Collaborative Research: Acquisition of a Drilling Rig To Recover Geological Records from the Antarctic Margin for the ANDRILL Consortium

自1973年以来的28年间，在麦克默多海峡地区的10个南半球夏季，成功地进行了地质钻探，以回收岩心进行科学调查。海冰已成功地用作该地区七个钻孔的钻井平台。在这些项目中获得的经验构成了开发新的钻井技术以推进这一方法的基础。ANDRILL(南极钻探)项目考虑在其McMurdo Sound投资组合中未来从海冰、冰架和陆地平台进行钻探。该组合提出了十多个单独的钻探目标，需要不同的钻探设备和策略。这些目标中的大多数都有几个共同的要求，包括在数百米(1000米)的水中钻井，以及从海底开始打捞连续岩心，深度可达1000米。大多数目标要求钻机的能力大于非常成功的国际罗伯茨角项目(1997-1999年)所使用的钻机，ANDRILL是该项目的继任者。尽管可向ANDRILL提供CRP钻井平台以及各种其他商业钻井平台和设备，但独特的要求(在深水和超过300米厚的冰架上钻井)要求采购和开发一种适应南极环境的新的、更强大的钻井系统。所需的钻机将处理所需长度的钻杆，并在南极钻探允许的较短时间内以适当的速度回收岩石。这一新系统的开发将通过提供更快的岩心回收和从以前无法进入的地区取样的能力来增强钻探能力，从而将地质取样的范围扩大到更深的水域和穿过厚厚的陆架冰。对沉积物钻探岩心的研究是破译南极洲新生代气候和冰川历史的关键手段，该地区这个时代的大多数岩石都隐藏在冰盖之下。ANDRILL是一个国际联盟，目标是恢复地层岩心记录，用于解释南极洲过去5000万年来的气候、冰川和地质历史，并以不同的年龄分辨率(0.1至10万年)。了解南极洲过去冰量变化的历史和该区域相关的物理变化，对于正确评估全球气候系统和冰盖与海洋、大气和生物圈的相互作用至关重要。ANDRILL将分三个阶段进行：地球物理和现场调查(2001-2004年)、钻探和岩心恢复(2003-2007年)、气候和冰川模拟以及将恢复的数据纳入全球气候变化记录(2005-2009年)。在过去的4000万年里，南极冰盖在调节全球气候和海平面方面发挥了关键作用。气候变暖预计将在极地地区最为明显；到本世纪末，南极温度可能会上升到数百万年来未曾达到的水平。因此，了解南极冰盖过去对气候变化的反应是至关重要的，以便为预测未来的模型提供约束。ANDRILL目前计划在McMurdo Sound投资组合下在新港、无风湾、麦凯海谷和南部麦克默多冰架进行四个季节的钻探。通过后续的投资组合，ANDRILL和这一新的钻井系统的寿命可能会持续到2020年。对这种规模的项目的支持必须来自几个国家的捐款。到目前为止，ANDRILL国际联盟的成员包括美国、英国、新西兰、意大利和德国，它邀请任何感兴趣的国家加入。与CRP类似，由不同研究科学家、博士后科学家、研究生和本科生组成的团队的密切互动将为教育和现场培训提供极好的机会。REU的任命将针对地球科学中代表性不足的群体。ANDRILL计划通过成员国倡议和ANDRILL赞助的外联和教育，提供直接的现场和远程学习机会，从而将教育和外联部分扩大到CRP之外。一个“冰上”科学家小组将准备岩芯，并提供初步描述和表征。样品将被运往“冰外”科学家，在两个科学研讨会中的第一个轮流在成员国本国学术机构举办的研讨会上研究和展示结果。在发表初步成果之后，将在主要科学期刊和专业会议上介绍成果。

Geological drilling to recover core for scientific investigations was successfully conducted in theMcMurdo Sound Region during 10 austral summers over a 28-year period since 1973. The sea-ice has been used successfully as a drilling platform for seven drill-holes in this area. Experience gained during these projects forms the basis for developing new drilling technology to advance this approach. The ANDRILL (ANtarctic DRILLing) Project considers future drilling from sea-ice, ice shelf and land platforms within its McMurdo Sound Portfolio. This Portfolio proposes more than ten individual drilling targets that will require varied drilling equipment and strategies. Most of these targets have several common requirements, including drilling through hundreds of meters of water (up to 1000 m), and to recover continuous core starting from the sea-floor to depths of as much as 1000 m. Most of the targets call for a drill rig with a greater capacity than that used for the highly successful international Cape Roberts Project (CRP from 1997-1999), to which ANDRILL is the successor. Although the CRP rig, as well as various other commercial drilling rigs and equipment are available to ANDRILL, the unique requirements (drilling in deep-water and through an ice shelf more than 300 meters thick) require acquisition and development of a new, more powerful drilling system adapted to the Antarctic environment. The desired rig will handle the required length of drill rod and recover rock at an appropriate speed within the short windows of time allowed for Antarctic drilling. Development of this new system will enhance the drilling capability by providing faster core recovery and the ability to sample from previously inaccessible areas, thus expanding the scope of geological sampling into deeper water and through thick shelf ice. The study of sediment drillcores represents a key means to decipher Cenozoic climate and glacial history of Antarctica, a region where most rocks of this age are hidden beneath the ice sheet cover. ANDRILL is an international consortium with objectives to recover stratigraphic core records for use in interpreting Antarctica's past climatic, glacial and geological history over the past 50 million years and at varying scales of age resolution (0.1 to 100 thousand years). Understanding the past history of ice volume variation in Antarctica and associated physical changes in this region is critical to proper assessment of the global climate system and interaction of ice sheets with the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere. ANDRILL will proceed in three phases: geophysical and site surveys (2001-2004), drilling and core recovery (2003-2007), and climate and glacial modeling and integration of recovered data into global records of climate change (2005-2009). For the past 40 million years the Antarctic Ice Sheet has played a critical role in regulating global climate and sea level. Climatic warming is expected to be most pronounced in polar regions; Antarctic temperatures may rise by the end of the century to levels that have not been achieved for several million years. It is therefore vital that we understand the past response of the Antarctic ice sheet to climatic change in order to provide constraints on models that predict the future.ANDRILL currently plans 4 seasons of drilling under the McMurdo Sound Portfolio, in the regionsof New Harbour, Windless Bight, Mackay Sea Valley and on the Southern McMurdo Ice Shelf. Through subsequent Portfolios, the life of ANDRILL and this new drilling system will likely continue towards the year 2020. Support for programs of this scale must come from contributions of several nations. To date, the ANDRILL International Consortium includes as member nations the USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy and Germany, and it invites membership from any interested nation. Similar to the CRP, close interaction of a diverse team of research scientists, postdoctoral scientists, graduate and undergraduate students will provide excellent opportunities for education and on-site training. REU appointments will target underrepresented groups in the geosciences. ANDRILL plans to expand the educational and outreach component beyond that of CRP by direct on-site and remote learning opportunities through member-nation initiatives and ANDRILL sponsored outreach and education. An "on-ice" team of scientists would prepare the core and provide initial description and characterization. Samples would be shipped to "off-ice" scientists to study and present results at the first of two science workshops to be hosted at member-nations home academic institutions on a rotating basis. Publication ofinitial results would be followed by presentation of results in major scientific journals and at professional meetings.