USAP-DC

{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Weddell Sea Embayment"}

[{"awards": "2114786 Warnock, Jonathan", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 09 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The potential for future sea level rise from melting and collapse of Antarctic ice sheets and glaciers is concerning. We can improve our understanding of how water is exchanged between Antarctic ice sheets and the ocean by studying how ice sheets behaved in past climates, especially conditions that were similar to or warmer than those at present. For this project, the research team will document Antarctica\u2019s response across an interval when Earth transitioned from the warm Pliocene into the Pleistocene ice ages by combining marine and land evidence for glacier variations from sites near the Antarctic Peninsula, complimented by detailed work on timescales and fossil evidence for environmental change. An important goal is to test whether Antarctica\u2019s glaciers changed at the same time as glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere as Earth\u0027s most recent Ice Age intensified, or alternatively responded to regional climate forcing in the Southern Hemisphere. Eleven investigators from seven US institutions, as well as Argentine collaborators, will study new sediment cores from the International Ocean Discovery Program, as well as legacy cores from that program and on-land outcrops on James Ross Island. The group embraces a vertically integrated research program that allows high school, undergraduate, graduate, post-docs and faculty to work together on the same projects. This structure leverages the benefits of near-peer mentoring and the development of a robust collaborative research network while allowing all participants to take ownership of different parts of the project. All members of the team are firmly committed to attracting researchers from under-represented groups and will do this through existing channels as well as via co-creating programming that centers the perspectives of diverse students in conversations about sea-level rise and climate change. The proposed research seeks to understand phasing between Northern and Southern Hemisphere glacier and climate changes, as a means to understand drivers and teleconnections. The dynamics of past Antarctic glaciation can be studied using the unique isotope geochemical and mineralogic fingerprints from glacial sectors tied to a well-constrained time model for the stratigraphic successions. The proposed work would further refine the stratigraphic context through coupled biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic work. The magnitude of iceberg calving and paths of icebergs will be revealed using the flux, geochemical and mineralogic signatures, and 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb geochronology of ice-rafted detritus. These provenance tracers will establish which sectors of Antarctica\u2019s ice sheets are more vulnerable to collapse, and the timing and pacing of these events will be revealed by their stratigraphic context. Additionally, the team will work with Argentine collaborators to connect the marine and terrestrial records by studying glacier records intercalated with volcanic flows on James Ross Island. These new constraints will be integrated with a state of the art ice-sheet model to link changes in ice dynamics with their underlying causes. Together, these tight stratigraphic constraints, geochemical signatures, and ice-sheet model simulations will provide a means to compare to the global records of climate change, understand their primary drivers, and elucidate the role of the Antarctic ice sheet in a major, global climatic shift from the Pliocene into the Pleistocene. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MICROFOSSILS; FIELD SURVEYS; Weddell Sea Embayment; USA/NSF; SEA ICE; USAP-DC; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; AMD; Amd/Us", "locations": "Weddell Sea Embayment", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Warnock, Jonathan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Linking Marine and Terrestrial Sedimentary Evidence for Plio-pleistocene Variability of Weddell Embayment and Antarctic Peninsula Glaciation", "uid": "p0010260", "west": null}, {"awards": "1542936 Goehring, Brent; 1542976 Balco, Gregory", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-145.7 -64.195,-113.988 -64.195,-82.276 -64.195,-50.564 -64.195,-18.852 -64.195,12.86 -64.195,44.572 -64.195,76.284 -64.195,107.996 -64.195,139.708 -64.195,171.42 -64.195,171.42 -66.2096,171.42 -68.2242,171.42 -70.2388,171.42 -72.2534,171.42 -74.268,171.42 -76.2826,171.42 -78.2972,171.42 -80.3118,171.42 -82.3264,171.42 -84.341,139.708 -84.341,107.996 -84.341,76.284 -84.341,44.572 -84.341,12.86 -84.341,-18.852 -84.341,-50.564 -84.341,-82.276 -84.341,-113.988 -84.341,-145.7 -84.341,-145.7 -82.3264,-145.7 -80.3118,-145.7 -78.2972,-145.7 -76.2826,-145.7 -74.268,-145.7 -72.2534,-145.7 -70.2388,-145.7 -68.2242,-145.7 -66.2096,-145.7 -64.195))", "dataset_titles": "Interface for viewing observational data related to exposure ages measurements and calculated geologic ages derived therefrom", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200199", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Interface for viewing observational data related to exposure ages measurements and calculated geologic ages derived therefrom", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}], "date_created": "Fri, 03 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The overall goal of this project is to determine the effect of past changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet on global sea level. At the peak of the last ice age 25,000 years ago, sea level was 120 meters (400 feet) lower than it is at present because water that is now part of the ocean was instead part of expanded glaciers and ice sheets in North America, Eurasia, and Antarctica. Between then and now, melting and retreat of this land ice caused sea level to rise. In this project, we aim to improve our understanding of how changes in the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet contributed to this process. The overall strategy to accomplish this involves (i) visiting areas in Antarctica that are not now covered by ice; (ii) looking for geological evidence, specifically rock surface and sediment deposits, that indicates that these areas were covered by thicker ice in the past; and (iii) determining the age of these geological surfaces and deposits. This project addresses the final part of this strategy -- determining the age of Antarctic glacial rock surfaces or sediment deposits -- using a relatively new technique that involves measuring trace elements in rock surfaces that are produced by cosmic-ray bombardment after the rock surfaces are exposed by ice retreat. By applying this method to rock samples collected in previous visits to Antarctica, the timing of past expansion and contraction of the ice sheet can be determined. The main scientific outcomes expected from this project are (i) improved understanding of how Antarctic Ice Sheet changes contributed to past global sea level rise; and (ii) improved understanding of modern observed Antarctic Ice Sheet changes in a longer-term context. This second outcome will potentially improve predictions of future ice sheet behavior. Other outcomes of the project include training of individual undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the development of a new course on sea level change to be taught at Tulane University in New Orleans, a city that is being affected by sea level change today. This project will use measurements of in-situ-produced cosmogenic carbon-14 in quartz from existing samples collected at several sites in Antarctica to resolve major ambiguities in existing Last Glacial Maximum to present ice sheet reconstructions. This project is important because of the critical nature of accurate reconstructions of ice sheet change in constraining reconstructions of past sea level change. Although carbon-14 is most commonly exploited as a geochronometer through its production in the upper atmosphere and incorporation into organic materials, it is also produced within the crystal lattice of rocks and minerals that are exposed to the cosmic-ray flux at the Earth\u0027s surface. In this latter case, its concentration is proportional to the duration of surface exposure, and measurements of in-situ-produced carbon-14 can be used to date geological events that form or expose rock surfaces, for example, ice sheet expansion and retreat. Although carbon-14 is one of several trace radionuclides that can be used for this purpose, it is unique among them in that its half-life is short relative to the time scale of glacial-interglacial variations. Thus, in cases where rock surfaces in polar regions have been repeatedly covered and uncovered by ice sheet change during many glacial-interglacial cycles, carbon-14 measurements are uniquely suited to accurately dating the most recent episode of ice sheet advance and retreat. We aim to use this property to improve our understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet change at a number of critically located sites at which other surface exposure dating methods have yielded ambiguous results. Geographically, these are focused in the Weddell Sea embayment of Antarctica, which is an area where the geometry of the Antarctic continent potentially permits large glacial-interglacial changes in ice volume but where existing geologic records of ice sheet change are particularly ambiguous. In addition, in-situ carbon-14 measurements, applied where independently constrained deglaciation chronologies already exist, can