheniidae will be examined. The fish biodiversity and endemicity in poorly known localities along the ICEFISH cruise track, seamounts and deep trenches will be quantified. Broader impacts include improved information for comprehending and conserving biodiversity, a scientific and societal priority.
Abstract<br/><br/>The research objective is (1) to determine the distributions and dynamics of a full suite of bioactive trace metals in dissolved and suspended particulate forms, along sampling transects of the Amundsen and Ross Seas. And (2) to test the sensitivity of overall cellular metal stoichiometry (metal/carbon ratios) to natural gradients in species assemblage and Fe availability. Our earlier findings from a single Ross Sea station and from a Drake Passage crossing suggest that Fe-limited phytoplankton cells are unusually enriched in Zn, Cu and Cd relative to biomass carbon, with strong implications for the biogeochemical cycling of these elements relative to carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. In collaboration with other researchers on the cruise, we will also measure metal stoichiometry of cells exposed to predicted 2010 temperature and carbon dioxide levels in shipboard incubation studies, as a window into possible effects of climate change on metals biogeochemistry in these regions. This proposal will support close international collaborations and lasting infrastructure development as US and Swedish scientists, and more importantly, their students, work toward shared the shared goal of understanding a region that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on the globe. Trace metal micro-nutrients are a key control on the productivity of Antarctic marine ecosystems. Our results will be made widely available through research publications and internet-available databases, and public outreach through COSEE at Rutgers University.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role and fate of Boron in high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Larsemann Hills region of Antarctica. Trace elements provide valuable information on the changes sedimentary rocks undergo as temperature and pressure increase during burial. One such element, boron, is particularly sensitive to increasing temperature because of its affinity for aqueous fluids, which are lost as rocks are buried. Boron contents of unmetamorphosed pelitic sediments range from 20 to over 200 parts per million, but rarely exceed 5 parts per million in rocks subjected to conditions of the middle and lower crust, that is, temperatures of 700 degrees C or more in the granulite-facies, which is characterized by very low water activities at pressures of 5 to 10 kbar (18-35 km burial). Devolatization reactions with loss of aqueous fluid and partial melting with removal of melt have been cited as primary causes for boron depletion under granulite-facies conditions. Despite the pervasiveness of both these processes, rocks rich in boron are locally found in the granulite-facies, that is, there are mechanisms for retaining boron during the metamorphic process. The Larsemann Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica, are a prime example. More than 20 lenses and layered bodies containing four borosilicate mineral species crop out over a 50 square kilometer area, which thus would be well suited for research on boron-rich granulite-facies metamorphic rocks. <br/><br/>While most investigators have focused on the causes for loss of boron, this work will investigate how boron is retained during high-grade metamorphism. Field observations and mapping in the Larsemann Hills, chemical analyses of minerals and their host rocks, and microprobe age dating will be used to identify possible precursors and deduce how the precursor materials recrystallized into borosilicate rocks under granulite-facies conditions. The working hypothesis is that high initial boron content facilitates retention of boron during metamorphism because above a certain threshold boron content, a mechanism "kicks in" that facilitates retention of boron in metamorphosed rocks. For example, in a rock with large amounts of the borosilicate tourmaline, such as stratabound tourmalinite, the breakdown of tourmaline to melt could result in the formation of prismatine and grandidierite, two borosilicates found in the Larsemann Hills. This situation is rarely observed in rocks with modest boron content, in which breakdown of tourmaline releases boron into partial melts, which in turn remove boron when they leave the system. Stratabound tourmalinite is associated with manganese-rich quartzite, phosphorus-rich rocks and sulfide concentrations that could be diagnostic for recognizing a tourmalinite protolith in a highly metamorphosed complex where sedimentary features have been destroyed by deformation. Because partial melting plays an important role in the fate of boron during metamorphism, our field and laboratory research will focus on the relationship between the borosilicate units, granite pegmatites and other granitic intrusives. The results of our study will provide information on cycling of boron at deeper levels in the Earth's crust and on possible sources of boron for granites originating from deep-seated rocks.<br/><br/>An undergraduate student will participate in the electron microprobe age-dating of monazite and xenotime as part of a senior project, thereby integrating the proposed research into the educational mission of the University of Maine. In response to a proposal for fieldwork, the Australian Antarctic Division, which maintains Davis station near the Larsemann Hills, has indicated that they will support the Antarctic fieldwork.
0538683<br/>Lal<br/>This award supports a project to continue development of a new method for estimating solar activity in the past. It is based on measurements of the concentrations of in-situ produced C-14 in polar ice by cosmic rays, which depend only on (i) the cosmic ray flux, and (ii) ice accumulation rate. This is the only direct method available to date polar ice, since it does not involve any uncertain climatic transfer functions as are encountered in the applications of cosmogenic C-14 data in tree rings, or of Be-10 in ice and sediments. An important task is to improve on the temporal resolution during identified periods of high/low solar activity in the past 32 Kyr. The plan is to undertake a study of changes in the cosmic ray flux during the last millennium (1100-1825 A.D.), during which time 4 low and 1 high solar activity epoch has been identified from historical records. Sunspot data during most of these periods are sparse. Adequate ice samples are available from ice cores from the South Pole and from Summit, Greenland and a careful high resolution study of past solar activity levels during this period will be undertaken. The intellectual merit of the work includes providing independent verification of estimated solar activity levels from the two polar ice records of cosmic ray flux and greatly improve our understanding of solar-terrestrial relationships. <br/>The broader impacts include collaboration with other scientists who are experts in the application of the atmospheric cosmogenic C-14 and student training. Both undergraduates and a graduate student will be involved in the proposed research. Various forms of outreach will also be used to disseminate the results of this project, including public presentations and interactions with the media.
