{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Snowfall"}
[{"awards": "1744989 LaRue, Michelle", "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": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin; Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018); Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601491", "doi": "10.15784/601491", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601491"}, {"dataset_uid": "200410", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.m63xsj48v", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj48v"}, {"dataset_uid": "601513", "doi": "10.15784/601513", "keywords": "Antarctica; Breeding Success; Emperor Penguin; Fast Sea Ice", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Labrousse, Sara", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601513"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys - these results have been uploaded to MAPPPD (penguinmap.com) and are freely available for use. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; USAP-DC; Antarctica; AMD", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Dryad; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins", "uid": "p0010447", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2053169 Kingslake, Jonathan", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "When ice sheets and glaciers lose ice faster than it accumulates from snowfall, they shrink and contribute to sea-level rise. This has consequences for coastal communities around the globe by, for example, increasing the frequency of damaging storm surges. Sea-level rise is already underway and a major challenge for the geoscience community is improving predictions of how this will evolve. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest potential contributor to sea-level rise and its future is highly uncertain. It loses ice through two main mechanisms: the formation of icebergs and melting at the base of floating ice shelves on its periphery. Ice flows under gravity towards the ocean and the rate of ice flow controls how fast ice sheets and glaciers shrink. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice flow is focused into outlet glaciers and ice streams, which flow much faster than surrounding areas. Moreover, parts of the Greenland Ice Sheet speed up and slow down substantially on hourly to seasonal time scales, particularly where meltwater from the surface reaches the base of the ice. Meltwater reaching the base changes ice flow by altering basal water pressure and consequently the friction exerted on the ice by the rock and sediment beneath. This phenomenon has been observed frequently in Greenland but not in Antarctica. Recent satellite observations suggest this phenomenon also occurs on outlet glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula. Meltwater reaching the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is likely to become more common as air temperature and surface melting are predicted to increase around Antarctica this century. This project aims to confirm the recent satellite observations, establish a baseline against which to compare future changes, and improve understanding of the direct influence of meltwater on Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. This is a project jointly funded by the National Science Foundation\u2019s Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This project will include a field campaign on Flask Glacier, an Antarctic Peninsula outlet glacier, and a continent-wide remote sensing survey. These activities will allow the team to test three hypotheses related to the Antarctic Ice Sheet\u2019s dynamic response to surface meltwater: (1) short-term changes in ice velocity indicated by satellite data result from surface meltwater reaching the bed, (2) this is widespread in Antarctica today, and (3) this results in a measurable increase in mean annual ice discharge. The project is a collaboration between US- and UK-based researchers and will be supported logistically by the British Antarctic Survey. The project aims to provide insights into both the drivers and implications of short-term changes in ice flow velocity caused by surface melting. For example, showing conclusively that meltwater directly influences Antarctic ice dynamics would have significant implications for understanding the response of Antarctica to atmospheric warming, as it did in Greenland when the phenomenon was first detected there twenty years ago. This work will also potentially influence other fields, as surface meltwater reaching the bed of the Antarctic Ice Sheet may affect ice rheology, subglacial hydrology, submarine melting, calving, ocean circulation, and ocean biogeochemistry. The project aims to have broader impacts on science and society by supporting early-career scientists, UK-US collaboration, education and outreach, and adoption of open data science approaches within the glaciological community. 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; GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTION; Antarctic Peninsula; BASAL SHEAR STRESS", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kingslake, Jonathan; Sole, Andrew; Livingstone, Stephen; Winter, Kate; Ely, Jeremy", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "NSFGEO-NERC: Investigating the Direct Influence of Meltwater on Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics", "uid": "p0010436", "west": null}, {"awards": "2034874 Salesky, Scott; 2035078 Giometto, Marco", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 08 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "1. A non-technical explanation of the project\u0027s broader significance and importance, that serves as a public justification for NSF funding. This part should be understandable to an educated reader who is not a scientist or engineer. Katabatic or drainage winds, carry high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Although katabatic flows are ubiquitous in alpine and polar regions, a surface-layer similarity theory is currently lacking for these flows, undermining the accuracy of numerical weather and climate prediction models. This project is interdisciplinary, and will give graduate and undergraduate students valuable experience interacting with researchers outside their core discipline. Furthermore, this project will broaden participating in science through recruitment of students from under-represented groups at OU and CU through established programs. The Antarctic Ice Sheet drives many processes in the Earth system through its modulation of regional and global atmospheric and oceanic circulations, storage of fresh water, and effects on global albedo and climate. An understanding of the surface mass balance of the ice sheets is critical for predicting future sea level rise and for interpreting ice core records. Yet, the evolution of the ice sheets through snow deposition, erosion, and transport in katabatic winds (which are persistent across much of the Antarctic) remains poorly understood due to the lack of an overarching theoretical framework, scarcity of in situ observational datasets, and a lack of accurate numerical modeling tools. Advances in the fundamental understanding and modeling capabilities of katabatic transport processes are urgently needed in view of the future climatic and snowfall changes that are projected to occur within the Antarctic continent. This project will leverage the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of investigators (with backgrounds spanning cryospheric science, environmental fluid mechanics, and atmospheric science) to address these knowledge gaps. 2. A technical description of the project that states the problem to be studied, the goals and scope of the research, and the methods and approaches to be used. In many cases, the technical project description may be a modified version of the project summary submitted with the proposal. Using field observations and direct numerical simulations of katabatic flow, this project is expected--- for the first time---to lead to a surface-layer similarity theory for katabatic flows relating turbulent fluxes to mean vertical gradients. The similarity theory will be used to develop surface boundary conditions for large eddy simulations (LES), enabling the first accurate LES of katabatic flow. The numerical tools that the PIs will develop will allow them to investigate how the partitioning between snow redistribution, transport, and sublimation depends on the environmental parameters typically encountered in Antarctica (e.g. atmospheric stratification, surface sloping angles, and humidity profiles), and to develop simple models to infer snow transport based on satellite remote sensing and regional climate models 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": "TURBULENCE; ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION; DATA COLLECTIONS; SNOW/ICE; SNOW; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AIR TEMPERATURE; HUMIDITY", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Salesky, Scott; Giometto, Marco; Das, Indrani", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e DATA COLLECTIONS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Snow Transport in Katabatic Winds and Implications for the Antarctic Surface Mass Balance: Observations, Theory, and Numerical Modeling", "uid": "p0010433", "west": null}, {"awards": "1543445 Zhang, Jing", "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": "3-km Surface Mass and Energy Budget for the Larsen C Ice Shelf; Antarctic passive microwave Kmeans derived surface melt days, 1979-2020", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601685", "doi": "10.15784/601685", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Larsen C Ice Shelf; Model Data; Surface Energy Budget; Surface Mass Balance; WRF Model", "people": "Luo, Liping; Zhang, Jing", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "3-km Surface Mass and Energy Budget for the Larsen C Ice Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601685"}, {"dataset_uid": "601457", "doi": "10.15784/601457", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Melt Days; Passive Microwave; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Surface Melt", "people": "Fahnestock, Mark; Johnson, Andrew; Hock, Regine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic passive microwave Kmeans derived surface melt days, 1979-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601457"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Hock/1543432 Over the last half century the Antarctic Peninsula has been among the most rapidly warming regions in the world. This has led to increased glacier melt, widespread glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapses, and glacier speed-ups. Many of these changes are driven by changing precipitation and increased melt due to warmer air temperatures. This project will use a combination of two models - a regional atmospheric model and a model of processes at the glacier surface - to simulate future changes in temperature and snowfall, and the resulting changes in glacier mass. The combination of models will be tested against the observational record (since 1979 when satellite observations became available), to verify that it can reproduce observed change, and then run to the year 2100. Results will provide better estimates of the impacts of future climate changes over the Antarctic Pensinsula and the expected glacier mass changes driven by the evolving climate. The project will use the large changes observed on the Peninsula to validate a model framework suitable for understanding the impact of these changes on the glaciers and ice shelves there, with the goal of developing optimally constrained future climate and surface mass change scenarios for the region. The framework will provide both a coherent picture of the impacts of past changes on the region\u0027s ice cover, and also the best available constraints on forcings that will determine ice mass loss from this region going forward under a standard scenario. The Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) Model will be used over the domain of the Antarctic Peninsula and neighboring islands to quantify trends in spatio-temporal patterns of mass change with a focus on surface melt. The WRF model will be enhanced to account for the specific conditions of glacier surfaces, and the modified model will be used to simulate climate conditions and resulting surface mass budgets and melt over the period 1979-2100. Tying modeled past climate changes to the surface and satellite-based observational record will provide a foundation for interpreting projected future change. Results will be validated using available weather station observations, surface mass-balance data, and satellite-derived records of melt. The activity will foster partnerships through collaboration with colleagues in Spain, Germany and The Netherlands and will support an early-career postdoctoral researcher and two graduate students, introduce undergraduate and high-school students to original research and provide training of students through inclusion of data and results in course curriculums.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; MODELS; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Zhang, Jing; Hock, Regine; Fahnestock, Mark", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Present and Projected Future Forcings on Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers and Ice Shelves using the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) Model", "uid": "p0010408", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1654922 de la Pena, Santiago", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "dataset_titles": " South Pole Weather and Accumulation Measurements 2017-2020", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601591", "doi": "10.15784/601591", "keywords": "Accumulation; Antarctica; Snow; South Pole; Surface Mass Balance", "people": "de la Pe\u00f1a, Santiago", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " South Pole Weather and Accumulation Measurements 2017-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601591"}], "date_created": "Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-Technical Description: Snow accumulation in the interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and how much snow is redistributed by wind are important components of the climate system of Antarctica, yet remain largely unknown. Because of the extreme meteorological conditions found in Antarctica, direct observations of snowfall and related weather are few, leaving a gap in the regional climate records in the continent. Snow accumulation across the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a critical component for the assessment of the contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, and accurate measurements are required to evaluate results from regional climate models, used to reconstruct climate trends of the recent past for the whole ice sheet. Owing to the size of Antarctica alone, small fluctuations in the total snow accumulation at the surface have a significant effect on the mass budget of the ice sheet and thus on global sea level. In this work will develop an instrument suite for deployment at the South Pole research station in Antarctica. The monitoring station will have new state-of-the-art sensors will record measurements of weather, snow accumulation, and structural conditions within the layer of packed snow. The autonomous system will be tested in the coldest and darkest winter on the planet, and will provide the first continuous measurements of snow accumulation processes in the interior of the ice sheet, which will be used to validate atmospheric and regional climate models. Technical Description: The overarching goal of the proposed work is to improve our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability in ice-sheet surface mass balance and densification rates within the layer of firn, a layer roughly 100 m thick consisting of the buried and compacted snow that has yet to densify into solid ice. For this, we will A) design and install a cost-efficient, reliable, and easily deployable surface mass balance and firn monitoring system for Antarctica; B) adapt the system to operate autonomously for long periods of time under the harshest meteorological conditions; C) use observations for evaluation of surface mass balance simulated by atmospheric reanalyzes and regional climate model; and D) measure the surface mass balance, surface density, and firn compaction rates to derive ice sheet surface elevation change in areas with low ice dynamics. The set up of the monitoring station is unique in that it is able to monitor separately height change due to surface mass balance variability and absolute surface mass balance, the latter in units of water equivalence, and differentiation of the two is crucial for understanding the role of surface processes in ice sheet mass balance. An installed sonic ranger will provide hourly measurements of surface height change that is due to snow accumulation. Surface height change alone is not sufficient to evaluate atmospheric models of surface mass balance, which is measured in in units of mass; a key variable missing is density. To overcome this, the system will be equipped with a SnowFox sensor that is able to capture the variations in surface mass balance in terms of mass through time. Combining the height change with mass change will allow us to determine the density of the material as well, which is very important for conversion of observed height changes due to surface processes into mass changes. Therefore, we aim to better evaluate the short-term variability in surface height and mass fluctuations due to surface mass balance to improve our understanding of the total mass change and to evaluate atmospheric models, which are typically used for ice sheet-wide mass balance studies.", "east": 0.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -90)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "South Pole; SNOW", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -90.