potentially allow us to date the last period of ice sheet advance as well as the most recent retreat.", "east": 171.42, "geometry": "POINT(12.86 -74.268)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; Cosmogenic Dating; GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESS; AMD; USAP-DC; GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; Carbon-14; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea Embayment; LABORATORY; FIELD SURVEYS; GLACIATION", "locations": "Weddell Sea Embayment", "north": -64.195, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Goehring, Brent; Balco, Gregory", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "ICE-D", "repositories": "ICE-D", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.341, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Resolving Ambiguous Exposure-Age Chronologies of Antarctic Deglaciation with Measurements of In-Situ-Produced Cosmogenic Carbon-14", "uid": "p0010254", "west": -145.7}, {"awards": "0838783 Conway, Howard; 0838256 Todd, Claire; 0838784 Balco, Gregory", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-66.27517 -83.23921,-65.341961 -83.23921,-64.408752 -83.23921,-63.475543 -83.23921,-62.542334 -83.23921,-61.609125 -83.23921,-60.675916 -83.23921,-59.742707 -83.23921,-58.809498 -83.23921,-57.876289 -83.23921,-56.94308 -83.23921,-56.94308 -83.359865,-56.94308 -83.48052,-56.94308 -83.601175,-56.94308 -83.72183,-56.94308 -83.842485,-56.94308 -83.96314,-56.94308 -84.083795,-56.94308 -84.20445,-56.94308 -84.325105,-56.94308 -84.44576,-57.876289 -84.44576,-58.809498 -84.44576,-59.742707 -84.44576,-60.675916 -84.44576,-61.609125 -84.44576,-62.542334 -84.44576,-63.475543 -84.44576,-64.408752 -84.44576,-65.341961 -84.44576,-66.27517 -84.44576,-66.27517 -84.325105,-66.27517 -84.20445,-66.27517 -84.083795,-66.27517 -83.96314,-66.27517 -83.842485,-66.27517 -83.72183,-66.27517 -83.601175,-66.27517 -83.48052,-66.27517 -83.359865,-66.27517 -83.23921))", "dataset_titles": "Interface to observational data collected in this project and geologic age information derived therefrom. Dynamic content, continuously updated.; Web page linking to documents containing data collected in this project. Static content", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200194", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ICE-D", "science_program": null, "title": "Interface to observational data collected in this project and geologic age information derived therefrom. Dynamic content, continuously updated.", "url": "https://version2.ice-d.org/antarctica/nsf/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200195", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Web page linking to documents containing data collected in this project. Static content", "url": "http://noblegas.berkeley.edu/~balcs/pensacola/"}], "date_created": "Sat, 19 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award supports a project to find and date geologic evidence of past ice-marginal positions in the Pensacola Mountains, which border the Foundation Ice Stream at the head of the Weddell Sea embayment. The project will involve glacial geologic mapping and cosmogenic-nuclide surface exposure dating of glacially transported erratics. An ice-flow model will be used to link our exposure-dating results together in a glaciologically consistent way, and to relate them to regional LGM to Holocene elevation changes. A secondary focus of the project seeks to improve the effectiveness of exposure-dating methods in understanding ice sheet change. Changes in the location of the ice margin, and thus the exposure ages that record these changes, are controlled not only by regional ice sheet mass balance, but also by local effects on snow- and icefields immediately adjacent to the exposure-dating sites. This part of the project will combine glaciological observations near the present ice margin with targeted exposure- age sampling in an effort to better understand the processes controlling the ice margin location, and improve the interpretation of very recent exposure-age data as a record of latest Holocene to present ice sheet changes. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will provide direct geologic evidence of LGM-to-Holocene ice volume change in a region of Antarctica where no such evidence now exists. The broader impacts of the work involve both gathering information needed for accurate understanding of past and present global sea level change. Secondly, this project will help to develop and maintain the human and intellectual resources necessary for continued excellence in polar research and global change education, by linking experienced Antarctic researchers with early career scientists who seek to develop their expertise in both research and education. In addition, it brings together two early career scientists whose careers are focused at opposite ends of the research-education