The Erebus Bay Weddell seal population study in eastern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica was initiated in 1968 and represents one of the longest intensive field investigations of a long-lived mammal in existence. Over the thirty-four year period of this study a total of 15,636 animals have been tagged with 144,927 re-sighting records logged in the current database. As such, this study is an extremely valuable resource for understanding population dynamics of not only Weddell seals, but also other species of both terrestrial and marine mammals with similar life-history characteristics. With the retirement of the original investigator, Dr. Donald Siniff, this proposal represents an effort to transition the long-term studies to a new team of investigators. Dr. Robert Garrott and Dr. Jay Rotella propose building upon the foundation with two lines of investigation that combine use of the long-term database with new field initiatives. The continuity of the demographic data will be maintained by annually marking all pups born, replace lost or broken tags, and perform multiple mark-recapture censuses of the Erebus Bay seal colonies. The new data will be combined with the existing database and a progressively complex series of analyses will be performed using recently developed mark-recapture methods to decompose, evaluate, and integrate the demographic characteristics of the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population. These analyses will allow the testing of specific hypotheses about population regulation as well as temporal and spatial patterns of variation in vital rates among colonies within the population that have been posed by previous investigators, but have not been adequately evaluated due to data and analytical limitations. The primary new field initiative will involve an intensive study of mass dynamics of both pups and adult females as a surrogate measure for assessing annual variation in marine resources and their potential role in limiting and/or regulating the population. In conjunction with the collection of data on body mass dynamics the investigators will use satellite imagery to develop an extended time series of sea ice extent in McMurdo Sound. Regional extent of sea ice affects both regional primary productivity and availability of haul out areas for Weddell seals. Increased primary productivity may increase marine resources which would be expected to have a positive affect on Weddell seal foraging efficiency, leading to increased body mass. These data combined with the large proportion of known-aged seals in the current study population (>60%) will allow the investigators to develop a powerful database to test specific hypotheses about ecological processes affecting Weddell seals. Knowledge of the mechanisms that limit and/or regulate Weddell seal populations and the specific bio-physical linkages between climate, oceans, ice, and Antarctic food webs can provide important contributions to understanding of pinniped population dynamics, as well as contribute more generally to theoretical understanding of population, community, and ecosystem patterns and processes. Such knowledge can be readily applied elsewhere to enhance the ability of natural resource managers to effectively maintain assemblages of other large-mammal species and the ecological processes that they facilitate. Continuation of this long-term study may also contribute to understanding the potential impacts of human activities such as global climate warming and the commercial exploitation of Antarctic marine resources. And finally, the study can contribute significantly to the development and testing of new research and analytical methodologies that will almost certainly have many other applications.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis" as it relates to global carbon dioxide fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles.<br/><br/>Intellectual Merit<br/>This project will evaluate the burial rate of biogenic opal in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, both during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the Holocene, as a critical test of the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis". <br/><br/>The "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis" has been proposed recently to explain the glacial reduction in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere that has been reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores. Vast amounts of dissolved Si (silicic acid) are supplied to surface waters of the Southern Ocean by wind-driven upwelling of deep waters. Today, that dissolved Si is consumed almost quantitatively by diatoms who form skeletal structures composed of biogenic opal (a mineral form of silicon). According to the "Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis", environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean during glacial periods were unfavorable for diatom growth, leading to reduced (compared to interglacials) efficiency of dissolved Si utilization. Dissolved Si that was not consumed biologically in the glacial Southern ocean was then exported to the tropics in waters that sink in winter to depths of a few hundred meters along the northern fringes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and return some decades later to the sunlit surface in tropical regions of wind-driven upwelling. <br/><br/>An increase in the amount of dissolved Si that "leaks" out of the Southern Ocean and later upwells at low latitudes could shift the global average composition of phytoplankton toward a greater abundance of diatoms and fewer CaCO3-secreting taxa (especially coccolithophorids). Consequences of such a taxonomic shift in the ocean's phytoplankton assemblage include:<br/> a) an increase in the global average organic carbon/calcium carbonate ratio of particulate biogenic material sinking into the deep sea;<br/> b) a reduction in the preservation and burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments;<br/> c) an increase in ocean alkalinity as a consequence of the first two changes mentioned above, and;<br/> d) a lowering of atmospheric CO2 concentrations in response to increased alkalinity of ocean waters. <br/><br/>A complete assessment of the Silicic acid leakage hypothesis will require an evaluation of: (1) Si utilization efficiencies using newly-developed stable isotopic techniques; (2) opal burial rates in low-latitude upwelling regions; and (3) opal burial rates in the Southern Ocean. This project addresses the last of these topics. <br/><br/>Previous work has shown that there was little change in opal burial rate between the LGM and the Holocene in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean. Preliminary results (summarized in this proposal) suggest that the Pacific may have been different, however, in that opal burial rates in the Pacific sector seem to have been lower during the LGM than during the Holocene, allowing for the possibility of "Si leakage" from this region. However, available results are too sparse to make any quantitative conclusions at this time. For that reason, we propose to make a comprehensive evaluation of opal burial rates in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. <br/><br/>Significance and Broader Impacts<br/>Determining the mechanism(s) by which the ocean has regulated climate-related changes in the CO2 content of the atmosphere has been the focus of a substantial effort by paleoceanographers over the past two decades. The Silicic Acid Leakage Hypothesis is a viable new candidate mechanism that warrants further exploration and testing. Completion of the proposed work will contribute significantly to that effort. <br/><br/>During the course of this work, several undergraduates will be exposed to paleoclimate research through their involvement in this project. Burckle and Anderson are both dedicated to the education and training of young scientists, and to the recruitment of women and under-represented minorities. To illustrate, two summer students (undergraduates) worked in Burckle's lab during the summer of 2002. One was a woman and the other (male) was a member of an under-represented minority. Anderson and Burckle will continue with similar recruitment efforts during the course of the proposed study. A minority student who has expressed an interest in working on this research during the summer of 2003 has already been identified.
