USAP-DC

Ice cores are a vital source of information about past climate. Research that utilizes ice cores benefits from an undamaged ice-core record. There is often a zone within ice sheets where the ice is brittle upon extraction in a core. Brittle-ice behavior occurs when the rapid decompression of the core as it is being extracted from the ice-sheet results in extensive fracturing. Ice from this zone can compromise the undamaged record. This project seeks to improve our understanding of the mechanisms involved in brittle-ice behavior and onset, with the goal of helping to guide field-site operations, core handling preparation, and planned laboratory measurement techniques for future ice-coring projects, including the upcoming work at Hercules Dome. This project requires no field work, as it will use existing observations and existing ice cores to gain an understanding of brittle ice. This is a high-risk and timely proposal that is early-concept and exploratory in nature, making it appropriate for the EAGER solicitation. The project will support an early-career researcher and provide training for a master’s student who is a woman. And, finally, the project will develop educational and outreach materials for graduate and undergraduate courses and elementary schools. This project will examine and catalog brittle ice from several existing ice-core samples to specifically assess various ice physical properties affecting brittleness potential, including bubble size and number-density, ice fabric, grain statistics, fracture characteristics, and the location and properties of grain and subgrain boundaries. End members of this sample assessment have been identified and include Siple Dome, which exhibited major brittle behavior and damage, and South Pole ice core, which exhibited very-minor brittle behavior and almost no damage. Output datasets will include calibrated relationships for bubble number-density, mean grain and bubble sizes, subgrain prevalence and orientation, and a usable indicator for estimating brittle-ice onset and magnitude. There is an immediate applicability of results from this effort for the Hercules Dome drilling project. 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.

Person	Role
Fegyveresi, John	Investigator and contact

Antarctic Glaciology

Award # 2218402

USAP-2218402_1

None in the Database

Repository	Title (link)	Format(s)	Status
USAP-DC	Multi-Site Brittle Ice Data and Measurements	Microsoft Excel (OpenXML)	exists