Antarctic GlaciologyAntarctic Glaciology

Julie PalaisProgram Manager

NSF/Office of Polar Programs

Antarctic Sciences Section Antarctic Sciences Section

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Antarctic Glaciology Program

• Paleoclimate from ice cores (WAISCORES, ITASE)

• Ice dynamics and modeling (WAIS)

• Snow/Atmosphere/Ice interactions (ITASE)

• Glacial Geology ( Dry Valleys, Antarctic Peninsula)

• Other (Remote Sensing, Iceberg Studies)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Paleoclimate from Ice CoresPaleoclimate from Ice Cores

• Taylor Dome Ice Core• Vostok Ice Core• Siple Dome Ice Core• Upcoming WAIS Divide Project• Byrd Ice Core• Misc. other cores (e.g. South Pole)• Shallow cores from ITASE traverses

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Facilities/Support ServicesFacilities/Support Services

• National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)

• NICL-Science Management Office (NICL-SMO)

• Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC)

• Ice Core Drilling Service (ICDS)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

NSF-USGS Cooperative AgreementLocated at the Denver Federal Center

National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Ice Core Storage

National Ice Core Laboratory National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)(NICL)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Core Processing Line

National Ice Core Laboratory National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)(NICL)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Core Processing Line

National Ice Core Laboratory National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)(NICL)

• Design, fabrication and operation of ice drilling equipment in both polar regions and high altitude ice caps.

• Includes electro-mechanical ice core drills, hot water drills for deep access holes, shot holes for seismic sounding and sub-ice sampling.

• Notify relevant NSF program manager when you are requesting ice coring support.

Ice Core Drilling Services (ICDS)University of Wisconsin-MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

(formerly PICO)

Ice Core Drilling Services (ICDS)University of Wisconsin-MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

2000 ICWG recommendation:

“single point-of-access” for ice core data

Participants:– Antarctic Glaciological Data Center

– World Data Center for Paleoclimatology

– International Ice Core Data Cooperative

– National Ice Core laboratory

– contributing scientists and programs

Ice Core Data GatewayIce Core Data Gateway

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Ice Core Data GatewayIce Core Data Gateway

Status:• On the web:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icgate.html• Includes data sets distributed globally• Incorporates metadata records• Data files via ftp

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctic Ice Sheet Program (WAIS)Program (WAIS)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctic Ice Sheet Program (WAIS)Program (WAIS)

Ice Dynamics Studies of the Siple Coast Ice Streams

•How will the unstable West Antarctic ice sheet affect future sea level?

•How do rapid global climate changes occur?

•Future sea-level rise?

Annual WAISWorkshopSept. 29-Oct. 2, 2004Algonkian Park,Sterling, Va.

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

• Collaborative Research: West Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability: The Glacial Geologic Record from the Ohio Range of the Horlick Mountains in the Bottleneck (Borns and Mukhopadhyay)

• Collaborative Research: Tidal Modulation of Ice Stream Flow (Anandakrishnan and Bindschadler)

• Ice-flow Divide Deduced by a New Analysis of Ice-penetrating Radar Data (Raymond)

• Airborne Survey of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica (Holt et al.)

• Collaborative Research: Refining a 500-kyr Climate Record from the Moulton Blue Ice Field in West Antarctica (Sowers, White, Dunbar)

• Methyl chloride and methyl bromide in Antarctic ice cores (Saltzman)

West Antarctic Ice Sheet Program West Antarctic Ice Sheet Program (WAIS)(WAIS)

Examples of Currently Funded Projects

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

U.S.- International Trans-U.S.- International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition Antarctic Scientific Expedition

(U.S.-ITASE)(U.S.-ITASE)

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

U.S.- International Trans-U.S.- International Trans-Antarctic Scientific ExpeditionAntarctic Scientific Expedition

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

U.S.- International Trans-U.S.- International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition Antarctic Scientific Expedition

(U.S.-ITASE)(U.S.-ITASE)

• To determine the spatial variability of Antarctic climate over the last 200+ years.

• To determine the environmental variability in Antarctica over the last 200+ years.

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

U.S.- International Trans-U.S.- International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition Antarctic Scientific Expedition

(U.S.-ITASE)(U.S.-ITASE)

• Meteorology• Remote Sensing• Geophysics• Surface Glaciology• Ice Cores

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Icebergs and Ice ShelvesIcebergs and Ice Shelves

• Monitoring an Active Rift System at the Front of the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (Fricker)

• Collaborative Research of Earth’s Largest Icebergs ((MacAyeal, Okal, Stearns)

• Melting and Calving of Antarctic Ice Shelves

(Jacobs)

Current Research

23 – 24 August 2004 U.S. Antarctic Program, New Investigators workshop

Antarctic Glaciology Program: Antarctic Glaciology Program: Important Web sitesImportant Web sites

• WAIS (http://igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov/wais/)

• WAIS Divide Project (http://www.dri.edu/People/kendrick/WDSprojmain.htm)

• US-ITASE (http://www.ume.maine.edu/USITASE/)

• NICL (http://www.nicl-smo.sr.unh.edu/)

• AGDC (http://nsidc.org/NSF/AGDC/)