This project will investigate the distribution, phylogenetic affinities and ecological aspects of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria in the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research study area. Ammonia oxidation is the first step in the conversion of regenerated nitrogen to dinitrogen gas via denitrification, a 3-step pathway mediated by three distinct guilds of bacteria. As such, ammonia oxidation is important to the global nitrogen cycle. Ammonia oxidation and the overall process of nitrification-denitrification have received little attention in polar oceans where it is significant and where the effects of climate change on biogeochemical rates are likely to be pronounced. The goals of the studies proposed here are A) to obtain more conclusive information concerning composition of Antarctic ammonia oxidizers; B) to begin characterizing their ecophysiology and ecology; and C) to obtain cultures of the organism for more detailed studies. Water column and sea ice AOB assemblages will be characterized phylogenetically and the different kinds of AOB in various samples will be quantified. Nitrification rates will be measured across the LTER study area in water column, sea ice and sediment samples. Grazing rates on AOB will be determined and their sensitivity to UV light evaluated. In addition, the significance of urea nitrogen as a source of reduced nitrogen to AOB will be assessed and the temperature response of nitrification over temperature ranges appropriate to polar regions will be evaluated. This work will provide insights into the ecology of AOB and the knowledge needed to model how water column nitrification will respond to changes in the polar ecosystems accompanying global climate change.
Abstract<br/><br/>This Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposal describes global change-related experimental research designed to take full advantage of a unique science opportunity on short notice, the leasing of the Oden to conduct ice-breaking operations in McMurdo Sound. <br/><br/>Our emphasis will be on using this opportunistic research platform to ask two questions about present day and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton communities. These are: 1. How will expected alterations in pCO2, pH, and Fe availability in the Southern Ocean, due to future anthropogenic climate change affect phytoplankton species assemblages, carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry, and remineralization processes? 2. What is the current role of organic co-factors (vitamins) in limiting or co-limiting (along with iron ) phytoplankton growth and production in the Antarctic margin? The research approach includes experimental incubations with variation in iron enrichment, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature. A second suite of experiments will examine co-limitation effects between vitamin B12 and Fe and B12 uptake kinetics. Changes in phytoplankton community structure, and carbon and nutrient cycling will be determined, in collaboration with many of the participating U.S. and Swedish investigators. Together, these two main objectives should allow us to obtain novel insights into the current and future controls on Antarctic margin phytoplankton growth, productivity, and carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. In particular, the experiments in the Amundsen Sea represent a one-of-a-kind opportunity to understand algal dynamics and potential future responses to climate change in this little-studied ecosystem, and compare these results to those from the better-known Ross Sea. An important result of this study will be to build strong international collaborations with the Swedish marine science community. Additional broader impacts include participatin of an Hispanic Ph.D. student in cruise work and post-cruise analyses, and integration of results into graduate courses at the USC Catalina Lab facility. Public outreach will include presentations on global change impacts on the ocean targeted at audiences ranging from legislators and policymakers to the general public.
This award supports a project to collect and develop high-resolution ice core records from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, and provide interpretations of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability during the last 2000 years (late Holocene). The project will test hypotheses related to ocean/atmosphere teleconnections (e.g., El Nino Southern Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation) that may be responsible for major late Holocene climate events such as the Little Ice Age in the Southern Hemisphere. Conceptual and quantitative models of these processes in the Dry Valleys during the late Holocene are critical for understanding recent climate changes, and represent the main scientific merit of the project. We plan to collect intermediate-length ice cores (100-200m) at four sites along transects in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley, and analyze each core at high resolution for stable isotopes (d18O, dD), major ions (Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NH4+, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, MSA), and trace elements (Al, Fe, S, Sr, B). A suite of statistical techniques will be applied to the multivariate glaciochemical dataset to identify chemical associations and to calibrate the time-series records with available instrumental data. Broader impacts of the project include: 1) contributions to several ongoing interdisciplinary Antarctic research programs; 2) graduate and undergraduate student involvement in field, laboratory, and data interpretation activities; 3) use of project data and ideas in several UMaine courses and outreach activities; and 4) data dissemination through peer-reviewed publications, UMaine and other paleoclimate data archive websites, and presentations at national and international meetings.