spectrum, thus facilitating better integration of research and education both in the careers of these scientists and in the outcome of this project. This award has field work in Antarctica.", "east": -56.94308, "geometry": "POINT(-61.609125 -83.842485)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESS; NOT APPLICABLE; GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -83.23921, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology; Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE; PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Balco, Gregory; Todd, Claire; Conway, Howard", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "ICE-D", "repositories": "ICE-D; PI website", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.44576, "title": "Collaborative Research: Last Glacial Maximum and Deglaciation Chronology for the Foundation Ice Stream and Southeastern Weddell Sea Embayment", "uid": "p0010151", "west": -66.27517}, {"awards": "1724670 Williams, Trevor", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -60,-65 -60,-60 -60,-55 -60,-50 -60,-45 -60,-40 -60,-35 -60,-30 -60,-25 -60,-20 -60,-20 -62.5,-20 -65,-20 -67.5,-20 -70,-20 -72.5,-20 -75,-20 -77.5,-20 -80,-20 -82.5,-20 -85,-25 -85,-30 -85,-35 -85,-40 -85,-45 -85,-50 -85,-55 -85,-60 -85,-65 -85,-70 -85,-70 -82.5,-70 -80,-70 -77.5,-70 -75,-70 -72.5,-70 -70,-70 -67.5,-70 -65,-70 -62.5,-70 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Argon thermochronological data on detrital mineral grains from the Weddell Sea embayment", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601378", "doi": "10.15784/601378", "keywords": "40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology; Antarctica; Argon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Detrital Minerals; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marine Sediments; Mass Spectrometer; Provenance; R/v Polarstern; Sediment Core Data; Subglacial Till; Till; Weddell Sea", "people": "Williams, Trevor", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Argon thermochronological data on detrital mineral grains from the Weddell Sea embayment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601378"}, {"dataset_uid": "601379", "doi": "10.15784/601379", "keywords": "40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology; Antarctica; Argon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Detrital Minerals; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marine Geoscience; Mass Spectrometer; Provenance; R/v Polarstern; Sediment Core Data; Subglacial Till; Till; Weddell Sea", "people": "Williams, Trevor", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Argon thermochronological data on detrital mineral grains from the Weddell Sea embayment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601379"}, {"dataset_uid": "601377", "doi": "10.15784/601377", "keywords": "40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology; Antarctica; Argon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Detrital Minerals; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Marine Sediments; Mass Spectrometer; Provenance; R/v Polarstern; Sediment Core Data; Subglacial Till; Till; Weddell Sea", "people": "Williams, Trevor", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Argon thermochronological data on detrital mineral grains from the Weddell Sea embayment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601377"}], "date_created": "Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract for the general public: The margins of the Antarctic ice sheet have advanced and retreated repeatedly over the past few million years. Melting ice from the last retreat, from 19,000 to 9,000 years ago, raised sea levels by 8 meters or more, but the extents of previous retreats are less well known. The main goal of this project is to understand how Antarctic ice retreats: fast or slow, stepped or steady, and which parts of the ice sheet are most prone to retreat. Antarctica loses ice by two main processes: melting of the underside of floating ice shelves and calving of icebergs. Icebergs themselves are ephemeral, but they carry mineral grains and rock fragments that have been scoured from Antarctic bedrock. As the icebergs drift and melt, this \u0027iceberg-rafted debris\u0027 falls to the sea-bed and is steadily buried in marine sediments to form a record of iceberg activity and ice sheet retreat. The investigators will read this record of iceberg-rafted debris to find when and where Antarctic ice destabilized in the past. This information can help to predict how Antarctic ice will behave in a warming climate. The study area is the Weddell Sea embayment, in the Atlantic sector of Antarctica. Principal sources of icebergs are the nearby Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea embayment, where ice streams drain about a quarter of Antarctic ice. The provenance of the