Collaborative Research: Dynamics and Climatic Response of the Taylor Glacier System

该奖项支持一个项目，该项目旨在显著提高我们对泰勒冰川如何流动和应对气候变化的理解。泰勒冰川排干了东南极冰盖的泰勒穹顶地区，终止于维多利亚大陆的干燥山谷之一的泰勒谷。它在两个被深入研究的南极环境之间提供了关键和独特的联系：泰勒圆顶，最近从其中提取了130KYR冰芯古气候记录，以及干旱山谷，这是长期生态研究的关键地点，也是地貌学和冰川地质研究的重点。因此，拟议的工作将对正在进行的利用泰勒穹顶-干谷系统建立区域长期环境变化的独特全面看法的努力作出重要贡献。拟议的工作有两个相辅相成的部分：实地研究和数值模拟。两个野外季节将被用来测量速度、表面应变率、物质平衡、冰层厚度、冰床反射率和冰下地形，沿着泰勒冰川几乎完整的纵向断面，以及沿着选定的跨山谷断面。这些信息将被用来约束泰勒穹顶-泰勒冰川系统的冰和热流的数值模型。这些经过校准的模型将被用来分析泰勒冰川对气候变化的时间依赖响应。成果的综合将旨在增进对泰勒谷冰川地貌的了解，并阐明对泰勒河谷湖泊生态系统的影响。该项目将在促进博士研究生和博士后研究人员的职业生涯方面发挥重要作用。

This award supports a project to significantly improve our understanding of how Taylor Glacier flows and responds to climate changes. Taylor Glacier drains the Taylor Dome region of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and terminates in Taylor Valley, one of the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land. It provides a crucial and unique link between two intensively studied Antarctic environments: the Taylor Dome, from which a 130 kyr ice core paleoclimate record has recently been extracted, and the Dry Valleys, a pivotal Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site and a focus of research on geomorphology and glacial geology. The proposed work will thus make an important contribution to ongoing efforts to exploit the Taylor Dome - Dry Valleys system to build a uniquely comprehensive view of regional long-term environmental changes. The proposed work has two complementary components: field research and numerical modelling. Two field seasons will be used to measure velocity, surface strain rate, mass balance, ice thickness, glacier bed reflectance, and subglacial topography, along a nearly complete longitudinal transect of the Taylor Glacier, and along select cross-valley transects. This information will be used to constrain numerical models of ice and heat flow for the Taylor Dome - Taylor Glacier system. These calibrated models will be used to analyze the time-dependent response of the Taylor Glacier to climate changes. The synthesis of results will be aimed to improve understanding of the glacial geomorphology of Taylor Valley, and to illuminate impacts on the Taylor Valley lakes ecosystem. The project will have a major role in furthering the careers of a doctoral-level graduate student and a post-doctoral researcher.