Aquatic-terrestrial transition zones are crucial environments in understanding the biogeochemistry of landscapes. In temperate watersheds, these areas are generally dominated by riparian zones, which have been identified as regions of special interest for biogeochemistry because of the increased microbial activity in these locations, and because of the importance of these hydrological margins in facilitating and buffering hydrologic and biogeochemical exchanges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In the Antarctic Dry Valleys, terrestrial-aquatic transition zones are intriguing landscape features because of the vast importance of water in this polar desert, and because the material and energy budgets of dry valley ecosystems are linked by hydrology. Hydrological margins in aquatic-terrestrial transition zones will be studied in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to answer two overarching questions: (1) what are the major controls over hydrologic and biogeochemical exchange across aquaticterrestrial transition zones and (2) to what extent do trends in nutrient cycling (e.g. nitrogen cycling) across these transition zones reflect differences in microbial communities or function vs. differences in the physical and chemical environment (e.g., redox potential)? The hydrologic gradients that define these interfaces provide the opportunity to assess the relative influence of physical conditions and microbial biodiversity and functioning upon biogeochemical cycling. Coordinated hydrologic, biogeochemical, and molecular microbial studies will be executed within hydrologic margins with the following research objectives: to determine the role of sediment characteristics, permafrost and active layer dynamics, and topography on sub-surface water content and distribution in hydrologic margins, to determine the extent to which transformations of nitrogen in hydrological margins are influenced by physical conditions (i.e., moisture, redox potential and pH) or by the presence of specific microbial communities (e.g., denitrifiers), and to characterize the microbial community structure and function of saturated zones.<br/><br/>This proposed research will provide an improved understanding of the interaction of liquid water, soils, microbial communities, and biogeochemistry within the important hydrologic margin landscape units of the dry valleys. Dry valleys streams and lakes are unique because there is no influence of higher vegetation on the movement of water and may therefore provide a model system for understanding physical and hydrological influences on microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Hence the findings will contribute to Antarctic science as well as the broader study of riparian zones and hydrologic margins worldwide. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be involved with fieldwork and research projects. Information will be disseminated through a project web site, and outreach activities will include science education in local elementary, middle and high schools near the three universities involved.
0124049<br/>Berger<br/><br/>This award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the Dry Valleys of the McMurdo Sound region of Antarctica. Using a modified Livingstone corer, transects of long cores will be obtained from Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, Joyce, and Vanda. A multiparameter approach will be employed which is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of former water-level, glaciological, and paleoenvironmental data from Dry Valleys lakes. Estimates of hydrologic changes will come from different proxies, including grain size, stratigraphy, evaporite mineralogy, stable isotope and trace element chemistry, and diatom assemblage analysis. The chronology, necessary to integrate the cores with the geomorphological record, as well as for comparisons with Antarctic ice-core and glacial records, will come from Uranium-Thorium, Uranium-Helium, and Carbon-14 dating of carbonates, as well as luminescence sediment dating. Evaluation of the link between lake-level and climate will come from hydrological and energy-balance modelling. Combination of the more continuous lake-core sequences with the spatially extensive geomorphological record will result in an integrated Antarctic lake-level and paleoclimate dataset that extends back at least 30,000 years. This record will be compared to Dry Valleys glacier records and to the Antarctic ice cores to address questions of regional climate variability, and then to other Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere records to assess interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of climate change.
Recent years have seen the re-establishment of large-scale marine resource utilization by humans in the Antarctic. In contrast to early sealing and whaling activity, the modern impact is directed on krill and finfish populations, most notably of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), but also its congenor the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Ross Sea. Toothfish are a valuable resource and are likely to continue to command a high price in world markets. However, extensive illegal fishing has lead to considerable concern that Patagonian toothfish populations are being over-harvested. In other parts of the world, over-harvesting of larger, commercially valuable species has led to fishing down of marine food webs, leaving impoverished, less valuable ecosystems. The goal of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, part of the Antarctic Treaty System, is to allow harvest while avoiding disruptions to the Antarctic ecosystem. To achieve this, the sustainable management of the fishery depends on reliable age data. Age data allow population age structure to be modeled, so that growth, mortality and recruitment rates can be estimated and used to understand population dynamics. Age data provides the basis to determine the life history pattern of a species, to model population dynamics, and to determine which age classes are vulnerable to over-exploitation under a particular set of environmental conditions. Current age and growth information for toothfish is based on age determination methodologies which are not validated and depend on the specific laboratory and principal investigator. Recently, the Commission of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has endorsed three preparation methodologies using otoliths and a common set of criteria for estimating age from otolith micro-structure. The CCAMLR Otolith Network has also been initiated as a medium for exchanging samples to ensure that age estimates are comparable between readers and laboratories. However, considerable work is needed to ensure that age estimates generated by the three methodologies are accurate. One technique that has been successful is radiometric age determination, which uses the disequilibria of lead-210 and radium-226 in otoliths as a natural chronometer. This proposal brings together an international collaboration to examine population age structure for both toothfish species, in an experimental design built around radiometric validation tests of age data generated by all three preparation methodologies. To integrate the validation component within an Antarctic-wide effort to examine toothfish population age structure, sub-samples for validation work will be drawn from sample sets taken for population age studies by research teams working in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France, as well as the United States. Scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories will use radiometric age determination to independently age otoliths from Patagonian and Antarctic toothfishes. Scientists at Old Dominion University will use a system already established for aging to generate validated age data, allowing growth, mortality, and longevity to be estimated by geographic areas. The project will provide validated otolith sample sets that can be used as a foundation for a unified and validated age estimation system for the toothfishes. This study will provide information which will be disseminated to the public, policy-makers and the international community. The project will provide opportunities for under-represented students at both universities.