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Astrophysics and Geospace Sciences; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "de la Pe\u00f1a, Santiago", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "EAGER: An Operational System to Measure Surface Mass Balance Deep in the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet", "uid": "p0010360", "west": 0.0}, {"awards": "1644277 Aschwanden, Andy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-75 -60,-72 -60,-69 -60,-66 -60,-63 -60,-60 -60,-57 -60,-54 -60,-51 -60,-48 -60,-45 -60,-45 -61.5,-45 -63,-45 -64.5,-45 -66,-45 -67.5,-45 -69,-45 -70.5,-45 -72,-45 -73.5,-45 -75,-48 -75,-51 -75,-54 -75,-57 -75,-60 -75,-63 -75,-66 -75,-69 -75,-72 -75,-75 -75,-75 -73.5,-75 -72,-75 -70.5,-75 -69,-75 -67.5,-75 -66,-75 -64.5,-75 -63,-75 -61.5,-75 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Linear Theory of Orographic Precipitation QGIS Plugin; Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) v2", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601589", "doi": "10.15784/601589", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Aschwanden, Andy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) v2", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601589"}, {"dataset_uid": "601590", "doi": "10.15784/601590", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Aschwanden, Andy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linear Theory of Orographic Precipitation QGIS Plugin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601590"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Aschwanden/1644277 This award supports a project to study the phenomenon of the rain shadow (technically called orographic precipitation) in the Antarctic Peninsula and its interaction with a mountain range covered in ice and snow. Orographic precipitation gives rise to the largest climatic and ecological gradients on Earth. Air ascending on the windward side of the mountain range expands and cools, condensing the water vapor it carries and producing heavy rain- or snow-fall. As the air descends on the leeward flank, the air warms and dries out, leaving little-to-no precipitation. This pattern of snowfall, caused by the interaction of winds and the landscape, is hypothesized to control the shape of the ice cap itself. The investigators hypothesize that feedbacks between precipitation and topography control ice flux and temperature, impacting basal conditions (frozen versus wet) and motion, which over long time scales can affect basal topography via erosion. The authors propose to investigate the feedbacks between orographically driven precipitation, ice dynamics, thermodynamics, and basal erosion and uplift over the northern Antarctic Peninsula by coupling an orographic precipitation model to the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM). Using idealized and more realistic geometries, they will begin with a 2-D flow band model, which will be expanded into three dimensions to determine the strength of the feedbacks as a function of bedrock geometry and the intensity of the orographic precipitation gradient. The Antarctic Peninsula is targeted as the ideal case study, in the context of its rapid modern and future change as well as its deflation since the Last Glacial Maximum. The broader impacts of the work include the strengthening of predictive models by capturing feedbacks related to orographic precipitation not included in current models. This is likely to provide a more realistic assessment of the impacts of orographic precipitation in a regime of changing climate. The project will support an early career scientist and a female mid-career scientist and will support one PhD student, and provide summer research experience for one undergraduate student as an REU supplement. The project does not require field work in the Antarctic.", "east": -45.0, "geometry": "POINT(-60 -67.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ICE SHEETS; Antarctic Ice Sheet", "locations": "Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aschwanden, Andy; Pettit, Erin", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -75.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Feedbacks between Orographic Precipitation and Ice Dynamics", "uid": "p0010348", "west": -75.0}, {"awards": "1543305 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": "Antarctic Automatic Weather Station", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200291", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.48567/1hn2-nw60", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "AMRDC", "science_program": null, "title": "Antarctic Automatic Weather Station", "url": "https://amrdcdata.ssec.wisc.edu/group/about/automatic-weather-station-project"}], "date_created": "Mon, 16 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network is the most extensive ground meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its installations. Its prime focus as a long term observational record is to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. AWS 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. 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. The surface observations from the AAWS network are important records for recent climate change and meteorological processes. The surface observations from the AAWS network are also used operationally, and in the planning of field work. The surface observations made from the AAWS network have been used to check on satellite and remote sensing observations. This project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the 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, and to quantify the impact of snowfall and blowing snow events. Specifically, this project proposes to improve our understanding of the processes that lead to unusual weather events and how these events are related to large-scale modes of climate variability. This project will fill a gap in knowledge of snowfall distribution, and distinguishing between snowfall and blowing snow events using a suite of precipitation sensors near McMurdo Station.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "HUMIDITY; SURFACE PRESSURE; ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE; AMD; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; USA/NSF; AIR TEMPERATURE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; SURFACE WINDS; SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS; WEATHER STATIONS; ATMOSPHERIC WINDS", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Lazzara, Matthew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e WEATHER STATIONS", "repo": "AMRDC", "repositories": "AMRDC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Automatic Weather Station Program 2016-2019", "uid": "p0010319", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1643285 Joughin, Ian; 1643174 Padman, Laurence", "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": "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"}, {"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": "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": "200314", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GitHub", "science_program": null, "title": "icepack", "url": "https://github.com/icepack/icepack"}], "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. These simulations will provide a much-improved understanding of the linkages between far-field ocean forcing, cavity circulation and melting, and ice-sheet response.", "east": -86.0, "geometry": "POINT(-95 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTION; USA/NSF; ICE SHEETS; AMD; USAP-DC; MODELS; Amd/Us; Pine Island Glacier", "locations": "Pine Island Glacier", "north": -73.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Joughin, Ian; Dutrieux, Pierre; Padman, Laurence; Springer, Scott", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e MODELS \u003e MODELS", "repo": "Uni. Washington ResearchWorks Archive", "repositories": "GitHub; Uni. Washington ResearchWorks Archive", "science_programs": null, "south": -81.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Modeling ice-ocean interaction for the rapidly evolving ice shelf cavities of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, Antarctica ", "uid": "p0010318", "west": -104.0}, {"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 Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Glaciology", "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": "1744794 Jenouvrier, Stephanie; 1744989 LaRue, Michelle", "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": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin; Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018); Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601513", "doi": "10.15784/601513", "keywords": "Antarctica; Breeding Success; Emperor Penguin; Fast Sea Ice", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie; Labrousse, Sara", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landfast ice: a major driver of reproductive success in a polar seabird", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601513"}, {"dataset_uid": "601491", "doi": "10.15784/601491", "keywords": "Antarctica", "people": "Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Detecting climate signals in populations: case of emperor penguin", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601491"}, {"dataset_uid": "200388", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Github", "science_program": null, "title": "Emperor penguin population trends (2009-2018)", "url": "https://github.com/davidiles/EMPE_Global"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The emperor penguin is an iconic seabird that is found in colonies distributed around the entirety of the Antarctic coastline. Emperor penguins are an important indicator species for the health of the Southern Ocean because their reliance on sea ice for major parts of their life cycle means that their population can be influenced by changes in the extent and duration of sea ice around Antarctica. Although baseline data exists on emperor penguin distributions and overall population size, data on how population size varies at individual colonies is limited to only a few locations. Thus, knowledge about how changes in local or regional environmental conditions impacts local or global population status is poorly understood. By combining established methods in satellite remote sensing with ground and aerial surveys of several colonies across the continent, this project will generate population estimates for the 54 known emperor penguin colonies. Decadal scale population trend data will be combined with environmental variables (e.g., sea ice extent and duration among others) to reveal which conditions influence population fluctuations at regional and continental scales. The project will engage with international collaborators, train post-doctoral associates and future scientists, and develop citizen science and K-12 outreach programs. This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. 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; Ross Sea; USAP-DC; AMD; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; Amd/Us", "locations": "Ross Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Github; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins", "uid": "p0010229", "west": -180.0}, {"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": "1933764 Enderlin, Ellyn; 1643455 Enderlin, Ellyn", "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": "Crane Glacier centerline observations and modeling results ; Remotely-sensed iceberg geometries and meltwater fluxes", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601617", "doi": "10.15784/601617", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Crane Glacier; Glacier Dynamics; Glacier Mass Discharge; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Modeling; Model Output", "people": "Enderlin, Ellyn; Aberle, Rainey; Marshall, Hans-Peter; Kopera, Michal; Meehan, Tate", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Crane Glacier centerline observations and modeling results ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601617"}, {"dataset_uid": "601679", "doi": "10.15784/601679", "keywords": "Antarctica; Elevation; Glaciology; Iceberg; Meltwater; Submarine Melt", "people": "Enderlin, Ellyn; Aberle, Rainey; Oliver, Caitlin; Dryak, Mariama; Miller, Emily; Dickson, Adam", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Remotely-sensed iceberg geometries and meltwater fluxes", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601679"}], "date_created": "Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Enderlin/1643455 This award supports a project that will use a novel remote sensing method, which was initially developed to investigate melting of icebergs around Greenland, to examine spatial and temporal variations in ocean forcing around the Antarctic ice sheet periphery. Nearly three-quarters of the Antarctic ice sheet is fringed by regions of floating glacier ice called ice shelves. These ice shelves play an important role in modulating the flow of ice from the ice sheet interior towards the coast, similar to how dams regulate the downstream flow of water from reservoirs. Therefore, a reduction in ice shelf size due to changing air and ocean temperatures can have serious implications for the flux of glacier ice reaching the Antarctic coast, and thus, sea level change. Observations of recent ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea, thinning of the ice shelves, and increased ice flux from the West Antarctic ice sheet interior suggests that ice shelf destabilization triggered by ocean warming may already be underway in some regions. Although detailed observations are available in the Amundsen Sea region, our understanding of spatial and temporal variations in ocean conditions and their influence on ice shelf stability is limited by the scarceness of observations spanning the ice sheet periphery. The project will yield insights into variability in the submarine melting of ice shelves and will help advance the career of a female early-career scientist in a male-dominated field. The project will use repeat, very high-resolution (~0.5 m pixel width and length) satellite images acquired by the WorldView satellites, to estimate rates of iceberg melting in key coastal regions around Antarctica. The satellite images will be used to construct maps of iceberg surface elevation, which will be differenced in time to derive time series of iceberg volume change and area-averaged melt rates. Where ocean data are available, the melt rates will be compared to these data to assess whether variations in ocean temperature can explain observed iceberg melt variability. Large spatial gradients in melt rates will be compared to estimates of iceberg drift rates, which will be inferred from the repeat satellite images as well as numerically modeled drift rates produced by (unfunded) collaborators, to quantify the effects of water shear on iceberg melt rates. Spatial and temporal patterns in iceberg melting will also be compared to independently derived ice shelf thickness datasets. Overall, the analysis should yield insights into the effects of changes in ocean forcing on the submarine melting of Antarctic ice shelves and icebergs. The project does not require field work in Antarctica.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amery Ice Shelf; FIELD SURVEYS; Totten Glacier; GLACIER MASS BALANCE/ICE SHEET MASS BALANCE; USAP-DC; Antarctic Peninsula; ICEBERGS; Mertz Glacier; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; USA/NSF; Amd/Us; Amundsen Sea; Ronne Ice Shelf; Filchner Ice Shelf; AMD", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Totten Glacier; Ronne Ice Shelf; Filchner Ice Shelf; Amery Ice Shelf; Mertz Glacier; Amundsen Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Enderlin, Ellyn", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Antarctic Submarine Melt Variability from Remote Sensing of Icebergs", "uid": "p0010210", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1543325 Landolt, Scott; 1543377 Seefeldt, Mark", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((166.918 -77.8675,167.2997 -77.8675,167.6814 -77.8675,168.0631 -77.8675,168.4448 -77.8675,168.8265 -77.8675,169.2082 -77.8675,169.5899 -77.8675,169.9716 -77.8675,170.3533 -77.8675,170.735 -77.8675,170.735 -77.98145,170.735 -78.0954,170.735 -78.20935,170.735 -78.3233,170.735 -78.43725,170.735 -78.5512,170.735 -78.66515,170.735 -78.7791,170.735 -78.89305,170.735 -79.007,170.3533 -79.007,169.9716 -79.007,169.5899 -79.007,169.2082 -79.007,168.8265 -79.007,168.4448 -79.007,168.0631 -79.007,167.6814 -79.007,167.2997 -79.007,166.918 -79.007,166.918 -78.89305,166.918 -78.7791,166.918 -78.66515,166.918 -78.5512,166.918 -78.43725,166.918 -78.3233,166.918 -78.20935,166.918 -78.0954,166.918 -77.98145,166.918 -77.8675))", "dataset_titles": "Precipitation Observations for the Northwest Ross Ice Shelf - 2017-12 to 2019-11", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601441", "doi": "10.15784/601441", "keywords": "Accumulation; Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Meteorology; Precipitation; Ross Ice Shelf; Snow; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Weatherstation; Weather Station Data", "people": "Seefeldt, Mark", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Precipitation Observations for the Northwest Ross Ice Shelf - 2017-12 to 2019-11", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601441"}], "date_created": "Tue, 27 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Accurately measuring precipitation in Antarctica is important for purposes such as calculating Antarctica?s mass balance and contribution to global sea level rise, interpreting ice core records, and validating model- and satellite-based precipitation estimates. There is a critical need for reliable, autonomous, long-term measurements of Antarctic precipitation in order to better understand its variability in space in time. Such records over time are essentially absent from the continent, despite their importance. This project will deploy and test instrumentation to measure and record rates of snowfall and blowing snow in Antarctica. Project goals are based on installation of four low-power, autonomous Antarctic precipitation systems (APS) co-located at automatic weather station (AWS) sites in the Ross Island region of Antarctica. The APSs are designed with an integrated sensor approach to provide multiple types of observations of snow accumulation types at the test sites. The APSs are designed to construct an accurate timeline of snow accumulation, and to distinguish the water equivalent of fallen precipitation from surface blowing (lofted) snow, a prime confounding factor. The standard suite of instruments to be deployed includes: precipitation gauge with double Alter windshield, laser disdrometer, laser snow height sensor, optical precipitation detector, anemometer at gauge height, and a visible /infrared webcam. These instruments have previously been shown to work well in cold regions applications.", "east": 170.735, "geometry": "POINT(168.8265 -78.43725)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; Amd/Us; USA/NSF; SNOW; Wind Data; WEATHER STATIONS; Ross Ice Shelf", "locations": "Ross Ice Shelf", "north": -77.8675, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Seefeldt, Mark; Landolt, Scott", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e PERMANENT LAND SITES \u003e WEATHER STATIONS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.007, "title": "Collaborative Research: Implementing Low-power, Autonomous Observing Systems to Improve the Measurement and Understanding of Antarctic Precipitation", "uid": "p0010173", "west": 166.918}, {"awards": "1738992 Pettit, Erin C; 1929991 Pettit, Erin C", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-114 -74,-113 -74,-112 -74,-111 -74,-110 -74,-109 -74,-108 -74,-107 -74,-106 -74,-105 -74,-104 -74,-104 -74.2,-104 -74.4,-104 -74.6,-104 -74.8,-104 -75,-104 -75.2,-104 -75.4,-104 -75.6,-104 -75.8,-104 -76,-105 -76,-106 -76,-107 -76,-108 -76,-109 -76,-110 -76,-111 -76,-112 -76,-113 -76,-114 -76,-114 -75.8,-114 -75.6,-114 -75.4,-114 -75.2,-114 -75,-114 -74.8,-114 -74.6,-114 -74.4,-114 -74.2,-114 -74))", "dataset_titles": "AMIGOS-IIIa \"Cavity\" Aquadopp current data Jan 2020 - Mar 2021; AMIGOS-IIIa \"Cavity\" Seabird CTD data Jan 2020 - Dec 2021; AMIGOS-III Cavity and Channel Snow Height and Thermistor Snow Temperature Data; AMIGOS-IIIc \"Channel\" Aquadopp current data Jan 2020 - Mar 2021; AMIGOS-IIIc \"Channel\" Seabird CTD data Jan 2020 - Dec 2021; CTD data from the NBP 19/02 cruise as part of the TARSAN project in the Amundsen Sea during austral summer 2018/2019; Dotson-Crosson Ice Shelf data from a tale of two ice shelves paper; Pinning-point shear-zone fractures in Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (2002 - 2022); Sentinel-1-derived monthly-averaged velocity components from Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2016 - 2022; SIIOS Temporary Deployment; Sub-ice-shelf seafloor elevation derived from point-source active-seismic data on Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf and Dotson Ice Shelf, December 2019 and January 2020; Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf GPS displacements; Thwaites Glacier grounding lines for 2014 and 2019/20 from height above flotation; Two-year velocity and strain-rate averages from the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2001-2020; Visala WXT520 weather station data at the Cavity and Channel AMIGOS-III sites; Yearly velocity and strain-rate averages from the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2013-2022", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601547", "doi": "10.15784/601547", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Mooring; Pine Island Bay; Pressure; Temperature; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "AMIGOS-IIIa \"Cavity\" Aquadopp current data Jan 2020 - Mar 2021", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601547"}, {"dataset_uid": "601478", "doi": "10.15784/601478", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Ice Velocity; Strain Rate; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Klinger, Marin; Wild, Christian; Scambos, Ted; Wallin, Bruce; Truffer, Martin; Alley, Karen; Pettit, Erin; Muto, Atsu", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Two-year velocity and strain-rate averages from the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2001-2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601478"}, {"dataset_uid": "601925", "doi": "10.15784/601925", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GNSS; Ice Shelf; Ice Velocity; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Pettit, Erin; Alley, Karen; Wild, Christian; Scambos, Ted; Truffer, Martin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf GPS displacements", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601925"}, {"dataset_uid": "601499", "doi": "10.15784/601499", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Glaciology; Grounding Line; Ice Shelf; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Truffer, Martin; Pettit, Erin; Scambos, Ted; Muto, Atsu; Alley, Karen; Wild, Christian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Thwaites Glacier grounding lines for 2014 and 2019/20 from height above flotation", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601499"}, {"dataset_uid": "601914", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Thwaites Glacier; Velocity", "people": "Wild, Christian; Alley, Karen; Muto, Atsuhiro; Scambos, Ted; Pettit, Erin; Truffer, Martin; Luckman, Adrian; Lilien, David; Banerjee, Debangshu", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Sentinel-1-derived monthly-averaged velocity components from Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2016 - 2022", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601914"}, {"dataset_uid": "601904", "doi": "10.15784/601904", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Remote Sensing; Satellite Imagery; Thwaites; Thwaites Glacier; Velocity", "people": "Pettit, Erin; Alley, Karen; Wild, Christian; Banerjee, Debangshu; Lilien, David; Truffer, Martin; Muto, Atsuhiro; Luckman, Adrian; Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Yearly velocity and strain-rate averages from the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, 2013-2022", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601904"}, {"dataset_uid": "601903", "doi": "10.15784/601903", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Fractures; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Shelf; Thwaites", "people": "Lilien, David; Alley, Karen; Truffer, Martin; Luckman, Adrian; Wild, Christian; Banerjee, Debangshu; Pettit, Erin; Scambos, Ted; Muto, Atsuhiro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Pinning-point shear-zone fractures in Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (2002 - 2022)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601903"}, {"dataset_uid": "601544", "doi": "10.15784/601544", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Mooring; Pine Island Bay; Pressure; Salinity; Temperature; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "AMIGOS-IIIa \"Cavity\" Seabird CTD data Jan 2020 - Dec 2021", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601544"}, {"dataset_uid": "601545", "doi": "10.15784/601545", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Mooring; Pine Island Bay; Pressure; Salinity; Temperature; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "AMIGOS-IIIc \"Channel\" Seabird CTD data Jan 2020 - Dec 2021", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601545"}, {"dataset_uid": "601548", "doi": "10.15784/601548", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Mooring; Pine Island Bay; Pressure; Temperature; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "AMIGOS-IIIc \"Channel\" Aquadopp current data Jan 2020 - Mar 2021", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601548"}, {"dataset_uid": "601549", "doi": "10.15784/601549", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Pine Island Bay; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Visala WXT520 weather station data at the Cavity and Channel AMIGOS-III sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601549"}, {"dataset_uid": "601552", "doi": "10.15784/601552", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Pine Island Bay; Snow Accumulation; Snow Temperature; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "AMIGOS-III Cavity and Channel Snow Height and Thermistor Snow Temperature Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601552"}, {"dataset_uid": "601578", "doi": "10.15784/601578", "keywords": "Antarctica; Dotson Ice Shelf; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology", "people": "Segabinazzi-Dotto, Tiago; Wild, Christian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Dotson-Crosson Ice Shelf data from a tale of two ice shelves paper", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601578"}, {"dataset_uid": "200204", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/1L_2019", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks", "science_program": null, "title": "SIIOS Temporary Deployment", "url": "http://www.fdsn.org/networks/detail/1L_2019/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200321", "doi": "10.5285/e338af5d-8622-05de-e053-6c86abc06489", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "British Oceanographic Data Centre", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD data from the NBP 19/02 cruise as part of the TARSAN project in the Amundsen Sea during austral summer 2018/2019", "url": "https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/published_data_library/catalogue/10.5285/e338af5d-8622-05de-e053-6c86abc06489/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601827", "doi": "10.15784/601827", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Dotson Ice Shelf; Thwaites Glacier", "people": "Pettit, Erin; Wild, Christian; Alley, Karen; Scambos, Ted; Muto, Atsuhiro; Truffer, Martin; Pomraning, Dale; Wallin, Bruce; Roccaro, Alexander", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Sub-ice-shelf seafloor elevation derived from point-source active-seismic data on Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf and Dotson Ice Shelf, December 2019 and January 2020", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601827"}], "date_created": "Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project contributes to the joint initiative launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to substantially improve decadal and longer-term projections of ice loss and sea-level rise originating from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. Thwaites and neighboring glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are rapidly losing mass in response to recent climate warming and related changes in ocean circulation. Mass loss from the Amundsen Sea Embayment could lead to the eventual collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, raising the global sea level by up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) in as short as 500 years. The processes driving the loss appear to be warmer ocean circulation and changes in the width and flow speed of the glacier, but a better understanding of these changes is needed to refine predictions of how the glacier will evolve. One highly sensitive process is the transitional flow of glacier ice from land onto the ocean to become a floating ice shelf. This flow of ice from grounded to floating is affected by changes in air temperature and snowfall at the surface; the speed and thickness of ice feeding it from upstream; and the ocean temperature, salinity, bathymetry, and currents that the ice flows into. The project team will gather new measurements of each of these local environmental conditions so that it can better predict how future changes in air, ocean, or the ice will affect the loss of ice to the ocean in this region. Current and anticipated near-future mass loss from Thwaites Glacier and nearby Amundsen Sea Embayment region is mainly attributed to reduction in ice-shelf buttressing due to sub-ice-shelf melting by intrusion of relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water into sub-ice-shelf cavities. Such predictions for mass loss, however, still lack understanding of the dominant processes at and near grounding zones, especially their spatial and temporal variability, as well as atmospheric and oceanic drivers of these processes. This project aims to constrain and compare these processes for the Thwaites and the Dotson Ice Shelves, which are connected through upstream ice dynamics, but influenced by different submarine troughs. The team\u0027s specific objectives are to: 1) install atmosphere-ice-ocean multi-sensor remote autonomous stations on the ice shelves for two years to provide sub-daily continuous observations of concurrent oceanic, glaciologic, and atmospheric conditions; 2) measure ocean properties on the continental shelf adjacent to ice-shelf fronts (using seal tagging, glider-based and ship-based surveys, and existing moored and conductivity-temperature-depth-cast data), 3) measure ocean properties into sub-ice-shelf cavities (using autonomous underwater vehicles) to detail ocean transports and heat fluxes; and 4) constrain current ice-shelf and sub-ice-shelf cavity geometry, ice flow, and firn properties for the ice-shelves (using radar, active-source seismic, and gravimetric methods) to better understand the impact of ocean and atmosphere on the ice-sheet change. The team will also engage the public and bring awareness to this rapidly changing component of the cryosphere through a \"Live from the Ice\" social media campaign in which the public can follow the action and data collection from the perspective of tagged seals and autonomous stations. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -104.0, "geometry": "POINT(-109 -75)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Thwaites Glacier; FIELD SURVEYS; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS", "locations": "Thwaites Glacier", "north": -74.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Truffer, Martin; Scambos, Ted; Muto, Atsu; Heywood, Karen; Boehme, Lars; Hall, Robert; Wahlin, Anna; Lenaerts, Jan; Pettit, Erin", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "British Oceanographic Data Centre; International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "south": -76.0, "title": "NSF-NERC: Thwaites-Amundsen Regional Survey and Network (TARSAN) Integrating Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean Processes affecting the Sub-Ice-Shelf Environment", "uid": "p0010162", "west": -114.0}, {"awards": "1443448 Schaefer, Joerg; 1443144 Steig, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Simulations of 10Be over Antarctica; South Pole ice Core 10Be CE", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601431", "doi": "10.15784/601431", "keywords": "Antarctica; South Pole", "people": "Schaefer, Joerg; Ding, Qinghua; Steig, Eric J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Simulations of 10Be over Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601431"}, {"dataset_uid": "601535", "doi": "10.15784/601535", "keywords": "Antarctica; South Pole", "people": "Schaefer, Joerg", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole ice Core 10Be CE", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601535"}], "date_created": "Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will acquire measurements of the concentration of beryllium-10 (10Be) from an ice core from the South Pole, Antarctica. An isotope of the element beryllium, 10Be, is produced in the atmosphere by high-energy protons (cosmic rays) that enter Earth\u0027s atmosphere from space. It is removed from the atmosphere by settling or by scavenging by rain or snowfall. Hence, concentrations of 10Be in snow at the South Pole reflect the production rate of 10Be in the atmosphere. Because the rate of production of 10Be over Antarctica depends primarily on the strength of the Sun\u0027s magnetic field, measurements of 10Be in the South Pole ice core will provide a record of changes in solar activity. The South Pole ice core will reach an age of 40,000 years at the bottom. The project will result in measurements of 10Be at annual resolution for the last 100 years and selected periods in the more distant past, such as the Maunder Minimum, a period during the late 17th century during which no sunspots were observed, or the last glacial cold period, about 20,000 years ago. A climate model that can simulate the production of 10Be in the atmosphere, it\u0027s transport through the atmosphere, and its deposition at the snow surface in Antarctica will be used to aid in using the 10Be data to determine past changes in solar activity from decadal to millennial scale, and in turn to evaluate the role of the Sun in Earth?s climate from a new perspective. The production of 10Be in Earth\u0027s atmosphere results from the spallation of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere by cosmic rays. Cosmic ray variations in the high latitudes are primarily modulated by solar variability. Time-series records of 10Be from ice cores are therefore important for deriving variations in solar activity through time, which is fundamental to understanding climate variability. Deposition of 10Be to the ice surface is also influenced by variability in atmospheric circulation and deposition processes, and South Pole is the best available location for minimizing the influence of variable atmospheric circulation on 10Be deposition. To date, only one record of 10Be exists from South Pole; that record is widely used in solar forcing estimates used in climate models, but covers only the last millennium and ends in CE 1982. We will obtain 10Be concentration measurements in a 1500-m, 40000-year long ice core from the South Pole. This will extend the existing record both further back in time and forward to the present, providing overlap with the modern instrumental record of solar and climate variability. High resolution (annual to biannual) measurements will be made in targeted areas of interest, including the last 100 years, the Maunder Minimum (CE 1650-1715), and the last glacial maximum. The novel data will be used in conjunction with climate model experiments that incorporate 10Be production, transport, and deposition physics. Together, data and modeling will create an updated record of atmospheric 10Be production and hence of solar activity.