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 年期间，在麦克默多海峡地区成功地进行了 10 个南方夏季的地质钻探，以回收岩心进行科学研究。海冰已成功用作该地区七个钻孔的钻探平台。在这些项目中获得的经验构成了开发新钻井技术以推进这种方法的基础。 ANDRILL（南极钻探）项目考虑未来从其 McMurdo Sound 产品组合中的海冰、冰架和陆地平台进行钻探。该产品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，包括钻探数百米深的水（最高 1000 m），以及回收从海底开始至深达 1000 m 的连续岩心。大多数目标要求钻机的容量比非常成功的国际罗伯茨角项目（1997-1999 年的 CRP）所使用的钻机容量更大，ANDRILL 是该项目的后继者。尽管 ANDRILL 可以使用 CRP 钻机以及各种其他商业钻机和设备，但独特的要求（在深水中钻探并穿过 300 多米厚的冰架）需要采购和开发适合南极环境的新的、更强大的钻探系统。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区域采样的能力来增强钻井能力，从而将地质采样的范围扩大到更深的水域和厚厚的陆架冰。对沉积物钻芯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，其目标是恢复地层核心记录，以用于解释南极洲过去 5000 万年和不同年龄分辨率尺度（0.1 至 10 万年）的气候、冰川和地质历史。了解南极洲冰量变化的历史以及该地区相关的物理变化对于正确评估全球气候系统以及冰盖与海洋、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）、钻探和岩心回收（2003-2007年）以及气候和冰川建模以及将回收数据纳入全球气候变化记录（2005-2009年）。过去四千万年来，南极冰盖在调节全球气候和海平面方面发挥着关键作用。气候变暖预计在极地地区最为明显；到本世纪末，南极气温可能会上升到几百万年来从未达到过的水平。因此，了解南极冰盖过去对气候变化的反应至关重要，以便为预测未来的模型提供约束。ANDRILL 目前计划在麦克默多海峡组合下进行 4 个钻探季节，地点包括新港、无风湾、麦凯海谷和南麦克默多冰架地区。通过后续的产品组合，ANDRILL 和这一新钻井系统的寿命可能会持续到 2020 年。对如此规模的计划的支持必须来自多个国家的贡献。迄今为止，ANDRILL国际联盟的成员国包括美国、英国、新西兰、意大利和德国，并邀请任何感兴趣的国家加入。与 CRP 类似，由研究科学家、博士后科学家、研究生和本科生组成的多元化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领域代表性不足的群体。 ANDRILL 计划通过成员国倡议和 ANDRILL 赞助的外展和教育，通过直接现场和远程学习机会，将教育和外展部分扩展到 CRP 之外。一个“冰上”科学家团队将准备核心并提供初步描述和表征。样本将被运送给“冰外”科学家进行研究，并在成员国本国学术机构轮流举办的两个科学研讨会的第一个研讨会上展示结果。初步结果发表后，将在主要科学期刊和专业会议上介绍结果。

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.