This Small Grant for Exploratory Research supports measurement of PGE abundances and Hf, Nd, Sr and Pb isotopic ratios of the Basement Sill and Dais Intrusion lobe of the Ferrar Magmatic Province, Antarctica. This province played a key role in the breakup of Gondwanaland. Models to be tested are magma production by plume activity versus decompression melting in a fossil subduction zone. The PGE data will also be used to evaluate the behavior of volatiles during magma crystallization, which other evidence indicates may have reached saturation. The samples to be studied were collected during the NSF-sponsored, Magmatic Field Laboratory Workshop held in Antarctica in 2005. This study's results will be compliled with complementary data from other attendees to develop a new multidisciplinary model of Ferrar magmatism.<br/><br/>The broader impacts fo this work include international collaboration and informal science education through public outreach to K12 students.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports the development of a standardized diatom image catalog or database. Diatoms are considered by many to be the most important microfossil group used today in the study of Antarctic Cenozoic marine deposits south of the Polar Front, from the near shore to deep sea. These microfossils, with walls of silica called frustules, are produced by single-celled plants (algae of the Class Bacillariophyceae) in a great variety of forms. Consequently, they have great biostratigraphic importance in the Southern Ocean and elsewhere for determining the age of marine sediments. Also, paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies increasingly rely on fossil diatom data. Changing biogeographic distributions of given taxa indicate shifting paleoecological conditions and provide evidence of the surface productivity and temperatures of ancient oceans. The generality of conclusions, though, is limited by variation in species concepts among workers. The broad research community relies, directly or indirectly, on the accurate identification of diatom species. Current technology can be used to greatly improve upon the standard references that have been used in making these identifications.<br/><br/>This project will develop an interactive digital-image catalog of modern and Cenozoic fossil diatoms of the Southern Ocean called "DiatomWare" for use by specialists and educators as an aid in rapid, accurate, and consistent species identification. As such, this will be a researcher's resource. It will be especially useful where it is not possible to maintain standard library resources such as onboard research vessels or at remote stations such as McMurdo Station. Major Antarctic geological drilling initiatives such as the new SHALDRIL project and the pending ANDRILL project will benefit from this product because they will rely heavily on diatom biostratigraphy to achieve their research objectives. The DiatomWare image database will be modeled on NannoWare, which was released in October 2002 on CD-ROM as a publication of the International Nannoplankton Association. BugCam will be adapted and modified as necessary to run the DiatomWare database, which can then be run from desktop or laptop computers. Images and text for the database will be scanned from the literature or captured in digital form from light or scanning electron microscopes.<br/><br/>The software interface will include a number of data fields that can be accessed by the click of a mouse button. Primary information will be the images and descriptions of the holotypes. In addition, representative images of paratypes or hypotypes will be included whenever possible in plain transmitted, differential interference contrast light and, when available, as drawings and SEM images. Also included will be a 35-word or less English diagnosis ("mini-description"), the biostratigraphic range in terms of zones and linear time, bibliographic references, lists of species considered junior synonyms, and similar species. The list of similar species will be cross-referenced with their respective image files to enable quick access for direct visual comparison on the viewing screen. Multiple images can be brought to the viewing screen simultaneously, and a zoom feature will permit image examination at a wide range of magnifications. Buttons will allow range charts, a bibliography, and key public-domain publications from the literature to be called up from within the program. The DiatomWare/BugCam package will be distributed at a nominal cost through a major nonprofit society via CD-ROM and free to Internet users on the Worldwide Web. Quality control measures will include critical review of the finalized database by a network of qualified specialists. The completed database will include descriptions and images of between 350 and 400 species, including fossil as well as modern forms that have no fossil record.<br/><br/>The development of the proposed diatom image database will be important to all research fields that depend on accurate biostratigraphic dating and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Antarctic marine sediments and plankton. The database will also serve as a valuable teaching tool for micropaleontology students and their professors, will provide a rapid means of keying down species for micropaleontologists of varying experience and background, and will promote a uniformity of taxonomic concepts since it will be developed and continuously updated with the advice of a community of nannofossil fossil experts. Broad use of the database is anticipated since it will be widely available through the Internet and on CD-ROM for use on personal computers that do not require large amounts of memory, costly specialized programs, or additional hardware.