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COSMIC RAYS; LABORATORY; BERYLLIUM-10 ANALYSIS; SNOW/ICE; South Pole; GLACIERS; ICE CORE RECORDS", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Schaefer, Joerg; Steig, Eric J.", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: A High-sensitivity Beryllium-10 Record from an Ice Core at South Pole", "uid": "p0010158", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1908399 Bizimis, Michael; 1908548 Feakins, Sarah", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((74.787 -67.27617,74.816483 -67.27617,74.845966 -67.27617,74.875449 -67.27617,74.904932 -67.27617,74.934415 -67.27617,74.963898 -67.27617,74.993381 -67.27617,75.022864 -67.27617,75.052347 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.31817,75.08183 -67.36017,75.08183 -67.40217,75.08183 -67.44417,75.08183 -67.48617,75.08183 -67.52817,75.08183 -67.57017,75.08183 -67.61217,75.08183 -67.65417,75.08183 -67.69617,75.052347 -67.69617,75.022864 -67.69617,74.993381 -67.69617,74.963898 -67.69617,74.934415 -67.69617,74.904932 -67.69617,74.875449 -67.69617,74.845966 -67.69617,74.816483 -67.69617,74.787 -67.69617,74.787 -67.65417,74.787 -67.61217,74.787 -67.57017,74.787 -67.52817,74.787 -67.48617,74.787 -67.44417,74.787 -67.40217,74.787 -67.36017,74.787 -67.31817,74.787 -67.27617))", "dataset_titles": "Ejtibbett/EOTproxymodel: Proxy Model Comparison for the Eocene-Oligocene Transition [Computational Notebook]; Paleoceanography and biomarker data from the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 37-3 million years; Prydz Bay East Antarctica, biomarkers and pollen, 36-33 million years; Sabrina Coast East Antarctica, Pollen and Biomarker Data from 59-38 million years ago; Southern High Latitude Temperature Proxies from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene [Dataset]", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200317", "doi": "10.25921/n9kg-yw91", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Paleoceanography and biomarker data from the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 37-3 million years", "url": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/35613"}, {"dataset_uid": "200335", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.7254536", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Southern High Latitude Temperature Proxies from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene [Dataset]", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/7254536#.Y2BLgOTMI2w"}, {"dataset_uid": "200334", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.7254786", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zenodo", "science_program": null, "title": "Ejtibbett/EOTproxymodel: Proxy Model Comparison for the Eocene-Oligocene Transition [Computational Notebook]", "url": "https://zenodo.org/record/7254786#.Y2BLAeTMI2w"}, {"dataset_uid": "200206", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Prydz Bay East Antarctica, biomarkers and pollen, 36-33 million years", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/32052"}, {"dataset_uid": "200259", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Sabrina Coast East Antarctica, Pollen and Biomarker Data from 59-38 million years ago", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/34772"}], "date_created": "Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds the largest volume of freshwater on the planet, in total enough to raise sea level by almost two hundred feet. Even minor adjustments in the volume of ice stored have major implications for coastlines and climates around the world. The question motivating this project is how did the ice grow to cover the continent over thirty million years ago when Antarctica changed from a warmer environment to an ice-covered southern continent? The seafloor of Prydz Bay, a major drainage basin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), has been drilled previously to recover sediments dating from millions of years prior to and across the time when inception of continental ice sheets occurred in Antarctica. The last remnants of plant material found as \u0027biomarkers\u0027 in the ocean sediments record the chemical signatures of rain and snowfall that fed the plants and later the expanding glaciers. Sediment carried by glaciers was also deposited on the seafloor and can be analyzed to discover how glaciers flowed across the landscape. Here, the researchers will identify precipitation changes that result from, and drive, ice sheet growth. This study will gather data and further analyze samples from the seafloor sediment archives of the International Ocean Discovery Program\u0027s (IODP) core repositories. Ultimately these findings can help inform temperature-precipitation-ice linkages within climate and ice sheet models. The project will support the training of three female, early career scientists (PhD \u0026 MS students, and research technician) and both PIs and the PhD student will continue their engagement with broadening participation efforts (e.g., Women in Science and Engineering Program; local chapters of Society for the advancement of Native Americans and Chicanos in Science and other access programs) to recruit undergraduate student participants from underrepresented minorities at both campuses and from local community colleges. Antarctic earth science education materials will be assisted by professional illustrations to be open access and used in public education and communication efforts to engage local communities in Los Angeles CA and Columbia SC. The researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of South Carolina will together study the penultimate moment of the early Cenozoic greenhouse climate state: the ~4 million years of global cooling that culminated in the Eocene/Oligocene transition (~34 Ma). Significant gaps remain in the understanding of the conditions that preceded ice expansion on Antarctica. In particular, the supply of raw material for ice sheets (i.e., moisture) and the timing, frequency, and duration of precursor glaciations is poorly constrained. This collaborative proposal combines organic and inorganic proxies to examine how Antarctic hydroclimate changed during the greenhouse to icehouse transition. The central hypothesis is that the hydrological cycle weakened as cooling proceeded. Plant-wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes (hydroclimate proxies) and Hf-Nd isotopes of lithogenous and hydrogenous sediments (mechanical weathering proxies) respond strongly and rapidly to precipitation and glacial advance. This detailed and sensitive combined approach will test whether there were hidden glaciations (and/or warm events) that punctuated the pre-icehouse interval. Studies will be conducted on Prydz Bay marine sediment cores in a depositional area for products of weathering and erosion that were (and are) transported through Lambert Graben from the center of Antarctica. The project will yield proxy information about the presence of plants and the hydroclimate of Antarctica and the timing of glacial advance, and is expected to show drying associated with cooling and ice-sheet growth. The dual approach will untangle climate signals from changes in fluvial versus glacial erosion of plant biomarkers. This proposal is potentially transformative because the combination of organic and inorganic proxies can reveal rapid transitions in aridity and glacial expansion, that may have been missed in slower-response proxies and more distal archives. The research is significant as hydroclimate seems to be a key player in the temperature-cryosphere hysteresis. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 75.08183, "geometry": "POINT(74.934415 -67.48617)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROFOSSILS; Prydz Bay; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; Sabrina Coast; DROUGHT/PRECIPITATION RECONSTRUCTION; ISOTOPES; AIR TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTION", "locations": "Prydz Bay; Sabrina Coast", "north": -67.27617, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Feakins, Sarah; Scher, Howard", "platforms": null, "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "NCEI; Zenodo", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.69617, "title": "Collaborative Research: Organic and Inorganic Geochemical Investigation of Hydrologic Change in East Antarctica in the 4 Million Years Before Full Glaciation", "uid": "p0010143", "west": 74.787}, {"awards": "1745116 Scambos, Ted", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-75 -69,-74 -69,-73 -69,-72 -69,-71 -69,-70 -69,-69 -69,-68 -69,-67 -69,-66 -69,-65 -69,-65 -69.5,-65 -70,-65 -70.5,-65 -71,-65 -71.5,-65 -72,-65 -72.5,-65 -73,-65 -73.5,-65 -74,-66 -74,-67 -74,-68 -74,-69 -74,-70 -74,-71 -74,-72 -74,-73 -74,-74 -74,-75 -74,-75 -73.5,-75 -73,-75 -72.5,-75 -72,-75 -71.5,-75 -71,-75 -70.5,-75 -70,-75 -69.5,-75 -69))", "dataset_titles": "Density, hydrology and geophysical measurements from the Wilkins Ice Shelf firn aquifer; Weather, Firn Core, and Ground-penetrating radar data from southern Wilkins and George VI ice shelves, 2018-2019", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601390", "doi": "10.15784/601390", "keywords": "Airborne Radar; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Firn; Firn Aquifer; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPR; Hydrology; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; Wilkins Ice Shelf", "people": "Wallin, Bruce; Miller, Olivia; Mi\u00e8ge, Cl\u00e9ment; Solomon, Kip; Miller, Julie; Scambos, Ted; Forster, Richard; Koenig, Lora; Montgomery, Lynn", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Density, hydrology and geophysical measurements from the Wilkins Ice Shelf firn aquifer", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601390"}, {"dataset_uid": "601905", "doi": "10.15784/601905", "keywords": "AMIGOS; Antarctica; Cryosphere; George VI Ice Shelf; Glaciology; Ground Penetrating Radar; Ice Core Data; Ice Shelf; Wilkins Ice Shelf", "people": "Miege, Clement; Wallin, Bruce; Montgomery, Lynn; Miller, Julie; Scambos, Ted", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Weather, Firn Core, and Ground-penetrating radar data from southern Wilkins and George VI ice shelves, 2018-2019", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601905"}], "date_created": "Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Snow or firn aquifers are areas of subsurface meltwater storage that form in glaciated regions experiencing intense summer surface melting and high snowfall. Aquifers can induce hydrofracturing, and thereby accelerate flow or trigger ice-shelf instability leading to increased ice-sheet mass loss. Widespread aquifers have recently been discovered in Greenland. These have been modelled and mapped using new satellite and airborne remote-sensing techniques. In Antarctica, a series of catastrophic break-ups at the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula that was previously attributed to effects of surface melting and brine infiltration is now recognized as being consistent with a firn aquifer--possibly stimulated by long-period ocean swell--that enhanced ice-shelf hydrofracture. This project will verify inferences (from the same mapping approach used in Greenland) that such aquifers are indeed present in Antarctica. The team will survey two high-probability sites: the Wilkins Ice Shelf, and the southern George VI Ice Shelf. This two-year study will characterize the firn at the two field sites, drill shallow (~60 m maximum) ice cores, examine snow pits (~2 m), and install two AMIGOS (Automated Met-Ice-Geophysics Observing System) stations that include weather, GPS, and firn temperature sensors that will collect and transmit measurements for at least a year before retrieval. Ground-penetrating radar survey in areas surrounding the field sites will track aquifer extent and depth variations. Ice and microwave model studies will be combined with the field-observed properties to further explore the range of firn aquifers and related upper-snow-layer conditions. This study will provide valuable experience for three early-career scientists. An outreach effort through field blogging, social media posts, K-12 presentations, and public lectures is planned to engage the public in the team?s Antarctic scientific exploration and discovery. 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": -65.0, "geometry": "POINT(-70 -71.5)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e RADAR SOUNDERS \u003e GPR", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Firn Aquifer; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Wilkens Ice Shelf; Antarctic Peninsula; Amd/Us", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Wilkens Ice Shelf", "north": -69.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Scambos, Ted", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.0, "title": "Antarctic Firn Aquifers: Extent, Characteristics, and Comparison with Greenland Occurrences", "uid": "p0010126", "west": -75.0}, {"awards": "1643864 Talghader, Joseph", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "dataset_titles": " Automated c-axis stage images of WDC-06A 420 vertical thin section from WAIS Divide, Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601254", "doi": "10.15784/601254", "keywords": "Antarctica; C-axis; Ice; Microscopy; Thin Sections", "people": "Talghader, Joseph; Mah, Merlin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": " Automated c-axis stage images of WDC-06A 420 vertical thin section from WAIS Divide, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601254"}], "date_created": "Sat, 08 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part I: Nontechnical One of the most interesting historical records that science can provide is contained in the ice of Antarctica. Layer by layer over hundreds of thousands of years, snow has precipitated on the ice sheet, become compacted, and turned into additional ice. Any dust or other impurities in the air or snow have been precipitated as well and thus each snowfall leaves a snapshot record of the atmosphere that existed at or near the time of deposition. A detailed chronology of volcanic eruptions can be obtained from the ice layers where ash and other volcanic products were deposited. Normally, the analysis of volcanic layers requires the physical extraction of a core from the ice sheet; however, chronologies from cores have discontinuities and are difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to obtain. Borehole logging is a measurement method where one lowers instrumentation into a drilled hole in the ice, whether or not core has been retrieved. To date, this technology has only been used to measure optical systems to identify volcanic ash and other impurity layers. In this program, a profiling technology will be developed that measures the conductivity of the ice. A radio-frequency emitter lowered into the borehole will create a return signal that changes depending on the local conductivity, which depends on the concentration of dissolved ions. For example, dissolved sulfates are a critical marker of volcanic activity that may not be coincident with deposited ash. Other dissolved ions, such as chloride, can be indicative of other processes. It is expected that this borehole profiling instrument will be able to help rapidly identify volcanic eruptions that had potentially global impact, distinguish between different dissolved ions via their frequency dependencies, and assist in establishing chronologies between different ice cores and boreholes. Part II: Technical Description Borehole logging of the polar ice sheets is one of the most important methods that earth scientists have to identify and date volcanic eruptions. However, current technology only indicates the presence and depth of ash from an eruption. In order to extract more detailed information, one must obtain an ice core, and laboriously measure each section in the laboratory using electrical conductivity or dielectric measurements to determine the presence or absence of dissolved sulfate and its location relative to the corresponding ash, if any. This program will investigate and demonstrate a borehole logging-compatible radio-frequency dielectric sensor to detect and measure spikes in dissolved major ions chemistry in ice, particularly in intervals corresponding to volcanically produced sulfates. The sulfate layers are one of the primary signatures of volcanic products. However, other ions, such as chlorides, calcium, and others are also commonly seen in ice, and the dielectric logging technology of this program would also measure these. It is expected that certain sets of ions will be distinguishable by their frequency dependencies. This technique could guide other investigators, who are using conventional core scanning and sampling methods, to regions of special interest in corresponding core. We plan to construct a ring-based electrode system and test this system on a variety of artificial ice boreholes and ice cores. This unit will not include a pressure vessel or other borehole logger packing. We will test different means of applying electrical signals including short pulses and periodic waves. We will further utilize differential measurements with low noise circuits and filters to achieve maximum sensitivity. We will correlate the signals extracted with known molarities of sulfates and other ions and measured ECM records. We will perform scaled-down experiments using real ice cores stored in Bay?s lab at UC Berkeley. This will permit testing of different designs in ice with natural impurities and polycrystalline structure. This small collection includes cores from a variety of locations in Antarctica and Greenland, and a variety of ages as old as a million years.", "east": -112.085, "geometry": "POINT(-112.085 -79.467)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "WAIS Divide; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Ice Core; AMD", "locations": "WAIS Divide", "north": -79.467, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Facilities; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Talghader, Joseph", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.467, "title": "Collaborative Research: Borehole Logging to Classify Volcanic Signatures in Antarctic Ice", "uid": "p0010080", "west": -112.085}, {"awards": "1443471 Koutnik, Michelle; 1443341 Hawley, Robert", "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": "7MHz radar in the vicinity of South Pole; Firn density and compaction rates 50km upstream of South Pole; Firn temperatures 50km upstream of South Pole; Shallow radar near South Pole; South Pole area GPS velocities; SPICEcore Advection", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601266", "doi": "10.15784/601266", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ice Core Data; South Pole; SPICEcore", "people": "Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "SPICEcore Advection", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601266"}, {"dataset_uid": "601100", "doi": "10.15784/601100", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; GPS; Ice Velocity", "people": "Waddington, Edwin D.; Lilien, David; Fudge, T. J.; Koutnik, Michelle; Conway, Howard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "South Pole area GPS velocities", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601100"}, {"dataset_uid": "601369", "doi": "10.15784/601369", "keywords": "Antarctica; Ice Sheet", "people": "Lilien, David; Stevens, Max; Koutnik, Michelle; Conway, Howard; Waddington, Edwin D.; Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "7MHz radar in the vicinity of South Pole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601369"}, {"dataset_uid": "601525", "doi": "10.15784/601525", "keywords": "Antarctica; Firn; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Data; Ice Core Records; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; SPICEcore; Temperature", "people": "Waddington, Edwin D.; Stevens, Christopher Max; Lilien, David; Conway, Howard; Fudge, T. J.; Koutnik, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Firn temperatures 50km upstream of South Pole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601525"}, {"dataset_uid": "601099", "doi": "10.15784/601099", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Radar; Snow Accumulation; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Conway, Howard; Koutnik, Michelle; Waddington, Edwin D.; Lilien, David; Fudge, T. J.