Origin and Properties of Subfreezing Basal Ice

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This award is for support for a two year project to study subtemperate basal processes at Meserve Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The basal layer at Meserve Glacier has a distinctive amber color and is silt-rich. The origin and properties of distinctive layers often observed at the base of sub-temperate ice masses are not well understood. Most mechanisms for entrainment require melting or at least partial melting at the bed, and it is not clear how the layer properties could evolve under present conditions. A specific goal of this study is to determine whether the basal layer at Meserve Glacier could have formed at sub freezing temperature, or whether its existence implies past basal conditions were significantly warmer than today.