Encarnaci_n OPP 9615398 Abstract Basement rocks of the Transantarctic Mountains are believed to record a change in the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana from a rifted passive margin to a tectonically active margin (Ross orogen). Recent hypothesis suggest that the passive margin phase resulted from Neoproterozoic rifting of Laurentia from Antarctica ("SWEAT" hypothesis). The succeeding active margin phase (Ross orogeny) was one of several tectonic events ("Pan African" events) that resulted from plate convergence/transpression that was probably a consequence of the assembly of components of the Gondwana supercontinent. Although these basement units provide one of the keys for understanding the break up and assembly of these major continental masses, few precise ages are available to address the following important issues: (1) Is there any pre-rift high-grade cratonal basement exposed along the Transantarctic Mountains, and what is/are its precise age? Is this age compatible with a Laurentia connection? (2) What is the age of potential rift/passive margin sediments (Beardmore Group) along the Queen Maud Mountains sector of the orogen? (3) What is the relative and absolute timing of magmatism and contractional deformation of supracrustal units in the orogen? Was deformation diachronous and thus possibly related to transpressional tectonics, or did it occur in a discrete pulse that is more compatible with a collision? How does contraction of the orogen fit in with emplacement of voluminous plutonic and volcanic rocks? The answers to these questions are central to understanding the kinematic evolution of this major orogenic belt and its role in Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic continental reconstructions and plate kinematics. Hence, this award supports funding for precise U-Pb dating, using zircon, monazite, baddeleyite, and/or titanite from a variety of magmatic rocks in the Queen Ma ud Mountains, which can address the foregoing problems. In addition to the issues above, precise dating of volcanics that are interbedded with carbonates containing probable Middle Cambrian fauna could potentially provide a calibration point for the Middle Cambrian, which will fill a gap in the absolute time scale for the early Paleozoic.
This award, 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.
Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Alley, Richard; Voigt, Donald E.
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This award supports a project to investigate the new-found, startling sensitivity of two major West Antarctic ice streams to tidal oscillations to learn the extent and character of the effect and its ramifications for future ice-stream behavior. Ice streams D, C and Whillans (B) all show strong but distinct tidal signals. The ice plain of Whillans is usually stopped outright, forward motion being limited to two brief periods each day, at high tide and on the falling tide. Motion events propagate across the ice plain at seismic wave velocities. Near the mouth of D, tides cause a diurnal variation of about 50% in ice-stream speed that propagates upglacier more slowly than on Whillans, and seismic data show that C experiences even slower upglacier propagation of tidal signals. Tidal influences are observed more than 100 km upglacier on C, more than 40 km upglacier on D, and may be responsible for fluctuations in basal water pressure reported 400 km upstream on Whillans, nearly the full length of the ice stream. During the first year, the spatial extent of this behavior will be measured on Whillans Ice Stream and ice stream D by five coordinated seismic and GPS instrument packages at 100-km spacing on each ice stream. These packages will be deployed by Twin Otter at sites selected by review of satellite imagery and will operate autonomously through a combination of solar and battery power for two lunar cycles to study the sensitivity of the ice stream motion to spring and neap tides. Additionally, existing data sets will be examined further for clues to the mechanisms involved, and preliminary models will be developed to reconcile the seemingly contrasting behaviors observed on the ice streams. The second and third field seasons will examine in greater detail the tidal behavior of Whillans (year 2) and D (year 3). Work will especially focus on detailed study of at least one source area for events on Whillans, assuming that source areas inferred from preliminary data remain active. Vertical motions have not yet been detected, but differential GPS will increase our detection sensitivity. Seismic instrumentation will greatly increase temporal resolution and the ability to measure the propagation speed and any spatial heterogeneity. Modeling will be refined as more is learned from the field experiments. The project should yield numerous broader impacts. The improved knowledge of ice-stream behavior from this study will contribute to assessment of the potential for rapid ice-sheet change affecting global sea level with societal consequences. Results will be disseminated through scientific publication and talks at professional meetings, as well as contacts with the press, university classes taught by the PIs, visits to schools and community groups, and other activities. Two graduate students will be educated through the project.
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.