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "SPICEcore", "title": "Shallow radar near South Pole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601099"}, {"dataset_uid": "601680", "doi": "10.15784/601680", "keywords": "Antarctica; Firn; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice; South Pole; Temperature", "people": "Stevens, Christopher Max; Conway, Howard; Waddington, Edwin D.; Fudge, T. J.; Lilien, David; Koutnik, Michelle", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Firn density and compaction rates 50km upstream of South Pole", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601680"}], "date_created": "Thu, 14 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ice-core records are critical to understanding past climate variations. An Antarctic ice core currently being drilled at the South Pole will allow detailed investigation of atmospheric gases and fill an important gap in understanding the pattern of climate variability across Antarctica. Critical to the interpretation of any ice core are: 1) accurate chronologies for both the ice and the trapped gas and 2) demonstration that records from the ice core reliably reflect climate. The proposed research will improve the ice and gas chronologies by making measurements of snow compaction in the upstream catchment in order to constrain age models of the ice. These measurements will be a key data set needed for better understanding and predicting time-varying conditions in the upper part of the ice sheet. The research team will measure the modern spatial gradients in accumulation rate, surface temperature, and water stable isotopes from shallow ice cores in the upstream catchment in order to determine the climate history from the ice-core record. The new ice-flow measurements will make it possible to define the path of ice from upstream to the South Pole ice-core drill site to assess spatial gradients in snowfall and to infer histories of snowfall from internal layers within the ice sheet. The project will be led by an early-career scientist, provide broad training to graduate students, and engage in public outreach on polar science. Ice-core records of stable isotopes, aerosol-born particles, and atmospheric gases are critical to understanding past climate variations. The proposed research will improve the ice and gas chronologies in the South Pole ice core by making in situ measurements of firn compaction in the upstream catchment to constrain models of the gas-age ice-age difference. The firn measurements will be a key data set needed to form a constitutive relationship for firn, and will drive better understanding and prediction of transient firn evolution. The research team will measure the modern gradients in accumulation rate, surface temperature, and water stable isotopes in the upstream catchment to separate spatial (advection) variations from temporal (climate) variations in the ice-core records. The ice-flow measurements will define the flowline upstream of the drill site, assess spatial gradients in accumulation, and infer histories of accumulation from radar-observed internal layers. Results will directly enhance interpretation of South Pole ice-core records, and also advance understanding of firn densification and drive next-generation firn models.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(145 -89.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIRN; Firn; USAP-DC; South Pole; Radar; FIELD SURVEYS; ICE CORE RECORDS", "locations": "South Pole", "north": -89.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Koutnik, Michelle; Conway, Howard; Waddington, Edwin D.; Fudge, T. J.; Hawley, Robert L.; Osterberg, Erich", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "SPICEcore", "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Characterization of Upstream Ice and Firn Dynamics affecting the South Pole Ice Core", "uid": "p0000200", "west": 110.0}, {"awards": "0944266 Twickler, Mark; 0944348 Taylor, Kendrick", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "dataset_titles": "Summary of Results from the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project; WAIS Divide WDC06A Core Quality Versus Depth", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601021", "doi": "10.15784/601021", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "Summary of Results from the WAIS Divide Ice Core Project", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601021"}, {"dataset_uid": "601030", "doi": "10.15784/601030", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; WAIS Divide Ice Core", "people": "Twickler, Mark; Souney, Joseph Jr.; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "title": "WAIS Divide WDC06A Core Quality Versus Depth", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601030"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Taylor/0944348\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports renewal of funding of the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office (SCO). The Science Coordination Office (SCO) was established to represent the research community and facilitates the project by working with support organizations responsible for logistics, drilling, and core curation. During the last five years, 26 projects have been individually funded to work on this effort and 1,511 m of the total 3,470 m of ice at the site has been collected. This proposal seeks funding to continue the SCO and related field operations needed to complete the WAIS Divide ice core project. Tasks for the SCO during the second five years include planning and oversight of logistics, drilling, and core curation; coordinating research activities in the field; assisting in curation of the core in the field; allocating samples to individual projects; coordinating the sampling effort; collecting, archiving, and distributing data and other information about the project; hosting an annual science meeting; and facilitating collaborative efforts among the research groups. The intellectual merit of the WAIS Divide project is to better predict how human-caused increases in greenhouse gases will alter climate requires an improved understanding of how previous natural changes in greenhouse gases influenced climate in the past. Information on previous climate changes is used to validate the physics and results of climate models that are used to predict future climate. Antarctic ice cores are the only source of samples of the paleo-atmosphere that can be used to determine previous concentrations of carbon dioxide. Ice cores also contain records of other components of the climate system such as the paleo air and ocean temperature, atmospheric loading of aerosols, and indicators of atmospheric transport. The WAIS Divide ice core project has been designed to obtain the best possible record of greenhouse gases during the last glacial cycle (last ~100,000 years). The site was selected because it has the best balance of high annual snowfall (23 cm of ice equivalent/year), low dust Antarctic ice that does not compromise the carbon dioxide record, and favorable glaciology. The main science objectives of the project are to investigate climate forcing by greenhouse gases, initiation of climate changes, stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and cryobiology in the ice core. The project has numerous broader impacts. An established provider of educational material (Teachers? Domain) will develop and distribute web-based resources related to the project and climate change for use in K?12 classrooms. These resources will consist of video and interactive graphics that explain how and why ice cores are collected, and what they tell us about future climate change. Members of the national media will be included in the field team and the SCO will assist in presenting information to the general public. Video of the project will be collected and made available for general use. Finally, an opportunity will be created for cryosphere students and early career scientists to participate in field activities and core analysis. An ice core archive will be available for future projects and scientific discoveries from the project can be used by policy makers to make informed decisions.", "east": -112.1115, "geometry": "POINT(-112.1115 -79.481)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -79.481, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Mark, Twickler; Taylor, Kendrick C.", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "WAIS Divide Ice Core", "south": -79.481, "title": "Collaborative Research: Climate, Ice Dynamics and Biology using a Deep Ice Core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Divide", "uid": "p0000080", "west": -112.1115}, {"awards": "0537661 Cuffey, Kurt; 0537593 White, James; 0537930 Steig, Eric", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "dataset_titles": "Stable Isotope Lab at INSTAAR, University of Colorado; WAIS ice core isotope data #342, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351 (full data link not provided)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000140", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Project website", "science_program": null, "title": "WAIS ice core isotope data #342, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351 (full data link not provided)", "url": "http://www.waisdivide.unh.edu/"}, {"dataset_uid": "002561", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Project website", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable Isotope Lab at INSTAAR, University of Colorado", "url": "http://instaar.colorado.edu/sil/about/index.php"}], "date_created": "Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports analyses of stable isotopes of water, dD, d18O and deuterium excess in the proposed West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The project will produce a continuous and high-resolution reconstruction of stable isotope ratios for the new core. dD and d18O values provide estimates of temperature change at the ice core site. Deuterium excess provides estimates of ocean surface conditions, such as sea surface temperature, at the moisture source areas. This new ice core is ideally situated to address questions ranging from ice sheet stability to abrupt climate change. WAIS Divide has high enough snowfall rates to record climate changes on annual to decadal time scales. It should also have ice old enough to capture the last interglacial period in detail. The West Antarctic ice sheet is the subject of great scrutiny as our modern climate warms and sea level rises. What are the prospects for added sea level rise from ice released by this ice sheet? Understanding how this ice sheet has responded to climate change in the past, which the data collected in this project will help to assess, is critical to answering this question. The high temporal resolution available in the WAIS Divide core will provide the best available basis for inter-comparison of millennial-scale climate changes between the poles, and thus a better understanding of the spatial expression and dynamics of rapid climate change events. Finally, the location of this core in the Pacific sector of West Antarctica makes it well situated for examining the influence of the tropical Pacific on Antarctica climate, on longer timescales than are available from the instrumental climate record. Analyses will include the measurement of sub-annually resolved isotope variations in the uppermost parts of the core, measurements at annual resolution throughout the last 10,000 years and during periods of rapid climate change prior to that, and measurements at 50-year resolution throughout the entire length of the core that is collected and processed during the period of this grant. We anticipate that this will be about half of the full core expected to be drilled. In terms of broader impacts, the PIs will share the advising of two graduate students, who will make this ice core the focus of their thesis projects. It will be done in an innovative multi-campus approach designed to foster a broader educational experience. As noted above, the data and interpretations generated by this proposal will address climate change questions not only of direct and immediate scientific interest, but also of direct and immediate policy interest.", "east": -112.08, "geometry": "POINT(-112.08 -79.47)", "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 PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide; Not provided; Ice Core; WAIS Divide; LABORATORY; FIELD SURVEYS; Isotope; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctica; West Antarctica; Stable Isotope Ratios; Antarctic; Ice Sheet; Deuterium", "locations": "WAIS Divide; West Antarctica; Antarctic; Antarctica; West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide", "north": -79.47, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "White, James; Steig, Eric J.; Cuffey, Kurt M.; Souney, Joseph Jr.; Vaughn, Bruce", "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": "Project website", "repositories": "Project website", "science_programs": null, "south": -79.47, "title": "Collaborative Research: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core", "uid": "p0000294", "west": -112.08}, {"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": "Koutnik, Michelle; Waddington, Edwin D.", "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": "0230316 White, James; 0230348 Dunbar, Nelia; 0230021 Sowers, Todd", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(135.1333 -76.05)", "dataset_titles": "Mount Moulton Isotopes and Other Ice Core Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "609640", "doi": "10.7265/N5FT8J0N", "keywords": "Antarctica; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Epica Dome C; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; Isotope; Lake Vostok; Mount Moulton; Paleoclimate; Talos Dome; Taylor Dome", "people": "Steig, Eric J.; White, James; Popp, Trevor", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Mount Moulton Isotopes and Other Ice Core Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/609640"}], "date_created": "Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The summit crater of Mt. Moulton, in West Antarctica, contains a 600-m thick horizontally-exposed section of ice with intercalated tephra layers from nearby Mt Berlin. Argon-40/Argon-39 dating of the thick, near-source tephra indicates that the age of the horizontal ice section ranges between 15,000 and 492,000 years. Thus, the Mt Moulton site offers an unparalleled repository of ancient West Antarctic snow and trapped air that can be used to investigate West Antarctic climate over much of the past 500,000 years. The planar nature and consistent dips of the tephra layers suggests that, although the ice section has thinned, it is otherwise undeformed. The Mt. Moulton site was visited during the 1999/2000 field season, at which time a horizontal ice core representing approximately 400 meters of ice was collected, ranging in age from 15,000 to older than 480,000 years. In addition to this horizontal core, samples of ice at a range of depths were collected in order to test the quality of the climate record in the ice. Forty tephra layers intercalated in the ice were also collected in order to provide chronology for the ice section. The results of this first effort are extremely encouraging. Based on the d?18 O of ice, for example, there is clearly a useable record of past climate at Mt. Moulton extending back beyond 140,000 years. There is work to do, however, to realize the full potential of this horizontal ice core. The elemental and isotopic composition of trapped gases suggest some contamination with modern air, for example. As gas cross-dating of ice cores is the current standard by which climate records are intercompared, we need to understand why and how the gas record is compromised before adding Moulton to our arsenal of ice core paleoclimate records. This award supports a collaborative effort between three institutions with following objectives: 1) to evaluate more thoroughly the integrity of the climatic record through shallow drilling of the blue ice area, as well as the snow field upslope from the blue ice; 2) to improve the radioisotopic dating of specific tephra layers; 3) to obtain baseline information about modern snowfall deposition, mean annual temperature, and wind pumping around the summit of Mt. Moulton; and 4) to study how firn densification differs when surface accumulation changes from net accumulation to net ablation.", "east": 135.1333, "geometry": "POINT(135.1333 -76.05)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "LABORATORY; Climate; Argon-40; 40Ar; Argon-39; FIELD SURVEYS; Chronology; Ice Core Gas Age; Gas Record; Ice Core; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Tephra; Mount Moulton; Not provided; Caldera; 39Ar; Stratigraphy; Ice Core Depth", "locations": "Mount Moulton", "north": -76.05, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "White, James; Popp, Trevor; Dunbar, Nelia; Sowers, Todd A.; Steig, Eric J.", "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": -76.05, "title": "Collaborative Research: Refining a 500-kry Climate Record From the Moulton Blue Ice Field in West Antarctica", "uid": "p0000755", "west": 135.1333}]
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Project Title/Abstract/Map | NSF Award(s) | Date Created | PIs / Scientists | Dataset Links and Repositories | Abstract | Bounds Geometry | Geometry | Selected | Visible | |||||||||
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A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins
|
1744989 |
2024-02-08 | LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie | This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys - these results have been uploaded to MAPPPD (penguinmap.com) and are freely available for use. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||
NSFGEO-NERC: Investigating the Direct Influence of Meltwater on Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics
|
2053169 |
2023-09-15 | Kingslake, Jonathan; Sole, Andrew; Livingstone, Stephen; Winter, Kate; Ely, Jeremy | No dataset link provided | When ice sheets and glaciers lose ice faster than it accumulates from snowfall, they shrink and contribute to sea-level rise. This has consequences for coastal communities around the globe by, for example, increasing the frequency of damaging storm surges. Sea-level rise is already underway and a major challenge for the geoscience community is improving predictions of how this will evolve. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest potential contributor to sea-level rise and its future is highly uncertain. It loses ice through two main mechanisms: the formation of icebergs and melting at the base of floating ice shelves on its periphery. Ice flows under gravity towards the ocean and the rate of ice flow controls how fast ice sheets and glaciers shrink. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice flow is focused into outlet glaciers and ice streams, which flow much faster than surrounding areas. Moreover, parts of the Greenland Ice Sheet speed up and slow down substantially on hourly to seasonal time scales, particularly where meltwater from the surface reaches the base of the ice. Meltwater reaching the base changes ice flow by altering basal water pressure and consequently the friction exerted on the ice by the rock and sediment beneath. This phenomenon has been observed frequently in Greenland but not in Antarctica. Recent satellite observations suggest this phenomenon also occurs on outlet glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula. Meltwater reaching the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is likely to become more common as air temperature and surface melting are predicted to increase around Antarctica this century. This project aims to confirm the recent satellite observations, establish a baseline against which to compare future changes, and improve understanding of the direct influence of meltwater on Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. This is a project jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This project will include a field campaign on Flask Glacier, an Antarctic Peninsula outlet glacier, and a continent-wide remote sensing survey. These activities will allow the team to test three hypotheses related to the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s dynamic response to surface meltwater: (1) short-term changes in ice velocity indicated by satellite data result from surface meltwater reaching the bed, (2) this is widespread in Antarctica today, and (3) this results in a measurable increase in mean annual ice discharge. The project is a collaboration between US- and UK-based researchers and will be supported logistically by the British Antarctic Survey. The project aims to provide insights into both the drivers and implications of short-term changes in ice flow velocity caused by surface melting. For example, showing conclusively that meltwater directly influences Antarctic ice dynamics would have significant implications for understanding the response of Antarctica to atmospheric warming, as it did in Greenland when the phenomenon was first detected there twenty years ago. This work will also potentially influence other fields, as surface meltwater reaching the bed of the Antarctic Ice Sheet may affect ice rheology, subglacial hydrology, submarine melting, calving, ocean circulation, and ocean biogeochemistry. The project aims to have broader impacts on science and society by supporting early-career scientists, UK-US collaboration, education and outreach, and adoption of open data science approaches within the glaciological community. 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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Snow Transport in Katabatic Winds and Implications for the Antarctic Surface Mass Balance: Observations, Theory, and Numerical Modeling
