IEDA

USAP-DC

U.S. ANTARCTIC PROGRAM DATA CENTER

Project Information
Continuation of Activities for the Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR)
Start Date:
2000-09-01
End Date:
2003-08-31
Description/Abstract
9911617
Blankenship

This award, provided jointly by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program, the Antarctic Glaciology Program, and the Polar Research Support Section of the Office of Polar Programs, provides funds for continuation of the Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR). From July 1994 to July 2000, SOAR served as a facility to accomplish aerogeophysical research in Antarctica under an agreement between the University of Texas at Austin and the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs (NSF/OPP). SOAR operated and maintained an aerogeophysical instrument package that consists of an ice-penetrating radar sounder, a laser altimeter, a gravimeter and a magnetometer that are tightly integrated with each other as well as with the aircraft's avionics and power packages. An array of aircraft and ground-based GPS receivers supported kinematic differential positioning using carrier-phase observations. SOAR activities included: developing aerogeophysical research projects with NSF/OPP investigators; upgrading of the aerogeophysical instrumentation package to accommodate new science projects and advances in technology; fielding this instrument package to accomplish SOAR-developed projects; and management, reduction, and analysis of the acquired aerogeophysical data. In pursuit of 9 NSF-OPP funded aerogeophysical research projects (involving 14 investigators from 9 institutions), SOAR carried out six field campaigns over a six-year period and accomplished approximately 200,000 line kilometers of aerogeophysical surveying over both East and West Antarctica in 377 flights.

This award supports SOAR to undertake a one year and 8 month program of aerogeophysical activities that are consistent with continuing U.S. support for geophysical research in Antarctica.
- SOAR will conduct an aerogeophysical campaign during the 200/01 austral summer to accomplish surveys for two SOAR-developed projects: "Understanding the Boundary Conditions of the Lake Vostok Environment: A Site Survey for Future Studies" (Co-PI's Bell and Studinger, LDEO); and "Collaborative Research: Seismic Investigation of the Deep Continental Structure Across the East-West Antarctic Boundary" (Co-PI's Weins, Washington U. and Anandakrishnan, U. Alabama). After configuration and testing of the survey aircraft in McMurdo, SOAR will conduct survey flights from an NSF-supported base adjacent to the Russian Station above Lake Vostok and briefly occupy one or two remote bases on the East Antarctic ice sheet.
- SOAR will reduce these aerogeophysical data and produce profiles and maps of surface elevation, bed elevation, gravity and magnetic field intensity. These results will be provided to the respective project investigators within nine months of conclusion of field activities. We will also submit a technical manuscript that describes these results to a refereed scientific journal and distribute these results to appropriate national geophysical data centers within approximately 24 months of completion of field activities.
- SOAR will standardize all previously reduced SOAR data products and transfer them to the appropriate national geophysical data centers by the end of this grant.
- SOAR will convene a workshop to establish a community consensus for future U.S. Antarctic aerogeophysical research. This workshop will be co-convened by Ian Dalziel and Richard Alley and will take place during the spring of 2001.
- SOAR will upgrade the existing SOAR in-field quality control procedures to serve as a web-based interface for efficient browsing of many low-level SOAR data streams.
- SOAR will repair and/or refurbish equipment that was used during the 2000/01 field campaign.

Support for SOAR is essential for accomplishing major geophysical investigations in Antarctica. Following data interpretation by the science teams, these data will provide valuable insights to the structure and evolution of the Antarctic continent.
Personnel
Person Role
Carter, Sasha P. Co-Investigator
Holt, John W. Co-Investigator
Blankenship, Donald D. Investigator
Morse, David L. Investigator
Dalziel, Ian W. Investigator
Funding
Antarctic Earth Sciences Award # 9911617
Antarctic Glaciology Award # 9911617
Antarctic Earth Sciences Award # 9319379
Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR)