This award supports the development of novel methods for digital image analysis of glacial ice cores that are stored at the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colorado. Ice cores are a critical source of information on how Earth has changed over time, since indicators of local climate (snow accumulation, temperature), regional characteristics (wind-blown materials such as sea salt, dust and pollen), global processes (e.g., CO2, methane), and even extraterrestrial influences (cosmogenic isotopes) are stored in the ice on a common time scale. This project will develop a high-resolution optical scanning system for laboratory curation of ice core images, internet-based search and retrieval capabilities, a digital image analysis system specifically for ice core studies, and methods to integrate ice core image analysis with other dating methods. These tools will be developed and tested in conjunction with scientific investigations of NICL holdings. Optical scanning and analysis tools will improve understanding of the historical development of the ice collected from a particular location and will help to resolve challenges such as ice that has lost stratigraphic order through flow processes. <br/>By providing permanent online digital archives of ice core images, this project will greatly improve the documentation and availability of ice core data while reducing time and costs for subsequent scientific investigations. Using the internet, ice core scientists will be able to determine the appropriateness of specific NICL holdings for various scientific studies. By optically scanning ice cores as they are processed at NICL, any researcher will be able to examine an ice core in similar detail to the few investigators who were fortunate enough to observe it before modifications from sampling and storage. Re-examination of cores could be done decades later by anyone at any location, which is not possible now because only the interpretation of the original observer is recorded. Integration of digital image data into ice core analysis will speed discovery, allow collaborative interpretation, and enhance consistency of analysis to improve ice core dating, identification of melt layers, location of flow disturbances, and more. The equipment will be housed at NICL and will be available to the broad community, improving scientific infrastructure.<br/>This work will also have numerous broader impacts. Ice core science addresses fundamental questions of human interest related to global warming, abrupt climate change, biogeochemical cycling, and more. The principal investigators broadly disseminate their scientific findings through numerous outlets, ranging from meeting with government officials, chairing and serving on NRC panels, writing popular books and articles, publishing in scientific literature, teaching classes, talking to civic groups, and appearing on radio and television. The results from ice core analyses have directly informed policymakers and will continue to do so. Thus, by improving ice core science, this projectl will benefit society.
This award supports a project to improve understanding of post-glacial retreat and thinning of the Siple Coast region. Research has shown how age-depth relationships from ice cores can be extrapolated over wide areas by tracking continuous radar layers. By comparing radar-derived timescales with one from a model of ice- flow, glacial conditions over regional scales were inferred. High-resolution radar profiles have been collected across most of the inter-stream ridges in the Siple Coast region, and an age- depth relationship has been established from the Siple Dome ice core. Application of the techniques used by others is problematic because the ice streams that surround Siple Dome have disrupted the continuity of the internal layers. A specific goal of this project is to search for other less direct ways to match radar layers between unconnected profiles. The correspondence between radar reflections and measurements of electrical conductivity and volcanic sulfates along the Siple Dome core will be investigated. The strategy is to search for distinctive patterns in the echoes that will facilitate layer matching. Preliminary results are encouraging: at least four distinct echoes at Siple Dome can be matched to spikes in the conductivity profile and the signature of one (at 210m depth, which is ~1,800 yrs BP) closely resembles that of a layer at ~200m on Ridge BC. Matching layers (and hence timescales) across the ice streams will allow reconstruction of spatial patterns of past flow, thinning and accumulation rate in the Siple Coast region, which is needed to predict future possible changes of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Data necessary for the proposed work are already available; additional fieldwork in Antarctica is not required. The project will take two years to complete and will provide core education for a doctoral student in Earth and Space Sciences, with an emphasis on radioglaciology.
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports an interdisciplinary study of fluvial sediments in Antarctica for evidence of what caused the greatest of all mass extinctions in the history of life at the Permian-Triassic boundary. This boundary was, until recently, difficult to locate and thought to be unequivocally disconformable in Antarctica. New studies, particularly of carbon isotopic chemostratigraphy and of paleosols and root traces as paleoecosystem indicators, together with improved fossil plant, reptile and pollen biostratigraphy, now suggest that the precise location of the boundary might be identified and have led to local discovery of iridium anomalies, shocked quartz, and fullerenes with extraterrestrial noble gases. These anomalies are associated with a distinctive claystone breccia bed, similar to strata known in South Africa and Australia, and taken as evidence of deforestation. There is already much evidence from Antarctica and elsewhere that the mass extinction on land was abrupt and synchronous with extinction in the ocean. The problem now is what led to such death and destruction. Carbon isotopic values are so low in these and other Permian-Triassic boundary sections that there was likely to have been some role for catastrophic destabilization of methane clathrates. Getting the modeled amount of methane out of likely reservoirs would require such catastrophic events as bolide impact, flood-basalt eruption or continental-shelf collapse, which have all independently been implicated in the mass extinction and for which there is independent evidence. Teasing apart these various hypotheses requires careful re-examination of beds that appear to represent the Permian-Triassic boundary, and search for more informative sequences, as was the case for the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. This collaborative research on geochemistry and petrography of boundary beds and paleosols (by Retallack), on carbon isotopic variation through the boundary interval (by Jahren), and on fullerenes, iridium and helium (by Becker) is designed to test these ideas about the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica and to shed light on processes which contributed to this largest of mass extinctions on Earth. Fieldwork for this research will be conducted in the central Transantarctic Mountains and in Southern Victoria Land with an initial objective of examining the stratigraphic sequences for continuity across the boundary. Stratigraphic continuity is a critical element that must exist for the work to be successful. If fieldwork indicates sufficiently continuous sections, the full analytical program will follow fieldwork.
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.