iceberg-rafted debris (IRD), and the icebergs that carried it, will be found by matching the geochemical fingerprint (such as characteristic argon isotope ages) of individual mineral grains in the IRD to that of the corresponding source area. In more detail, the project will: 1. Define the geochemical fingerprints of the source areas of the glacially-eroded material using samples from each major ice stream entering the Weddell Sea. Existing data indicates that the hinterland of the Weddell embayment is made up of geochemically distinguishable source areas, making it possible to apply geochemical provenance techniques to determine the origin of Antarctica icebergs. Few samples of onshore tills are available from this area, so this project includes fieldwork to collect till samples to characterize detritus supplied by the Recovery and Foundation ice streams. 2. Document the stratigraphic changes in provenance of iceberg-rafted debris (IRD) and glacially-eroded material in two deep water sediment cores in the NW Weddell Sea. Icebergs calved from ice streams in the embayment are carried by the Weddell Gyre and deposit IRD as they pass over the core sites. The provenance information identifies which groups of ice streams were actively eroding and exporting detritus to the ocean (via iceberg rafting and bottom currents), and the stratigraphy of the cores shows the relative sequence of ice stream activity through time. A further dimension is added by determining the time lag between fine sediment erosion and deposition, using a new method of uranium-series isotope measurements in fine grained material. Technical abstract: The behavior of the Antarctic ice sheets and ice streams is a critical topic for climate change and future sea level rise. The goal of this proposal is to constrain ice sheet response to changing climate in the Weddell Sea during the three most recent glacial terminations, as analogues for potential future warming. The project will also examine possible contributions to Meltwater Pulse 1A, and test the relative stability of the ice streams draining East and West Antarctica. Much of the West Antarctic ice may have melted during the Eemian (130 to 114 Ka), so it may be an analogue for predicting future ice drawdown over the coming centuries. Geochemical provenance fingerprinting of glacially eroded detritus provides a novel way to reconstruct the location and relative timing of glacial retreat during these terminations in the Weddell Sea embayment. The two major objectives of the project are to: 1. Define the provenance source areas by characterizing Ar, U-Pb, and Nd isotopic signatures, and heavy mineral and Fe-Ti oxide compositions of detrital minerals from each major ice stream entering the Weddell Sea, using onshore tills and existing sediment cores from the Ronne and Filchner Ice Shelves. Pilot data demonstrate that detritus originating from the east and west sides of the Weddell Sea embayment can be clearly distinguished, and published data indicates that the hinterland of the embayment is made up of geochemically distinguishable source areas. Few samples of onshore tills are available from this area, so this project includes fieldwork to collect till to characterize detritus supplied by the Recovery and Foundation ice streams. 2. Document the stratigraphic changes in provenance of iceberg-rafted debris (IRD) and glacially-eroded material in two deep water sediment cores in the NW Weddell Sea. Icebergs calved from ice streams in the embayment are carried by the Weddell Gyre and deposit IRD as they pass over the core sites. The provenance information will identify which ice streams were actively eroding and exporting detritus to the ocean (via iceberg rafting and bottom currents). The stratigraphy of the cores will show the relative sequence of ice stream activity through time. A further time dimension is added by determining the time lag between fine sediment erosion and deposition, using U-series comminution ages.", "east": -20.0, "geometry": "POINT(-45 -72.5)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SPECTROMETERS/RADIOMETERS \u003e MASS SPECTROMETERS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "TERRIGENOUS SEDIMENTS; Subglacial Till; USAP-DC; ICEBERGS; AMD; USA/NSF; ISOTOPES; AGE DETERMINATIONS; Argon; Provenance; Till; Amd/Us; R/V POLARSTERN; FIELD INVESTIGATION; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Weddell Sea; Antarctica; LABORATORY", "locations": "Weddell Sea; Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Williams, Trevor; Hemming, Sidney R.", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V POLARSTERN", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -85.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Deglacial Ice Dynamics in the Weddell Sea Embayment using Sediment Provenance", "uid": "p0010128", "west": -70.0}]

View results on map Help on results map