|
2034874 2035078 |
2023-09-08 | Salesky, Scott; Giometto, Marco; Das, Indrani | No dataset link provided | 1. A non-technical explanation of the project's broader significance and importance, that serves as a public justification for NSF funding. This part should be understandable to an educated reader who is not a scientist or engineer. Katabatic or drainage winds, carry high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Although katabatic flows are ubiquitous in alpine and polar regions, a surface-layer similarity theory is currently lacking for these flows, undermining the accuracy of numerical weather and climate prediction models. This project is interdisciplinary, and will give graduate and undergraduate students valuable experience interacting with researchers outside their core discipline. Furthermore, this project will broaden participating in science through recruitment of students from under-represented groups at OU and CU through established programs. The Antarctic Ice Sheet drives many processes in the Earth system through its modulation of regional and global atmospheric and oceanic circulations, storage of fresh water, and effects on global albedo and climate. An understanding of the surface mass balance of the ice sheets is critical for predicting future sea level rise and for interpreting ice core records. Yet, the evolution of the ice sheets through snow deposition, erosion, and transport in katabatic winds (which are persistent across much of the Antarctic) remains poorly understood due to the lack of an overarching theoretical framework, scarcity of in situ observational datasets, and a lack of accurate numerical modeling tools. Advances in the fundamental understanding and modeling capabilities of katabatic transport processes are urgently needed in view of the future climatic and snowfall changes that are projected to occur within the Antarctic continent. This project will leverage the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of investigators (with backgrounds spanning cryospheric science, environmental fluid mechanics, and atmospheric science) to address these knowledge gaps. 2. A technical description of the project that states the problem to be studied, the goals and scope of the research, and the methods and approaches to be used. In many cases, the technical project description may be a modified version of the project summary submitted with the proposal. Using field observations and direct numerical simulations of katabatic flow, this project is expected--- for the first time---to lead to a surface-layer similarity theory for katabatic flows relating turbulent fluxes to mean vertical gradients. The similarity theory will be used to develop surface boundary conditions for large eddy simulations (LES), enabling the first accurate LES of katabatic flow. The numerical tools that the PIs will develop will allow them to investigate how the partitioning between snow redistribution, transport, and sublimation depends on the environmental parameters typically encountered in Antarctica (e.g. atmospheric stratification, surface sloping angles, and humidity profiles), and to develop simple models to infer snow transport based on satellite remote sensing and regional climate models 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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Present and Projected Future Forcings on Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers and Ice Shelves using the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) Model
|
1543445 |
2023-02-24 | Zhang, Jing; Hock, Regine; Fahnestock, Mark |
|
Hock/1543432 Over the last half century the Antarctic Peninsula has been among the most rapidly warming regions in the world. This has led to increased glacier melt, widespread glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapses, and glacier speed-ups. Many of these changes are driven by changing precipitation and increased melt due to warmer air temperatures. This project will use a combination of two models - a regional atmospheric model and a model of processes at the glacier surface - to simulate future changes in temperature and snowfall, and the resulting changes in glacier mass. The combination of models will be tested against the observational record (since 1979 when satellite observations became available), to verify that it can reproduce observed change, and then run to the year 2100. Results will provide better estimates of the impacts of future climate changes over the Antarctic Pensinsula and the expected glacier mass changes driven by the evolving climate. The project will use the large changes observed on the Peninsula to validate a model framework suitable for understanding the impact of these changes on the glaciers and ice shelves there, with the goal of developing optimally constrained future climate and surface mass change scenarios for the region. The framework will provide both a coherent picture of the impacts of past changes on the region's ice cover, and also the best available constraints on forcings that will determine ice mass loss from this region going forward under a standard scenario. The Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) Model will be used over the domain of the Antarctic Peninsula and neighboring islands to quantify trends in spatio-temporal patterns of mass change with a focus on surface melt. The WRF model will be enhanced to account for the specific conditions of glacier surfaces, and the modified model will be used to simulate climate conditions and resulting surface mass budgets and melt over the period 1979-2100. Tying modeled past climate changes to the surface and satellite-based observational record will provide a foundation for interpreting projected future change. Results will be validated using available weather station observations, surface mass-balance data, and satellite-derived records of melt. The activity will foster partnerships through collaboration with colleagues in Spain, Germany and The Netherlands and will support an early-career postdoctoral researcher and two graduate students, introduce undergraduate and high-school students to original research and provide training of students through inclusion of data and results in course curriculums. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
EAGER: An Operational System to Measure Surface Mass Balance Deep in the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
|
1654922 |
2022-08-02 | de la Peña, Santiago |
|
Non-Technical Description: Snow accumulation in the interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and how much snow is redistributed by wind are important components of the climate system of Antarctica, yet remain largely unknown. Because of the extreme meteorological conditions found in Antarctica, direct observations of snowfall and related weather are few, leaving a gap in the regional climate records in the continent. Snow accumulation across the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a critical component for the assessment of the contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, and accurate measurements are required to evaluate results from regional climate models, used to reconstruct climate trends of the recent past for the whole ice sheet. Owing to the size of Antarctica alone, small fluctuations in the total snow accumulation at the surface have a significant effect on the mass budget of the ice sheet and thus on global sea level. In this work will develop an instrument suite for deployment at the South Pole research station in Antarctica. The monitoring station will have new state-of-the-art sensors will record measurements of weather, snow accumulation, and structural conditions within the layer of packed snow. The autonomous system will be tested in the coldest and darkest winter on the planet, and will provide the first continuous measurements of snow accumulation processes in the interior of the ice sheet, which will be used to validate atmospheric and regional climate models. Technical Description: The overarching goal of the proposed work is to improve our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability in ice-sheet surface mass balance and densification rates within the layer of firn, a layer roughly 100 m thick consisting of the buried and compacted snow that has yet to densify into solid ice. For this, we will A) design and install a cost-efficient, reliable, and easily deployable surface mass balance and firn monitoring system for Antarctica; B) adapt the system to operate autonomously for long periods of time under the harshest meteorological conditions; C) use observations for evaluation of surface mass balance simulated by atmospheric reanalyzes and regional climate model; and D) measure the surface mass balance, surface density, and firn compaction rates to derive ice sheet surface elevation change in areas with low ice dynamics. The set up of the monitoring station is unique in that it is able to monitor separately height change due to surface mass balance variability and absolute surface mass balance, the latter in units of water equivalence, and differentiation of the two is crucial for understanding the role of surface processes in ice sheet mass balance. An installed sonic ranger will provide hourly measurements of surface height change that is due to snow accumulation. Surface height change alone is not sufficient to evaluate atmospheric models of surface mass balance, which is measured in in units of mass; a key variable missing is density. To overcome this, the system will be equipped with a SnowFox sensor that is able to capture the variations in surface mass balance in terms of mass through time. Combining the height change with mass change will allow us to determine the density of the material as well, which is very important for conversion of observed height changes due to surface processes into mass changes. Therefore, we aim to better evaluate the short-term variability in surface height and mass fluctuations due to surface mass balance to improve our understanding of the total mass change and to evaluate atmospheric models, which are typically used for ice sheet-wide mass balance studies. | POINT(0 -90) | POINT(0 -90) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Feedbacks between Orographic Precipitation and Ice Dynamics
|
1644277 |
2022-07-14 | Aschwanden, Andy; Pettit, Erin |
|
Aschwanden/1644277 This award supports a project to study the phenomenon of the rain shadow (technically called orographic precipitation) in the Antarctic Peninsula and its interaction with a mountain range covered in ice and snow. Orographic precipitation gives rise to the largest climatic and ecological gradients on Earth. Air ascending on the windward side of the mountain range expands and cools, condensing the water vapor it carries and producing heavy rain- or snow-fall. As the air descends on the leeward flank, the air warms and dries out, leaving little-to-no precipitation. This pattern of snowfall, caused by the interaction of winds and the landscape, is hypothesized to control the shape of the ice cap itself. The investigators hypothesize that feedbacks between precipitation and topography control ice flux and temperature, impacting basal conditions (frozen versus wet) and motion, which over long time scales can affect basal topography via erosion. The authors propose to investigate the feedbacks between orographically driven precipitation, ice dynamics, thermodynamics, and basal erosion and uplift over the northern Antarctic Peninsula by coupling an orographic precipitation model to the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM). Using idealized and more realistic geometries, they will begin with a 2-D flow band model, which will be expanded into three dimensions to determine the strength of the feedbacks as a function of bedrock geometry and the intensity of the orographic precipitation gradient. The Antarctic Peninsula is targeted as the ideal case study, in the context of its rapid modern and future change as well as its deflation since the Last Glacial Maximum. The broader impacts of the work include the strengthening of predictive models by capturing feedbacks related to orographic precipitation not included in current models. This is likely to provide a more realistic assessment of the impacts of orographic precipitation in a regime of changing climate. The project will support an early career scientist and a female mid-career scientist and will support one PhD student, and provide summer research experience for one undergraduate student as an REU supplement. The project does not require field work in the Antarctic. | POLYGON((-75 -60,-72 -60,-69 -60,-66 -60,-63 -60,-60 -60,-57 -60,-54 -60,-51 -60,-48 -60,-45 -60,-45 -61.5,-45 -63,-45 -64.5,-45 -66,-45 -67.5,-45 -69,-45 -70.5,-45 -72,-45 -73.5,-45 -75,-48 -75,-51 -75,-54 -75,-57 -75,-60 -75,-63 -75,-66 -75,-69 -75,-72 -75,-75 -75,-75 -73.5,-75 -72,-75 -70.5,-75 -69,-75 -67.5,-75 -66,-75 -64.5,-75 -63,-75 -61.5,-75 -60)) | POINT(-60 -67.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Antarctic Automatic Weather Station Program 2016-2019
|
1543305 |
2022-05-16 | Lazzara, Matthew |
|
The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network is the most extensive ground meteorological network in the Antarctic, approaching its 30th year at several of its installations. Its prime focus as a long term observational record is to measure the near surface weather and climatology of the Antarctic atmosphere. AWS 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. 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. The surface observations from the AAWS network are important records for recent climate change and meteorological processes. The surface observations from the AAWS network are also used operationally, and in the planning of field work. The surface observations made from the AAWS network have been used to check on satellite and remote sensing observations. This project proposes to use the surface conditions observed by the 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, and to quantify the impact of snowfall and blowing snow events. Specifically, this project proposes to improve our understanding of the processes that lead to unusual weather events and how these events are related to large-scale modes of climate variability. This project will fill a gap in knowledge of snowfall distribution, and distinguishing between snowfall and blowing snow events using a suite of precipitation sensors near McMurdo Station. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Modeling ice-ocean interaction for the rapidly evolving ice shelf cavities of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, Antarctica
|
1643285 1643174 |
2022-05-13 | Joughin, Ian; Dutrieux, Pierre; Padman, Laurence; Springer, Scott |
|
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. | 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)) | POINT(-95 -77) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Uncertainty and Mechanisms of Antarctica’s Changing Snowfall and its Role in Sea Level Change
|
1952199 |
2021-07-21 | Schneider, David; Datta, Rajashree Tri |
|
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. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
A Multi-scale Approach to Understanding Spatial and Population Variability in Emperor Penguins
|
1744794 1744989 |
2021-07-14 | LaRue, Michelle; Ito, Emi; Jenouvrier, Stephanie | The emperor penguin is an iconic seabird that is found in colonies distributed around the entirety of the Antarctic coastline. Emperor penguins are an important indicator species for the health of the Southern Ocean because their reliance on sea ice for major parts of their life cycle means that their population can be influenced by changes in the extent and duration of sea ice around Antarctica. Although baseline data exists on emperor penguin distributions and overall population size, data on how population size varies at individual colonies is limited to only a few locations. Thus, knowledge about how changes in local or regional environmental conditions impacts local or global population status is poorly understood. By combining established methods in satellite remote sensing with ground and aerial surveys of several colonies across the continent, this project will generate population estimates for the 54 known emperor penguin colonies. Decadal scale population trend data will be combined with environmental variables (e.g., sea ice extent and duration among others) to reveal which conditions influence population fluctuations at regional and continental scales. The project will engage with international collaborators, train post-doctoral associates and future scientists, and develop citizen science and K-12 outreach programs. This project on emperor penguin populations will quantify penguin presence/absence, and colony size and trajectory, across the entire Antarctic continent using high-resolution satellite imagery. For a subset of the colonies, population estimates derived from high-resolution satellite images will be compared with those determined by aerial surveys. This validated information will be used to determine population estimates for all emperor penguin colonies through iterations of supervised classification and maximum likelihood calculations on the high-resolution imagery. The effect of spatial, geophysical, and environmental variables on population size and decadal-scale trends will be assessed using generalized linear models. This research will result in a first ever empirical result for emperor penguin population trends and habitat suitability, and will leverage currently-funded NSF infrastructure and hosting sites to publish results in near-real time to the public. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||