0087235<br/>Grew<br/><br/>This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role of beryllium in lower crustal partial melting events. The formation of granitic liquids by partial melting deep in the Earth's crust is one of the major topics of research in igneous and metamorphic petrology today. One aspect of this sphere of research is the beginning of the process, specifically, the geochemical interaction between melts and source rocks before the melt has left the source area. One example of anatexis in metamorphic rocks affected by conditions found deep in the Earth's crust is pegmatite in the Archean ultrahigh temperature granulite-facies Napier Complex of Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Peak conditions for this granulite-facies metamorphism are estimated to have reached nearly 1100 Degrees Celsius and 11 kilobar, that is, conditions in the Earth's lower crust in Archean time. The proposed research is a study of the Napier Complex pegmatites with an emphasis on the minerals and geochemistry of beryllium. This element, which is estimated to constitute 3 ppm of the Earth's upper crust, is very rarely found in any significant concentrations in metamorphic rocks subjected to conditions of the Earth's lower crust. Structural, geochronological, and mineralogical studies will be carried out to test the hypothesis that the beryllium pegmatites resulted from anatexis of their metapelitic host rocks during the ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic event in the late Archean. Host rocks will be analyzed for major and trace elements. Minerals will be analyzed by the electron microprobe for major constituents including fluorine and by the ion microprobe for lithium, beryllium and boron. The analytical data will be used to determine how beryllium and other trace constituents were extracted from host rocks under ultrahigh-temperature conditions and subsequently concentrated in the granitic melt, eventually to crystallize out in a pegmatite as beryllian sapphirine and khmaralite, minerals not found in pegmatites elsewhere. Mineral compositions and assemblages will be used to determine the evolution and conditions of crystallization and recrystallization of the pegmatites and their host rocks during metamorphic episodes following the ultrahigh-temperature event. Monazite will be analyzed for lead, thorium and uranium to date the ages of these events. Because fluorine is instrumental in mobilizing beryllium, an undergraduate student will study the magnesium fluorphosphate wagnerite in the pegmatites in order to estimate fluorine activity in the melt as part of a senior project. The results of the present project will provide important insights on the melting process in general and on the geochemical behavior of beryllium in particular under the high temperatures and low water activities characteristic of the Earth's lower crust.
9316715 Taylor This award is for support to collect micrometeorites from the bottom of the new water well at South Pole Station, Antarctica. The large volume of firn and ice being melted provides the concentrating mechanism needed to collect large numbers of micrometeorites that occur in low concentrations in the ice. The first task of the project is to design a collection system to retrieve the micrometeorites from the bottom of the water well. The collector must be reliable, easy to operate, must collect all particles larger than 10 mm and should not contaminate the well's water quality. Following successful design and deployment of the collector, recovered particles will be catalogued and distributed to interested researchers. ***
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports research for construction of a long-term record of climate during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene to assess the annual seasonality in temperature on the coastal margin of Antarctica. Stable isotope and element compositions of well-preserved bivalve shells collected on Seymour Island will be the primary source of data used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. Seasonal temperature records collected through high-resolution sampling along growth structures in bivalve shells will allow seasonality to be assessed during different climate states and during periods of rapid climate change. In addition, high stratigraphic resolution will enable this project to detect the presence and frequency of short-lived thermal excursions that may have extended to such high latitudes. To compile a reliable temporal record of paleoclimate, two major avenues of investigation will be undertaken: 1) precise stratigraphic (and therefore, temporal) placement of fossils over a large geographic area will be employed through the use of a graphical technique employing geometric projections; 2) stable isotope and elemental analyses will be performed to derive paleotemperatures and to evaluate diagenetic alteration of shell materials. To provide realistic comparisons of paleotemperatures across stratigraphic horizons, this study will focus on a single taxon, thus avoiding complications due to the mixing of faunal assemblages that have been encountered in previous studies of this region. The near-shore marine fossil record on Seymour Island provides a unique opportunity to address many questions about the Antarctic paleoenvironment, including the relation between seasonality and different climate states, the influence of climate on biogeographic distribution of specific taxa, the effect of ice-volume changes on the stable isotope record from the late Cretaceous through the Eocene, and the plausibility of high-latitude bottom water formation during this time interval. In particular, information that will be collected concerning patterns of seasonality and the presence (or absence) of short-lived thermal excursions will be extremely valuable to an understanding of the response of high latitude sites during climate transitions from globally cool to globally warm conditions.
Kyle OPP 9527329 Abstract The Cape Roberts Project is an international drilling project to obtain a series of cores from the sedimentary strata beneath the sea floor off Cape Roberts in the Ross Sea. The project is a joint venture by scientists from the national Antarctic programs of Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom., Australia, and the United States. Drilling will continuously core a composite section of sediments over 1500 m thick which is expected to represent parts of the time period between 30 and more than 100 million years ago. The principle objectives of this component of the project will be to examine the record of igneous material in the drill core and provide high precision 40Ar/39Ar dates from tephra (volcanic ash) layers, disseminated ash, feldspars and epiclastic volcanic detrital grains to constrain depositional age and provenance of the sediments in the cores. This project will contribute to general geologic logging of the core and will characterize any igneous material using electron microprobe, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) analyses. The presence of alkalic volcanic detritus from the Cenozoic McMurdo Volcanics will constrain the initiation of this phase of volcanism and improve our understanding of the relationship between volcanism and tectonism. The influx of sediments eroded from Jurassic Kirkpatrick Basalts and Ferrar Dolerites will be used to time the unroofing and rates of uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains. Geochemical analyses of core samples will examine the geochemistry and provenance of the sediments.