This award for a cooperative agreement supports the technical foundation of an aerogeophysical facility that is required for several projects within the Polar Earth Sciences and Polar Glaciology Programs. The facility is referred to as SOAR, the Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research. The function of SOAR is to facilitate aerogeophysical research over continental Antarctica toward an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the ice sheet and the nature of the lithosphere beneath the ice sheet. SOAR will support peer-reviewed research requiring high precision laser altimetery, gravity, magnetics and navigational data sets. Tasking for SOAR will be negotiated annually. The first projects to be supported are investigations in West Antarctica. West Antarctica is characterized by two kinds of the Earth s most dynamic systems, a continental rift (the West Antarctic Rift System) and a marine based ice sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Active continental rift systems, caused by divergent plate motions, result in thinned continental crust. Associated with the thin crust are fault-bounded sedimentary basins, active volcanism, and elevated heat flow. Marine ice sheets are characterized by rapidly moving streams of ice, penetrating and draining a slowly moving ice reservoir. Evidence left by past marine ice sheets indicates that they may have a strongly non-linear response to long-term climate change which results in massive and rapid discharges of ice. Understanding the evolution of the ice stream system and its interaction with the interior ice is the key to understanding this non-linear response. In addition to these specific projects, SOAR will provide information essential to site selection decisions for a West Antarctic ice core as well as critical information for selection of locations of over-snow seismic transects. SOAR represents a unique experiment in research support for the US Antarctic program. It has the potential to revolutionize the conduct of Earth Science and Glaciology research in Antarctica.
Antarctic Glaciology Award # 9319379
Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR)

This award for a cooperative agreement supports the technical foundation of an aerogeophysical facility that is required for several projects within the Polar Earth Sciences and Polar Glaciology Programs. The facility is referred to as SOAR, the Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research. The function of SOAR is to facilitate aerogeophysical research over continental Antarctica toward an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the ice sheet and the nature of the lithosphere beneath the ice sheet. SOAR will support peer-reviewed research requiring high precision laser altimetery, gravity, magnetics and navigational data sets. Tasking for SOAR will be negotiated annually. The first projects to be supported are investigations in West Antarctica. West Antarctica is characterized by two kinds of the Earth s most dynamic systems, a continental rift (the West Antarctic Rift System) and a marine based ice sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Active continental rift systems, caused by divergent plate motions, result in thinned continental crust. Associated with the thin crust are fault-bounded sedimentary basins, active volcanism, and elevated heat flow. Marine ice sheets are characterized by rapidly moving streams of ice, penetrating and draining a slowly moving ice reservoir. Evidence left by past marine ice sheets indicates that they may have a strongly non-linear response to long-term climate change which results in massive and rapid discharges of ice. Understanding the evolution of the ice stream system and its interaction with the interior ice is the key to understanding this non-linear response. In addition to these specific projects, SOAR will provide information essential to site selection decisions for a West Antarctic ice core as well as critical information for selection of locations of over-snow seismic transects. SOAR represents a unique experiment in research support for the US Antarctic program. It has the potential to revolutionize the conduct of Earth Science and Glaciology research in Antarctica.
AMD - DIF Record(s)
NSIDC-0336_1
NSIDC-0240_1
Data Management Plan
None in the Database
Product Level:
Not provided
Datasets
Repository Title (link) Format(s) Status
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey Gravity data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok survey magnetic anomaly data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey ice thickness data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey surface elevation data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey bed elevation data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC SOAR-Lake Vostok Survey airborne radar data Not Provided exists
USAP-DC RBG - Robb Glacier Survey ASCII exists
USAP-DC Antarctic Aerogeophysics Data Not Provided exist
USAP-DC Antarctic Subglacial Lake Classification Inventory Not Provided exist
Publications
  1. Frederick, B. C., Young, D. A., Blankenship, D. D., Richter, T. G., Kempf, S. D., Ferraccioli, F., & Siegert, M. J. (2016). Distribution of subglacial sediments across the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, East Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 121(4), 790–813. (doi:10.1002/2015jf003760)
Keywords
Platforms and Instruments

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