The Antarctic Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (AISLENS) Project: Assessing the Role of Climate Variability in Past and Future Ice Sheet Mass Loss
|
1947882 |
2021-07-01 | Robel, Alexander | No dataset link provided | 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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Antarctic Submarine Melt Variability from Remote Sensing of Icebergs
|
1933764 1643455 |
2021-06-28 | Enderlin, Ellyn |
|
Enderlin/1643455 This award supports a project that will use a novel remote sensing method, which was initially developed to investigate melting of icebergs around Greenland, to examine spatial and temporal variations in ocean forcing around the Antarctic ice sheet periphery. Nearly three-quarters of the Antarctic ice sheet is fringed by regions of floating glacier ice called ice shelves. These ice shelves play an important role in modulating the flow of ice from the ice sheet interior towards the coast, similar to how dams regulate the downstream flow of water from reservoirs. Therefore, a reduction in ice shelf size due to changing air and ocean temperatures can have serious implications for the flux of glacier ice reaching the Antarctic coast, and thus, sea level change. Observations of recent ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea, thinning of the ice shelves, and increased ice flux from the West Antarctic ice sheet interior suggests that ice shelf destabilization triggered by ocean warming may already be underway in some regions. Although detailed observations are available in the Amundsen Sea region, our understanding of spatial and temporal variations in ocean conditions and their influence on ice shelf stability is limited by the scarceness of observations spanning the ice sheet periphery. The project will yield insights into variability in the submarine melting of ice shelves and will help advance the career of a female early-career scientist in a male-dominated field. The project will use repeat, very high-resolution (~0.5 m pixel width and length) satellite images acquired by the WorldView satellites, to estimate rates of iceberg melting in key coastal regions around Antarctica. The satellite images will be used to construct maps of iceberg surface elevation, which will be differenced in time to derive time series of iceberg volume change and area-averaged melt rates. Where ocean data are available, the melt rates will be compared to these data to assess whether variations in ocean temperature can explain observed iceberg melt variability. Large spatial gradients in melt rates will be compared to estimates of iceberg drift rates, which will be inferred from the repeat satellite images as well as numerically modeled drift rates produced by (unfunded) collaborators, to quantify the effects of water shear on iceberg melt rates. Spatial and temporal patterns in iceberg melting will also be compared to independently derived ice shelf thickness datasets. Overall, the analysis should yield insights into the effects of changes in ocean forcing on the submarine melting of Antarctic ice shelves and icebergs. The project does not require field work in Antarctica. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Implementing Low-power, Autonomous Observing Systems to Improve the Measurement and Understanding of Antarctic Precipitation
|
1543325 1543377 |
2021-04-27 | Seefeldt, Mark; Landolt, Scott |
|
Accurately measuring precipitation in Antarctica is important for purposes such as calculating Antarctica?s mass balance and contribution to global sea level rise, interpreting ice core records, and validating model- and satellite-based precipitation estimates. There is a critical need for reliable, autonomous, long-term measurements of Antarctic precipitation in order to better understand its variability in space in time. Such records over time are essentially absent from the continent, despite their importance. This project will deploy and test instrumentation to measure and record rates of snowfall and blowing snow in Antarctica. Project goals are based on installation of four low-power, autonomous Antarctic precipitation systems (APS) co-located at automatic weather station (AWS) sites in the Ross Island region of Antarctica. The APSs are designed with an integrated sensor approach to provide multiple types of observations of snow accumulation types at the test sites. The APSs are designed to construct an accurate timeline of snow accumulation, and to distinguish the water equivalent of fallen precipitation from surface blowing (lofted) snow, a prime confounding factor. The standard suite of instruments to be deployed includes: precipitation gauge with double Alter windshield, laser disdrometer, laser snow height sensor, optical precipitation detector, anemometer at gauge height, and a visible /infrared webcam. These instruments have previously been shown to work well in cold regions applications. | POLYGON((166.918 -77.8675,167.2997 -77.8675,167.6814 -77.8675,168.0631 -77.8675,168.4448 -77.8675,168.8265 -77.8675,169.2082 -77.8675,169.5899 -77.8675,169.9716 -77.8675,170.3533 -77.8675,170.735 -77.8675,170.735 -77.98145,170.735 -78.0954,170.735 -78.20935,170.735 -78.3233,170.735 -78.43725,170.735 -78.5512,170.735 -78.66515,170.735 -78.7791,170.735 -78.89305,170.735 -79.007,170.3533 -79.007,169.9716 -79.007,169.5899 -79.007,169.2082 -79.007,168.8265 -79.007,168.4448 -79.007,168.0631 -79.007,167.6814 -79.007,167.2997 -79.007,166.918 -79.007,166.918 -78.89305,166.918 -78.7791,166.918 -78.66515,166.918 -78.5512,166.918 -78.43725,166.918 -78.3233,166.918 -78.20935,166.918 -78.0954,166.918 -77.98145,166.918 -77.8675)) | POINT(168.8265 -78.43725) | false | false | |||||||||
NSF-NERC: Thwaites-Amundsen Regional Survey and Network (TARSAN) Integrating Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean Processes affecting the Sub-Ice-Shelf Environment
|
1738992 1929991 |
2021-02-22 | Truffer, Martin; Scambos, Ted; Muto, Atsu; Heywood, Karen; Boehme, Lars; Hall, Robert; Wahlin, Anna; Lenaerts, Jan; Pettit, Erin | This project contributes to the joint initiative launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to substantially improve decadal and longer-term projections of ice loss and sea-level rise originating from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. Thwaites and neighboring glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are rapidly losing mass in response to recent climate warming and related changes in ocean circulation. Mass loss from the Amundsen Sea Embayment could lead to the eventual collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, raising the global sea level by up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) in as short as 500 years. The processes driving the loss appear to be warmer ocean circulation and changes in the width and flow speed of the glacier, but a better understanding of these changes is needed to refine predictions of how the glacier will evolve. One highly sensitive process is the transitional flow of glacier ice from land onto the ocean to become a floating ice shelf. This flow of ice from grounded to floating is affected by changes in air temperature and snowfall at the surface; the speed and thickness of ice feeding it from upstream; and the ocean temperature, salinity, bathymetry, and currents that the ice flows into. The project team will gather new measurements of each of these local environmental conditions so that it can better predict how future changes in air, ocean, or the ice will affect the loss of ice to the ocean in this region. Current and anticipated near-future mass loss from Thwaites Glacier and nearby Amundsen Sea Embayment region is mainly attributed to reduction in ice-shelf buttressing due to sub-ice-shelf melting by intrusion of relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water into sub-ice-shelf cavities. Such predictions for mass loss, however, still lack understanding of the dominant processes at and near grounding zones, especially their spatial and temporal variability, as well as atmospheric and oceanic drivers of these processes. This project aims to constrain and compare these processes for the Thwaites and the Dotson Ice Shelves, which are connected through upstream ice dynamics, but influenced by different submarine troughs. The team's specific objectives are to: 1) install atmosphere-ice-ocean multi-sensor remote autonomous stations on the ice shelves for two years to provide sub-daily continuous observations of concurrent oceanic, glaciologic, and atmospheric conditions; 2) measure ocean properties on the continental shelf adjacent to ice-shelf fronts (using seal tagging, glider-based and ship-based surveys, and existing moored and conductivity-temperature-depth-cast data), 3) measure ocean properties into sub-ice-shelf cavities (using autonomous underwater vehicles) to detail ocean transports and heat fluxes; and 4) constrain current ice-shelf and sub-ice-shelf cavity geometry, ice flow, and firn properties for the ice-shelves (using radar, active-source seismic, and gravimetric methods) to better understand the impact of ocean and atmosphere on the ice-sheet change. The team will also engage the public and bring awareness to this rapidly changing component of the cryosphere through a "Live from the Ice" social media campaign in which the public can follow the action and data collection from the perspective of tagged seals and autonomous stations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-114 -74,-113 -74,-112 -74,-111 -74,-110 -74,-109 -74,-108 -74,-107 -74,-106 -74,-105 -74,-104 -74,-104 -74.2,-104 -74.4,-104 -74.6,-104 -74.8,-104 -75,-104 -75.2,-104 -75.4,-104 -75.6,-104 -75.8,-104 -76,-105 -76,-106 -76,-107 -76,-108 -76,-109 -76,-110 -76,-111 -76,-112 -76,-113 -76,-114 -76,-114 -75.8,-114 -75.6,-114 -75.4,-114 -75.2,-114 -75,-114 -74.8,-114 -74.6,-114 -74.4,-114 -74.2,-114 -74)) | POINT(-109 -75) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: A High-sensitivity Beryllium-10 Record from an Ice Core at South Pole
|
1443448 1443144 |
2021-02-04 | Schaefer, Joerg; Steig, Eric J. |
|
This project will acquire measurements of the concentration of beryllium-10 (10Be) from an ice core from the South Pole, Antarctica. An isotope of the element beryllium, 10Be, is produced in the atmosphere by high-energy protons (cosmic rays) that enter Earth's atmosphere from space. It is removed from the atmosphere by settling or by scavenging by rain or snowfall. Hence, concentrations of 10Be in snow at the South Pole reflect the production rate of 10Be in the atmosphere. Because the rate of production of 10Be over Antarctica depends primarily on the strength of the Sun's magnetic field, measurements of 10Be in the South Pole ice core will provide a record of changes in solar activity. The South Pole ice core will reach an age of 40,000 years at the bottom. The project will result in measurements of 10Be at annual resolution for the last 100 years and selected periods in the more distant past, such as the Maunder Minimum, a period during the late 17th century during which no sunspots were observed, or the last glacial cold period, about 20,000 years ago. A climate model that can simulate the production of 10Be in the atmosphere, it's transport through the atmosphere, and its deposition at the snow surface in Antarctica will be used to aid in using the 10Be data to determine past changes in solar activity from decadal to millennial scale, and in turn to evaluate the role of the Sun in Earth?s climate from a new perspective. The production of 10Be in Earth's atmosphere results from the spallation of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere by cosmic rays. Cosmic ray variations in the high latitudes are primarily modulated by solar variability. Time-series records of 10Be from ice cores are therefore important for deriving variations in solar activity through time, which is fundamental to understanding climate variability. Deposition of 10Be to the ice surface is also influenced by variability in atmospheric circulation and deposition processes, and South Pole is the best available location for minimizing the influence of variable atmospheric circulation on 10Be deposition. To date, only one record of 10Be exists from South Pole; that record is widely used in solar forcing estimates used in climate models, but covers only the last millennium and ends in CE 1982. We will obtain 10Be concentration measurements in a 1500-m, 40000-year long ice core from the South Pole. This will extend the existing record both further back in time and forward to the present, providing overlap with the modern instrumental record of solar and climate variability. High resolution (annual to biannual) measurements will be made in targeted areas of interest, including the last 100 years, the Maunder Minimum (CE 1650-1715), and the last glacial maximum. The novel data will be used in conjunction with climate model experiments that incorporate 10Be production, transport, and deposition physics. Together, data and modeling will create an updated record of atmospheric 10Be production and hence of solar activity. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Organic and Inorganic Geochemical Investigation of Hydrologic Change in East Antarctica in the 4 Million Years Before Full Glaciation
|
1908399 1908548 |
2020-12-05 | Feakins, Sarah; Scher, Howard | The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds the largest volume of freshwater on the planet, in total enough to raise sea level by almost two hundred feet. Even minor adjustments in the volume of ice stored have major implications for coastlines and climates around the world. The question motivating this project is how did the ice grow to cover the continent over thirty million years ago when Antarctica changed from a warmer environment to an ice-covered southern continent? The seafloor of Prydz Bay, a major drainage basin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), has been drilled previously to recover sediments dating from millions of years prior to and across the time when inception of continental ice sheets occurred in Antarctica. The last remnants of plant material found as 'biomarkers' in the ocean sediments record the chemical signatures of rain and snowfall that fed the plants and later the expanding glaciers. Sediment carried by glaciers was also deposited on the seafloor and can be analyzed to discover how glaciers flowed across the landscape. Here, the researchers will identify precipitation changes that result from, and drive, ice sheet growth. This study will gather data and further analyze samples from the seafloor sediment archives of the International Ocean Discovery Program's (IODP) core repositories. Ultimately these findings can help inform temperature-precipitation-ice linkages within climate and ice sheet models. The project will support the training of three female, early career scientists (PhD & MS students, and research technician) and both PIs and the PhD student will continue their engagement with broadening participation efforts (e.g., Women in Science and Engineering Program; local chapters of Society for the advancement of Native Americans and Chicanos in Science and other access programs) to recruit undergraduate student participants from underrepresented minorities at both campuses and from local community colleges. Antarctic earth science education materials will be assisted by professional illustrations to be open access and used in public education and communication efforts to engage local communities in Los Angeles CA and Columbia SC. The researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of South Carolina will together study the penultimate moment of the early Cenozoic greenhouse climate state: the ~4 million years of global cooling that culminated in the Eocene/Oligocene transition (~34 Ma). Significant gaps remain in the understanding of the conditions that preceded ice expansion on Antarctica. In particular, the supply of raw material for ice sheets (i.e., moisture) and the timing, frequency, and duration of precursor glaciations is poorly constrained. This collaborative proposal combines organic and inorganic proxies to examine how Antarctic hydroclimate changed during the greenhouse to icehouse transition. The central hypothesis is that the hydrological cycle weakened as cooling proceeded. Plant-wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes (hydroclimate proxies) and Hf-Nd isotopes of lithogenous and hydrogenous sediments (mechanical weathering proxies) respond strongly and rapidly to precipitation and glacial advance. This detailed and sensitive combined approach will test whether there were hidden glaciations (and/or warm events) that punctuated the pre-icehouse interval. Studies will be conducted on Prydz Bay marine sediment cores in a depositional area for products of weathering and erosion that were (and are) transported through Lambert Graben from the center of Antarctica. The project will yield proxy information about the presence of plants and the hydroclimate of Antarctica and the timing of glacial advance, and is expected to show drying associated with cooling and ice-sheet growth. The dual approach will untangle climate signals from changes in fluvial versus glacial erosion of plant biomarkers. This proposal is potentially transformative because the combination of organic and inorganic proxies can reveal rapid transitions in aridity and glacial expansion, that may have been missed in slower-response proxies and more distal archives. The research is significant as hydroclimate seems to be a key player in the temperature-cryosphere hysteresis. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((74.787 -67.27617,74.816483 -67.27617,74.845966 -67.27617,74.875449 -67.27617,74.904932 -67.27617,74.934415 -67.27617,74.963898 -67.27617,74.993381 -67.27617,75.022864 -67.27617,75.052347 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.27617,75.08183 -67.31817,75.08183 -67.36017,75.08183 -67.40217,75.08183 -67.44417,75.08183 -67.48617,75.08183 -67.52817,75.08183 -67.57017,75.08183 -67.61217,75.08183 -67.65417,75.08183 -67.69617,75.052347 -67.69617,75.022864 -67.69617,74.993381 -67.69617,74.963898 -67.69617,74.934415 -67.69617,74.904932 -67.69617,74.875449 -67.69617,74.845966 -67.69617,74.816483 -67.69617,74.787 -67.69617,74.787 -67.65417,74.787 -67.61217,74.787 -67.57017,74.787 -67.52817,74.787 -67.48617,74.787 -67.44417,74.787 -67.40217,74.787 -67.36017,74.787 -67.31817,74.787 -67.27617)) | POINT(74.934415 -67.48617) | false | false | ||||||||||
Antarctic Firn Aquifers: Extent, Characteristics, and Comparison with Greenland Occurrences
|
1745116 |
2020-09-08 | Scambos, Ted | Snow or firn aquifers are areas of subsurface meltwater storage that form in glaciated regions experiencing intense summer surface melting and high snowfall. Aquifers can induce hydrofracturing, and thereby accelerate flow or trigger ice-shelf instability leading to increased ice-sheet mass loss. Widespread aquifers have recently been discovered in Greenland. These have been modelled and mapped using new satellite and airborne remote-sensing techniques. In Antarctica, a series of catastrophic break-ups at the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula that was previously attributed to effects of surface melting and brine infiltration is now recognized as being consistent with a firn aquifer--possibly stimulated by long-period ocean swell--that enhanced ice-shelf hydrofracture. This project will verify inferences (from the same mapping approach used in Greenland) that such aquifers are indeed present in Antarctica. The team will survey two high-probability sites: the Wilkins Ice Shelf, and the southern George VI Ice Shelf. This two-year study will characterize the firn at the two field sites, drill shallow (~60 m maximum) ice cores, examine snow pits (~2 m), and install two AMIGOS (Automated Met-Ice-Geophysics Observing System) stations that include weather, GPS, and firn temperature sensors that will collect and transmit measurements for at least a year before retrieval. Ground-penetrating radar survey in areas surrounding the field sites will track aquifer extent and depth variations. Ice and microwave model studies will be combined with the field-observed properties to further explore the range of firn aquifers and related upper-snow-layer conditions. This study will provide valuable experience for three early-career scientists. An outreach effort through field blogging, social media posts, K-12 presentations, and public lectures is planned to engage the public in the team?s Antarctic scientific exploration and discovery. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-75 -69,-74 -69,-73 -69,-72 -69,-71 -69,-70 -69,-69 -69,-68 -69,-67 -69,-66 -69,-65 -69,-65 -69.5,-65 -70,-65 -70.5,-65 -71,-65 -71.5,-65 -72,-65 -72.5,-65 -73,-65 -73.5,-65 -74,-66 -74,-67 -74,-68 -74,-69 -74,-70 -74,-71 -74,-72 -74,-73 -74,-74 -74,-75 -74,-75 -73.5,-75 -73,-75 -72.5,-75 -72,-75 -71.5,-75 -71,-75 -70.5,-75 -70,-75 -69.5,-75 -69)) | POINT(-70 -71.5) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Borehole Logging to Classify Volcanic Signatures in Antarctic Ice
|
1643864 |
2020-02-08 | Talghader, Joseph |
|
Part I: Nontechnical One of the most interesting historical records that science can provide is contained in the ice of Antarctica. Layer by layer over hundreds of thousands of years, snow has precipitated on the ice sheet, become compacted, and turned into additional ice. Any dust or other impurities in the air or snow have been precipitated as well and thus each snowfall leaves a snapshot record of the atmosphere that existed at or near the time of deposition. A detailed chronology of volcanic eruptions can be obtained from the ice layers where ash and other volcanic products were deposited. Normally, the analysis of volcanic layers requires the physical extraction of a core from the ice sheet; however, chronologies from cores have discontinuities and are difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to obtain. Borehole logging is a measurement method where one lowers instrumentation into a drilled hole in the ice, whether or not core has been retrieved. To date, this technology has only been used to measure optical systems to identify volcanic ash and other impurity layers. In this program, a profiling technology will be developed that measures the conductivity of the ice. A radio-frequency emitter lowered into the borehole will create a return signal that changes depending on the local conductivity, which depends on the concentration of dissolved ions. For example, dissolved sulfates are a critical marker of volcanic activity that may not be coincident with deposited ash. Other dissolved ions, such as chloride, can be indicative of other processes. It is expected that this borehole profiling instrument will be able to help rapidly identify volcanic eruptions that had potentially global impact, distinguish between different dissolved ions via their frequency dependencies, and assist in establishing chronologies between different ice cores and boreholes. Part II: Technical Description Borehole logging of the polar ice sheets is one of the most important methods that earth scientists have to identify and date volcanic eruptions. However, current technology only indicates the presence and depth of ash from an eruption. In order to extract more detailed information, one must obtain an ice core, and laboriously measure each section in the laboratory using electrical conductivity or dielectric measurements to determine the presence or absence of dissolved sulfate and its location relative to the corresponding ash, if any. This program will investigate and demonstrate a borehole logging-compatible radio-frequency dielectric sensor to detect and measure spikes in dissolved major ions chemistry in ice, particularly in intervals corresponding to volcanically produced sulfates. The sulfate layers are one of the primary signatures of volcanic products. However, other ions, such as chlorides, calcium, and others are also commonly seen in ice, and the dielectric logging technology of this program would also measure these. It is expected that certain sets of ions will be distinguishable by their frequency dependencies. This technique could guide other investigators, who are using conventional core scanning and sampling methods, to regions of special interest in corresponding core. We plan to construct a ring-based electrode system and test this system on a variety of artificial ice boreholes and ice cores. This unit will not include a pressure vessel or other borehole logger packing. We will test different means of applying electrical signals including short pulses and periodic waves. We will further utilize differential measurements with low noise circuits and filters to achieve maximum sensitivity. We will correlate the signals extracted with known molarities of sulfates and other ions and measured ECM records. We will perform scaled-down experiments using real ice cores stored in Bay?s lab at UC Berkeley. This will permit testing of different designs in ice with natural impurities and polycrystalline structure. This small collection includes cores from a variety of locations in Antarctica and Greenland, and a variety of ages as old as a million years. | POINT(-112.085 -79.467) | POINT(-112.085 -79.467) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Characterization of Upstream Ice and Firn Dynamics affecting the South Pole Ice Core
|
1443471 1443341 |
2018-06-14 | Koutnik, Michelle; Conway, Howard; Waddington, Edwin D.; Fudge, T. J.; Hawley, Robert L.; Osterberg, Erich | Ice-core records are critical to understanding past climate variations. An Antarctic ice core currently being drilled at the South Pole will allow detailed investigation of atmospheric gases and fill an important gap in understanding the pattern of climate variability across Antarctica. Critical to the interpretation of any ice core are: 1) accurate chronologies for both the ice and the trapped gas and 2) demonstration that records from the ice core reliably reflect climate. The proposed research will improve the ice and gas chronologies by making measurements of snow compaction in the upstream catchment in order to constrain age models of the ice. These measurements will be a key data set needed for better understanding and predicting time-varying conditions in the upper part of the ice sheet. The research team will measure the modern spatial gradients in accumulation rate, surface temperature, and water stable isotopes from shallow ice cores in the upstream catchment in order to determine the climate history from the ice-core record. The new ice-flow measurements will make it possible to define the path of ice from upstream to the South Pole ice-core drill site to assess spatial gradients in snowfall and to infer histories of snowfall from internal layers within the ice sheet. The project will be led by an early-career scientist, provide broad training to graduate students, and engage in public outreach on polar science. Ice-core records of stable isotopes, aerosol-born particles, and atmospheric gases are critical to understanding past climate variations. The proposed research will improve the ice and gas chronologies in the South Pole ice core by making in situ measurements of firn compaction in the upstream catchment to constrain models of the gas-age ice-age difference. The firn measurements will be a key data set needed to form a constitutive relationship for firn, and will drive better understanding and prediction of transient firn evolution. The research team will measure the modern gradients in accumulation rate, surface temperature, and water stable isotopes in the upstream catchment to separate spatial (advection) variations from temporal (climate) variations in the ice-core records. The ice-flow measurements will define the flowline upstream of the drill site, assess spatial gradients in accumulation, and infer histories of accumulation from radar-observed internal layers. Results will directly enhance interpretation of South Pole ice-core records, and also advance understanding of firn densification and drive next-generation firn models. | 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)) | POINT(145 -89.5) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Climate, Ice Dynamics and Biology using a Deep Ice Core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Divide
|
0944266 0944348 |
2017-06-09 | Mark, Twickler; Taylor, Kendrick C. |
|
Taylor/0944348<br/><br/>This award supports renewal of funding of the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office (SCO). The Science Coordination Office (SCO) was established to represent the research community and facilitates the project by working with support organizations responsible for logistics, drilling, and core curation. During the last five years, 26 projects have been individually funded to work on this effort and 1,511 m of the total 3,470 m of ice at the site has been collected. This proposal seeks funding to continue the SCO and related field operations needed to complete the WAIS Divide ice core project. Tasks for the SCO during the second five years include planning and oversight of logistics, drilling, and core curation; coordinating research activities in the field; assisting in curation of the core in the field; allocating samples to individual projects; coordinating the sampling effort; collecting, archiving, and distributing data and other information about the project; hosting an annual science meeting; and facilitating collaborative efforts among the research groups. The intellectual merit of the WAIS Divide project is to better predict how human-caused increases in greenhouse gases will alter climate requires an improved understanding of how previous natural changes in greenhouse gases influenced climate in the past. Information on previous climate changes is used to validate the physics and results of climate models that are used to predict future climate. Antarctic ice cores are the only source of samples of the paleo-atmosphere that can be used to determine previous concentrations of carbon dioxide. Ice cores also contain records of other components of the climate system such as the paleo air and ocean temperature, atmospheric loading of aerosols, and indicators of atmospheric transport. The WAIS Divide ice core project has been designed to obtain the best possible record of greenhouse gases during the last glacial cycle (last ~100,000 years). The site was selected because it has the best balance of high annual snowfall (23 cm of ice equivalent/year), low dust Antarctic ice that does not compromise the carbon dioxide record, and favorable glaciology. The main science objectives of the project are to investigate climate forcing by greenhouse gases, initiation of climate changes, stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and cryobiology in the ice core. The project has numerous broader impacts. An established provider of educational material (Teachers? Domain) will develop and distribute web-based resources related to the project and climate change for use in K?12 classrooms. These resources will consist of video and interactive graphics that explain how and why ice cores are collected, and what they tell us about future climate change. Members of the national media will be included in the field team and the SCO will assist in presenting information to the general public. Video of the project will be collected and made available for general use. Finally, an opportunity will be created for cryosphere students and early career scientists to participate in field activities and core analysis. An ice core archive will be available for future projects and scientific discoveries from the project can be used by policy makers to make informed decisions. | POINT(-112.1115 -79.481) | POINT(-112.1115 -79.481) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Stable Isotopes of Ice in the WAIS Divide Deep Ice Core
|
0537661 0537593 0537930 |
2012-04-09 | White, James; Steig, Eric J.; Cuffey, Kurt M.; Souney, Joseph Jr.; Vaughn, Bruce |
|
This award supports analyses of stable isotopes of water, dD, d18O and deuterium excess in the proposed West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS) deep ice core. The project will produce a continuous and high-resolution reconstruction of stable isotope ratios for the new core. dD and d18O values provide estimates of temperature change at the ice core site. Deuterium excess provides estimates of ocean surface conditions, such as sea surface temperature, at the moisture source areas. This new ice core is ideally situated to address questions ranging from ice sheet stability to abrupt climate change. WAIS Divide has high enough snowfall rates to record climate changes on annual to decadal time scales. It should also have ice old enough to capture the last interglacial period in detail. The West Antarctic ice sheet is the subject of great scrutiny as our modern climate warms and sea level rises. What are the prospects for added sea level rise from ice released by this ice sheet? Understanding how this ice sheet has responded to climate change in the past, which the data collected in this project will help to assess, is critical to answering this question. The high temporal resolution available in the WAIS Divide core will provide the best available basis for inter-comparison of millennial-scale climate changes between the poles, and thus a better understanding of the spatial expression and dynamics of rapid climate change events. Finally, the location of this core in the Pacific sector of West Antarctica makes it well situated for examining the influence of the tropical Pacific on Antarctica climate, on longer timescales than are available from the instrumental climate record. Analyses will include the measurement of sub-annually resolved isotope variations in the uppermost parts of the core, measurements at annual resolution throughout the last 10,000 years and during periods of rapid climate change prior to that, and measurements at 50-year resolution throughout the entire length of the core that is collected and processed during the period of this grant. We anticipate that this will be about half of the full core expected to be drilled. In terms of broader impacts, the PIs will share the advising of two graduate students, who will make this ice core the focus of their thesis projects. It will be done in an innovative multi-campus approach designed to foster a broader educational experience. As noted above, the data and interpretations generated by this proposal will address climate change questions not only of direct and immediate scientific interest, but also of direct and immediate policy interest. | POINT(-112.08 -79.47) | POINT(-112.08 -79.47) | false | false | |||||||||
Histories of accumulation, thickness and WAIS Divide location from radar layers using a new inverse approach
|
0440666 |
2010-03-04 | Koutnik, Michelle; Waddington, Edwin D. |
|
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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Laboratory Studies of Isotopic Exchange in Snow and Firn
|
0338008 |
2010-01-01 | Neumann, Thomas A.; Wemple, Beverley C. |
|
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. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Refining a 500-kry Climate Record From the Moulton Blue Ice Field in West Antarctica
|
0230316 0230348 0230021 |
2006-08-01 | White, James; Popp, Trevor; Dunbar, Nelia; Sowers, Todd A.; Steig, Eric J. |
|
The summit crater of Mt. Moulton, in West Antarctica, contains a 600-m thick horizontally-exposed section of ice with intercalated tephra layers from nearby Mt Berlin. Argon-40/Argon-39 dating of the thick, near-source tephra indicates that the age of the horizontal ice section ranges between 15,000 and 492,000 years. Thus, the Mt Moulton site offers an unparalleled repository of ancient West Antarctic snow and trapped air that can be used to investigate West Antarctic climate over much of the past 500,000 years. The planar nature and consistent dips of the tephra layers suggests that, although the ice section has thinned, it is otherwise undeformed. The Mt. Moulton site was visited during the 1999/2000 field season, at which time a horizontal ice core representing approximately 400 meters of ice was collected, ranging in age from 15,000 to older than 480,000 years. In addition to this horizontal core, samples of ice at a range of depths were collected in order to test the quality of the climate record in the ice. Forty tephra layers intercalated in the ice were also collected in order to provide chronology for the ice section. The results of this first effort are extremely encouraging. Based on the d?18 O of ice, for example, there is clearly a useable record of past climate at Mt. Moulton extending back beyond 140,000 years. There is work to do, however, to realize the full potential of this horizontal ice core. The elemental and isotopic composition of trapped gases suggest some contamination with modern air, for example. As gas cross-dating of ice cores is the current standard by which climate records are intercompared, we need to understand why and how the gas record is compromised before adding Moulton to our arsenal of ice core paleoclimate records. This award supports a collaborative effort between three institutions with following objectives: 1) to evaluate more thoroughly the integrity of the climatic record through shallow drilling of the blue ice area, as well as the snow field upslope from the blue ice; 2) to improve the radioisotopic dating of specific tephra layers; 3) to obtain baseline information about modern snowfall deposition, mean annual temperature, and wind pumping around the summit of Mt. Moulton; and 4) to study how firn densification differs when surface accumulation changes from net accumulation to net ablation. | POINT(135.1333 -76.05) | POINT(135.1333 -76.05) | false | false |